Leamington Spa railway station

History

It is located on the site of the first through-station in the town, opened by the Great Western Railway (GWR) on its new line from Birmingham to Oxford in 1852.

The London and North-Western Railway (LNWR) had reached Leamington eight years earlier, in 1844, with a branch from Coventry. That line, however, terminated about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the town centre, at Milverton, and the LNWR did not open a more central station until 1854. It was rebuilt in 1939 by the Chief Architect to the Great Western Railway, Percy Emerson Culverhouse.

The station booking hall was sympathetically refurbished over the five months to March 2008 to resemble the original Great Western Railway art-deco style, including the installation of ticket barriers. GWR-style running in boards have been installed at the 'up' end of platforms 2 & 3. Plans exist to add to these running-in boards.

The signal box at Leamington saw the first conventional use of British Rail Solid State Interlocking (SSI) in 1985 when control was transferred from the original Leamington North mechanical box to a new Power Box situated nearby. In 2006 trials of the new Westinghouse Rail Systems Westlock Interlocking commenced, which replaced the old SSI completely in 2008. The signal box now covers an area from a point near Warwick to Little Bourton, just north of Banbury railway station.

In late 2007 Chiltern railway began installing ticket barriers, which came into operation in early 2008. In 2011 the two waiting rooms were restored and refurbished as part of £395,000 improvements that also include 80 new parking spaces at the front of the station and improved disabled access.

Routes

Three lines radiate from Leamington Spa:

Operators

As of December 2007, Leamington station is served by three passenger train operators: Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, and London Midland. Chiltern Railways operate the station, which is owned by Network Rail. Although the station is operated by Chiltern Railways, the "stabling rights" (that is, the right to store trains) belong to London Midland. This unusual situation means that if Chiltern Railways wished to keep one of their trains at Leamington Spa, they would have to ask London Midland for permission to do so, and pay a fee for the privilege.

The original privatisation system resulted in the station being operated by Central Trains (London Midland's predecessor), with a half-hourly service, along with an hourly Chiltern Railways service and an hourly Virgin Cross Country service. The huge expansion in investment by the Chiltern Railways franchise and the increase in services brought about resulted in Central Trains services mainly being cut back to Dorridge outside of peak hours, with Chiltern Railways operating two trains per hour to London Marylebone in place of the former local service. This also resulted in the transfer of operator of Warwick, Hatton, Lapworth and Leamington Spa stations to Chiltern Railways, as well as Birmingham Moor Street. This is the origin of the unusual stabling rights status of the station, an anomaly also existing at Shrewsbury station, with the majority service operator and station operator Arriva Trains Wales not holding the stabling rights, which belong to London Midland.

Layout

The present art deco- style station, which dates from immediately prior to the Second World War (it was comprehensively rebuilt between 1937 and 1939), has four platforms, numbered one to four from south to north. Platforms one and four are west-facing bays, used only by local trains to and from Birmingham Snow Hill or Stratford-upon-Avon starting or terminating at Leamington. Platforms two and three are through platforms: platform two is used by services to Stratford-upon-Avon, Birmingham Snow Hill or Coventry, Birmingham New Street and beyond; platform three is for departures to Banbury and London Marylebone or Reading. Two central lines allow freight trains or other non-stop services to pass through the station when platforms two and three are occupied.

Leamington Avenue and Milverton stations

The first railway line to reach Leamington Spa did so in December 1844. It was a branch line from Coventry, built by the London and Birmingham Railway (amalgamated two years later into the London and North-Western Railway (LNWR)). The terminus (named "Leamington") was immediately north of Rugby Road in New Milverton, roughly halfway between the centres of Warwick and Leamington, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from each.

