Woking (WOK)

Woking is a major stop on the South Western Main Line and Portsmouth Direct Line in Surrey.

SWR 450 093 and 037 prepare to depart for London Waterloo

Information
Type:	National Rail (South Western Main Line)
Station code:	WOK
Opened:	1838
Platforms:	6

The station was opened by the London & Southampton Railway as Woking Common in 1838 as it was over two kilometres from the centre of the town [1] as it was at the time. The station's name was changed to Woking in 1843. The Guildford Junction Railway arrived at Woking in 1845. By now the station was part of the London & South Western Railway.

The station was rebuilt in the mid-1930s for the Southern Railway electrification of the line to Portsmouth Harbour [2]. The new layout had a central island with two side platforms to serve four through lines and Up and Down bays. The station layout is largely the same now though one of the bays, platform 6, is only lightly used. The station has a fine Art Deco styled signal box and retains it's good yard though these days used mostly for Network Rail trains.

Woking is a busy interchange with up to fourteen trains an hour to London Waterloo and four per hour to Portsmouth. There are also regular services to numerous destinations including Southampton, Weymouth, Alton, Basingstoke and Farnborough and on the West of England Line to Exeter. The station is managed by South Western Railway.

SWT 444 022 waits at Woking

SWT 450 544 at Woking

SWR 707 023 on one of the bay platforms

Woking signalbox

Colas 70 810 powers out of the yard

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Woking to Portsmouth (Middleton Press, 1985) Fig. 1
[2] David Brown, Southern Electric Vol. 2 (Capital Transport, 2010) p. 24

Lye (LYE)

Lye is a stop on the Jewellery Line in the West Midlands between Stourbridge Junction and Cradley Heath.  

WMR 172 006 at Lye

Information
Type:	National Rail (Jewellery Line)
Station code:	LYE
Opened:	1863
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Stourbridge Railway on it's line from Stourbridge Junction to Old Hill, it later became part of the Great Western Railway line to Birmingham Snow Hill. The station had a goods yard and a number of private sidings. All these have now gone including a signalbox which closed in 1973 [1]. Nowadays the station is unstaffed with no station buildings apart from the usual bus shelters. Access to the platforms is via ramps from street level.

The station nowadays has a half-hourly service most days operated by West Midlands Railway, who also manage the station. There are also a small number of services to the station operated by Chiltern Railways. Lye shares the distinction of having the shortest station name with the likes of Ash, Ayr and Ely. 

WMR 172 341 arrives

Waiting to depart

Waiting to depart

Station sign

Platform shelter

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Worcester to Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2007) Fig. 67

Tongwynlais

Tongwynlais was a stop on the Cardiff Railway between Coryton and Glan y Llyn. 

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cardiff Railway)
Opened:	1911
Closed:	1931
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Cardiff Railway in 1911. The station was one of the largest stations on the line with two platforms and a footbridge between then. One of the platforms was taken out of use in 1928 when the line was singled. The line did not attract the numbers of passengers hoped for due to competition from motor buses.

The station was closed for good in 1931. Although the line was re-opened in 1947 the station did not re-open.

Station on opening [1]

[1] "Opening a new branch of the Cardiff Railway", Railway Times (March 4 1911) p. 217

Cattal (CTL)

Cattal is a stop on the Harrogate Line in North Yorkshire between Knaresborough and Hammerton. 

Information
Type:	National Rail (Harrogate Line)
Station code:	CTL
Opened:	1848
Platforms:	2

The station was opened in 1848 by the East & West Yorkshire Junction Railway, later becoming part of the North Eastern Railway. The station is at the Western end of a stretch of double track from Hammerton. The line being single track until Knaresborough. 

A level crossing next to the station still has manually operated gates though apart from the crossing keeper the station is now unstaffed and the station buildings are privately owned. The station is managed by Northern, who also operate all services which stop at the station.

Platform view

Ambergate (AMB)

Ambergate station is just North of the Ambergate junction, a junction of the Midland Main Line and the Derwent Valley Line in Derbyshire between Belper and Whatstandwell.

