Part Three – “Merger” by Nationalisation and Beyond
On 1st January 1948 all Britain’s railways were nationalised by Clement Attlee’s Labour Government and passed into state hands. At this time after the Second World War Britain’s railways were worn out with a massive backlog of maintenance of track and rolling stock which their owners could not afford to rectify, hence British Railways was born.
Most of the locos were still steam engines. In March 1956 some Diesel Multiple Units and Railcars were introduced on some local services on the Leamington (Avenue) – Coventry – Nuneaton line. These were part of a large modernisation plan to introduce alternative rolling stock in an effort to reduce running costs. In June 1957 Diesel Multiple Unit trains were also introduced on local trains between Leamington (Great Western) – Birmingham (Moor Street) – Birmingham (Snow Hill).
Steam traction on Paddington-Birmingham-Wolverhampton express services was replaced by diesel locomotives in September 1962. On 1st January 1963 all railway lines in the Birmingham area taken over by London Midland region and the names Western region and Great Western were lost.
From March 1967 all express trains to/from Paddington were routed to Birmingham New Street instead of Snow Hill. Leamington station closed for general goods on 19th May 1969 although a private siding continued in use for some time. In a major change Inter City trains commenced running again between Leamington and Coventry in May 1977.
photo Mick Jeffs
In 1996 Chiltern Railways were awarded a franchise running trains between London (Marylebone) and Birmingham (Moor Street) with diesel multiple units.
photo Barry Franklin
In 2009 the station’s garden, which the Friends of Leamington Station help to maintain, was awarded the title of Best British Garden in a Country Life magazine award. In 2012 Chiltern Railways, which runs the station, along with the Friends of Leamington Station, the Leamington Spa Town Council, Network Rail and the Railway Heritage Trust worked together to improve the booking hall, station frontage, platform canopies, toilets and staff facilities – and it won them a National Railway Heritage Award for the conservation work. Looking to the future the Government Infrastructure Plan in 2013 includes improvements to the Nuneaton-Coventry-Kenilworth and Leamington line including electrification. Plans have also been approved for a new station at Kenilworth.
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Mick Jeffs and Barry Franklin, January 2014
Further information can be found on the Warwickshire Railways website
