Cosford railway station
Cosford  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 AnArriva Trains Walestrain pauses to collect passengers on a Sunday service at Cosford | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Cosford,Shropshire England | ||||
| Grid reference | SJ797052 | ||||
| Managed by | West Midlands Railway | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | COS | ||||
| Classification | DfT categoryF2 | ||||
| History | |||||
| Opened | 1937[1] | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2018/19 |  87,414 | ||||
| 2019/20 | 87,412 | ||||
| 2020/21 | 15,688 | ||||
| 2021/22 |  49,816 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 62,352 | ||||
| |||||
| |||||
Cosford railway stationis a railway station which serves the village ofCosfordinShropshire,England. It also servesRAF Cosfordwhich is also home to a branch of theRoyal Air Force Museum.The station is served byWest Midlands Trains,who manage the station, andTransport for Wales.Between 2008 and 2011 it was also served by the direct London operator,Wrexham & Shropshire.
History
[edit]
The line between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton was opened as a through route in November 1849.[2]Cosford station was opened much later than other stations on the line when the decision was taken to site an RAF base there just before the start of theSecond World War.Originally the station was known as Cosford Aerodrome Halt, but due to wartime security concerns, this was shortened to justCosfordin 1940.[3]Trains originally ran to Wolverhampton Low Level and the GWR main line toBirmingham Snow Hilleastbound, but were diverted to Wolverhampton High Level and the ex-LNWR Stour Valley line toBirmingham New Streetin 1967.
2011-12 reconstruction
[edit]The station was closed to passengers from 29 October 2011 until 30 April 2012.[4][5]Costing £2.1 million, Network Rail replaced the wooden 1937 station buildings as well as the platforms, which were constructed from century-old wood railway sleepers with the new platforms made from glass reinforced polymer, and the stairs leading up to them.[6][7]Its re-opening was delayed by five weeks.[5]The redevelopment has been criticised for a lack of disabled access.[8]
Signal box
[edit]The most recent Cosford signal box stood a little to the west of the station. As well as forming ablock postthis signal box controlled entrance and exit to up and down refuge loops and the previous rail connection into the adjacent RAF site from the up refuge loop. It has been abolished as a result of the 2006 resignalling scheme with control passing to Madeley Junction.[9]Much of the redundant signalling equipment has been distributed to various heritage railways, theGloucestershire Warwickshire Railwayis believed to have received the majority. This structure is thought to have been the last signal box constructed by theGreat Western Railwayin Shropshire. Much of the contents and structure of this 1939 constructed signalbox has been salvaged for reuse on another heritage railway. The remaining brickwork was demolished in the small hours of Sunday 21 October 2007. Remarkably, the signalman's portacabin style privy remains in-situ as of late August 2008. The advent of longer trains destined forIronbridge Power Stationresulted in much reduced used of the refuge loops as they were too short to accommodate the length of coal trains that were in use until the closure of the power station in 2015.[10]
Services
[edit]Cosford is typically served Monday to Saturday by one train per hour in each direction betweenBirmingham New StreetandShrewsburyviaWolverhampton,with extra trains at peak times on weekdays. These services are operated byWest Midlands Trainsunder the 'West Midlands Railway' brand usingBritish Rail Class 196DMUs.OneTransport for Walesservice calls per day after midnight, westbound only to Telford and Shrewsbury. Sunday services are hourly calling at all stations, with an additional nighttime Transport for Wales service heading eastbound to Wolverhampton on Sundays only.[11][12]
Additional services run on the second Sunday in June when theRAF Cosford Air Showis being held.[13][14][15]
| Preceding station |  National Rail
|
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albrighton | Transport for Wales Wolverhampton–Shrewsbury line |
Shifnal | ||
| West Midlands Railway Wolverhampton–Shrewsbury line |
||||
References
[edit]- ^Cryer, Geoff (2014). "GWR & LMS".Shropshire Railways.Marlborough: Crowood. p. 63.ISBN978-1-84797-691-8.
- ^Cryer, Geoff (2014). "The coming of the main lines".Shropshire Railways.Marlborough: Crowood. p. 23.ISBN978-1-84797-691-8.
- ^Clarke, Neil (2015).Railways of East Shropshire.Stroud: Amberley. p. 37.ISBN9781445640228.
- ^National RailArchived2011-09-19 at theWayback MachineEngineering work at Cosford station from Saturday 29 October 2011 until March 2012
- ^abShropshire StarCosford railway station reopens after six-month refit (30 April 2012)
- ^Shropshire Star£3.5 million revamp for Shropshire railway stations (13 October 2011)
- ^BBC NewsCosford railway station shut during £2.1m scheme work (13 October 2011)
- ^"Cosford station: No funding for disabled access".BBC. 28 May 2012.Retrieved24 September2012.
- ^"Rail line to close for nine days".BBC News.14 March 2006.Retrieved8 May2016.
- ^Jackson, Allen (2015).Contemporary Perspective on GWR Signalling: Semaphore Swansong.Ramsbury: The Crowood Press. p. 276.ISBN9781847979490.
- ^"Train timetables and schedules | Cosford".West Midlands Railway.
- ^"Train Times | 21 May - 9 September 2023 | Birmingham-Shrewsbury-Chester"(PDF).Transport for Wales Rail.
- ^"Additional trains for Cosford Air Show this weekend".West Midlands Railway.7 June 2019.Retrieved13 June2023.
- ^"Cosford Air Show 2023".West Midlands Railway.Retrieved13 June2023.
- ^"Cosford Air Show 2024".West Midlands Railway.Retrieved30 May2024.
Further reading
[edit]- Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2009).Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury.Middleton Press. figs. 71-74.ISBN9781906008444.OCLC286385795.
External links
[edit]
- Train timesandstation informationfor Cosford railway station fromNational Rail
52°38′41″N2°18′00″W/ 52.6448°N 2.3°W
