Spring Road (SRI)

An updated version of this station profile can now be found on our dedicated railway station website

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

Warwick Parkway (WRP)

An updated version of this station profile can now be found on our dedicated railway station website

Warwick Parkway is a park and ride station between Hatton and Warwick near to the village of Budbrooke.

Information
Type:	Independently owned (Chiltern Main Line)
Station code:	WRP
Opened:	2000
Platforms:	2

Unlike most stations on the network Warwick Parkway is not owned by Network Rail. It is owned by Chiltern Railways who opened it in 2000. The station was opened with seven hundred and thirty seven car park spaces but has been expanded since opening to now have near a thousand spaces.

The station has opened due to the problem with providing more car parking at the tightly constrained Warwick and Leamington Spa stations. The station is well situated for motorway (M40) access [1].

The station was upgraded in 2012 (when more car parking spaces were added) and has also had a refurbishment in 2019. It is mainly served by Chiltern Railways on services between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone though there are also some peak time West Midlands Railway services too.

Chiltern 168 326 arrives with a Birmingham bound service

Platform shelter

Look down the platforms

...and the other direction

There are lifts for step-free access between platform and ground level

A Chiltern service prepares to depart

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Banbury to Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2004) Fig. 48

Kilburn Park (ZKP)

An updated version of this station profile can now be found on our dedicated railway station website

Information
Type:	Transport for London (Bakerloo Line)
Station code:	ZKP
Opened:	1915
Platforms:	2

Kilburn Park is in between Queen's Park and Maida Vale. Like a number of stations on this stretch of the Bakerloo Line it was opened in 1915 as part of the line's extension from Paddington to Queen's Park [1].

After opening for 10 days Kilburn Park (originally it was to have been called just Kilburn) was the Northern terminus of the line as Queen's Park's opening was delayed meaning that passengers could only go as far as Kilburn Park and trains had to continue empty up to Queen's Park.

As with other stations on the line it was designed by Stanley Heaps to a modified Leslie Green design and the exterior of the building has glazed terracotta. The station is Grade II listed. Kilburn Park was one of the first stations designed for escalators instead of lifts.

A Bakerloo Line 72ts train arrives

Station entrance

Original signage 

Platform view

[1] Mike Horne, The Bakerloo Line (Capital Transport, 2001) p. 29

Worcester Shrub Hill (WOS)

An updated version of this station profile can now be found on our dedicated railway station website

Worcester Shrub Hill is one of Worcester's two railway stations though is not in the city centre like Worcester Foregate Street.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cotswold & Snow Hill Lines)
Station code:	WOS
Opened:	1850
Platforms:	2

Shrub Hill is a much larger station than Foregate Street. It was opened in 1850 and was a joint project of the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton and Midland Railways. The current station building dates from 1865.

The station has two platforms connected by a footbridge though people who can't use the stairs have to cross the track (under supervision). The former platform three was a bay platform that is no longer in use but used to host services to Cheltenham Spa. Shrub Hill is adjacent to Worcester TMD with a number of stabling sidings behind the station. The station is host to a number of fine semaphore signals.

As well as West Midlands Trains services to/from Birmingham and Malvern the station has regular GWR services to London Paddington, Hereford and other destinations like Evesham and Westbury.

GWR 800 009 at Worcester Shrub Hill

GWR HST led by 43 189

Fine semaphores

View down the line, signalbox on the right

View from the footbridge, both platforms occupied

GWR 166 206 prepares to depart

Sandwell and Dudley (SAD)

An updated version of this station profile can now be found on our dedicated railway station website

Sandwell & Dudley is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in the West Midlands between Smethwick Galton Bridge and Dudley Port. 

A LNWR train prepares to depart

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line)
Station code:	SAD
Opened:	1852
Platforms:	2

The station was opened as Oldbury and Bromford Lane by the Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Stour Valley Railway (later the London North Western Railway) in 1852. The station later becoming just Oldbury. The station was rebuilt and enlarged for intercity traffic (long enough for thirteen coach trains [1]) in 1983 and renamed Sandwell and Dudley (though the name Oldbury International was considered and even used on some early announcements after reopening [2]). The station was rebuilt in the plain brickwalls and mono-pitch roof style common to British Rail in the 1980s, sometimes called neovernacular [3].

The station platforms are accessible via a subway and ground level booking office. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway. Most services are provided by West Midland Railway and London Northwestern Railway, there is an hourly service by Avanti West Coast as well.

Avanti West Coast Pendolino passes through

Waiting room

LNWR 350 405 arrives

Steps down to the booking hall and exits

A Cross Country service passes through

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Birmingham to Wolverhampton via Tipton (Middleton Press, 2008) Fig. 67

[2] Ibid. Fig. 69

[3] David Lawrence, British Rail Architecture 1948-97 (Crecy, 2018) p. 155

Southend Victoria (SOV)

An updated version of this station profile can now be found on our dedicated railway station website

Southend Victoria is one of the stations serving Southend-on-Sea. It is on the Shenfield-Southend Line and is served by Greater Anglia services out of London Liverpool Street.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Shenfield-Southend Line)
Station code:	SOV
Opened:	1889
Platforms:	4

The station was opened, as Southend-on-Sea, by the Great Eastern Railway in 1889 close to the existing London, Tilbury & Southend Railway station Southend Central. The station was renamed Southend-on-Sea Victoria in 1949 and twenty years later shortened to Southend Victoria.

