Hawkhurst

Hawkhurst was the terminus of the Hawkhurst Branch Line in Kent, the next station on the line being Cranbrook.

The main platform at Hawkshurt (KD Collection)

Information
Type:	National Rail (Hawkhurst Branch Line)
Opened:	1893
Closed:	1961
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Cranbrook & Paddock Wood Railway in 1893 when the line from Paddock Wood was extended from Goudhurst. Hawkhurst remained the line's terminus although there were unrealised plans to extend the line to Rye thus the station was designed as a through station.

Hawkhurst station was later owned by the South Eastern Railway and Southern Railway. The station had two platforms, a main platform and a shorter bay platform. There was a small goods yard and a locomotive shed. The station was closed in 1961 along with the rest of the line.

Little now remains of Hawkhurst station though it gives it's name to a modern business park built on the site.

Codsall (CSL)

Codsall is a stop on the Birmingham New Street-Shrewsbury line in Staffordshire between Bilbrook and Albrighton.

WMR 170 502 arrives at the station

Information
Type:	National Rail (Birmingham-Shrewsbury Line)
Station code:	CSL
Opened:	1849
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Shrewsbury & Birmingham Railway in 1849 later becoming part of the Great Western Railway in 1854. The station being on the GWR line from London Paddington to Birkenhead. The station building dates from from the 1850s with a GWR footbridge added in 1883. This was unfortunately destroyed by a contractor's crane in accident in 2005 [1], the bridge was later restored though is slightly higher than the original bridge.

The station had a goods yard but this was closed in 1964 [2]. A signalbox to the East of the station was closed in 2006. The original station building is now a pub. Station facilities are the usual shelters and screens. The station is served by West Midlands Railway with two trains an hour in each direction with a limited number of stops by Transport for Wales.

View down the platform showing the footbridge

Original station building

View down the platform showing WMR signage

Road bridge and station sign, the entrance is to the left

Under the bridge

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury (Middleton Press, 2009) Fig. 65
[2] Ibid. Fig. 63

West India Quay (ZIQ)

West India Quay is a junction on the Docklands Light Railway between Canary Wharf (which is just two hundred metres away) and Westferry or Poplar (depending on the branch). The station overlooks the former West India docks and warehouse. The platforms extend over part of the North dock.

Two DLR trains at West India Quay

Information
Type:	Transport for London (Docklands Light Railway)
Station code:	ZIQ
Opened:	1987
Platforms:	3

West India Quay was one of the original Docklands Light Railway stations and opened in 1987 [1]. It is where the line from Lewisham splits into the two branches to Stratford and Tower Gateway.

The station was closed in 1991 until 1993 due to construction work taking place in the area. The station will be the closest DLR station to Canary Wharf Elizabeth Line station when that opens at a later date.

West India Quay, North Dock

The West India Docks are three docks on the Isle of Dogs in East London, nowadays part of the Canary Wharf financial district. Once however they were part of a very different kind of trade being an integral part of the thriving London Docklands.

However the docks, as with other traditional docks around the UK, went into decline post World War Two. Much seaborne trade switched to container ships which required purpose built new facilities. By the end of the 1970s most sea trade has ceased in this part of London and the area was in heavy decline. The area was regenerated in the 1980s to become the shiny commercial and retail hub it is now. Although some parts of the docks were lost due to rebuilding (one of the docks was partially lost to become Canary Wharf tube station) most were retained as part of the redevelopment as skyscrapers rose and the old warehouses became apartments and restaurants.

North Dock was once the Import Dock and could contain up to six hundred vessels. There are somewhat less there now but a rather lovely collection of preserved ships all the same.

View down a nearly empty platform

DLR train #33 arrives

DLR train #77 prepares to depart

Passengers disembank from #30

View of the station from across the dock

[1] Stephen Jolly & Bob Bayman, Docklands Light Railway (Capital Transport, 1986) p. 50

Bromborough (BOM)

Bromborough is a stop on the Merseyrail Wirral Line's Chester and Ellesmere Port branches between Bromborough Rake and Eastham Rake.

Merseyrail 507 021 prepares to depart

Information
Type:	National Rail (Merseyrail Wirral Line)
Station code:	BOM
Opened:	1841
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Chester & Birkenhead Railway in 1841. Originally the railway through Bromborough had just two lines but this was doubled later on with a new island platform built between the middle two lines [1]. The station also had a goods yard which was closed in 1965. By the 1980s the line had been reduced back down to two tracks.

The line through Bromborough was electrified in 1985 which allowed for direct trains to Liverpool Central. Further electrification enabled through electric trains to Chester and Ellesmere Port in the early 1990s [2]. The station is managed by Merseytravel and served by Merseyrail. The station is in a cutting with stairways down to the platforms from a road-level station building.

This way to the exit, the former lines were to the left

View down the platform

Down to platform level

A train has just arrived

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Chester to Birkenhead (Middleton Press, 2012) Fig. 44
[2] Jonathan Cadwallader & Martin Jenkins, Merseyside Electrics (Ian Allan, 2010) p. 79

Peterborough Nene Valley

Peterborough Nene Valley is the Eastern terminus of the Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough.

