1.
East Midlands
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The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. The eastern part of the Midlands, it consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, the region has an area of 15,627 km2, and was home to over 4.5 million people in 2011. The regions relative proximity to London and its connectivity on the national motorway and it is also the location of East Midlands Airport in north Leicestershire. The high point at 636 m is Kinder Scout, in the Peak District of the southern Pennines in northwest Derbyshire near Glossop. Other upland, hilly areas of 95 to 280 m in altitude, together with lakes and reservoirs, rise in and around the Charnwood Forest north of Leicester, and in the Lincolnshire Wolds. The regions major rivers, the Nene, the Soar, the Trent and the Welland, flow in a direction towards the Humber. The Derwent, conversely, rises in the High Peak before flowing south to join the Trent some 2 miles before its conflux with the Soar, the centre of the East Midlands area lies roughly between Bingham, Nottinghamshire and Bottesford, Leicestershire. The geographical centre of England lies in Higham on the Hill in west Leicestershire, some 88% of the land is rural in character, although agriculture accounts for less than three per cent of the regions jobs. Lincolnshire is the only county of the six, with a true North Sea coastline of about 30 miles due to the protection afforded by Spurn Head. Church Flatts Farm in Coton in the Elms, South Derbyshire, is the furthest place from the sea in the UK, in April 1936 the first Ordnance Survey trig point was sited at Cold Ashby in Northamptonshire. The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts and The Wildlife Trusts are based next to the River Trent, the National Centre for Earth Observation is at the University of Leicester. The region is home to large quantities of limestone, and the East Midlands Oil Province, Charnwood Forest is noted for its abundant levels of volcanic rock, estimated to be approximately 600 million years old. 25% of the UKs cement is manufactured in the region at three sites in Hope and Tunstead in Derbyshire, and in Ketton Cement Works in Rutland. Of the aggregates that are produced in the region, 25% is from Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire each produce around 30% of the regions sand and gravel output. Barwell in Leicestershire had Britains largest meteorite on 24 December 1965, the 2008 Lincolnshire earthquake was 5.2 magnitude. Rockingham Forest was designated as a hunting forest by William the Conqueror. The National Forest is a project in central England run by The National Forest Company. It stretches from the outskirts of Leicester in the east to Burton upon Trent in the west
2.
Yorkshire and the Humber
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Yorkshire and the Humber is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It comprises most of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire and it does not include Middlesbrough or Redcar and Cleveland. The population in 2011 was 5,284,000, regional ministers were not reappointed by the incoming Coalition Government, and the Government Offices were abolished in 2011. Scammonden Dam, is the highest dam in UK at 73 metres, sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe claims to be longest place name in England. In the Yorkshire and the Humber region, there is a close relationship between the major topographical areas and the underlying geology. The Pennine chain of hills in the west is of Carboniferous origin, the North York Moors in the north-east of the county are Jurassic in age, while the Yorkshire Wolds and Lincolnshire Wolds to the south east are Cretaceous chalk uplands. The highest point of the region is Whernside, in the Yorkshire Dales, the region is drained by several rivers. In western and central Yorkshire, the many rivers empty their waters into the River Ouse, the most northerly of the rivers in the Ouse system is the River Swale, which drains Swaledale before passing through Richmond and meandering across the Vale of Mowbray. Next, draining Wensleydale, is the River Ure, which joins the Swale east of Boroughbridge, the River Nidd rises on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and flows along Nidderdale before reaching the Vale of York. The Ouse is the given to the river after its confluence with the Ure at Ouse Gill Beck. The River Wharfe, which drains Wharfedale, joins the Ouse upstream of Cawood, the Rivers Aire and Calder are more southerly contributors to the River Ouse. The most southerly Yorkshire tributary is the River Don, which flows northwards to join the river at Goole. The River Derwent rises on the North York Moors, flows south then westwards through the Vale of Pickering and it empties into the River Ouse at Barmby on the Marsh. In the far north of the county, the River Tees flows eastwards through Teesdale, the smaller River Esk flows from west to east at the northern foot of the North York Moors to reach the sea at Whitby. To the east of the Yorkshire Wolds, the River Hull flows southwards to join the Humber Estuary at Kingston upon Hull, the western Pennines are served by the River Ribble, which drains westwards into the Irish Sea close to Lytham St Annes. The lower stretches of the River Trent flow through North Lincolnshire and meet the Ouse at Trent Falls, the largest freshwater lake in the region is Hornsea Mere in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Weather conditions vary from day to day as well as season to season. Between depressions, there are often small mobile anticyclones that bring periods of fair weather, in winter anticyclones bring cold dry weather
3.
East of England
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The East of England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics from 1999 and it includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Essex has the highest population in the region and its population at the 2011 census was 5,847,000. Bedford, Luton, Basildon, Peterborough, Southend-on-Sea, Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford, the southern part of the region lies in the London commuter belt. The region has the lowest elevation range in the UK, North Cambridgeshire and the Essex Coast have most of the around 5% of the region which is below 10 metres above sea level. The Fens are partly in North Cambridgeshire which is notable for the lowest point in the country in the land of the village of Holme 2.75 metres below sea level which was once Whittlesey Mere. The highest point is at Clipper Down at 817 ft, in the far corner of the region in the Ivinghoe Hills. In the late 1960s, the Roskill Commission considered Thurleigh in Bedfordshire, Nuthampstead in Hertfordshire, the East of England succeeded the standard statistical region East Anglia. The East of England civil defence region was identical to todays region, England between the Wash and Thames Estuary has since post-Roman times been and continues to be known as East Anglia, including the county traversing the west of this line, Cambridgeshire. Essex, despite meaning East-Saxons, previously formed part of the South East England, as did Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, the earliest use of the term is from 1695. Charles Davenant, in An essay upon ways and means of supplying the war, wrote, The Eleven Home Counties, then cited a list including these four. The term does not appear to have used in taxation since the 18th century. East Anglia is one of the driest parts of the United Kingdom with average rainfall ranging from 450 mm to 750 mm. This is usually because low pressure systems and weather fronts from the Atlantic have lost a lot of their moisture over land by the time they reach Eastern England, however the Fens in Cambridgeshire are prone to flooding should a strong system affect the area. Northerly winds can also be cold but are not usually as cold as easterly winds, westerly winds bring milder and, typically, wetter weather. Southerly winds usually bring mild air but chill if coming from further east than Spain, spring is a transitional season that can be chilly to start with but is usually warm by late-April/May. The weather at this time is often changeable and occasionally showery, summer is usually warm and continental air from mainland Europe or the Azores High usually leads to at least a few weeks of hot, balmy weather with prolonged warm to hot weather. The number of storms from the Atlantic, such as the remnants of a tropical storm usually coincides with the location of the jet stream
4.
Greater London
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London, or Greater London, is a region of England which forms the administrative boundaries of London. It is organised into 33 local government districts, the 32 London boroughs, the Greater London Authority, based in Southwark, is responsible for strategic local government across the region and consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The county of Greater London was created on 1 April 1965 through the London Government Act 1963, administratively, Greater London was first established as a sui generis council area under the Greater London Council between 1963 and 1986. The area was re-established as a region in 1994, and the Greater London Authority formed in 2000, the region covers 1,572 km2 and had a population of 8,174,000 at the 2011 census. In 2012, it had the highest GVA per capita in the United Kingdom at £37,232, the Greater London Built-up Area—used in some national statistics—is a measure of the continuous urban area of London, and therefore includes areas outside of the administrative region. The term Greater London has been and still is used to different areas in governance, statistics, history. In terms of ceremonial counties, London is divided into the small City of London, outside the limited boundaries of the City, a variety of arrangements has governed the wider area since 1855, culminating in the creation of the Greater London administrative area in 1965. The Greater London Arterial Road Programme was devised between 1913 and 1916, one of the larger early forms was the Greater London Planning Region, devised in 1927, which occupied 1,856 square miles and included 9 million people. The LCC pressed for an alteration in its boundaries soon after the end of the First World War, noting that within the Metropolitan, a Royal Commission on London Government was set up to consider the issue. The LCC proposed a vast new area for Greater London, with a boundary somewhere between the Metropolitan Police District and the home counties, protests were made at the possibility of including Windsor, Slough and Eton in the authority. The Commission made its report in 1923, rejecting the LCCs scheme, two minority reports favoured change beyond the amalgamation of smaller urban districts, including both smaller borough councils and a central authority for strategic functions. The London Traffic Act 1924 was a result of the Commission, Greater London originally had a two-tier system of local government, with the Greater London Council sharing power with the City of London Corporation and the 32 London Borough councils. The GLC was abolished in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its functions were devolved to the City Corporation and the London Boroughs, with some functions transferred to central government and joint boards. Greater London was used to form the London region of England in 1994, a referendum held in 1998 established a public will to recreate an upper tier of government to cover the region. The Greater London Authority, London Assembly and the directly elected Mayor of London were created in 2000 by the Greater London Authority Act 1999, in 2000, the outer boundary of the Metropolitan Police District was re-aligned to the Greater London boundary. The 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections were won by Ken Livingstone, the 2008 and 2012 elections were won by Boris Johnson. The 2016 election was won by Sadiq Khan, Greater London continues to include the most closely associated parts of the Greater London Urban Area and their historic buffers. Thus it includes, in five boroughs, significant parts of the Metropolitan Green Belt which protects designated greenfield land in a way to the citys parks
5.