In EMT days, 153 326 arrives at Ambergate

Information
Type:	National Rail (Derwent Valley Line)
Station code:	AMB
Opened:	1840
Platforms:	1

Originally opened in 1840 by the North Midland Railway, the station has been moved a couple of times, in 1863 and 1876 [1]. This last move included a major rebuilding and Ambergate became one of only a small number of triangular stations in the country with platforms serving the Midland Main and Derwent Valley Lines and a short link between them.



Once a busy and important junction, the station declined in importance in the 1960s and 1970s with the cessation of stopping services along the Midland Main Line and the closure of these platforms. Now only a platform on the Derwent Valley Line remains. The station was listed for total closure by Beeching but has survived in this reduced state. It became unstaffed in 1968 and the station buildings, and all but one platform, were demolished in 1970 [2].

Nowadays, Ambergate is a basic unmanned station with a bus shelter and a ticket machine. Ambergate is currently served and managed by East Midland Railway services between Matlock and Nottingham or Newark Castle via Derby. The line from Ambergate to Matlock is single, a token must be obtained from a cabinet on the platform before heading South and rejoining the main line [3].

Basic station facilities

Station entrance, the platform is on an embankment

Station sign

Train approaching

EMT 153 326 heads away from Ambergate

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Ambergate to Mansfield (Middleton Press, 2020) Map. IV

[2] Ibid. Fig. 5

[3] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Ambergate to Buxton (Middleton Press, 2019) Fig. 5

Rugeley Trent Valley (RGL)

Rugeley Trent Valley is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in Staffordshire between Stafford and Lichfield Trent Valley. It is also the terminus of the Chase Line from Birmingham New Street.

An Avanti West Coast Pendolino passes through

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line & Chase Line)
Station code:	RGL
Opened:	1847
Platforms:	3

The station was opened by the London & North Western Railway in 1847, a line from Cannock reached Rugeley Trent Valley in 1859. These services, later known as the Chase Line, was ended in the 1960s. Services on this line were restored to Rugeley Trent Valley in 1998. The station gained the suffix Trent Valley in 1870 though lost it in 1968 until it was restored four years later! The station also became unstaffed in 1972 [1].
The station used to have a goods yard but this has now gone, as have the original station buildings which were fairly extensive. The station's facilities now just consist of a couple of bus shelters and some screens! Access between the platforms is via a footbridge. The station is served and managed by London North Western Railway.

View from atop the footbridge

Freightliner 66 520 heads through

A LNWR 350 arrives with a terminating Chase Line service

Two LNWR 350s meet

Freightliner 86 622 and friend pass through

[1] Vic Mitchell, Walsall Routes (Middleton Press, 2013) Fig. 4

Yeo Mill Halt

Yeo Mill Halt was a stop on the Devon & Somerset Railway in Devon between East Anstey and Bishops Nympton & Molland.

Yeo Mill Halt (KD collection)

Information
Type:	National Rail (Devon & Somerset Railway)
Opened:	1932
Closed:	1966
Platforms:	1

The station was the last to be opened on the Devon & Somerset Railway (which opened in 1871), Yeo Mill Halt was not opened until 1932. The station was very basic with a single wooden platform and a shelter. The station was managed from East Anstey. It was closed along with the rest of the line in 1966. The station was demolished and within a few years there was little trace left of the halt.

Matlock Riverside

Matlock Riverside is the former Southern terminus of Peak Rail in Derbyshire, the station is now only used occasionally after the terminus moved to Matlock where Peak Rail connects to the mainline [1]. 

Matlock Riverside as seen from a passing train

Information
Type:	Preserved Railway (Peak Rail)
Opened:	1991
Platforms:	1

In the early 1990s Peak Rail was extending South towards Matlock but was having trouble negotiating access to Matlock station. Matlock Riverside was built, a single platform with a run-round loop. In 2008 Peak Rail was finally able to extend to Matlock but Matlock Riverside has been retained as a station for occasional and emergency use.

The station is very basic with a single platform which used to be at Chee Dee Halt. The platform has a shelter but no ticket office.