Claverdon (CLV)

Claverdon is a stop on the branch line between Leamington Spa and Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire between Hatton and Bearley.

WMR 172 342 heads off for Stratford after stopping to let the author off (by request!)

Information
Type:	National Rail (Leamington Spa- Stratford-upon-Avon Line)
Station code:	CLV
Opened:	1860
Platforms:	1

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1860, initially as a single broad-gauge line though it was converted to standard gauge in 1869. The station was built with a single siding which was converted into a goods loop in 1885 [1].

The line between Hatton and Bearley was doubled in 1938, a new station was built to the West of the original [2] with a second platform being added at Claverdon (the second line followed the alignment of the old goods loop, a new goods siding was also laid to replace the loop). New station buildings were built at the same time which in most cases still exist though not all now in railway ownership. The second track was lifted in 1969, the former platform still exists but it now overgrown with plants. The goods facilities are also now long gone.

Claverdon is now an unmanned halt though in the 1920s had a station master and two porters [3]. Claverdon is served by Chiltern Railways (mostly between Leamington and Stratford though some services go on through to London Marylebone). West Midlands Railway to and from Birmingham also stop at Claverdon by request.

Station view from the road bridge

View down the platform, access ramp can be seen behind the shelter

Chiltern 165 016 stops at the station

Former station building

A WMR 172 approaches from Stratford

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham (Moor Street) (Middleton Press, 2006) Map. III
[2] Colin G. Maggs, The Branch Lines of Warwickshire (Amberley, 2011) p. 123
[3] Mitchell & Smith. Fig. 6

Swiss Cottage (ZSC)

Swiss Cottage is a stop on the London Underground Jubilee Line in North London between Finchley Road and St. John's Wood. 

Jubilee Line 96102 departs the station

Information
Type:	Transport for London (London Underground Jubilee Line)
Station code:	ZSC
Opened:	1939
Platforms:	2

The station was opened in 1939 after the Metropolitan Line's Stanmore service was transferred to the Bakerloo Line [1] (and required some new deep level tunnels between Baker Street and Finchley Road [2]). The station is named after a nearby pub. The existing Metropolitan Line station at Swiss Cottage closed in 1940 [3]. In 1979 the Bakerloo's Stanmore branch - including Swiss Cottage - was transferred to the new Jubilee Line.

The station is in Zone 2 with two underground platforms accessed via escalators from the ticket hall. The station building was designed by Stanley Heaps [4] and contains a number of Art Deco features including uplighters on the escalators.

Notice the tiles with the station name

A Jubilee Line train stands at the station

Ticket hall, the escalator Art Deco uplighters can just be seen in middle right beyond the barrier

One of the station entrances

[1] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 159

[2] Mike Horne, The Bakerloo Line (Capital Transport, 2001) p. 47

[3] Mike Horne, The Metropolitan Line (Capital Transport, 2003) p. 61

[4] Clive DW Feather, The History of the Bakerloo Line (Crowood Press, 2020) p. 82

Heyford (HYD)

Heyford serves the village of Lower Heyford in Oxfordshire and is a station on the Cherwell Valley Line between Kings Sutton and Tackley.

GWR 165 126 at Heyford departs bound for Didcot Parkway

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cherwell Valley Line)
Station code:	HYD
Opened:	1850
Platforms:	2

The station was opened in 1850 by the Oxford & Rugby Railway and later became part of the Great Western Railway empire. Nowadays it is managed by GWR too (well its modern day namesake anyway). Most trains that stop at the station are GWR services that run between Banbury and Didcot Parkway via Oxford. Chiltern Railways also stop at the station once a day.

 

The station is a typical minor unmanned station and has various bus shelters which have replaced the original limestone buildings [1], a footbridge and a car park. The station is next to Heyford Wharf on the Oxford Canal and one can step straight from the platform onto the towpath.

Heyford wharf next to the station

View from the road bridge

GWR 165 118 (still in FGW livery) departs on an Oxford service

Platform shelter

A Banbury bound service approaches the station

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Didcot to Banbury (Middleton Press, 2003) Fig. 85

Uttoxeter (UTT)

Uttoxeter is a stop on the Crewe to Derby Line in Staffordshire between Tutbury & Hatton and Blythe Bridge. 

