Romford is a station on the Great Eastern Main Line in what was historically Essex but is now part of Greater London.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Great Eastern Main Line)
Station code:
RMF
Opened:
1839
Platforms:
5
The station was first opened in 1839 by the Eastern Counties Railway as the Eastern terminus of their line from Mile End. However the line was extended East to Brentwood the following year. Another station was opened in Romford by the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway in 1893. The two stations were combined in 1934. The LTS line is now London Overground's line from Romford to Upminster.
London services through Romford are the Shenfield Metro operated by TfL Rail (which will become the Elizabeth Line of Crossrail in due course) and Greater Anglia. The platforms of Romford station will be extended for the longer Crossrail trains with improvements to be made to the ticket hall and passenger information systems.
Greater Anglia 321 408 with a Colchester bound service
Shottle is an intermediate station on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. It serves the settlements Cowers Lane (which is nearest), Turngate and Shottlegate. The station was opened as Cowers Lane but was changed by request of the owner of Shottle Hall.
Information
Type:
Preserved Railway
(Ecclesbourne Valley Railway)
Opened:
1867 (Closed 1947)
Re-Opened:
2014
Platforms:
1
Shottle was on the branch line from Duffield to Wirksworth and was opened by the Midland Railway in 1867. The station was closed for passenger use in 1947 as a fuel saving measure though remained open for freight until 1967 when full closure occurred.
The station was re-opened as a stop on the preserved Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in 2014. Like with Idridgehay further up the line the former station buildings are now privately owned (by an oil company in Shottle's case) so only the platform is officially part of the EVR station. The building's owners however agreed to have the building repainted in Midland Railway colours. The station building was designed by the Midland Railway's John Crossley [1] who designed all of the stations on the line.
Shottle hosts a passing loop on the EVR though only has a platform on the down line, trains from Wirksworth can stop for passengers to embark or alight but not from Duffield. A second platform is under construction and due to open in 2018. A couple of sidings are next to the station used by the railway for stock storage and engineering trains.
General view of Shottle, the former station building is not part of the EVR station
View of the former station building
A Duffield bound Class 33 hauled train passes a train waiting in the loop
One of Shottle's sidings
[1] Tom Tait & Neil Ferguson-Lee, The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway: the First 150 Years (Ecclesbourne Valley Railway Media, 2017) p. 10
Dollis Hill is a station on the Jubilee Line in North West London though has had a varied history being part of three separate lines on the underground.
Information
Type:
Transport for London
(Jubilee Line)
Station code:
ZDO
Opened:
1909
Platforms:
2
The station was opened by the Metropolitan Railway in 1909, in the early 1930s it was renamed Dollis Hill & Gladstone Park for a short period before reverting back. In 1939 the station was transferred to the Bakerloo Line as part of the Stanmore branch [1].
Metropolitan Line trains no longer stopped at the station after 1940 though continued (and to this day continue) to pass by on the fast lines. To facilitate the transfer of the station between tube lines the platform had to be moved so the Metropolitan Lines could be located either side of the Bakerloo [2].
Change of platform location, based on Horne p. 20
In 1979 the Jubilee Line was formed from the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo. The station has a single island platform with access via a subway.
96ts 96108 on a Southbound service
View down the platform
Platform building
A Metropolitan Line S8 passes the station
[1] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 114 [2] Mike Horne, The Jubilee Line (Capital Transport, 2000) p. 21
Bermuda Park is one of two new stations (the other being Coventry Arena) which opened at the start of 2016 on the Coventry-Nuneaton Line.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Coventry-Nuneaton Line)
Station code:
BEP
Opened:
2016
Platforms:
2
The station serves the business park of the same name in the South of Nuneaton. It is the first station on the site though is near Chilvers Coton which closed in 1965. Bermuda Park was opened in January 2016 a few months later than originally planned.
The station is a basic modern unmanned one with bus shelters and a ticket machine and little else. The station is not that busy yet, having just 2,384 passengers in its first year of operation though this is not helped by the station only having at most an hourly service between Coventry and Nuneaton. All of these services are operated by London Midland.
Smethwick Rolfe Street is situated on the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford branch of the West Coast Main Line though all services to the station are on the Walsall-Wolverhampton route via Birmingham New Street.
Information
Type:
National Rail (Birmingham-
Wolverhampton Line)
Station code:
SMR
Opened:
1852
Platforms:
2
The station was opened in 1852 by the Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Stour Valley Railway later being taken over the London North Western Railway. The current station layout dates from a rebuild in 1890. The station building in good condition with many of its original Victorian features still on place, a former waiting room now retained for heritage displays and events. Access between the two platforms is via the road.
Platform 1 has had a mural since the 1980s. In the Summer of 2017 the mural was replaced by a new one painted by local college students.
All trains which stop at Smethwick Rolfe Street are operated by London Midland. Virgin Trains and Arriva Trains Wales services also head through the station.
London Midland 323 204 stops at the station heading for Birmingham New Street (next stop)
