Worcestershire Parkway / Six Stations (Episode 1)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- It's Day One of #SixStations as I go and visit the six newest stations in the country that I've not been to yet. In each video I've got a different guest with me each time, and today it all kicks off with Rob joining me in Worcestershire and a station that opened in February 2020.
The six new stations in this series are:
Worcestershire Parkway. Bow Street, Warrington West, Horden, Robroyston and Kintore.
Original music by Seb Lee-Delisle : / sebstar55
I did my GCSE school project in 1988 on the case for Worcester Parkway. Took a long time to get round to building it and now we have the crazy situation of the Council funding the station but x-country refusing to stop their long distance trains - making it a bit of a white elephant. Hopefully good sense will ultimately prevail - perhaps when the new village / town is built around it, as now planned.
It all used to be fields surrounding the station and I got chased by a cow when trying to get a photo of the site for the front cover of my project report. Had to leg it and throw my bike over a stile to escape. Happy days.
Showing your age their Andrew! That was the very first year of the GCSE!
@@DanLoudShirts It was indeed. How new it all seemed then
Ah a vintage year, thus I'm your age.
To your point, it does seem insanely shortsighted that CrossCountry won't stop there. It's quite a long stretch for even a national service between Brum and Cheltenham. What is their reasoning?
@@jezwilde2376 if they want to encourage use of public transport then the trains should stop there. Extra revenue will be raised.
@@jezwilde2376 It seems to be all about the impact on journey times, given that non-stopping trains run through the area at quite a lick at the moment. I'm not entirely convinced - would an extra couple of minutes really impact negatively on existing longer distance x-country passengers, such that they wouldn;t use the service any more? I doubt it - surely the benfits would outweigh any minuses. There may of course be pathing issues at Gloucester or Brum that I'm not aware of, which would make delays to existing paths a problem.
I made a point of using the station last time I visited the City, and the service I was on (Notts - Cardiff) was quite well used from a passenger boarding / alighting perspective at Parkway - which was encouraging. I also understand that the station is bettering passenger targets for the limited services it does currently offer. It really should be a good location for a station - offering proper x-country services to a City of 110,000 people and v close to a motorway junction, which should appeal to Birmingham commuters passing by, who want to avoid the misery of the M5 / A38.
Cheltenham Spa is a special station to me, as it's the station I got off at for my godfathers wedding back in 2013. I was living in Belfast at the time (I'm from Norwich), and came over from Belfast City airport to Birmingham, then trained over to Cheltenham Spa. My mum and I came over a few days before the wedding just to have a look around and do a bit of tourism, and by complete chance I discovered that the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway runs from Cheltenham Racecourse station (approx 5-10 mins from Cheltenham Spa). NOT ONLY that, but the then newly restored LNER B12 from the North Norfolk Railway (One of two local to me heritage railways) was visiting the GWSR for their festival of steam event! I had no idea the B12 was there, as I had stopped following events at the NNR while living in Belfast. So a lot of stars aligned that weekend, to get to go to a heritage railway for the first time in 2 years and to see the NNR's flagship locomotive!
I remember when it was just a wasteland field in the middle of nowhere, really is mental how they transformed it. I used to always do go karting on the industrial estate next door, always wondered if anything would pop up there with the overlapping lines and was nice to see that something did.
My friend's dad used to take us train spotting in that field in about 1987. There must have been a foot crossing, we were definately lineside to take photos! The eighties, lol.
A very useful station for getting into the Cotswolds from the North, and the South West. Completed my day walking along the Cotswold Way from here (train to Evesham, bus to Broadway - walk to Chipping Campden, bus to Moreton-in-Marsh, train to Worcestershire Parkway). Also useful for going to The Malverns, and into Herefordshire. I love this station's spaciousness. Top work, as usual Geoff!
