The railway reached Whitacre in 1839 as the Whitacre and Derby Junction line became the main line from Derby to London joining the London to Birmingham Railway at Hampton. This line which was singled from Whitacre to Hampton in 1833 was perhaps one of the first main lines to be downgraded and has fallen out of use by 1917 and was severed when the bridges collapsed around 1935. The remaining ends were not lifted till 1951. The stub of the branch at the Whitacre was still visible in the 1970's but the site of the trackbed is now used as a rail service yard by Network rail.
Whitacre originally had a station in the heath part of the village opposite the Railway public house. This was moved when the Nuneaton line was built in 1865 and Lord Norton of Hams Hall paid for the station to be moved to the junction where it continued to operate till 1968 when it closed. Despite early 1970's proposals it never reopened and the platforms were removed about 1981 to allow the sharp curves to be realigned.
The Swan and Halloughton Grange bridges are early survivors dating from the 1839 main line and to this day remain unaltered. The original Birmingham to Whitacre line joined the Stonebridge Railway ( Whitacre to Hampton) at the current footbridge site where the original Whitacre Station was sited. This line became redundant and lifted in 1865 when the Nuneaton line was built and Whitacre Junction came into being along with the completion of the Hampton section of the Stonebridge line to a lowly backwater.
The line from the old station site to the new junction originally has two loop lines making this a very busy stretch. Perhaps this was downgraded a little with the opening in 1909 of the Water Orton to Kingsbury relief line making this section the main line to Derby. In modern times Coleshill Parkway is now the nearest open station with services to Birmingham New Street.
Whitacre originally had a station in the heath part of the village opposite the Railway public house. This was moved when the Nuneaton line was built in 1865 and Lord Norton of Hams Hall paid for the station to be moved to the junction where it continued to operate till 1968 when it closed. Despite early 1970's proposals it never reopened and the platforms were removed about 1981 to allow the sharp curves to be realigned.
The Swan and Halloughton Grange bridges are early survivors dating from the 1839 main line and to this day remain unaltered. The original Birmingham to Whitacre line joined the Stonebridge Railway ( Whitacre to Hampton) at the current footbridge site where the original Whitacre Station was sited. This line became redundant and lifted in 1865 when the Nuneaton line was built and Whitacre Junction came into being along with the completion of the Hampton section of the Stonebridge line to a lowly backwater.
The line from the old station site to the new junction originally has two loop lines making this a very busy stretch. Perhaps this was downgraded a little with the opening in 1909 of the Water Orton to Kingsbury relief line making this section the main line to Derby. In modern times Coleshill Parkway is now the nearest open station with services to Birmingham New Street.
Lifting of the last loop line 1983
Traffic continued to use this down loop to allow extra capacity into the 1980's but it was taken out of use by 1982. Officially closed 4th April 1982 (ref Pg74 The Stonebridge Railway by R Waring) and lifted in two weekend blockages in September 1983. Most of the loop track was lifted on 18th September 1983. Class 56 060 had the dubious honour of being the last train to traverse the loop with the demolition train with 20 155 / 165 also being present. The following weekend 25th September 1983, a crane removed the connecting point work using class 37 037. The up line loop vanished a long time before this date.
Whitacre's 1839 railway viaduct
Built for the 1839 opening Stonebridge Railway to carry two lines of main line traffic over the River Bourne, on what was at the time the only London to Derby main line. This little bridge only carried rail traffic from 1839 to 1865. Not only did it suffer probably the first case of downgrading in history when the down line was lifted in 1843 just four years after opening but it was then made redundant completely when Whitacre Station was remodelled and moved with the opening of the line to Nuneaton.
These views of the viaduct were taken 9th April 2017.
Derailment Wednesday 12th September 2018
Just after 3pm a 32 wagon train of containers hauled by 66727 appears to have been derailed by points being changed underneath the train and derailing seven wagons and their loads. The clean up operation was still going on well into the Saturday and train services through the junction have ceased since the accident not resuming till the evening of 16th. A nice overhead view is here
