Hoylake (HYK)

Hoylake is a stop on the Merseyrail Wirral Line West Kirby branch between West Kirby and Manor Road.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Merseyrail Wirral Line)
Station code:	HYK
Opened:	1866
Platforms:	2

Hoylake was opened in 1866 by the Hoylake Railway and was the initial Western terminus of the railway's line to Birkenhead Docks. The line became part of the Mersey Railway and the line extended to West Kirby. Later on the LMS took over and electrified the line through Hoylake in the 1938.

The station was also rebuilt in 1938 to an Art Deco style as were other stations on the route [1]. Originally the station was adjacent to a gas works (and accompanying sidings), it closed in 1954 [2] with coal sidings closing in the mid-1960s. The station also had a carriage shed and paint shop once but these were closed after the LMS take-over.

Nowadays Hoylake is part of the Merseyrail network with services every fifteen minutes between West Kirby and Liverpool Central. A level crossing is at the end of the platforms at the Western end of the station. Access between the platforms is via the road / level crossing or a footbridge. The station is staffed.

Merseyrail 507 017 arrives with a Liverpool bound train

A few second earlier 507 017 heads through the level crossing

View down the platform

Platform shelter

Main platform building

[1] Jonathan Cadwallader & Martin Jenkins, Merseyside Electrics (Ian Allan, 2010) p. 72
[2] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Birkenhead to West Kirby (Middleton Press, 2014) Map. XIII

Paddington (ZPA)

Paddington tube station is actually two stations physically separated by London Paddington mainline station.

Information
Type:	Transport for London (Bakerloo, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City Lines)
Station code:	ZPA
Opened:	1863
Platforms:	6

The first station to be opened was Paddington (Bishop's Road) by the Metropolitan Railway in 1863. It was the Metropolitan's first Western terminus with trains running East to Farringdon [1]. Nowadays the Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines stop here (the Metropolitan itself no longer does). The platforms are numbered (15 and 16) in sequence with the mainline station [2].

The next station, built the other side of the mainline station, was Paddington (Praed Street) in 1868 for a branch of the Metropolitan Railway's line from Hammersmith to Moorgate Street. The Circle and District Lines stop here.

The Baker Street & Waterloo Railway reached Paddington in 1913 [3], it served as the Northern terminus until Warwick Avenue was opened in 1915. It was the first station on the line to have escalators from platform level to the surface from opening. The Baker Street & Waterloo Railway later became the Bakerloo Line. The combined tube stations were renamed Paddington in 1947.

Originally the Circle Line only stopped at the former Praed Street part of the combined tube station but since 2009 Circle Line trains have also stopped at the Bishop's Road part.

A Bakerloo Line trains arrives

The end of the platform on the former Bishop's Road side

The former Praed Street side

S Stock arrives

View down the Bakerloo platform

District & Circle Line platform

[1] Mike Horne, The Metropolitan Line (Capital Transport, 2003) p. 5
[2] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 147
[3] Mike Horne, The Bakerloo Line (Capital Transport, 2001) p. 29

Tame Bridge Parkway (TAB)

Tame Bridge Parkway is a park and ride station in Sandwell, West Midlands between Hamstead and Bescot Stadium.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Chase Line)
Station code:	TAB
Opened:	1990
Platforms:	2

The station was opened as Tame Bridge in 1990 by British Rail. The Parkway part of the name was added in 1997 [1]. The station takes it's name from the nearby river Tame plus the Tame Valley Canal which crosses the railway line just South of the platform ends on the Grand Junction Aqueduct (the line originally being built by the Grand Junction Railway).

The station has a staffed booking office and spaces for over two hundred and thirty cars in the adjacent car park. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway and there are four trains an hour in both directions operated by West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway.

Two of these trains are on the service between Wolverhampton and Walsall via Birmingham New Street. Two trains an hour also go onto Rugeley Trent Valley and Birmingham International (one of which then goes onto London Euston).

LNWR 350 372 arrives at Tame Bridge Parkway

Booking office

View down the platform, the canal aqueduct can be seen in the background

View from the road

Platform shelter

The station is served by LNWR and WMR, both present in this image

[1] Vic Mitchell, North of Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2014) Fig. 53

Virginia Water (VIR)

Virginia Water in Surrey is the junction of the London Waterloo to Reading and Chertsey Branch Lines.

Information
Type:	National Rail (London Waterloo-Reading & Chertsey Branch Lines)
Station code:	VIR
Opened:	1856
Platforms:	4

The station was opened by the London & South Western Railway in 1856 on it's line from Staines to Ascot. The station was rebuilt in the early 1970s in the common British Rail prefab concrete style.

A new footbridge including lifts was opened in 2017 replacing an older footbridge that did not offer step-free access.

Virginia Water has two sets of platforms, platforms two and three are joined in a V-shape to allow for easy interchange. The station is managed by South Western Railway.

