Evesham
Evesham in Operation
Fri 18th May, 2001
Sat 19th May, 2001
Sun 20th May,2001
Special Guests
4472 "Flying Scotsman"
5029 "Nunney Castle"
60009 "Union of South Africa"
Evesham station from the High Street road bridge, looking towards Worcester, on the 18th May 2001
The railways first came to Evesham in May 1852, with the arrival of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway at the north end of the town. Its central location in an area renowned for its fruit and vegetable growing, Evesham was kept busy with freight going out and land workers coming in, as well as passenger traffic generated by Evesham's reputation as a centre of tourism.
Evesham became a major player in the railway network with the arrival of the branch from Ashchurch in 1866, with the Midland Railway giving the GWR some competition. With the completion of the line to Redditch, Evesham now had a route north and south out of the town as well as east and west, and a more direct route for goods to Birmingham and the north. The Midland station was right next to the GWR station, but Evesham would not become a junction as such until the middle of the 20th century when a through link allowing transfer between lines was installed. This was only necessary as a diversionary route for the Stratford-Cheltenham line.
Evesham had a small engine shed, classed as a subshed of Worcester, and quite impressive goods facilities, with a goods yard to the west of the stations. The GWR line maintained an approximate east-west heading through the town, with the MR swinging round from the North from Redditch, over the the GWR line just east of the station, and then swinging round to the south towards Ashchurch. Both lines went under the main road to Birmingham before arriving in the station complex, with "The Railway Hotel" situated opposite the station entrance between the two lines. The Midland approach from the east was quite steep and the author's father, who lived next to the railway lines after the Second World War, remembers the sounds of northbound trains struggling up the bank, even with banking assistance. Even worse was the occasional jammed whistle, especially at night.
The railways of Evesham were severely rationalised during the 1960's. The MR line was closed completely by 1964 and the GWR line survived by the skin of its teeth, with Evesham losing all goods facilities and the GWR line being reduced to single track. Today, all that remains is the GWR station, the signal box on the west of the town and a few rarely used sidings. The MR station is now owned by a local business and the MR trackbed is now a series of housing estates, including the road the author lives in, built on the trackbed of the MR line immediately east of the station. The goods yards to the west of the station now contain and industrial estate and a supermarket. Apart from the station building, there are a few traces of the MR in Evesham, most notably the bridge abutments over the remaining line and the River Avon west of the station.