Pimlico (ZPO)

Information
Type: Transport for London
(Victoria Line)
Station code: ZPO
Opened: 1972
Platforms: 2
Pimlico was the last station to be opened on the Victoria Line and is also the only station on that line that does not have an interchange with another service.

Pimlico was a late addition to the extension of the Victoria Line scheme through to Brixton. At first London Underground were hesitant to add an extra station between Victoria and the river Thames as it was felt the business case was too marginal however there was strong local support and the Crown Estate which owned the land where the station was to be built offered free easements [1]. The station was not ready when trains began to run on the extension (though the platforms were in place). The station was finally opened in 1972 just over a year after the rest of the extension opened [2].

As with the other stations on the Victoria Line Pimlico's platforms have a unique tile motif design. In Pimlico's case the motif represents modern art, the station being close to the Tate Britain gallery [3].
A 2009TS train stands at Pimlico

Pimlico's tile motif

Station entrance

[1] Mike Horne, The Victoria Line (Capital Transport, 2004) p. 69
[2] Paul Moss, London Underground (Haynes, 2014)  p. 118
[3] Horne p. 74

Bootle Oriel Road (BOT)

Information
Type: National Rail (Merseyrail
Northern Line)
Station code: BOT
Opened: 1876
Platforms: 2
Bootle Oriel Road was opened by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway in 1876 to replace the earlier Bootle Village built further along the same road. The station was later operated by the LNWR, LMS and finally British Railways. Now it is a station on Merseyrail's Northern Line between Bootle New Strand and Bank Hall on the Southport branch.

Bootle Oriel Road was at one time quite a grand station with 4 platforms which has station canopies though these disappeared as the station went into decline [1]. Happily the station benefited from a substantial rebuilt in 2008 - though still lacks cover!
Merseyrail 508 15 arrives on a Liverpool bound service

Main station building

Footbridge

A Southport bound train arrives

[1] Jonathan Cadwallader & Martin Jenkins, Merseyside Electrics (Ian Allan, 2010) p. 19

New Cross (NWX)

Information
Type: National Rail (South Eastern
Main Line)
& London Overground
Station code: NWX
Opened: 1850
Platforms: 4
New Cross in East London serves trains out of London Cannon Street and London Bridge and is a terminus of the London Overground.

New Cross was opened by the South Eastern Railway in 1850 as New Cross & Naval School though this was changed to just New Cross in 1854. However the London & Croydon Railway had already built a station just 600m away called New Cross in 1839! It was not until both stations came under the Southern Railway umbrella in 1923 that the confusion was ended when the older station was renamed New Cross Gate.


New Cross was one of the terminuses of London Underground's East London Line (originally part of the Metropolitan Railway) until 2007 when the East London Line, for a long time the poor relation of the tube network, was finally closed and re-opened in 2010 as part of London Overground.

New Cross' platforms have letters and not numbers to reduce confusion between National Rail and Transport for London services.
Southeastern 376 007 with a London Cannon Street service

General view of the station including the overbridge

View across the platforms, a London Overground train is in 
Most trains on the South Eastern Main Line pass through

LO 378 143 at the London Overground platform (platform D)

Duffield (DFI)

Information
Type: National Rail
(Midland Main Line) &
Preserved Railway
(Ecclesbourne Valley Railway)
Station code: DFI
Opened: 1841
1867 (current position)
Platforms: 3
Duffield is a small unmanned station on the Midland Lain Line between Derby and Belper. The original station was built in 1841 a bit further along the line with the current station dating from 1867 when it was decided to build a station on the junction between the line and a branch to Wirksworth.

That branch is now the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway (EVR) and their Duffield terminus (the former platform 3) is adjacent to the National Rail station. The EVR have adopted Duffield station.

The current National Rail station has a single island platform accessible via a footbridge with a bus shelter. The only trains that stop at the station are East Midlands Trains services between Matlock and destinations like Newark Castle and Nottingham. Expresses between London St Pancras and Sheffield and Leeds also pass through the station but do not stop.


The EVR station has a single platform (platform 3), it reopened in 2011. A new booking office / shop opened in 2017.
EMT 153 310 at Duffield

A Meridian passes through the station at speed

Station footbridge

National Rail platform viewed from the EVR one

A run round loop exists at the EVR station to aid loco hauled services

As with the NR station most services to the EVR one are also DMUs!

Coventry Arena (CAA)

Information
Type: National Rail
(Coventry-Nuneaton Line)
Station code: CAA
Opened: 2016
Platforms: 2
Coventry Arena, on the line between Coventry and Nuneaton, is one of the newest railway stations on the network opening in January 2016 next to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

Although the station was officially opened to serve the stadium there have been problems with overcrowding. The station is now closed for an hour before and after any events and there is usually insufficient rolling stock on the line to meet demand. Indeed there are posters on the platform that tell spectators to drive to events at the stadium instead! Hopefully these are just temporary problems.

The station is a standard unmanned station with bus shelters and a ticket machine. Access between the two platforms is via an underpass.
LM 153 366 arrives with a Nuneaton bound service

Station sign

Ricoh Arena is next to the station

Entrance to the station

Coventry platform



Idridgehay (XID)

Information
Type: Preserved Railway
(Ecclesbourne Valley Railway)
Station code: XID
Opened: 1867 (Closed 1964)
Reopened: 2008
Plaforms: 1
Idridgehay is one of the intermediate stations on what is now the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway between Duffield and Wirksworth. Opened by the Midland Railway in 1867 Idridgehay was never that busy a station though it did have some loyal passengers for whom it was a lifeline.

The station was closed for passenger use as a fuel saving measure in the Second World War though goods facilities continued to be available until 1964. The line closed completely in 1989 but happily was re-opened when the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway took over the line. Idridgehay was re-opened as a station in 2008.

There used to be a booking hall and crossing keeper's house at the station, the buildings still exist but these are now private houses. The level crossing has been restored and is usually operated by the guard on EVR services.
The solar panels from a 1980s British Rail trial into powering level crossing lights are still extant opposite the platform, and indeed still work!
33 103 passes through the level crossing

View of the platform

D8098 with a Wirksworth bound service

Looking up towards the level crossing, the BR solar panels are on the right

Most services on the EVR are operated by heritage DMUs

Chesham (ZCM)

Information
Type: Transport for London
(Metropolitan Line)
Station code: ZCM
Opened: 1889
Platforms: 1
Chesham is the terminus (and only station) on the Chesham branch of the Metropolitan Line. Chesham is the furthest station on the London Underground from central London (though is very much above ground!) It is the most Northerly and Western station on the tube map, being 25 miles from Charing Cross.

When Chesham station was opened by the Metropolitan Railway in 1889 the original intention was to keep going to Tring and connect to the LNWR London Euston-Birmingham line (what is now called the West Coast Main Line). However instead the Metropolitan decided to continue on through Aylesbury instead.

Chesham remained a branch line terminus and had a goods yard and 2 platforms though the former closed in 1966 and one of the platforms in 1970. Chesham retains much of its original Metropolitan Railway feel though with a preserved signal box, station canopy and even a water tower - though the days of steam hauled trains to Chesham ended in the early 1960s as the remaining portions of the Metropolitan Line were electrified.

Up until the introduction of S8 Stock the Chesham branch was served by a shuttle of A Stock that ran between Chesham and Chalfont & Latimer. However now through trains run from Chesham to central London.
A S8 Stock train departs for Aldgate

The end of the line, the furthest rails on the Underground

Station entrance

Preserved signal box

Water tower and station canopy

Station sign