Changes

Hartlebury is a village in Worcestershire, approximately 3 miles South south of [[Kidderminster]]. It has a The railway station on , which is located 138 miles 68 chains from London Paddington, opened in 1852 as part of the former [[Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway | Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton]] route opened . In 1862 it became a junction station as the southernmost station on the Severn Valley Railway, although in practice many Severn Valley services began and ended at Worcester. Hartlebury station remains in use in 1852modern times, which now sees with regular services between [[Worcester]] and stations to Birmingham and beyond. ==Hartlebury Station==[[File:Hartlebury_Railway_Station_-_geograph.org.uk_-_883215.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Hartlebury station in 2009]]The OW&W line through Hartlebury opened on 3 May 1852. Hartlebury station had only minimal facilities with a simple wooden shed. This was still the case when Hartlebury became a junction station on 1 February 1862 with the opening of the Severn Valley Railway. Construction of a new station more appropriate to its new status was authorised on 6 April 1865.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books | Marshall (1989)]] p. 87.</ref> Between 1862 and the opening of the [[Kidderminster Loop Line]] in 1878, goods traffic from the Severn Valley branch and the [[BirminghamWyre Forest Line | Tenbury & Bewdley Railway]]bound for Kidderminster and the West Midlands needed to travel to Hartlebury, reversing onto the OW&W line there. It  The 1901 revision of the OS Map, published in 1903, shows the layout of the station at the time. The original smaller goods yard and cattle dock was formerly south of the Southern terminus station.<ref>Western Main Lines, Worcester to Birmingham via Kidderminster, Mitchell and Smith (2007), ISBN 9781904474975, VIII</ref> The turntable in the larger goods yard north of the station was in place until 1925.<ref>Mitchell & Smith, Western Main Lines, 27</ref> The footbridge has two flights of steps on each platform.<ref>Mitchell & Smith, Western Main Lines, 23</ref> Although the OS Map refers to the station as Hartlebury Junction, the station itself was never give this name, always appearing in [[The Severn Valley Railway under GWR/BR ownership#Timetable extracts | timetables]] as 'Hartlebury'. [[SVR staff in 1922#Severn Valley Railway(South of Bewdley)|GWR staff records for 1922]] show the station had a staff of 24. Cattle pens, and sidings to cope with additional fruit traffic were constructed in 1924.<ref>Great Western Railway Magazine, January 1924</ref><ref>Great Western Railway Magazine, February 1924</ref>

Hartlebury was originally the junction for the Severn Valley lineThe goods yard closed on 1 February 1965,<ref>Mitchell & Smith, Western Main Lines, with 25</ref> while the line for [[Stourport]] footbridge and [[Bewdley]] being situated just North of platform canopies were also removed during the station1960s. <ref>Wikipedia</ref> The line between Hartlebury station buildings had been closed by 1994 and Bewdley remained after the closure of the line towards [[Shrewsbury]] in 1963, with passenger services finally ending in January 1970waiting room replaced by a simple ‘bus shelter’. The line to [[Stourport]] remained open until 1979 for coal trains serving <ref>[[Stourport Power StationBibliography#Books | Siviter (1995)]] <ref>[http://enp.wikipedia84.org/wiki/Hartlebury_railway_station Wikipedia - Hartlebury railway station]</ref>.

== Severn Valley Line ==The line for the Severn Valley Railway left the OWW line at [[File:Hartlebury SignalboxJunction]] which was situated 27 chains north of the station.jpg Through passenger traffic to [[Shrewsbury]] ended on 9 September 1963, although passenger services between Hartlebury and [[Bewdley]] continued until 5 January 1970. The line as far as [[Stourport]] remained open for coal trains serving [[Stourport Power Station]] until coal trains ceased in March 1979,<ref>[[Bibliography#Books |thumb|200px|rightMitchell & Smith (2007)]]</ref> the line itself finally being taken out of use on 12 January 1981.<ref>[[Bibliography#Books |Hartlebury Signalbox in 1985Vanns]]p. 94.</ref>

== Signalling ==[[File:Hartlebury Signalbox.jpg |thumb|200px|right|Hartlebury Station Signalbox in 1985]]Hartlebury originally had one signal box to the south of the station on the Down side of the line controlling the station and junction.<br>In 1876 this was of replaced by a McKenzie and Holland<noglossary>Type 2 box</noglossary> on the Up side of the line, having 21 levers and working to Droitwich on the [[Absolute Block | block system]], built in 1876plus a second box to the north of the station controlling the junction. The junction with the Severn Valley line later 1910 30-lever frame was controlled separately replaced by Hartlebury Junction signal boxa panel on 29 November 1982.<ref>Mitchell & Smith, Western Main Lines, 26</ref>

On 29 January 1967, a low speed head-on collision occurred between two freight trains at Hartlebury Junction, with diesel locomotives D7038 and D8138 involved. Whilst the locomotives stayed on the rails, several wagons did not, blocking the line <ref>==See also==[[http://www.miac.org.uk/hartlebury.htmlMaps#accident Railways in Worcestershire], accessed 30 Nov 2015</ref>. [http://www.macearchive.org/Archive/Title/midlandsSchematic_maps_of_the_pre-newsclosure_SVR | Pre-26011967-railway-news/MediaEntry/10065.html Contemporary news footage1963 map]] shows the damage.