Malvern's two stations - how did both survive?

70014IronDuke · 25 May 2019

Great Malvern and Malvern Link are only a mile or so apart.

How did both survive Beeching and other rationalisations of the past? I'd have thought one would have been ripe for closure - although both appear to have healthy usage numbers today.

I've never been on the Worcester - Hereford line, but must say Great Malvern looks to be a splendid station.

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II · 25 May 2019

Great Malvern is indeed a splendid station, though could currently do with a good repaint in many places. Malvern Link is also a nice little station now that the new station buildings have been built, and there is an old cottage (presumably directly linked to the railway in olden times) that is undergoing modernisation and restoration. Is it going to be a holiday home?

As to the original question, perhaps it is due to the gradient between the two (quite a trek if you're going uphill) and the influence of people who live in the area? Mind you, the climb on foot from Great Malvern to the main town centre catches a few visitors out!

Peter C · 25 May 2019

Having been along the line between Oxford and Hereford many times, I can say that the stations on Great Malvern and Malvern Link are both very good stations.
The question we could also ask here, as they are on the same line as the "Malverns": why save both Worcester Shrub Hill and Worcester Foregate Street? A train can easily go between the two in way under 5 minutes.

-Peter

Statto · 25 May 2019

I suppose the main reason both Worcester stations are served, some trains that operate via Stourbridge Junction & Bromsgrove, don't serve Shrub Hill, & start terminate at Foregate Street, & some trains terminate/start Shrub Hill & don't serve Foregate Street, this maintains the connection.

LNW-GW Joint · 25 May 2019

There used to be a third station, Malvern Wells (though a good way short of that village).
Great Malvern terminators still use the loop there to reverse, where the line singles for the Colwall-Ledbury tunnel section.
There are rather different demographics at Malvern Link and Great Malvern.
Link is more of a Worcester/Birmingham commuter area with extensive new housing, while Great Malvern is the "centre" and a destination (hills, town, schools, showground, MoD etc).

At Worcester, the great fault of Foregate St in the city centre is the lack of a car park.
It also has no facilities for reversing or parking trains.
The layout in Worcester also suffers from the singling carried out nearly 50 years ago, with improvements continually postponed.

II · 25 May 2019

LNW-GW Joint said:
There used to be a third station, Malvern Wells (though a good way short of that village).
It also has no facilities for reversing or parking trains.
The layout in Worcester also suffers from the singling carried out nearly 50 years ago, with improvements continually postponed.

Agreed. Although at least the reversing siding at Henwick has now been brought back into use, and the signalling improved, to allow terminating services at Foregate Street to get out of the way more easily than sending them round to Shrub Hill.

Peter C · 25 May 2019

Statto said:
I suppose the main reason both Worcester stations are served, some trains that operate via Stourbridge Junction & Bromsgrove, don't serve Shrub Hill, & start terminate at Foregate Street, & some trains terminate/start Shrub Hill & don't serve Foregate Street, this maintains the connection.

OK. Thanks for this. I thought it may have had something to do with different TOCs but I wasn't sure.

-Peter

LNW-GW Joint · 25 May 2019

Peter C said:
OK. Thanks for this. I thought it may have had something to do with different TOCs but I wasn't sure.

For quite a while under BR the (Hereford-) Great Malvern-Birmingham service was an all-stations shocker via Stourbridge Jn, taking about 90 minutes.
It also called at both Worcester stations with a reversal at Shrub Hill.
The Bromsgrove route was hardly used, just a couple of peak services.
Things have improved a lot with hourly direct services via Bromsgrove, and most services avoiding Shrub Hill.

Peter C · 25 May 2019

LNW-GW Joint said:
For quite a while under BR the (Hereford-) Great Malvern-Birmingham service was an all-stations shocker via Stourbridge Jn, taking about 90 minutes.
It also called at both Worcester stations with a reversal at Shrub Hill.
The Bromsgrove route was hardly used, just a couple of peak services.
Things have improved a lot with hourly direct services via Bromsgrove, and most services avoiding Shrub Hill.

Interesting.

-Peter

tigerroar · 25 May 2019

Surely Shrub Hill could shut when the new Worcester station opens?

37047 · 25 May 2019

LNW-GW Joint said:
For quite a while under BR the (Hereford-) Great Malvern-Birmingham service was an all-stations shocker via Stourbridge Jn, taking about 90 minutes.
It also called at both Worcester stations with a reversal at Shrub Hill.
The Bromsgrove route was hardly used, just a couple of peak services.
Things have improved a lot with hourly direct services via Bromsgrove, and most services avoiding Shrub Hill.

Yes, that Hereford to Birmingham via Shrub Hill and Stourbridge Jn (en route to Derby to visit family) was a regular fixture in my school holidays as a child. I still do BHM-HFD a few times per year now, tempted to do the old route for nostalgia value next time...