Let's say, it was a 5-car train in Imperial Measurements, probably making it 9 cars in Metric. ;)
I just took the 8-car RER in Paris to go 4 stations. That's almost 4 and a half cars for my Imperial friends. I envy your spacious cars! 😆
Rob is such a fun Co-traveler. Such fun! 😂 (Both of you reached the PEAK of Vanity)
The station has been talked about for decades, so it's great that they finally got round to building it. Just need more trains to stop now, and for the northern section of the Cotswold Line to be redoubled, and for the track and signalling nightmare to be sorted our around Worcester, and for the coffee shop to open .... not too much to ask for surely??!!
Lovely to see you in Worcestershire Geoff! The plan is to build a planned town around the station in the next few decades. They hope to have 5,000 homes by 2040 and 20,000 citizens by 2050.
Thanks for that - I know the area quite well and was scratching my head about the communities it would serve (beyond being a changeover point) and the video did not really cover it.
As long as built on brown field sites not green field ones. Too much new concrete now, let's reuse some old. I know they say it costs too much to remove and replace the polluted soil but it will have to be done at sometime or is the hope that it will just wash away over years.
20,000 immigrants by 2050
so that's 4 people per house?
@@RAFchurchlawford4469 This is a video about railway stations mate, bet you drop this bullshite any place you think it suits.
Very nice to see Rob again! Hope we see some more of him.
I visited this station in June 2021, although it was on a rail replacement bus service between Moreton-in-Marsh and Worcester Shrub Hill. Transport was provided by an elderly Van Hool bodied coach that the local farmer keeps his chickens in when not being used on a school run (and the occasional "bustitution" for a rail service).
The station is certainly a welcome addition to the network! For Worcestershire residents like myself I’m very happy with it!
Worcestershire Parkway deserves to be a large station as it is not only on two main lines but also adjacent to Motorway 5 and RAF Defford, meaning it has potential to be a major transport hub, Hopefully the Oxford Worcester Wolverhampton line redoubling will be completed and enable services to and from London to be increased
Geoff with the big housing development planned for all-around Worcester the station will probably become busier over time
Wow! That's a lot of stairs!! I hope that there's enough time to traverse it all for passengers needing to change to another line! That would be some workout! 🤣 Love the jacket swap Guys! Very funny! 😂
Thank you Geoff for visiting wonderful Worcester
Love the energy in this one! 😂 Fabulous video.
Welcome to Worcestershire, Geoff :)
2:30 - Good to see Bromsgrove on the map & in your video :)
It was very handy whilst at university, but very cold in winter waiting for GWR service. Almost like a wind tunnel!
First time seeing Geoff Finally Visiting Worcestershire Parkway after over 2 years
I have learnt so much from you and have got me into Morden British trains, heavily
Did anyone else notice that they changed jackets teleporting to the other platform? 😂
This is going to be a fun series. Looking forward to the others, strong start with this one.
Enjoyed your guest, Rob. Especially had a good laugh with your "album cover!"
Used to be a broadly triangular field bordered by two rail lines and the main Worcester to London road with a public footpath and, as Geoff thought, a footpath crossing over the NESW lines. The station was sponsored and paid for not by the railway, but by Worcestershire County Council, using money from the EU, central government, council tax and a loan, the loan being paid back from parking charges. The station has provision for a shop but, mostly due to opening during Covid-19 lockdown, has not got a tenant yet. The car park has 22 EV chargers with the option to add more and the car park can also be enlarged to roughly double the size if required, however most footfall is, as was stated, changing trains either from The Cotswold Line (Pershore, Evesham etc.) or from the Worcester city stations (Shrub Hill & Foregate St.) or from the Malvern line. Cross Country has agreed to consider stopping more trains if passenger numbers are considered high enough, but to do so would add 4 more minutes to journey times between Birmingham and Bristol. The station has three platforms with just one on the singled Cotswold Line, there is passive provision for an extra platform if the track at this location is redoubled, and there is passive provision for electrification of all lines. The worse feature is the huge number of stairs on the public footpath, making it difficult for buggies and bicycles, and totally impossible for wheelchair users - ramps could easily have been provided at the design stage. Worcester's most used station is centrally located Foregate Street which has zero parking, Worcester Shrub Hill has very limited parking and may close if footfall now transfers to Worcestershire Parkway on the edge of town.
