Leamington to Rugby line
Encyclopedia
The railway from Rugby
to Leamington Spa
was a 15-mile branch line
built by the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) and opened in 1851
The branch connected Leamington with the mainline from London
to Birmingham
(now the West Coast Main Line
which had been opened in 1838
by the LNWR's predecessor, the London & Birmingham Railway (L&BR).
for the railway received Royal Assent
on 13 August 1846. The undertaking was sold to the LNWR on 17 November 1846.
However, the line from Rugby was not the first to reach Leamington. The L&BR had opened a branch from its mainline at Coventry
in 1844
which terminated at Milverton
, midway between Leamington and Warwick
. This terminal station was originally called Leamington despite being a mile from the town. When the LNWR line from Rugby was built in 1851, it extended west of Leamington crossing the River Leam
on a stone viaduct
to make an end-on connection to the branch from Coventry.
Meanwhile, however, the Great Western Railway
(GWR) Oxford to Birmingham line was being constructed through Leamington and the line from Rugby ran parallel to it. The GWR's original Leamington station opened in
1852
and its successor on the same site is still open today. Two years later, the LNWR opened its own station alongside the GWR station. The LNWR's station was north of the GWR's and at a slightly lower level. This new station was named Leamington Avenue and the former LNWR terminus on the line from Coventry was renamed Warwick (Milverton).
The line from Rugby to Leamington opened throughout on 1 March 1851. It was originally built as single track
but as traffic grew the line was doubled
in stages from Rugby: by January 1884
the whole route to Milverton was double track. The lines were designated Up to Rugby and Down to Leamington.
The Leamington branch diverged from the LNWR mainline half-a-mile west of Rugby station
at Trent Valley Junction. Local trains for Leamington used the down (north) end bay platforms
at Rugby. At the other end of the line, services from Rugby ran through to Warwick (Milverton) and this practice continued until closure because the loco shed
and servicing depot for the Rugby-Leamington-Coventry lines was at Milverton.
In 1895, a junction was constructed when the single track line from Weedon
to Daventry
was extended westward to join the Rugby to Leamington line. Marton Junction was two miles west of Marton
station in a deep cutting through a ridge of high ground. The junction remained in use until the withdrawal in the mid-1980s of the infrequent freight trains supplying the Rugby Portland Cement Company's works beside the line near Long Itchington
.
Before that, however, regular passenger services on the Rugby to Leamington line had been withdrawn in June 1959 (although diverted passenger services occasionally used the line after this date). General goods traffic lasted a few years longer but the line closed as a through route in the mid-1960s. However, as noted above, the line from Rugby as far as Marton Junction (together with the first three miles of the line towards Weedon) remained open until freight services to the cement works finished.
and Marton
opened when the line was built. Dunchurch
station was built twenty years later and opened in October 1871.
Birdingbury station closed as early as 1953 but the other two stations remained open until the end of regular freight services in the early 1960s.
The station houses at Dunchurch and Birdingbury are now private residences (even the platforms are still in place at Birdingbury) but there is little trace of Marton station itself and a small industrial estate occupies the site.
after which it swung west for the last five miles into Leamington. Most of the route was straight and lightly graded
. For the first few miles out of Rugby the line was mainly routed in shallow cuttings but west of Birdingbury
it crossed the River Leam
on a low viaduct. From there it ran across the flat open expanse of Marton Moor before cutting through high ground to follow the valley of the River Leam for the last few miles.
The route had three civil engineering
features of note: the deep cutting at Marton Junction; the lofty wrought-iron
bridge spanning the cutting; and the viaduct over the canal near Radford Semele
.
The cutting, approximately 60 feet deep, took the line through a north-south ridge of high ground south of Hunningham. An ancient track
, Ridgeway Lane, ran along the top of the ridge and met the cutting at its deepest point so the LNWR built a single-span wrought-iron trussed lattice girder bridge to carry the lane over the railway. At the time it was built (1851) this was the longest such bridge ever constructed. In later years, four lattice columns and cross-ties were added to reinforce the original structure. Known locally as 'the high bridge', this impressive example of Victorian civil engineering is still standing.
Two miles further west, the handsome five-arch brick-built Offchurch
Viaduct carried the route over the Grand Union Canal
and adjacent low ground: the arch above the canal itself was built with skewed courses
. The viaduct still stands although the trackbed across it is fenced off.
Much of the dismantled trackbed is intact but only a few sections are public rights of way. The trackbed from Draycote
(southwest of the former Dunchurch station) to Birdingbury
has been surfaced by Sustrans
as part of National Cycle Network
Route 41 http://www.sustrans.org.uk/what-we-do/national-cycle-network/route-numbering-system/68. The long straight stretch of trackbed from the A423
across Marton Moor to the cutting near Hunningham
is mostly clear of undergrowth but can be very muddy in winter.
