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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: BL. |
COLESHILL PARKWAY is a completely new 2-platform station opened in late August 2007. It has been designed from the outset as a transport hub with an adjoining bus station and substantial car parking. It is staffed and has a ticket office. Wheels: BL.A plan will follow in due course, but in the meantime, the photo looks west towards Birmingham, shows the modern standard bus shelters used, and the orange-on-black signs are the electronic train announcing. Beyond the fence to the left is the bus station, and the road bridge in the background goes over the top of the ticket office and the line to the car park on the right hand side. The passenger overbridge just in front of the road bridge has steps, but there is also a lift connected to it. |
NUNEATON station lies on the north side of the town centre, just to
the west of the A444. It is at the confluence of lines from Birmingham, Stafford, Leicester, Coventry and
Rugby and this complexity has created a sizeable station. The buildings have not been 'modernised' (in the stripped to bus shelters sense) and the station thus retains a full set of waiting rooms, refreshments, even a model shop, and
extensive platform canopies to give shelter. An overbridge gives normal pedestrian access between platforms,
but passenger lifts have been added as well.
 In 2003-4 the rail approaches were remodelled to allow a new platform (6/7)
to be added to relieve the pressure on this busy station as part of the West Coast Main Line
modernisation scheme. The new platform is reached by an extension to the passenger overbridge and a new lift down to the new platform. Outside, there is substantial pay and display parking with daily rate (£3.00 in 2003) as
the minimum fee. Wheels: BL, SR. Nuneaton also serves the Stafford-Rugby line. |
HINCKLEY We only recently visited this station, and the interim
description kindly provided by a correspondent is still partly used here. The station is a few minutes
walk from the town centre (but rather intermittently signed for cars). It lies next to a supermarket, and
has car parking for about 50 cars (£1 per day in 2003). The station building has been partly
commercialised but retains a modern ticket office and waiting room on the Leicester-bound platform, both
open from early morning until lunchtime. Afterwards, a small recess under a canopy continues to offer
shelter. A huge ramped overbridge at the Leicester end of the station gives access to the
Nuneaton/Birmingham-bound platform, and is also a public right of way between Hinckley and the nearby
village of Burbage. The Nuneaton platform offers a small bus shelter with about six seats. The platforms
were relaid in an attractive block paved style in 2002 - though bigger shelters might have been more
appreciated, judging by the number of passengers waiting for trains when we were there. We couldn't check
the ticket office, but everything else is easy access. Wheels: BL |
NARBOROUGH Like hundreds of other stations, Narborough was
built adjacent to a road for ease of access, but in times of rather less traffic. Even so, this 4-way cast
iron London & North Western Railway passenger overbridge (probably built 100 years ago and looking
good enough for another 100) was designed to assist pedestrian traffic along the road as well as
passengers on the station. Beyond it lies the station building, still with a ticket office, but nowadays
working commuter hours - i.e. early morning to lunchtime, and restricting waiting room access to the same hours, with no shelter thereafter.
On the opposite side of the line the wooden hut was replaced in 2006 by a modern bus shelter. Behind
the crossing cabin (at left in the photo) is a parking area for 6-8 cars, but some of this may now be for
private use. Both platforms can be reached easily, so wheeled access is no problem.Wheels: BL. For those with an interest, the former goods shed survives as a builders merchant. Our thanks to John Casingena for providing update notes. |
SOUTH WIGSTON station lies at the bottom of Kenilworth Road,
deep in housing estates. However, it is frequently signed. To our surprise, we discovered the station
was opened in 1986, as it looked to have been there far longer. It seems to have been an exercise in
bringing the railway to the suburbs, but with a service at roughly 2-hour intervals, its value may lie
largely with commuter traffic rather than shoppers. The platforms are staggered either side of a
pedestrian-only road bridge, with longish ramps down to both. The bridge has vehicle barriers which don't
seem to deter kids on bikes, but may be impassable for wheelchairs from at least one direction (we
overlooked the point until too late and would welcome information). The platforms have slightly woe-begone
half-shelters with 4-6 seats. Wheels: BL
for the ramps but see the note above. |
LEICESTER Over time Leicester has had four stations, but the Midland
Railway-built station in London Road now handles all the traffic. It sports its original frontage with a
covered arrival shed for horse and carriage traffic, now used for taxis and picking up and setting down.The station concourse has a ticket office, cafe, bookseller & newsagent and a current trains electronic display. Beyond is a level approach to the passenger overbridge, then steps down to two island platforms with waiting rooms and other facilities, all covered by extensive canopies. Another overbridge at the northern end of the platforms links to a car park with about 180 places and a daily rate (in May 2003) of £6. Access for wheeled users wasn't obvious, but there are lifts linking the platforms, and a ramp up to the arrival shed which suggests it serves for parcels handling and disabled needs on request. Incidentally, you'll notice a pedestrian crossing indicated outside the station. If you want to cross London Road, use it and live longer. Wheels: BL. Leicester also serves the Nottingham/Derby to Bedford line and the Leicester to Cambridge line |
Copyright © 2007 Dudley Mall.
