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| Maxstoke station today |
| Information | |
|---|---|
| Type: | National Rail (Stonebridge Junction Railway) |
| Opened: | 1839 |
| Closed: | 1917 |
| Platforms: | 1 |
Through trains continued to use the line, even as far as London. However, the service was gradually reduced and by 1877 there was just a single Parliamentary service a day (with a single carriage) between Whitacre Junction and Hampton-in-Arden. Passenger loadings were low, often nil. The station master even gaining a degree of international notoriety for the loneliness of his job! The line was finally closed to passenger traffic in 1917 [2] as part of First World War economy measures, however the line remained open for freight and the small station goods yard remained in use.
Despite having no passenger traffic the station was renamed Maxstoke in 1923, the railway company even going to the expense of new station name boards! This renaming was to allow Forge Mills to be renamed Coleshill (this station itself was closed in the 1960s but later re-opened in 2007 as Coleshill Parkway). Freight use of the line continued until the 1930s, the line was closed as a through route for good after a wooden bridge over the river Blythe was judged too weak to allow for trains in 1935 [3]. The two ends of the line continued to be used for wagon storage for a while longer.
The station building survived until the early 1960s [4] when it was demolished due to vandalism. The platform survived and has been partially restored in recent years by an enthusiast. The station was very basic with a single siding, the station had a single short platform. At one end of the station was a level crossing.
[1] Colin G Maggs, The Branch Lines of Warwickshire (Amblerley, 2011) p. 21
[2] Vic Mitchell, Birmingham to Tamworth & Nuneaton (Middleton Press, 2014) Fig. 111
[3] Ibid. Fig. 113
[4] Maggs p. 23
