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Spring Road (SRI)

Spring Road is a stop on the Shakespeare Line (also known as the North Warwickshire Line) in Birmingham between Tyseley and Hall Green. 
WMR 172 344 heads off Southwards


Information
Type: National Rail (Shakespeare Line)
Station code: SRI
Opened: 1908
Platforms: 2

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1908 as Spring Road Platform [1]. A large factory owned by Lucas was built next to the station which helped with station usage. The station had a staffed ticket office and shelter though these have now gone. Nowadays the station is a standard unstaffed one with bus shelters and public information facilities. Access to the platforms is via ramps from Spring Road which passes over the railway on a bridge. At the South end of the station is a multi-storey carpark (unconnected to the railway) which the trains pass underneath.

The station is managed by West Midlands Railway. There are up to three trains an hour in each direction.
Station entrance

Platform view

Station sign

View from the road bridge

View down the platform



[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham (Moor Street) (Middleton Press, 2006) Fig. 88
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Presthope

Presthope was a stop on the Wellington to Craven Arms Railway in Shropshire between Easthope Halt and Westwood Halt. 
Presthope station (KD collection)


Information
Type: National Rail (Wellington to Craven Arms Railway)
Opened: 1867
Closed: 1951
Platforms: 1

The station was opened by the Wenlock, Craven Arms & Lightmoor Extension Railway in 1867, it later became part of the Great Western Railway. The station was closed in 1951 due to low passenger traffic though the line continued to be used for freight until the 1960s.

Although the line has gone, parts of the station remain including the platform. The station site is now occupied by a caravan park.
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Aintree (AIN)

Aintree is a stop on the Ormskirk branch of the Merseyrail Northern Line on Merseyside between Orrell Park and Old Roan.
Merseyrail 508 114 arrives with a Liverpool bound service


Information
Type: National Rail (Merseyrail Northern Line Ormskirk Branch)
Station code: AIN
Opened: 1849
Platforms: 2

The station was opened by the East Lancashire Railway in 1849 before being taken over by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. The station was renamed Aintree Sefton Arms by British Railways to distinguish it from the now-closed CLC station Aintree Central [1] though since 1968 has been known as just Aintree. It is the closest station to Aintree Racecourse, the home of the Grand National. A horse shoe is displayed on the station footbridge (see below).

The station once had a substantial goods yard and depot. The L&Y experimented with an electric locomotive between 1912 and 1914 to haul traffic between the North Mersey Goods Yard and the Aintree sorting sidings. The station is staffed with the standard Merseyrail shelters and displays. 
Footbridge, note the horseshoe

A Merseyrail train prepares to depart

Looking down the platform

Station signage

Station view from the footbridge



[1] Jonathan Cadwallader & Martin Jenkins, Merseyside Electrics (Ian Allan, 2010) p. 39
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Gospel Oak (GPO)

Gospel Oak is a stop on the London Overground North London Line between Hampstead Heath and Kentish Town West. It is also the Western terminus of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line (known as the GOBLIN).
LO 378 258 arrives


Information
Type: Transport for London (London Overground)
Station code: GPO
Opened: 1860
Platforms: 3

The station was opened in 1860 by the Hampstead Junction Railway as Kentish Town [1]. It was renamed Gospel Oak in 1867. Between 1926 and 1981 there was no interchange with the line to Barking, though the platform was used for excursions from to time during the 1930s. A new platform was built for the resumption of services [2].

The North London Line was electrified by the LNWR in 1916, it was converted to 25kV AC overhead in 1996. The line to Barking was electrified in 2018. The station is above street level with stairs and lifts down to the street.
Platform buildings


LO 378 202 departs along the NLL

LO 378 216 at Gospel Oak

Waiting at the station

Also waiting



[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, North London Line (Middleton Press, 1997) Fig. 72
[2] Ibid. Fig. 75
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Tile Hill (THL)

Tile Hill is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in the West Midlands between Berkswell and Canley. 
LNWR 350 406 departs


Information
Type: National Rail (West Coast Main Line)
Station code: THL
Opened: 1850
Platforms: 2

The station was opened by the London & Birmingham Railway in 1850 as Allesley Lane, changing to Allesley Gate in 1857. The name changed again to Tile Hill in 1864. The station was originally located at a road crossing with the platform staggered either side of the level crossing [1]. The station was rebuilt when the WCML was electrified through Tile Hill in the 1960s and the platforms from then on faced each other. The level crossing was replaced by a road bridge in 2004. The platforms were both extended in 2009.

