Lapworth railway station serves the village of
Kingswood, Warwickshire
Kingswood is an area in the civil parishes of Lapworth and Rowington in Warwick District, Warwickshire, England. It forms the main residential area of the parish of Lapworth, and includes about 18 properties in the parish of Rowington. The popula ...
, near the village of
Lapworth
Lapworth is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, which had a population of 2,100 according to the 2001 census; this had fallen to 1,828 at the 2011 Census. It lies six miles (10 km) south of Solihull and ten miles (16&nbs ...
from which it takes its name. It has two platforms connected by a footbridge. Most trains are those provided by Chiltern on its London Marylebone/Leamington Spa/Birmingham Snow Hill/Kidderminster route, but these are augmented by a few West Midlands Trains services.
History
The station was opened by the
Great Western Railway in 1854. It was known as Kingswood until 1 May 1902 when the name was changed to Lapworth to avoid confusion with
the station of the same name in
Surrey. From 1894, Lapworth was the starting point of a short lived branch line to
Henley-in-Arden
Henley-in-Arden (also known as simply Henley) is a town in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. The name is a reference to the former Forest of Arden. Henley is known for its variety of historic buildings, some of which date ...
. The branch was closed as an economy measure during the First World War in 1915, and never reopened.
A footbridge spans the remaining two tracks, and continues to the west of the northbound platform spanning where quadruple tracks once existed. For a brief period prior to the lifting of the quadruple tracks there was a DMU service along what had been the GWR's Paddington - Birkenhead main line. It plied between
Wellington (Shropshire) and Lapworth stopping at all the intermediate stations and linking them with
Wolverhampton Low Level and
Birmingham Snow Hill.
The station is unstaffed; ticketing is restricted to a 'Permit-to-Travel' machine located at the main entrance to the station (off Station Lane) at the north end of the London-bound (southbound) platform. The station can also be accessed via a footpath from Mill Lane.
Accidents and incidents
*On 30 November 1948,
locomotive 4150 was running round its train when it was in collision with a passenger train hauled by
5022 ''Wigmore Castle'', which had
overrun signals.
Eight passengers were injured.
Services
The station has a basic two-hourly service in each direction in the current timetable, provided by the
Chiltern Railways Leamington Spa to
Birmingham Moor Street service. In peak hours this is augmented by some additional
West Midlands Trains
West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...
services to/from Leamington, giving through links to Stourbridge Junction and Kidderminster, and during weekdays two trains a day go to
Stratford-upon-Avon. On Sundays a two-hourly service operates, but with through services to and from London Marylebone.
[GB National Rail Timetable 2016, Table 71]
References
External links
Historical photographs of Lapworth stationat warwickshirerailways.com
Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Lapworth station
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lapworth Railway Station
Railway stations in Warwickshire
DfT Category F1 stations
Former Great Western Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1854
Railway stations served by Chiltern Railways
Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains