Gloucester (GCR)

Gloucester is a stop on the Cardiff-Nottingham Line between Cheltenham Spa and Lydney. It is also a stop on the Bristol-Birmingham Line but due to the station's complicated legacy and a rationalised layout means that many trains have to reverse which call there to continue onward with their journeys.
GWR 166 220 stands at one end of the very long platform (split into two!)



Information
Type: National Rail (Bristol-Birmingham
& Cardiff-Nottingham Lines)
Station code: GCR
Opened: 1840
Platforms: 4

A station at Gloucester was first opened in 1840 by the Birmingham & Gloucester Railway, the new station being the line's terminus. The Cheltenham & Great Western Union Railway arrived next with a broad gauge line from Swindon in 1844. This line later became part of the Great Western Railway and was converted to mixed-gauge.

The Midland Railway arrived the year after and the South Wales Railway in 1851. The complicated layout of the station and the fact it began life as a terminus meant that GWR trains had to reverse to continue between London Paddington and Cheltenham Spa. The practice continues to this day. Both the GWR and MR built new stations in the latter half of the nineteenth century linked by a footbridge to replace the original Gloucester station. They were known as Gloucester Central and Gloucester Eastgate respectively.

British Rail rationalised the railway layout in the 1960s and 1970s, closing Gloucester Eastgate in 1975 [1], leaving Gloucester Central as the remaining station today. The station was rebuilt and one of the platforms extended to about six hundred and three metres long so it could host two High Speed Trains simultaneously, the platform is the second longest in the country after Colchester - though is split into two platforms officially. There are two other platforms, one being a bay.

The station has had a new footbridge with lifts and a refurbished booking hall over the last couple of years though there have been calls for a complete rebuild of the station. There have indeed been proposals to build a brand new station on a new site which would remove the need for reversals though these proposals have so far come to nothing. Gloucester is served by Great Western Railway, Cross Country and Transport for Wales.
Looking down the bay platform

A Cross Country Voyager prepares to depart

Main station building

Platform mosaics

TfW 170 203 prepares to return to Wales

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Bromsgrove to Gloucester (Middleton Press, 2006) Fig. 117

Duffield Bank Railway

The Duffield Bank Railway was a minimum gauge railway built by Sir Arthur Heywood in his garden near Duffield in Derbyshire [1]. Although it can be considered an elaborate garden railway, it was also a demonstrator for the kind of minimum gauge railways Sir Heywood thought could be used elsewhere.
Tennis Ground station, all images [3]

Information
Type: Private Railway (Duffield Bank Railway)
Opened: 1874
Closed: 1916
Stations: 6

Sir Heywood thought that minimum gauge railways, in the case of the Duffield Bank Railway 15 inch (381mm) gauge, could be used by mines, quarries and agriculture [2]. He thought the railways would be easier and cheaper to build, operate and move than more conventional railways. He began building a demonstrator line in his garden in 1874, which eventually stretched for about a mile (1.6km) in length. The Duffield Bank Railway had workshops, tunnels, a viaduct and six stations.

A small fleet of steam locomotives operated on Sir Heywood's railway with a variety of freight and passenger rolling stock, even a dining car! Despite many demonstrations to the military, associations and businessmen he was only able to interest the Duke of Westminster enough to build another railway. The Eaton Hall Railway operated in Cheshire from 1896 to 1946.

Sir Heywood died in 1916, his railway was closed soon afterwards and little trace now remains of it. Most of the rolling stock moved to the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway in Cumbria, some of which is still in use.
Viaduct

The railway had a number of very tight curves as can be seen here

A goods train

A passenger train

Ella, one of the locomotives

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Branch Line to Wirksworth (Middleton Press, 2017) Fig. 110
[2] Royston Morris, Miniature Railway Locomotives & Rolling Stock (Amberley Publishing, 2018) p. 3
[3] Sir Arthur Heywood, Minimum Gauge Railways (1894)

Burton-on-Trent (BUT)

Burton-on-Trent is a stop on the Derby-Birmingham route in Staffordshire between Tamworth and Willington.
A Cross Country service departs


Information
Type: National Rail (Derby-Birmingham Line)
Station code: BUT
Opened: 1839
Platforms: 2

The original station was built by the Birmingham & Derby Junction Railway in 1839. The station was known as Burton, it gained "on Trent" in 1877 [1]. This station was replaced in 1883 by a new larger station at the current position, nearly 140m to the South of the first station. The station was replaced by a new build in 1970.

The station consists of an island platform in a cutting with an entrance and booking hall on the bridge which crosses the line. The station was amidst a number of goods yards supporting the town's brewing industry, most of which closed in the 1960s. An MPD next to the station has also now been closed. The station is managed by East Midlands Railway though all services are run by Cross Country.
View down the platform

A waiting room dominates the island platform

Stairs from the booking office and entrance

A Cross Country service arrives



[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Tamworth to Derby (Middleton Press, 2015) Fig. 42

St Mary's Halt

St Mary's Halt was a stop on the Dean Forest Railway in Lydney, Gloucestershire between Lydney Town and Lydney Junction
View of the platform and former run-round loop


Information
Type: Preserved Railway (Dean Forest Railway)
Opened: 1991
Closed: 2014
Platforms: 1

The station was opened as Lydney Lakeside in 1991 and was the original Southern terminus of the Dean Forest Railway after it extended South from Norchard. There was no station here originally though the footbridge over the line was built in 1892. Near to the site of the station was the West of England Wagon Works which closed in 1959 [1]. The station was renamed St Mary's Halt in 1995 after St Mary's church which is next to the station. 

The station had a single platform which originally came from Blaen Rhondda. Next to the platform is a run-round loop which was in operation while St Mary's Halt was in use as a station. Now the siding contains a collection of wagons of varying condition. The station was closed at the end of 2014.
View of the station nameboard

On the footbridge, St Mary's church is behind the trees!

View from an adjacent footpath

Station view from a nearby level crossing

Another view of the various wagons stored next to the station



[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Branch Lines Around Lydney (Middleton Press, 2008) Fig. 45

Leicester (LEI)

Leicester is a major stop on the Midland Main Line as well as a hub for services throughout the East Midlands.
EMR 156 406 stands at Leicester


Information
Type: National Rail (Midland Main Line)
Station code: LEI
Opened: 1840
Platforms: 4

The station was opened by the Midland Counties Railway in 1840 (though an earlier station was built elsewhere in the city in 1832). The station was later owned by the Midland Railway, under whom the station was renamed Leicester Campbell Street.

The current main statoon building dates from a major rebuilding of the station in the 1890s when the station was renamed Leicester London Road. It was built with an overall roof over the platforms, however this badly deteriorated after being damaged in the Second World War, the remains were finally removed in the mid-1970s [1]. The station name was changed to simply Leicester in 1969 after the closure of the two other stations in the city in the late 1960s. Further changes to the station including the current booking hall and the platform facilities date from modernisation in the late 1970s.

The platforms are partially covered by modern canopies. There are overall footbridges at both ends of the platforms.

The station has four platforms and is a major stop on East Midland Railway services between London St. Pancras and the North, there are also regular services to other destinations such as Birmingham New St, Derby and Loughborough by EMR and Cross Country.
EMR 222 004 departs


View down the platform, note the canopy

An EMR train stands under the footbridge at the end of the open air end of the platforms

View of the footbridge

EMR 156 498 stands on Platform 4

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Coventry to Leicester (Middleton Press, 2017) Fig. 89