Our Next Meeting ……..
The Alcester Railway Circle is a group of railway enthusiasts from the Warwickshire town of Alcester and the surrounding area.
The group meets monthly for most of the year. The meetings normally consist of a talk on a railway-related subject and a social gathering. The group periodically holds a members evening where members make short presentations or bring along their memorabilia. There is also an annual trip to a preserved railway or other place of interest.
You can get to our meetings by bus from Stratford on Avon (8 miles), Redditch (8 miles) or Evesham (10 miles) but you would need to take a taxi back to the station!. There is no membership fee but we ask for a £2 donation at each meeting. We also invite you to register your details with us so that we can keep in touch.
Alcester formerly had a station on the Birmingham and Gloucester Loop line from Barnt Green to Ashchurch. The section between Redditch and Evesham, including Alcester Station, closed completely in 1964. Alcester was also a junction for a branch to Bearley, between Hatton and Stratford on Avon, which closed completely in 1944. There was also a junction at Broom with the Stratford and Midland Junction Railway. This section closed in 1949. The nearest station now is at Wilmcote, 6 miles away, on the North Warwickshire Line from Stratford on Avon to Birmingham.
A Great Western train arrives from Bearley.
Shortly after closure the booking office and waiting rooms were demolished leaving just the stationmaster’s house and platforms. The house survives to this day, although much extended. Parts of the platforms have also survived.
A quiet interlude at Alcester Station in the 60s
Looking south, sometime in the early 60s
The signalman exchanges the single line token for the single track section to Broom Junction.
The station approach.
A train departs for Evesham and Ashchurch.
The small waiting room on the northbound platform.
The engine shed was situated at the junction with the Great Western branch. It housed the small tank engine serving the branch, and provided a coaling and watering facility.
A Redditch to Evesham train pauses at Alcesrer in 1962