Worcester shrub hill station. Heritage line??

[whole diary]

[swrural]

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).    

[chuffed]

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.
 

[JayMac]

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).  

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.

[martvw]

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.

[Not from Brighton]

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^» (Cotswold Line Promotion Group - about) 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.

[martvw]

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.

[martvw]

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.

[TerminalJunkie]

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?

It's a process called oxidation.

[CLPGMS]

Also at Honeybourne what is to happen to the stack of concrete sleeper track panels over by the sidings,

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.

[martvw]

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^▸ (Great Western Railway)) runs in to the station , plus if the Stratford on Avon line reopens . We could have clockwise and anteclockwise (LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise)) services to from Birmingham via Evesham/Worcester/Kidderminster/Snow Hill/Stratford/Honeybourne and reverse??

[swrural]

.... plus if the Stratford on Avon line reopens . We could have clockwise and anteclockwise (LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise)) 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.     

[rogerpatenall]

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.

[martvw]

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

[CLPGMS]

Anybody know what and where the track work is taking place between Worcester and Evesham today.

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

[IndustryInsider]

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