Inverness is the terminus of the Highland Main Line, the Far North Line and the Kyle of Lochalsh Line.
Caledonian Sleeper 73 971 and friend stand at Inverness
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Highland Main Line and others)
Station code:
INV
Opened:
1855
Platforms:
7
The station was opened by the Inverness & Nairn Railway in 1855 with just a single platform. The station was rebuilt ten years later with longer platforms and a station roof. These were extended again in 1876. The station buildings were replaced by the current ones by British Rail in the late 1960s. There are plans for another rebuild and enlargement of the station, maybe also including electrification.
The station's main concourse has a ticket office, shops and other station facilities. The station is managed by ScotRail but also served by Caledonian Sleeper and LNER. Platforms 1 and 2 are long enough to host thirteen and fifteen coach trains respectively. The other platforms are a lot shorter and typically host trains up to five coaches long.
The platforms are partially roofed
The barriers and the end of a sleeper train
The concourse and platforms beyond
LNER run one train a day, the Highland Chieftain to Inverness
Oxford Parkway is a park and ride station at Water Eaton in Oxfordshire. The station is between Oxford and Islip and is on the line to Bicester Village.
Chiltern 165 037 arrives at Oxford Parkway
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Oxford-Bicester Line)
Station code:
OXP
Opened:
2015
Platforms:
2
The new station was financed and opened by Chiltern Railways in 2015 as part of it's Evergreen 3 project, which introduced services between Oxford and London Marylebone. The station is on the site of the short lived Oxford Banbury Road terminus [1] of the Buckinghamshire Railway which closed in 1851. and also a grain silo which was closed in the 1980s.
The station was built next to an existing park and ride and bus interchange site at Water Eaton and indeed the first name of the station to be mooted was Water Eaton Parkway. The main station building is in the same blue tile style as Bicester Village, which was rebuilt (and renamed) as part of the same project and line upgrade. Access between the platforms is via a footbridge.
View down the platform
Footbridge and main building
165 024 prepares to depart
The main building with it's blue tile design
Overhead view of 165 002
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Oxford to Bletchley (Middleton Press, 2005) Map. VII
Ellesmere Port is the terminus of the Ellesmere Port branch of the Merseyrail Wirral Line in Cheshire. It is also the terminus of Northern trains from Helsby.
Merseyrail 508 125 stands at Ellesmere Port
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Merseyrail Wirral Line)
Station code:
ELP
Opened:
1863
Platforms:
2
The station was opened by the Birkenhead Railway on it's new line from Hooton to Helsby in 1863 as Whitby Locks though was renamed to it's current name three years later. It later became part of the LNWR who built an engine shed at Ellesmere Port though this was sold to the Manchester Ship Canal company in 1921 [1].
The line to Ellesmere Port was electrified in 1994 as part of the Merseyrail network. Services through to Helsby ceased though a limited service is operated by Northern from Helsby, twice a day. By comparison Merseyrail services to Liverpool are up to every thirty minutes! The original station building survives and has a staffed ticket office. Access between the platforms is via footbridge though Platform 1 sees the vast majority of services.
Footbridge
Station building
This train can go no further
Local attractions
508 125 prepares to return to Liverpool
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Chester to Birkenhead (Middleton Press, 2012) Fig. 100
Freightliner 66 517 heads a freight passing through Water Orton
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Birmingham-Leicester Line)
Station code:
WTO
Opened:
1842
Platforms:
2
The first station at Water Orton was built by the Birmingham & Derby Junction Railway in 1842. It was replaced by the current station built by the Midland Railway in 1909 after the junction of the line to Kingsbury was re-sited to allow for higher line speeds. The new station was built further away from the junction [1].
The station was built as a single island platform with the station building on a road bridge which crossed the railway lines. A goods yard used to be located next to the station but it was closed in 1966 [2]. The station building is still intact though the station is now unstaffed with just the most basic facilities.
Although the station is managed by West Midlands Trains only Cross Country services stop there, usually a two-hourly train between Birmingham New Street and Leicester though there is also one train a day to and from Nottingham. There is no Sunday service.
Station building
Cross Country 170 397 passes through bound for Nottingham
Signage and shelter on the platform
Access from road level and the station entrance is via these steps
Another Cross Country service passes through
[1] Vic Mitchell, North of Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2014) fig. 29 [2] Vic Mitchell, Birmingham to Tamworth and Nuneaton (Middleton Press, 2014) fig. 45
Kingsbury is a stop on the London Underground Jubilee Line in north west London between Wembley Park and Queensbury.
