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Hello, I am a newcomer to the forum so bear with me. I live here in Worcester and have been a long time railway fan. I am always interested to see what is going on on the local rail scene all over Hereford and Worcester. I would like to see Worcester shrub hill station brought in to the present day. I find it so frustrating that more isn't done to update the old place.The main Cheltenham to Birmingham line runs past the city some three miles to the east with direct trains to the north and south. If a Worcester passenger wants to catch one of these trains they have to go to either Cheltenham or Birmingham to get on the main line. The daft thing is that any time there is a major problem with the main line the north/south trains are diverted through Worcester shrub hill station anyway so even with the old signalling it just about copes. My point is that with a signaling and track upgrade (the line from Droitwich to Stoke works would need to be double track) and perhaps a new through platform no3 at the back of shrub hill station 'it could be done', (trains would not need to call at Droitwich" london midland services could provide a good connection to/from Worcester) some of these trains 'not all' could call at Worcester. Perhaps this would be more appealing to the train operators than calling at a new parkway station to the south of the city at norton. Not that a south Worcester parkway station would not be useful but why not use shrub hill to its full potential? Worcester is down to have new signals and track layout at some point later this century I believe !!!

A very warm welcome to the forum martvw.  :)

I regularly travel to Worcester and it is a little annoying that it isn't on the 'Cross Country' network. That's probably an accident of geography, as well as the Victorian era railway builders who concentrated on the link between Birmingham and Gloucester which bypassed Worcester. There was also opposition to the railway entering Worcester in this era from landowners in and around the city (see: http://www.canbush.com/at308-tma061.htm for some background to these issues). Add to the mix British Rail's 'rationalisation' of the area in the 1960s and 1970s.

Such an area does deserve better, both the connection with London and services north and south.

Without major upgrading of the infrastructure I don't foresee long distance cross country services returning anytime soon to Worcester.

I think that the problem of InterCity trains missing a large City like Worcester can be traced back to a more recent issue.  The Cotswold Line Promotion Group tried to persuade Central Trains to operate its Nottingham-Cardiff trains via Worcester Shrub Hill, but they refused to do so because of the way it would affect their share of the revenue.  Apparently, we were told, if a Central Train went via Worcester and, in the process, was overtaken by a CrossCountry one, then Central would lose its share of through revenue. 

Obviously, now that Cross Country has taken over all the services on that route, the only real objection would appear to be the time factor.  CrossCountry does not appear to be very receptive to the idea of delaying its trains by 10 to 15 minutes and, it may cause timing problems elsewhere.

Another major factor was the lack of signalling between Droitwich and Worcester producing a long time gap between trains.  This has now been removed by intermediate signals being installed about half way between the two stations.

I would think that with new signals and track layout the time delay to cross country services would be minimal, as I said perhaps every other train could call but not all, and without a Driotwich stop! The idea of a platform 3 at Worcester Shrub hill could be achieved by making the southbound freight line bi-directional and building a platform out to the new alignment,roughly where the first siding is, the windows in the back wall on platform 2 could be made into archways for access. With all the improvements going on around (cotswold line part redoubling / new signals on the stourbridge line) it seems that Worcester keeps missing out! but one day!!

I meant to say the northbound freight line which runs close to the end of the platform siding at Shrub hill.

As a student at Worcester College of Education 1972-76 I returned the other day and walked down from Shrub Hill to the City Centre. They are still trying to fix the rare tiles on the platform at Shrub Hill ....can anyone shed any light on what these are please ...and I was staggered by the beauty of the imposing large factory building with the clock tower in Shrub Hill road  lit up by the  late afternoon sun.a A  few local enquiries in Lowesmoor which had not changed one bit in 40 years, proved fruitless. I guess the buiding has had some restoration clean up work done  in the last 40 years, which is why i had never really noticed it my student days....

Is there (besides all you write, which makes sense) a case for a new station at the triangle north of Shrub Hill (indeed a triangular station)?  It seems there is oodles of land, either already railway or storage yards, that could be used. 

I hope the moderators don't mind the diversion ...

The building was once the Heenan and Froude engineering works.  You can find a little about them here:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=045-705-411&cid=2#2

and here

http://www.miac.org.uk/heenan.htm

The site is now Shrub Hill Industrial Estate, the buildings having been divided up into workshop units.

The works was once rail connected, via the "Vinegar Branch", which ran from somewhere near the locomotive sheds, under the Rainbow Hill curve (between Shrub Hill Station and Foregate Street Station) into the Heenan works and on, below what has recently been known as "Isaac Maddox House" (formerly the works of Mackenzie and Holland, railway signalling contractors)  on the west side of Shrub Hill, across Pheasant Street, and into the Hill Evans Vinegar factory in Lowesmoor.  Details here:

http://www.miac.org.uk/vinegarmap.htm

The road traffic at Pheasant Street Level Crossing was controlled by GW style LQ semaphore signals.

Nick

The station is in the best location where it is, anyway the London Midland fuel/storage depot would need to be moved which has had a lot of work to upgrade it in the last few years. It would be good if the Elgar house tower block in front of the station could be demolised or at least reduced in height, leave say two or three floors and turned into a much needed multi level car park? That way, the station would be more visible from the road.

