Stratford (SRA)

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Stratford is a major transport hub in East London, an interchange of the Great Eastern Main Line out of London Liverpool Street, London Overground, two London Underground lines and the Docklands Light Railway. It is also next to a bus station!

Information
Type:	National Rail (Great Eastern Main Line) & Transport for London (Central & Jubilee Lines, Docklands Light Railway, London Overground)
Station code:	SRA
Opened:	1839
Platforms:	19

Stratford was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway in 1839 [1]. The Northern & Eastern Railway also reached Stratford the following year. The London, Tilbury & Southend Railway reached Stratford in 1854. By then Stratford was already becoming a very busy station with concerns about congestion. Stratford became part of the Great Eastern Railway and later the LNER with electrification completed through the station early after the Second World War. Because of the nature of how the station has developed it has high and low-levels [2].

The London Underground reached Stratford in 1946 with an extension of the Central Line from Liverpool Street. The Central Line is in tunnels either side of Stratford but climbs to the open air in the station. This makes Stratford one of only two stations on the Underground where passengers have to go up an escalator to reach their tube train!

The Docklands Light Railway was next to arrive, Stratford being one of the original stations on the DLR opening in 1987 [3]. One interesting thing to note is that the DLR line near Stratford used an existing railway bridge next to the Great Eastern Main Line as it ran over a former British Rail line [4]. It was the clearance available with the girders on the bridge that dictated the dimensions and final design of the top contact third rail used by the DLR [5].

The low-level part of Stratford station was rebuilt for the arrival of the Jubilee Line in 1999 [6]. Stratford is the Eastern terminus of the line. The next line to reach Stratford will be the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) when it finally opens.

As well as the Transport for London services Stratford is served by Greater Anglia on services East including to Southend Victoria, Norwich and Clacton-on-Sea. It is also served by some c2c services to Shoeburyness.

Jubilee 96075 and friend at Stratford

Greater Anglia 321 359 at Stratford

View of the busy Stratford layout with Westfield in the left background

A Central Line train

TfLRail 315 843 arrives

London Overground 378 207 prepares to head off

[1] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy. 2017) p. 158
[2] J.E. Connor, Branch lines around North Greenwich (Middleton Press, 2001) Fig. 14
[3] Robert Griffiths, The Central Line (Past and Present, 2007) p. 31
[4] Stephen Jolly & Bob Bayman, Docklands Light Railway (Capital Transport, 1986) p. 26
[5] David Hartland, Brecknell Willis & Co. Collectors for Trains, Trams and Trolleys (Middleton Press, 2004) p. 60
[6] Mike Horne, The Jubilee Line (Capital Transport, 2000) p. 79

Rowley Regis (ROW)

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Rowley Regis is a stop on the Birmingham Snow Hill to Worcester Foregate Street line via Stourbridge Junction in Sandwell. The station is located between Langley Green and Old Hill.

Birmingham bound WMR 172 219 arrives

Information
Type:	National Rail (Snow Hill Lines)
Station code:	ROW
Opened:	1867
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1867. It was called Rowley Regis & Blackheath up until 1968. The station had a goods yard though this closed in 1963. The station is in a cutting with a ticket office at road level and ramps down to the platforms.

The station is managed by West Midlands Railway, who provide up six trains an hour in each direction. Chiltern Railways also stop at Rowley Regis in peak hours with a number of their services to and from London Marylebone.

View down the line, both platforms have modern canopies and bus shelters

Station sign

Ramp down to the platform

The main station building can be seen atop the bridge in the background

Main station building

Manchester Piccadilly (MAN)

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Manchester Piccadilly is the largest station in Manchester and one of the busiest interchange stations outside of London.

TPE 185 148 will shortly be departing for Cleethorpes

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line, Welsh Marshes Line and other local and regional lines), Manchester Metrolink
Station code:	MAN
Opened:	1842
Platforms:	14 (+ 2 Metrolink)

The station was opened as Store Street in 1842 by the Manchester & Birmingham Railway [1]. At opening it had only two platforms. Within a couple of years it was owned by the London & North Western Railway following amalgamations and the station was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847. The station was also served by the Manchester, South Junction & Altrincham Railway after 1849. The MSJ&AR later became the Great Central Railway and finally the LNER after 1923, the LNWR became the LMS.