EMT 158 957 departs

Information
Type:	National Rail (Crewe - Derby Line)
Station code:	UTT
Opened:	1881
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway in 1881 [1]. This replaced three earlier stations opened between 1848 and 1849 (Uttoxeter Bridge Street, Uttoxeter Junction and Uttoxeter Dove Bank). The station was also served by the Stafford & Uttoxeter Railway. The station had an engine shed which closed in 1964. After 1971 the station was unstaffed, the stone station buildings were demolished and replaced by the usual bus shelter type facilities. A new footbridge was built in 2013, direct access to the adjacent racecourse was also added [2].

The station is managed by East Midlands Railway with one train an hour in each direction between Crewe and Newark Castle.

View down the platform towards Derby

Colas 67 027 and friend head through the station

Station footbridge

Station view from the footbridge

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Derby to Stoke-on-Trent (Middleton Press, 2016) Fig. 28

[2] Ibid Fig. 35

London Liverpool Street (LST)

London Liverpool Street is the terminus for the West Anglia and Great Eastern Main Lines as well as local commuter services along the Lea Valley and services to Stansted Airport and the Elizabeth Line of Transport for London

Greater Anglia 720 548 stands at London Liverpool Street

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Anglia & Great Eastern Main Lines, Lea Valley Lines, Stansted Express) Transport for London (Elizabeth Line)
Station code:	LST
Opened:	1874
Platforms:	19

The station was opened by the Great Eastern Railway in 1874 (though the full opening was not until the following year) replacing the earlier GER terminus of Bishopsgate. Within a few years the station was operating at capacity and was expanded Eastwards in 1895. 

Electrification of the commuter lines from London Liverpool Street began in the late 1940s. The station saw redevelopment in the 1980s with office space built above the tracks. In 2022 the Elizabeth Line opened from two new platforms. Below the station is Liverpool Street underground station.

The station is the third busiest on the network after London Waterloo and London Victoria. The station is served by Greater Anglia, TfL Rail, c2c and London Overground.

New Elizabeth Line platform

TfL 345 007 awaits the opening of the Elizabeth Line

Old and new, GA 321 314 and TfL Rail 345 007

Platform display

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In (recent) days gone by, a GA Class 90

Northfield (NFD)

Northfield is a stop on the Southern half of the Cross-City Line in Birmingham between Longbridge and Kings Norton. 

A WMR 323 arrives at Northfield, the former island platform can be seen in the foreground

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cross-City Line)
Station code:	NFD
Opened:	1870
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Midland Railway in 1870. The line through the station was quadrupled in 1892 though only the two inner lines had platform access. The station was put under threat of closure in 1963 but survived with a much reduced service with services between Birmingham New Street and Redditch.

Two new platforms on the outer two lines and new station buildings were built in 1978 [1] as part of the upgrade of the line as the Cross-City Line, the original island platform being closed. The line was electrified in 1983. The station is managed and served by West Midlands Railway. The station has a staffed ticket office.

A 323 waits while a HST passes through on one of the middle tracks

Platform canopy

View down the platform

Station forecourt

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Bromsgrove to Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2006) Fig. 44

Reading (RDG)

Reading is one of the busiest stations outside of London. It is a major transport interchange being the junction of a number of busy lines such as the Great Western Main Line to London Paddington and lines to London Waterloo and Oxford, with an adjacent bus station too. 

GWR 387 157 waits at Reading

Information
Type:	National Rail (Great Western Main Line and others)
Station code:	RDG
Opened:	1840
Platforms:	15

The station was originally opened by the Great Western Railway in 1840 [1] and was the a terminus of the Great Western Main Line for a few months until the line was continued onto Bristol.

The station was renamed Reading General in 1949 to distinguish it from Reading Southern however the name reverted back to Reading when the other station closed and was merged into Reading General in the early 1970s. Reading now hosts services that are diesel, AC and DC electric powered.

The station has had a number of redevelopments over the years, the latest was finished in 2014,  this added five new platforms, new footbridges and access routes and some track layout modifications including flyovers to try and alleviate the bottleneck the station had become by the 2000s.