Very nice glass at Worcester Parkway station on the connection to the platforms.
Nice to see two bin bags blowing in the breeze! #binbagshot Great intro by the way Geoff 👍🏻😀
Giant new station to change at, but your chances of getting a cuppa while you wait are right up there with Redcar British Steel 😐 But quite a jolly video, hey!
I changed trains here yesterday, 3 April 2022, GWR from Worcester Foregate Street, changing onto Crosscountry to Cheltenham Spa.
My mission at Worcester was to photo the plethora of mechanical signalling at Shrub Hill and around Foregate Street.
The journey there was via the chord from the xc lines via Norton Junction. The way back was via the abyss that is Worcestershire Parkway.
My experience of this station, useful, should have been built years ago.
But did you photo the two NEW semaphore signals in the area one at Henwick, and one at Malvern Wells - Network Rail still buys brand-new semaphore signals!
Looks a good station. Cross Country services, in my experience of travelling between Cheltenham Spa and Leeds , never had enough carriages...
Good video, thanks.
I went through (not stopping at Worcestershire parkway) a few weeks ago. It had no idea it was this new! Thanks for showing. When I went all the cross country services were 3 carriage...no idea why.
So glad you been to Worc Parkway.
Great video Geoff. With that CrossCountry 170 stopping on that long platform, GWR have a similar situation there. Most GWR services are operated by long 5 or 9 car Class 800/802 IETs but 2 services a day in the Morning are operated by 2 car Class 165s.
Not long ago XC Trains did terminate at Worcestershire Parkway from the north when they closed the line at Cheltenham Spa, even the HSTs for CrossCountry terminated here as well. Don't worry Geoff those announcements happens to myself when you want to talk on camera as well and they are annoying but Worcestershire Parkway is a usual station if you want to split ticket towards Gloucester/Cardiff/Bristol. Awesome video Geoff and the sunglasses looked cool on you!
Glad to see I'm not the only person who calls The Event, "The Event"
Also glad I'm not the only one!
I had to change there a couple of months into "The Event", so not long at all after it had opened. Lots and lots of stairs. It was strange travelling at rush hour on almost empty trains.
You should come visit great Malvern next. Beautiful Victorian station. And stunning back drop of the Malvern Hills.
hi emma! great malvern is my local station too :)
My goodness me I shouldn't enjoy these videos as much as I do. But I bloody love trains
Big Thanks for this one Geoff (and the whole mini-series) - great to see Lewis and the HST! Your travels have highlighted the absence of seating at these new generic "Lego" stations - I found same problem at Worcestershire Parkway a few days ago. Perhaps an additional question, if you do this again, could be Do they have Grit Bins? They make great seats! Hmmm, dual-purposing idea? 🚄😊
I remember this being built when I was at school and now whenever I go to visit from Cardiff, it’s remarkably convenient. Hope the housing development supply surrounding the station actually meets demand, though!
I was on the first train to stop at Worcestershire Parkway, early in the morning on 23rd February 2020. When we got on at Worcester Foregate Street, we tried to buy tickets at the machine but it had not been updated to show the new station. When we were on the train, people tried to buy tickets from the conductor but their system hadn't been updated either. They had to let us all travel for free, so the first few people to use the station will not be recorded on the ORR statistics.
And I believe the separate footbridge carries a public footpath that was there before the station.
@@robertfoskett3912 any idea how the path used to cross the line?
@@kgm1000uk Not sure, I'm afraid. Possibly stop-look-listen, as there are quite a few in the area.