North West England
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North West England, one of nine official regions of England, consists of the five counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,052,000 in 2011 and it is the third most populated region in the United Kingdom after the South East and Greater London. North West England is bounded to the east by the Peak District, the region extends from the Scottish Borders in the north to the West Midlands region in the south. To its southwest is North Wales, amongst the better known of the North Wests physiographical features are the Lake District and the Cheshire Plain. The highest point in North West England is Scafell Pike, Cumbria, Windermere is the largest natural lake in England. Broad Crag Tarn on Broad Crag is Englands highest lake, wast Water is Englands deepest lake, being 74m deep. A mix of rural and urban landscape, two large conurbations, centred on Liverpool and Manchester, occupy much of the south of the region. The north of the region, comprising Cumbria and northern Lancashire, is rural, as is the far south which encompasses parts of the Cheshire Plain. The region includes parts of three National parks and three areas of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, source, Office for National Statistics Mid Year Population Estimates North West Englands population accounts for just over 13% of Englands overall population. 37. 86% of the North Wests population resides in Greater Manchester,21. 39% in Lancashire,20. 30% in Merseyside,14. 76% in Cheshire and 7. 41% live in the largest county by area, Cumbria. According to 2009 Office for National Statistics estimates,91. 6% of people in the region describe themselves as White,88. 4% White British,1. 0% White Irish and 2. 2% White Other. The Mixed Race population makes up 1. 3% of the regions population, there are 323,800 South Asians, making up 4. 7% of the population, and 1. 1% Black Britons. 0. 6% of the population are Chinese and 0. 5% of people belong to ethnic group. North West England is a diverse region, with Manchester. 19. 4% of Blackburn with Darwens population are Muslim, the third highest among all local authorities in the United Kingdom, Areas such as Moss Side in Greater Manchester are home to a 30%+ Black British population. In contrast, the town of St. Helens in Merseyside, one in five of the population in the North West is Catholic, a result of large-scale Irish emigration in the nineteenth century as well as the high number of English recusants in Lancashire. For top-tier authorities, Manchester has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the region, for council districts, Burnley has the highest rate, closely followed by Hyndburn, both in Lancashire. For top-tier authorities, Cheshire has the lowest teenage pregnancy rate, for council districts, Eden has the lowest rate closely followed by South Lakeland, both in Cumbria
6.
British Rail Class 43 (HST)
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The British Rail Class 43 is the TOPS classification used for the InterCity 125 High Speed Train power cars, built by British Rail Engineering Limited from 1975 to 1982. The class is officially the fastest diesel locomotive in the world, with a maximum speed of 148 mph. In the early 1970s, the British Railways Board made the decision to replace its main-line express diesel traction, financial limitations were tight, so mass electrification was not possible. As a result, a new generation of high-speed diesel trains had to be developed. To power the HST at up to 125 mph, each car had a new diesel engine. The 70-tonne weight of the car gave it a 17. 5-tonne axle loading. The engine used in the power cars was the Paxman Valenta 12RP200L. The electrical equipment was supplied by Brush, the power cars had a main drivers position at one aerodynamically shaped end with the other flat and gangwayed end having only an auxiliary driving position for shunting purposes. The power cars were given the stock numbers 43000 and 43001. After proving trials on the Eastern Region the prototype High Speed Diesel Train was transferred to the Western Region, in May 2011 the National Railway Museum announced that the remaining HST prototype power car 41001 would undergo full restoration work. A long-term loan was agreed between the NRM and the 125 Group of volunteers for the locomotive and a Paxman Valenta RP200L engine, the replacement engine was required as the original Valenta engine had been sectioned for display purposes. The S508 engine was lifted into the locomotive at Neville Hill TMD on 29 June 2012, in order to facilitate a main line move, Class 41 prototype HST power car 41001 was re-registered as a Class 43/9 locomotive, with the number 43000. It is the locomotive in this sub-class. The design was successful and led to orders being placed for similar trains for the Western, Eastern, Scottish. The production power cars featured a front end without conventional buffers. Following the introduction of production HST sets, the unit was withdrawn. Of the ten coaches, two were adapted for use in the Royal Train, five were modified for use with the production HSTs. The 197 power cars produced are numbered 43002-43198,43001 was applied to the second of the two prototype power cars, while the first of the pair became 43000, which is unusual because BR TOPS classification numbered its locomotives from 001 upwards
7.
British Rail Class 153
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The British Rail Class 153 Super Sprinters are single-coach diesel multiple units converted from two-coach British Rail Class 155s. The class was intended for service on rural and branch lines where passenger numbers do not justify longer trains, in the late 1980s, British Rail took delivery of 35 two-coach Class 155 units from British Leyland to replace older Regional Railways DMUs. Shortly after, West Yorkshire PTE took delivery of 7 two-coach units for use in the Yorkshire region, after the Class 155s entered service, it became an emerging requirement for ageing rural and branch line trains to be replaced. In 1990, British Rail issued a contract to Hunslet-Barclay at Kilmarnock for conversion of the Class 155 units, from 1991 to 1992, the 35 two-coach Class 155 units began to emerge from the works as single-coach Class 153s. A total of 70 single-coach class 153 multiple units were created which were numbered in the range 153301-335, individual coaches are numbered 52301-335 and 57351-385. The layout of the original non-cab ends was different from the cab end, so the ends are noticeably distinct. The 7 West Yorkshire PTE Class 155s were not modified and remained as two-coach class 155 multiple units and their maximum speed is 75 mph and suited for working less widely used local services such as the London Midland service from Coventry to Nuneaton and the Heart of Wales Line. The new or small cab is significantly smaller than the original Leyland cab and encroaches on the vestibule area, providing cramped conditions for Drivers. These units also have the benefit of having passenger door control panels at either end of the cars, pre-privatisation, British Rail operated all Class 153s under their Regional Railways division and were used on many branch lines throughout the Midlands, Wales and Northern England. Due to their working ability, Class 153s were often seen in multiple other classes of sprinter units such as Class 156s. Upon privatisation of British Rail, the Class 153 fleet was divided amongst several different operators, Arriva Trains Wales has a fleet of 8 Class 153s. One is used daily on the short Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Bay shuttle, following the timetable change on 9 December 2007, Arriva Trains Wales lost three Class 153 units. Two were transferred to East Midlands Trains with the going to First Great Western. London Midland use ten Class 153 DMUs on commuter lines in the West Midlands including the Coventry to Nuneaton Line, all ten units were inherited from Central Trains in their livery. All of the units are being repainted into London Midland city lines livery upon refurbishment at Eastleigh works, the Class 153s that were used on the Stourbridge Town Branch Line have been replaced by new built lightweight Class 139 railcars. The Class 139 received passenger certification from Network Rail in March 2009, East Midlands Trains fleet of Class 153s are used on rural routes in the East Midlands. On 9 December 2007, East Midlands Trains has also received two additional Class 153 units from Arriva Trains Wales and two trains from Northern Rail. All of the East Midlands Trains Class 153 units have been repainted into the local lines livery of the company, as of July 2010 the first unit from the local fleet for East Midlands Trains 153319 entered Neville Hill depot in Leeds for a C6 refresh programme
8.