Over sixteen million people use Reading per annum on services operated by Great Western Railway, Cross Country and South Western Railway with AC electric, DC electric and diesel engines providing the power. Reading has also become the Western terminus of the Crossrail Elizabeth Line.

450 083 (in SWT days) arrives with a service from London Waterloo

GWR 165 104 at Reading

GWR 802 109 arrives with an express

A Cross Country service arrives at Reading

GWR 166 202 prepares to head down the North Downs Line

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Reading to Guildford (Middleton Press, 1988) p. 2

Harringay Green Lanes (HRY)

Harringay Green Lanes is a stop on the London Overground Gospel Oak to Barking Line (GOBLIN) in North London between Crouch Hill and South Tottenham. 

London Overground 710 269 departs while a friend approaches in the other direction

Information
Type:	Transport for London (London Overground GOBLIN Line)
Station code:	HRY
Opened:	1880
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway in 1880 as Green Lanes. However, the station has changed name no less than five times since then. In 1991 it was renamed Harringay Green Lanes from Harringay East [1]. The station, which is built on an embankment, had wooden platforms and buildings though was rebuilt in the 1950s [2]. The platforms were rebuilt in 1999 due to subsidence problems. Platform buildings were replaced by the bus shelter type of accommodation.

The station was taken over by Transport for London in 2007, and they repainted and resigned the station the following year. Access to the platforms is via road level.

View down the platform

Station entrance

Down the platform in the other direction

Railway bridge next to the entranced

710 269 stands at the station

[1] J.E. Connor, St Pancras to Barking (Middleton Press, 2005) Fig. 65

[2] Ibid. Fig. 60

Princes Risborough (PRR)

Princes Risborough is a stop on the Chiltern Main Line in Buckinghamshire between Haddenham & Thame Parkway and Saunderton. The station is also the terminus of the branch line from Aylesbury, and a terminus of the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway preserved line.

Chiltern Railways 165 005 on Platform 2

Information
Type:	National Rail (Chiltern Main Line) & Preserved Railway (CPRR)
Station code:	PRR
Opened:	1862
Platforms:	4

The railway reached Princes Risborough via the Wycombe Railway in 1862 when a line from High Wycombe was extended to Thame, a branch also being built through to Aylesbury. This line was built to broad gauge though was converted to standard gauge in 1870 after the railway became part of the growing Great Western Railway empire [1].

The Watlington and Princes Risborough Railway also reached the station in 1872 with a line from Watlington. This was also later absorbed by the GWR but the line was closed to passenger use in the 1950s and closed entirely in 1989. Parts of the line were later reopened as the preserved Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway and in 2018 the preserved line finally returned to Princes Risborough [2] and operate services via a newly built platform 4 to Chinnor.

Major rebuilding of the station took place in 1905 when the Great Central Railway and GWR built a new route to avoid the GCR using Metropolitan Railway metals, part of the scheme being the upgrading of the existing line through Princes Risborough. Most of the station's structures date from this rebuilding. The station had a goods yard but it closed in 1966 [3]. A route to Oxford also ran from Princes Risborough but this was closed in 1963.

The station was reduced to a single platform (with a bay) and remained like this for a long time (London Marylebone of course was threatened with closure in the 1970s and 80s) but in 1999 a new platform was built for down services (and a new footbridge built). Also a new through line for non-stopping services was been restored.

Princes Risborough is a busy station with regular Chiltern Railway services to and from London Marylebone to Aylesbury, Banbury and Birmingham Moor Street. Four platforms are in use though the bay Platform 1 is nowadays less frequently used. Access between the other platforms is via a footbridge.

CPRR stock stored South of the station

Preserved 97 205 on Platform 4 (CPRR)

Chiltern 165 030 with a London Marylebone service

A Chiltern service passes though

A Chiltern 165 departs for London

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Princes Risborough to Banbury (Middleton Press, 2002) p. 2
[2] "Reaching Princes Risborough", CPRR Website <http://www.chinnorrailway.co.uk/product.php/79//27b10091d42e3b564feeedb12d8e80e6>
[3] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Branch Lines to Princes Risborough (Middleton Press, 2003) Fig. 113