# Worcester Shrub Hill railway station

Worcester Shrub Hill is one of two railway stations serving the city of Worcester, England; the other is Worcester Foregate Street in the city centre. A third, Worcestershire Parkway, is located just outside the city to the south-east. The station is managed by West Midlands Trains, operating here under the West Midlands Railway brand, and is also served by Great Western Railway.

## History

The first station at Shrub Hill was opened in 1850. It was owned jointly by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton and Midland Railways; until 1852 it was used only as a terminus for the latter's services from Birmingham. The present station building was designed by Edward Wilson and built in 1865. It is a Georgian-style building mainly of engineering brick with stone facings. A key feature is the Grade II* waiting room see below. Originally there was also a train shed which was removed circa 1936.
The cast-iron railings on the station staircases remain hidden by boarding. A surviving feature at the station are the Western Region semaphore signals and the almost unique large round main aspect banjo signal located half-way along platform 1.
The London Midland service between Shrub Hill and Gloucester, via Ashchurch for Tewkesbury and Cheltenham Spa, to complement the two-hourly Great Western Railway service was discontinued at the start of the December 2009 railway timetable, due to low passenger usage.

## Railway operations

The station is controlled by Worcester Shrub Hill Signal Box, located at the London (south) end of platform 1. The Worcester area is controlled by another two signal boxes at Henwick (west of Foregate Street) and Tunnel Junction (to the north of Shrub Hill).
Both platforms 1 and 2 can be used in either direction; generally, trains for Foregate Street use platform one and trains towards Oxford and Cheltenham Spa use platform 2. Platform 3 is a small bay that was used mainly for the former Wessex Trains/Wales & West service towards Cheltenham Spa, as it is a small south facing bay platform its use is limited. Trains leaving Shrub Hill for Foregate Street join a single line that ends near Henwick signal box south of Foregate Street station; this is one of the two single lines through Foregate Street station.
Near to the station is Worcester Traincare depot, which is currently operated by West Midlands Trains; it also stables trains at various locations around the station. Great Western Railway also stable some of their diesel multiple units here. The station is home to West Midlands Trains and Great Western Railway's train crew depots. There is also a goods yard, to the north of the station behind platform 2 and 3.

## Services

Worcester Shrub Hill is served by two train operating companies:
* West Midlands Trains operates routes from Worcester to Birmingham, via Kidderminster and Stourbridge Junction. Trains run to Birmingham Snow Hill and Birmingham Moor Street on the via Kidderminster route, with many of the services on it continuing through to either Stratford-upon-Avon or Dorridge. There are also a limited number of trains via Bromsgrove to Birmingham New Street that start or terminate or call here, mainly at peak times or in the early morning/late evening on the Birmingham to Worcester via Bromsgrove line. Most through services between Hereford and New Street otherwise take the direct route between Foregate Street and Droitwich Spa to avoid the need for a reversal.
* Great Western Railway operates an hourly service to and from London Paddington; the majority of these are via the Cotswold Line and Oxford. Other services to and from London operate via Cheltenham Spa, the Gloucester/Swindon line (Golden Valley Line) and the Great Western Main Line via Didcot and Reading. GWR runs services southwards every two hours to Bristol Temple Meads, via Cheltenham and Gloucester, which then mostly continue to either Weymouth or Southampton Central via Westbury. It also run services to Great Malvern and Hereford, via Foregate Street, from Oxford and London.
Being the bigger of the two stations in Worcester, due to its sidings, Worcester Shrub Hill is often used as stabling point for goods trains and locomotives, as well as an overnight stop for some Great Western Railway rolling stock.
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station |
| Worcester Foregate Street or Terminus | West Midlands Railway Worcester Shrub Hill/Hereford/Great Malvern-Birmingham | Droitwich Spa |
| Worcester Foregate Street | West Midlands Railway Hereford/Great Malvern-Shrub Hill | Terminus |
| Worcester Foregate Street | West Midlands Railway Worcester-Birmingham via Kidderminster | Droitwich Spa |
| Worcester Foregate Street | Great Western Railway Cotswold Line | Worcestershire Parkway |
| Worcester Foregate Street | Great Western Railway Worcester-Bristol | Ashchurch for Tewkesbury |

## Waiting room

On platform 2a is the former ladies' waiting room which extends onto the platform. It is a cast-iron frame cast at the Vulcan Iron Works at Worcester. This was a subsidiary of the MacKenzie and Holland signal manufacturing company, located about 200 yards from the station. The exterior is decorated with classical pilasters and covered with majolica ceramic tiles made by Maw and Company of Broseley.
Maw was originally a Worcester-based company, founded in 1850 when they bought the old Chamberlain tile factory; however, in 1852, they moved to Broseley to be nearer their source of clay. In the main, they made encaustic tiles rather than the majolica ceramic tiles used to decorate the waiting room.
In 1873, Wojtczak writes that there was a "Ladies' waiting room attendant called Mrs Dale who earned 10s and that this was the same rate of pay as a Mrs Spencer who was the office cleaner."
It is Grade II* listed and English Heritage placed it on the Buildings at Risk Register in 2003. The official records record that the waiting room was added c1880. In 2005, the register records "The cast iron frame is in need of structural repair. The front wall is leaning out and currently shored up. Preliminary investigative work has been carried out, but repair works were delayed due partly to problem of locating specialist contractors." In April 2005, Network Rail applied for listed building planning consent to restore the waiting room to bring it back into use before the end of 2006. The application gave detail of the work to be carried out, including restoration of the cast-iron work and the sourcing and replacement of the missing ceramic tiles. English Heritage included the waiting room on the 2006 Buildings at Risk Register. Subsequently, restoration work was undertaken and the refurbishment was completed in 2015.