Great Malvern Signal Box

This week's post comes courtesy of Alan Hodges, who has sent me a batch of pictures featuring Great Malvern signal box. The picture is something of a rarity as it shows a double-header in Malvern, but I also find the sheer number of tracks interesting - Great Malvern station was much busier back then! Alan is also the first to respond to the Request List I set up to try and fill some gaps in my coverage of Malvern's historical railways. There are still plenty of missing pieces, however, so if anybody has any shots (particularly of the section north of Hanley Road!!) I'd be very grateful to see them.

6916 'Misterton Hall' at Great Malvern, date unknown.

Three Counties Horse Boxes in Malvern - June 1961

A new post this week, thanks to a contributor who captured an unusual occurence at Great Malvern station over 55 years ago.

Richard Moreton writes:

'These were taken on 16th June 1961, when a train of Southern region horseboxes, coach and well wagon with a carriage were unloaded at Great Malvern, all in connection with the Three Counties Show. This was the only occasion when I saw the end-loading dock on the down side in use (although I believe that in the mid-1950s when Sanger's Circus came to town the elephants got off there). At that time, it was possible to walk from the down-side exit along an unsurfaced extension of Thorngrove Road, turning left by Imperial Garage and coming out in Manby Road. There was a gate for vehicles unloaded from the loading dock to exit via this unsurfaced road. I suppose in the days of the water-cure this could have been a regular occurence.

The bay platform, after the closure of the Ashchurch line, was used for a variety of trains... the pigeon train, the school baggage train, and from 1959-61, a local Worcester-Ledbury train recessed there in the afternoon for an hour or so. I used to catch it to get home from school, as the Paddington train ran non-stop from Great Malvern to Hereford, and I needed to retrieve my bike from Malvern Wells station.'

Southern Region horseboxes in the Midland bay platform, June 1961.

Southern Region horseboxes on the up line at Great Malvern, June 1961.

Southern Region horseboxes departing southwards, June 1961.

The next shot is of a 'pigeon train' waiting in the Midland Bay at Great Malvern.

Jon Pratty recalls:

'The pigeon train was usually a diesel multiple unit or a loco with parcel vans carrying hundreds of pigeons in baskets. These were racing pigeons from all over the Midlands, sent by their owners by rail, to be released a distance away. The pigeons would then fly back home, getting valuable racing practice. It's amazing, but this was a regular weekly event. I don't know if the pigeon fanciers sent their racing pigeons elsewhere - they must have done - but Malvern was a regular destination. British Rail charged to carry the baskets with ten or fifteen pigeons in each one. The baskets were gathered together in groups by region then sent here on one train. When the train pulled in, station staff and us trainspotters would unload the baskets onto luggage trolleys, then line the trolleys up on the platform edge. Then we'd unbuckle the baskets and let out the racing birds in one big feathery cloud. Great fun! I have no idea when this stopped.'

3738 on the Wolverhampton - Great Malvern pigeons trains, recessing while the birds were released.

Quick Update

Hello, sorry for the long break in posting. Real life has caught up with me and I'm also trying to get a book published at the moment, so updates to this blog have been put on hold for the time being. I have however recently purchased Adobe Lightroom, which is a really great piece of editing software for amateur photographers. I've only had it a couple of days but I have managed to greatly improve a picture I took last year of the two Black 5s as they came through Malvern on a November steam tour. The original shot was somewhat ruined by dreadful overcast weather on the day, but with a bit of tweaking I have managed to enhance the colours and remove the rainy haze. Hope you like it!

Malvern Common/Builders Yard

Just a quick update from me this week while I am on holiday. This short series of pictures fills a small gap in my route map, showing the modern County Builders yard which sits on the former site of the Tewkesbury Junction sidings complex. There is not much to see here now, but the tree line from above (as ever) provides a clear sign of where this last stretch of the Midland line to Ashchurch ran before it joined the main Hereford-Worcester branch just a few hundred yards away.

The view north towards Great Malvern roughly in line with the route of the old railway.

A little further along - the line ran straight through where the large shelving units stand now.

The rear of the site gives a little more detail away - the tree line matches the old railway line as it ran south.

The tree line looking south from the builders' yard. This tree line continues behind the houses on St Andrew's Road before emerging onto the south-eastern corner of Malvern Common.