Jubilee Line 96094 departs
Information
Type:
Transport for London (London Underground Jubilee Line)
Station code:
ZKY
Opened:
1932
Platforms:
2
The station was opened in 1932 as part of the Metropolitan Railwway's new branch to Stanmore [1]. The following year the Metropolitan Railway became part of London Transport. The station was transferred to the Bakerloo Line in 1939. Finally, in 1979 the station became one of the original stops on the new Jubilee Line.
The station building is in a parade of shops on the Kingsbury Road. The platforms are in a cutting with steps or lifts down from street level and have canopies.
Under the station building
Platform building and canopy
Arrival
Heading off
[1] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 137
Crowthorne is a stop on the North Downs Line in Berkshire between Wokingham and Sandhurst.
GWR 165 117 departs bound for Reading
Information
Type:
National Rail
(North Downs Line)
Station code:
CRN
Opened:
1859
Platforms:
2
The station was opened in 1859 by the South Eastern Railway following pressure (and a financial contribution) by the nearby Wellington College. The station was called Wellington College for Crowthorne, the name became just Crowthorne in 1928 [1]. The main station building was repurposed for commercial use when the station became unstaffed in 1967. The station was given new platform shelters in the 1980s including a brick built shelter with a pleasing BR symbol made out of bricks! Access between the platforms is via the road bridge which crosses the tracks.
Crowthorne's goods yard closed in 1964, a signalbox for the yard closing in 1967. Crowthorne is managed by Great Western Railway with an hourly service in each direction between Reading and Redhill or Gatwick Airport, there are some extra services in peak hours.
Crowthorne shelter
Main station building, now disused
View down the platform
Station entrance
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Reading to Guildford (Middleton Press, 1988) Fig. 43
Horsley is a stop on the New Guildford Line in Surrey between Clandon and Effingham Junction.
South Western Railway 455 741 arrives at Horsley
Information
Type:
National Rail
(New Guildford Line)
Station code:
HSY
Opened:
1885
Platforms:
2
The station was opened in 1885 by the London & South Western Railway as the rather unwieldy Horsley and Ockham and Ripley, the name was shortened to Horsley in 1914. The station served a number of villages scattered around the area. The station had a small goods yard which closed in 1964 [1]. The station retains it's original buildings with decent canopies.
Access between the platforms is via a footbridge. The station is managed by South Western Railway with three trains an hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Guildford.
Main station building
Across the footbridge
View from the footbridge
Station building
SWR 455 847 and friend meet at Horsley
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Branch lines around Effingham Junction (Middleton Press, 1990) Fig. 82
Wood End is a stop on the North Warwickshire Line (nowadays better known as the Shakespeare Line) between Danzey and The Lakes. The station serves the Warwickshire village of Wood End near Tanworth-in-Arden and is close to the border with the West Midlands region.
West Midlands Railway 172 220 departs
Information
Type:
National Rail (Shakespeare Line)
Station code:
WDE
Opened:
1908
Platforms:
2
As with some of the other stations on the line Wood End was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1908, it was located in a cutting next to the 161 metre long Wood End tunnel. The station was originally known as Wood End Platform [1] and kept this name until the late 1930s. The station was never a major affair, serving a sparsely populated area (Danzey was considered the better station for Tanworth-in-Arden). The station had no goods yard though did have a ticket office and a staff of two.
Station facilities were basic however, comprising of wooden structures [2]. The ticket office was damaged by fire in 1967. A concrete footbridge was built at Wood End in 1949. This was removed in 2014 when new stairs were built down to the platforms via access ramps from the main road.
The station is now an unmanned station managed by West Midlands Railway. The only facilities being two concrete shelters and public information screens. The station has an hourly service during the week between Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon though has no Sunday service.
GWR style station nameboard
Platform shelter
Wood End tunnel
Station entrance
Stairs down to platform level
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham Moor Street (Middleton Press, 2006) Fig. 59 [2] Colin G, Maggs, The Branch Lines of Warwickshire (Amberley, 2011) p. 139
Wigston had three railway stations but the last was closed in the late 1960s. British Rail opened the new station of South Wigston in 1986, about 300m away from the site of the former station Glen Parva. The station has two platforms which are staggered either side of the station's footbridge [1].
The station is nowadays managed by East Midlands Railway though all services are operated by Cross Country on their Birmingham New Street to Leicester service with a train per hour in each direction. One train per day goes as far as Cambridge, and another to Gloucester.
Bus shelter on platform 1
Preparing to depart
Footbridge, the other platform is beyond
Freshly painted footbridge
View from the footbridge
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Coventry to Leicester (Middleton Press, 2017) Fig. 73