British Rail Class 156
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The British Rail Class 156 Super Sprinter is a diesel multiple-unit train. 114 of these units were built from 1987 to 1989 by Metro-Cammell at its Washwood Heath works in Birmingham and they were built to replace elderly first-generation Heritage DMUs and locomotive-hauled passenger trains. The design of the Class 156 was more conservative than Metro Cammells earlier Class 151 design, the bodyshell was made of steel instead of aluminium, and the cab design was deliberately similar to the BREL Class 150 to ease union acceptance. The units were all built as two-car sets, numbered 156401-514, each unit was formed of two driving motors, one of which contained a toilet. Individual carriages numbered as follows, 52401-52514 - Driving Motor Standard Lavatory 57401-57514 - Driving Motor Standard, containing an area for storing wheelchairs, bicycles, the vehicles are powered by 6-cylinder Cummins NT855-R5 diesel engines through Voith T211r hydraulic automatic transmissions and Gmeinder final drive units. They have a top speed of 75 mph, unlike the Class 150 units, the 156s have a single-leaf sliding door at either end of each coach. This reflected the expected longer journeys with fewer stops that the Class 156 was supposed to operate, units operated by Abellio ScotRail have additionally been fitted with door-control panels near the centre sets of doors for the convenience of the guard. The first 100 units were all ordered by the Provincial Sector of British Rail, twenty units, numbers 156401-419/422 based at Tyseley depot, were later repainted into Regional Railways Express livery after the rebranding of Provincial. The last fourteen units, numbers 156501-514, were ordered by Strathclyde PTE and this was later replaced by a carmine and cream livery, reminiscent of the 1950s livery carried by Mk.1 coaching stock. In the early 1990s, British Rail was looking to save costs on rural routes, the company planned to convert a number of Class 156 units into single-car vehicles. In the event, the decision was taken to do this with the Class 155 units instead, after the privatisation of British Rail, the Class 156 fleet was split between several franchises, which are described below. Their initial introduction was controversial as they replaced locomotive-hauled stock on longer routes, various issues such as limited toilet facilities were cited as criticisms, but they proved to have much lower operating costs. At privatisation the Scottish fleet passed to the National Express-owned ScotRail franchise, Abellio ScotRail, as the franchise currently trades, operates the largest fleet of Class 156 units. They operate both on commuter routes and on services of up to five and a half hours, such as Glasgow to Fort William. Despite their past liveries, the former SPT units were not confined to any specific route, generally, local and long-distance workings are interchangeable, however, only Radio Electronic Token Block -fitted units can operate the West Highland Line. In September 2008 the Scottish Governments agency Transport Scotland announced that all ScotRail trains would be repainted in a new livery of blue with white Saltire markings on the carriage ends,156433 was the first 156 to be repainted in this livery and departed RailCare Springburn on 11 February 2009. All SPT units are now in Saltire livery,156492 and 499 have also been repainted Saltire livery following accident damage in October 2012. There are also a number of trains in First ScotRail livery and these trains have had First logo removed when the franchise was transferred to Abellio, but the rest of the design is left unchanged for the time being
9.
British Rail Class 158
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The British Rail Class 158 Express Sprinter is a diesel multiple-unit, built specifically for British Rail between 1989 and 1992 by BREL at its Derby Works. They were built to replace many locomotive-hauled passenger trains, and allowed cascading of existing Sprinter units to replace elderly heritage DMUs, the Class 159 DMUs are almost identical to the Class 158s, having been converted from Class 158 to Class 159 in two batches. A total of 182 units were built, the majority were built as two-car sets. 17 units were built as units, eight of these units have since had the centre car removed. The final ten units were built specifically for West Yorkshire PTE Metro services around Leeds, there were three varieties of unit when built. The standard batch, two- and three-car units had 350 hp Cummins engines, the next batch were built as non-standard to enable 350 hp Perkins engines to be fitted. The final batch were given higher-powered Cummins engines of 400 hp, another 22 of these higher-powered units were built, and became three-car Class 159s. Over time, the units have become mixed up as franchises changed, all units use P4-4A and T4-4A bogies. When introduced, British Rail described the Class 158s as bringing new standards of comfort, as built, interiors were described as fully carpeted, with panoramic windows and a variety of seats arranged both airline-style and in bays of four around tables. Despite an increased top speed of 90 miles per hour, the units also promised a smoother, quieter ride than its predecessors. The Class 158s were expected to achieve 13,500 miles of operation between major services and a range of up to 1,600 miles from each refuelling. Despite the attention given to facilities, the phrase garden shed engineering has been used to describe the build. The class has suffered from unreliable air-conditioning systems since the outlawing of the CFC gases with which they were originally designed to work. Following privatisation, many operators undertook to re-engineer or entirely replace such equipment, as a result, the systems in use and their effectiveness now vary across the fleet. The lightweight aluminium body of the Class 158s leads to a route availability score. However, the units were refused permission by Network Rail to operate on the Conwy Valley, ScotRail was the first part of British Rail to introduce the Class 158s to public service in September 1990, long after the planned date. These were employed on Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh Waverley services, as well as services to Aberdeen, the Class 158s then went on to be deployed elsewhere in Britain, primarily in the Midlands, Northern England, Wales and the South West. With the majority of the fleet coming under the control of the Regional Railways division, examples included long-distance Trans-Pennine services in the north of England, as well as a range of upgraded regional services under the Alphaline brand in the Midlands, Wales and the South West
10.
British Rail Class 222
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The British Rail Class 222 is a diesel multiple unit high-speed train capable of 125 mph. Twenty-seven units have been built in Belgium by Bombardier Transportation, the Class 222 is similar to the Class 220 Voyager and Class 221 Super Voyager trains used by CrossCountry and Virgin Trains, but it has a different interior. The Class 222 trains have more components fitted under the floors to free up space within the body, since 2009 East Midlands Trains has been the only train operating company using Class 222s. All coaches are equipped with a Cummins QSK19 diesel engine of 750 hp at 1800 rpm and this powers a generator, which supplies current to motors driving two axles per coach. Approximately 1,350 miles can be travelled between each refuelling, Class 222 have rheostatic braking using the motors in reverse to generate electricity which is dissipated as heat through resistors situated on the roof of each coach, this saves on brake pad wear. In common with the Class 220s, B5000 lightweight bogies are used - these are easily recognisable since the outer surface of the wheel is visible. All Class 222 units are maintained at the dedicated Etches Park depot in Derby, Class 222 units are currently running in the following formations, East Midlands Trains, seven cars with 236 standard seats and 106 first-class seats. Over time these have been modified to the current formations. The 4-car units ordered by Hull Trains had an option when constructed to be extended to 5-cars if required, except for certain sections of route, no routes operated by East Midlands Trains are electrified north of Bedford, and all its trains are diesel-powered. Midland Mainline introduced the first of 23 Class 222 units on 31 May 2004 and these replaced all of the Class 170 Turbostars, and some of the HSTs having better acceleration than both of them. The nine-car Meridians were used on London-Nottingham and some London-Sheffield services, Coach D subsequently had a section of first-class seating declassified for use by standard-class passengers. At the end of 2006 Midland Mainline removed two carriages from each of the sets and extended seven of the four-car sets, using the removed carriages. Midland Mainline had named some of the units as follows, The names were removed when the franchise passed to East Midlands Trains, the surplus coaches were then added to the remaining four-car Meridians to make six seven-car sets and 17 five-car sets. This took place from March to October 2008, as part of the process, the seven-car trains are almost exclusively used on the fast services between London St Pancras and Sheffield. These do not operate the London St Pancras-Leeds, although the service is via Sheffield, the five-car trains are mainly used between London St Pancras and Sheffield, Nottingham or Corby on semi-fast services. The four-car trains supplement the five-car trains on these services, the hourly Nottingham service was then transferred to High Speed Train running to cover for the Meridians now working the hourly Sheffield fast service. In February 2009,222101 and 222102 transferred from Hull Trains to East Midlands Trains,222104 followed from Hull Trains later in the year. 222103 followed a few months after 222104 after repairs had been completed,222103 has now been reinstated for service after two years for repairs after the unit fell from jacks at Bombardier, Crofton in early 2007
11.
