Belper (BLP)

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Belper is a stop on the Midland Main Line in Derbyshire near Derby and in between Duffield and Ambergate.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Midland Main Line)
Station code:	BLP
Opened:	1840
Platforms:	2

The original Belper station was opened in 1840, in a different location to the current station [1]. The original station was just over a kilometre to the South of the town centre but this proved unpopular with townsfolk.

In 1878 the Midland Railway built the current station in it's current location in a cutting in the town centre. The old station site remained in use for goods traffic until 1979.

Belper station became unmanned and the original station buildings demolished in 1973 replaced by the usual modern shelters. The station was refurbished in 2005 with new shelters and passenger information screens [2].

Most trains to Belper are on the Matlock-Nottingham or Newark Castle Derwent Valley route operated by East Midlands Trains. There are also a couple of peak time trains to Sheffield and London St Pancras.

EMT 156 413 departs for Matlock

An EMT Meridian passes through

General platform view

Station sign

View from the footbridge

EMT 153 326 arrives heading for Derby

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Derby to Chesterfield (Middleton Press, 2017) Fig. 36
[2] Ibid. Fig. 43

Long Buckby (LBK)

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Long Buckby is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in Northamptonshire between Rugby and Northampton.

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line)
Station code:	LBK
Opened:	1881
Platforms:	2

Long Buckby, serving the village of the same name, was opened by the London & North Western Railway in 1881. Nowadays it is a station on the Northampton Loop of the West Coast Main Line, the line through Long Buckby was electrified in the 1960s.

Originally the station has wooden station buildings with canopies on both platforms. However nowadays it just has the ubiquitous bus shelters.

The station is on an elevated section of track and has a part-time ticket office in a cabin at the bottom of one of the ramps down to ground level. Long Buckby is served by up to three trains an hour on the WCML between Birmingham New Street and London Euston. On Sundays there are also hourly services to Crewe and Stoke-on-Trent.

LNWR 350 377 heading North

A Euston bound service is approaching

Bridge over the road, the station entrance is visible just beyond

Bus shelter and information screen

Ticket office (closed today)

A Euston bound 350 264 departs

Wigan North Western (WGN)

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Wigan North Western is one of Wigan's two stations and is situated on the West Coast Main Line.

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line)
Station code:	WGN
Opened:	1838
Platforms:	6

The station was opened as Wigan in 1838 by the North Union Railway, this station replaced an earlier station located elsewhere in the town which has opened in 1832. The station was renamed Wigan North Western in 1924 due to the London & North Western Railway once operating it (although by then the LNWR no longer existed!) Another station in the town is Wigan Westgate which is about a hundred metres away and opened later.

The station was completely rebuilt in the early 1970s along with the electrification of this stretch of the WCML (electric services through the station began in 1973).


The station has six platforms, two are bays which are only used for peak time services to Manchester. The other four platforms are located either side of two islands, two platforms are used for WCML services and the other two for mainly local services. Access between the two islands and the booking office/exit is via a subway. The station is served by Virgin Trains (who manage the station), Northern and Trans Pennine Express.

Northern 142 094 on one of the bay platforms

Looking up the line

Northern 319 386 pauses on a local service on the Liverpool-Preston line

The WCML platforms

Station buildings largely date from the 1970s

TPE 350 405 and 401 arrive at the station

Covent Garden (ZCV)

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Covent Garden is a Piccadilly Line station in central London between Leicester Square (just 250 metres or 0.16 miles away) and Holborn in the always busy West End.

Information
Type:	Transport for London (Piccadilly Line)
Station code:	ZCV
Opened:	1906
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway in 1907 (a few months after the rest of the line opened) [1] with a standard ground level Leslie Green designed station building.

Unlike most stations in the central section of the London Underground Covent Garden does not have escalators. The platforms are reached via lifts or stairs (for the fit/foolhardy - there are 193 steps![2]) Because of this the station is often overcrowded and on Saturday afternoons becomes exit only.

Interestingly the short journey from Leicester Square to Covent Garden with a Zone 1 fare (at time of writing £4.90) works out at over £30 per mile, one of the most expensive railway journeys in the country!

A Piccadilly Line 73ts train waits to depart

Former signal cabin from Covent Garden, the proximity of Leicester Square is evident (yellow boxes left centre)

Surface building

Platform view

The station name is displayed on the tile wall of the platform

[1] Desmond F. Croome, The Piccadilly Line (Capital Transport, 1998) p. 11
[2] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 113

Birmingham International (BHI)

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Birmingham International is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in the West Midlands between Marston Green and Hampton-in-Arden.

An LNWR 350 lurks under the station roof

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line)
Station code:	BHI
Opened:	1976
Platforms:	5

Birmingham International (which is actually in Solihull) was opened by British Rail in 1976 to serve the newly opened National Exhibition Centre and Birmingham Airport [1][2]. The name is derived from the airport which at the time was called Birmingham International Airport. The station is connected to the NEC by a covered walkway.

The station is located on the West Coast Main Line and is served by Avanti West Coast, Transport for Wales, Cross Country, London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway. The station has a very regular service from Birmingham New Street which is only a few minutes away.

Birmingham International used to be linked to the airport by the world's first public Maglev train in service, developed by British Rail at Derby [3][4]. It has now been replaced by cable hauled cars.

WMR 323 205 at Birmingham International

View down the platform

Station concourse

An ATW (now TfW) 158 arrives

LNWR 350 241 waits to depart

[1] Chris Heaps, BR Diary 1968-1977 (Ian Allan, 1988) p. 97
[2] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Rugby to Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2008) Fig. 94
[3] Colin J Marsden, Departmental Stock (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 36
[4] Colin J Marsden, 25 Years of Railway Research (OPC, 1989) p. 111