Upper Greenock

Upper Greenock was a stop on the Inverclyde Line in Inverclyde between Ravenscraig and Port Glasgow.

The station just after it's rebuilding, it had an island platform [1]

Information
Type:	National Rail (Inverclyde Line)
Opened:	1865
Closed:	1967
Platforms:	2

The station was opened in 1865 by the Greenock & Wemyss Bay Railway, later becoming part of the Caledonian Railway. The station was rebuilt when the line to Wemyss Bay was doubled in the early 1900s. The station was closed in 1967 though the line remains open and is nowadays the Inverclyde Line. Traces of the old station remain including a bricked up entrance.

Station entrance, parts of this entrance survive though nowadays bricked up [1]

[1] Arthur B. Tatlow, "The Doubling of the Wemyss Bay Line of the Caledonian Railway", Railway Magazine (June 1903) p. 460

University (UNI)

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

University is a stop on the Cross-City Line in Birmingham between Five Ways and Selly Oak.

Under the old station canopy, the new canopies can be seen in the background!

Information
Type:	National Rail (Cross-City Line)
Station code:	UNI
Opened:	1978
Platforms:	2

In 1978 services were restored on the former Birmingham West Suburban Railway between Longbridge and Birmingham New Street through to Lichfield as the Cross-City Line. University was a new station opened to serve Birmingham University and the Queen Elizabeth hospital. The station is near the site of a former station called Somerset Road which closed in 1930.

The Cross-City Line was an immediate hit with passengers with service frequencies quickly increased [1], also there were extensions made to the route. The Cross-City Line was electrified in 1993. University is the second busiest station on the line after Birmingham New Street with around three million passengers a year. The station has a red brick station building and two corrugated metal canopies over part of the two platforms, a design used on a number of stations on the line [2]. Access is via a stairway from the ticket hall at road level, the line and platforms being in a cutting.

Work began in 2020 on a complete redevelopment of the station with new much larger station buildings and full length canopies to equip the station ready for the 2022 Commonwealth Games which were held in Birmingham (some events taking place on the University campus). Unfortunately the work was not completed in time for the games and is now due to be completed in 2023.

As well as West Midlands Railway Cross-City Line services, other WMR services also stop here to/from Hereford and Worcester as do some Cross Country services.

A Cross Country service passes the new (but not completed) station buildings

One of the new station buildings

WMR 323 209 arrives at University

View down the platform at the new station

Another Cross County service passes the station, the old station in the background this time!

[1] John Glover, BR Diary 1978-1985 (Ian Allan, 1985) p. 19
[2] David Lawrence, British Rail Architecture 1948-97 (Crecy Publishing, 2018) p. 155

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

Upper Holloway (UHL)

Upper Holloway is a stop on the London Overground's Gospel Oak to Barking Line (GOBLIN) in North London between Gospel Oak and Crouch Hill. 

LO 710 267 arrives at Upper Holloway

Information
Type:	Transport for London (London Overground GOBLIN)
Station code:	UHL
Opened:	1862
Platforms:	2

The station was opened in 1862 as part of the Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway. The station was built in a cutting and retained it's original features including platform canopies into the 1960s [1]. The platform facilities have been demolished though the original street level ticket office remains (though no longer used for that purpose). The station became part of the London Overground in 2008. The line was electrified in 2017.

The station has brick built and glass fronted shelters on both platforms. Access to the platforms is via ramps or steps from street level, either side of a road bridge which crosses the line.

Platform shelter

View down the platform

Two options for platform access

Both shelters can be seen here

710 262 arrives

[1] J.E. Connor, St. Pancras to Barking (Middleton Press, 2005) Fig. 47

Uppingham

Uppingham was the terminus of the short branch line from Seaton in Rutland.

BR 2MT 41214 arrives (KD Collection)

Information
Type:	National Rail (Seaton-Uppingham Line)
Opened:	1894
Closed:	1960
Platforms:	1

The station was opened by the London & North Western Railway in 1894. The branch line from Seaton had no intermediate stations. Uppingham is known for it's school and the school was able to run three special trains on the branch a few days before it officially opened [1]. School specials were also run for four years after the station closed in 1960.

The station had a single platform but also had a goods yard with a number of cattle pens. The goods yard remained open until 1964 [2].

Postcard view of Uppingham (Public domain)

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Lines around Stamford (Middleton Press, 2016) Fig. 13
[2] Ibid. Fig. 16

Upton and Blewbury

Upton and Blewbury is a closed station that once served the Berkshire villages of Upton, Blewbury and West Hagbourne (which became part of Oxfordshire after 1974).

Information
Type:	National Rail (Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway)
Opened:	1882
Closed:	1962
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway in 1882 as Upton, it mostly served military camps in the area. Later it became part of the Great Western Railway and was renamed Upton and Blewbury in 1911.

Despite also serving the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell after the Second World War Upton and Blewbury was closed in 1962.

Upton and Blewbury had two platforms with a station building and one and a shelter on the other. To the North of the station were a couple of sidings and a signalbox. The main station building survives today as a residential property.

Upton and Blewbury looking South (KD Collection)