Water Orton railway station

Water Orton railway station serves Water Orton in Warwickshire, near Birmingham, England. It is owned by Network Rail, and managed by West Midlands Trains. However, no West Midlands Trains stop there; it is only served by CrossCountry services.

Water Orton
The station in 2013.
LocationWater Orton, North Warwickshire
England
Coordinates52.518611°N 1.743889°W / 52.518611; -1.743889
Grid referenceSP174912
Managed byWest Midlands Trains
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeWTO
ClassificationDfT category F2
Key dates
1842first station opened
1909resited
Passengers
2016/17 51,680
2017/18 55,642
2018/19 57,080
2019/20 62,924
2020/21 9,470
Location
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
Lines around Whitacre Junction

History

It was first opened in 1842 by the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway on its line into Birmingham Lawley Street from Whitacre Junction.

However the Midland Railway built a cutoff line from slightly further west to a junction at Kingsbury in 1909 and the station was resited.[1] Although the distance saved was only a mile-and-a-quarter, the junctions at Water Orton and Kingsbury could be taken at a much higher speed than the original one at Whitacre. The line from Whitacre to Kingsbury is used by only a few trains a week, such as the 20:30 Crosscountry service from Birmingham towards Derby, though it passes fast through Water Orton.

A freak tornado in Birmingham in 1996 damaged the wooden staircase. Rather than remove and replace the stairs, the damaged staircase was repaired in situ resulting in a zig-zag appearance. Local residents approved of this and it was left as it is found today.

A panorama of the front of the station.

Stationmasters
  • J Pick until 1861[2]
  • James Nutt from 1861[2]
  • G. Hartshorn until 1872[3] (afterwards station master at Cardington)
  • W.S. Gamb 1872 - 1874[3]
  • H. Reeve 1874 - 1878[3]
  • John Norton 1878[3] - 1884[4]
  • F. Witts 1884 - 1889[4]
  • Levi Lovell 1889 - 1892[4] (afterwards station master at Kings Norton)
  • G.M. Keighley 1892[4] - 1899[5]
  • John Harriman Weston 1900[5] - 1923
  • George Washington 1923[6] - 1929 (afterwards station master at Stone)
  • H. Ariss ca. 1942 - 1950[7] (afterwards station master at Newcastle under Lyme)
  • Frank William Dainton 1950[8] - ca. 1957 (formerly station master at Alcester)

Layout

The station is known to be a bottleneck for many CrossCountry services, with stopping Leicester to Birmingham, all Birmingham to Leicester and services from the North east to Birmingham all using one platform. However, resolving this is not easy and proposals have been put forward to build a new station at Water Orton to relieve capacity constraints through the station.[9]

Services

Platform 1 is used for stopping trains to Leicester and Birmingham.

Platform 2 is used for trains towards Derby, of which only one calls per day

Services are mainly two hourly to Birmingham New Street and Leicester, with additional services in the peak.[10]

There is one train a day Monday-Friday to Derby via Tamworth; one also calls in the opposite direction.

There is no Sunday service.

References
  1. Pixton, B., (2005) Birmingham-Derby: Portrait of a Famous Route, Runpast Publishing
  2. "1859-1866". Midland Railway Miscellaneous Depts: 95. 1914. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  3. "1871-1879 Coaching". Midland Railway Operating, Traffic and Coaching Depts: 298. 1871. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  4. "1881-1898 Coaching". Midland Railway Operating, Traffic and Coaching Depts: 299. 1881. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  5. "1899-1908 Coaching; Piece 1026". Midland Railway Operating, Traffic and Coaching Depts: 557. 1899. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  6. "L.M.S. Railway. New Stationmasters". Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal. England. 20 October 1923. Retrieved 7 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. "Water Orton Stationmaster Departs". Coleshill Chronicle. England. 2 September 1950. Retrieved 7 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "Water Orton New Stationmaster". Coleshill Chronicle. England. 11 November 1950. Retrieved 7 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. [birmingham.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/1891/ta22_birmingham_eastern_fringe_rail_study_2014.pdf "New Station at Water Orton to relieve capacity constraints"] Check |url= value (help) (PDF). Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  10. Table 47 & 57 National Rail timetable, May 2019
Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
CrossCountry
Mondays-Saturdays only
  Historical railways  
Castle Bromwich   Midland Railway
Birmingham-Peterborough line		   Forge Mills
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