Bicester North (BCS)

Bicester North in Oxfordshire is a stop on the Chiltern Main Line between Kings Sutton and Haddenham & Thame Parkway. Nearby (though not on the same line) is Bicester Village on the line to Oxford.

Chiltern 168 004 arrives at Bicester North

Information
Type:	National Rail (Chiltern Main Line)
Station code:	BCS
Opened:	1910
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1910. The station as built was far more elaborate than the station which exists now. Bicester North had a goods yard and a couple of through roads for non-stopping services. The Chiltern line drastically cut back in the late 1960s, being singled for a lot of it's stretch though a loop was retained at Bicester North [1]. The track was redoubled in the early 2000s and remodelled through the station to allow for higher speeds. The space formally occupied by the through road became the new Up (London) bound track through the station. The platform was widened as a result (which is why the waiting rooms and other buildings on that platform are so far back!)

The main station building is little changed since the opening of the station with the original canopy. The footbridge is largely as it was since the station was built, though lifts have been added. Originally the bridge had to span four tracks hence its width! The station is managed and served by Chiltern Railways.

Chiltern 165 002 arrives with a South bound service

Under the GWR canopy

Footbridge

Main station building

Just arrived

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Princes Risborough to Banbury (Middleton Press, 2001) plate 63

Moreton (Merseyside) (MRT)

Moreton is a stop on the West Kirby branch of the Merseyrail Wirral Line between Leasowe and Meols. The station is suffixed with Merseyside on information displays (though not on station signage) to avoid confusion with another Moreton station in Dorset!

Liverpool bound Merseyrail 508 120 waits at the station

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

Moreton was opened by the Hoylake Railway in 1866 on the line to Birkenhead Docks. The station was later part of the Wirral Railway and the Mersey Railway. Sidings for the local brickworks were added in 1903, the goods yard closing in 1963. The line through Moreton was electrified by the LMS in the late 1930s. The original wood and corrugated iron station buildings were replaced when the station was rebuilt in 1938 in the same concrete Art Deco style as other stations on the line [1].

Cadburys opened a factory making chocolate biscuits next to the station in the early 1950s [2], the factory had a siding which remained in use until 1971 [3]. A signal box used to be situated at the end of the platform next to the factory though was closed and demolished in 1994. Moreton is served by Merseyrail with trains at up to every fifteen minutes between West Kirby and Liverpool Central.

Merseyrail 507 011 departs the station

Station nameboard

Look down the platform

Platform shelter

Merseyrail 507 008 departs for West Kirby

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Birkenhead to West Kirby (Middleton Press, 2014) Fig. 39
[2] Ibid. Fig. 43
[3] Jonathan Cadwallader & Martin Jenkins, Merseyside Electrics (Ian Allan, 2010) p. 71

Greenbank (GBK)

Greenbank is a stop on the Mid-Cheshire Line between Cuddington and Northwich. The station is close to the border between Northwich and Hartford.

Northern 150 143 arrives with a Manchester bound service

Information
Type:	National Rail (Mid-Cheshire Line)
Station code:	GBK
Opened:	1870
Platforms:	2

The station was opened as Hartford & Greenbank by the West Cheshire Railway in 1870. The station remained part of the Cheshire Lines Committee with trains later operated by the LNER (with some shuttles by the LMS) until nationalisation in 1948.

The station was renamed Greenbank in 1973 [1]. The station is nowadays unstaffed. The main station building still exists but is nowadays used as a church. Facilities at Greenbank are the usual for unstaffed stations: bus shelter, information screen and ticket machine! Access to the station which is in a cutting is via ramps from the road level. Greenbank signalbox (which opened in 1975 [2]) is next to the station.

The station has an hourly service most days in both directions between Chester and Manchester Piccadilly. Services are operated by Northern, who manage the station. There are some extra services during peak hours.

GBRf 66 779 brings a freight through Greenbank

Greenbank signal box

Station sign, slightly suspect BR logo

Main station buildings

Station shelter

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Chester Northgate to Manchester (Middleton Press, 2013) Map. XV
[2] Ibid. Fig. 35

Bilbrook (BBK)

Bilbrook is a stop on the Birmingham-Shrewsbury Line in South Staffordshire between Wolverhampton and Codsall.

