Coleshill station was opened by the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway
in 1839 to link Derby, via Whitacre Junction, with Hampton-in-Arden. However, with more attractive
links being built for Derby traffic, such as Whitacre being linked to Birmingham Lawley Street,
passenger numbers dwindled to the point where the line was singled and the passenger service reduced
to one train in each direction per day from 1842 until its closure to passenger traffic in 1917. In 1923
the station was renamed Maxstoke, with Forge Mills being renamed Coleshill, and retained as a goods
facility until final closure in 1939 with the line being lifted finally in 1952. Above we see the
station as Maxstoke in 1933 (photo: Don Powell Collection) looking towards Hampton in Arden. |
|
|
|
|
Above-left we are in roughly the same position on Maxstoke Lane as the 1933 photograph with no visible sign
that a station, and a level crossing that stood at the spot, had ever existed. However, to the left of
the telegraph pole is a stile and above-right we have crossed the style and are on the trackbed looking
back at Maxstoke Lane. I was pleasantly surprised to find that an arboreal cocoon has developed in which
many remains of the station can be discerned with some poking around the foliage: I was particularly pleased
as from the road I wasn't sure I'd found the correct spot. |
|
|
|
|
Above-left we are still on the trackbed looking towards Hampton-in-Arden and the ground
is littered with bricks scattered during the demolition of the station. Above-right is the remains of the
station building - the stile from Maxstoke Lane is directly ahead. |
|
|
|
|
Above-left is the platform edge hiding in the brambles looking in the direction of
Hampton-in-Arden: the station house would have been to our left. Above-right we are in roughly the same spot on the
trackbed looking at the crumbling platform edge. |
|
|
|
|
Above-left we are on Maxstoke Lane looking to the spot where the level crossing
once stood - level with the car on the left - with the station site to the right. Above-right we
are standing in the driveway to Castle Farm - which emerges onto Maxstoke Lane directly opposite the station site and
provides the best indicator that the correct spot has been found - and can see a long indentation
in the ground to the left which marks the trackbed heading off towards Whitacre. This was an interesting
site to come across and also serves as a great example of the reclaiming power of nature over a
period of 50 years. |
|
|
|