Regional News

WESTERN

Barbrook: The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway has purchased another half a mile of trackbed on the outskirts of Lynton. A similar length has been secured between Blackmoor and Wistlandpound.

Bridgwater: A third of the cost of the £1.2 million station improvements will be met by EDF, as part of its gaining permission for the Hinkley Point nuclear power station. There will be a better frontage, car park, and bus links.

Lydney: The Dean Forest Railway has secured funding for repairs to its Severn & Wye Junction Railway footbridge, which has been out of commission since 2007 because it is unsafe.

Patchway: Network Rail has doubled the estimated cost of a replacement bridge over Gypsy Patch Lane from £ 25 million to £ 50m. Carrying the Bristol-South Wales main line, the bridge needs to be widened in connection with one of three planned Metrobus routes. Swindon: Following a £1 million refurbishment, the former Great Western Railway carriage and wagon repair works, closed over 30 years ago, has been officially opened as a business centre with 130 units.

EASTERN

Bradford: Plans for the redesign of Forster Square station, including replacement of the main building,

have won an 86% approval rating in a public consultation. Bridlington: The station cafe, which still has some of its original 19th century features, has been put up for sale by its retiring owner.

Chester- le- Street: The closure of the Chester- leTrack ticket sales business in April left the station without a waiting room or toilets.

Goldsborough: The former York- Harrogate station could be reopened, following the submission of a planning application for 2,750 new homes on the site of the disused golf course. The original station closed to passengers in May 1965, and the current house curiously incorporates the wartime- design signal box.

Middlesbrough: A. V. Dawson is constructing a new £ 2 million handling facility, after winning a long-term contract to handle imported gypsum and despatch it by rail to the East Midlands.

Newcastle: Network Rail appears to have changed its mind and reinstated the recently lifted sidings in Forth Yards, which will not now be taken over for a new entertainment arena.

Northallerton: The station has 78 new cycle parking spaces, almost doubling capacity.

York: The National Railway Museum has shelved its £ 600,000 search for a design team for its £12 million revamp of the main hall, after it failed to secure funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Over 150 companies expressed interest in taking part.

MIDLANDS

Birmingham: New Street power box has lost three more routes to the new West Midlands centre - the Hampton- in- Arden- Proof House Junction, Stetchford South Junction- River Cole Viaduct and Proof HouseDuddeston lines.

Nottingham: The city council has approved £ 200,000 for a study into two tramway extensions - from Clifton to a new 3,000- home development at Fairham Pastures next to the main A453 road, and the HS2 hub at Toton. In the longer term, it would like to explore new lines to Gedling Colliery, Netherfield, Gamston and Kimberley.

NORTH WEST

Ainsdale: The new ticket office at the Merseyrail station has opened, replacing the temporary structure. Old buildings on the north platform have also been removed and a new shop and community police facility set up in their place.

Castleton: A main line connection for the East Lancashire Railway from Heywood is being explored again by Network Rail, almost a decade after the proposal was first aired. The mothballed track and structures are reported to still be in good order, but

a new platform would be required.

Halton Junction: The 24 lever-frame 1897 LNWR signal box has been officially decommissioned, as has Runcorn ( LMS, 1944, 45 levers).

Manchester: Two members of a graffiti gang of five who blighted the national rail network between July 2015 and last December were each jailed for a year by Manchester Crown Court on July 18, for 43 offences of criminal damage. The others received suspended sentences and were ordered to do unpaid community work.

SOUTHERN

Alton: The Mid- Hants Railway will receive substantial compensation for the closure of the 4½ - mile section to Medstead & Four Marks in the first half of 2019, while its bridge at Butts Junction is rebuilt to accommodate a new housing development. The old structure, which formerly carried the Meon Valley Line, is too narrow for large vehicles to pass through.

Brockley: Lewisham Council wants the highlevel platforms at the South London station to be reinstated to serve the Nunhead- Lewisham route. They were closed in 1917.

Spetisbury: The group restoring the former Somerset & Dorset main line station is in talks with landowner Dorset County Council about taking out a lease on the site. It wants to extend its boundaries 25 yards beyond both ends of the platforms, to include the foundations of the signal box.

Uckfield: August 3 marks the 150th anniversary of the opening of the London, Brighton & South Coast route from Groombridge.

Vauxhall: The South London station’s new lift and staircase from the concourse were commissioned on July 6.

SCOTLAND

Ayr: South Ayrshire Council issued a ‘ Dangerous Building’ notice on the closed Station Hotel on June 30, because masonry is falling onto the station. The southern half of Platform 3 is closed to the public, along with the main front entrance, concourse, entry to the main car park and a large part of the space, coffee area and bookstall area. The owner, believed to live in Malaysia, has been uncontactable.

Bo’ness: The Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway is preparing the funding case for its new £ 2 million museum with a direct link from the station platform. The Heritage Lottery Fund will be asked to meet 40% of the total cost.

Plains: There is now all- party consensus over the need for a new station on the Airdrie- Bathgate line, after previous arguments over the high construction cost, estimated at between £ 8 million and £11m.

WALES

Beddgelert: A hundred passengers and the driver of a steam- hauled Welsh Highland Railway train were unhurt following a collision with a car on a level crossing on July 6. However, more than £ 5,000 of damage was caused to the coaches.

Fishguard: There are fears for the future of the railserved port, following Stena Line’s decision not to proceed with its £ 5 million improvement scheme.

Maesteg: A man whose home has been undermined by Japanese knotweed has won £10,000 compensation from Network Rail, after it was allowed it to spread from the nearby railway line. NR has been refused permission to appeal.

Milford Haven: An increase in rail business is likely from a multi- million- pound marina development that has been approved by Pembrokeshire County Council. There will be a new hotel, shops, restaurants and up to 190 apartments.

LONDON

Hackney: The borough council is interested in buying the 182 railway arches within its boundaries, to prevent their sale by Network Rail. It fears that the rents charged to local businesses will rocket.

Ilford: Network Rail says it will be difficult to achieve the December 2019 completion date of the new Elizabeth Line station. It is still at the design stage.