Bridgnorth Castle Hill Railway

The Bridgnorth Castle Hill Railway or Bridgnorth Cliff ailway is an inland funicular railway linking the high and low level parts of the Shropshire town.

View down the hill

Information
Type:	Private Railway (Bridgnorth Castle Hill Railway)
Opened:	1892
Stations:	2

The railway opened in 1892 as an easier way for residents and visitors to Bridgnorth to travel between the high and low parts of the town. On foot the journey climbs over thirty metres and involves a climb of two hundred steps! The railway opened with two wooden cars using water and gravity to transfer the cars over the sixty one metre long line [1]. The funicular railway has a maximum gradient of sixty-four percent making it one of the steepest in the country.

The railway has remained open every since apart from a period of about a year in the mid-1930s when the railway was closed due to financial troubles. The railway was rebuilt in 1943-44 to use electricity to move the two cars. The original cars were replaced by the current aluminium cars in 1955. The cars have a maximum capacity of eighteen passengers. The track was renewed with bullhead rails in the early 1970s. The railway uses 1, 067mm gauge.

There are two stations at either end of the line with around two hundred return trips made every day. The journey takes just over a minute!

Although unconnected to any other railway the low-level station is close to the Severn Valley Railway's station in Bridgnorth.

One of the cars at the high level station

Entrance to the high level station

Entrance to the low-level station

[1] Martin Easdown, Cliff Railways, Lifts and Funiculars (Amberley, 2018) p. 14

Cogan (CGN)

Cogan is a station near Penarth Marina, about four and a half kilometres South of Cardiff Central on the Vale of Glamorgan Line between Grangetown and Eastbrook.

Transport for Wales 142 085 arrives with a Cardiff bound service

Information
Type:	National Rail (Vale of Glamorgan Line)
Station code:	CGN
Opened:	1888
Platforms:	2

The current station was opened in 1888 next to an existing station called Penarth Dock on the Penarth & Sully branch which was opened in 1878. This part of the station closed in 1962 though there have been proposals to re-open a platform on this line at Cogan.

The current station is a fairly standard suburban one with "bus" shelters, information displays and a ticket machine but no staff. Access between the platforms is via a footbridge. From Cogan there are regular services to Cardiff Central, Barry Island and Bridgend.

The station is served and managed by Transport for Wales

View down the platform

The old footbridge has been replaced by a temporary structure (as of Summer 2019)

Station sign

TfW 150 255 arrives at Cogan

Quorn and Woodhouse

Quorn and Woodhouse is a stop on the Great Central Railway in Leicestershire between Loughborough Central and Rothley.

Repton arrives with a North bound service

Information
Type:	Preserved Railway (Great Central Railway)
Opened:	1899 (Closed 1963)
Re-Opened:	1974
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Great Central Railway in 1899 on it's extension down to London and it's new terminus London Marylebone, the last new mainline built in Britain until HS1 in 2003. The Great Central Railway later became part of the LNER but post the Second World War the line began to decay and was gradually closed down North of Aylesbury in the 1960s. Quorn and Woodhouse was closed in 1963.

The station was re-opened as part of the preserved Great Central Railway in 1974 and is one of two intermediate stations on the line. The station has an island platform with an entrance on a bridge that crosses the lines and steps down the platform, there is also a foot crossing at the end of the platform. The platform contained a couple of well preserved station buildings.

There is a goods yard next to the station complete with goods shed and turntable, the latter however is not an original part of the station being originally at Preston Docks and installed at Quorn and Woodhouse in 2011. The station has been preserved as a typical rural LNER station in the 1940s.

View of the platform buildings

View down from the road bridge

Goods shed

On the platform

6990 arrives with a South bound service

Kenton (KNT)

Kenton is a stop on the London Underground Bakerloo Line and London Overground between South Kenton and Harrow & Wealdstone.

Southbound Bakerloo Line 3564 arrives at Kenton

Information
Type:	Transport for London (London Underground Bakerloo Line & London Overground Watford DC Line)
Station code:	KNT
Opened:	1912
Platforms:	2

Kenton, which was opened in 1912 [1], was one of a number of stations built by the London & North Western Railway for it's New Line from London Euston to Watford Junction. The Bakerloo Line reaches Kenton in 1917 [2] and apart from 1982-84 have continued to serve Kenton ever since. The LNWR services were electrified and are nowadays the Watford DC Line of the London Overground.

Kenton retains it's original LNWR buildings with canopies, access between the platfoerms is via a footbridge at the Northern end of the platforms. The station is next to the West Coast Main Line though there have never been platforms at Kenton serving those lines. There was a goods yard the other side of the main line but this closed in 1965.

View down the platforms

London Overground 378 214 departs heading North

Station view from the footbridge

A London Overground train in the station

View from the Southbound platform

[1] Keith Scholey, Euston to Harrow & Wealdstone (Middleton Press, 2002) Map XViii
[2] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 136

Ash Vale (AHV)

Ash Vale is a station in Surrey at the junction of the Alton and Ascot to Guildford Lines. It is between Aldershot and Brookwood or Frimley.

SWR 450 558 arrives with an Ascot bound service

Information
Type:	National Rail (Alton Line and Ascot to Guildford Line)
Station code:	AHV
Opened:	1870
Platforms:	2

The station was opened as North Camp & Ash Vale in 1870 by the London & South Western Railway. The name was changed to Ash Vale in 1924 [1] (the actual North Camp station is a few hundred metres away on the North Downs Line).

The original station buildings were demolished in 1972 [2] due to subsidence with a new main building built as a replacement. The station, which is on an embankment with ground level access, is managed by South Western Railway.

SWR 450 118 arrives at Ash Vale

Station entrance

View down the platforms

Both platforms have canopies

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Woking to Alton (Middleton Press, 1988) Fig. 37
[2] Ibid. Fig. 43