Gloucester loop line

Last updated July 15, 2019

Legend

Birmingham & Gloucester Rly

Barnt Green

Birmingham & Gloucester Rly

Alvechurch

Redditch

Studley & Astwood Bank

Coughton

Alcester–Hatton branch line

Alcester

Wixford

Broom Junction

Stratford-upon-Avon and

Midland Junction Railway

Salford Priors

Harvington

Cotswold Line

Evesham Midland

Cotswold Line

Bengeworth

Hinton

Ashton-under-Hill

Beckford

Birmingham & Gloucester Rly

Tewkesbury & Malvern Rly

Ashchurch MOD depot

Ashchurch

Birmingham & Gloucester Rly

The Gloucester loop line was a railway line, operated by the Midland Railway which ran from Ashchurch to Barnt Green via Redditch and Evesham, avoiding the main line via Bromsgrove. The line has been entirely dismantled, apart from the section from Redditch to Barnt Green, which forms the southern part of the Cross-City Line, and a tiny stub of track at Ashchurch serving the Ministry of Defence depot. The line was opened in 1866, services were withdrawn in 1962, the line was officially closed in 1964 and the track lifted in 1965.

The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. It had a large network of lines managed from its headquarters in Derby. It became the third-largest railway undertaking in the British Isles.

Barnt Green railway station serves the village of Barnt Green, North Worcestershire, England. It is situated 9 ¹⁄₂ miles (15.3 km) south west of Birmingham New Street. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by West Midlands Trains.

Redditch railway station serves the town of Redditch, North Worcestershire, England. It is the southern terminus of the Cross-City Line 14.5 miles (23 km) south of Birmingham New Street. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by West Midlands Trains. Redditch station sits at the end of a single track branch line from Barnt Green which forms part of the Cross-City Line. The line used to continue south to Ashchurch, but this was closed in the 1960s.

Evesham and Redditch Railway

In July 1858 the Redditch Railway Act authorised a line to link Redditch with the Midland Railway's Birmingham and Gloucester line at Barnt Green. The Redditch Railway opened on 18 September 1859 but was operated from the start by the Midland Railway.

The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway was a railway route linking the cities in its name; it opened in stages in 1840, using a terminus at Camp Hill in Birmingham. It linked with the Bristol and Gloucester Railway in Gloucester, but at first that company's line was broad gauge, and Gloucester was the scene of supposedly chaotic transhipment of goods into wagons of the 4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in other gauge.

In 1868 the Evesham and Redditch Railway built a line south from Redditch through Evesham to a junction at Ashchurch. There were intermediate stations between Redditch and Evesham at Studley and Astwood Bank, Coughton, Alcester, Wixford, Broom Junction (for the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway), Salford Priors, and Harvington.

Evesham railway station is in the town of Evesham in Worcestershire, England. It is between Honeybourne and Pershore stations on the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Hereford via Worcester and Great Malvern. It is operated by Great Western Railway. Trains to London Paddington take about 1 hour 45 minutes. It is one of the few railway stations in the United Kingdom to have shown a steady decline in use since 2004.

Alcester was a railway station serving Alcester in the English county of Warwickshire.

Wixford railway station was a railway station serving Wixford, a village in the English county of Warwickshire. Located on the edge of the village it was accessed by steps down from a bridge carrying the B4085.

British Railways (BR) closed the line south of Alcester on 29 September 1962 after suspending the passenger service between Redditch and Evesham due to poor track condition. Freight services continued between Redditch and Alcester until 1964 when BR closed the whole line south of Redditch.^[1] The remaining line from Redditch to Barnt Green was nearly closed under the Beeching Axe, which would have severed the town from the railway network entirely. But a strong campaign by local residents and local MPs managed to save it. However, by the late 1960s, services to Redditch had been cut to the bare minimum, with just four daily trains to and from Birmingham. This persisted until 1980, when an hourly service was extended to Redditch on the newly upgraded Cross-City Line. This was upgraded to half-hourly in 1989,^[2] and to 3 trains per hour in 2014.

