This Video is Property of Richard Chalklin!

2160p 4K HD!

A busy morning at Stafford Station on Saturday 1st February 2020. Also including the extremely late running Caledonian Sleeper run having failed at Abington Loops at 2am!

Stafford info:

Stafford railway station is the only railway station in Stafford, Staffordshire, England, and is the second busiest railway station in Staffordshire, after StokeonTrent. The station serves the county town, as well as surrounding villages. The station lies on the junction of the Trent Valley Line and the RugbyBirminghamStafford Line.

Stafford station also formerly served the now defunct Stafford to Uttoxeter and Stafford to Shrewsbury Lines.

The current station building was built in 1962, and is the fourth station to have existed on this site. The interior of the station was refurbished in 2015, which allowed the station to have a new WH Smiths store, and an improved ticket office.

History:

The first station was built by the Grand Junction Railway and opened in July 1837. It soon became inadequate and was replaced by a second station in 1844. A third station was built in 1862 which was eventually replaced by the current concrete Brutalist building in 1962, built as part of the modernisation programme which saw the electrification of the West Coast Main Line.

Lines originally built by the Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway and the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company (to Shrewsbury) also used the station. The Stafford to Uttoxeter line closed to passenger traffic in 1939, with the Shrewsbury line closing as part of the Beeching Axe in 1964.

Following the rebuilding of the station between 1961 and 1962 by the architect William Robert Headley, Isabel, a narrow gauge engine built by local firm W.G. Bagnall stood on a plinth on the opposite side of Station Road at the junction of Railway Street, until it was removed in the mid1980s and is now on the Amerton Railway.

Incidents and accidents:

Two accidents have happened at Stafford since 1990:

On 4 August 1990, an outofservice train heading to a depot in Birmingham crashed into the back of an express train bound for Penzance on Platform 4 at Stafford station. The driver was killed and 36 people were injured.
On 8 March 1996, a mail train collided with a freight train carrying liquid carbon dioxide just south of Stafford. A mail sorter was killed and another 22 people were injured. The mail train locomotive was catapulted up the embankment and came to rest against a house.

The station today:

There are five platforms in use at the station, all of which are accessible from either of the main lines that converge from the south.[9] Platform 1 is usually used for services to London Euston, and platform 3 is usually used for services from London Euston towards Liverpool and Crewe. Platform 4 is usually used for trains towards Birmingham New Street, and the West of England. Platform 5 is usually used for services from towards Manchester, and Wales. Finally, platform 6 is usually used for trains starting/terminating towards/from London Euston, Birmingham New Street, Northampton, StokeonTrent, Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street.

The Stafford Area Improvements programme meant that trains are no longer bound to a platform based upon direction of travel, and trains can now use any platform, regardless of direction.

Current facilities:

Currently the station has many facilities which are typical of those across the Avanti West Coast Network, such as a ticket office, toilets, car park, coffee shop, and newsagent.

Services:

From the south, two branches of the West Coast Main Line meet here: the Trent Valley Line and the Birmingham line. To the north, the trunk of the line continues towards Crewe, whilst the Manchester branch goes on to StokeonTrent.

The station is currently served by three frequent operators (Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry and London North Western) and one less frequent operator Transport for Wales).

Usual off peak services at Stafford follow a pattern such as the one below:

Southbound rail services:

2tph to Birmingham New Street (semifast). Operated by London Northwestern Railway

1tph to London Euston (semifast). Operated by London Northwestern Railway.

1tph to London Euston only. Operated by Avanti West Coast.

1tph to Bournemouth via Coventry and Reading. Operated by CrossCountry.

1tph to Bristol Temple Meads, with some trains continuing to Paignton or Plymouth. Operated by CrossCountry.

Northbound rail services:

1tph to Liverpool Lime Street (fast). Operated by Avanti West Coast.

1tph to Crewe via Stoke. Operated by London Northwestern Railway.

2tph to Liverpool Lime Street (semifast). Operated by London Northwestern Railway.

2tph to Manchester Piccadilly. Operated by CrossCountry.

Other services which do not operate on a regular basis are also present at Stafford, including other Avanti West Coast services and Transport for Wales services.

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