Wood End is a stop on the North Warwickshire Line (nowadays better known as the Shakespeare Line) between Danzey and The Lakes. The station serves the Warwickshire village of Wood End near Tanworth-in-Arden and is close to the border with the West Midlands region.
WMR 172 343 departs Wood End
Information
Type:
National Rail (Shakespeare Line)
Station code:
WDE
Opened:
1908
Platforms:
2
As with some of the other stations on the line Wood End was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1908, it was located in a cutting next to the one hundred and sixty one metre long Wood End tunnel. The station was originally known as Wood End Platform [1] and kept this name until the late 1930s. The station was never a major affair, serving a sparsely populated area (Danzey was considered the best station for Tanworth-in-Arden). The station had no goods yard though did have a ticket office and a staff of two.
Station facilities were basic however, comprising of wooden structures [2]. The ticket office was damaged by fire in 1967. A concrete footbridge was built at Wood End in 1949. This was removed in 2014 when new stairs were built down to the platforms via access ramps from the main road.
The station is now an unmanned request stop managed by West Midlands Railway. The only facilities being two concrete shelters and public information screens. The station has an hourly service during the week between Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon though has no Sunday service.
Looking down towards Wood End tunnel
New WMR branded station sign
More new signage on the platform
Robust steps down to the platform
Looking up towards Birmingham
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham Moor Street (Middleton Press, 2006) Fig. 59 [2] Colin G, Maggs, The Branch Lines of Warwickshire (Amberley, 2011) p. 139
East Midlands Parkway is a stop on the Midlands Main Line on the Nottinghamshire / Leicestershire border between Long Eaton and Loughborough.
EMR 222 010 arrives at the station
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Midlands Main Line)
Station code:
EMD
Opened:
2009
Platforms:
4
The station was built next to Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in 2009 [1] as a park and ride station. It is also the closest railway station to East Midlands Airport to which there is a regular minibus shuttle. There have been criticisms though that the station is poorly located and passengers numbers are lower than originally forecast, however it is used three hundred thousand people a year.
The station has four platforms which are linked by a footbridge. The station is staffed and has an eight hundred and fifty space car park. It is managed and served by East Midlands Railway
Main station building
An EMR 158 stands at the station
The power station cooling towers dominate the view
Station entrance
Footbridge between the platforms
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Leicester to Nottingham (Middleton Press, 2018) Fig. 59
Royal Albert is a stop on the Beckton branch of the Docklands Light Railway between Prince Regent and Beckton Park.
B2K Stock #12 arrives at Royal Albert
Information
Type:
Transport for London (Docklands Light Railway)
Station code:
ZRC
Opened:
1994
Platforms:
2
The station opened in 1994 and is located next to the London Regatta Centre and Royal Albert Dock. The platforms are on an elevated section of track, from the platform there is a good view of London City Airport though this is on the opposite side of the dock (and has its own station anyway).
Like most DLR stations Royal Albert is unmanned and rather austere with little facilities apart from a ticket machine though both platforms have lift access.
Below the platforms, lift on the left, stairs on the right
Colwall is a stop on the Cotswold & Malvern Line in Herefordshire between Great Malvern and Ledbury.
WMR 170 516 departs Colwall for Hereford
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Cotswold Line)
Station code:
CWL
Opened:
1861
Platforms:
1
The station was opened in 1861 [1] by the West Midlands Railway, the station being the other side of the nearly one and half kilometre long Colwall tunnel which cuts through the Malvern Hills. The station originally had two platforms plus a goods yard. The yard was closed in 1964. The line was singled between Colwall and Ledbury in 1967 [2].
Although there is now only one platform remaining the footbridge which linked the two platforms has been retained for walkers who need to cross the line. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway (the current day version) whose Birmingham New Street-Hereford services stop at Colwall along with some selected Great Western Railway services between Hereford and London Paddington.
Station footbridge
View from the footbridge looking towards Malvern
Platform view
Looking towards Hereford, a WMR 170 approaches
Station view from the footbridge looking in the direction of Hereford
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Worcester to Hereford (MIddleton Press, 2004) Map. XXI [2] Ibid. Fig. 66
Stonebridge Park is a stop on the London Underground Bakerloo Line between Wembley Central and Harlesden. The station is also a top on the Watford DC Line of London Overground. The station is in North West London just off the North Circular Road.
Bakerloo Line 72ts 3448 stands at Stonebridge Park
Information
Type:
Transport for London (Bakerloo Line & London Overground)
Station code:
SBP
Opened:
1912
Platforms:
2
The station was opened by the London & North Western Railway in 1912, with Bakerloo Line trains stopping at the station from 1917. Adjacent to the station is one of the Bakerloo Line's depots. Parts of the station were rebuilt after the Second World War as the original were damaged during the Blitz. The Southbound platform building was rebuilt again in 1948 following a fire [1] to a design by John Weeks [2]. These platform buildings were replaced in 1998 by the current platform buildings, the original station building survives at street level [3].
Stonebridge Park was the Northern terminus of the Bakerloo Line during the 1980s before services were restored through to Harrow & Wealdstone. However some Bakerloo Line still terminate at the station.
Two Bakerloo Line trains cross
London Overground 378 206 arrives at the station with a Southbound service
View down the platform with a Bakerloo Line train in
Looking towards Central London
Platform buildings
[1] Keith Scholey, Euston to Harrow & Wealdstone (Middleton Press, 2002) Fig. 92 [2] David Lawrence, British Rail Architecture 1948-97 (Crecy Publishing, 2018) p. 42 [3] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p.158
Wilnecote is a stop on the Birmingham-Derby Line in Staffordshire between Tamworth and Water Orton.
