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'Rugby railway station' serves the town of Rugby in Warwickshire, England. It opened during the Victorian era, in 1885, replacing earlier stations situated a little further west. Since the closure of the station on the now-abandoned Great Central Railway route through the town, it is Rugby's only station.
Situated on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) connecting London to Birmingham and the North West, the present station, managed by Virgin Trains, is located roughly half a mile north of Rugby town centre. On the WCML as a whole, it is located 82 miles north of London Euston, and 319 miles south of Glasgow Central.
Main line train services into Rugby are operated by Virgin Trains and local services by Central Trains. There are regular services to London, Birmingham, Northampton, the North West, and a limited direct service to Glasgow.

Contents

History

The present station

Present upgrade

Services

Rugby Central Station

See also

Reference

External links

History

The first railway station to be built in Rugby was a wooden temporary structure located around half a mile to the west of the present station. It opened in 1838 when the London and Birmingham Railway was constructed.
This station lasted only a few years. When a junction was made with the Midland Counties Railway in 1840 a new station was built nearer the present station site although still slightly to the west.
The original station had been located at the point where the railway crossed the Rugby to Leicester tollpike road (now the A426) because at the time this was the only road north from Rugby. When the second station was opened, a new road ''Railway Terrace'' had to be built to link it to the town centre.
This second station was effectively managed by two companies - the London and North Western Railway and the Midland Railway - and for this reason grew up in a haphazard fashion. It was at first no more than a temporary wooden structure, but was rebuilt in brick in 1850. This station consisted of platforms at each side of the track with one bay platform. The platforms were rather low and passengers complained of having to perform an "acrobatic feat" to board trains.
The station was at the centre of a busy junction and often saw chaotic scenes. It featured, only lightly disguised, in Charles Dickens's story ''Mugby Junction''.

The present station

The second station lasted until the 1880s, when a new line from Rugby to Northampton was built, and it was replaced by the current station which opened in 1885. The station is also a major junction and interchange point on the WCML, being the point where both the Birmingham and Trent Valley sections converge, as well as the point where the Northampton loop diverges from the southbound route towards Euston.
Today's station consists of one large island platform with tracks on both sides and bay platforms at each end, two at the north end and one at the south. There is also a platform on the south side solely for Birmingham-Bound Services. The island platform is accessed from a tunnel at road level and a ramp leading to the platforms.
The station was noted for an unusual feature, the scissors cross-over which allowed two trains to be in one platform at the same time. The scissors cross-over was an "X" shaped junction which allowed one train to pass another one already in the platform, and call into the same platform ahead of it, and allowed the train to the rear to pull out of the station.
For this reason the station has one of the longest platforms of any British railway station. The scissors cross-overs were taken out of use when the railway was electrified in the 1960s.
At its height, as well as the West Coast Main Line, Rugby station served railway lines to Leicester, Leamington Spa, and Peterborough via Market Harborough. In the 1960s all but the West Coast line were closed as part of the Beeching Axe.
When constructed the station had a large steel and glass roof which covered the station platforms and the tracks on eack side. This lasted more than 100 years until the structure became unstable and was replaced in the early 2000s with a modern 'gull wing' roof over the platforms.
In 1899 a second station, Rugby Central, was opened in Rugby (see below). To distinguish it from the other station, the present station became known as 'Rugby Midland'. Rugby Central closed in 1969, and Rugby Midland reverted to being called just 'Rugby' in 1975.
As a part of the West Coast Main Line modernisation programme, new platforms are being added on both sides of the line at Rugby. It was at one time thought that remodelling of the track layout would entail complete demolition of the present station, but the final plans involved retention of the existing island platform and buildings, but with a new booking hall and ticket office; these works are well in advance and are expected to be finished in 2008. The track upgrades will allow non-stopping trains to run through Rugby Junction at 125mph, thus eliminating another bottleneck from the WCML.

Present upgrade

Currently as of 2007 Rugby station is undergoing a major upgrade ^[1] which will see three new platforms added to the station, and a new ticket office and entrance. Work began in September 2006 and is due to be completed late in 2008.
The new platform on the south side of the station opened for use on May 29 2007 and as a result all of the platforms have now been renumbered. The new platform has become Platform 1, the former Platform 1 has become Platform 2 and 2 has become 4. The new platforms on the north side of the station will be numbered Platforms 5 and 6. The current Platform 8 will become Platform 3 and the current Platforms 3, 6 and 7 will be removed. Platform 8 will be temporarily out of use until September 2007.

Services

Since 27 September 2004 Silverlink trains have ceased to serve Rugby, that company's services from London now terminating at Northampton. Local services from Northampton to Coventry and Birmingham are now provided by Central Trains. In the period extending to 2008, major track restructuring work is due to be carried out to allow higher speed running through Rugby. The station gets one Virgin West Coast train to/from London per hour, usually a Glasgow or Preston service, with a few additional trains, mainly during the peaks.

Rugby Central Station

Main articles: Rugby Central Railway Station


Rugby Central was Rugby's station on the Great Central Main Line which opened in 1899 and closed in 1969. When it was open, the station had services between London (Marylebone) and Sheffield via Leicester and Nottingham until closure of most of the route in 1966. The section between Rugby Central and Nottingham (initially Victoria, later cut back to Arkwright Street) remained open until 1969. This service was unusual in being self contained - none of the stations were used by trains on any other service.
Rugby Central was situated on Hillmorton Road roughly half a mile east of the town centre. It was a much smaller and less important affair than Midland Station, although it too consisted of an island platform.
The booking office was located at road level, built onto the side of the road bridge over the railway with the platform below. The platform was accessed by a staircase from the booking office.
The station buildings were demolished upon closure, although the platform still exists and can still be seen. The whole of the former Great Central Railway alignment through Rugby is now a nature walk called the 'Great Central Way'.
On the preserved Great Central Railway in Leicestershire, the preserved station at Loughborough is very similar to the former Rugby Central Station.

See also

★ Rugby Central railway station

Reference

1. BBC coventry and Warwickshire


★ ''Rugby's Railway Heritage'' by Peter H Elliot (1985) ISBN 0-907917-06-2

External links

★ Rugby Station at warwickshirerailways.com