Freightliner 66 517 heads a freight passing through Water Orton
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Birmingham-Leicester Line)
Station code:
WTO
Opened:
1842
Platforms:
2
The first station at Water Orton was built by the Birmingham & Derby Junction Railway in 1842. It was replaced by the current station built by the Midland Railway in 1909 after the junction of the line to Kingsbury was re-sited to allow for higher line speeds. The new station was built further away from the junction [1].
The station was built as a single island platform with the station building on a road bridge which crossed the railway lines. A goods yard used to be located next to the station but it was closed in 1966 [2]. The station building is still intact though the station is now unstaffed with just the most basic facilities.
Although the station is managed by West Midlands Trains only Cross Country services stop there, usually a two-hourly train between Birmingham New Street and Leicester though there is also one train a day to and from Nottingham. There is no Sunday service.
Station building
Cross Country 170 397 passes through bound for Nottingham
Signage and shelter on the platform
Access from road level and the station entrance is via these steps
Another Cross Country service passes through
[1] Vic Mitchell, North of Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2014) fig. 29 [2] Vic Mitchell, Birmingham to Tamworth and Nuneaton (Middleton Press, 2014) fig. 45