I went within a few weeks of it opening. It's a good station. I was impressed. 👍
I've changed at Worcestershire Parkway a few times. The high level platform can be a bleak and windswept place. In fact the station building is a pretty stark experience on a cold day. Did you notice that there are no seats inside the building? I've seen people huddled on the stairs, just to find somewhere to sit out of the wind. Another odd thing: the footbridge outside the station is at full electrification height, but the rail bridge immediately next to it, taking the Cotswold line over the Midland line, is much lower - and will realistically stay that way, unless the embankment is raised and the station rebuilt to suit. So why make the footbridge so high? It could have been the same level as the rail bridge without compromising any future OLE installation. And for signalling enthusiasts - just to the west of the high level platform you can see the outer home semaphore signal controlling Norton Junction, looking quite incongruous at a shiny new station.
There are seats inside the building. There's an area underneath the stairs shown at 6:31 that has quite a few. It was still pretty cold though.
Ah....so it was you're bloody fault Geoff.....welcoming in spring indeed......freezing and snowy returns !!!
crazy that 1. you were in my home county and 2 i literally came directly from the Redcar British Steel video! love Rob, glad to see him back :)
Trust Geoff to come up with a cozy euphemism for the Pandemic and give us niche references but we Stan him, just as he is.
I have been using "panini" a lot 😂
Voyagers do stop at WOP if substituted on to the Nottingham-Cardiff's. Also for the past few weekends engineering work has been going on in the Cheltenham area so XC have been terminating at Parkway for rail replacement and turning back at Abbotswood junction.
I used to go past this all the time when going to Birmingham for work before THE EVENT. Not been there since which is a pity
That jacket swap at 4:57 was smooth 😂
I'll be watching!
Worcestershire Parkway..... ah! Such memories! overnight in a hotel in Pershore (evening meal a brilliant curry at Jimmy Pickles) early alarm call to race down to the station. Security fencing still up, but managed to get in as soon as it was removed, but couldn't get in to the station, until I got chatting to some senior Railway guy who happened to know one of my ex-colleagues. After explaining my quest, he kindly let me in so I got the very first tickets from the self service machines. The booking office machines were not open, so I queued at the one they said would open first, and managed to get the first ticket from there..... I think the same guy opened the adjacent window, so another first. At the same time, the third window opened and my ticket got stuck in the new, uncleaned tray at the one where I was. Due to this I narrowly missed getting the first ticket from the last remaining window; I had to settle for the second ticket, as the punter was a genuine passenger who declined my offer of buying it! Managed to get the very first one from Kintore too. Oh, and the two Soham machines.
Just realised after watching the vid that they installed an extra TVM in the car park, which I had to get off the train to go and get a ticket from!
I’m so happy you have visited after a long time since it has been open! As a local to the station, trains to Cardiff are the only benefit IMO
Great video Geoff and nice to see Rob again! Looking forward to the rest of the series and especially Robroyston which is just up the road from me
My favourite station! Great vid Geoff!
Gods own county 😜👌🏻 Shame I have missed out on an autograph and photo though 😕
Rarely get Voyagers on the Cardiff-Nottingham service which is a shame. I was a regular Nottingham-Birmingham traveler for a while and the overcrowding was horrendous from Tamworth into New Street. Sometimes we had 2x2 car 170s, but still not good.
It's NOT a Geoff Marshall video without the bin bags in the wind :D
Love your videos!
Interesting new channel. Love the information about the new station keep up the good work.
The Intro Sequence is quite cool.
Living in Evesham the new station knocks half an hour off the journey to Birmingham making it just over an hour. There's still the same 25 minute transfer time as Foregate Street, but nowhere to nip out for a coffee on the way and beer on the way back though.
