Heritage Railway Updates

Following a request from a commenter, I've decided to keep a running update on the blog showing when the next heritage train will be passing through the area. In general, these tend to visit Worcester Shrub Hill or Hereford (steam tours through Malvern are rare although diesel tours are more frequent). Please note that by 'local' I mean within a reasonable distance of Malvern - I won't be including movements to and from the Severn Valley Railway's depot at Kidderminster or the Tyseley Locomotive Works in Birmingham unless they pass nearby. I'll also probably keep just the one up at a time, unless several are happening in short succession. Anyway, the widget for this will stay on the top-right of the page, so please do keep checking back to keep yourself informed.

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.

Puckrup

Just the one picture this week from a location that I've not had a chance to visit yet. This picture was taken to the west of Puckrup, a small village south of Ripple, during the early 1950s. The picture is from the collection of Ben Brooksbank who, along with Jim Clemens, must surely have the best collection of original photographs of the LMS Railway's Malvern branch. Ben has very generously uploaded most of his railway photographs to his Geograph page, providing an invaluable resource to anyone interested in railways in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire during the 1950s.

Goods train for Malvern on the branch from Ashchurch via Tewkesbury, 1951. View NW from Puckrup Lane at Bow Farm south of Ripple, also exactly on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire county boundary. The train is headed by an ex-Midland 3F 0-6-0: note the number of cattle-wagons, much used for transporting live animals in those days. Used courtesy of Ben Brooksbank via Creative Commons.

More Pictures of Tewkesbury Junction

This week's blog post features some additional of pictures of the old Malvern and Tewkesbury Junction site on Malvern Common. I have been trying recently to find some pictures of the two signal boxes that stood here, namely the GWR box on the surviving Worcester-Hereford line (which would have stood opposite the Network Rail wasteland by County Building Supplies) and the Midland box on the long-removed route to Ashchurch. The latter would have stood somewhere in the middle of what is now the eastern side of Malvern Common, near Peachfield bridge:

If anyone has any pictures of either of these signal boxes, please let me know as photographs of these sites are extremely rare.

The old water tower at Tewkesbury Junction.

'Site of Tewkesbury Junction, Malvern, approx 1959.'

The view north-east towards Malvern. Christ Church can be seen in the distance.

More Pictures of Great Malvern Station

This week's update features some more pictures of two of Great Malvern Station's lost features: the old Midland bay and the signal box. The latter in particular is quite difficult to find original shots of - if anyone out there has any photos showing the old signal box, I'd love to see them!

Inside Malvern Wells Signal Box

Back in June, I was lucky enough to spend an hour or so inside the active signal box at Malvern Wells' old GWR station. The box stands guard over the eastern approach to Colwall Tunnel and was built in 1919, replacing the original signal cabin constructed over fifty years previously. An important note: as with many of the sites on this blog, I was able to visit the signal box only after obtaining permission. However, this site carries the obvious added risk that it is a live railway, so please enjoy my pictures instead of going near it yourself.

Ground Level

Malvern Wells signal box standing behind the derelict GWR station.

The signal box is accessed by a simple ramp leading off a private road.

The signal box from the south.

Looking south towards Colwall Tunnel (round the bend!)

The rear of the signal box. This view is very difficult to see normally because the land behind the box drops away steeply onto the small housing estate north of Worcestershire Golf Course.

Signal at the foot of the signal box.

The view north towards Peachfield Bridge. The old station lay behind the hedgerow here.

A fuller view of the above.

Behind the signal box lie the remains of what may have been a previous building. The ground is littered with old bricks, boards and stones. I have no idea if these are just cast-offs from previous repairs to the 1919 box, but these scraps do sit on the location of the very first Victorian signal cabin at the Wells. Perhaps someone will know if this is the case or just wishful thinking on my part!

Some old roofing boards.

Blue bricks in the undergrowth, the same Imperial colour as used on much of the Ashchurch branch.

Some more stones, barely visible in the nettles.

These bricks look slightly more permanent.

Inside the Box

Up the stairs onto the top floor...

Part of the large shelf of old instruments in the box.

The junction diagram above the lever array. The large green GWR Lock & Block instrument by which the single line to Ledbury is worked is the last remaining single-line section in the country to use this system.

Very colourful!

The View from the Top Floor

A FGW DMU waits for the driver to change ends.

The old signal discs below Peachfield Bridge.

Across the way looking at the old third line at the Wells.

North towards Malvern Common.

Peachfield Bridge.

The view from the back window...

Down the line towards Colwall Tunnel.

The single-track approach to the tunnel. The overgrown third line can be seen petering out on the right.

Demolition Trains

Among the excellent pictures donated to this project by Jim Clemens are some shots of the demolition trains that were sent to remove the line after its closure. Some might consider these a little bleak, but I think that they provide a really interesting bridge between the line as a working piece of industry and the beginning of its reversion to nature. The line itself was dug up by a crane mounted to the back of a van, which lifted the sleepers and rails into empty trucks parked adjacent. John Clements, the farmer at Pigeon House Farm near Upton, remembers:

'I think I was about 10 or 11 when the line was taken up and I have memories of a wonderful old steam crane lifting the tracks. The operator let me up on board to pull a few leavers, which I guess would never be allowed in this day and age of health and safety and risk assessment. It was a wonderful machine to a young lad with unguarded cogs and pulleys and steam issuing forth from every seal and joint. After the tracks were removed they lifted the sleepers and took them away, I assume to be reused.'

The pictures below are mainly untitled but seem to have been taken around the area between Clive's Fruit Farm on Upper Hook Road and what is now Upton Rugby ground. I hope you enjoy them!

The steam-powered crane loads an empty truck.

This is one of my favourite pictures from this entire project, albeit maybe for artistic rather than historical reasons! Upton station is visible in the distance.

Down the line to Upton.

'Demolition Train M.R. Malvern to Ashchurch'. Taken from Upper Hook Road bridge - the permanent way hut has since been removed.

Another shot near Upton, taken approximately where the public footpath runs above the rugby pitches now.