Stagecoach Group
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Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams and express coaches. The group was founded in 1980 by current chairman Brian Souter, his sister Ann Gloag, the group is headquartered in Perth, Scotland, and operates subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada. Stagecoach operates around 8,100 vehicles and covers over 90 major towns and cities in the United Kingdom, Stagecoach UK Bus employs 18,000 people. In North America, Stagecoach owns the Coach USA and Coach Canada brands, previous operations in Australia, Hong Kong, Kenya, Malawi, New Zealand, Portugal and Sweden have been sold. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange, where it is a constituent of the FTSE250 Index, anns accountant brother Brian Souter joined the firm and expanded the business into bus hire. Robin Gloag subsequently sold his shareholding in the business and ceased any involvement in 1982 with the collapse of his marriage to Ann, for a while, they offered a very personal service with Brian Souter doing the driving and Ann Gloag making up sandwiches and snacks for the passengers. Its early success allowed Stagecoach to take advantage of the privatisation of the national bus groups, several firms were purchased from the National Bus Company, Scottish Bus Group, London Buses and various city councils. The company consolidated its operations during the 1990s by purchasing ex NBC and SBG bus companies that had purchased by management. Stagecoach left the long distance coach market in 1988 when it sold its operations to National Express. It was sold to a management buyout before being purchased by Stagecoach in August 1996, in April 2000 Stagecoach sold Porterbrook to Abbey National for £773 million. In 1997 Stagecoach won the franchise to operate the Sheffield Supertram system, from the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, when Stagecoach took over the system, it was struggling, both financially and in terms of attracting passengers, but it is now an extremely popular and successful operation. Stagecoach took another turn in 1998, when it purchased Scotlands Prestwick Airport for £41 million, by the summer of 1999, the company was rumoured to have been offered some £80 million for Prestwick. They sold the airport in January 2001 to concentrate on surface transport, on 21 November 2005 Stagecoach announced the sale of its New Zealand operations to Infratil. On 14 December 2005 Stagecoach purchased Barnsley based Traction Group for £26m, Traction operated 840 buses in South and West Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Angus. Traction was the largest remaining privately owned independent bus operator in the UK, in September 2005, following competition with its Megabus coach operation, Stagecoach launched a joint venture with Scottish Citylink coaches. After a competition enquiry, in October 2006 Stagecoach was instructed to sell some of the Scottish coach services, Stagecoach are also active in the rail industry, currently operating the South West Trains franchise and having a 49% stake in Virgin Rail Group. In 2007 the group won the right to take over the part of the old Central Trains franchise, in July 2007, Stagecoach commenced operating the Manchester Metrolink tram network. In January 2009, Stagecoach bought Preston Bus, a rival in the Lancashire area
12.
Sheffield station
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Sheffield station, formerly Pond Street and later Sheffield Midland, is a combined railway station and tram stop in Sheffield, England, and the busiest station in South Yorkshire. Adjacent is Sheffield station/Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Supertram stop, in 2010–11, the station was the 35th-busiest in the UK, and the 11th-busiest outside London. The station is currently being considered as an HS2 stop, the station was opened in 1870 by the Midland Railway to the designs of the company architect John Holloway Sanders. It was the fifth and last station to be built in Sheffield city centre, the station was built on the New Line, which ran between Grimesthorpe Junction, on the former Sheffield and Rotherham Railway, and Tapton Junction, just north of Chesterfield. This line replaced the Midland Railways previous route, the old road, to London, the new line and station were built despite some controversy and opposition locally. The Duke of Norfolk, who owned land in the area, insisted that the southern approach be in a tunnel, some years later the tunnel was opened out into a cutting. Sheffield Corporation was so concerned about the side of the city being cut off from the city centre that it insisted that public access be preserved across the railway site. The station and Pond Street Goods Depot opened on a damp, there were originally different passenger entrances for each class. The original station buildings have preserved and are between island platforms 2 to 5. The station was given two extra platforms and a new frontage in 1905 at a cost of £215,000, the enlargements consisted of creating an island platform out of the old platform 1 and building a new platform 1 and a new entrance. These works were overseen by the Chief Architect to the Midland Railway Charles Trubshaw, offices were built at the north end of the 300 feet long carriageway rooftop. A large parcels office was built to the south of the main buildings, two footbridges connected the platforms, the one to the north for passengers, the one to the south for station staff and parcels. The tracks were covered by two overall roofs, the older and larger spanned platforms 5 and 6, and an identical structure can still be viewed today at Bath Green Park railway station, the other platforms 1 and 2. Wartime damage put the roofs beyond economic repair, and so they were removed in the autumn of 1956, the 1960s saw the introduction of the Class 45 and Class 46 diesel-electric engines, known as Peaks. Sheaf House was built in 1965 adjacent to the station to house British Rails Sheffield Division headquarters, as part of the reconstruction of the area as the Gateway to Sheffield, it was demolished in early 2006. In 1970 Sheffields other main station, Sheffield Victoria, was closed and its remaining services and this was the third route used by the train of that name, originally it had run to London Marylebone. In 1972 the station was resignalled and its track layout remodelled, in 1984 British Rail introduced the High Speed Train to Sheffield on the Midland Main Line. The cross-country services had seen the introduction of the HSTs in 1982, on 21 December 1991, the station was flooded by the River Sheaf, which flows under it
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Sheffield Supertram
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The Sheffield Supertram is an English light rail tram system in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire. The infrastructure is owned by the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, the service commenced in 1994 and currently consists of three lines, named after colours. It was operated by South Yorkshire Supertram Limited, an owned subsidiary company of SYPTE. In December 1997, the company was sold to Stagecoach for £1.15 million, Stagecoach gained the concession to maintain and operate the Supertram trams until 2024. Patronage has grown from 7.8 million passenger journeys in 1996/97, in 2014/15 it carried 11.5 million passengers. A tram-train extension to Rotherham is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in 2018 and this will involve trams operating on Network Rails Dearne Valley Line from Meadowhall Interchange to Rotherham station with a short extension to Rotherham Parkgate Shopping Centre. The proposed station will be a tram stop and railway station. It is also planned that Rotherham Parkgate will be the hub for longer distance inter regional services, while Central station will be the hub for local, to cater for the tram train services, Rotherham Central will have a third platform built. It is thought that constructing the station will cost around £14 million, a study has concluded that it is not worth expanding Rotherham Central railway station because it would cost £161 million to expand the station but only deliver benefits worth £76 million. This is why constructing a new station is considered more viable and it is proposed a new Supertram line will be built from Meadowhall to Dore in south-west Sheffield in order to improve connections to the new Sheffield Meadowhall high-speed rail station. Construction started in 1991 and the first section to open was along a former heavy rail alignment to Meadowhall on 21 March 1994, the system consists of a mix of on-street running, reserved right-of-way and former railway alignment. The inner part of the Halfway and Herdings Park lines consist of running, with the exception of the railway station. The Herdings line then runs on reserved track, and the Halfway line crosses the county border into Derbyshire and this line also serves Crystal Peaks Shopping Centre. The three main City Centre stops are located on one side of a dual carriageway, now a single lane. These three stops are served by all routes The Sheffield Supertram network is organised around Park Square, two small branches serving Malin Bridge, from Hillsborough Interchange, and Herdings Park branch out from two of the main lines. The Class 399s are expected to be painted into normal Supertram livery, the tram-train scheme, which was first planned to be in service by 2015 has been delayed and is not expected to start until the summer 2018. The Class 399 units were built in 2015/16 with the first delivered in December 2015, the Supertram network operates a fleet of 25 three car trams built by Siemens-Duewag of Düsseldorf, Germany in 1992. The trams are capable of carrying 88 seated and 155 standing passengers and are 40% low floor design, launched in an initial light grey livery, following the takeover by Stagecoach the trams were reliveried in Stagecoachs corporate livery from 1997
14.