Further west, the stretch of trackbed from the Fosse Way
to the Grand Union Canal
, titled 'Offchurch Greenway' http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/94BDEFED31F9DCAE80256B7D00502F00 and also part of Route 41, is well surfaced and maintained. West of the canal, the trackbed is on private land as far as the A425
road and beyond that most of the old railway has been built over.
Rugby railway station
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...
to Leamington Spa
Leamington Spa
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or Leamington or Leam to locals, is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. Formerly known as Leamington Priors, its expansion began following the popularisation of the medicinal qualities of its water by Dr Kerr in 1784, and by Dr Lambe...
was a 15-mile branch line
Branch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...
built by the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) and opened in 1851
1851 in the United Kingdom
Events from the year 1851 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Lord John Russell, Liberal-Events:...
The branch connected Leamington with the mainline from London
Euston railway station
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...
to Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
(now the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...
which had been opened in 1838
1838 in the United Kingdom
Events from the year 1838 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Lord Melbourne, Whig-Events:* 10 January — A fire destroys Lloyd's Coffee House and the Royal Exchange in London....
by the LNWR's predecessor, the London & Birmingham Railway (L&BR).
History
The original proposal for the line was put forward by the Rugby, Leamington and Warwick Railway Company (which soon became the Rugby and Leamington Railway). The ActAct of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
for the railway received Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
on 13 August 1846. The undertaking was sold to the LNWR on 17 November 1846.
However, the line from Rugby was not the first to reach Leamington. The L&BR had opened a branch from its mainline at Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
in 1844
1844 in the United Kingdom
Events from the year 1844 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Robert Peel, Conservative-Events:* 28 February — The Grand National at Aintree is won by the 5/1 joint favourite Discount....
which terminated at Milverton
Milverton
Milverton is the name of several places, each deriving its name from the county of Somerset:-People:*Arthur Richards, 1st Baron Milverton*Charles Augustus Milverton, fictional character in The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton by Arthur Conan Doyle...
, midway between Leamington and Warwick
Warwick
Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England. The town lies upon the River Avon, south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 23,350...
. This terminal station was originally called Leamington despite being a mile from the town. When the LNWR line from Rugby was built in 1851, it extended west of Leamington crossing the River Leam
River Leam
The River Leam is a river which flows through eastern and southern Warwickshire. It is a small river about 25–30 miles long. The town of Leamington Spa lies on, and is named after, the River Leam....
on a stone viaduct
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...
to make an end-on connection to the branch from Coventry.
Meanwhile, however, the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
(GWR) Oxford to Birmingham line was being constructed through Leamington and the line from Rugby ran parallel to it. The GWR's original Leamington station opened in
1852
1852 in the United Kingdom
Events from the year 1852 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Earl Russell, Liberal , Earl of Derby, Conservative , Earl of Aberdeen, Peelite-Events:...
and its successor on the same site is still open today. Two years later, the LNWR opened its own station alongside the GWR station. The LNWR's station was north of the GWR's and at a slightly lower level. This new station was named Leamington Avenue and the former LNWR terminus on the line from Coventry was renamed Warwick (Milverton).
The line from Rugby to Leamington opened throughout on 1 March 1851. It was originally built as single track
Single track (rail)
A single track railway is where trains in both directions share the same track. Single track is normally used on lesser used rail lines, often branch lines, where the traffic density is not high enough to justify the cost of building double tracks....
but as traffic grew the line was doubled
Double track
A double track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.- Overview :...
in stages from Rugby: by January 1884
1884 in the United Kingdom
Events from the year 1884 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:* 4 January — The Fabian Society is founded in London....
the whole route to Milverton was double track. The lines were designated Up to Rugby and Down to Leamington.
The Leamington branch diverged from the LNWR mainline half-a-mile west of Rugby station
Rugby railway station
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...
at Trent Valley Junction. Local trains for Leamington used the down (north) end bay platforms
Bay platform
Bay platform is a railway-related term commonly used in the UK and Australia to describe a dead-end platform at a railway station that has through lines...
at Rugby. At the other end of the line, services from Rugby ran through to Warwick (Milverton) and this practice continued until closure because the loco shed
Motive power depot
Motive power depot, usually abbreviated to MPD, is a name given to places where locomotives are stored when not being used, and also repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds", or, for short, just sheds. Facilities are provided for refuelling and...
and servicing depot for the Rugby-Leamington-Coventry lines was at Milverton.