FINALLY. First second but cannot wait. Thank u
Nice one Geoff, good to se a new mini-series. Interesting to see the future-proofing of the station with the longer platforms. Must say it seems to be mostly well thought out, airy and forward thinking, but that exit at the end seems a bit of an unnecessary faff. Small details and all that🙄. And that is definitely a one of the biggest double arrows I’ve seen. I wonder if there will be any build up of industry about the site if it becomes more used? 🤔
Interestingly, as a station that is primarily used as an interchange, it would have fallen foul of Beeching’s criteria for not producing a bough revenue🤔 As for GWR, I’d suggest they will amend the timetable if more people use it. On our line, we had about 12 people a day got off at Stepney Green. As soon as the DLR opened and it was renamed Limehouse, it was suddenly one of our busiest stations, albeit again, it takes very little revenue in itself 🤷🏻♂️
Cheers Geoff, nice jingle BTW 😎👍🍻🍀
Incidentally, by splitting tickets it can work out cheaper to do Reading-Cheltenham via WP than via Swindon!
WP creates loads of split ticketing opportunities - I suspect that will inflate the "usage" figures a little!
It gives off a 1970s polytechnic vibe.
It's a great addition to the network, with the right connections its possible to do Birmingham-Worcester Foregate St in 40 mins or so. The big drawback is the very limited bus service, if you're travelling in the late afternoon and your connection is cancelled you may well have to get a taxi/90 min walk into Worcester to get onto the Hereford-Birmingham/Worcester-Kidderminster-Birmingham line.
There's no need to worry about a connection or buses. The direct hourly New Street to Hereford trains (via Bromsgrove and Droitwich) reach Foregate Street in 40 minutes anyway!
This station is SOOOOO local to me!!! I wish I could have been there when you filmed this video! You're such a legend mate, your videos are brilliant. :D
love this series idea
I believe on the Cross Country platforms there are no trains which stop at the next station on the line in either direction (Ashchurch or Bromsgrove).is this unique? Cross Country don’t want to Stop the NE/SW trains there. It will slow them down too much. An interest fact - to the north as far as Bromsgrove there have been no passenger stations for over 150 years. These went when the line via Droitwich opened. However they remained as goods stations until the 1960s.
Occasionally the Cardiff Central trains do stop at Ashchurch but only around 2 a day
WOP provides a handy extra option when commuting out of Birmingham towards Worcester and Hereford if there are cancellations on the WMR line. There is one weekday evening train where you have 5 minutes to switch to the GWR platform and continue your journey. I agree though this would be a much more useful station if the SW/NE line trains also stopped there.
That bridge must have replaced a former foot crossing, as the pre-existing footpath takes you to the nearby village of Norton and is a nice walk. The day I was there a few weeks ago there were up to 4 hour service intervals from the low level platforms due to both planned and unplanned cancellations on Cross Country due to staff covid abscences. A huge and empty station. Maybe you didn't find them but there are also toilets there just inside the entrance.
This station made a regular journey of mine much, much shorter when it finally opened. For a few weeks it was great and I thought I would visit frequently - but since 'the event' I haven't needed it since.
I passed through last summer on a GWR train to Worcester. I was firstly amazed at the size , then momentarily worried that this was actually Worcester till I saw Worcestershire Parkway signs and rechecked NR enquiries app.
Redcar British Steel was the most epic video ever!
Holy moly it's Rob!
Loved to see Rob again
I'm surprised you didn't count all the steps at that station!!
Interesting that it's call Worcestershire PW. How many other stations with a county in the name? Surrey Quays....anymore?
Looking forward to tomorrows video.
Off the top of my head
Worcestershire Parkway
Surrey Quays
Essex Road (in London)
Northumberland Park (in London)
Kent House (in London)
Interested to know if there's any more
@@bobsteryt Devons Rd on the DLR?
I love for the edit you changed coats since you swapped seats when appearing on the other platform 4:56
Love that by the power of video you also switched bodies! 4:46
These two reminded me of two brothers out about on The Railways, especially when they swapped jackets during the video.
Trains to Cardiff always tend to be 3 carriage turbo star 170s at least from what I have seen as I frequently use them going towards Birmingham New Street from Tamworth on the same line. The only time there tends to be longer trains when they're going to Plymouth or Reading or Edinburgh in the other direction. Not been using the trains as much recently since the train fare went up to £9.30 for a 20 minute journey.