The station has a staffed ticket office and substantial brick waiting room. The other shelters on the station are of the bus shelter type. There is a footbridge for transfer between the platforms. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway though most services are handled by London Northwestern Railway (all part of the same company of course).
LNWR 350 114 arrives with a Birmingham bound service

View down the platform, a 350 passes underneath the footbridge

Looking up towards Birmingham

View from the roadbridge

Booking office and main waiting area



[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Rugby to Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2008) Fig. 81
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Whitchurch Halt

Whitchurch Halt was a stop on the Bristol & North Somerset Railway in Somerset between Brislington and Pensford. 

Information
Type: National Rail (Bristol & North Somerset Railway)
Opened: 1925
Opened: 1959
Platforms: 1

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1925. The station was a basic GWR halt with a short single platform which had a pagoda style hut on it. The line was closed to passenger services in 1959 and Whitchurch Halt was closed. The line remained open for freight for a few years afterwards. Little remains of the line or Whitchurch Halt. Whitchurch is nowadays a Southern suburb of Bristol. 
Remains of the platform, the track bed is gone (KD collection)


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Bank Hall (BAH)

Bank Hall is a stop on the Merseyrail Northern Line in Liverpool between Sandhills and Bootle Oriel Road. 
Merseyrail 508 108 departs Hall Road with a North bound service


Information
Type: National Rail (Merseyrail Northern Line)
Station code: BAH
Opened: 1850
Platforms: 2

The station was opened in 1850 by the Liverpool, Crosby & Southport Railway as they extended their line South from Waterloo to Liverpool Exchange. The station originally had two island platforms though only one is in use now. The platforms originally has canopies and waiting rooms [1], the surviving platform has just the usual bus shelter.

The platforms are in a wide cutting, the booking hall is on the road bridge which crosses the line just ahead of the platforms. There are steps but no ramps down to platform level. There are services every fifteen minutes most days between Southport and Hunts Cross via Liverpool Central.
Platform view, the disused platform is to the left underneath all the foliage!

508 125 arrives, the booking hall can be seen in the background

View down the platform

Another view of the booking hall

508 131 and a Liverpool bound service



[1] Jonathan Cadwallader & Martin Jenkins, Merseyside Electrics (Ian Allan, 2010) p. 17
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Hartlebury (HBY)

Hartlebury is a stop on the Worcester-Birmingham Line in Worcestershire between Droitwich Spa and Kidderminster. 
WMR 172 211 departs the station


Information
Type: National Rail (Worcester-Birmingham Line)
Station code: HBY
Opened: 1852
Platforms: 2

The station was opened by the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway in 1852, later becoming part of the Great Western Railway. In 1862 it became the original starting point of the Severn Valley Railway through to Shrewsbury. Services to Stourport-on-Severn and Bewdley continued until 1970 and the line to Stourport remained open for freight until 1979.

The station is now unstaffed though the original station building remains, however now has a non-railway use. The footbridge (which was at the level crossing end of the station [1]) and canopies have been removed, access between the two platforms is via a level crossing at the Kidderminster end of the station. The station's facilities are the usual bus shelters and information screens found on an unstaffed station. At the other end of the platforms was a goods yard and cattle dock which were both closed in the 1960s as did another goods yard at the other end of the station,

The station is managed by West Midlands Railway though retains a GWR style nameboard as with a number of stations on the Birmingham Snow Hill lines.
Station sign next to the level crossing

Former station building, now a restaurant and bar

Bus shelter and PIS

GWR style nameboard

WMR 172 221 departs for Worcester



[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Worcester to Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2007) Fig. 23
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