Regional News
EASTERN
Bedlington: It is exactly 200 years since John Birkinshaw’s Bedlington Ironworks was granted the patent to manufacture rolled wrought iron rails, which were first used on the Stockton & Darlington Railway. The factory closed in 1867.
Elsecar: Landlord Barnsley Council has assumed caretaker control of the Elsecar Heritage Railway, after its operators surrendered their lease for the one- mile line because it is not viable. The authority wants it to remain a going concern, having purchased the track bed in 1994 ( ten years after the end of coal traffic) and running it with public money until 2006. There were plans to extend the line to Cortonwood and to open a new halt at Hemingfield.
Keighley: The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway shot to world fame 50 years ago on December 21, when the film The Railway Children was released to cinemas. The branch to Oxenhope was used as a location for filming.
Retford: Work has started on an additional lift to connect the high- level station with the westbound side of the 1965- built low- level platforms ( there has previously only been one for Cleethorpes/ Lincoln passengers). A new footpath is also under construction.
Shildon: A fundraising campaign is under way to rescue the world’s oldest railway institute from closing. It has been struggling because of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Womersley: The former station building alongside the Knottingley- Doncaster line freight route is up for sale for £425,000. Built by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway in 1846 and closed to passengers 101 years later, it is now a four- bedroom home.
York: Site clearance has begun on the £ 77 million regeneration around the station that will create 2,500 new homes, over a million square feet of commercial development, and improved access to the National Railway Museum.
MIDLANDS
Darlaston: Invitations to tender for the construction of the new Walsall- Wolverhampton line station and 300- space car park ( as well as nearby Darlaston) have gone out, following the approval of plans by Walsall Council. The ambition is to start work next year for a 2023 opening.
Tamworth: The £ 675,000 upgrade of the three station lifts has been completed.
NORTH WEST
Macclesfield: The station lifts are to be replaced over a ten- week period between January 20 and March 31, at a cost of £400,000.
Wythenshawe: Hand sanitiser supplier OneSpray says its turnover has increased by 2,000% this year, because it looks after Transport for London’s fleet of 600 trains as well as airports handler Swissport. The company has only been in business since 2018.
SOUTHERN
Blackfriars: Two of the five riveted arches of Blackfriars Bridge, which carries the station above it, have been overhauled. The timber lintels have been replaced with steel, and the cast iron components cleaned and painted.
Brighton: There is strong political support for five ‘quick win’ proposals to put public money into improving Volk’s Electric Railway. They include a short extension at the Black Rock end of the line with a new terminus, a second platform at Aquarium station, a shelter at Halfway, and a new railcar with access for the disabled.
Burgess Hill: Both station canopies have been renewed on new steel frames. Elsewhere, some of the original 1841 London & Brighton Railway features still survive.
Strawberry Hill: The station has a new waiting shelter.
Swanscombe: The proposed £ 3.5 billion London Resort Theme Park, due to start construction in 2022, could herald an extension of the Elizabeth Line ( Crossrail) deep into Kent from Abbey Wood. It