More Pictures from Ripple

This week's blog post shows some of the pictures I took at Ripple during a quick visit there last summer. It was a gorgeous day in late May and a pretty busy one for me - after snapping the old M50 bridge and the village bridge in Ripple, I managed to have lunch and a pint by the river in Upton before tackling the embankment by the rugby pitch there. I hope the good weather returns soon but in the meantime please enjoy these pictures!

Not a railway pic, but nevertheless: St Mary's in Ripple.

A clue as to the village's history.

The bridge joining Station Road to Bow Road, the last road crossing before Ripple Station.

The south wall of Station Road bridge.

The view over the north parapet is pretty overgrown!

Northway Lane Bridge

The final structure passed by the Malvern-Ashchurch Midland branch line on its way through Gloucestershire was Northway Lane bridge. Built to an arched design, the bridge sat just before the final southward turn as the branch line reached its junction with the surviving Birmingham-Gloucester railway (now the 'Cross Country' route). Because the Ashchurch-Upton spur had a nine-year stay of execution after the closure of the Malvern-Upton section in 1952, there are comparatively more historical pictures of this end of the line.

The bridge today survives in its original state despite the disappearance of the railway beneath it. Surrounded by an industrial estate, it is now no longer strictly necessary as an overpass but still provides a reminder of a bygone age nonetheless. In fact, Northway Lane bridge can be seen from the 'new' Ashchurch-for-Tewkesbury station (opened 1997) which replaced the original stop (closed in 1971).

The following two pictures are taken from Roger Smith's excellent Flickr Page and show the last train leaving Ashchurch for Upton-on-Severn in 1961. The tight right-left westward curve is clearly visible in the foreground as the train departs the station.

The Northway Lane bridge pulls into view outside Ashchurch.

Letting off some steam under Northway Lane bridge.

Photos of Tewkesbury and Ashchurch from Roger Smith

This week's update takes us away from my familiar stamping ground to the other end of the Malvern-Ashchurch railway. The following pictures come courtesy of Roger Smith's excellent Flickr page and show the Northway Lane bridge over the railway at Ashchurch, as well as the Mythe embankment and tunnel portal outside Tewkesbury. The tunnel picture is particularly interesting: I haven't been able to find many shots of the Mythe tunnel so far and Roger's shot clearly shows the small bridges that were ripped up as part of flood prevention works in 2013. The Northway bridge photos are worth a look too: so much of the site around Ashchurch station was levelled but as far as I know the bridge remains, even if its original purpose has long since disappeared. One to look out for in future.

'Last train to Upton-on-Severn entering Mythe Tunnel', 14th August 1961

The Northway Lane bridge pulls into view outside Ashchurch.

Letting off some steam under Northway Lane bridge.

The Worm and the Turntable

In what must probably be the post with the strangest title to date, this week I've gathered together some pictures of the 'Worm' passenger tunnel and the old service door at the Imperial Hotel. 'The Worm' was a corrugated metal tunnel designed to allow first-class passengers arriving in Malvern to access the hotel without having to leave cover (or to mingle with their second-class counterparts!). The tunnel is sadly neglected today, with both ends locked to prevent access to what is now a school. There are plans to see the feature restored, however. The service door, meanwhile, once sat in front of a small turntable which allowed coal trucks at the rear of inbound trains to be decoupled and rotated ninety degrees for delivery straight into the basement of the Imperial Hotel. No trace of this turntable survives today, but the door itself remains, albeit presumably in a defunct state.

The locked door to 'The Worm'.

Here we see the Worm on the right and the hotel's service door behind.

A clear shot of where the turntable once stood, just behind the first lineside cabinet.

Up the line towards Malvern Link - bridge after bridge.

The Colin Allbright Collection, Part VI: Great Malvern Station

This week's post takes us back to Great Malvern station, with these excellent shots taken in the late 1970s. Of particular interest are the pictures showing the old Midland bay platform, which by this point had fallen into a state of decay. The bay itself was eventually filled in to make way for the station's lower car park, while some of the land comprising the bay's approach lanes was sold for housing in the 1980s. The signal box was also removed, while Platform Two itself was narrowed by building large planters to provide trees with which to screen the new housing. As for the rest, Great Malvern station was listed in 1969 and so remains a popular historical asset.

This is a really great angle, showing the abandoned bay platform at Great Malvern.

The wall separating the station from what is now the lower car park.

The passenger tunnel down to Platform Two.

A site familiar to many returning Malvernians!

Platform One.

Platform Two from Avenue Road bridge.

Request List

As you've probably seen, I've been soliciting donations of pictures to my site recently. At the same time, I've also noticed that people have been visiting the site because they have specific interests in different aspects of the railway, such as signal boxes. My coverage of the old Malvern-Ashchurch line is still very patchy (and in some places non-existent!) so I've decided to write a request list of pictures in order to help people get an idea of what would be useful. If you have any photos of the following, I'd be delighted to hear from you:

1. The old Midland Railway signal box on Malvern Common. I have only one photo here, showing a tiny speck from a biplane.

2. Any and all photos of the railway between Peachfield Road and Hanley Road. I have a complete void here!

3. The embankment north of Upton-on-Severn station. I have lots of photos of Upton station but nothing from here.

4. The railway bridge over the Severn at Upton. I have seen pictures of this, but none I can use for copyright reasons (see below).

5. The turntable, signal box and goods bay at Great Malvern station. Nothing direct here either.

6. The Mythe Railway bridge. No historical pictures from here.

7. The Mythe Tunnel, Tewkesbury. Very little from here. 

Of course, this does not mean that I want to discourage any donations of pictures showing sites I already have covered - the more the merrier! The site runs on a combination of your support and my walking boots, after all.

N.B. In order to use photographs on this site I need to have the permission of the copyright holder. This is usually the original author, or their direct descendants. I cannot use pictures from private collections that do not come with this permission.

Woodshears Road Bridge

Woodshears Road bridge in the 1970s.