Railways around Coventry

I sometimes travel to Kenilworth by train during the day and there are usually quite a few Coventry University students on it who are staying in either Kenilworth or Leamington. It is a lot quicker and easier than travelling by bus, especially if the bus goes via Gibbet Hill Road which is gridlocked at peak times. I would be interested to know the relevant of number of users for term time and non-term time as I suspect there may be quite a difference. As an aside, the 2020 edition of the Bachmann Collectors Club calendar has got a photograph of Kenilworth station as the page for August. Fame at last, though it is fairly deserted!

I see that Network Rail, the renationalised bit, is in trouble.

Flash back to the 1970's today at Coventry. (Empty charter train going back to sidings at Burton on Trent). Peter.

1970 Marshalling Yard

The sidings into the Charringtons depot, Blackhorse Road. My late father drove for them 1962 until its closure c1986. The depot had opened in 1957 so the track had been there for a while.

The track had been removed and the site was being cleared in this photo taken by my father in 1987.

Going for exercise recently, I have noticed that the trains are running normally. On the Kenilworth line, every hour there are two local trains (Leamington to Nuneaton), and two Cross Country (Manchester to Bournemouth). The local train stops at Kenilworth without opening its doors before departing. I have yet to see one passenger. It's very sad, especially when billions are being spent on the construction of HS2 a stone's throw away.

Slim All railway companies are... "... providing an emergency rail service as part of the national effort to deal with the current public health crisis. As part of an industry-wide response, we are running a reduced service for essential journeys, for key workers such as NHS staff, emergency workers and carers. The government has made it clear that public transport is for essential use only, so that key workers and our staff can practise social distancing and be safe on their journeys. If you are not one of these workers and your journey is not essential, please do not travel". So it is not surprising that the trains are almost empty. Most services have been reduced to hourly. Kenilworth is unusual in that this hasn't made a difference as services were already hourly. The Cross Country service that operates via Solihull has been cancelled for the duration. I am sure that the railways will be back to a normal service long before HS2 opens. In the meantime the people working on HS2 and their families will be grateful for the jobs. Better to pay to keep people busy than to pay them to do nothing. Peter.

Interlude. The up 'Caledonian' enters Carlisle with a 'Coronation' Pacific. Viewed northward, towards Glasgow etc., West Coast Main Line. The crack express, 08.30 Glasgow Central - London Euston, headed this day by No. 46240 'City of Coventry', is coming under Victoria Bridge past West Walls. Date Taken on 16 September 1957 There is often confusion between loco names & named or titled trains. The Caledonian, the Royal Scot & the Midday Scot were all titled trains. Limited to a maximum loading of eight coaches, all booked seats, as no standing was permitted. Other than for diversions, these titled trains travelled the West Coast mainline non stop between London & Carlisle, from 1957 until the end of steam. Prior to 1957, they all stopped at Rugby, literally to give the train crew a rest, whilst a team of coal trimmers mounted the tender where they raked the coal forwards, breaking big lumps in the process, before the train crew resumed the journey. With such a light load, eight coaches, some very epic timings were achieved by these masterpieces of engineering.

My (paternal) grandmother after leaving the cottage in Wheelwright Lane moved over to Queen Mary's Road in Bedworth. At the end of the garden, on an embankment, is the Coventry-Nuneaton railway line. I can just remember from the early 60s, steam locos going past and giving a blast on their whistle. Which was not surprising really, as my grandmother had been a porter at Foleshill Station during the 40s & 50s. My uncle had joined the railway after leaving school and worked his way up to be a fireman at Coventry engine shed by the time my father left school and joined the railway. 1st working in Coventry No2 signal box before moving over to the goods office on platform 1 and from there to the engine shed as a cleaner then becoming a fireman himself, working with his brother. So many of the engine crew that went past that house knew my grandmother, uncle & father. Newspaper article regarding my father from 1949. My grandmother at Foleshill Station. All three are now at rest in Marston Lane cemetery, adjacent to the railway line that had played a big part in their lives.

Hi Philip, You can read the detailed proposals here. They are proposing redoubling the Coventry-Leamington line to increase capacity. This will allow the existing Newcastle-Reading Cross Country service to go via the Airport and Coventry instead of non-stop via Solihull. The spare path through Solihull will be used for a Birmingham (Moor Street) to Oxford service. There will also be more freight capacity. This has been on the "nice to have" list for a while. Peter.

A bit of good news. Long overdue. Beeching: a "Doctor" brought in for a short term political "solution" by the "government". Narrow-mindedness the order of the day. Paid £19k back then, a fortune in today's money. Degree in physics, so he'd know that doubling the speed of a train means a fourfold increase in energy needed, hence a fourfold increase in pollution. Basic stuff. But Beeching is dead and we are still here, having to pick up the pieces and deal with what is. The COV-LMS line bed is double width most (maybe all, I dunno) of its way, so the line should be doubled. In similar vein, the Kenilworth to Berkswell line should never have been closed, ripped up, now at the mercy of the HS2 White Elephant. We'll slowly get there, in spite of the bigwigs.

Fiction might have been the start of my interest in railways, model or full size. I read a Rupert story from one of the soft cover magazines, when I was in Paybody hospital, where the little characters stumbled across a railway line. Me, stuck in a hospital cage, it seemed quite an adventure at the time. The intrigue of looking at a railway line, wondering where it goes & so on. Happy days.

GWR 1501 in NCB colliery guise, Coventry Colliery 1967 - photo by John Wiltshire