WMR 170 508 departs North

Information
Type:	National Rail (Wolverhampton-Shrewsbury Line)
Station code:	BBK
Opened:	1934
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1934 in what was then the London Paddington to Birkenhead Line. The station was known as Birches & Bilbrook Halt when it opened, it reverted to the current name in 1974.

The two platforms are staggered either side of a road bridge with access to the platforms via ramps from the road. The station is unstaffed with just the basic bus shelters and information screen for passengers. The station is served by at least one train an hour by West Midlands Railway.

The two platforms are either side of this bridge

Station sign

View from the bridge

On the platform

Shelter, information screen and signage

Seer Green and Jordans (SRG)

Seer Green & Jordans is a stop on the Chiltern Main Line in Buckinghamshire between Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield.

Chiltern 165 020 arrives at Seer Green & Jordans

Information
Type:	National Rail (Chiltern Main Line)
Station code:	SRG
Opened:	1915
Platforms:	2

The station was opened as Beaconsfield Golf Links Halt in 1915 [1] on the joint GWR/GCR line. The station is indeed adjacent to the golf club's club house. The station was renamed Seer Green in 1918. The station name had "& Jordans" appended to it in 1950 and the name remained this until 1974 when it became Seer Green again. In latter years Jordans has reappeared on the station name boards.

The station has wooden station structures with a booking office and waiting room on one platform, a wooden shelter on the other platform. The two platforms are linked by a footbridge.

The station is managed and served by Chiltern Railways who run at least one train an hour in both directions between London Marylebone and Aylesbury.

A look down the platforms under the footbridge

Main station building

Waiting hut

View from the footbridge, the gold club can be seen in the background

Chiltern 168 028 departs

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Paddington to Princes Risborough (Middleton Press, 2002) Fig. 79

Redditch (RDC)

Redditch is the Southern terminus of the Cross-City Line in Worcestershire (the other end of the line being Lichfield Trent Valley). It is one of two stations on the Cross-City Line branch from Barnt Green (the other being Alvechurch).

WMR 323 209 has just arrived

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cross-City Line)
Station code:	RDC
Opened:	1859
Platforms:	1

The station was opened in 1859 by the Midland Railway at the end of a new branch line from the Birmingham & Gloucester Line at Barnt Green. At a later date the Evesham & Redditch Railway built a line South from Redditch via Evesham to Ashchurch. This line was closed to passengers in 1962 and closed completely two years later. The line from Barnt Green was also nearly a victim of the Beeching cuts but survived thanks to a local campaign. Services were greatly improved when the Cross-City Line was inaugurated in the late 1970s with more regular services to Birmingham.

The station was moved in 1992 to make space for a new bus station and shopping centre, this was done as part of the Cross-City Line's electrification upgrade. Redditch is the only station on the Cross-City Line to have a single platform though does have a booking office and waiting room.

Station building

Looking down the line

Station shelter

General view of the station

WMR 323 243 prepares to depart

Charing Cross (ZCX)

Charing Cross tube station in the centre of London near London Charing Cross railway station and serves the Bakerloo and Northern Lines, it also once was the Southern terminus of the Jubilee Line. For most of it's life the station has actually been two separate stations.

Bakerloo Line platform

Information
Type:	Transport for London (Bakerloo & Northern Lines)
Station code:	ZCX
Opened:	1906
Platforms:	4 (+ 2 disused)

The station was originally opened as Trafalgar Square by the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway in 1906, the station having a ticket hall under the square itself [1]. The Charing Cross, Euston & Hamstead Railway opened their nearby station, Charing Cross, in 1907 [2]. The two stations were separate and did not have any underground interconnection. The CCEHR was extended to interconnect with the Bakerloo and District Railways in 1914 [3] at a station called Embankment. Later this was called Charing Cross (Embankment).

The two stations still had separate names, after a few changes Charing Cross was renamed Strand in 1915. There already was a station called Strand, this was renamed to Aldwych!