Cross Country 170 106 heads through the station
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Birmingham-Derby Line)
Station code:
WNE
Opened:
1842
Platforms:
2
The station was opened as Wilnecote and Fazeley in 1842 by the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, the name was shortened to Wilnecote in 1904 [1]. The station is situated on Watling Street as it passes to the South of Tamworth. The station is in a cutting with access to the platforms via the road which crosses the railway. The station did not have a goods yard itself but was next to a brick works which had sidings.
The station used to have brick platform buildings though these were lost in the 1970s and replaced with the usual bus shelters [2]. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway but unstaffed, Cross Country provide all services.
View down the platform, Watling Street bridge can be seen in the background
View from the bridge
View down the platform
A Cross Country service passes through
Cross Country 170 115 passes through
[1] Vic Mitchell, Birmingham to Tamworth and Nuneaton (Middleton Press, 2014) Fig. 61 [2] Ibid. Fig. 63
Danzey is a stop on the North Warwickshire Line (which is these days branded as the Shakespeare Line) in Warwickshire between Henley-in-Arden and Wood End.
In LM days 172 331 arrives with a Birmingham bound service
Information
Type:
National Rail (Shakespeare Line)
Station code:
DZY
Opened:
1908
Platforms:
2
Danzey was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1908 when the North Warwickshire Line was opened. Danzey itself only serves a few houses and farms in Danzey Green with the closest settlement of any size Tanworth-in-Arden over a kilometer away. Danzey was originally known as Danzey for Tanworth [1].
Despite the rural nature of the station it had a goods yard and as many as six men worked at the station during the Interwar Period. The station had a signalbox which closed in 1970. The goods yard closed in 1964.
The station is unmanned now, it has no ticket purchasing facilities though is equipped with public information screens and a help/information phone. The footbridge and platform shelters date from 1993. The station is a request stop with an hourly service in both directions most days though does not have a Sunday service. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway.
View from the footbridge
GWR style name board
Newer WMR signs
View of the shelter and the footbridge
A LM train has just arrived
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham Moor Street (Middleton Press, 2006) p. 55
Southend Central is located on the London, Tilbury and Southend Line in Essex between Westcliff and Southend East. It is one of two stations in the centre of the town (the other being Southend Victoria) though they are unconnected.
c2c 357 013 on a service that has terminated at Southend Central
Information
Type:
National Rail
(London, Tilbury and Southend Line)
Station code:
SOC
Opened:
1856
Platforms:
4
The station was opened as Southend in 1856 by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway. Southend was the Eastern terminus before the line was extended to Shoeburyness. The station was renamed Southend-on-Sea on 1876 and Southend-on-Sea Central in 1949. The station name was shortened to the current one in 1969.
The original station buildings were replaced by the current build in 1889 due to competition from the Great Eastern Railway who reached the town and opened Southend Victoria that year [1]. From 1910 to 1939 the London Underground District Line also operated a seasonal service to Southend.
The station was busiest with holiday traffic in the first half of the twentieth century and had six platforms. Two of these have been closed along with the goods yard, the line was electrified in the late 1960s [2]. Nowadays the station is managed by c2c and is served by at least six trains an hour from London Fenchurch Street, two of which terminate at Southend Central with the others going onwards to Shoeburyness.
Station building
View down the platforms, canopy coverage varies
View of the canopy and basic platform facilities
c2c 357 325 arrives at Southend Central
Another platform view
[1] Dr Edwin Course, Barking to Southend (Middleton Press, 2002) Map. XX [2] Ibid. Fig. 91
Aylesbury is a stop on the London Marylebone-Aylesbury Line between Stoke Mandeville and Aylesbury Vale Parkway in Buckinghamshire. The station is also the terminus of the Princes Risborough-Aylesbury Line. Aylesbury was once the terminus of the London Underground Metropolitan Line though is nowadays only served by National Rail.
Chiltern 165 006 departs
Information
Type:
National Rail (London Marylebone-Aylesbury Line)
Station code:
AYS
Opened:
1863
Platforms:
3
Aylesbury station was opened in 1863 by the Wycombe Railway originally as a broad gauge line via Princes Risborough. This line was converted to standard gauge when the Aylesbury & Buckingham Railway reached the town and the station was taken over by the Great Western Railway.
The Metropolitan Railway reached Aylesbury in 1892 [1] though used a separate station, Aylesbury (Brook Street) next to the original station. Two years later this station was closed and the Metropolitan Railway used the GWR station instead [2], the station was rebuilt and expanded in 1893 with another rebuild in the mid-1920s [3]. The Grand Central Railway reached Aylesbury in 1899 and Aylesbury became a stop on the Great Central Main Line out of London Marylebone.
From 1948 Aylesbury became the terminus of the Metropolitan Line, though trains were steam hauled from Rickmansworth onward. However after electrification as far as Amersham London Underground discontinued the use of steam haulage. London Underground services beyond Amersham ceased in 1961.
Aylesbury was in a poor state by the 1980s but was renewed as part of Network South East's improvement of services out of London Marylebone. A new maintenance depot was built next to the station in 1991 as the operational headquarters of the Chiltern Line [4].
Aylesbury is managed by Chiltern Railways, recently step-free access to the platforms has been added.
View down the platforms towards London
Platform buildings and new lift acess
Main station building
Island platform building
Chiltern 165 015 departs for Aylesbury Vale Parkway
[1] Mike Horne, The Metropolitan Line (Capital Transport, 2003) p. 16 [2] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Branch Lines to Princes Risborough (Middleton Press, 2003) Fig. 1 [3] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Rickmansworth to Aylesbury (Middleton Press, 2005) Fig. 102 [4] Mitchell & Smith, Branch Lines Fig. 12