In March 1851 the LNWR opened another branch, this time from Rugby, which ran through Leamington and made an end-on connection to the Coventry branch at Milverton. Although the new line ran briefly parallel to the route of the Great Western Railway's Birmingham to Oxford line, which was then under construction in southern Leamington, and within spitting distance of the more central GWR station which opened in 1852, the LNWR did not open a station of its own alongside the GWR station until February 1854. This was evidently a somewhat hastily constructed timber affair: a more permanent brick-built station followed in 1860. The LNWR's new station, with its entrance off Avenue Road, was called, appropriately enough, "Leamington Avenue", with the old station being renamed "Warwick (Milverton)".

Despite their proximity, the two railways in Leamington remained separate for many years. Although a link to allow the transfer of goods traffic between the two lines was installed in 1864, it was not until 1908 that a junction was constructed for passenger trains. This (in principle) permitted LNWR trains from the Rugby direction to use the GWR station. Now a joint station, the latter became known as "Leamington Spa General" after Nationalisation.

In October 1883 the LNWR moved its Milverton station to a new site no more than 200 yards (180 m) further south, where the railway crossed Warwick New Road. Eastnor Terrace, which contained some of Leamington's finest buildings, had to be demolished for this new project. As the new station was on an embankment, the platforms and shelters were constructed of wood, with the other station offices being built below at road level. The original station at Milverton remained the site of the LNWR's Leamington locomotive depot and turntable, and right up until the final closure of the line from Rugby, trains from that direction terminated and turned round there.

Leamington Avenue and Milverton stations (by then called "Leamington Spa (Avenue)" and "Leamington Spa (Milverton) for Warwick" respectively) both suffered closure under the Beeching cuts of 1965. Almost all the trains from these stations had been local services, to Kenilworth, Coventry, Rugby and (earlier) Daventry and Weedon. Although the route to Coventry survives (a new junction was installed in 1966 allowing access from the west end of the surviving (former Great Western) station) and now carries an intensive service of long-distance trains, all the intermediate stations were closed. The line to Rugby was lifted entirely. Most of its trackbed exists, but there is a substantial gap in south-eastern Leamington where the new housing estate of Sydenham has been built over the former route.

Renaming

The station at Milverton has had eight names:

1. - 1844: Leamington;
2. - 1854: Warwick (Milverton);
3. - 1856: Warwick;
4. - 1857: Warwick (Milverton);
5. - 1875: Leamington Milverton (Warwick);
6. - 1876: Milverton (for Warwick);
7. - 1884: Warwick (Milverton);
8. - 1952: Leamington Spa (Milverton) for Warwick.

However, relocation of the station in 1883 did not cause a renaming.

Motive Power Depots

The London and Birmingham Railway opened a motive power depot on the west side of the line at their Milverton station in 1844. It was replaced by a larger engine shed nearby in 1881, which was known as Warwick (Milverton). This depot closed 17 November 1958 and was demolished. Locomotives were then serviced at the former Great Western Railway depot at Leamington Spa.

The Great Western Railway opened a motive power depot on the east side of the line south of Leamington Spa General Station in 1906. This was closed by British Railways 14 June 1965 and demolished.

Services

Chiltern Railways services run at frequent intervals (mostly half-hourly) between Marylebone station in London and Birmingham Moor Street (limited stop, alternate trains continue through to Snow Hill), with further trains (at approximately two-hourly intervals) from here to Stratford-upon-Avon and to Moor Street (stopping service). A number of the Birmingham trains start from Kidderminster in the mornings and terminate there in the evenings, whilst there is also a limited through service between Marylebone & Stratford-upon-Avon.

Four long-distance trains an hour, operated by CrossCountry, also serve Leamington station throughout most of the day, two northbound and two southbound. Typically, these alternate between services between Manchester & Bournemouth via Stafford, Birmingham New Street, Coventry, Oxford and Basingstoke and others running between Newcastle & Reading via Doncaster and Sheffield, with certain trains extended to/from Southampton Central.

London Midland operates peak-hour trains to Birmingham Snow Hill, Stourbridge Junction, Kidderminster and Worcester Shrub Hill at the beginning of the day and from there in the evening.

On Sundays, the frequency of trains is in most cases about half of that indicated above, though the service to & from Stratford remains two-hourly.