Worcestershire Parkway / Six Stations (Episode 1) 

I did my GCSE school project in 1988 on the case for Worcester Parkway. Took a long time to get round to building it and now we have the crazy situation of the Council funding the station but x-country refusing to stop their long distance trains - making it a bit of a white elephant. Hopefully good sense will ultimately prevail - perhaps when the new village / town is built around it, as now planned. It all used to be fields surrounding the station and I got chased by a cow when trying to get a photo of the site for the front cover of my project report. Had to leg it and throw my bike over a stile to escape. Happy days.

I remember when it was just a wasteland field in the middle of nowhere, really is mental how they transformed it. I used to always do go karting on the industrial estate next door, always wondered if anything would pop up there with the overlapping lines and was nice to see that something did.

Cheltenham Spa is a special station to me, as it's the station I got off at for my godfathers wedding back in 2013. I was living in Belfast at the time (I'm from Norwich), and came over from Belfast City airport to Birmingham, then trained over to Cheltenham Spa. My mum and I came over a few days before the wedding just to have a look around and do a bit of tourism, and by complete chance I discovered that the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway runs from Cheltenham Racecourse station (approx 5-10 mins from Cheltenham Spa). NOT ONLY that, but the then newly restored LNER B12 from the North Norfolk Railway (One of two local to me heritage railways) was visiting the GWSR for their festival of steam event! I had no idea the B12 was there, as I had stopped following events at the NNR while living in Belfast. So a lot of stars aligned that weekend, to get to go to a heritage railway for the first time in 2 years and to see the NNR's flagship locomotive!

Let's say, it was a 5-car train in Imperial Measurements, probably making it 9 cars in Metric. ;)

A very useful station for getting into the Cotswolds from the North, and the South West. Completed my day walking along the Cotswold Way from here (train to Evesham, bus to Broadway - walk to Chipping Campden, bus to Moreton-in-Marsh, train to Worcestershire Parkway). Also useful for going to The Malverns, and into Herefordshire. I love this station's spaciousness. Top work, as usual Geoff!

The station has been talked about for decades, so it's great that they finally got round to building it. Just need more trains to stop now, and for the northern section of the Cotswold Line to be redoubled, and for the track and signalling nightmare to be sorted our around Worcester, and for the coffee shop to open .... not too much to ask for surely??!!

Rob is such a fun Co-traveler. Such fun! 😂 (Both of you reached the PEAK of Vanity)

Lovely to see you in Worcestershire Geoff! The plan is to build a planned town around the station in the next few decades. They hope to have 5,000 homes by 2040 and 20,000 citizens by 2050.

Very nice to see Rob again! Hope we see some more of him.

I visited this station in June 2021, although it was on a rail replacement bus service between Moreton-in-Marsh and Worcester Shrub Hill. Transport was provided by an elderly Van Hool bodied coach that the local farmer keeps his chickens in when not being used on a school run (and the occasional "bustitution" for a rail service).

Did anyone else notice that they changed jackets teleporting to the other platform? 😂

Geoff with the big housing development planned for all-around Worcester the station will probably become busier over time

Worcestershire Parkway deserves to be a large station as it is not only on two main lines but also adjacent to Motorway 5 and RAF Defford, meaning it has potential to be a major transport hub, Hopefully the Oxford Worcester Wolverhampton line redoubling will be completed and enable services to and from London to be increased

It was very handy whilst at university, but very cold in winter waiting for GWR service. Almost like a wind tunnel!

Wow! That's a lot of stairs!! I hope that there's enough time to traverse it all for passengers needing to change to another line! That would be some workout! 🤣 Love the jacket swap Guys! Very funny! 😂

Used to be a broadly triangular field bordered by two rail lines and the main Worcester to London road with a public footpath and, as Geoff thought, a footpath crossing over the NESW lines. The station was sponsored and paid for not by the railway, but by Worcestershire County Council, using money from the EU, central government, council tax and a loan, the loan being paid back from parking charges. The station has provision for a shop but, mostly due to opening during Covid-19 lockdown, has not got a tenant yet. The car park has 22 EV chargers with the option to add more and the car park can also be enlarged to roughly double the size if required, however most footfall is, as was stated, changing trains either from The Cotswold Line (Pershore, Evesham etc.) or from the Worcester city stations (Shrub Hill & Foregate St.) or from the Malvern line. Cross Country has agreed to consider stopping more trains if passenger numbers are considered high enough, but to do so would add 4 more minutes to journey times between Birmingham and Bristol. The station has three platforms with just one on the singled Cotswold Line, there is passive provision for an extra platform if the track at this location is redoubled, and there is passive provision for electrification of all lines. The worse feature is the huge number of stairs on the public footpath, making it difficult for buggies and bicycles, and totally impossible for wheelchair users - ramps could easily have been provided at the design stage. Worcester's most used station is centrally located Foregate Street which has zero parking, Worcester Shrub Hill has very limited parking and may close if footfall now transfers to Worcestershire Parkway on the edge of town.