By the 1850s the station was becoming overcrowded and the station was rebuilt and expanded in 1862 with the original trainshed roof built. However the respite did not last long and there was another rebuild and expansion in the early 1880s. The next rebuild came in 1960 [2] as part of the modernisation and electrification of the West Coast Main Line, the station was also renamed Manchester Piccadilly [3]. Much of the station was changed with one of the only (virtually) untouched parts being the Victorian trainshed roof.

Manchester Piccadilly gained two tramstops on the new Manchester Metrolink in 1992, the tramstops are in what was once the station's undercroft. The station was refurbished in 2002.

Manchester Piccadilly hosts a mixture of intercity, regional and local services. Twelve of the fourteen platforms terminate at the station while two are through platforms (the former MSJ&AR platforms) for services to North Wales, Scotland and Liverpool via Manchester Oxford Road. The station hosts services by a number of companies including Northern, Trans Pennine Express and Cross Country though is managed by Network Rail.

Northern 142 020 and 029 rest at Manchester Piccadilly

Northern 319 368 has arrived

View from the footbridge

Passengers walk towards the concourse

Northern 142 061 departs

[1] Steven Dickens, Chester to Manchester Line through time (Amberley, 2016) p. 90
[2] David Lawrence, British Rail Architecture 1948-97 (Crecy, 2018) p. 106
[3] Dickens p. 93

Winsford (WSF)

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Winsford is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in Cheshire between Crewe and Hartford. 

LNWR 350 369 departs, bound for Liverpool

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line)
Station code:	WSF
Opened:	1837
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Grand Junction Railway in 1837 as one of it's original stations. Later the station became part of the London North Western Railway. The station has been the scene of a number of accidents, two with major loss of life. Twenty four people died when two trains collided at Winsford in 1948. Eighteen died in an accident at the nearby Coppenhall Junction in 1962 in another collision.

The station is managed by London Northwestern Railway with hourly trains in each direction. The station has a staffed ticket office. Access between the platforms is via the footbridge or the road bridge which crosses the railway at the end of the platforms.

Station frontage

Under the footbridge

TPE 68 023 heads through light engine

Station view from the footbridge

A look down the platform

Belper (BLP)

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Belper is a stop on the Midland Main Line in Derbyshire near Derby and in between Duffield and Ambergate.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Midland Main Line)
Station code:	BLP
Opened:	1840
Platforms:	2

The original Belper station was opened in 1840, in a different location to the current station [1]. The original station was just over a kilometre to the South of the town centre but this proved unpopular with townsfolk.

In 1878 the Midland Railway built the current station in it's current location in a cutting in the town centre. The old station site remained in use for goods traffic until 1979.

Belper station became unmanned and the original station buildings demolished in 1973 replaced by the usual modern shelters. The station was refurbished in 2005 with new shelters and passenger information screens [2].

Most trains to Belper are on the Matlock-Nottingham or Newark Castle Derwent Valley route operated by East Midlands Trains. There are also a couple of peak time trains to Sheffield and London St Pancras.

EMT 156 413 departs for Matlock

An EMT Meridian passes through

General platform view

Station sign

View from the footbridge

EMT 153 326 arrives heading for Derby

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Derby to Chesterfield (Middleton Press, 2017) Fig. 36
[2] Ibid. Fig. 43

Long Buckby (LBK)

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Long Buckby is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in Northamptonshire between Rugby and Northampton.

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line)
Station code:	LBK
Opened:	1881
Platforms:	2

Long Buckby, serving the village of the same name, was opened by the London & North Western Railway in 1881. Nowadays it is a station on the Northampton Loop of the West Coast Main Line, the line through Long Buckby was electrified in the 1960s.

Originally the station has wooden station buildings with canopies on both platforms. However nowadays it just has the ubiquitous bus shelters.