In 1895, a junction was constructed when the single track line from Weedon
Weedon railway station
Weedon railway station was a railway station situated to the north of and serving the village of Weedon and the Weedon Royal Ordnance Depot in Northamptonshire, England. On the West Coast Mainline the station was the start of the Weedon to Leamington Spa line...
to Daventry
Daventry railway station
Daventry was a railway station serving the town of Daventry in Northamptonshire, England. It was on the Weedon to Leamington Spa line. In 1888 a branch from the main line at Weedon reached the town...
was extended westward to join the Rugby to Leamington line. Marton Junction was two miles west of Marton
Marton, Warwickshire
Marton is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. The village is part of the borough of Rugby and in the 2001 census had a population of 484....
station in a deep cutting through a ridge of high ground. The junction remained in use until the withdrawal in the mid-1980s of the infrequent freight trains supplying the Rugby Portland Cement Company's works beside the line near Long Itchington
Long Itchington
Long Itchington is a large village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. In the 2001 census it had a population of 2,161. The village is named after the River Itchen which flows to the south and west of the village....
.
Before that, however, regular passenger services on the Rugby to Leamington line had been withdrawn in June 1959 (although diverted passenger services occasionally used the line after this date). General goods traffic lasted a few years longer but the line closed as a through route in the mid-1960s. However, as noted above, the line from Rugby as far as Marton Junction (together with the first three miles of the line towards Weedon) remained open until freight services to the cement works finished.
Stations
There were three intermediate stations between Rugby and Leamington Avenue. The stations at BirdingburyBirdingbury railway station
Birdingbury railway station was a railway station serving Birdingbury in the English county of Warwickshire on the Rugby to Leamington line.Among the many schemes to build a line between Rugby and Leamington was one by the Rugby, Leamington and Warwick Railway Company. This later became known as...
and Marton
Marton, Warwickshire railway station
Marton railway station was a railway station serving Marton in the English county of Warwickshire on the Rugby to Leamington line.Among the many schemes to build a line between Rugby and Leamington was one by the Rugby, Leamington and Warwick Railway Company. This later became known as the Rugby...
opened when the line was built. Dunchurch
Dunchurch railway station
Dunchurch railway station was a railway station serving Dunchurch in the English county of Warwickshire on the Rugby to Leamington line.Among the many schemes to build a line between Rugby and Leamington was one by the Rugby, Leamington and Warwick Railway Company. This later became known as the...
station was built twenty years later and opened in October 1871.
Birdingbury station closed as early as 1953 but the other two stations remained open until the end of regular freight services in the early 1960s.
The station houses at Dunchurch and Birdingbury are now private residences (even the platforms are still in place at Birdingbury) but there is little trace of Marton station itself and a small industrial estate occupies the site.
Route
From Rugby, the general course of the line was southwest as far as HunninghamHunningham
Hunningham is a small village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. It is found 3 miles to the north-east of Leamington Spa, within the Radford Semele ward. In 2005 the village population was 198....
after which it swung west for the last five miles into Leamington. Most of the route was straight and lightly graded
Ruling gradient
The term "ruling grade" is usually used as a synonym for "steepest climb" between two points on a railroad. But if the steepest climb is, say, a quarter-mile of 2% upgrade preceded and followed by 1.5% grade the "ruling grade" can only be defined arbitrarily....
. For the first few miles out of Rugby the line was mainly routed in shallow cuttings but west of Birdingbury
Birdingbury
Birdingbury is a village and civil parish in the Rugby district of Warwickshire, England, just south of the River Leam, and not far from Draycote Water. It is located roughly half way between Rugby and Leamington Spa, about eight miles from each. According to the 2001 census it had a population of...
it crossed the River Leam
River Leam
The River Leam is a river which flows through eastern and southern Warwickshire. It is a small river about 25–30 miles long. The town of Leamington Spa lies on, and is named after, the River Leam....
on a low viaduct. From there it ran across the flat open expanse of Marton Moor before cutting through high ground to follow the valley of the River Leam for the last few miles.
The route had three civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
features of note: the deep cutting at Marton Junction; the lofty wrought-iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
bridge spanning the cutting; and the viaduct over the canal near Radford Semele
Radford Semele
Radford Semele is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, close to the town of Leamington Spa. According to the 2001 UK census, Radford Semele parish had a population of 2,034. It lies to the east of Leamington, on the A425 road between Leamington and Southam. It has a 16th century pub...
.
The cutting, approximately 60 feet deep, took the line through a north-south ridge of high ground south of Hunningham. An ancient track
Ridgeway (track)
Ridgeways are a particular type of ancient road that exploits the hard surface of hilltop ridges for use as unpaved, zero-maintenance roads, though they often have the disadvantage of steeper gradients along their courses, and sometimes quite narrow widths. Before the advent of turnpikes or toll...
