Wylde Green is a stop on the Northern half of the Birmingham Cross-City Line. It is located between Chester Road (which is actually closer to Wylde Green itself) and Sutton Coldfield.
WMR 323 202 arrives at Wylde Green
Information
Type:
National Rail (Cross-City Line)
Station code:
WYL
Opened:
1862
Platforms:
2
The station was opened in 1862 by the London & North Western Railway on it's line from Birmingham New Street to Sutton Coldfield. The station was built to the standard layout as then used by the LNWR with wooden platform buildings, including a booking office and waiting rooms.
The station had no goods facilities though did have a signal box [1], this has now gone. A brick booking office has been retained though platform shelters are now of the corrugated iron type.
The station became a park & ride station in the 1970s with the addition of an adjacent car park with space for forty-five cars (now fifty-one). The line through Wylde Green was electrified in 1993. The station is served by West Midlands Trains.
View up the line towards Sutton
Platform shelter
A train approaches
A WMR 323 waits at the station
[1] Vic Mitchell, North of Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2014) Fig. 96
Kidsgrove is a junction station in Staffordshire between Longport and Alsager or Congleton.
Northern 323 230 arrives at Kidsgrove
Information
Type:
National Rail
(West Coast Main Line & Crewe-Derby Line)
Station code:
KDG
Opened:
1848
Platforms:
4
The station was opened are Harecastle & Kidsgrove [1] in 1848 by the North Staffordshire Railway, it had a number of name changes in the 1850s including being called Harecastle Junction and Kidsgrove Junction at various times! It was renamed Harecastle in 1885 before becoming Kidsgrove Central in 1944. After the closure of the other two stations in Kidsgrove the station became just Kidsgrove in 1966.
Kidsgrove is at the junction of two lines, the Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line (the branch splits at Kidsgrove for services to Crewe or Manchester Piccadilly) and the Crewe-Derby Line. The station is triangular shaped with each line having a pair of platforms. The platforms are connected via a lengthy footbridge.
The station has changed a little since the early twentieth century. The station used to have a north facing bay platform but this has now been lifted. A signalbox at the junction was closed in 2002 [2]. The station will receive lifts and a new footbridge to allow for step free access to all platforms.
The station is managed by East Midlands Railway and also served by London North Western Railway and Northern. There are at least six trains an hour.
EMR 158 889 departs heading South
An EMR 153 travels under the footbridge
Central platforms
LNWR 350 241 arrives with a South bound service
Looking South
[1] Adrian Hartless, Lines North of Stoke (Middleton Press, 2019) Map. XVII [2] Ibid. Fig. 63
Hartford is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in Cheshire between Winsford and Acton Bridge.
LNWR 350 247 departs heading for Liverpool
Information
Type:
National Rail
(West Coast Main Line)
Station code:
HTF
Opened:
1837
Platforms:
2
Hartford was opened by the Grand Junction Railway in 1837. In 1846 it became part of the London & North Western Railway and eventually a station on British Railway's West Coast Main Line. The station was rebuilt and rationalised during the electrification of the line through Hartford in the early 1960s.
The current concrete main station building dates from the rebuild and included a staffed ticket office. Other station buildings are of the bus shelter type. A footbridge allows transfer between platforms. The station is in a cutting with ramps up to the road level.
Shifnal is a stop on the Wolverhampton-Shrewsbury Line in Shropshire. It is located between Cosford and Telford Central.
WMR 170 517 departs heading for Shrewsbury
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Wolverhampton-Shrewsbury Line)
Station code:
SFN
Opened:
1849
Platforms:
2
The station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1849 on it's line from London Paddington to Birkenhead. The station was built on a high viaduct that cuts through the town with a street level building. Nowadays this building is no longer part of the station except it's entrance. Access to the platform is via steps and a fairly long ramp.
The station is unstaffed and has the usual collection of bus shelters, information screens and ticket machines that denote the usual modern station. Access between the platforms is via a footbridge. The original platform building still exists but is no longer in use. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway who maintain a half-hourly service most days. Transport for Wales also serve the station a couple of times a day.
Footbridge
TfW 158 837 passes through the station
Ramp down to street level
A good view of Shifnal and the surrounding area can be gained from the footbridge!
Loughborough Central was a former station on the Great Central Railway. Now it is the Northern terminus and headquarters of the preserved line that has taken the same name.
Repton lets off steam at Loughborough Central
Information
Type:
Preserved Railway (Great Central Railway)
Opened:
1899 (Closed 1969)
Re-Opened:
1974
Platforms:
2
The Great Central Railway was the last of the great Victorian main lines to open with Loughborough Central opening in 1899. The station later became part of the LNER and British Railways who closed it in 1969 along with most of the GCR. The Great Central Railway from Loughborough Central down to Leicester North is now a preserved line which opened in 1974.
Loughborough Central was built in the standard GCR manner with a single island platform. The line is in a cutting with access from a ticket office at street level. The station building along with the signalbox and other features are Grade II listed. The station has been preserved as it would have been when a British Railways station in the 1950s.
Next to the station is the GCR's main engine shed. This however will be demolished and replaced by a larger shed when the GCR is extended up to (though not connecting to) the main line Loughborough station a few hundred metres away and the Great Central Railway (North) preserved line.
On the platform
Newsagent concession on the platform
Station entrance
Preserved diesel locomotives stored at Loughborough Central
A look down the well preserved platform, this is the longest canopy on a preserved station