Thank you Geoff for visiting wonderful Worcester

The station is certainly a welcome addition to the network! For Worcestershire residents like myself I’m very happy with it!

Enjoyed your guest, Rob. Especially had a good laugh with your "album cover!"

Rarely get Voyagers on the Cardiff-Nottingham service which is a shame. I was a regular Nottingham-Birmingham traveler for a while and the overcrowding was horrendous from Tamworth into New Street. Sometimes we had 2x2 car 170s, but still not good.

I've changed at Worcestershire Parkway a few times. The high level platform can be a bleak and windswept place. In fact the station building is a pretty stark experience on a cold day. Did you notice that there are no seats inside the building? I've seen people huddled on the stairs, just to find somewhere to sit out of the wind. Another odd thing: the footbridge outside the station is at full electrification height, but the rail bridge immediately next to it, taking the Cotswold line over the Midland line, is much lower - and will realistically stay that way, unless the embankment is raised and the station rebuilt to suit. So why make the footbridge so high? It could have been the same level as the rail bridge without compromising any future OLE installation. And for signalling enthusiasts - just to the west of the high level platform you can see the outer home semaphore signal controlling Norton Junction, looking quite incongruous at a shiny new station.

Welcome to Worcestershire, Geoff :) 2:30 - Good to see Bromsgrove on the map & in your video :)

I went through (not stopping at Worcestershire parkway) a few weeks ago. It had no idea it was this new! Thanks for showing. When I went all the cross country services were 3 carriage...no idea why.

Love the energy in this one! 😂 Fabulous video.

You should come visit great Malvern next. Beautiful Victorian station. And stunning back drop of the Malvern Hills.

Great video Geoff. With that CrossCountry 170 stopping on that long platform, GWR have a similar situation there. Most GWR services are operated by long 5 or 9 car Class 800/802 IETs but 2 services a day in the Morning are operated by 2 car Class 165s.

I changed trains here yesterday, 3 April 2022, GWR from Worcester Foregate Street, changing onto Crosscountry to Cheltenham Spa. My mission at Worcester was to photo the plethora of mechanical signalling at Shrub Hill and around Foregate Street. The journey there was via the chord from the xc lines via Norton Junction. The way back was via the abyss that is Worcestershire Parkway. My experience of this station, useful, should have been built years ago.

I have learnt so much from you and have got me into Morden British trains, heavily

I had to change there a couple of months into "The Event", so not long at all after it had opened. Lots and lots of stairs. It was strange travelling at rush hour on almost empty trains.

I was on the first train to stop at Worcestershire Parkway, early in the morning on 23rd February 2020. When we got on at Worcester Foregate Street, we tried to buy tickets at the machine but it had not been updated to show the new station. When we were on the train, people tried to buy tickets from the conductor but their system hadn't been updated either. They had to let us all travel for free, so the first few people to use the station will not be recorded on the ORR statistics.

So glad you've visited Worcester Parkway Geoff

Very nice glass at Worcester Parkway station on the connection to the platforms.

I believe on the Cross Country platforms there are no trains which stop at the next station on the line in either direction (Ashchurch or Bromsgrove).is this unique? Cross Country don’t want to Stop the NE/SW trains there. It will slow them down too much. An interest fact - to the north as far as Bromsgrove there have been no passenger stations for over 150 years. These went when the line via Droitwich opened. However they remained as goods stations until the 1960s.

Giant new station to change at, but your chances of getting a cuppa while you wait are right up there with Redcar British Steel 😐 But quite a jolly video, hey!

I remember this being built when I was at school and now whenever I go to visit from Cardiff, it’s remarkably convenient. Hope the housing development supply surrounding the station actually meets demand, though!

Voyagers do stop at WOP if substituted on to the Nottingham-Cardiff's. Also for the past few weekends engineering work has been going on in the Cheltenham area so XC have been terminating at Parkway for rail replacement and turning back at Abbotswood junction.

Glad to see I'm not the only person who calls The Event, "The Event"

Big Thanks for this one Geoff (and the whole mini-series) - great to see Lewis and the HST! Your travels have highlighted the absence of seating at these new generic "Lego" stations - I found same problem at Worcestershire Parkway a few days ago. Perhaps an additional question, if you do this again, could be Do they have Grit Bins? They make great seats! Hmmm, dual-purposing idea? 🚄😊

Looks a good station. Cross Country services, in my experience of travelling between Cheltenham Spa and Leeds , never had enough carriages... Good video, thanks.

So glad you been to Worc Parkway.

This is going to be a fun series. Looking forward to the others, strong start with this one.

