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The SVR's Kidderminster Town Station which opened in 1970 was built on the former goods yard of Kidderminster mainline station. The mainline station opened as part of the Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway in 1852 and become a direct destination for services from the Severn Valley Branch and Wyre Forest Line in 1878. Today it is managed by West Midlands Railway and forms part of the Birmingham to Worcester line. It has two platforms, with the main station building located on Platform 1, the Down (northbound) platform. The SVR and mainline stations are less than 100 yards apart and share the same station approach road.

Kidderminster mainline station history

Kidderminster station, 1963 (Geograph)

Kidderminster station building, 2020

Kidderminster station platforms, 2020

A 1938 aerial photograph of Kidderminster, showing the area around the station, the extensive goods yard, and the junction between the mainline from Hartlebury (right) and the Kidderminster loop line from Bewdley (left). Image from Britain from Above

The Kidderminster mainline station was built as part of the Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton line between Stourbridge and Evesham which opened with a special train on 1 May 1852, with normal services beginning 2 days later.^[1] At opening, both platforms ended at the Comberton Road bridge. The station building was a simple wooden structure which soon proved inadequate and was replaced in 1859 by a second building, also of wooden construction. This was described in a contemporary newspaper article as "…but one story in height, and comprised a booking office, two waiting rooms, a telegraph office, and closets, the entrance for passengers being by a door between the booking office and the waiting room. At the southern end was the telegraph office, a small compartment partitioned off from the booking office, and at the northern end, but detached at a distance of about three yards, was another wooden building, of recent erection, occupied by Mr. Done, of Kidderminster, as first and second-class refreshment rooms."^[2]

On 1 July 1860 the OWW became part of the West Midland Railway (WMR) (a short-lived company not to be confused with the present operators of the station). The opening of the Severn Valley Railway on 1 February 1862 had no direct impact on Kidderminster, which could only be reached via a change at Hartlebury.

On the night of 14-15 February 1863 the second station building was destroyed by fire. Within days the OWW began construction of a third station building, which was substantially complete by May. A contemporary newspaper report noted that this "…will consist of a central building in the Elizabethan style, two stories high. This will comprise the booking offices and station-master's residence. To the left of this will be the waiting-rooms, and to the right the refreshment-rooms, offices, porter's-rooms, etc. The foundation is of stone, upon which a wooden framework is built filled up with bricks. The wooden portion is to be stained and varnished, and the brickwork covered with cement."

On 1 August 1863, the WMR was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway (GWR) which assumed responsibility for its operations.

The GWR opened the loop line to Bewdley on 1 June 1878, giving direct access to Kidderminster from Bewdley and stations further up the Severn Valley Branch and Wyre Forest Line. In anticipation of the additional traffic this would bring, new buildings were added to the Up (southbound) platform during 1877-78, including a general waiting room, a ladies waiting room, luggage and porters rooms. A footbridge was also installed to connect the two platforms.^[2]

By 1900 there had been an upsurge in excursion traffic to places like Blackpool and the Welsh coast resorts. In that year, in order to cater for longer trains, the northbound platform was extended beyond the Comberton Road bridge to create the "Excursion Platform" as it became known, with an additional access ramp from Comberton Road.^[2] The extension required the re-siting of the Kidderminster Station signal box which was demolished and rebuilt a few feet nearer the running line to improve visibility for the signalman.

In 1917 the Comberton Road bridge was widened and the southbound platform extended under bridge.^[2]

In 1937 it was announced that "The sidings at Kidderminster are to be remodelled and new goods loop lines are to be added to facilitate the working of trains between there and Worcester."^[3]

By the 1940s, nearly 300 railwaymen were employed at Kidderminster in various capacities including the passenger station, goods depot and goods yard, locomotive shed, traffic department, P-way and S&T.^[4].

September 1962 saw the end of passenger services north of Bewdley on the Severn Valley Branch, although they continued around the Kidderminster / Bewdley / Hartlebury triangle until January 1970.

In 1968 the 1860s station building was demolished due to dry rot, while the footbridge was also demolished. The simple BR brick building which was built to replace it opened on 3 July 1974.^[2]

In 1982 freight traffic from Foley Park ended, and the Directors of the SVR were 'keeping a close watch' on the situation. Kidderminster Goods Depot was formally closed by BR on 16 May 1983, and negotiations began in earnest with BR on leasing an area of land in the freight yard to establish the SVR's proposed new station. By February 1984 the exchange of contracts with BR had taken place to purchase the line from Foley Park to Kidderminster and lease an area of the Goods Yard for construction of Kidderminster Town Station, which opened in July of that year.

A new footbridge in the mainline station was opened in 2009. In 2018 work began on a major upgrade which included reconfiguration of the existing road and forecourt area as well as demolition and replacement of the 1974 station building.^[5] The new station building was opened on 7 June 2020^[6].

Goods yard

The goods yard consisted of the 'Top Yard' between Comberton Road and the Kidderminster Footbridge (the area now mainly occupied by the SVR station) and the 'Bottom Yard' beyond the Footbridge, now mainly occupied by the SVR’s Diesel Depot and Kidderminster Carriage Shed^[7].

The yard's main goods shed now serves as the SVR's Carriage Repair Works. Kidderminster Railway Museum occupies a smaller warehouse built by the GWR in 1878 for grain and wool storage. The LMS, which had running rights in the area, had a depot known as a 'goods receiving office’ which w short way from the station near the bottom of Comberton Hill^[8].

The yard handled general goods traffic from the Severn Valley and Tenbury branches and elsewhere. By the mid-20th century the main local industries served were Carpets (jute from Dundee arriving, finished products leaving) and Sugar (beet, limestone and coal arriving, refined sugar and molasses leaving)^[7].

Locomotive shed

Main article: Kidderminster Shed

Kidderminster had a small single-road locomotive shed which was situated close to the main line station, on the east side of the running lines opposite the main goods shed. The 1885 map below suggests this was accessed by a turntable at that time, later replaced by a set of points with a head shunt as shown in the 1902 and 1924 maps.

In 1932 it was replaced by a new larger depot built on the south side of the line between Hoo Road Bridge and Worcester Road Bridge^[9]. The 1938 map suggests the small shed and associated point work had been removed by that time.

Historic maps of Kidderminster Station

1885 map showing the station and goods yard and two sidings extending to the south.
1902 map showing the expanded goods yard with sidings extending in to gravel and sand pits.
1924 map showing the extended Excursion Platform to the north and several more sidings.
1938 map showing further expansion of the goods yard and sand pit.