Talk:Leamington Spa railway station
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[edit] Chronology
The Great Western station (opened 1852), on the Birmingham & Oxford Junction route from Birmingham to Fenny Compton, where it joined the Oxford & Rugby (which was never completed north of Fenny Compton), was not the first in Leamington.
The London & Birmingham completed its branch from Coventry, with a terminus on Rugby Road, Milverton, in 1844. This line was later extended to Leamington (Avenue) [I don't have the date to hand at present, but the newly formed LNWR sought leave to extend the line in 1846]. A new Milverton station was built where the line crossed Warwick New Road after completion of the extension.
The Rugby & Leamington Railway (aka the Rugby, Leamington & Warwick) was opened to traffic on 1 March 1851 [to be established: whether Milverton - Leamington extension same date, or earlier].
Leamington has thus had four railway stations within its current boundaries. The present building is on the site of the last, not the first, Leamington station.
Will add more of this information to the article once I have confirmed dating for the LNWR extension. (update) -- Picapica 07:41, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)
OK, I have the low-down now:
- Milverton (1st) (and originally named "Leamington") 1844
- Leamington GWR 1852 (rebuilt 1937-39)
- Leamington Avenue 1854 [even though the Milverton - Rugby line opened 1851] (rebuilt 1860)
- Milverton (2nd) 1883.
My previous assumption about the present station site being the last of the four Leamington stations was therefore wrong: it was the second. Hope to have time to write all this up tomorrow.
[edit] To do
[1] Incorporate info above.
[2] Update operators / service patterns (several recent changes). -- Picapica 19:00, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Phew. Turned out to be more of a re-write than a "copyedit"! Still, all done now (I hope) - time for a cup of tea... -- Picapica 17:46, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)
[edit] A question
Didn't some of the services on the Leamington-Weedon line continue to Northampton, by reversing at Blisworth, I seem to recall that some did. Also I think passenger services on the Weedon line ceased at about the same time as the Rugby service in about c 1958/9?,I know someone who remembers travelling to Daventry on that line, I'll have to look it up. G-Man 19:09, 1 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- You are right about the Northampton services (I need to check dates though). Leamington-Weedon closed in 1958, Leamington-Rugby in 1959 (so both closures were pre-Beeching, in fact). I remember travelling Leamington - Rugby in 1960 (and getting chucked off Rugby station -- as "trainspotters" regularly were in those days!) and having to travel via Coventry: we were, alas, just a year too late for the direct line. -- Picapica 11:15, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Style
When I found it, I concluded this was a wonderfully clear, well-written and informative article. However, there were are few small "style" errors, which I felt I had to do something about! These included:
- Having external links as section headers (and in the first four words of the article).
- A bit of POV speculation.
- Some non-encyclopedic style in places, such as in "What's in a name" and the history of Milverton's multitude of names.
- Perhaps a slight overuse of exclamation marks!
I've rewritten parts in what I (IMHO) think is a more suitably encylcopaedic style. I hope I haven;t spoilt what was otherwise a really nice article. --RFBailey 22:18, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
