Rainhill is a stop on the Liverpool to Manchester Line on Merseyside between Whiston and Lea Green.
Northern 319 375 prepares to depart
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Liverpool - Manchester Line)
Station code:
RNH
Opened:
1830
Platforms:
2
The station was opened as Kendrick's Cross Gate by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 and is one of the oldest railway stations in the world. The station name was changed to Rainhill probably in 1831.
Rainhill is best known for being the site for the trials in 1829 to see if steam locomotives would be suitable to provide the motive power on the railway. George Stephenson's Rocket won of course and set the template for railway motive power for the next hundred years. A museum dedicated to the Rainhill trials is near the station.
The current station buildings date from a rebuilding of the station in the 1860s by the London & North Western Railway. At the Western end of the station the road crosses the railway via a skew bridge designed by George Stephenson, the first bridge of this type ever built to cross a railway line.
The station is now part of the Merseytravel PTE and managed by Northern. The line through Rainhill was electrified in 2015. Northern operated services out of Liverpool Lime Streetstop at the station to destinations like Crewe.
View down the line, the skew bridge can be seen in the background
Northern 323 227 arrives with a Liverpool bound service
Four Oaks is a station on the Northern half of the Cross-City Line situated between Sutton Coldfield and Butlers Lane.
WMR 323 206 arrives at Four Oaks
Information
Type:
National Rail (Cross-City Line)
Station code:
FOK
Opened:
1884
Platforms:
3
The station was opened by the London & North Western Railway in 1884 when it extended it's line from Sutton Coldfield to Lichfield City [1]. The station once had a number of sidings and a substantial main station building. The latter have now gone though the waiting room on the island platform with it's original canopies remains. The station has gained ample car parking though and is one of a number of the stations on the line advertised as park and ride stations.
When the Cross-City Line was launched in 1978 Four Oaks was the original Northern terminus [2] though most trains go on through to Lichfield these days. Some services still terminate/begin at Four Oaks and usually use Platform 3, a bay platform. The Cross-City Line was electrified in 1992.
Main station building
View towards Butlers Lane
Platform shelter, beyond is the car park
View from the footbridge
WMR 323 213 on Platform 3
[1] Vic Mitchell, North of Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2014) Fig. 103 [2] John Glover, BR Diary 1978-1985 (Ian Allan, 1985) p. 19
The station was opened in 1862 by the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway. At first the station was nearly two kilometres away from the village of Hagley and facilities were rather rough and ready. In 1884 after the Great Western Railway took the station over they completely rebuilt it due to rising demand as the village had expanded towards and around the station. Brick buildings with canopies were built on both platforms, one still remains on the Worcester side of the station. The original GWR footbridge survives, and is grade 2 listed. It was used by Hornby as the prototype for their GWR footbridge model.
The station is managed by West Midlands Railway with trains several times an hour in both directions most days.
Station frontage
New WMR signage
GWR station building
Looking up towards Birmingham, the footbridge is in the background
Piccadilly Circus is a stop on the Bakerloo (between Charing Cross and Oxford Circus) and Piccadilly (between Green Park and Leicester Square) Lines of the London Underground in Central London.
A Bakerloo Line train arrives
Information
Type:
Transport for London (Bakerloo & Piccadilly Lines)
Station code:
ZPC
Opened:
1906
Platforms:
4
The station was opened in 1906, firstly for the Bakerloo Line in March and the Piccadilly Line in December [1]. The station was designed by Leslie Green and built to his typical red tiled style used elsewhere on the Underground. Transport between the ground level booking hall and platforms was by lift (and a lot of stairs). Piccadilly Circus was the first Underground station to have automatic lifts which didn't require operators [2].
The station was a great success, so much so by the 1920s the station was often dangerously overcrowded with long queues for the lifts. Construction of a new station with escalators and a much larger circular booking hall underneath Piccadilly Circus roundabout itself began in 1924. Eleven escalators were installed for passenger transfer. The station was intended by the managing director of the Underground Frank Pick to be the flagship station of the Underground. The new station designed by Charles Holden opened in 1928 (the old station closing in 1929 [3]) and was an Art Deco masterpiece of bronze and Travertine marble.
The station continues to be an intregral part of the Underground in Central London with over forty million passengers entering and exiting the station a year. A memorial to Frank Pick was opened in the booking hall in 2016.
Bakerloo Line platform
A now disused tunnel (by the public) showing the original tile pattern
Piccadilly Line platform, blue tiles are used, brown on the Bakerloo platforms
One of the walkways to the booking hall
A Piccadilly Line train
[1] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 148 [2] Siddy Holloway, Piccadilly Circus: the heart of London (London Transport Museum, 2019) p. 3 [3] Desmond F. Croome, The Piccadilly Line (Capital Transport, 1998) p. 27
Eridge is a stop on the Uckfield Branch of the Oxted Line in Sussex between Ashurst and Crowborough. It is also a terminus of the Spa Valley Railway.
Southern 171 730 pauses at Eridge
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Oxted Line - Uckfield Branch) &
Preserved Railway (Spa Valley Railway)
Station code:
ERI
Opened:
1868
Platforms:
3
The station was opened in 1868 by the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway. The station named after the nearby Eridge Park where Eridge Castle is located [1], there being little habitation nearby. The station was a junction for services running to Tonbridge (via Tunbridge Wells West), Eastbourne and East Grinstead though lines to these destinations were closed in the 1960s and 1980s. The station had a pair of island platforms.
The line through to Uckfield survived and is now served by Southern though was singled in 1990 meaning that only one platform was now in use. In 2011 the line from Eridge to Tunbridge Wells West was re-opened by the Spa Valley Railway. Network and preserved rail now run side by side. The Spa Valley Railway uses the island platform opposite the network one.
The main station building is on a road bridge that crosses the line with footbridges down to the platforms. Both sides of the station retain canopies and original features, though the Spa Valley side is in better condition!
View down the network platform, the Spa Valley island platform is on the left
Ring Haw brings a train into the Spa Valley platform
View down the Spa Valley platform
Station frontage
Footbridge down to the platforms
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Branch Lines to Tunbridge Wells (Middleton Press, 1986) Fig. 100