Many thanks for that info on Heenan and  Froude. As they were the major contractors for the Blackpool Tower and the Great Northern rail warehouse complex in Manchester, it would explain why they constructed such an imposing building as their HQ on their move to Worcester in 1903. I do hope it has 'listed' status.

Surely 4 through platforms could be achieved using a Gloucester style arrangement making the most of the very long platforms and the a and b ends.  The middle siding would need to be restored to one or two through roads though.

Unfortunately Worcester railway infrastructure suffers from the original buiding of the Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway in the 1850's.

It's nickname of the Old Worse and Worse sums up comtemporary feelings and although Brunel was the engineer it was built on the cheap and it's linspeed has always been less than the GWML.

In the 1840's the  Birmingham and Gloucester line choose to ignore Worcester by passing to the East. Then of course it was all mixed up with the broad gauge/standard gauge controversy with the OWW being basically broad and the B&G being standard which meant the notrious gauge change of trains at Gloucester.

One thing I criticise Beeching for is that he didn't tackle places like Worcester where services were basically pre 1922,I am sure possible line upgrades and service reroutings could have given  Worcester  a much more useable train service. although privatisation has given some more through journey options from there I'm not sure if Brighton is a popular through destination.

See post in the lighter side.

The platforms at Shrub Hill are hardly Gloucester length - they can only accommodate around eleven 23 metre carriages.

Oh well. Sounds like a need for some sort of study of how the line could be improved to minimise journey time reductions and what would be required to improve Shrub Hill.  Or was this done before the parkway proposal was made?

No, we don't mind a bit: this is actually a fascinating discussion!  ;)

Agreed with all posts since my last and thanks for explaining my idea is not feasible.  Pity as the site gives all directions as an interchange possibility, a bit like Ambergate in Derbyshire.

Indeed the flats building outside the station is horrid.  I suppose they will all go one day.  The exterior of Shrub Hill building is very fine.  I am surprised if it is pre-edwardian, as I did not know they had engineering bricks so early on as 1850.  Wikipedia says it may be closed if the parkway option is chosen.  I must say there is a danger that 'parkway' stations introduce a new form of social exclusion or disbenefit to the non-car user.

A bit like Out of Town malls like Cribbs Causeway (to which I will never be dragged again, once was enough).  :-[  

More about those tiles at Shrub Hill ..anyone got more up to date information?

 Waiting room
 On platform 2b is the old ladies^ waiting room which extends onto the platform. It is a cast-iron structure cast at the Vulcan Iron Works at Worcester. This was a subsidiary of the MacKenzie and Holland signal manufacturing company about 200 yards from Worcester Shrub Hill station . The exterior is decorated with classical pilasters and covered with ^majolica^ ceramic tiles made by Maw and Company of Broseley.
 
Maw was originally a Worcester company founded in 1850 when they bought the old Chamberlain tile factory. However in 1852 they moved to Broseley to be nearer their source of clay. In the main they made encaustic tiles rather than the ^majolica^ ceramic tiles used to decorate the Shrub Hill waiting room.
 
Wojtczak writes that in 1873 there was Ladies^ Waiting Room Attendant called Mrs Dale who earned 10s and that this was the same rate of pay as a Mrs Spencer who was the Office Cleaner.
 
It is Grade II* listed and English Heritage placed it on the ^Buildings At Risk Register^ in 2003. The official records record that the waiting room was added c1880. In 2005 the register records ^The cast iron frame is in need of structural repair. The front wall is leaning out and currently shored up. Preliminary investigative work has been carried out, but repair works have been delayed due partly to problem of locating specialist contractors." In April 2005 Network Rail applied for listed building planning consent to restore the waiting room to bring it back into use before the end of 2006. The application gave detail of the work to be carried out including restoration of the cast iron work and the sourcing and replacement of the missing ceramic tiles but as at May 2006 no work had commenced and English Heritage reported that the building will be on the 2006 ^Buildings At Risk Register^ to be published in June 2006.
 

Attracting car users to a station is, I think, a benefit to the rail industry. If public transport links are also good then non-car users can also get there. I use Bristol Parkway regularly - travelling there by bus. The same goes for Cribbs Causeway - it has excellent bus links.

That said it needs to be pointed out that ideas for a Worcester Parkway doesn't feature in any of Network Rail's plans for the next spending round and the Wikipedia article on Shrub Hill station is quoting 'closure plans' from articles published in 2005.

The south Worcester (Norton) park way station has been talked about for many a long time none of the train operators seem very keen. If it were built and was part of the worcester city intergrated transport scheme all well and good, Iam sure it would be well used. With the new station been built at Bromsgrove in north Worcestershire I wonder if we are asking a bit much. I am old enough to remember when there was twin track from shrub hill to Foregate street and four lines through Shrub hill station. I hear talk of more freight coming through Worcester Shrub Hill to go north via Kidderminster and Stourbridge towords Wolverhampton from the Avonmouth docks so as not to have to tackle the Lickey incline which will free up the main Bromsgrove line. So surely with better track work and signals including the rainbow hill junction a proper two track crossover, Worcester would cope. As for Worcester Shrub Hill Station closing I don't think that would happen (a) because it is a crew signing on point/depot and (b) I think the Station buildings are Listed so network rail would not want to have to maintain disused buildings I may be wrong on some of these facts.

