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BIRMINGHAM NEW STREET has a full description page to itself here. When you've viewed it, click the Back button that you'll find at top or bottom of the page to return here. For simple convenience, however, this is our main plan. We've labelled the east and west ends, but trains can go in almost any direction from either end - and when under pressure, they do!
Wheels: BM. |
WATER ORTON station has an old ticket office (now closed) on Minworth
Road, with a grimly graffitied passageway edging past it to a covered staircase (30 steps, no lift or ramp) down
to the single island platform. Facilities comprise one bus shelter and a train timetable that boasts an
astonishing range of destinations for such an apparently insignificant place. There is no parking at the station
itself, but there is free parking just round the corner in Birmingham Road and a variety of shops nearby.
Wheels: BN. |
WILNECOTE is a basic station in a cutting below Watling Street (the
B5404). It has bus shelters on both platforms, and the Derby-bound platform can be reached by ramp from the road.
Unfortunately, the only access for the Birmingham platform is by a staircase of 30+ steps - hard work with prams,
impossible with wheelchairs. There is no ticket office, and no parking unless you find it in a local street.
Wheels: BN. |
TAMWORTH is a two-level station, making it an exchange point. If you're
new to it, check your platform carefully for the train you intend catching. There are two ways to get to
Birmingham, according to which platform you are on. Tamworth's modern entrance foyer (platform 1) is on the lower
level and has a ticket office plus seats for about 20 people. Its partner opposite can only boast a bus shelter.
However, stairs and lifts to the upper platforms will take you to quite reasonable waiting rooms on both sides.
The upper platforms act as overbridges for the lower ones, but if you are actually changing levels, make sure you
take the right steps/lift to reach the platform you want. The station access is directly off the A513 at a
roundabout that links Offa Drive to Saxon Drive. There is fee-based parking, but it was very full when we visited.
Wheels: SR, BN.Tamworth crosses the Stafford-Rugby line. Click here to transfer to our guide for that line. |
BURTON UPON TRENT  
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Burton Upon Trent station entrance is on the B4516, on the overbridge over the line. This is where Station Street becomes Borough Street, about half a mile north west of the town's main shopping street. There is a station forecourt with limited parking, then a ticket office and newsagents at road height. The single island platform below is reachable by stairs or lift, with a separate easy-access route to the lift at platform level. The platform offers a waiting room and toilets. Wheels:
BN. The 2007 photo looks north past the waiting room towards the shallow arches supporting the car park. The tower is part of the station offices on the upper level. |
WILLINGTON lies just east of the A38 trunk road section between Burton
and Derby, and closer still to the Trent & Mersey canal. The station entrance is beside a pair of mini-
roundabouts but the platforms are on an embankment about 38 steps above. Willington has no ramp and no ticket
office, and whilst the slanted fencing displays the station's Midland Railway origins, the only buildings now are
two largish bus shelters without perchbars. Each platform has a set of 3 seats by an information board but there
are no seats under cover. The platforms are linked by a ground-level underpass.
Wheels: BN. |
DERBY is the former headquarters of the old Midland Railway and its
railway works, and is still a railway technical and manufacturing centre, hence the space the site occupies.
The station facilities are modern or modernised, and it's a fairly pleasant station to use. The entrance
includes the ticket office, a bookshop and snack facilities, and there is a refreshment room on platform
4/5/6 (not platform 2/3 as per the sketch, we're told). There are waiting rooms on two of the platforms, and access to everything is from an overhead passenger
bridge. This is just the usual nuisance to prams but rules out wheelchairs. But wheelchairs can use the
overbridge to get across the line, and there is a ramped service tunnel between platforms at the Birmingham end,
which can be used by wheelchairs if railway staff assistance is sought. There is no free parking, and at the
time of the visit in 2002, the main parking was £5 per day. Wheels: SD. You can also change at Derby for the line to Stoke-on-Trent.Click here to transfer to our guide for that line. |
SPONDON station is a short distance south of the A6005, with a level
crossing right at the end of the platforms. It did once boast its own station building, but this has now been
closed. That cannot have been entirely good news for the private house nearby, which has a large clock on its
front wall - probably as a defence against would-be passengers forever knocking on the door to ask the time (one
wonders if they now call to ask if the clock is right). The cutting back of the platform lengths implies that only
short local trains now call. Despite this, there are still signs that the station attracts commuter traffic,
though there is no railway parking. There are, however, easy-access wheelchair ramps, and shelters replace the old
station's facilities.Wheels (Spondon): BN. |
LONG EATON is a simple two-platform station on an embankment which
strides across Tamworth Road and a complex road junction at one corner of Long Eaton's shopping area. The
embankment means ramps, of course - moderately steep but with a strong wooden fence alongside, which might offer
assistance in the climb. The platforms themselves are each decorated only with one open-front bus shelter with
about six seats. The ticket office is at the foot of the ramp to the Nottingham platform, and nearby is a large
car park (circa 120 cars) with disabled slots placed handily for the station and shopping.
Wheels: BN. |
ATTENBOROUGH is just off the A6005, down near the lake. It is not unlike
Spondon, though its station building is long gone, and it is now just a basic 2-platform station with bus shelters
on each side, ramps down to the road (with a sprung gate), and the passenger overbridge which also gives access to
each side of the line when the level crossing is closed. There is no ticket office, and so far as we could see, no
railway parking offered. Wheels: BN. |
BEESTON is just off the A6005 and bridged by a flyover, with a small
filter off to the left that gives underpass access to the immediate station area. This has pay-and-display parking
for about 20 cars, but more parking is available on the other side of the bridge. Beeston retains its original
station of 1847 - still in good condition apart from the platform shelters needing a repaint (in August 2002).
These are handsome in length, but history won't keep their open fronts warm in a winter wind. Access between
platforms is by steps to the flyover. One other piece of history: a former owner of a house adjacent to the
Nottingham platform informed us that the house has its own gate access to the platform, for which it pays an
annual peppercorn rent of 50 pence! Wheels: BN. |
NOTTINGHAM is a traditional station with a lovely old covered forecourt
from the days of horse and carriage, now translated into a taxi area and small short-term pickup and setdown area.
There is level access to the entrance hall, which is pleasant, bright and fresh, with tickets and travel
information, books and coffee. The entrance hall lies over the tracks, giving level access to the first passenger
overbridge, which has lifts to all platforms. There are stairs to most platforms, but not platform 6, which looks
somewhat like an afterthought. Obviously the lift will get you there - but if it's busy, take the steps to
platform 1 and use the second overbridge. The main platforms have large overhanging canopies, refreshment
services, and there is a waiting room on platform 4/5. Wheels: BN. Nottingham also serves the Nottingham/Derby to Bedford line. |
Copyright © 2005 Dudley Mall.