Living in Evesham the new station knocks half an hour off the journey to Birmingham making it just over an hour. There's still the same 25 minute transfer time as Foregate Street, but nowhere to nip out for a coffee on the way and beer on the way back though.

First time seeing Geoff Finally Visiting Worcestershire Parkway after over 2 years

Not long ago XC Trains did terminate at Worcestershire Parkway from the north when they closed the line at Cheltenham Spa, even the HSTs for CrossCountry terminated here as well. Don't worry Geoff those announcements happens to myself when you want to talk on camera as well and they are annoying but Worcestershire Parkway is a usual station if you want to split ticket towards Gloucester/Cardiff/Bristol. Awesome video Geoff and the sunglasses looked cool on you!

I used to go past this all the time when going to Birmingham for work before THE EVENT. Not been there since which is a pity

WOP provides a handy extra option when commuting out of Birmingham towards Worcester and Hereford if there are cancellations on the WMR line. There is one weekday evening train where you have 5 minutes to switch to the GWR platform and continue your journey. I agree though this would be a much more useful station if the SW/NE line trains also stopped there.

Incidentally, by splitting tickets it can work out cheaper to do Reading-Cheltenham via WP than via Swindon!

That bridge must have replaced a former foot crossing, as the pre-existing footpath takes you to the nearby village of Norton and is a nice walk. The day I was there a few weeks ago there were up to 4 hour service intervals from the low level platforms due to both planned and unplanned cancellations on Cross Country due to staff covid abscences. A huge and empty station. Maybe you didn't find them but there are also toilets there just inside the entrance.

Trust Geoff to come up with a cozy euphemism for the Pandemic and give us niche references but we Stan him, just as he is.

Worcestershire Parkway..... ah! Such memories! overnight in a hotel in Pershore (evening meal a brilliant curry at Jimmy Pickles) early alarm call to race down to the station. Security fencing still up, but managed to get in as soon as it was removed, but couldn't get in to the station, until I got chatting to some senior Railway guy who happened to know one of my ex-colleagues. After explaining my quest, he kindly let me in so I got the very first tickets from the self service machines. The booking office machines were not open, so I queued at the one they said would open first, and managed to get the first ticket from there..... I think the same guy opened the adjacent window, so another first. At the same time, the third window opened and my ticket got stuck in the new, uncleaned tray at the one where I was. Due to this I narrowly missed getting the first ticket from the last remaining window; I had to settle for the second ticket, as the punter was a genuine passenger who declined my offer of buying it! Managed to get the very first one from Kintore too. Oh, and the two Soham machines.

My goodness me I shouldn't enjoy these videos as much as I do. But I bloody love trains

Having spent MANY hours at parkway (a couple of times as a result of very long connection delays) I have never found the entrance to that doorway. Yes, I have seen it abs wonders from the platform 2, but now I know. Will seek it out next time I am there. Was a Cheltenham a couple of days ago, probably just missed you Geoff, would have bought you a cup of tea.

I'm surprised you didn't count all the steps at that station!! Interesting that it's call Worcestershire PW. How many other stations with a county in the name? Surrey Quays....anymore? Looking forward to tomorrows video.

Gods own county 😜👌🏻 Shame I have missed out on an autograph and photo though 😕

Gatwick airport's rooftop logo is customer-facing because it's an airport. I reckon the footbridge is to allow access to the rear of the station when the station is closed.

This station made a regular journey of mine much, much shorter when it finally opened. For a few weeks it was great and I thought I would visit frequently - but since 'the event' I haven't needed it since.

Nice to see two bin bags blowing in the breeze! #binbagshot Great intro by the way Geoff 👍🏻😀

Trains to Cardiff always tend to be 3 carriage turbo star 170s at least from what I have seen as I frequently use them going towards Birmingham New Street from Tamworth on the same line. The only time there tends to be longer trains when they're going to Plymouth or Reading or Edinburgh in the other direction. Not been using the trains as much recently since the train fare went up to £9.30 for a 20 minute journey.

That jacket swap at 4:57 was smooth 😂

I’m so happy you have visited after a long time since it has been open! As a local to the station, trains to Cardiff are the only benefit IMO

I passed through last summer on a GWR train to Worcester. I was firstly amazed at the size , then momentarily worried that this was actually Worcester till I saw Worcestershire Parkway signs and rechecked NR enquiries app.

It's a great addition to the network, with the right connections its possible to do Birmingham-Worcester Foregate St in 40 mins or so. The big drawback is the very limited bus service, if you're travelling in the late afternoon and your connection is cancelled you may well have to get a taxi/90 min walk into Worcester to get onto the Hereford-Birmingham/Worcester-Kidderminster-Birmingham line.

Ah....so it was you're bloody fault Geoff.....welcoming in spring indeed......freezing and snowy returns !!!