The station is on an elevated section of track and has a part-time ticket office in a cabin at the bottom of one of the ramps down to ground level. Long Buckby is served by up to three trains an hour on the WCML between Birmingham New Street and London Euston. On Sundays there are also hourly services to Crewe and Stoke-on-Trent.

LNWR 350 377 heading North

A Euston bound service is approaching

Bridge over the road, the station entrance is visible just beyond

Bus shelter and information screen

Ticket office (closed today)

A Euston bound 350 264 departs

Wigan North Western (WGN)

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Wigan North Western is one of Wigan's two stations and is situated on the West Coast Main Line.

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line)
Station code:	WGN
Opened:	1838
Platforms:	6

The station was opened as Wigan in 1838 by the North Union Railway, this station replaced an earlier station located elsewhere in the town which has opened in 1832. The station was renamed Wigan North Western in 1924 due to the London & North Western Railway once operating it (although by then the LNWR no longer existed!) Another station in the town is Wigan Westgate which is about a hundred metres away and opened later.

The station was completely rebuilt in the early 1970s along with the electrification of this stretch of the WCML (electric services through the station began in 1973).


The station has six platforms, two are bays which are only used for peak time services to Manchester. The other four platforms are located either side of two islands, two platforms are used for WCML services and the other two for mainly local services. Access between the two islands and the booking office/exit is via a subway. The station is served by Virgin Trains (who manage the station), Northern and Trans Pennine Express.

Northern 142 094 on one of the bay platforms

Looking up the line

Northern 319 386 pauses on a local service on the Liverpool-Preston line

The WCML platforms

Station buildings largely date from the 1970s

TPE 350 405 and 401 arrive at the station

Covent Garden (ZCV)

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Covent Garden is a Piccadilly Line station in central London between Leicester Square (just 250 metres or 0.16 miles away) and Holborn in the always busy West End.

Information
Type:	Transport for London (Piccadilly Line)
Station code:	ZCV
Opened:	1906
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway in 1907 (a few months after the rest of the line opened) [1] with a standard ground level Leslie Green designed station building.

Unlike most stations in the central section of the London Underground Covent Garden does not have escalators. The platforms are reached via lifts or stairs (for the fit/foolhardy - there are 193 steps![2]) Because of this the station is often overcrowded and on Saturday afternoons becomes exit only.

Interestingly the short journey from Leicester Square to Covent Garden with a Zone 1 fare (at time of writing £4.90) works out at over £30 per mile, one of the most expensive railway journeys in the country!

A Piccadilly Line 73ts train waits to depart

Former signal cabin from Covent Garden, the proximity of Leicester Square is evident (yellow boxes left centre)

Surface building

Platform view

The station name is displayed on the tile wall of the platform

[1] Desmond F. Croome, The Piccadilly Line (Capital Transport, 1998) p. 11
[2] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 113

Birmingham International (BHI)

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Birmingham International is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in the West Midlands between Marston Green and Hampton-in-Arden.

An LNWR 350 lurks under the station roof

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line)
Station code:	BHI
Opened:	1976
Platforms:	5

Birmingham International (which is actually in Solihull) was opened by British Rail in 1976 to serve the newly opened National Exhibition Centre and Birmingham Airport [1][2]. The name is derived from the airport which at the time was called Birmingham International Airport. The station is connected to the NEC by a covered walkway.

The station is located on the West Coast Main Line and is served by Avanti West Coast, Transport for Wales, Cross Country, London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway. The station has a very regular service from Birmingham New Street which is only a few minutes away.

Birmingham International used to be linked to the airport by the world's first public Maglev train in service, developed by British Rail at Derby [3][4]. It has now been replaced by cable hauled cars.

WMR 323 205 at Birmingham International

View down the platform

Station concourse

An ATW (now TfW) 158 arrives

LNWR 350 241 waits to depart

[1] Chris Heaps, BR Diary 1968-1977 (Ian Allan, 1988) p. 97
[2] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Rugby to Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2008) Fig. 94
[3] Colin J Marsden, Departmental Stock (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 36
[4] Colin J Marsden, 25 Years of Railway Research (OPC, 1989) p. 111