Tile Hill (THL)

Tile Hill is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in the West Midlands between Berkswell and Canley. 

LNWR 350 406 departs

Information
Type:	National Rail (West Coast Main Line)
Station code:	THL
Opened:	1850
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the London & Birmingham Railway in 1850 as Allesley Lane, changing to Allesley Gate in 1857. The name changed again to Tile Hill in 1864. The station was originally located at a road crossing with the platform staggered either side of the level crossing [1]. The station was rebuilt when the WCML was electrified through Tile Hill in the 1960s and the platforms from then on faced each other. The level crossing was replaced by a road bridge in 2004. The platforms were both extended in 2009.

The station has a staffed ticket office and substantial brick waiting room. The other shelters on the station are of the bus shelter type. There is a footbridge for transfer between the platforms. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway though most services are handled by London Northwestern Railway (all part of the same company of course).

LNWR 350 114 arrives with a Birmingham bound service

View down the platform, a 350 passes underneath the footbridge

Looking up towards Birmingham

View from the roadbridge

Booking office and main waiting area

[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Rugby to Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2008) Fig. 81

Whitchurch Halt

Whitchurch Halt was a stop on the Bristol & North Somerset Railway in Somerset between Brislington and Pensford. 

Information
Type:	National Rail (Bristol & North Somerset Railway)
Opened:	1925
Opened:	1959
Platforms:	1

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1925. The station was a basic GWR halt with a short single platform which had a pagoda style hut on it. The line was closed to passenger services in 1959 and Whitchurch Halt was closed. The line remained open for freight for a few years afterwards. Little remains of the line or Whitchurch Halt. Whitchurch is nowadays a Southern suburb of Bristol. 

Remains of the platform, the track bed is gone (KD collection)

Bank Hall (BAH)

Bank Hall is a stop on the Merseyrail Northern Line in Liverpool between Sandhills and Bootle Oriel Road. 

Merseyrail 508 108 departs Hall Road with a North bound service

Information
Type:	National Rail (Merseyrail Northern Line)
Station code:	BAH
Opened:	1850
Platforms:	2

The station was opened in 1850 by the Liverpool, Crosby & Southport Railway as they extended their line South from Waterloo to Liverpool Exchange. The station originally had two island platforms though only one is in use now. The platforms originally has canopies and waiting rooms [1], the surviving platform has just the usual bus shelter.

The platforms are in a wide cutting, the booking hall is on the road bridge which crosses the line just ahead of the platforms. There are steps but no ramps down to platform level. There are services every fifteen minutes most days between Southport and Hunts Cross via Liverpool Central.

Platform view, the disused platform is to the left underneath all the foliage!

508 125 arrives, the booking hall can be seen in the background

View down the platform

Another view of the booking hall

508 131 and a Liverpool bound service

[1] Jonathan Cadwallader & Martin Jenkins, Merseyside Electrics (Ian Allan, 2010) p. 17

Silvertown (SVW)

Silvertown was a stop on the North London Line in East London between Custom House and North Woolwich. 

Modern day Elizabeth Line tracks through the site of the former station

Information
Type:	National Rail (North London Line)
Station code:	SVW
Opened:	1863
Closed:	2006
Platforms:	1 (at closure)

The station was opened by the Great Eastern Railway in 1863, named after the housing area for workers at the S.W. Silver factory producing rubber products [1]. The original station was rebuilt in 1885. The station originally had two platforms but the line was singled by British Rail in 1980 and one platform removed. The line was electrified in 1986. The station was renamed Silvertown & London City Airport [2] the following year though, despite the close proximity to the aiport, there was little extra traffic. The name reverted back to Silvertown before the final closure in 2006.

There is now little trace of the station remaining. The original line has been replaced by new track for the Elizabeth Line. There have been proposals to build a new station on this line to serve the airport but none have come to fruition. Nearby is London City Airport Docklands Light Railway station.

The Elizabeth Line tracks behind a wall, Tate & Lyle's factory overlooking the scene

Silvertown station was located just ahead on the left

[1] J.E. Connor, Branch Lines Around North Woolwich (Middleton Press, 2001) Fig. 73

[2] Ibid. Fig. 82

Bootle New Strand (BNW)

Bootle New Strand is a stop on the Merseyrail Northern Line in Bootle between Bootle Oriel Road and Seaforth & Litherland. 

Merseyrail 507 025 arrives with a Liverpool bound service

Information
Type:	National Rail (Merseyrail Northern Line)
Station code:	BNW
Opened:	1850
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the Liverpool, Crosby & Southport Railway in 1850 as Marsh Lane & Strand Road. It kept this name until 1968 when it was changed to Bootle New Strand to match the adjacent New Strand shopping centre which was opened. The station became part of the Merseyrail Northern Line in 1978.

Bootle New Strand is a staffed station with ramps from ground level up to the platforms. The station has trains at up to every fifteen minutes between Hunts Cross and Southport via Liverpool Central.

508 125 departs for Southport

View down the platform looking North

Waiting room and shelter

Ramp up to platform level

Platform view