Halts in all their glory

[Nearholmer]

This one is faintly bizarre, having closed, then been reinstated many years after the track was lifted!

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/stane_street_halt/

 

I like the name of the other one on the route "Bannister Green Halt", was there a "Newel Post Maroon Halt" too?

 

Bannister Green has also been reinstated, sans track, and you can see a merry band of people in the act of reconstructing it here http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bannister_green_halt/index.shtml

 

K

Edited May 18, 2017 by Nearholmer

[Davexoc]

This one is a little contraversial, but could qualify. It has no facilities apart from a couple of shelters, but the old station building still stands, divorced from the platforms. It has two platforms, but four faces and has a frequent service for passengers, and a fair few freights.

Barnetby, or Barnetby le Wold by its full name. Where the photographers/spotters outnumber the passengers, or at least they did before resignalling.

 

Showing the full extent of the current facilities.

 

Dave

[EddieB]

This one is faintly bizarre, having closed, then been reinstated many years after the track was lifted!

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/stane_street_halt/

 

I like the name of the other one on the route "Bannister Green Halt", was there a "Newel Post Maroon Halt" too?

 

Bannister Green has also been reinstated, sans track, and you can see a merry band of people in the act of reconstructing it here http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bannister_green_halt/index.shtml

 

K

Not forgetting that old cockney favourite "Hockerill Halt", further up the line. Built to serve a golf course, it was at one time a site for housing preserved stock with nowhere else to go.

 

To add - the rehabilitation of Stane Street Halt and Bannister Green Halt came about because most of the former track bed has become the "Flitch Way" - a walking and cycle track. When Le Tour de France came to England recently, part was routed over this section - unfortunately before the TV coverage started.

Edited May 19, 2017 by EddieB

[highpeakman]

Definately St Keyne, taken from a Liskeard bound unit from what is the liskeard end of the unit, unless the Driver took it

Thanks.

 

That makes a lot of sense. To be honest I don't remember St Keyne but have a vague memory of making a trip on that line during a holiday long ago.

 

Can't remember if I was at the back or front of the unit. Probably the front, watching the driver and wishing I could do it!

[dibber25]

Check out Poyle under the 'Lets hear it for the bubble cars thread.

Here are Kelmscott & Langford Platform on the Fairford branch

Weston-under-Penyard Halt on the Gloucester-Hereford line - the first railway photo I took without a train in it.

and Troublehouse Halt on the Tetbury branch. It served the pub The Troublehouse Inn which serves a VERY nice lunch, the footpath to the halt is still there, together with some bridge rail fence posts where the halt used to be. 

Finally, King's Sutton in 1965 when it was still largely complete.

Yes, halts were fabulous but I doubt that there are any left, even on preserved lines, that retain original features and character.

Kings Sutton doesn't count as it was never a halt, but a full-fledged station that was destaffed under Beeching and after Beeching the word Halt was banned. Its original brick building on the up platform was demolished. The surviving down platform shelter is the last extant B&CDR building. 

[D1059]

Don't forget Sugar Loaf

 

I have alighted from a train there while walking - got a picture somewhere

[eastglosmog]

Definately St Keyne, taken from a Liskeard bound unit from what is the liskeard end of the unit, unless the Driver took it

Thanks for confirming that my aging memory still works at times!  To be really, really, really nitpicky, it's not actually the Liskeard end of the unit, but  the Moorswater or Coombe Junction end - it reversed at Coombe Junction and the other end lead into Liskeard (and Looe as well, of course).

[EddieB]

Yes, halts were fabulous but I doubt that there are any left, even on preserved lines, that retain original features and character.

Outside the Great Western, and it may not have original fittings, but Berney Arms (q.v.) definitely retains its character.

[Nearholmer]

Character is one thing, features are another, in that they decay away, unless cosseted, or renewed, so it is not far short of a miracle where features do survive intact.

 

K

[Ramblin Rich]

Sorry these aren't my pictures but this is the best example I know of a 'Railmotor / autotrain' halt currently in use: Nappers halt South Devon Railway

There were various Southern Railway concrete platform halts on the North Cornwall & Devon Junction Light Railway eg Watergate & Yarde (from Cornwall Railway society page )

Also Grogley halt near Wadebridge

 

This was the local station were I grew up Bilbrook which started life as Bilbrook & Birches halt, became just Bilbrook in 1974. There was a Portacabin ticket office in the 1980s but that went some time ago. 

[eastglosmog]

In reply to Nappers Halt.  Not entirely serious, this one, but it does fulfill the criteria!

 

Edited April 16, 2022 by eastglosmog
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[EddieB]

Wouldn't "Didcot Halt" have been a "platform" in GWR terminology?

[eastglosmog]

Wouldn't "Didcot Halt" have been a "platform" in GWR terminology?