View down the platform

Information
Type:	Preserved Railway (Nene Valley Railway)
Opened:	1986
Platforms:	1

The station was opened in 1986 as part of the Nene Valley Railway extension into Peterborough. The station was brand new and not a re-opening of a closed station (Peterborough East which closed in 1970 is a short distance away). The station is adjacent to the East Coast Main Line though unconnected, and is a short walk away from Peterborough station.

Peterborough Nene Valley is next to the Railworld exhibition and nature reserve. The station has a single platform, a small goods yard, run around loop and a signalbox.

A selection of wagons stored at the station

Woodstone Wharf signal box

Station nameboard

Alco S-1 at Railworld

Sileby (SIL)

Sileby is a stop on the Midland Main Line in Leicestershire between Syston and Barrow-upon-Soar.

EMR 156 413 arrives with a Nottingham bound service

Information
Type:	National Rail (Midland Main Line / Ivanhoe Line)
Station code:	SIL
Opened:	1840 (Closed 1968)
Re-Opened:	1994
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Midland Counties Railway in 1840 on an embankment which cut through the village. The line was quadrupled in 1906 [1] with an island platform between the two inner tracks. There was a goods yard just North of the station. The station buildings were of wooden construction.

The station was closed to passenger traffic in 1968 but was re-opened in 1994 [2] as part of what is known as the Ivanhoe Line. The station has two new short platforms on the two slow lines. Little from the old station has survived, the new station has the usual bus shelters for passengers, there are ramps and steps down to street level. The station is managed by East Midlands Railway who run an hourly service most days between Nottingham and Lincoln Central via Leicester.

Station entrance under the bridge

EMT 156 413 arrives at the station

View down the platform

Station shelter

EMR 156 406 departs while a passenger heads down the ramp

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Leicester to Nottingham (Middleton Press, 2018) Fig. 26
[2] Ibid. Fig. 30

Gravelly Hill (GVH)

Gravelly Hill is a stop on the Northern half of the Cross City Line in Birmingham between Aston and Erdington. The station is very close to Gravelly Hill Interchange a.k.a. the Spaghetti Junction.

In London Midland days 323 204 departs heading North

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cross-City Line)
Station code:	GVH
Opened:	1862
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the London & North Western Railway in 1862 on it's line from Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield. The two-storey booking office has survived though everything else on the station has changed. The station had much more extensive platform buildings originally [1] but these days, the booking office aside, is the usual collection of bus shelters.

The station is in a cutting with the top storey of the booking office at the end of a ramp down from road level. The original wooden footbridge and the older station buildings were removed when the Cross City Line was electrified in the early 1990s [2]. Both platforms have step-free access.

The station is managed by West Midlands Railway, services between Lichfield and Redditch or Bromsgrove are at up to six trains per hour.

Station sign

Ramp down to the booking office

The ramp for the other platform

Station view from the bridge to the North of the station

[1] Vic Mitchell, North of Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2014) Fig. 87
[2] Ibid. Fig. 88

Bow Road (ZBR)

Bow Road is a stop on the District and Hammersmith & City Lines of the London Underground in East London between Mile End and Bromley-by-Bow.

An S Stock train departs

Information
Type:	Transport for London (District and Hammersmith & City Lines)
Station code:	ZBR
Opened:	1902
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Whitechapel & Bow Railway in 1902 which later was incorporated into what became the District Line. The Metropolitan Line began serving Bow Road in 1936, in 1950 this part of the Metropolitan was renamed the Hammersmith & City Line.

The station is unusual in that at it's Western end the line is underground but is above ground on the Eastern end of the station [1]. The station is close to Bow Church DLR station.

Station entrance

View down the platform, an S Stock train is in

View down the platform

[1] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 106

Rothley

Rothley was a stop on the Great Central Railway in Leicestershire between Belgrave & Birstall and Quorn & Woodhouse. Nowadays it is a stop on the preserved Great Central Railway.

Repton arrives at Rothley

Information
Type:	Preserved Railway (Great Central Railway)
Opened:	1899 (Closed 1963)
Re-Opened:	1976
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Great Central Railway in 1899 on the railway's extension to London. The station was built to the standard specification for other country stations on the line with a single island platform. The station was closed by British Railways in 1963 though the line through Rothley was not closed until 1969.

The station was re-opened as part of the preserved Great Central Railway in the 1970s. Rothley was the Southern terminus of the line until a new station called Leicester North was opened near to the site of the now demolished Belgrave & Birstall in 1991. The line between Quorn & Woodhouse and Rothley was restored to double track in 2000.

Rothley has been restored to the style and condition of a GCR station in the Edwardian period. Next to the station is a museum and a small yard. Access to the platform is via a stairway down from the roadbridge which crosses the line.

78018 passes light engine through Rothley

Main station building (right) and signalbox (left)

View from the roadbridge

6990 prepares to depart

On the platform