, Ridgeway Lane, ran along the top of the ridge and met the cutting at its deepest point so the LNWR built a single-span wrought-iron trussed lattice girder bridge to carry the lane over the railway. At the time it was built (1851) this was the longest such bridge ever constructed. In later years, four lattice columns and cross-ties were added to reinforce the original structure. Known locally as 'the high bridge', this impressive example of Victorian civil engineering is still standing.
Two miles further west, the handsome five-arch brick-built Offchurch
Offchurch
Offchurch is a village and civil parish on the River Leam, east of Leamington Spa in Warwickshire.-History:There is a possibility that it was home to Offa, who was King of Mercia from 757 to 796. King Offa had a church built in the village...
Viaduct carried the route over the Grand Union Canal
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. Its main line connects London and Birmingham, stretching for 137 miles with 166 locks...
and adjacent low ground: the arch above the canal itself was built with skewed courses
Skew arch
A skew arch is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and its plan view being a parallelogram, rather than the rectangle that is the plan view of...
. The viaduct still stands although the trackbed across it is fenced off.
The line today
At the Rugby end of the line the first half-mile of track is still in use as a siding. The rest of the line has been dismantled and no track remains.Much of the dismantled trackbed is intact but only a few sections are public rights of way. The trackbed from Draycote
Draycote
Draycote is a small hamlet in Warwickshire, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Bourton and Draycote along with nearby Bourton-on-Dunsmore, which is located around half a mile to the west, uphill from Draycote....
(southwest of the former Dunchurch station) to Birdingbury
Birdingbury
Birdingbury is a village and civil parish in the Rugby district of Warwickshire, England, just south of the River Leam, and not far from Draycote Water. It is located roughly half way between Rugby and Leamington Spa, about eight miles from each. According to the 2001 census it had a population of...
has been surfaced by Sustrans
Sustrans
Sustrans is a British charity to promote sustainable transport. The charity is currently working on a number of practical projects to encourage people to walk, cycle and use public transport, to give people the choice of "travelling in ways that benefit their health and the environment"...
as part of National Cycle Network
National Cycle Network
The National Cycle Network is a network of cycle routes in the United Kingdom.The National Cycle Network was created by the charity Sustrans , and aided by a £42.5 million National Lottery grant. In 2005 it was used for over 230 million trips.Many routes hope to minimise contact with motor...
Route 41 http://www.sustrans.org.uk/what-we-do/national-cycle-network/route-numbering-system/68. The long straight stretch of trackbed from the A423
A423 road
The A423 road is a primary A road in England which leads from central Banbury to the A45 near Coventry. It starts in Banbury town centre as Southam Road and goes through the Southam Road Industrial Estate, then just north of Banbury it crosses over the M40, from there it passes close to several...
across Marton Moor to the cutting near Hunningham
Hunningham
Hunningham is a small village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. It is found 3 miles to the north-east of Leamington Spa, within the Radford Semele ward. In 2005 the village population was 198....
is mostly clear of undergrowth but can be very muddy in winter.
Further west, the stretch of trackbed from the Fosse Way
Fosse Way
The Fosse Way was a Roman road in England that linked Exeter in South West England to Lincoln in Lincolnshire, via Ilchester , Bath , Cirencester and Leicester .It joined Akeman Street and Ermin Way at Cirencester, crossed Watling Street at Venonis south...
to the Grand Union Canal
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. Its main line connects London and Birmingham, stretching for 137 miles with 166 locks...
, titled 'Offchurch Greenway' http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/94BDEFED31F9DCAE80256B7D00502F00 and also part of Route 41, is well surfaced and maintained. West of the canal, the trackbed is on private land as far as the A425
A425 road
The A425 road is an A road in England, which runs between Daventry in Northamptonshire and Warwick in Warwickshire via Staverton, Lower Shuckburgh and Southam.At Southam it links with the A426 as well as the A423....
road and beyond that most of the old railway has been built over.
See also
- Weedon to Leamington Spa lineWeedon to Leamington Spa lineThe Weedon to Marton Junction line was a rural branch line that linked the West Coast Main Line at Weedon to Leamington Spa.-History:The single track line was constructed in two phases. First a branch from the West Coast Main Line at Weedon to Daventry was constructed in 1888...
- Leamington Spa railway stationLeamington Spa railway stationLeamington Spa railway station serves the town of Leamington Spa, in Warwickshire, England. It is situated on Old Warwick Road towards the southern edge of the town centre.-History:...
- Coventry to Leamington lineCoventry to Leamington lineThe Coventry to Leamington Line is a railway line linking the city of Coventry with the town of Leamington Spa. The line was opened in 1844 by the LNWR. A connecting line to Berkswell opened in 1884....