Don't think so. Just been looking it up in the encyclopedia and the GWR "platform" had a small staff. It wasn't decided only on platform length. I haven't measured it exactly, but the length of platform at Didcot Halt appears to be about the same as was provided at Rollright halt (as originally built) on the Banbury Kingham line. Rollright when built was 192ft long, although it was shortened later.

[Nearholmer]

And, it looked like this ......

[dibber25]

Didcot's 'pagoda' shelter came from Stockcross & Bagnor Halt on the Lambourn branch. (CJL)

[Northroader]

Well, your man says with a picture, so I've done a sketch. The only photo of here I've seen was done from the other side of the track, where the boy with the glasses and grey flannel shorts is sitting, which is a good vantage point, but it places the crossing keepers house in front of the interesting bit. The hill he's sitting on is actually an old pit mound, mainly pennystone clay, a thick grey stuff which was very handy for damming up rivulets coming out of the mound. It belonged to Deepfield colliery, and the next one across was called Botany Bay colliery, which gives a clue as to when they started digging. It's all worked out some time back, heather is spreading out. So I've borrowed a drone to have a look from the other side, hovering above Gravel Leasowes, an unsurfaced lane serving scattered settlements, including the squatter cottage uncle Fred and aunty May lived in.( much later I saw a recreation in Blists Hill museum, its very good)

Anyhow, we'd best have a look at the halt, pure Great Western. The platform will just take two coaches, and its made of cinders, packed down behind a timber retaining wall at the trackside, and banked down at the back behind a post and wire fence. The shelter is a windowless shed, made from planks over a wood frame, with a bench at the back, and a wide opening in front. There was a big varnished notice on the back wall, "terms and conditions for the carriage of etc, etc" with a mass of paragraphs, sealed off by Mr. Milne of Paddington. There weren't any other notices or adverts, although there was a small notice board on the back of the ground frame for excursion notices and the like. There was a GWR halt smell about the place, partly creosote from the treated wood, and lamp oil from the two on top of the crossing gates, and there were also a couple of oil lamps which could be fetched out at night and hung on posts.

Over the track was the crossing keepers house, where Mr. Espley and his family lived. Two storey brick, but covered in black tar. Looking back, I suppose this might indicate no "cavity" wall? Small brick forecourt facing the road, and a vegetable patch behind alongside the track. Back over the track facing the house was the ground frame for the level crossing. The two gates, diagonally opposite to each other, were opened and secured manually, but there was a rod detection device back to the frame to free the two signal levers, yellow, for the distant signals for the gate in each direction. There were no stop signals, as this was about the last survivor of the ancient disc and crossbar system, and the "stop" was denoted by the red disc and lantern above it on with the gate turned across the track, or "clear" when the disc was edge on. Above the levers was a shelf with block indicators and bells, but these were only repeaters from the block post signalboxes at each end of the section, so that the crossing keeper knew when a train was in the section, and the gates opened and relevant distant cleared. About fifty yards in front of the loco was a distant for the next crossing, most important as it was on a downgrade, away from a stop, and on a blind curve. Even so, I was on my bike going down the road there on morning and saw a 57 on a passenger take one of the gates out.

Ahh, now the engine, you may say a '45' 262T, but actually a '44' with drivers just 4' 1 and half" There were only eleven of these built, first at Swindon and ten from Wolverhampton, 1904-6. Two years before I appeared on the scene, five made this branch their home for the rest of their lives, being scrapped when they were approaching fifty years old. I'm sorry to say they hadn't been cleaned for a very long time, WW2 being a good excuse, so they were not dark green as you'd hope, but an even dark grey patina, you might just make out a 'shirt button' totem. We never had any 45s, the 44s were replaced in BR times by big 41 prairie tanks. The need for them arose because of the gradient. Leaving the main line at Ketley, It was a steady climb at 1/50 to Heath Hill Tunnel, the summit, recently reopened by the Horsehay Steam Trust. Then it fell, all the way at 1/50 til it crossed the Severn, just before Buildwas, on Albert Edward bridge, which is a twin of the much photographed Victoria bridge downstream on the SVR. At Buildwas the branch linked into the SVR, then more 1/50 to climb up to Much Wenlock. Beyond there on to Craven Arms, the grades were much easier, but it was hard going to get to Wenlock.The Trains Illustrated ran a comment in the motive power notes in those days of a rostered days duty for one of these engines, quite long runs if you did the full trip, rather than turn round at Wenlock, and found it very creditworthy. The 57 pannier tanks, bless them, shared the passenger trips, and looked after the goods workings. The only tender engines to appear might be a 2251 on an engineers train, and in BR days I saw a 28 280 working an eight coach excursion up the branch for the North Wales coast, quite a sight.

