Find out what’s been happening on the rail network in your area
WESTERN
Didcot: Didcot Railway Centre, the home of the Great Western Society, has opened its new signalling centre. It contains semaphores, the 1935 illuminated diagram from Bristol East box, and the 1968 Western Region computer panel from Swindon.
Oxford: A £ 200,000 study has been agreed into the proposed reopening of the old Cowley branch to passenger traffic, with stations at the science park, Oxford United FC’s football ground, and the BMW car factory.
Saltash: Plans have been approved to return the 1859 station building to public use, from its current near- ruinous state. It has been owned by the town council since 2017, and part of the original structure will be demolished to provide new waiting facilities, a cafe and offices.
EASTERN
Bellingham: There will be an exhibition of North British Railway memorabilia at the former HexhamRiccarton Junction line station from September 9. The main building is now a community centre.
Blyton: The Grade 2- listed former station building on the Grimsby- Gainsborough line, closed in February 1959, is on the market for £ 345,000. It is now a four- bedroomed home with almost two acres of land attached
Deepcar: The Don Valley Railway scheme for a commuter and steam tourist line to run over the southern stub of the former Woodhead route into the centre of Sheffield has been revived by a local property developer. He envisages a new halt next to the main A616 road at South Wortley.
Everingham: Closed in September 1954 and since converted into a five- bedroomed home, the old NER Selby- Driffield line station is up for sale with an asking price of £ 700,000. The original platform is still in place.
Leeds: The Middleton Railway suffered £ 30,000 worth of arson damage on July 15, when flames spread from a nearby builder’s yard. A Palvan and wooden box van was destroyed, and the main building was scorched.
Louth: The Lincolnshire Wolds Railway has cleared three- quarters of a mile of trackbed south of Ludborough, ready to lay track closer to the town. Cost of the extension is estimated at £180,000.
MIDLANDS
Burton: Tram rails dating back over 100 years have been discovered during reconstruction of the A511 Burton Bridge. Disused since 1929, they will be kept and stored by East Staffordshire Borough Council.
Cromford: An asking price of £ 575,000 has been put on the Derby- Matlock line station’s house. The former waiting room, which has a clock tower in the roof, has been converted into a holiday cottage, and the whole property comes with two parking spaces.
Houlton: A new parkway station on the eastern outskirts of Rugby, to serve a new 6,200home development, is being explored again by Warwickshire County Council. Rising costs scuppered the original proposals.
Wolverton: The High Court has dismissed an appeal from Historic England to prevent most of the former LNWR works being demolished to make way for new homes. Milton Keynes Council approved the application from Modwen Developments last year. Only the old lifting shop and a retaining wall will survive.
SOUTHERN
Alton: A small section of the Meon Valley Line beyond Butts Junction bridge ( to be rebuilt next year) is earmarked for a new carriage shed for the Mid- Hants Railway.
Tonbridge: Light railway pioneer Colonel Holman Stephens has been honoured with a blue plaque in the station booking hall. He established his headquarters in the town.
Whitstable: Invicta, the 1829 locomotive that operated the Canterbury & Whitstable Railway for nine years and which is regarded as the world’s
first preserved engine, is to get a new permanent home. The site chosen is the little- visited community museum, instead of the planned tourist site at the harbour.
ANGLIA
Battlesbridge: The platforms at Greater Anglia’s Wickford-Southminster line station have been resurfaced Castle Hedingham: The Colne Valley Railway is constructing a new museum, with a £1.75 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. A carriage shed, to be known as the Cubitt Skills Centre, is also planned.
Colchester: Greater Anglia has employed contractors to deep- clean parts of Colchester North station, including platform edges, glazing and toilets. Already completed are Billericay, Hockley, Ipswich, Manningtree, Rochford and Southend Victoria, and next on the list are Cambridge, Chelmsford, Harlow Town and Shenfield.
Prittlewell: Volunteers removed 30 sacks of litter from streets around the north Southend station in three hours on July 19. The clean- up was organised by the Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership. Work is also under way to replace the station footbridge.
Rayleigh: Greater Anglia has refurbished the Essex station’s footbridge, and will be installing new lighting later this year.
SCOTLAND
Aberdeen: The city council has received a planning application from ScotRail to alter the concourse layout. The existing ticket office and First Class lounge will be moved, and improvements made to the Union Square entrance.
Montrose: There are concerns that the £ 200 million scheme to eliminate the East Coast Main Line bottleneck by double-tracking north from Usan Junction and over the South Esk viaduct may not materialise. North East MSP Liam Kerr is seeking assurances from Network Rail that the scheme, announced a decade ago and formalised by the Scottish Government in 2016, has not been shelved.
WALES
Amlwch: Central Anglesey Railway group volunteers have resumed vegetation clearance on the mothballed former LNWR line from Gaerwen Junction. Network Rail has sanctioned the work.
Bangor: Replacement of the 1848 North Wales line station’s main roof is nearing completion. The bell tower has also received attention and the distinctive chimney stacks returned to full original height, courtesy of a grant from the Railway Heritage Trust.
Tywyn: The Talyllyn Railway has selected a building on a nearby industrial park for its new engineering workshop. The cramped facility at Pendre will become more of an operational centre, with better volunteer facilities.
Welshpool: The Landfill Communities Fund is sponsoring the £40,000 restoration of the 1903 cattle dock and platform, which was an interchange between the Cambrian and Welshpool & Llanfair Railways. The site is owned by the town council, and will become an educational facility.
LONDON
Elephant & Castle: Permission has been granted for the redevelopment of the area around the station, with the demolition of the shopping centre, and new Northern Line buildings to serve almost 1,000 homes nearby and a university campus.
Goodmayes: The station was closed for eight days from August 5-12, to allow the unsafe footbridge to be strengthened.
Holborn: Transport for London’s proposals to modernise the Underground station have won 98% public support in a consultation exercise. The aim is to create a second entrance at the southern end of Procter Street, to reduce the severe overcrowding at the current sole Kingsway access. There will be new escalators and three lifts.