Meols was one of the original stations of the Hoylake Railway, the predecessor to the Wirral Railway. It opened in 1866 and became part of the Wirral Railway in 1883. In 1938, by now operated by the London Midland Scottish Railway the line through Meols was electrified. The station was rebuilt at the same time, the Art Deco shelters and main station building dating from this rebuild [1].
The station has cycle storage, indeed it has had such since 1938 - back then this was quite a rarity! [2] It is planned to improve accessibility at the station by adding lifts to both platforms.
Merseyrail 507 019 departs for West Kirby
View down the platform under a concrete canopy
Gradient post
A train prepares to depart
The Art Deco platform shelters
Merseyrail 507 033 arrives with a Liverpool bound service
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Birkenhead to West Kirby (Middleton Press, 2014) Fig. 44 [2] Ibid. Fig. 45
Stanmore is the Northern terminus of the London Underground Jubilee Line though was originally was part of the Metropolitan Railway.
Information
Type:
Transport for London
(Jubilee Line)
Station code:
ZSM
Opened:
1932
Platforms:
3
Stanmore was opened in 1932 by the Metropolitan Railway [1] and the next year became a branch of the Metropolitan Line of London Underground. The Metropolitan offered commuters a faster route into London than via the earlier Stanmore Village station which was operated by the LMS. Stanmore Village closed in 1952.
There were proposals in the 1930s to extend the line North from Stanmore as far as Elstree or beyond. However these plans were never proceeded with. The Stanmore branch of the Metropolitan Line was transferred to the Bakerloo Line in 1939 and finally became a tube line in it's right, the Jubilee Line, in 1979.
A third platform was added to Stanmore in 2011. The original station building remains and is largely unchanged on the exterior apart from a canopy to shelter bus passengers [2] though the ticket office has been moved down to platform level. Jubilee Line stock is stored on sidings next to the station, originally this was the site of a small goods yard but this was closed after a couple of years [3].
96ts 96104 stands at Stanmore
A Jubilee Line train departs
The newest platform is on the right, Platform 3. Though Platform 2 is to the left of Platform 1!
Station building
Stock storage sidings next to the station
96006 stands ready to depart
[1] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 157 [2] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Baker Street to Uxbridge & Stanmore (Middleton Press, 2006) Fig. 54 [3] Ibid. Fig. 53
Kensal Green is a stop on the Bakerloo Line in Northwest London as well as a stop on the Watford DC line of the London Overground.
Information
Type:
Transport for London
(Bakerloo Line &
London Overground)
Station code:
KNL
Opened:
1916
Platforms:
2
The station was opened by the London & North Western Railway in 1916 on it's electrified line from London Euston to Watford. The station was also served by the Bakerloo Line from opening (the extension of the line from Queen's Park to Willesden Junction having been open since 1915) [1] and indeed was only served by the Bakerloo Line for the first five years [2]. Since 2007 National Rail services on the Watford DC line have been run by London Overground.
The line is in a cutting with tunnels just to the North of the station, there is a station building on the surface (and above the mouths of the tunnels). The original building was replaced by a new building in 1980 [3]. The platforms are largely unchanged from opening.
Bakerloo Line 72ts 3535 prepares to depart North
View from the footbridge
Tunnels just to the North of the station
Looking toward Central London
Steps down to the platform
[1] Mike Horne, The Bakerloo Line (Capital Transport, 2001) p. 33 [2] Keith Scholey, Euston to Harrow & Wealdstone (Middleton Press, 2002) Map. IX [3] Ibid. Fig. 65
Worcester Foregate Street is the smaller of Worcester's two railway stations, though is more centrally located in the city than Worcester Shrub Hill.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Snow Hill Lines)
Station code:
WOF
Opened:
1860
Platforms:
2
Worcester Foregate Street was opened by the Hereford & Worcester Railway in 1860. Later becoming part of the West Midlands Railway and finally the Great Western Railway.
Worcester Foregate Street is unusual in that both platforms are bi-directional and is more like two single track/platform stations next to each other. One line is for trains from Birmingham Snow Hill heading to Malvern and as far as Hereford. The other is for trains from London Paddington as far as Hereford.
Worcester Foregate Street is nowadays served by the modern day namesakes of the West Midlands and Great Western Railways. The station is built on a viaduct with access via lifts and steps, changing between platforms is via the subway underneath the station.
Gerrards Cross is a stop on the Chiltern Main Line in Buckinghamshire.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Chiltern Main Line)
Station code:
GER
Opened:
1906
Platforms:
2
The station was opened as Gerrards Cross for the Chalfonts in 1906 by the Great Western and Great Central Railways on their joint line. Originally the line was four track at the station but the two through roads were removed in 1989. A goods yard to the North of the station has been closed but the siding remains in use for stabling stock on services from London Marylebone which terminate at Gerrards Cross.
The line is in a deep cutting, the main station building is a two storey affair, the street entrance being on the first floor. The main building, footbridge and other platform building have little changed exteriorly since the opening of the station though two signal boxes at either end of the station have now gone, one lasting until 1990 [1].