SWR 450 548 arrives with a Reading bound train

A SWR 700 departs under the new footbridge

A SWR 700 stands at the station

Platform side of the main station building

View down the platform

Waiting to depart

Broad Green (BGE)

Broad Green is a stop on the Liverpool-Manchester Line in the East of Liverpool between Watertree Technology Park and Roby. It is the oldest railway station in the world still in use.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Liverpool- Manchester Line)
Station code:	BGE
Opened:	1830
Platforms:	2

Broad Green was opened in September 1830, one of the earliest railway stations to be opened, on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway's line - considered the first true inter-city railway. Broad Green was the third station to be opened on the line behind Crown Street and the original Edge Hill in Liverpool. Those stations were closed in 1836 leaving Broad Green the oldest station still open, though it has changed a great deal over the years.

Broad Green later became a London & North Western Railway station who rebuilt the station when the line through Broad Green was quadrupled as far as Huyton. The station was demolished and completely rebuilt in 1972 (and reduced to two lines again) due to the construction of the M62 motorway. The station was reduced to two platforms and all buildings were replaced by a 1970s style booking office and shelter which remain on the station to this day.

Broad Green is now served by Northern who have been running electric services out of Liverpool Lime Street to the station and onward to destinations like Wigan North Western and Preston since 2015.

Northern 319 372 arrives with a Liverpool bound service

Platform shelters, a mix of new and slightly old

Northern 323 227 departs

Main station building

A look down towards Liverpool Lime Street

A Northern 323 at the station

Penkridge (PKG)

Penkridge is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in Staffordshire between Wolverhampton and Stafford.

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line)
Station code:	PKG
Opened:	1837
Platforms:	2

The station was opened in 1837 by the Grand Junction Railway later taken over by the London and North Western Railway.

The railway needed to pass through the lands of Baron Hatherton. The Baron was an enthusiastic early user of the railways and granted access in return for the railway company building stopping two trains a day at Penkridge (and money too of course!)

The station is now unstaffed though retains station buildings, though they are shuttered up and not available to the public. Passenger facilities consist of ticket machines and the usual bus shelters.

The station is served by London Northwestern Railway on services from London Euston via Birmingham New Street to Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.

LNWR 350 124 arrives with a South bound service

Station building and steps up to the platform

View down the platform

Platform shelter

Permit to travel machine

A Cross-Country train passes through

Warwick Parkway (WRP)

Warwick Parkway is a park and ride station between Hatton and Warwick near to the village of Budbrooke.

Information
Type:	Independently owned (Chiltern Main Line)
Station code:	WRP
Opened:	2000
Platforms:	2

Unlike most stations on the network Warwick Parkway is not owned by Network Rail. It is owned by Chiltern Railways who opened it in 2000. The station was opened with seven hundred and thirty seven car park spaces but has been expanded since opening to now have near a thousand spaces.

The station has opened due to the problem with providing more car parking at the tightly constrained Warwick and Leamington Spa stations. The station is well situated for motorway (M40) access [1].

The station was upgraded in 2012 (when more car parking spaces were added) and has also had a refurbishment in 2019. It is mainly served by Chiltern Railways on services between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone though there are also some peak time West Midlands Railway services too.

Chiltern 168 326 arrives with a Birmingham bound service

Platform shelter

Look down the platforms

...and the other direction

There are lifts for step-free access between platform and ground level

A Chiltern service prepares to depart

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Banbury to Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2004) Fig. 48

Farnborough (Main) (FNB)

Farnborough is a stop on the South Western Main Line in Hampshire betwen Brookwood and Fleet. It is the town's main station and is officially called Farnborough (Main) to distinguish it from the nearby Farnborough North though this suffix is not used on signage.

Information
Type:	National Rail (South Western Main Line)
Station code:	FNB
Opened:	1838
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the London & Southampton Railway in 1838, later becoming a London & South Western Railway station. Originally the station had just two lines through it with an island platform inbetween. When the line was quadrupled in the early 1900s new platforms were added on the outer lines and the original island platform removed. The demolition of the original platform means there is a wide gap between the two through lines.

The station is served by four trains an hour in both directions by South Western Railway.

SWR 444 004 passes through

Station frontage

View down the platform towards London

Two SWR 450s pause at Farnborough on a South bound service

Footbridge

Matlock Bath (MTB)

Matlock Bath is a stop on the Derwent Valley Line in Derbyshire between Matlock and Cromford.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Derwent Valley Line)
Station code:	MTB
Opened:	1849
Platforms:	1

The station was opened by the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock & Midland Junction Railway in 1849. The station serves a spa which was known as Little Switzerland and it is for this reason that the main station building was given "Swiss styling" looking not unlike a Swiss chalet [1]! The "chalet" had to have high chimneys though due to the problem with down draughts caused by the station being situated in a narrow valley.

The station was closed in 1967 but re-opened in 1972 [2]. The station now has just a single platform but originally has two platforms as well as a cattle dock and a goods shed. Next to the station were sidings for a quarry.

Next to the station is a cable car station for the Heights of Abraham park overlooking Matlock Bath.

An EMT service departs

Swiss style main building

Looking down the platform towards Matlock

...and down the platform towards Cromford

An EMT train prepares to depart

Matlock bound 153 382 allows passengers to alight

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Ambergate to Buxton (Middleton Press, 2019) Fig. 19
[2] Ibid. Fig. 20