Regional News
WESTERN
Bideford: It has been 100 years since the Bideford, Westward Ho! & Appledore Railway was closed ( March 28) to provide track for the First World War effort - an ill-fated move because the ship carrying the materials to France was torpedoed in the English Channel. The line was never revived.
Gloucester: The Government has ruled against awarding £10.45 million of Growth Deal funds to regenerate the tired- looking area around the station, with a new main building, footbridge and public square. Money will be spent instead on non- railway projects at Cheltenham, Cinderford and Longford.
Bristol: The opening of the new Bristol Arena, on the site of Bath Road depot at the southern end of Temple Meads station, has been delayed until autumn 2020.
Exeter: Planning consent has been given for expanding the train maintenance facility ( RAIL 822). Work starts in spring 2018 and will take over a year.
Honeybourne: Warwickshire County Council has commissioned a £10,000 study into reopening the former GWR line to Stratford- upon- Avon. Potential business for a new Long Marston Parkway station will come from the 5,900 new homes that are planned to be built along the route by 2031.
Parracombe: The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway has purchased an eighth of a mile of trackbed with a bequest from a supporter who died last year, and who also left a house alongside it. The railway now owns the entire route to the location, from the present operating limit of Killington Lane to Parracombe Churchtown.
EASTERN
Blyth: The last remnants of the former rail- served power station ( closed in 2001) are to be reclaimed for industrial redevelopment.
Doncaster: British Transport Police have made two arrests as part of an investigation into the theft of £ 2 million worth of track from across South Yorkshire and the Midlands. It is believed that the metal is already being smelted down and sold on through scrap dealers. Ten others were arrested in a series of raids last November.
Embsay: The Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway wants to raise up to £40,000 to extend its carriage shed.
Grantham: Virgin Trains East Coast has opened a new First Class passenger lounge at the station.
Shildon: A long piece of artwork has been erected alongside the station platform. It is the work of the Greenfield Arts group.
MIDLANDS
Consall: The Churnet Valley Railway station’s Up platform has been closed for repairs, following subsidence in the embankment where the Caldon Canal crosses underneath.
Cromford: The parish council has adopted the Derby- Matlock line station.
Horsehay: Network Rail is trying to identify the gang who dumped 150 tonnes of rotting waste on its land next to the Telford Steam Railway.
Kenilworth: December 17 has been announced as the opening date of the new station.
Market Bosworth: A new passing loop is being installed at the Battlefield Line station, to permit intensive two-train running. It should be complete by the end of 2018.
Tyseley: The road bridge above the station is due for replacement because of its poor condition. The new one will be on a higher level in anticipation of eventual electrification.
Warwick: Lifts to the station subway are to be provided at the beginning of next year, instead of a new footbridge.
NORTH WEST
Abergele & Pensarn: The station’s Platform 1 is being extended as part of the £ 50 million track and signalling upgrade of the North Wales Main Line. The work will be complete by summer 2018.
Kenyon Junction: New efforts are being made to create a station near Warrington on the Liverpool-
Manchester line. The idea was last explored as part of a 70- acre Xanadu leisure complex that foundered in 2001 when the Government refused to give it planning permission. Few traces remain of the original station, which closed in January 1961.
Liverpool: No lifts will be installed at Central station for the time being, because of a lack of funds.
SOUTHERN
Hackbridge: Despite protests, Network Rail has demolished the disused Irrigation and 100 Acre bridges because they did not justify maintenance.
Newhaven: The badly neglected area between the lorry park and the station approach has been cleared of rubble, detritus and vegetation for a second time, in a joint initiative between the port authority, Network Rail and the Burleys garden business. It was only tidied up last year.
Rye: An exhibition of railwayana, including signage from the Ashford- Hastings line, will be on display in the station booking hall until April 2.
Seaton Junction: The disused former Seaton branch station, closed in 1966, has been cleaned up by volunteers Ian and Joan Lancaster. It had been a victim of fly-tipping and vegetation growth.
ANGLIA
Cambridge: The new 450- space car park to serve the new Cambridge North station was completed during February, three months ahead of the start of passenger services.
Newmarket: Railfuture East Anglia is campaigning for the redoubling of the 14- mile line to Cambridge, to double services from the present hourly frequency and enable the opening of a new station at Cherry Hinton. Wymondham: The Norwich- Ely line station will get a new car and coach park if plans are approved for 64 new homes. Previous planning applications for the four- acre site were refused in 2002 and 2009.
SCOTLAND
Aberdeen: Ferryhill depot was targeted between February 23-25 by vandals who smashed windows and damaged a locomotive.
Edinburgh: A decision on whether to build a £162 million extension to Newhaven via Leith Walk is unlikely to be taken until after the city council elections in May. Platform 12 at Waverley station is out of use until the summer, to allow for construction work in its vicinity.
Glasgow: Network Rail has indicated that it will not be changing the name of Exhibition Centre station, following a rebrand of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre to incorporate the Clyde Auditorium ( Armadillo) and The SSE Hydro. When built in 1894, the station was called Stobcross. It closed in 1959 and reopened in 1979 as Finnieston. It became Exhibition Centre in 1986.
Glasgow: A disused platform below Glasgow Central station is to be restored and reopened as a visitor centre. It has been part of a guided tour that has attracted thousands of visitors over the past few years ( RAIL 820).
Strathpeffer: Highland Council has given its approval to the full conversion of the trackbed of the former Highland Railway branch to Dingwall into the Peffery Way footpath and cycleway - a distance of four miles. Wanlockhead: The 2ft gauge Leadhills & Wanlockhead Railway is raising funds for the preliminaries leading to the construction of a halfmile extension into the village and a new station.
WALES
Bala: Contracts have been exchanged for the first plot of land that will eventually allow the Bala Lake Railway to be extended into the centre of the town.
Tregarth: The 500- yard Dinas tunnel is being refurbished to complete the Lôn Las Ogwen foothpath, which runs from Bangor to Llyn Ogwen via Bethesda. Funding has come from the Welsh Government and Gwynedd Council.