Having spent MANY hours at parkway (a couple of times as a result of very long connection delays) I have never found the entrance to that doorway. Yes, I have seen it abs wonders from the platform 2, but now I know. Will seek it out next time I am there. Was a Cheltenham a couple of days ago, probably just missed you Geoff, would have bought you a cup of tea.
For some reason, the song "Worcestershire Stairway" has the tune to "Waterloo Sunset" in my head
Love the teleportation jacket swap
It's useful, but given a choice between a half hour changeover time at Parkway and 45 minutes at Foregate Street I went for Foregate Street. At least there is somewhere to get a cup of coffee (several places if you go out of the station).
I love you Geoff, I'm watching you from France 😍
Bien le bonjour 👋
Bonjour ! Premier français que je trouve sur cette chaîne 😁
Me too though I'm originally from the UK 😅 Lived in France for 17 years
@@FouiAnimations Et tu n’est pas le seul ☺️
Welcome to Worcester Geoff I travel to Worcester for work I usually go via shrub hill or Foregate street I've passed through the parkway when going to Evesham and Pershore always seems quiet
I know many GWR Paddington and Hereford trains go there
That goes through my hometown of Burton on Trent ☺️
2:38. I find it kinda funny how we all just say things like "the event" or "the virus" or similar phrases and we all just know what we're on about lol
Genuine question here from a Brit now overseas. I associate the double arrow with BR who of course are no more. So what - or who does - this double arrow signify? Is it now just to indicate a rail station? I did read something about the Network Rail replacement (GBR) for 2023 and that this will be there logo? So is the double arrow making a comeback or did it never really go away? Any chance of a video on GBR and how it will differ from Network Rail?
The double arrow was keep as a sign of a rail station.
Oh, a new theme tune too 👏👏
I visited there last year. Nice modern station it’s in the middle of nowhere yes but is great for trains car parking bus interchange. It’s ashame they don’t have a coffee shop that’s the only thing the station is missing.
In the few weeks after opening, before 'the event', there was guy selling coffee from a tricycle stand just the other side of the double arrow logo. Really bad timing for a new venture as it turned out, but the coffee was good....
@@simonclifton8056 ahh that’s cool.
I think the best you’ll get out of it is a vending machine for snacks and drinks
@@KiLLJoYTH-cam i didn’t see a vending machine at Worcestershire Parkway. It’s all good anyways as I brought food prior to arrival.
Rob from Redcar British Steel, a station which I’ve never been to 💙💙
It does have waiting areas but it’s hard to get shelter from the wind when trying to wait for a GWR train! The wind just whistled through the main block when I changed there, but then again it was a particularly blustery day!
Gatwick airport's rooftop logo is customer-facing because it's an airport.
I reckon the footbridge is to allow access to the rear of the station when the station is closed.
When are you going to Horden Peterlee? Need someone to show you around? 😂
(p.s. Id hire security haha)
I visited this station just after it opened, I thought by now they would have opened that coffee kiosk and maybe added ticket barriers but just over two years on its not changed a bit!
1:08 How bizarre. Worcestershire has the well-known abbreviation Worcs, but they didn't use that, they abbreviated Parkway.
Probably to avoid confusion with Worcester Park.
@@radagastwiz I read PW as Permanent Way
I always thought the standard abbreviation for Worcestershire was L&P.
There’s a double arrow that’s pretty big at Glasgow Queen Streets new front!
I came to this station before you in Summer 2021 when I did an All The Stations for the West Midlands Metro, when I got on a Cross country Turbostar to get to Birmingham New Street. My dad figured out that it is quicker than getting a West Midlands train from Shrub Hill or Forgate Street, if going to Birmingham.
Went there recently, very nice and modern!
Will it be snowing in any of your Six Stations videos?
Ooo love the intro music!