Chesterfield railway station
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Chesterfield railway station serves the town of Chesterfield in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line, four tracks pass through the station which has three platforms. It is currently operated by East Midlands Trains, the station has the PlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together at a saving. In late 2009, Chesterfield became a Penalty fare station for East Midlands Trains services, the first line into Chesterfield was the North Midland Railway from Derby to Leeds in 1840. This new station of 1870 was designed by the company architect John Holloway Sanders, the line into Market Place station closed to passengers in 1951 due to problems in Bolsover Tunnel, the station remained open for goods traffic until March 1957, when it was closed completely. The station building was demolished in 1972, the Great Central station closed in March 1963 and was demolished in 1973 to make way for the towns inner relief road. The Midland station was demolished and rebuilt in 1963, most of the buildings from 1963 were demolished in the late 1990s, shortly after privatisation. Most of the buildings on site now date from then, the station was extensively rebuilt shortly after Midland Mainline took over its operation from British Rail in 1996. Midland Mainline lost their franchise in November 2007, the running of the station was passed to East Midlands Trains. Entrance to the station is on Crow Lane and includes a car park, taxi rank, there is also a small car park on the other side of Crow Lane which does not have a parking charge. The main entrance leads to the concourse, which was built in the late 1990s. It includes an office, a newsagent, a café. The concourse and the room both have direct access to platform 1. There is also a room on platform 2, which is accessed via a tunnel. The fast lines have two side platforms, one for each direction. These platforms are covered for around half their length, the goods lines pass around the rear of platform 2, and there is a third large platform here that serves the northbound goods line. Platform 3 is bidirectional and was opened in July 2010, as of May 2015, it is used by some services on the Leeds - Nottingham and Liverpool - Norwich routes at peak periods and during engineering works to reduce dependence on replacement bus services. It is located on the slow line, backing on to Platform 2
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Nottingham station
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Nottingham station, briefly known as Nottingham City and for rather longer as Nottingham Midland, is a railway station and tram stop in the city of Nottingham. It is the railway station of the city of Nottingham. It is also a point on the citys tram system. The station was first built by the Midland Railway in 1848 and it is now owned by Network Rail but managed by East Midlands Trains. Besides trains of that company, it is served by CrossCountry and Northern trains. The station was one of several that served the city. Amongst these were the city stations of Nottingham Victoria, on the Great Central Railway, and Nottingham London Road, on the Great Northern Railway. A number of more minor stations served locations outside the city centre, Nottinghams first station was Carrington Street station, which opened in May 1839, when the Midland Counties Railway opened the line from Nottingham to Derby. This terminus station was situated on the side of Carrington Street to the current station, on a site now occupied by Nottingham Magistrates Court. The original station gate posts still exist and form the entrance to the Magistrates Courts area. In 1844 the Midland Counties Railway merged with two others into the Midland Railway, by 1848, the new company had outgrown Carrington Street station and new lines to Lincoln had been opened. A new through station was opened on the current station site on 22 May 1848, the station was designed by the architect J E Hall of Nottingham, and had its entrance on Station Street. In 1869 the Midland Railway purchased the West Croft Canal arm, filling it, in the 1880s Nottingham station employed 170 men. Although attractive when it first opened, by the early 1900s the station was cramped, with only three platforms. On 18 September 1896 a light engine, running tender first, was passing through the station when it came into collision with six empty fish trucks.5 feet fell onto the platforms, six people on the platform were injured. When the Great Central Railway opened its Victoria Station in 1900, the Midland Railway appointed Albert Edward Lambert, Lambert had been the architect for the Nottingham Victoria railway station and consequently the two buildings shared many similarities in their design. The station was largely on the same site as the Station Street station. The structural steelwork and cast-ironwork was done by Handyside & Co. the station was built in an Edwardian Baroque Revival style at a cost of £1 million, and was described by the Evening News on the eve of its opening as a magnificent new block of buildings
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Nottingham Express Transit
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Nottingham Express Transit is a 32-kilometre-long tramway in Nottingham, England. The system opened to the public on 9 March 2004 and a second phase, the tramway is operated and maintained by Nottingham Trams Ltd. on behalf of the Tramlink Nottingham consortium. It was operated by Arrow Light Rail, another consortium, from 9 March 2004 until 16 December 2011, Arrow Light Rail had been contracted to operate the system for 30 years, the addition of lines to the system led to retendering. Nottingham and the urban area is the UKs seventh largest. The consortium was made up of Adtranz, who were responsible for the trams, Carillion, as built, the system was 14 kilometres long and served 23 tram stops. Construction cost a total of £200 million, a sum equivalent to £277 million at 2015 prices, once the line was complete, operation was sub-contracted by Arrow Light Rail to the Nottingham Tram Consortium, an equal partnership between Transdev and Nottingham City Transport. The line itself exceeded expectations, with 8.4 million journeys in 2004-5 and 9.7 million in 2005-6, by 2007-8, ridership had reached 10.2 million journeys. This bolstered the case for the construction of new lines, on 27 July 2009 the GMB trade union held a strike in protest at a proposed paycut of 0. 6% offered by Nottingham Tram Consortium. A maximum of five out of a normal service of 13 ran from 0600 until 1800 on the Hucknall route. Approval for phase two was given on 25 October 2006 with the UK Government agreeing to provide up to £437 million in Private Finance Initiative credits, the local councils will also provide up to £141 million in PFI credits. The two local councils voted on 22 February 2007 and 3 March 2007 respectively to table an application for a Transport & Works Act Order. The City and County Councils’ application for the order were available to view from 26 April 2007 to 7 June 2007 when it was submitted to the Secretary of State for Transport for consideration, a public inquiry was held in December 2007. The project was given the go-ahead by the government on 30 March 2009, nottinghamshire County Council confirmed that it would not obstruct the project. Funding was approved by the government on 31 July 2009, selecting and appointing the contractor was expected to take two years. Building work was expected to begin in 2011, in two phases, with trams running from 2014, the scheme survived the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review ordered by the government, and on 24 March 2011 the government confirmed that funding had been approved. As part of process, the concession to operate the existing system was terminated. A new concession put out to tender to design and build phase two, to operate and maintain the system in the meantime, and to operate. As with the consortium, operation was further sub-contracted to a consortium of Keolis and Wellglade
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Beeston railway station
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Beeston railway station is a Grade II listed railway station on the Midland Main Line which serves the town of Beeston in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies 3.2 miles south-west of Nottingham railway station, the station is managed by East Midlands Trains. Beeston station is on the Midland Main Line,123 miles 22 chains from London, on the spur towards Nottingham. There are two platforms, platform 1 to the north for trains towards Nottingham and Lincoln and platform 2 to the south for trains towards London, Leicester, Birmingham and Derby. The platforms may be accessed either by steps from the Station Road bridge or by short ramps from Station Road for Platform 1 or Technology Drive for Platform 2. Services at Beeston are provided by East Midlands Trains and CrossCountry, with the former providing most services, there are usually 4 trains per hour from each direction. The hourly CrossCountry Nottingham-Birmingham New Street via Derby service also stops here, there is also a single daily direct CrossCountry southbound only service to Bournemouth via Derby, Birmingham New Street and Reading. Passenger numbers using the station have risen substantially in recent years, facilities include, an office and ticket vending machines. The Derby-Nottingham section of Route 6 of the National Cycle Network passes by the station, Network Rail have a long term aspiration to extend both platforms by up to 69 metres. East Midlands Trains have a long term aspiration to provide lifts at Beeston railway station, the station was built in 1839 for the Midland Counties Railway. Services began on 4 June 1839, in 1844 the Midland Counties Railway joined with the North Midland Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway to form the Midland Railway. The first station from Nottingham, at the time it was popular with people from the city who wished to spend a day in the countryside, desiring fresh air. The original station building, which was more than a cottage, was replaced in 1847 with the substantially larger white brick building with ashlar trimmings which still exists. This is notable for its carved bargeboards, some remaining diagonal paned windows, the wooden platform canopies and adjacent wrought-iron and glass canopy were installed in 1871. The wooden platform canopies were originally located at Southwell railway station, the growth of Beeston led to substantial expansion of the station facilities in the Edwardian period. An extension containing a booking hall, ladies waiting room. In 1937 the Midland Railway drew up plans for a waiting room on platform 2. This effectively replaced the footbridge between the two platforms, with the decline in passenger numbers in the 1980s, the entire station suffered from vandalism and neglect, and British Rail proposed complete demolition
