Duddeston is a stop on the Cross-City North Line between Birmingham New Street and Aston, and also the Walsall Line between New Street and Witton. It is Birmingham's oldest railway station.
West Midlands Railway 323 205 stands at Duddeston
Information
Type:
National Rail (Cross-City Line & Walsall Line)
Station code:
DUD
Opened:
1837
Platforms:
2
Duddeston was opened by the Grand Junction Railway as 1837 as Vauxhall and was the terminus of the line from the North (and thus Birmingham's first railway terminus) for 2 years until the opening of Birmingham Curzon Street.
After the opening of Curzon Street, Duddeston (still known as Vauxhall) closed to passenger services, being used for freight only until it was rebuilt by the London & North Western Railway in 1869. In 1889 it was renamed to Vauxhall & Duddeston. The final renaming to Duddeston came in 1974 [1]. The station has suffered destruction a number of times. The station was hit by a German bomb in 1941 which destroyed the main station building. The replacement building burned down in the 1950s!
Duddeston used to be adjacent to the Grand Junction Railway's engine shed (which opened in 1840) and a sizeable goods yard though these have now gone. The lines through the station were quadrupled in 1891 though only one island platform is in use now (the other has become a buddleia plantation!)
As part of the Cross-City and Walsall Lines, the route through Duddeston has been electrified. However, not all of the services on these busy lines stop at Duddeston. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway.
Station entrance
View down the platform
The other platform, the old engine sheds beyond
WMR and London Northwestern Railway meet
LNWR 350 127 prepares to depart
[1] Vic Mitchell, North of Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2014) fig. 75
Goostrey is a stop on the Crewe-Manchester Line in Cheshire between Holmes Chapel and Chelford.
Northern 323 235 departs for Manchester
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Crewe-Manchester Line)
Station code:
GTR
Opened:
1891
Platforms:
2
Although the line was built by the Manchester & Birmingham Railway in 1842, the then-owners the London & North Western Railway did not open a station at Goostrey until 1891. The station was a simple two platform affair with a small goods yard, this was closed in 1964 [1]. The line was an early part of the West Coast Main Line electrification and the wires went up in 1959. At Goostrey this meant some rebuilding of the bridge and the main station building to facilitate the electrical equipment.
The station is managed by Northern, who also operate an hourly service in each direction. Access between the platforms is via the road bridge.
Road bridge
BR era signage
Down the platform
Main station building, no longer in railway use
331 015 arrives with a Crewe bound service
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Crewe to Manchester (Middleton Press, 2014) Map. IX
Stanley Junction was at the junction of the Scottish Midland Junction Railway and Perth & Dunkeld Railway in Perthshire between Strathord and Cargill or Murthly.
Stanley Junction [1]
Information
Type:
Scottish Midland Junction Railway
Opened:
1848
Closed:
1956
Platforms:
3
The original station was opened as Stanley by the Scottish Midland Junction Railway in 1848, in 1857 it was replaced by a new station (called Stanley Junction) for the junction with the Perth & Dunkeld Railway. It was later absorbed into the Caledonian Railway. The station was closed in 1956.
[1] R.E. Charlesworth, "Twenty four hours at Carlisle", Railway Magazine (November 1907) p. 382
Cheddington is a stop on the West Coast Main Line in Buckinghamshire between Leighton Buzzard and Tring.
LNWR 350 265 departs for London Euston
Information
Type:
National Rail
(West Coast Main Line)
Station code:
CED
Opened:
1838
Platforms:
4
The station was opened by the London & Birmingham Railway in 1838 as Aylesbury Junction to link up with the Aylesbury Railway [1] which opened the following year. The station was renamed Cheddington Junction in 1850, it lost the Junction suffix twenty years later. The line to Aylesbury High Street was closed to passengers in 1953, though freight continued to use the line until 1964. The line has now been lifted. In 1963 the Great Train Robbery took place just over a mile north of the station at Bridego Bridge.
Cheddington has platforms for both the slow and fast lines of the WCML though only the platforms on the slow lines are in regular use, and fast services by Avanti West Coast do not stop at the station, only London Northwestern Railway services on the slow lines. The fast line platforms tend to be only used during engineering works.
The station is unstaffed and has a footbridge for access between the different platforms. The station is managed by LNWR. The current station buildings date from a rebuilding in 1956.
Station building, no longer staffed
View from the footbridge
Brick shelter
Footbridge
Looking back north
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Watford to Leighton Buzzard (Middleton Press, 2004) Fig. 72
Great Malvern is a stop on the Cotswold Line in Malvern, Worcestershire between Malvern Link and Colwall.
West Midlands Railway 196 003 departs for Hereford
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Cotswold Line)
Station code:
GMV
Opened:
1860
Platforms:
2
The station was opened by the Worcester & Hereford Railway in 1860. However, the station buildings were not completed until 1862. Malvern was a popular Victorian spa town, the station had dock sidings for the carriages of the gentry [1], there was also a private siding for coal supplies to the adjacent Imperial Hotel. The station had an enclosed private passageway to the hotel known as the Worm though this is no longer open (the hotel is nowadays a school in any case).
The station had an ornate clock tower but it was lost in the post-war period [2]. The station's sidings have also now gone being lifted in the mid-1960s, a signalbox which controlled them was also removed though the splendid platform canopies have been restored. Access between the platforms is via a subway.
