Regional News

WESTERN

Avonmouth: Reorganisation of container traffic flows is resulting in a large new terminal constructed at the northern end of the present site.

Berkeley: The Vale of Berkeley Railway is trying to acquire three redundant Midland Railway signal boxes from the modernised Newark- Nottingham line. Sections of the boxes will be reassembled at the station and Oldminster Junction.

Moretonhampstead: A large part of the former station terminus site is to be redeveloped for 35 new homes. The Great Western Railway engine shed is protected from demolition because it is Grade 2- listed, while the old goods shed may be converted into three flats. Passenger services were withdrawn in February 1959, although freight still ran until April 1964. Tytherington: The disused Hansons Aggregates quarry branch from Yate has been recommissioned. Wootton Bassett: Swindon Borough Council supports the opening of a new parkway station close to the M4 motorway.

EASTERN

Bardon Mill: Longer trains will be accommodated at the Tyne Valley Line station, by taking out the barrier that was installed across the platform some years ago ( when patronage was much lower than it

is now).

Gateshead: A planning application has been lodged to demolish the former Tyneside Central Freight Depot in order to build 300 new homes. Its last rail use was Speedlink traffic from the Leamside line.

Redcar: The 180- acre former rail- served SSI site has been acquired for reuse, with the possibility of steel making with new furnaces.

MIDLANDS Awsworth:

Construction work to reopen the Grade 2- listed wrought iron Bennerley Viaduct as a public walkway was due to start in early March, and be completed by the end of the year.

Bescot: Network Rail has lost its planning application to construct a sleeper plant. It may appeal against the decision.

Claydon: A new signalling facility has been opened at the old Waddesden Manor site, and it carries the same name as the one it replaced at Claydon L& NE Junction. The changeover took place between January 18-28.

Milton Keynes: The city council wants to see the station get a new eastern entrance, revised forecourt, and a better bus interchange. All the changes are associated with the new business generated by the East- West link.

Nottingham: Network Rail has entered into a 50-50 partnership with a developer to invest £ 55.5 million in a new estate of 348 homes on a car park behind the station.

Washwood Heath: Disused sidings are to be rehabilitated for a new Tarmac construction materials plant.

NORTH WEST

Chester: After ten years of discussions, Network

Rail is considering removing the last section of 1950s BR corrugated sheeting from the side of the station to fully expose the original brick arcade.

Fiddlers Ferry: While the power station will cease functioning on March 31, Warrington Borough Council is already discussing retention of the rail alignment for reuse if HS3 gets off the ground.

Partington: Transport for Greater Manchester has agreed to talk to local MPs about reopening the former CLC Skelton Junction- Glazebrook route and intermediate passenger stations. Services to them ended in November 1964, and chemical trains to Partington in 1994.

SOUTHERN

Alton: The last surviving LSWR timber footbridge has been saved for preservation. The Railway Heritage Trust has awarded a £ 50,000 grant to move it from the Network Rail end of the station to

the Mid- Hants platform, after its renovation.

Crystal Palace: Bromley Council has offered financial support for the £ 3 million scheme to restore the large but semi- derelict decorative subway underneath the South London junction station. It was built to serve the exhibition centre at the now demolished High Level station, and was once only for First Class passengers.

Deal: The station is to receive £105,000 worth of alterations, to make it more accessible.

Gipsy Hill: A 10ft- long British Railways green enamel running- in board, removed in 1982, may be returned to the platform where it stood for three decades. Train operator Southern says it will pay for its re- erection after the station’s friends group purchased it from a collector in Devon.

Herston: The Swanage Railway is building a new £ 220,000 two- road carriage shed capable of protecting ten vehicles from the elements. It should be complete by the summer.

Smallbrook: The Isle of Wight Railway is in talks to reinstate the connection with the Ryde-Shanklin ‘main line’, to give Island Line engineers access to better sidings facilities during upgrade works.

ANGLIA

Barking: Funds for improving access to the station have been confirmed by the Government.

Cambridge: Three possible sites have been suggested for the new Cambridge South station to serve Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the biomedical campus. An eight- week public consultation ended on March 2.

Ilford: Work on the new station for Crossrail began during January. It will take most of 2020 to complete.

LONDON

Colindale: Three hundred new homes are to be built next to the London Underground Northern Line station.

Islington: Waste heat from London Underground now provides heating and hot water to more than 1,350 homes, a school and two leisure centres. It comes from the Northern Line through a ventilation shaft in the disused City Road Tube station.

Watford: The town has asked London Mayor

Sadiq Khan to revive the Croxley Link, the five- mile extension of the Metropolitan Line to Watford Junction that was aborted in 2018. Despite the spending of £130 million so far in development, the scheme is regarded as unaffordable and the Transport & Works Act legislation to build it has now expired. West Hampstead: Reconstruction of the North London Line station is complete.

SCOTLAND

Barrhead: Although scheduled to open next year to serve new housing that is under construction, the proposed new station and bus interchange is up to two years behind.

Edinburgh: Construction proper of the Edinburgh Tram extension in Leith Walk is due to start on March 28. Utility diversion and tracklaying will take place at the same time, and the main thoroughfare will be reduced to a single lane until summer 2021.

Forres: The original station buildings have been demolished and the site cleared.

Greenock: There was a major safety alert at Greenock West station on February 27, when a large piece of masonry and sharp piece of slate fell 20ft from the top of the building onto a platform. Gourock- bound trains did not call for some time, but after structural checks no other problems were discovered.

WALES

Carmarthen: The Gwili Railway wants to build an overall roof on its new southern terminus station at Abergwili Junction, as well as a covered carriage shed. St Clears: A public meeting was held on March 12 to further the town’s campaign to reopen the MidWales line station between Carmarthen and Tenby.