Broadway
The station in 2023
General information
LocationBroadway, Wychavon
England
Platforms2
History
Original companyGreat Western Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
1 October 1904Opened
7 March 1960Closed to passengers[1]
1 June 1964Goods facilities withdrawn[2]
30 March 2018Reopened

Broadway railway station is a railway station on the heritage Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway in the village of Broadway in Worcestershire, England.

History

The original station opened in 1904, and closed to passengers in 1960; the original station buildings was demolished in autumn 1963[3] although the line through the site remained open for regular passenger trains until 1968 and goods until official closure in November 1976.

The station in 1962

Stationmasters

  • George James Fifield 1904[4] – c. 1920
  • Sidney James Prothero 1928–1935
  • William Barber 1935–1942[5] (afterwards station master at Stoke Edith)
  • E.T. Rose 1942[6] – 1944 (formerly station master at Bewdley, afterwards station master at Shipston-under-Wychwood)
  • W.L. Mann 1944–1945
  • W.S.B.M. Allen 1945[7] – 1950
  • W.H. Jennings from 1950[8]

Preservation

The GWR Broadway Area Group of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust started work clearing the derelict site in 2009. As of January 2023, both platforms had been reconstructed, a signal box on platform 2 had been rebuilt and has been fitted out with the necessary signalling equipment, the footbridge span and steps (from Henley-in-Arden railway station) have been erected and the main station building had been completed with toilets, a booking office and refreshment room.[9] The station canopy and roof including a further canopy section at the north end to connect with the footbridge was completed in 2022. Platform 2 is not yet open to the public however work to rebuild the original waiting room is progressing. [10][11] The rebuilding of Broadway station was largely completed in 2017.[12]

The station in March 2018
Honeybourne Line being rebuilt for passenger trains.

The four-mile section of track from Toddington towards Broadway station was relaid from 2015 to 2018.[13] Fund raising included a 2016 share offer, "Broadway: the last mile", to complete the last mile of track.[14] Track-laying commenced in the cutting north of the station during summer 2017 and was completed by year end. Until March 2018 trains had run as far as Laverton Halt[15] and from May 2017 onwards to Little Buckland until the first train since 1960 arrived at Broadway Station on Christmas Eve 2017 after volunteers had finished laying the track on 23 December 2017,[16][17] an English Electric Class 20 and Electro Diesel Class 73 pulling in the first works train.

7903 Foremarke Hall at Broadway in October 2022.

The first test steam train was hauled by 7903 'Foremarke Hall' on 9 March 2018[18] and the first passenger train (for volunteers) was, on 21 March 2018, hauled by 35006 'Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co.';[18] public passenger services began on 30 March 2018.[16][19] At the end of May 2018 the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway saw an increase in overall passenger numbers of over 14,000 passengers compared to the previous May, primarily due to the opening of the station at Broadway. The station and line closed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic but reopened in the summer of 2020. The station was closed during this time to passengers wishing to start their journey at Broadway. Full service was restored in March 2021.

Preceding station Heritage Railways  Heritage railways Following station
Terminus   Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway   Toddington
  Historical railways  
Willersey Halt
Line and station closed		   Great Western Railway
Honeybourne Line		   Laverton Halt
Line open, station closed

References

  1. ↑ Butt, R.V.J., (1995) The Directory of Railway Stations, Yeovil: Patrick Stephens
  2. ↑ "Railway Chronology". Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "The Demolition". The Jo Roesen Scrapbook.
  4. ↑ "Railway Appointment". Bromsgrove & Droitwich Messenger. England. 30 July 1904. Retrieved 20 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ↑ "Broadway Stationmaster". Evesham Standard & West Midland Observer. England. 14 March 1942. Retrieved 20 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ↑ "Broadway's New Stationmaster". Gloucestershire Echo. England. 16 March 1942. Retrieved 20 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ↑ "New Station Master". Cheltenham Chronicle. England. 8 September 1945. Retrieved 20 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ↑ "New Stationmaster for Broadway". Evesham Standard & West Midland Observer. England. 28 July 1950. Retrieved 20 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Broadway Tearoom | Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway". Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  10. ↑ "Take me to Broadway: Pete Waterman launches £1.25m share scheme for historic railway". Cotswold Journal. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  11. ↑ "Could this new railway station be Britain's prettiest?". 5 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  12. ↑ "Broadway Railway Station | GWSR | Broadway | Toddington |". www.broadwaystation.co.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  13. ↑ "Extension Blog: And down they go again". broadwayextensionblog.blogspot.ru. 31 October 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  14. ↑ "Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway raises £250k for 'last mile'". BBC News. 14 April 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  15. ↑ "GWR - Gloucestershire's mainline heritage railway - 2015 Timetable". www.gwsr.com. Archived from the original on 9 November 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  16. 1 2 "Broadway gets first train in 57 years". BBC. 24 December 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  17. ↑ "Broadway Railway Station - rebuilding train line | Visit Broadway". www.visit-broadway.co.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  18. 1 2 kruiskop1 (21 March 2018). "35006 P&O on first day of passenger services out of Broadway". Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2018 – via YouTube.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ↑ "Opening to Broadway - 30 March to 2 April 2018 - Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway". Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.

52°02′35″N 1°52′19″W / 52.04293°N 1.87196°W / 52.04293; -1.87196

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.