Calling at... British railway stations

High Wycombe (HWY)

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High Wycombe is the first major stop on the Chiltern Main Line out of London Marylebone between Beaconsfield and Saunderton.

Chiltern 165 005 at High Wycombe

Information
Type:	National Rail (Chiltern Main Line)
Station code:	HWY
Opened:	1854
Platforms:	3

The station was opened as the terminus of a Great Western Railway broad gauge line in 1854, the station being designed by Brunel. This remained High Wycombe's station until 1864 when a new through station was opened. The original station building became a goods shed [1] and has now been listed and preserved.

The current station layout dates from a rebuilding by the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway in 1906 [2]. The station has two staggered platforms, it once had four through lines but the central lines were lifted in 1989-90 [3]. There is a bay platform for services terminating from London Marylebone (and until recently the parliamentary Chiltern Railways service from London Paddington). Originally access between the platforms was via a subway but this was replaced by a footbridge in 2015.

High Wycombe was once the terminus (though later the line was extended to Aylesbury) of the Wycombe Railway from Maidenhead, though this line was closed in 1970. The station is managed by Chiltern Railways.

Chiltern 165 032 arrives with a London bound service

View down the platform under the fine canopy

Platform 3, a bay

Vintage sign

Chiltern 168 004 pulls into the station

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Paddington to Princes Risborough (Middleton Press, 2002) Map. XXXVI
[2] Ibid. Fig. 92
[3] Ibid. Fig. 97

Walsall (WSL)

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Walsall is a stop on the Chase Line in the West Midlands between Bloxwich and Bescot Stadium.

LNWR 350 370 departs

Information
Type:	National Rail (Chase Line)
Station code:	WSL
Opened:	1849
Platforms:	3

The first station in Walsall was Bescot Bridge in 1837 built near Bescot Stadium station, but in 1849 a proper city centre station was built in Walsall by the South Staffordshire Railway on a route to Dudley. Further routes and lines were added to Walsall over the following decades.

The current station buildings date from the late 1970s when the old station was demolished as part of a major retail regeneration project. The Saddlers Centre shopping mall has been built atop the station and is where the main entrance and concourse is. Another entrance is via station street.

Nowadays Walsall, which is managed by West Midlands Railway, is host to services on the Chase Line between Birmingham New Street and Rugeley Trent Valley and services between Walsall and Wolverhampton (via New Street).

LM 323 221 stands at Walsall

Platform 1

Station Street entrance

Platform 3

Denham (DNM)

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Denham is a stop on the Chiltern Main Line in Buckinghamshire between West Ruislip and Denham Golf Club.

Chiltern 165 030 departs bound for London Marylebone

Denham was opened in 1906 as a joint venture between the Great Western and Great Central Railways. Initially the station was known as Denham - Junction for Uxbridge and was a stop on the shuttle line between Uxbridge High Street and Gerrards Cross.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Chiltern Main Line)
Station code:	DNM
Opened:	1906
Platforms:	2

The station buildings were built to the standard design as other stations on the line though as the station was built on an embankment it had wooden platforms to save weight [1]. Four tracks were ran through Denham until 1965 when the central through lines were removed. The goods yard was closed the year before [2].

The station is nowadays a stop on the Chiltern Main Line and managed by Chiltern Railways. However the station almost became part of the London Underground. The Central Line's Western extension programme in the 1930s was originally planned to reach Denham but due to new Green Belt legislation and financial cuts after the Second World War the extension work only made it as far as West Ruislip [3].

The main station building survives on the up platform though the down platform was replaced in 2008 with new shelters. The footbridge was also replaced at the same time.

Chiltern 165 019 arrives, the footbridge between the platforms can be seen in the background

Chiltern 165 038 arrives with an Aylesbury bound service

Main station building

View from the footbridge

Chiltern 165 032 arrives with a London Marylebone bound service

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Paddington to Princes Risborough (Middleton Press, 2002) Fig. 66
[2] Ibid. Fig. 68
[3] J. Graeme Bruce & Desmond F. Coombe, The Twopenny Tube (Capital Transport, 1996) p. 60

Tackley (TAC)

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Tackley is on the Cherwell Valley Line in Oxfordshire between Heyford and Oxford.

GWR 165 127 departs heading for Oxford

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cherwell Valley Line)
Station code:	TAC
Opened:	1931
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1931 as Tackley Halt [1] ("Halt" was removed from the name in 1961). The station had a basic wooden shelter, this has now been replaced by a modern plastic shelter.

Until recently Tackley had no footbridge or subway, to get between platforms (and also cross the railway line) a foot crossing was provided with manually operated gates. As non-stopping trains can pass through the station at high speed, people crossing always needed to be pretty alert! Approaching trains sounded their horns but anyone crossing only had a few seconds before the train passed through. This crossing has now been closed, a fatality occurred on the crossing in 2008, and a temporary footbridge built pending a more permanent solution.

Most trains that stop at Tackley are GWR services between Banbury and Oxford though a few services also go straight through to Reading. Chiltern Railways service for between Banbury and Oxford also stops at the station once a day.

A Cross Country services passes through

Information display and shelter

Footbridge

GWR 165 127 again, this time Banbury bound

Platform shelter, unfortunately it seems popular with wasps!

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Didcot to Banbury (Middleton Press, 2003) Fig. 82

Kings Sutton (KGS)

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Kings Sutton serves the village of King's Sutton (the station name lost its apostrophe at some stage) and the town of Brackley. It is a few miles down the line from Banbury.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Chiltern Main Line)
Station code:	KGS
Opened:	1872
Platforms:	2

The station was originally opened in 1872 by the GWR with a branch to Kingham added in 1887, this branch closed for passengers in 1951 though part of the line remained in use until 1971 [1].

Before 1900 there was also a siding served by a tramway which carried yellow ochre for paint production. The station is located in Northamptonshire though the two stations either side (Banbury and Heyford) are in Oxfordshire.

Kings Sutton lost its good yard and footbridge in the 1960s with the latter replaced by a barrow crossing. However a near miss in 2005 where a passenger was nearly killed by a train led to a new footbridge being built and this was completed in 2006. Chiltern Railways manage the station though most services to Kings Sutton are operated by Great Western Railway.