I've always thought that the problem with Worcester is that it's at the end (more or less) of four separate routes (Snow Hill, New Street, Cotswolds & Bristol) so it's not at the top of anyone's list. The only bodies that seem to really care (City Council, CLPG etc) sadly lack any real power.
Also, of the five lines into and out of Worcester (the above plus Hereford) only one of them is double track all the way to the next big place. So, it's a tricky problem, but nobody really cares. Recipe for success if ever there was one.

I have often thought the same as regards to the single track that surrounds Worcester ( rationalisation) bad move in the past. The only true double track is the line to Kidderminster. So perhaps if the line between Droitwich and Stoke works and the connection on to the main line at Abbots wood junction were to be double tack this would speed up things for cross country trains to call at Worcester.It seems that the Cotswold Line will be double track from Norton to Evesham and Chalbury to Oxford one day as these sections are still a bottle neck on that line.This could all be done when the track and signaling work takes place towards the end of this decade, I think Worcester is to go over to the Tysley signaling centre then.

I called in at Evesham station the other day, can anybody tell me what is to happen with the long lengths of rail that are lying in the four foot on the down line? Also at Honeybourne what is to happen to the stack of concrete sleeper track panels over by the sidings, could some of this track work not be used in the Worcester Shrub Hill area even if only on the avoiding lines.

It's a process called oxidation.

I think that I read somewhere that its destination was to be the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway for their northwards extension, but there was a problem with access for them to collect it.

What about the spare rails at Evesham,  are thay to be used at some time on the Cotswold line? Could we see four platforms at Honeybourne station again when the (GWR) runs in to the station , plus if the Stratford on Avon line reopens . We could have clockwise and anteclockwise (LM) services to from Birmingham via Evesham/Worcester/Kidderminster/Snow Hill/Stratford/Honeybourne and reverse??

Hmm.  I suppose if one wanted to travel from Henley in Arden to Droitwich, it could be handy, but I don't see a great demand.  I don't know whether the feasibility report mentioned commuting to Birmingham (I have read it but some time ago) and it seems to me there may be an untapped market there from the Honeybourne area, you know, the usual park and ride or meet and greet market.  I suppose such people drive to Stratford at present, if they don't drive over to the M5.  By the way, I don't know what you think but Worcester City seems to have the same problem as Yeovil Town, off the beaten track, as it were with a resulting mish-mash of junctions and bypasses.  The old company rivalries are probably to blame in both cases.     

I have all my old Trains Illustrateds and Modern Railways going back to 1954. Almost from the first issue there are frequent suggestions along the lines of the above - In fact a station on the main line, if reality when first mentioned, would probably have been the first ever Parkway station. Another one that Ian Allen personally used to champion quite frequently was a Parkway for Frome on the main between Clink Rd and Blatchbridge.

Anybody know what and where the track work is taking place between Worcester and Evesham today. Two HST sets parked at the back of shrub hill today plus a class 66 with a load of new ballast, coaches replacing trains. Thanks.

I believe it is between Pershore and Norton Junction.  I noted lots of new metal sleepers on the embankment there a few days ago.

Yes, and about time as that section has ridden roughly for years.

Thanks for the information both, lets hope thay have left room for the second track to be relaid !!

Sadly not!

Any news on when the work to upgrade Worcester Foregate Street Station is to start , also the same with Malvern Link Station.

I think the work at Malvern Link may have already started?

I see Shrub Hill has made it into the 2013 Railway Eye Garden Competition... (http://railwayeye.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/railway-garden-competition-worcester.html)

As the linked page points out, how very appropriate for Shrub Hill. I wonder what Flowery Fields is like ...

My memories of Shrub Hill 1972-76 was that it was run down grubby and had  acres of buddleia grandiflora. A walk from there down to Lowesmoor in the past year demonstrated that absolutely nothing had changed in the last 40 years !

Passed Shrub Hill by road (on my way to a local builder's merchants) the other day; surprised to realise that it is actually rather a grand-looking building. Its setting does it absolutely no favours though; the ugly sixties building that stands in front of it is typical of an era when everything was turning its back on rail.

Unfortunately Worcester Shrub Hill Station seems to be trapped in the land that time forgot, no wonder the American visitor I met at the station thought it was a heritage railway!! It seems that any railway upgrade work stops short of Worcester! Lets all hope that one day it has a major track and signal upgrade to make it a place to be proud of.

I called at Shrub Hill Station today, a group of people were looking at the inside and outside of the old waiting room on platform no2 ! could be plans to renovate and reopen it for public use are in the pipe line ? It does look a bit sorry for itself a the moment ! Otherwise could it not be cut up and moved to a museum site. Then Shrub Hills platform 2 could have a waiting room passengers can use !