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Derby railway station
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Derby railway station /ˈdɑːrbi/, also known as Derby Midland Station, is a main line station serving the city of Derby in England. Owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Trains, the station is used by CrossCountry services. It is situated to the south-east of Derby city centre, and is close to the west bank of the River Derwent, the decision by the Midland Railway to have their headquarters in Derby, with its central location made it a busy node of the rail network. First opened in 1839, it was at the one of the largest in the country and was unusual for being shared by more than one company. Until recently, major carriage and locomotive workshops as well as the Research Division in the Railway Technical Centre were housed there, until the mid twentieth century, the station was also served by through trains from Manchester and Glasgow to London. Local services from Nottingham to Matlock along the Derwent Valley Line serve the station as well as local and semi-fast services to Stoke-on-Trent, Crewe, Birmingham, Derby station has six platforms connected by a footbridge, which is used as an exit to Pride Park and a car park. After the building of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825, among these was a line between London and Edinburgh, for both goods and passengers, via Bedford and Leeds, passing in between Carlisle and Newcastle. Meanwhile, a number of lines were built for specific purposes. Among these were the Mansfield and Pinxton and the Leicester and Swannington, the Mansfield and Pinxton was a feeder for a canal and was a wagonway, but these short lines were pivotal in later events. Possibly the longest was the Cromford and High Peak Railway, opened in 1833 and it attracted interest because it provided access to Manchester through the Peak District of Derbyshire, even today an obstacle to transport. In the 1830s, lines were already in progress between Bristol and London and from each to Birmingham and thence to Liverpool and Manchester, three schemes came to the fore for the East Midlands. The Grand Junction Railroad would connect Birmingham with Sheffield and Derby, with a branch to Nottingham, there would also be a line to the East Coast at Goole. In 1824 the London Northern Railroad Company was formed to link Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham, Hull, one would branch at Loughborough, with branches for Nottingham and Derby, and proceeding to Manchester by the Cromford and High Peak Railway. The other option would pass through Northampton, with a branch to Birmingham, go on to Derby, with a branch to Nottingham, and thence to the Cromford and High Peak. Towards the end of the 1820s, however, the climate of the country had deteriorated. Moreover, not everyone shared the dream, for most people the canals were adequate for the carriage of goods, while few travelled very far. Most people lived their lives within a few miles of their birthplace, the later story of the railways was a classic one of a product generating a demand, rather than the other way around. Thus, what investment that was forthcoming was for ventures for which a need could be perceived, with a reasonable expectation of a good
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Long Eaton railway station
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Long Eaton railway station serves the town of Long Eaton in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line and the Derby - Nottingham line 7.5 miles south east of Derby, the station is managed by East Midlands Trains although CrossCountry also operate some services. The line was opened by the Midland Counties Railway in 1839, which shortly joined the North Midland Railway. Originally Sawley Junction, Long Eaton is the station of that name. The original Long Eaton stations were further north, the first Sawley station was a mile out of the village on Sawley Lane, Breaston. First used in 1839, when the line opened, it was the station from Nottingham. It was originally called Breaston, but the name was changed to avoid confusion with Beeston and this station at Sawley Junction opened in 1888 on Tamworth Road. Since another station had been opened not far away at Draycott in 1852, on 9 October 1869 a Midland Railway passenger train was involved in a rear end collision with another train at Long Eaton Junction resulting in seven deaths and another twelve more injured. The investigation blamed fog, inadequate power, excessive speed. In 1932 the LMS announced that Sawley Junction would be known as Sawley Junction for Long Eaton, as of late 2009 Long Eaton is a Penalty fare station, tickets must be purchased from the ticket office or self-service machine prior to boarding a train. A major junction south of the station at Trent links the cross country route to Nottingham, west bound services to Birmingham travel via Derby and the Cross Country Route. Train operators using the station include CrossCountry and East Midlands Trains, elderly passengers or those with pushchairs, heavy luggage or bicycles wishing to alight at Loughborough should take particular care to board the correct portion of the train. Cycles may have to be stored in vestibules away from the cycle depending on the orientation of the train. The station is staffed between 06,00 and 17,30 during the day time, and has a ticket machine installed externally which can be used 24/7. It is planned that both platforms will be extended by up to 10 metres by no later than 2012 and it is anticipated that developments along the Erewash line will result in changes for Long Eaton station. The Nottingham and Derby Railway Companion, Republished 1979 with Foreword by J. B. Radford, Derbyshire Record Society Banks, british Railways Past and Present, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, Past and Present Publishing Ltd. Higginson, M, The Midland Counties Railway, A Pictorial Survey, Derby, train times and station information for Long Eaton railway station from National Rail
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East Midlands Parkway railway station
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East Midlands Parkway railway station is located north of Ratcliffe-on-Soar on the Midland Main Line in the East Midlands of England. It provides park and ride facilities for passengers on the routes from Leicester to Derby. It is also the closest station to East Midlands Airport, some 4 miles away, when it opened, there was a little-used shuttle bus from the station to the airport, but this ceased not long afterwards. An hourly minibus service was re-introduced in 2015, the main station building and the 850 vehicle car park are to the west of the line, opposite Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. Road access is via the A453, which provides a link to the nearby M1 motorway, the Midland Main Line is not electrified north of Bedford, therefore, all services are operated by diesel trains. This was set to change by 2019 when a scheme to electrify the remainder of the line had been due to be completed and this, along with increased line speeds, would have meant that the station would have been under 80 minutes from the capital. However the electrification scheme was put on hold in the summer of 2015. East Midlands Parkway is located near the village of Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station towers over the railway. The station is on the Midland Main Line, which runs from London to Nottingham, just north of the station is Trent Junction, where the lines to Nottingham and Sheffield diverge. There are four platforms, two serving the western, fast lines, and two serving the eastern, slow lines, fears were raised by various bodies, notably East Midlands Airport, about the service pattern proposed for the new station. Donington Park motor racing circuit is close by and the owners expressed their desire for spectators to use the station, the owners are also in support of any future light rail transport to East Midlands Airport itself. All trains serving the station are operated by EMT using InterCity 125, Class 222 Meridian, or Sprinter rolling stock. The current service pattern from London sees two trains per hour, both leaving within seven minutes of other, whilst the two each hour to London also leave within 10 minutes of one another. The local service between Leicester and Lincoln Central via Nottingham also calls here once each way every hour. Building work commenced on the new £25. 5m station on 19 December 2007 and was due to be completed by 14 December 2008 and it was designed by MacKellar Architecture Limited. The TOC Midland Mainline was, until October 2006, responsible for the project, responsibility was then transferred to Network Rail which anticipated expenditure of £5m in 2006/07 and £8m in 2007/08. In its first year of operation the station was used by over 250,000 passengers, the construction of the station has been controversial, Midland Mainline sought Transport and Works Act powers to compulsorily purchase the land for the station. However, private agreements with the relevant landowners were agreed for the land required, objections to the station were received during the planning and T&WA process from E. ON UK, Friends of the Earth, Nottinghamshire County Council, and the Campaign to Protect Rural England
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Loughborough railway station