The new Jubilee Line opened in 1979. Prior to this the original Northern Line platforms were closed in 1973 to allow for the construction of new platforms for the Jubilee [4]. During the reconstruction the Bakerloo and Northern Line stations were finally given an underground interconnection! The two stations, Strand and Trafalgar Square, were also merged on the map and given the name Charing Cross. Charing Cross (Embankment) reverted back to just Embankment.

The Jubilee Line was extended in the 1990s out into East London with Stratford becoming the new terminus. The Charing Cross platforms of the line were closed in 1999 though are still available for train stabling and emergency access. The now largely disused Jubilee Line platforms and parts of the station are often used for filming and have appeared in films such as Skyfall.

Entrance to Charing Cross

Mural on the platform side on the Bakerloo Line

Service tunnel used during the construction of the Jubilee Line part of the station

Now disused Jubilee Line platform

Sign in the disused part of the station

[1] Mike Horne, The Bakerloo Line (Capital Transaport, 2001) p. 17
[2] Chris Nix, Charing Cross: Access All Areas (London Transport Museum, 2017) p. 2
[3] Mike Horne, The Northern Line (Capital Transport, 1990) p. 27
[4] Mike Horne, The Jubilee Line (Capital Transport, 2000) p. 42

Langley Green (LGG)

Langley Green is a station in Oldbury on the line from Birmingham Snow Hill to Worcester. The station is between Smethwick Galton Bridge and Rowley Regis.

WMR 172 279 departs the station

Information
Type:	National Rail (Snow Hill Lines)
Station code:	LGG
Opened:	1885
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1885, the current station is slightly further along the line than the original. Langley Green used to have a platform for a branch to Oldbury but this closed in 1915. A signalbox used to stand on the end at the Birmingham platform, the Oldbury branch using the other side of the platform. The station was rebuilt by Centro following the re-opening of Birmingham Snow Hill.

The station has two platforms linked by a footbridge. Just beyond the Rowley Regis end of the platforms is a level crossing. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway who provide a half-hourly service through most of the week. There are also a small number of Chiltern Railways services stopping at Langley Green including one a day from London Marylebone.

Main station building

Looking towards Birmingham, the signalbox used to be on the end of this platform

Down the platform

Level crossing

View from the footbridge

Bicester Village (BIT)

Bicester Village, situated between Islip and Haddenham & Thame Parkway, is one of two stations in the Oxfordshire town of Bicester, the other being Bicester North.

Chiltern 168 323 at Bicester Village

Information
Type:	National Rail (Oxford-Bicester Line)
Station code:	BIT
Opened:	1850 (Closed 1968)
Re-Opened:	1987 (as Bicester Town) 2016 (as Bicester Village)
Platforms:	2

The station has had a varied history with a number of name changes and two closures! It was originally opened as Bicester by the Buckinghamshire Railway in 1850 on it's line between Banbury and Bletchley which later became part of the Varsity Line between Oxford and Cambridge. The station was owned by the London North Westen Railway. In 1954 it was renamed Bicester London Road but was closed in 1968 along with parts of the Varsity Line.

British Rail reopened the station in 1987 as Bicester Town with services from Oxford. The services were later taken over by Chiltern Railways who closed the station again in 2014 for rebuilding as part of a project to extend Oxford trains through to London Marylebone. The station was re-opened as Bicester Village in 2015 named after the designer outlet shopping centre which is adjacent to the station built on the site of the former goods yard [2]. This name change was not without local controversy.

The rebuilt station has two platforms (Bicester Town had just one and was unstaffed [1]) as well as ticket buying facilities in a new station building. There are two hundred and thirty car park spaces. Access between the two platforms is via a footbridge. Due to the large number of tourists who use the station for the shopping centre signage is tri-lingual in English, Arabic and Chinese.

Station footbridge

View from the footbridge, notice the multi-lingual signage

Station building

Chiltern 168 324 arrives at Bicester Village

Station frontage

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Oxford to Bletchley (Middleton Press, 2005) Fig. 54
[2] Ibid. Map. X