Great Western Coffee Shop

how far is it to walk from worcester foregate street to worcester shrub hill and how long will it take

I would allow 15 minutes, although it can be done in less. It's about 2/3 of a mile.

I'm sure FA has a record time of 1 minute or something! :p

i've done it in under 8 with luggage.  If you walk - which means you don't obey the one way - its only half a mile

thanks for that....need to look at both stations as i am route learning Hereford line for the next 10 days..

If you find yourself with time on your hands (or want to study the signalling at Evesham in detail ;) ) there is (or certainly was) a nice little cafe there that does a very respectable cup of tea and a bacon roll.

And here's a bonus question - the signal box at Evesham is a WR design that was once very widespread. Now I think I am correct in saying that it's one of only two left. Any guesses where the other one is?

I can only say it looks very similar to Norton junction - however come to think of it - that may be moreton I'm thinking of

Nope - the place I'm thinking of is much further west. Evesham's signal box isn't the "classic" sort with pointy gables, it's more of a cuboid-shaped wooden shed.

You must mean Whitland http://www.signalbox.org/branches/rb/whitland.htm

For those unfamiliar with either place, here's Evesham http://eclipseandy.fotopic.net/p45061312.html

A similar structure close to Evesham was at Honeybourne West Loop, seen in this picture http://www.hondawanderer.com/Honeybourne_West_Loop_Junction_1979.htm taken looking towards Broadway from the bridge that carries the Cotswold Line.

Evesham Road level crossing in Stratford-upon-Avon, on the section of the line through the town west of the station towards Long Marston and Honeybourne, was a kind of cousin of this style, although it had a mainly brick rather than timber structure http://petertandy.co.uk/SonA/eveshamrd1.jpg

I Googled Evesham last night, and thought it resembled Whitland, but would that make it one of just two? Unless I've missed a change, Bargoed looks very much like Whitland... and I have a feeling I've seen another lookalike on the Marches. Or am I missing a technicality that makes them different designs?

willc, exactly right.

It's quite possibly a technicality, or I may have mis-remembered, but I'm sure I remember reading in an article about signalling in West Wales that Whitland box was almost unique with the only other extant example being Evesham. The only reason that particularly stuck in my mind is that Whitland is the parents' local station so I use it fairly frequently.

Funny you mentioned Bargoed, as I though just the same earlier today when I saw its picture in the latest issue of Rail. Certainly appears to be another of this type, picture here http://www.roscalen.com/signals/Bargoed/index.htm
They all look to be of the same family of what was apparently the Western Region's standard design for mechanical boxes in the 1960s.
On the Marches Line, were you thinking of Onibury gate box, where the A49 crosses the line north of Ludlow http://railfoto.fotopic.net/p48430399.html. It shares the boxy look and cladding, but is on a rather smaller scale, with a brick base and a door that looks like they picked it up at B&Q.

I'm not sure - I'm not particularly familiar with the Marches so I can't really remember what I'm thinking of. Onibury looks too different close up, but does look similar to Whitland at first glance in thumbnails (and perhaps out of the corner of the eye in a passing train) so perhaps that's it.

Another boxy, clad signal box, that shares similarities with others mentioned on this thread, is at Machynlleth:

(http://tillyweb.biz/gallery/mm/machynlleth3.jpg)