VT 390 · 26 May 2019

tigerroar said:
Surely Shrub Hill could shut when the new Worcester station opens?

I would have thought it would remain open as it is useful for that part of the city. But if it were to close I think it would only be possible if space for the services which terminate there is available at Foregate street and both platforms at Foregate Street could be accessed from both lines

70014IronDuke · 26 May 2019

While I would wish to be the last person to complain about thread drift and OT postings, since we have had the (very interesting) issue of Worcester stations seemingly done to death in fairly recent correspondence in these forums (probably in the thread on Worcester Parkway - https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/worcestershire-parkway-is-go.103108/ ), may I respectfully request this thread leaves Worcester issues to said thread and sticks somewhat more on topic, please?

Does anyone know, for example, what the Beeching proposals were for the Malvern stations?

LNW-GW Joint · 26 May 2019

70014IronDuke said:
Does anyone know, for example, what the Beeching proposals were for the Malvern stations?

Under Beeching, the Stourbridge-Worcester-Hereford service was to be "modified", meaning the closure of most of the intermediate stations including Malvern Wells.
Malvern Wells-Ledbury was always single in the time I lived in the area (had been double between Colwall and Ledbury tunnels), but since then the Ledbury-Hereford line was also singled and down-graded, like the rest of the line, from 90mph to 70mph.
Great Malvern was lucky to retain its canopy and period features, but is a gem of a station today, matching the fine Victorian architecture of the local area.

jimm · 26 May 2019

70014IronDuke said:
Great Malvern and Malvern Link are only a mile or so apart.

How did both survive Beeching and other rationalisations of the past? I'd have thought one would have been ripe for closure - although both appear to have healthy usage numbers today.

I've never been on the Worcester - Hereford line, but must say Great Malvern looks to be a splendid station.

You got the answer in II's post - the two settlements* are at different heights, Malvern Link is about 50 metres/160ft above sea level. Great Malvern is about twice that with much of the town then spread even higher up the hill above the station. The three-quarters of a mile of railway track between the stations rises at a continuous gradient of 1 in 120.

*I say settlements, because they used to be pretty much separate. Much of the housing filling the gap on the map these days was built from the 1970s onwards.

I doubt Beeching even gave both stations' survival a second thought, as the Worcester-Hereford line was never at any risk of closure.

There were other lines locally to focus the axe on, such as the Bromyard branch and Ledbury-Gloucester, while the little-used station west of the river in Worcester at Henwick (usually only busy when the River Severn flooded and closed the road bridge in Worcester), Malvern Wells and the three out in the fields between Ledbury and Hereford, all some way from the villages they claimed to serve, were the obvious candidates for closure.

PartyOperator · 26 May 2019

As well as the aforementioned Malvern Wells station (closed in 65) there was also a nearby station at Hanley Road on the Tewkesbury and Malvern Railway (closed 1961). So the town did lose half of its stations, one before Beeching and one after. Colwall is effectively another Malvern station but separated by the hills and tunnel.

Malvern Link and Great Malvern were conveniently located within walking distance of the North and South sites of the Royal Radar Establishment respectively, which probably helped.

Ken H · 26 May 2019

A new station at henwick would help Worcesters dire traffic congestion.

Gt Malvern station used to have a private entrance to the hotel over the road, now a private school. You can see that at the Worcester end of the down platform.

Meerkat · 27 May 2019

Wouldn’t you want the station at Rushwick by the bypass, as a Worcester West Parkway or are the drivers coming from the West Bank of the City rather than the countryside beyond?

70014IronDuke · 27 May 2019

jimm said:
You got the answer in II's post - the two settlements* are at different heights, Malvern Link is about 50 metres/160ft above sea level. Great Malvern is about twice that with much of the town then spread even higher up the hill above the station. The three-quarters of a mile of railway track between the stations rises at a continuous gradient of 1 in 120.

*I say settlements, because they used to be pretty much separate. Much of the housing filling the gap on the map these days was built from the 1970s onwards.

I doubt Beeching even gave both stations' survival a second thought, as the Worcester-Hereford line was never at any risk of closure. ...

Thanks for this - and other answers. However, I suspect Beeching did give second and third thoughts to such stations - only if the line was considered a second or tertiary route that was to be kept in any case, then the two Malvern stations were considered worth keeping as 'local' stops.

I have been to the area, indeed, I remember going onto the Malvern Hills as a nipper and watching a steam service or two hundreds of feet below me running along the line in (probably) 1960-61. Alas, my parents did not understand I would rather have been down there spotting Halls and Castles (or, more probably, 41XX perhaps) than up in the heavens breathing clean air near the Malvern Beacon. Such is life. Must try to do the line one day.

Malvern's two stations - how did both survive?

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