Droitwich Spa (DTW)

Droitwich Spa is at the junction of the two lines between Birmingham and Worcester from Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Snow Hill.

WMR 170 630 departs

Information
Type:	National Rail (Worcester-Birmingham Line)
Station code:	DTW
Opened:	1852
Platforms:	2

The station was opened as Droitwich in 1852 by the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway. It was later taken over by the Great Western Railway. The station was renamed Droitwich Spa following a rebuilding in 1899. The station was linked to the Midland Railway's line between Birmingham and Gloucester via a branch line.

While Birmingham Snow Hill was closed between 1967 and 1995 services via Kidderminster went to Birmingham New Street instead. The station has a staffed ticket office. Access between the platforms is via a footbridge. Droitwich Spa is managed by West Midlands Railway, who operate all services to the station.

Station sign

Main station building

Semaphores at the end of a platform, the signal box can just be seen in the background

View from the footbridge

View down the platform

London Bridge (LBG)

London Bridge is a railway terminus in Southwark, South East London. It is the fourth busiest station on the network with sixty one million passengers using the station in 2018-19.

Southern 171 202 arrives with a service from Uckfield

Information
Type:	National Rail (Thameslink, Southern & South Eastern Services)
Station code:	LBG
Opened:	1836
Platforms:	15

The station was opened in 1836 by the London & Croydon Railway, it is the oldest London terminus still in use (and third oldest overall). The original station was much smaller than the huge site the station occupies now with just four lines and no roof (a canvas roof was added in 1840). By now under the control of the South Eastern Railway, the station was rebuilt in the late 1840s. Another rebuild came in 1864. Others have followed over the decades.

The Southern Railway electrified (third rail) the suburban lines out of London Bridge in the late 1920s (though the line to London Victoria and later Crystal Palace was electrified (overhead) in 1909). The station became highly busy due to commuter traffic to and from the South East. The station was rebuilt by British Rail in the early 1970s to cope with the huge passenger volumes. A further redevelopment has taken place in the 2000s and reopened in 2018.

Although London Bridge is a terminus it also has a large number of through services too, in fact nine of the fifteen platforms serve through lines with services West to London Blackfriars, London Cannon Street and Waterloo East. It is served by Southern, South Eastern and Thameslink. Below the station is the also large and busy London Bridge tube station.

Southern 455 834 and 377 158 at the buffers

Inside the redeveloped concourse

Southern 171 202 and friend prepare to depart

Southern 455 802 stands on one of the terminus platforms

Southern 377 435 and friend at London Bridge

Manchester Liverpool Road

Manchester Liverpool Road was one of the earliest railway stations to open. Although it was only open for passenger services for a short time, parts of the station still exist and are thought to be the oldest railway station buildings still in existence.

View of part of the preserved station

Information
Type:	National Rail (Liverpool & Manchester Railway)
Opened:	1830
Closed:	1844
Platforms:	2

The pioneering Liverpool & Manchester Railway was the first inter-city railway with steam hauled services. The line began operations on the September 15th 1830 between Manchester Liverpool Road and Liverpool Crown Street. The opening day however was marred by the death of the Liverpool MP William Huskisson, who was run over by the Rocket locomotive during the running of a demonstration train for VIPs!  The first actual passenger service ran the next day from Liverpool to Manchester, a trip with no mishaps [1].

The station was quite unlike what we would expect for a passenger station now. There were no platforms as such, ladders were used for passengers to get in and out of the carriages. There were waiting rooms and booking offices, a separate one of each for first and second class passengers.

The station was closed to passenger traffic in 1844 being quickly over taken by demand, the station was replaced for passenger services by Manchester Victoria. The station remained in use as a goods yard until 1975. The station site is now part of the Museum of Science & Industry.

Sign explaining the site's significance

Another view of the surviving station buildings

A mix of modern and traditional

Under the canopy

Preserved wagons in the goods yard

[1] Anthony Dawson, "The First Train on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway", Backtrack (Vol. 34 No. 7) July 2020, p. 380

Kew Gardens (KWG)

Kew Gardens in the West of London serves the district of Kew, the station is between Richmond and Gunnersbury and is served by the London Underground's District Line and London Overground.

LO 378 226 at Kew Gardens

Information
Type:	Transport for London (District Line & London Overground)
Station code:	KWG
Opened:	1869
Platforms:	2

The station was opened by the London & South Western Railway in 1869 on a new branch line to Richmond. The North London and Great Western Railways also ran services from the station in it's early days. Finally the District Railway arrived in 1877 and has remained ever since, now part of the London Underground.

The station has two platforms and surviving Victorian station buildings. Access to the platforms is via a subway. Over the station is a Grade II listed footbridge dating from 1912 to allow residents to safely cross the tracks. It is a rare example of Hennebique Ferro-Concrete construction and retains it's smoke deflectors which protected passengers using the bridge from the soot and smoke of passing steam trains [1].

Kew is home to the botanical gardens of the same name and the nearby National Archives. The station is managed by Transport for London.

LO 378 226 arrives

Going back a few years LO 378 meets District Line D78 Stock

378 255 under the Hennebique Ferro-Concrete bridge

A LO 378 prepares to depart

Another view from back in the days of D Stock!

[1] Jason Cross, London Underground Guide 2017 (Train Crazy, 2017) p. 136

Wootton

Wootton was a station on the Isle of Wight Central Railway between Havenstreet and Whippingham. Now it is one of the termini of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.

Ivatt Class 2 41298 runs around it's train at Wootton

Information
Type:	Preserved Railway (Isle of Wight Steam Railway)
Opened:	1875 (Closed 1953)
Re-Opened:	1986
Platforms:	1

The station was opened by the Ryde & Newport Railway in 1875 on it's line between Newport and Ryde. The station had a siding for use by a coal merchant [1]. The station was closed in 1953 though the line through Wootton remained open until 1966. Part of the line was re-opened in 1971 as the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.

However, Wootton station was not re-opened, the site of the original station is now a walking trail. A new Wootton station was built nearly two hundred metres away and opened in 1986 [2]. This is now one of the termini of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway (the other being Smallbrook Junction). The station now has a recreation of an Edwardian station building on the single platform and a run-round loop.

Buffer stop at Wootton

View down the line, 41298 approaches

41928 prepares to couple up

Running around

[1] R.J. Maycock & R. Silbury, The Isle of Wight Railways from 1923 Onwards (Oakwood Press, 2006) p. 155
[2] Ibid. p. 263