Lightmoor Press 9781915069443 Warwickshire Western Region Lines Part 2 by Andrew Britton

The North Warwickshire Line, between Tyseley Junction and Bearley Junction, where it joined the line from Hatton to Stratford-upon-Avon, was opened for traffic in 1908. At Stratford, it joined the newly doubled ‘branch’ from Honeybourne, the doubling having been carried out in conjunction with the GWR’s other new main line between Cheltenham and Honeybourne. As such, this new route from Cheltenham to Birmingham was to be the last main line opened in Britain, up until the completion of the first section of High Speed 1 in 2003. It gave the GWR a fast competing route to the Midland’s main line between Cheltenham and Birmingham, via the Lickey Incline, always something of a bottleneck in steam days with many ascending trains needing banking assistance. However, the GWR North Warwickshire Line also required the use of banking and pilot engines between Stratford and Wilmcote, and often on to the summit of the route at Earlswood Lakes.British Railways closed the route south of Stratford in 1976, following an accident which damaged the track at Winchcombe, but the line had been run down for many years prior to that. South of Stratford the track was eventually ripped up, although a two-mile stub remains at Honeybourne serving the old MoD depot at Long Marston, which is now a Rail Innovation Centre. North of Stratford, however, has fared much better, the only loss since GWR days being that of the Alcester Branch, the last section of which was closed in 1951. Bearley Junction to Hatton has been singled but remains in use, whilst the North Warwickshire Line, of which Stratford is the terminus, survived run down and two closure attempts, but is now thriving. Moor Street, the new station opened by the GWR in 1908 to serve the line, has also risen like a phoenix after being closed in 1987, with its original GWR buildings now beautifully restored to use. Although largely a commuter route today, the North Warwickshire has been given something of a heritage makeover and many of the stations retain their GWR architecture. However, within these pages, author Andrew Britton takes us back to a time when they were still in all their glory, during the the final decade of WR steam – when heavy freight trains, summer Saturday holiday expresses and local ‘stoppers’ all intermingled – and into the early years of dieselisation, with DMUs taking over many North Warwickshire Line services from the late 1950s. All set against a backdrop of the land of William Shakespeare, amidst what was still then wonderfully unspoilt Middle England countryside and all in glorious colour!