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Loughborough railway station is a Grade II listed railway station which serves the town of Loughborough in Leicestershire, England. Situated on the Midland Main Line,12 1⁄2 miles north of Leicester, more than 1.3 million people entered and left the station in the twelve months to March 2010, an increase of nearly two hundred thousand in five years. This makes it the 322nd most-used Network Rail station, in addition, it was estimated that more than 7,397 people used the station to change trains. The railway through Leicestershire is not electrified therefore all services are operated by diesel trains, the original station was sited a little further south. The present station was built in 1872, the ironwork was constructed by Mr. Richards of Leicester, and the stone portion by Mr. Cox of Leicester. The track was quadrupled and has retained much of its characteristically Midland Railway architecture, the station is grade II listed It became known as Loughborough Midland when Loughborough had three stations, Loughborough Derby Road and Loughborough Central. The station is staffed and has a side platform layout, a third, short platform was created on the down slow line for the commencement of Ivanhoe Line passenger services in 1993. In 2000 passenger information systems were updated and now use dot matrix display screens, the manual Tannoy system was replaced by an automated voice on 13 July 2011. Other facilities include bicycle racks, paid car parking, a shop and snack bar, public telephones, taxis and buses are available outside, however, the bus to East Midlands Airport was withdrawn in 2010. Although the local Skylink service still operates from the town centre, up until 2012 access to all but platform 1 was awkward for many passengers. Loughborough Eastern Gateway a locally led project proved to be the catalyst after many years of proposals to improve the station, the scheme got underway in March 2010. A £7 million package of improvements was started at the station in June 2010, the extended platforms 1 &2 are capable of handling 10-car trains, and the extended platform 3 can handle up to 7-car trains. The new facilities were opened in time for the British. Rail routes run north-south through Loughborough along the known as the Midland Main Line, going south to London. East Midlands Trains operate the station as well as all services
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Leicester railway station
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Leicester railway station, is a railway station serving the city of Leicester in Leicestershire, England. It was originally opened in 1840 by the Midland Counties Railway, today it is operated by East Midlands Trains, and it is on the main line from London St Pancras to Sheffield and Nottingham. The first station on the site opened on 5 May 1840 and it was originally known simply as Leicester, becoming Leicester Campbell Street on 1 June 1867, and Leicester London Road from 12 June 1892. This was replaced in 1894 by a new station, also called Leicester London Road, following the closure of Central on 5 May 1969, this station was renamed Leicester. Besides London Road and Central, the city of Leicester was served by Belgrave Road, Humberstone Road and West Bridge railway stations. Leicester was one of the first cities to be served by a railway, the Leicester and Swannington Railway was later absorbed by the Midland Railway. In total Leicester had seven railway stations, in addition to the current Leicester station three other main railway stations existed. The original station at West Bridge closed to passengers in 1928, Leicester Belgrave Road closed to passengers in 1962 and Leicester Central closed in May 1969. Up until this time the current Leicester station was known as Leicester London Road, at this halt passengers were allowed to leave the trains but not to board them. The station was designed by William Parsons in the Grecian Revival style and this was flanked by short single-storey wings. It was the headquarters of the Midland Counties Railway until that railway was amalgamated into the Midland Railway in 1844, upstairs were the company offices and boardroom, while downstairs was the booking hall, waiting and refreshment rooms. Further expansion was contemplated for some time, but it was not until 1890 that the go ahead was given for Campbell Street station to be replaced by the present Leicester railway station. All that remains of the first station is a pair of gateposts in an Egyptian style at the end of Station Street, the offices for Royal Mail now occupy some of the site of the old station buildings on Campbell Street. The Midland Railway completely rebuilt the station between 1892 and 1894 to a design by the architect Charles Trubshaw, the new booking office was opened by the mayor in June 1892 when it was renamed Leicester London Road. The station was completed in 1894, the frontage on London Road featured four entrance archways. Above each of the pair the word Departure was inscribed. These signs were to assist cab drivers when dropping passengers who intended to catch departing trains, the station clock is the only hand-wound station clock in the UK. A commemorative statue of Thomas Cook was placed on the pavement outside the present station in 1991 to mark the first excursions arranged by the travel agency magnate and it was sculpted by James Butler
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Market Harborough railway station
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Market Harborough railway station is a Grade II listed station which serves the town of Market Harborough in Leicestershire, England. It is situated to the east of the centre and lies on the Midland Main Line,16 miles south-east of Leicester. The original station was opened on 1 May 1850 by the London, the Midland Railway shared it from 1857 when it built its extension from Leicester to Bedford and Hitchin. On 16 February 1859 the branch line to Northampton opened, the station was the scene of a serious accident on 28 August 1862. An excursion train bound for Burton-upon-Trent stopped to pick up water, the accident resulted in the death of one person and seventy were injured. As traffic built up, the Midland opened a new line on 26 June 1885 at an elevation, crossing the LNWR. The new station building was opened on 14 September 1884 and it was built by Parnell and Sons of Rugby from designs by John William Livock and Millbank. The engineer was Hirst of Rugby, Market Harborough was the largest station within the county boundary south of Leicester. A shed was never built but this did not stop it becoming a sub-shed of Leicester in later years, the service on the original LNWR line was drastically reduced in 1960 and it finally closed in June 1966. Freight traffic on the line to Northampton continued until closure in August 1981, the Midland line continues, with the platform buildings and canopies replaced with modern designs in the sixties. The main building survived, however, and was restored in 1981. Market Harborough is served by the fast and semi-fast East Midlands Trains Class 222 Meridian/HST services, Trains to London are around every half hour and all off peak trains now start or end at Nottingham. One of these are fast going non-stop to or from London, while the other is a semi-fast service via Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway. Services north to Nottingham call at Leicester and either Loughborough and Beeston or East Midlands Parkway, in the morning and evening some services are extended to Lincoln via Newark. Weekend services include trains operating to York and, in the summer, bus services depart from outside the station and operate throughout the town and also to both Lutterworth, Hinckley and Leicester. The initial specification for the East Midlands Trains franchise, which started in 2007 and these plans were fought against by the Harborough Rail Users Group, and, as a result, the final specification saw no reduction in services. Stagecoach promised as part of their bid that they would create additional car parking spaces at stations along their route, Market Harboroughs new larger car park opened early in 2008. Market Harborough station is located on a curve on the Midland Main Line, as a result of this line speeds through the station have always been relatively slow
24.
Corby railway station
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Corby railway station, owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Trains, is in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. The current station, opened on 23 February 2009, replaces an earlier one dating from 1879, first closed on 18 April 1966, plans for the current station, opposite the original, were approved in late 2007. It opened with just one train each way on Mondays to Fridays. The full current service of trains to and from London began on 27 April 2009. The Midland Railway opened Corby station in 1879 and it was on the Midlands alternative route between Kettering and Nottingham, serving Corby, Oakham and Melton Mowbray, instead of Market Harborough, Leicester and Loughborough. The station was initially named Weldon and Corby to avoid confusion with Corby Glen station in Lincolnshire, british Railways withdrew passenger services from all stations on the Oakham to Kettering Line, including Corby, in May 1967. For some decades, Corby was one of the largest towns in Europe without a station, only a few, such as Herten in Germany. BR kept the Oakham to Kettering line through Corby open for freight and it reduced the southern end of the line, from Glendon Junction to Corby, to single track in 1986 after the closure of the towns steel works saw freight traffic levels decline. On 13 April 1987, a service of 11 shuttle trains daily between Corby and Kettering, usually operated by a single DMU, was reintroduced with local council subsidy. More than 100,000 people used the service within the first 12 months, however, the service became unreliable and the council withdrew its subsidy, leading Network Southeast to withdraw the service on 2 June 1990. In 2001, Midland Mainline, the operator of the Midland Main Line franchise. In 2003, Corbys urban regeneration company, Catalyst Corby, announced plans to build a new station by 2011, a new service could be created as an extension of the hourly London to Kettering service. In April 2007, Network Rail announced that it had allocated £1. 2-million towards the rebuilding of the station as a response to housing, a final decision on the station, planned to be open by December 2008, would be made by the Department for Transport. Therefore, with the exception of some peak-time services, the connection to and from Corby would have to be provided mostly by a shuttle service. For this, EMT would need to lease rolling stock. In addition, DfT approval of the hourly Kettering service was still awaited, services had been due to start on 14 December 2008, but EMT admitted that it had yet to secure agreement with the DfT and the rolling stock operating company for the four additional trains needed. EMT then announced that services would not commence until 20 March 2009, the stations opening was then brought forward to 23 February 2009, but with a very limited interim timetable of one train to London and back each day. EMT promised that more services would begin once an additional three trains had become available, on 7 April 2009, East Midlands Trains announced that the full hourly service would begin from Monday 27 April 2009
25.