Just South of the station is a tunnel built in 2005 on top of which was built a Tesco supermarket. Unfortunately during construction part of the tunnel roof fell on the railway line, luckily no trains hit the debris. Rail services were restored after a couple of months.
Looking up North
Main station building
View of the station from the road atop the tunnel
The tunnel can be seen in the background
Footbridge
A London bound Chiltern service arrives
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Paddington to Princes Risborough (Middleton Press, 2002) Fig. 77
The Southend Pier Railway runs for just over two kilometres along the pier at Southend-on-Sea with stations at the shore and pier ends.
Information
Type:
Southend Pier Railway
Opened:
1986
Platforms:
2 (shore) + 2 (pier)
The original pier had a horse drawn tramway but when the work on the current pier began in 1887 provision was made for an electric railway. Operations began in 1890 of this railway [1] with the full length completed the following year. After a period of decline this original pier railway closed in 1978.
It was finally replaced in 1986 by a brand new line (though with the original stations reused, the shore-end station dates from the rebuilding of the building it is housed in in 1932 [2]) which was to 914mm gauge. The railway has twin track termini at both ends which are known as North (shore-side) and South (pier-end). This line continues to run today though the original South / pier-end station was damaged in a fire in 2005 and was replaced by a new station in 2009.
The North shore-end station is fully enclosed [3] and has the line's depot next to it and a museum dedicated to the pier underneath, this museum contains preserved cars from the original pier railway. The current line is operated by two diesel locomotives and push-pull rolling stock. There is also an electric single car unit for off-season.
The South pier-end station is open-air though has canopies. Both stations have a single island platform.
Sir John Betjeman stands at the North shore-end station
The South pier-end station
Sir William Heygate at the South pier-end station
North shore-end station
Another view of Sir William Heygate waiting at the South pier-end station
Another view of Sir John Betjeman shore-end, both stations have a single island platform
[1] Dr Edwin Course, Barking to Southend (Middleton Press, 2002) Fig. 117 [2] Keith Turner, Pier Railways & Tramways of the British Isles (Oakwood Press, 1999) p. 54 [3] Robert J Harley, Southend-on-Sea Tramways (Middleton Press, 1994) Fig, 115
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
Ealing Broadway is the first stop on the Great Western Main Line in West London out of London Paddington, a major London Underground terminus to adjacent to the main line station.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Great Western Main Line)
Station code:
EAL
Opened:
1838
Platforms:
4
Ealing Broadway was opened, as Ealing, by the GWR in 1838 on it's broad gauge line between Paddington and Taplow. The station was renamed Ealing Broadway in 1875, a couple of years later the District Railway opened a station just to the North of the GWR one, what is now Ealing Broadway tube station. Nowadays this is a terminus of the Central and District Lines.
The original GWR station was demolished in 1961 and replaced by a new building with a single ticket office for National Rail (British Railways in those days of course) and Underground lines. The main line part of Ealing Broadway has four platforms though only two (platforms three and four) are in regular use.
Ealing Broadway is served by GWR and TfL Rail. In future it will also be a stop on the Elizabeth Line. Heathrow Express also calls at the station though this is now run by GWR.
Heathrow Express 332 012 departs the station
The LU station is next to the NR one
GWR 165 131 arrives with a Paddington bound service
Holywell Town was the terminus of the short (nearly three kilometre long) branch line from Holywell Junction.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Holywell Branch Line)
Opened:
1912
Closed:
1954
Platforms:
1
Holywell Junction, which opened in 1848, was not that close to the town so the London & North Western Railway opened a branch line in 1912 that ran up a one in twenty-seven gradient to Holywell. The line followed much of the route of the Holywell Railway Company [1] line from Holywell Junction to industries North of Holywell though the Holywell Railway had never managed to get the line to Holywell itself. The station had a single platform with wooden shelters but also had goods facilities and a run-round loop.
Although custom on the line was reasonable the station the line was closed in 1954 following a decline in service during and after the Second World War. Holywell Junction was also closed in the following decade.
LNWR officials at the opening of the station [1]
Holywell Town [1]
[1] "Opening of a branch line of the L and NW Railway", Railway Times (July 6 1912) p. 13
Shirley is a stop on the North Warwickshire Line (usually called the Shakespeare Line nowadays) between Yardley Wood and Whitlocks End.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Shakespeare Line)
Station code:
SRL
Opened:
1908
Platforms:
2
Shirley was opened in 1908 along with other stations on the line by the Great Western Railway. It was given a brick building which is still in use with full facilities (with ten staff) as well as a goods yard, which was removed in 1968 [1]. The station is otherwise largely unchanged from opening apart from signage. The footbridge has been replaced though and lifts have been added either side of the footbridge in recent years to aid station accessibility.
Shirley was the terminus for commuter services from Birmingham until services were extended to Whitlocks End in 2010. Shirley also has services for Stratford-upon-Avon and Worcester.
WMR 172 218 departs Shirley
Station frontage
View of the footbridge
View of the station buildings
Footbridge view including the lift shafts either side
Station sign
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham (Moor Street) (Middleton Press, 2006) Fig. 74