British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages between 1994 and 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in 1962 designated as the British Railways Board.

The Cross-City Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs for 32 miles (51 km) from Redditch, and Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, its two southern termini, to Lichfield, Staffordshire, its northern terminus, via Birmingham New Street, connecting the suburbs of Birmingham in between. Services are operated by West Midlands Trains.

Related Research Articles

The Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway (SMJR) was a railway company formed at the beginning of 1909 by the merger of three earlier companies:

Ashchurch for Tewkesbury is a railway station serving the North Gloucestershire and South Worcestershire Area from the outskirts of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, England. The station is located less than ¹⁄₄ mile (400 m) from junction 9 of the M5 motorway and located on the main Bristol–Birmingham main line 7 ¹⁄₄ miles (11.7 km) north of Cheltenham Spa and was opened on 1 June 1997 by Railtrack. There are regular bus connections from near the station to Tewkesbury town centre, which is located two miles to the west.

University railway station is a railway station serving the University of Birmingham, Birmingham Women's Hospital, and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the West Midlands of England. It is situated on the Cross-City Line which runs from Redditch to Lichfield via Birmingham New Street. Most services are operated by West Midlands Trains who manage the station, with some services also operated by CrossCountry.

Cam and Dursley railway station is a railway station serving the towns of Cam and Dursley in Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the main Bristol-Birmingham line, between Yate and Gloucester, at a site close to where Coaley Junction railway station was situated from 1856 to 1965.

Ashchurch is a village in the Tewkesbury district of Gloucestershire, England, 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the town of Tewkesbury. The village and housing and industrial estates run directly into Tewkesbury itself to the west: Tewkesbury School, and a number of factories whose postal addresses read Tewkesbury were actually in Ashchurch.

Ashton under Hill is a village and civil parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire in England. It is situated at the foot of Bredon Hill. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 743, about five miles south-west of Evesham.

Beckford, Worcestershire village in United Kingdom

Beckford is a small village on the main Cheltenham to Evesham Road, five miles north-east of Tewkesbury, on the Worcestershire—Gloucestershire border.

Alvechurch railway station serves the village of Alvechurch in North Worcestershire, England. It is on the Cross-City Line 11 ¹⁄₄ miles (18 km) southwest of Birmingham New Street. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by West Midlands Trains. The station itself is an unstaffed station.

The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OW&WR) was a railway company in England. It built a line from Wolvercot Junction near Oxford to Worcester, Stourbridge, Dudley and Wolverhampton, as well as some branches.

Harvington village in Worcestershire, United Kingdom

Harvington is a village near Evesham in Worcestershire, England.

Hinton on the Green is a village and civil parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire in England. It is situated at the foot of Bredon Hill about two miles south of Evesham.

Tewkesbury railway station was a station on the Midland Railway between Great Malvern and Evesham.

Bengeworth railway station was a station on the Midland Railway between Ashchurch and Evesham. The precise location of the station was not in the Evesham suburb of Bengeworth itself, but 2 mi (3.2 km) away in Hampton. The station was named Bengeworth in order to avoid confusion over other stations in the area which also included Hampton in their names.

Broom Junction was a railway station and interchange between the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway and the Barnt Green to Ashchurch line. Although initially only an exchange station, it was opened to the public from 1880 and remained in service until 1963. Other than passengers changing trains, passenger traffic was low as the station was situated in a sparsely populated area near Broom in Warwickshire. The line to Stratford was the first to close in 1960, followed by the Barnt Green line in 1962.

References

↑ Disused Stations - Redditch (2nd Station) Disused Stations Site Record; Retrieved 7 June 2017
↑ "Milestone marks the end of a railway era". Redditch Standard. Retrieved 16 November 2013.

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[1] Disused Stations - Redditch (2nd Station) Disused Stations Site Record; Retrieved 7 June 2017

[2] "Milestone marks the end of a railway era". Redditch Standard. Retrieved 16 November 2013.