Rush Hour Trains at: Leamington Spa, CML, 01/09/25

A superb evening session spent at Leamington Spa on the Chiltern Mainline where we see plenty of services from Chiltern Railways, Cross Country, West Midlands Railway and freight from GBRF and Freightliner. The first station at the site, under the name Leamington was opened by the Great Western Railway on its new main line between Birmingham, Oxford and London in 1852. It was later renamed Leamington Spa in 1913. This was not the first station in Leamington; the London and Northwestern Railway  (LNWR) had reached the town eight years earlier in 1844, with a branch line from Coventry. That line, however, terminated about 0.7 miles from the town centre, at Milverton Station. The opening of the GWR line compelled the LNWR to extend their Coventry branch into the centre of Leamington, and join it end-on to their new branch to Rugby, and in 1854 they opened a new station directly alongside the GWR station known as Leamington Spa (Avenue). In 1864, a connection was made between the GWR and LNWR lines at Leamington, which was mainly used to exchange goods traffic. The station came under the control of the Western Region of British Railways in 1948, which renamed the station Leamington Spa (General) in 1950, before reverting to Leamington Spa in 1968. In 1965, British Rail closed down the adjacent Leamington Spa (Avenue) station and the branch to Rugby; it diverted the Coventry branch into the ex-GWR station via a new connection. Prior to this, there had only been sidings connecting the Coventry line to the ex-GWR line, used for the exchange of goods wagons. BR also removed passenger services from the Coventry branch at the same time, and closed all of the intermediate stations, leaving it open for freight trains only. This lasted until 1977, when BR resumed passenger trains between Leamington and Coventry. In 1996, Chiltern Railways took over the running of the station and the London to Birmingham services. In 2011, the two waiting rooms were restored and refurbished as part of £395,000 improvements that also include 80 new parking spaces at the front of the station and improved disabled access. The station building and platform structures became grade 2 listed buildings in 2003. My next rush hour film will be London Paddington on the Great Western Mainline. Joining me today was StarlifeStudios. Please do check out his channel as he has some amazing content. You can find me on Facebook through the group Tornado922, there you will find regular updates, videos and photos from all of my goings on throughout 2025. You can also find me on Instagram through the name tornado922 where it isn't just rail related content that I produce. You can also find me on TikTok under the name Tornado_922