Hartlebury
| Towards the south | Towards Shrewsbury |
|---|---|
| The Severn Valley Line ended at Hartlebury, joining the former OW&W line south towards Worcester. |
Stourport (3 miles) |
Hartlebury is a village in Worcestershire, approximately 3 miles south of Kidderminster. The railway station, which is located 138 miles 68 chains from London Paddington, opened in 1852 as part of the Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway. 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 modern times, with regular services between Worcester and stations to Birmingham and beyond.
Hartlebury Station
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.[1]
Between 1862 and the opening of the Kidderminster Loop Line in 1878, goods traffic from the Severn Valley branch and the Tenbury & Bewdley Railway bound for Kidderminster and the West Midlands needed to travel to Hartlebury, reversing onto the OW&W line there.
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 south of the station.[2] The turntable in the larger goods yard north of the station was in place until 1925.[3] The footbridge has two flights of steps on each platform.[4] Although the OS Map refers to the station as Hartlebury Junction, the station itself was never give this name, always appearing in timetables as 'Hartlebury'.
The goods yard closed on 1 February 1965,[5] while the footbridge and platform canopies were also removed during the 1960s.[6] The station buildings had been closed by 1994 and the waiting room replaced by a simple ‘bus shelter’.[7]
Severn Valley Line
The line for the Severn Valley Railway left the OWW line at Hartlebury Junction which was situated 27 chains north of the station. 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,[8] the line itself finally being taken out of use on 12 January 1981.[9]
Signalling
Hartlebury Station signal box was a McKenzie and Holland Type 2 box, built in 1876 and originally having 21 levers. The later 1910 30-lever frame was replaced by a panel on 29 November 1982.[10]
Hartlebury Junction had its own signal box.
See also
References
- ↑ Marshall (1989) p. 87.
- ↑ Western Main Lines, Worcester to Birmingham via Kidderminster, Mitchell and Smith (2007), ISBN 9781904474975, VIII
- ↑ Mitchell & Smith, Western Main Lines, 27
- ↑ Mitchell & Smith, Western Main Lines, 23
- ↑ Mitchell & Smith, Western Main Lines, 25
- ↑ Wikipedia
- ↑ Siviter (1995) p. 84.
- ↑ Mitchell & Smith (2007)
- ↑ Vanns p. 94.
- ↑ Mitchell & Smith, Western Main Lines, 26
Links
Network Rail live departure board
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