The line was electrified in 1956, originally to 1, 500v DC overhead. British Railways had already decided however to standardise on 25kV AC overhead earlier that year [1]. The line was converted to AC in 1960, initially to 6.25kV and in 1979 finally to 25kV.

The station is a terminus and is next to carriage sidings. All four platforms can handle twelve-coach trains.

Looking down the platform away from the station building

Greater Anglia 321 327 on one of the storage sidings

Just arrived

Station sign

Greater Anglia 321 358 at the buffers

Station frontage

[1] John Glover, Eastern Electric (Ian Allan, 2003) p. 67

Olton (OLT)

An updated version of this station profile can now be found on our dedicated railway station website

Olton is a stop on the Chiltern Main Line in the West Midlands situated between Acocks Green and Solihull. 

WMR 172 101 (at the time still in Chiltern livery) departs Olton

Information
Type:	National Rail (Snow Hill Lines & Chiltern Main Line)
Station code:	OLT
Opened:	1869
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1869 on their Oxford-Birmingham line. Olton was originally a basic station with a couple of platforms but was expanded to four platforms (two island platforms) in 1933 [1] as the line from Birmingham was quadrupled as far as Lapworth. However, only one of those island platforms is now in use.

The platforms are on an embankment with the booking office at street level below the platforms. On the platforms are some basic facilities including a waiting room. Most services to Olton are operated by West Midlands Railway, who manage the station, with some Chiltern Railway services stopping in peak times.

Station entrance

In London Midland days a Class 172 arrives

Steps down to ground level, a lift is also available

Chiltern 168 328 passes through the station

View down the platform

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Banbury to Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2004) Fig. 80

Birmingham New Street (BHM)

An updated version of this station profile can now be found on our dedicated railway station website

Birmingham New Street is the largest railway station in Birmingham and the central hub for the railway network outside of London. It is the sixth busiest station in Britain and the busiest interchange outside of London.

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line & Other trunk and local lines) TfWM Midland Metro
Station code:	BHM
Opened:	1854
Platforms:	13 (+2 Metro)

The station was first opened in 1854 by the London & North Western Railway and was very different to the station as it is now. When built it had the largest single span roof in the world (London St Pancras took this title from New Street in 1868 [1]). This roof was badly damaged by bombing in the Second World War, temporary canopies being built after the war when the remains of the original roof were dismantled [2].

The station was completely rebuilt in the 1960s as part of the West Coast Main Line electrification and modernisation programme. The new station design was a complete departure from the old one, as with other station rebuilds of the period British Rail were keen to integrate retail into the rail travel experience and the station was built with a shopping precinct on top of it. The new station was intended to show how concrete could be used "with strength and delicacy" [3]. However the public was a bit sceptical about this especially as the new low concrete roof over the platforms made them rather dark and depressing [4] and the station has frequently featured in polls for Britain's worst buildings!

By the twenty first century Birmingham New Street was becoming rather tired and was struggling to cope with greatly expanded passenger numbers. Work began on a major redevelopment of the station in 2010 with a new concourse, a high roof over that concourse and improved retail facilities (Grand Central). At platform level things have also improved somewhat though the problems with an overall low roof remain. The Midlands Metro was extended from Birmingham Snow Hill to New Street in 2016. This is the current terminus of the light rail network and harks back to New Street pre-World War 2 when the Birmingham tramway network had it's hub outside of the station [5].

LM 350 116 stands ready

Despite recent refurbishment at platform level the station can still be a bit dark and dingy

Station concourse

New Street is a hub for local services including this LM 323 

Two Class 170s peer out into the light

A Midlands Metro tram stands outside New Street

[1] Mark Norton, Birmingham New Street Station Through Time (Amberley, 2013) Stp. 6 
[2] Vic Mitchell, Birmingham to Tamworth & Nuneaton (Middleton Press, 2014) Fig. 4
[3] David Lawrence, British Rail Designed 1948-97 (Ian Allan, 2016) p. 101
[4] Norton p. 56
[5] Vic Mitchell, North of Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2014) Fig. 71

Codsall (CSL)

An updated version of this station profile can now be found on our dedicated railway station website

Codsall is a stop on the Birmingham New Street-Shrewsbury line in Staffordshire between Bilbrook and Albrighton.

WMR 170 502 arrives at the station

Information
Type:	National Rail (Birmingham-Shrewsbury Line)
Station code:	CSL
Opened:	1849
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Shrewsbury & Birmingham Railway in 1849 later becoming part of the Great Western Railway in 1854. The station being on the GWR line from London Paddington to Birkenhead. The station building dates from from the 1850s with a GWR footbridge added in 1883. This was unfortunately destroyed by a contractor's crane in accident in 2005 [1], the bridge was later restored though is slightly higher than the original bridge.

The station had a goods yard but this was closed in 1964 [2]. A signalbox to the East of the station was closed in 2006. The original station building is now a pub. Station facilities are the usual shelters and screens. The station is served by West Midlands Railway with two trains an hour in each direction with a limited number of stops by Transport for Wales.

View down the platform showing the footbridge

Original station building

View down the platform showing WMR signage

Road bridge and station sign, the entrance is to the left

Under the bridge

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury (Middleton Press, 2009) Fig. 65
[2] Ibid. Fig. 63