Kettering railway station
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Kettering railway station serves the town of Kettering in Northamptonshire, England. It lies south-west of the centre, on the Midland Main Line,71 miles north of London St. Pancras. The station was opened in May 1857 by the Midland Railway on a line linking the Midland to the Great Northern Railway at Hitchin, later, the Midland gained its own London terminus at St Pancras railway station. In 1857 the leather trade being in recession, over half its population was on poor relief, the railway enabled the town to sell its products over a much wider area and restored it to prosperity. The original station with a platform was designed by Charles Henry Driver. From 1866 the station was also the terminus of the Midland cross country branch line from Cambridge via St Ives & Huntingdon until closure in June 1959, in 1879 the line was quadrupled. New fast lines were built to the west of the slow lines. Three new platforms were built, numbers 2 and 3 on an island between the fast and slow lines, and number 4, to the west of the fast lines. From 1879 and 1880 Kettering was also a junction for the line from Kettering to Nottingham via Oakham. This closed to passengers in 1966 but was left as a route for freight For later services on this line see Corby Services below. Other additions included an engine shed, erected by C. Deacon & Company for the Midland Railway at the end of the forecourt around 1875. The Midland Railway replaced the station buildings on platform 1 between 1895 and 1898 with a new booking hall, booking office, parcels office and refreshment room. These current buildings may be by Charles Trubshaw and it is regarded as one of the best remaining examples of Midland architecture. In the 1970s the glass became a maintenance headache for British Rail. Kettering Civic Society objected to the plans and the canopies and columns were reprieved, until the line through Buxton was closed in the Beeching era, the main lines were those from London to Manchester, carrying named expresses such as The Palatine. Express trains to Leeds and Scotland such as the Thames-Clyde Express generally used the Erewash Valley Line then on to the Settle and Carlisle Line, expresses to Edinburgh, such as The Waverley, travelled through Corby and Nottingham. There is a service to London St. Pancras and hourly services to either Nottingham via Leicester or to Corby
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Wellingborough railway station
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Wellingborough railway station is a Grade II listed station located in the market town of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line, it is 65 miles from London St. Pancras, East Midlands Trains operate the station and run most of its services using Meridian trains. With Northamptonshires history in the industry, the film Kinky Boots filmed in the county and featured Wellingborough station. In late 2009 Wellingborough was made a Penalty fare station by East Midlands Trains, Wellingborough was built by the Midland Railway in 1857 on its extension from Leicester to Bedford and Hitchin. A curve linked the two stations from west to north, the buildings, designed by C. H. Driver, still exist, though in altered form. Much of this occurred when the branch to Higham Ferrers was built in 1894, Wellingborough also had a large locomotive depot with two roundhouses, the first built 1868, the second in 1872. One of the buildings still exist next to the station building. On 2 September 1898, the station was the scene of a rail accident when a trolley ran off the platform in front of a Manchester express train. The crew and five passengers were killed and sixty-five injured, british Rail removed the fourth track between Kettering and Sharnbrook Junction in the 1980s for cost cutting reasons making platform 4 unused. The platform still does exist, overgrown and no link to the rest of the station, a building is left derelict on it and there are proposals for the platform to be reopened. There were originally five platforms at Wellingborough station - Platforms 1 &2 still exist as they were, platform 3 was the bay platform for Northampton trains, the bay is still there, but fenced off from platform 2. In 1964 Platform 4 was re-numbered platform 3, Platform 5 was taken out of use when the Rushden and Higham Ferrers services ceased in 1959. Wellingborough has three platforms, two are used, one occasionally, and another platform face with no trackwork. The station was formerly the junction for a branch to Higham Ferrers, the station has the PlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together at a saving. From Bedford to Kettering the Midland Main Line is unusual for being a main line. Other instances of this occurring are on the Cross City Line in Birmingham, East Midlands Trains launched a new timetable in December 2008, with one train fewer running during the morning peak period, and four fewer during the evening peak. Some journey times increased, with the quickest train taking 47 minutes at peak times, there is a half-hourly service to London St. Pancras and hourly services to either Nottingham via Leicester or to Corby, both operated by Meridian trains. During peak, one Nottingham services is extended to start and finish at Lincoln via Newark and one Corby service goes to, faster East Midlands Trains services to/from Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby run through Wellingborough at high speed, but do not call outside of peak hours
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Bedford railway station
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Bedford railway station is the larger of two railway stations in the town of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. It is on the Midland Main Line from London St Pancras to the East Midlands, the original station was built by the Midland Railway in 1859 on its line to the Great Northern at Hitchin. It was on land known as Freemens Common approximately 200 yards south of the current station on Ashburnham Road, the LNWR also had a station on its line between Bletchley and Cambridge. The Midland crossed it on the level and there was a collision when an LNWR train passed a red signal. Following this accident, the Midland built a flyover in 1885, the extension to St Pancras opened in 1868. The connection to Hitchin is long gone, but the north of Bedford to Wigston Junction is still officially referred to as the Leicester to Hitchin line. At this time the station was altered, with the replacement of a level crossing by the Queens Park overbridge. In 1890 fast lines were added to the west to allow expresses to bypass the station, serious damage occurred during World War II when a bomb destroyed the booking halls glass ceiling. The current station was built to replace it and was opened by Sir Peter Parker on 9 October 1978, the station was moved about 110 yards north, the slow lines were realigned to the west next to the 1890 fast lines, to which platforms were added. Although the intention was for what remained of the old awnings to be transferred to the Midland Railway at Butterley in Derbyshire it proved impossible to save them, nothing remains of the original station buildings. Services over the Marston Vale line to/from Bletchley were transferred here from the old LNWR St Johns station in May 1984. A new connection was laid from the Marston Vale branch up to the line to permit this. The original St Johns station closed on 14 May 1984 with a replacement halt on the new opening the same day. Bletchley trains henceforth used a bay platform on the side of the station. The majority of the work will be north of the station, the station is served by three operators and managed by Thameslink. These services mostly use Class 222 Meridian diesel-electric multiple units, morning and evening peaks see some Nottingham services extended to Lincoln via Newark Castle and Corby services extended to Melton Mowbray, plus some Derby and Sheffield services calling. The weekend sees trains operating to York and in the summer months these extend to/from Scarborough, Thameslink operates Thameslink route services to Brighton through St Albans and London St Pancras. Services from the station call at Luton Airport Parkway and Gatwick Airport
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Luton railway station
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Luton railway station is located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The station is near to the centre, about three minutes walk from the Arndale Shopping Centre. It is situated on the Midland Main Line and is operated by Thameslink and it was built by the Midland Railway in 1868 on its extension to St. Pancras. For some years it was known as Luton Midland Road to distinguish it from the earlier Luton Bute Street, to build the line a public area known as the Great Moor had to be built through. The remainder of the land was bought for development by John Crawley and this proved a worthwhile investment because, as the towns staple trade in straw hats diminished as they went out of fashion, it was replaced by engineering works. By the beginning of the century, the population had nearly trebled. The station, consisting of only 3 platforms was rebuilt in 1937 to the designs of the London, Midland, in 1960 a fourth platform was added. During electrification in the early 1980s a fifth platform was added for the services to. The station is set for significant investment from both Network Rail and First Group to improve facilities for customers as well as creating longer platforms as part of the Thameslink Programme. During 2010 and 2011 a number of improvements took place at the station, these extensions to all five platforms. The platform extensions form part of the Thameslink Programme and allow 12 car operation at the station, during these works two new rail overbridges were installed over Old Bedford Road allowing the track to be slewed for the extended platforms. Luton station is served by Thameslink and East Midlands Trains trains, from Luton, trains go north to Bedford, Derby, Melton Mowbray, Corby, Leicester, Nottingham, and Sheffield. Southbound trains go to London, Gatwick Airport, Brighton, Wimbledon and Sutton,1 tph calling at London St Pancras International only. During the peaks Thameslink run services to Kent via central London jointly operated with Southeastern, East Midlands Trains InterCity services to and from Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield and Derby run through at high speed, but do stop here sometimes. 1 bus per hour to Milton Keynes Central operated by Stagecoach in Bedford and this starts at Luton Airport and only calls at a limited number of express bus stops on route. 1 bus per hour to Luton Airport forming the return portion of the above Thameslink trains serve stations in Central London, including Farringdon. There was previously a shuttle bus service from the station to nearby London Luton Airport, however, this ceased following the construction of Luton Airport Parkway station, though there is the Stagecoach 99 hourly coach service. It is in the area as Luton Parkway and Leagrave stations
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