The Colin Allbright Collection, Part VII: Great Malvern Station

This week's update includes some more pictures of Great Malvern Station. These pictures are from the late 1970s, and show the station before it was gutted by fire in 1986. The shots taken from Platform One are particularly interesting, as they show the long-derelict Midland bay a few years before it was finally filled in and sold for housing. Notice also the old British Rail trappings, also now consigned to history.

The front of the station with the old British Rail awning.

Looking across the station car park.

Looking across Platform One to the derelict Midland bay platform.

The view from Avenue Road bridge, 1/2...

...and 2/2.

'The Worm' and the wooden track crossing below the 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.

The Colin Allbright Collection Part V: The Bridges of Malvern County

Another out-of-sequence post this week, this time showing the area between Great Malvern station and Tewkesbury Junction. Of particular interest here are the pictures of the old coal yard and the site now occupied by County Builders - another view of the old junction between the GWR and LMS railways which has now been lost to the undergrowth. The fourth shot too has been lost to the ages, taken from the embankment just south of Clarence Road bridge. I'm not even sure how you would get up there any more today! Bringing up the rear are two more photographs of the bridges that carry the railway south away from Great Malvern station: not a lot has changed in these, but they are interesting nonetheless (especially for fans of 'vintage' cars!)

The old coal yard at Tewkesbury Junction.

This is a great angle, showing the old junction sidings site before it became hidden.

Clarence Road bridge.

The view towards Malvern from behind Clarence Road bridge.

Woodshears Road bridge.

Thirlstane Road bridge.

Malvern Hanley Road to Great Malvern - In Colour!

My blog reaches its first birthday this week, and to celebrate I've spent a little bit of time putting together a fun little mini-project for you to enjoy. I recently found a tool online called Colorize It!, which has been developed by three chaps at UC Berkeley in the United States. It's a basic piece of code which allows you to colour-in old black-and-white photographs, and I've been tweaking the inputs a bit to try and produce the best results. Digital black-and-white images scanned from original negatives seem to work very well, whereas my scans of the photos sent to me in the post by donors don't quite seem to reach the same level. Some of these pictures also have a slightly 'postcardy' look about them with large blocks of vivid colour, but I've used my (basic!) photo editing skills to try and tidy things up around the edges where I can. In any case, it's a relatively quick and easy way of getting a real glimpse of what the original photographer was looking at when they pulled the trigger.

For this project, I decided to flick through my photo collection and see if I could recreate the route from Malvern Hanley Road up to Great Malvern in colourised photographs. There is unfortunately quite a large gap between Hanley Road and Peachfield Road - I simply don't have any photos of the area around Warren Farm, which is a great shame because this part of the route contains one of my absolute favourite pieces of Malvern railway architecture:

Apart from this, though, this stretch is probably the section I have the most original photos from, and so I decided to put together a 9-picture collage below for you to have a look at. Credit for these shots go to Tim Farebrother, Jim Clemens and John Mudge.

Writing this blog has given me some interesting experiences - walking across Upton Ham in a freezing 60mph wind with my friend Sam, and scrambling up an almost sheer embankment at Pigeon House Farm to name just a couple, but it's also been a real pleasure to come across the few remaining relics of what was once a very picturesque little country railway. The only thing left to say is to thank the people who have donated pictures to my site or let me onto their land to take my own, those who have been my companions on my walks, and in particular those who continue to leave comments telling me how much they enjoy the site. I started this as a bit of fun because I was bored while looking for work, but the response from the people of Malvern, Upton and Tewkesbury has been nothing but positive. Thank you! 

Merry Christmas!

As my usual Saturday update schedule falls on Christmas Eve this year, I'd just like wish all of my visitors a very Merry Christmas! Many thanks to all of you who have supported this site during its first year. In keeping with the season, here's a small gift by way of a recap of one of Richard Moreton's snowy scenes from Malvern Common. All the best for the festive season!

Steam in Malvern - 27th November 2016

Sunday 27th November saw the Railway Touring Company's 'Welsh Marches Express' steam through Malvern with the 0840 Birmingham International to Cardiff Central. I managed to snap it passing in front of the historic Malvern College. 44871 and 45407 led from the front, supported by a diesel on the back for the muscle needed to climb to Colwall.