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
Inverness Airport is a stop on the Aberdeen-Inverness Line at Dalcross in the Scottish Highlands between Inverness and Nairn.
A ScotRail 170 arrives at the station
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Aberdeen-Inverness Line)
Station code:
IVA
Opened:
2023
Platforms:
2
The station was opened in 2023 to serve the adjacent Inverness Airport. The station has been built near to the site of the former Dalcross station which closed in 1965. The original plan for the station was for it to have a single platform though in the end a passing loop was provided and a second platform built.
Access between the platforms is via a footbridge which also has lifts available. Other than that the station's facilties are fairly basic, it is unstaffed and has the usual bus shelters and displays.
The station has an hourly service in both directions between Inverness and Elgin, some trains going on to Aberdeen, a small number go as far as Edinburgh Waverley. The station is managed by ScotRail who also provide all of the services stopping at the station.
View down the platform, access between the platforms is via a footbridge, lifts are also available
Itchen-Abbas was a stop on the Alton-Winchester Line in Hampshire between Alresford and Winchester.
Along the platform (KD Collection)
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Alton-Winchester Line)
Opened:
1865
Closed:
1973
Platforms:
2 (1 at closure)
The station was opened by the Alton, Alresford & Winchester Railway in 1864, later becoming part of the London South Western Railway. The station was built with two platforms but one was taken out of use in the 1930s.
The station continued to be gradually run down, becoming unstaffed after 1967. It was finally closed in 1973 along with the rest of the line. The line was reopened as the Watercress Line (Mid-Hants Railway) but re-opening from Alton went only as far as Alresford. The station building has now been demolished and new houses built on the former track bed.
The station was opened by the Buckinghamshire Railway in 1850 later becoming part of the London & North Western Railway. The station had two platforms and a small goods yard [1]. An oil distribution depot was build next to the station before the Second World War, after the war it was taken over by Esso and used until 1974, two sidings were built to serve the depot [2].
The station however was closed in 1968 along with other stations along the line when British Rail ceases passenger services between Oxford and Bletchley. Network South East reopened Islip in 1989, this time as a single platform halt. The original wooden station buildings being lost. The station was rebuilt in the mid-2010s along with the upgrade of the line to Oxford with services through from London Marylebone.
Islip now has two platforms again and the usual collection bus shelters and information points of an unstaffed station. The station is in a shallow cutting with ramps from the road level. Access between the platforms is via a footbridge. The station is managed by Chiltern Railways.
Chiltern 168 215 headas through bound for Oxford
View from the footbridge
Station sign
View from the access ramp, the station is in a shallow cutting
Looking towards Oxford
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Oxford to Bletchley (Middleton Press, 2005) Map. VIII [2] Ibid. Fig. 32
Idridgehay is one of the intermediate stations on what is now the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway between Duffield and Wirksworth. Opened by the Midland Railway in 1867 Idridgehay was never that busy a station though it did have some loyal passengers for whom it was a lifeline.
The station was closed for passenger use as a fuel saving measure in the Second World War though goods facilities continued to be available until 1964. The line closed completely in 1989 but happily was re-opened when the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway took over the line. Idridgehay was re-opened as a station in 2008.
There used to be a booking hall and crossing keeper's house at the station, the buildings still exist but these are now private houses. The level crossing has been restored and is usually operated by the guard on EVR services.
The solar panels from a 1980s British Rail trial into powering level crossing lights are still extant opposite the platform, and indeed still work!
33 103 passes through the level crossing
View of the platform
D8098 with a Wirksworth bound service
Looking up towards the level crossing, the BR solar panels are on the right
Most services on the EVR are operated by heritage DMUs
Imperial Wharf is a fairly recent addition to the London railway scene, the station was opened in 2009 between West Brompton and Clapham Junction and serves Chelsea, especially Chelsea Dock which is close by. Originally the station was going to be called Chelsea Dock but in the end the station took its name from the redeveloped brown field site next to it which now has hundreds of luxury flats on it.
The station is just North of the Thames and is served by London Overground and Southern. The station is elevated and is accessible via lifts or stairs from a ground floor ticket office.
LO 378 223 calls at the station
A Class 66 hauled freight passes through and is about to cross the Thames.