For some reason, the song "Worcestershire Stairway" has the tune to "Waterloo Sunset" in my head

Nice one Geoff, good to se a new mini-series. Interesting to see the future-proofing of the station with the longer platforms. Must say it seems to be mostly well thought out, airy and forward thinking, but that exit at the end seems a bit of an unnecessary faff. Small details and all that🙄. And that is definitely a one of the biggest double arrows I’ve seen. I wonder if there will be any build up of industry about the site if it becomes more used? 🤔 Interestingly, as a station that is primarily used as an interchange, it would have fallen foul of Beeching’s criteria for not producing a bough revenue🤔 As for GWR, I’d suggest they will amend the timetable if more people use it. On our line, we had about 12 people a day got off at Stepney Green. As soon as the DLR opened and it was renamed Limehouse, it was suddenly one of our busiest stations, albeit again, it takes very little revenue in itself 🤷🏻‍♂️ Cheers Geoff, nice jingle BTW 😎👍🍻🍀

There’s a double arrow that’s pretty big at Glasgow Queen Streets new front!

It does have waiting areas but it’s hard to get shelter from the wind when trying to wait for a GWR train! The wind just whistled through the main block when I changed there, but then again it was a particularly blustery day!

I visited this station just after it opened, I thought by now they would have opened that coffee kiosk and maybe added ticket barriers but just over two years on its not changed a bit!

1:08 How bizarre. Worcestershire has the well-known abbreviation Worcs, but they didn't use that, they abbreviated Parkway.

It's NOT a Geoff Marshall video without the bin bags in the wind :D Love your videos!

I came to this station before you in Summer 2021 when I did an All The Stations for the West Midlands Metro, when I got on a Cross country Turbostar to get to Birmingham New Street. My dad figured out that it is quicker than getting a West Midlands train from Shrub Hill or Forgate Street, if going to Birmingham.

I went within a few weeks of it opening. It's a good station. I was impressed. 👍

It would be great to see the bicycle parking at each station. Capacity, type of stands, if they're covered or not

I visited there last year. Nice modern station it’s in the middle of nowhere yes but is great for trains car parking bus interchange. It’s ashame they don’t have a coffee shop that’s the only thing the station is missing.

These two reminded me of two brothers out about on The Railways, especially when they swapped jackets during the video.

If I had to guess the stepped footbridge was probably built as a legal requirement due to a right of way that needed to cross the line. You can close a right of way but it’s super legally complicated so I imagine it was cheaper to build that footbridge.

It's useful, but given a choice between a half hour changeover time at Parkway and 45 minutes at Foregate Street I went for Foregate Street. At least there is somewhere to get a cup of coffee (several places if you go out of the station).

Surely the album is Parkway to Heaven ?

When are you going to Horden Peterlee? Need someone to show you around? 😂 (p.s. Id hire security haha)

Welcome to Worcester Geoff I travel to Worcester for work I usually go via shrub hill or Foregate street I've passed through the parkway when going to Evesham and Pershore always seems quiet I know many GWR Paddington and Hereford trains go there

Geoff the footbridge did replace a foot crossing approximately where the waiting shelter is on platform 1 now, so they put the bridge in to reinstate that. You should have also mentioned the whole part of the business case of the station is to support the 5000 new homes to be built all around it. Will be interesting to see impact this has on passenger numbers.

I use the Cardiff - Nottingham service to get to uni city and home ( Chepstow-Nottingham ) services are either 2 or 3 car 170s and are always busy. Used it today.

It gives off a 1970s polytechnic vibe.

Nor sure about the double arrow on the wall logo being the biggest in the country, the entire station looks like one big double arrow from the air...that footbridge anyway!

That goes through my hometown of Burton on Trent ☺️

2:38. I find it kinda funny how we all just say things like "the event" or "the virus" or similar phrases and we all just know what we're on about lol

love this series idea

There is an similar issue at Sheffield, the station doesn't want passing foot traffic using the bridges that access the station. Maybe they need to build a similar bedige, not sure where they could build it though.

The Intro Sequence is quite cool.

I love for the edit you changed coats since you swapped seats when appearing on the other platform 4:56

Loved to see Rob again

That's interesting, the time I went there in autumn 2021 the high level GWR platform was closed due to a storm, but its open in this video.

When engineering works took place between Gloucester and Cheltenham on 27th March I picked up a 7 car XC HST to Birmingham from this station, so it can serve XC hst's aswell

The Cardiff -Nottingham service is always 170s.

You sadly missed the most exciting part of the station Geoff. The secret seating area with jazzy wall decorations and a leaflet stand! I only found the place on my second visit.

Loved the Mitchell&Webb reference haha. Have you checked out the new station building at Coventry?

Worcestershire Parkway also gets the GWR IETS from Paddington Geoff

Great video Geoff and nice to see Rob again! Looking forward to the rest of the series and especially Robroyston which is just up the road from me

Love the teleportation jacket swap

My favourite station! Great vid Geoff!