Behind the engine are two coaches, and you may note main line corridor stock. This was necessary, as the guard had to issue tickets during the trip. I have spotted an auto trailer placed in the mix occasionally, but never used for auto workings. Counting the stations at the ends of the working, there were twenty stops in around a 33 mile run. The intermediate stops included nine staffed 'stations', seven 'Halts', (so this was a good place to see them), one 'Junction', and one 'Platform' ( which I think was called this because it was there, unstaffed, before the GWR invented halts)

The pick-up goods just passed through here, of course. A mile on either side, things got more interesting. A mile north was Horsehay & Dawley, being the home of the Horsehay Co, builders of big girders for bridges and cranes, so you could find such exotic wagonry as 'POLLENS'. In other direction, a mile down the line you reached Lightmoor, home of the 'Platform' (actually two facing each other), and a Junction, joined by a freight line from Madeley Junction on the main line. This was the route of coal trains feeding the power station at Buildwas, using p.o. steel minerals. Some come from Kemberton and the Granville, about the last two working pits in the area, but I've seen the WTT give some originating from Wednesbury. At Lightmoor they had to stop and pin down for the 1/50 for the rest of the trip. I've seen one approaching the Albert Edward bridge, about less than half mile to the power station sidings, doing around 20mph with no appreciable slackening, the '57's wheels locked solid, and probably same on the brakevan. Even coming back with the empties they had a struggle, particularly an a curve at the top end of Coalbrookdale near Green Bank Halt, slowing down to nearly stalling, the exhaust very much one beat at a time.

I gather the Steam Trust has plans to reopen the branch back down through here. It would be a nice one to put on the "bucket list", one more trip out of the halt.

Edited May 19, 2017 by Northroader

[Nearholmer]

Fabulous.

 

Kevin

[eastglosmog]

Well, I set off in thunder lighting and in rain.  Didn't find any witches, but did reach:

 

Although in Combe parish, the village is about a mile away to the west and the nearest houses are in Long Hanborough to the south (and an isolated farm to the north).

The entrance could do with a bit of TLC:

 

Also has the only covered shelter at the halt, though doesn't give much shelter when the wind is blowing!

 

The generous timetable - one train a day each way, weekdays only:

 

 

Looking down the entrance ramp, you can see through the shelter, which is in a good place to wait for a taxi:

 

Combe sawmill is to the left.

 

View in the Down (Worcester) direction. Shows the only seat available, which is inadequate for the 5-6 passengers at peak commuting time and far to much provision for the rest of the day!

 

 

Looking in the Up direction towards Oxford, the position of the old down platform, long gone can be seen in the low bushes to the right beyond the end of the platform (platforms used to be staggered, so that access to the down platform could be made from the nearby road):

 

 

Finally, a look at the structure of the platform from the road below:

 

The scaffolding is just to hold up the handrail, the supports of which are beginning to rot. 

Edited April 15, 2022 by eastglosmog
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[lmsforever]

Wainhill halt on the Chinnor Risboro line is an example of one still in its original condition,an ash platform with a wicket gate from the road and some fine level crossing gates.Having weeded the platform ,painted the gates and fences I can say that it is a fine example of its type and worth a visit and photograph our trains approaching or departing as is the railway.

[Moggs Eye]

Here's Barrow Haven on the Barton Upon Humber branch taken a few weeks ago. Fascinating location, with a reasonable train service between Barton and Cleethorpes. The shelter is a modern addition, but the railing are made from off-cuts of track and must have been there for ages.

[Moggs Eye]

 

This is the down side waiting room at Havenhouse, just west of Skegness. This station usually appears in the top twenty of the least used British stations and even if the entire population living within a mile of the station used it every day there wouldn't be an massive improvement in usage.

It does remain a charming Great Northern Station, with all its buildings intact, but now the the proper down side waiting room is locked out of use the Company has provided this rather accommodating shelter. Back in the day when Havenhouse still had a signal box to look after the level crossing this tiny hut was the coal store!

At least they reused it!.

[EddieB]

Lake and Smallbrook Junction - two traditional halts from the Isle of Wight?  Well not exactly, since both were created during the British Railways era - the former in 1987 and the latter in 1991.  Smallbrook Junction was built purely as an interchange with the Isle of Wight Steam Railway - it has no other public access.

 

 

[Ian J.]

I will have to get out and get a picture of what remains of Ashley Heath Halt. I thought I had a picture of it but a thorough search through my HDDs hasn't found any...

[jamesg]

I visited Dolwyddelan on the line to Blaenau Ffestiniog last Summer.  What struck me is how well the local community look after the flowers on the platform, for a station seeing only a train roughly every three hours each way.

 

 

My local station is a single platform with no facilities except a shelter, but I don't consider it a halt because there's a train in each direction every hour.

[eastglosmog]

Two further halts on the Cotswold line.  Both are ex-stations that have been downgraded to halt status.

First Ascott-under-Wychwood, looking towards Oxford.  Service is the same as Combe and the passenger numbers similar.

The up platform on the left was rebuilt in 2011 when the line from here to Charlbury was redoubled in 2011.

 

 

Shipton under Wychwood has one more down train in the evening than Ascott and twice as many passengers.

 

Edited April 15, 2022 by eastglosmog
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