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Redditch Railway Stations

The town of Redditch has had four railway stations they are:

 The First Station

This was alongside what is now Clive Road and was the terminus of the Redditch Railway from the opening on September 19 1859 until May 4 1868 when the last section from Alcester to Redditch of the Redditch and Evesham Railway was opened. The station consisted of a single platform face a small station building not too dissimilar to that that was provided at Alvechurch station.

 

 

 

 

 The Second Station

This station was opened in May 4 1868 and was alongside the junction of what are now Plymouth Road and Red Lane (now known as Bromsgrove Road). This station was provided with a standard Midland Railway design and two platform faces

 

 

At the same time in 1868 a small goods yard was provided with the first and smaller of two goods sheds that in latter years was the parcel shed. (The fourth station building is now on the site of this shed). During the early 1920’s at the time of Railway Grouping and when the Midland Railway became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway the Redditch Station site was further expanded the whole of the rail line from the Gas Works to the entrance to the tunnel was doubled. A new expanded goods yard on what was known as Pound meadow was created with a new much larger goods shed. At the same time the station complex was totally re-signalled the original Redditch, Gas Works Signal Box and Redditch North Signal Boxes were combined with construction of a new Redditch North Signal Box opposite the Locomotive Shed.This new Redditch North signal box was opened on 8th November 1925 when the old Gas Works signal box was closed. Redditch North signal box was closed on 10th August 1986 when the branch became a "long siding" when all the sidings were removed next to Redditch Station. A new Redditch South Signal Box was also provided just before the entrance to the tunnel. This was opened on 23rd August 1925 and was closed on 29th January 1967. The picture to the left was taken after the closure of the signal box.

The Third Station

This "new" station was opened on 7th February 1972 when the station was moved to north side of Bromsgrove Bridge into the former goods yard. This allowed the former station site to be cleared for the construction of the then new bus station as part of the Kingfisher Shopping Centre development. The new station consisted of an island platform though only one platform face was ever used for passenger trains. The other formed the head shunt to the goods yard run round loop. Station building facilities were provided in 1977 by way of a wooden hut away from the platform face. It wasn’t until the frequency of train service was increased in the 1980’s that a bus shelter was provided on the platform.

 

The two view above show the site of the third and fourth stations. The black and white picture was taken in the late 1960's and show the area still being used as a goods yard and approach to the station which was still beyond the bridge in the distance. The colour picture shows the third station in the mid 1970's. Note the large factory building in the first picture has gone - it burnt down.

The fourth Station

This was a reconstruction of the third one as part of the electrification project. Work on this new station started on Monday 5 October 1992. A new brick built station building was provided together with an extension to the platform to allow the operation of 6 car electric trains.   
The site of the new station building was actually the site of the original goods shed or what in latter years was known as the Parcels Good Shed because of it's main use after the construction of the much larger new Good Shed. The Parcel Shed in the late 1960's only a matter of years before it's demolition to make way for the third station in the early 1970's .

The area that had once formed the second platform face was filled in as part of a car park expansion project. The BBC local television presenter Kay Alexandra officially opened this new station on 28 May 1993. As part of the recent redevelopment of the bus station (on the site of the second station) this subway has now been refurbished.

 

 

 

The former railway bridge under Bromsgrove Road that is now used as a pedestrian subway to access the town's Bus Station and Kingfisher Shopping. The dated stone on the above bridge showing the date May 1909 when the Midland Railway expanded the facilities at Redditch Station and double the whole line between Redditch South and the new Redditch North Signal boxes (This date stone is no longer visible as a new wall has been built in front of it)

 

 

Arial View of the Station in the 1970's

As the Redditch Development Corporation rebuilt Redditch as a new town during the late 1960's, 1970's and early 1980's they took care to create a photographic record of the changes and improvements they made. This picture shows the goods yard area of Redditch Station in the early 1970's after the third station had been built but before the Redditch town centre ring road was built. The picture must have been taken in the morning as regular stone train is being shunted.