Worcester Shrub Hill railway station

Worcester Shrub Hill is one of two railway stations serving the city of Worcester, England; the other is Worcester Foregate Street in the city centre. A third, Worcestershire Parkway, is located just outside the city to the south-east. The station is managed by West Midlands Trains, operating here under the West Midlands Railway brand, and is also served by Great Western Railway.

Worcester Shrub Hill
National Rail
General information
LocationWorcester, City of Worcester
England
Coordinates52°11′42″N 2°12′32″W / 52.195°N 2.209°W / 52.195; -2.209
Grid referenceSO858551
Managed byWest Midlands Railway
Platforms3
Other information
Station codeWOS
ClassificationDfT category C1
History
Original companyOxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway/Midland Railway joint
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway/Midland Railway joint
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway/London, Midland and Scottish Railway joint
Key dates
5 October 1850 (1850-10-05)Station opened
Passengers
2018/19Decrease 0.808 million
 Interchange Decrease 0.105 million
2019/20Decrease 0.661 million
 Interchange Increase 0.339 million
2020/21Decrease 0.161 million
 Interchange Decrease 53,897
2021/22Increase 0.410 million
 Interchange Increase 0.176 million
2022/23Increase 0.477 million
 Interchange  Decrease 0.143 million
Location
Map
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

edit
 
Up Midland parcels train in 1959
 
Signals SH77 and SH78 are two examples of the Western Region's semaphore signals from British Rail days

The first station at Shrub Hill was opened in 1850. It was owned jointly by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton and Midland Railways; until 1852 it was used only as a terminus for the latter's services from Birmingham. The present station building was designed by Edward Wilson and built in 1865. It is a Georgian-style building mainly of engineering brick with stone facings. A key feature is the Grade II* waiting room see below. Originally there was also a train shed which was removed circa 1936.[1]

The cast-iron railings on the station staircases remain hidden by boarding. A surviving feature at the station are the Western Region semaphore signals and the almost unique large round main aspect banjo signal located half-way along platform 1.[2]

The London Midland service between Shrub Hill and Gloucester, via Ashchurch for Tewkesbury and Cheltenham Spa, to complement the two-hourly Great Western Railway service was discontinued at the start of the December 2009 railway timetable, due to low passenger usage.

Railway operations

edit
 
Map of railways around Worcester

The station is controlled by Worcester Shrub Hill Signal Box, located at the London (south) end of platform 1. The Worcester area is controlled by another two signal boxes at Henwick (west of Foregate Street) and Tunnel Junction (to the north of Shrub Hill).

Both platforms 1 and 2 can be used in either direction; generally, trains for Foregate Street use platform one and trains towards Oxford and Cheltenham Spa use platform 2. Platform 3 is a small bay that was used mainly for the former Wessex Trains/Wales & West service towards Cheltenham Spa, as it is a small south facing bay platform its use is limited. Trains leaving Shrub Hill for Foregate Street join a single line that ends near Henwick signal box south of Foregate Street station; this is one of the two single lines through Foregate Street station.

 
Worcester Locomotive Depot in 1959

Near to the station is Worcester Traincare depot, which is currently operated by West Midlands Trains; it also stables trains at various locations around the station. Great Western Railway also stable some of their diesel multiple units here. The station is home to West Midlands Trains and Great Western Railway's train crew depots. There us also a goods yard, to the north of the station behind platform 2 and 3.

Services

edit
 
A GWR Class 800 arrives at the station, on a service to Great Malvern in March 2024

Worcester Shrub Hill is served by two train operating companies:

Being the bigger of the two stations in Worcester, due to its sidings, Worcester Shrub Hill is often used as stabling point for goods trains and locomotives, as well as an overnight stop for some Great Western Railway rolling stock.

Preceding station   National Rail Following station
Worcester
Foregate Street
or
Terminus
  West Midlands Railway
Worcester Shrub Hill/Hereford/Great Malvern-Birmingham
  Droitwich Spa
Worcester
Foregate Street
  West Midlands Railway
Hereford/Great Malvern-Shrub Hill
  Terminus
Worcester
Foregate Street
  West Midlands Railway
Worcester-Birmingham
via Kidderminster
  Droitwich Spa
Worcester
Foregate Street
  Great Western Railway
Cotswold Line
  Worcestershire Parkway
Worcester
Foregate Street
  Great Western Railway
Worcester-Bristol
  Ashchurch for
Tewkesbury

Waiting room

edit

On platform 2a is the former ladies' waiting room which extends onto the platform. It is a cast-iron frame cast at the Vulcan Iron Works at Worcester. This was a subsidiary of the MacKenzie and Holland signal manufacturing company, located about 200 yards from the station. The exterior is decorated with classical pilasters and covered with majolica ceramic tiles made by Maw and Company of Broseley.[5]

Maw was originally a Worcester-based company, founded in 1850 when they bought the old Chamberlain tile factory; however, in 1852, they moved to Broseley to be nearer their source of clay. In the main, they made encaustic tiles rather than the majolica ceramic tiles used to decorate the waiting room.

In 1873, Wojtczak writes that there was a "Ladies' waiting room attendant called Mrs Dale who earned 10s and that this was the same rate of pay as a Mrs Spencer who was the office cleaner."[6]

It is Grade II* listed and English Heritage placed it on the Buildings at Risk Register in 2003. The official records record that the waiting room was added c1880. In 2005, the register records "The cast iron frame is in need of structural repair. The front wall is leaning out and currently shored up. Preliminary investigative work has been carried out, but repair works were delayed due partly to problem of locating specialist contractors." In April 2005, Network Rail applied for listed building planning consent to restore the waiting room to bring it back into use before the end of 2006. The application gave detail of the work to be carried out, including restoration of the cast-iron work and the sourcing and replacement of the missing ceramic tiles. English Heritage included the waiting room on the 2006 Buildings at Risk Register.[7] Subsequently, restoration work was undertaken and the refurbishment was completed in 2015.

References

edit
  1. ^ Historic England. "Shrub Hill Railway Station: Main Building With Attached Wall And Lamps (1390156)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Signals at Worcester Shrub Hill". www.roscalen.com. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Train timetables and schedules". West Midlands Railway. 2 June 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Train Times". Great Western Railway. 2 June 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  5. ^ Richard Morriss The Archaeology of Railways, 1999 Tempus Publishing,Stroud. plate72 p128
  6. ^ Helena Wojtczak "Railwaywomen", Hastings Press,2005 p6 ISBN 1 904 109047
  7. ^ English Heritage Regional Registers (2010) West Midlands: Worcester Retrieved 9 January 2011

Bibliography

edit
  • Biddle, Gordon (2003). Britain's Historic Railway Buildings. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866247-5.
  • Boynton, John & Widdowson, Stephen (2000). Worcester Shrub Hill 150, 1850-2000. Worcester 150. ISBN 0-9522248-8-7.

Further reading

edit
edit