Honeybourne Line Closures In B R Days

There were some lengthy closures on the line in B R days, necessitated by major engineering works. The diversions also required extensive new works at Evesham as noted below.

The 'Railway Observer' reported that engineering works in Greet Tunnel on Sundays in June 1949 led to diversion of the Wolverhampton - Penzance service via Honeybourne station,Evesham and Norton Junction, where the train reversed and changed engines, then through Ashchurch to Cheltenham Lansdown. The picture below  shows the train approaching Lansdown station with 85A Worcester's 7005 'Lamphey Castle' in charge - on the normal route, it would have been an 84A Wolverhampton Stafford Road based loco.

Above: From the GRS News for Spring 1957: 

That wasn't the end, as more engineering work with consequent diversions took place later in 1957, after the end of the Summer timetable which saw extra holiday trains on the line, particularly on Saturdays.

This was only three months after the Birmingham - South and West Wales services shown above had been modernised with Diesel Multiple Units in June 1957, with faster schedules, now somewhat diluted by the need for diversions. At least DMUs made train reversals easier than with the loco and coaches of 'The Cornishman' Wolverhampton - Penzance service.

The auto train service was still running between Cheltenham and Honeybourne in 1957, so there was quite a lot of disruption for local passengers, with substitution by bus in some cases, either between Cheltenham and Winchcombe or Toddington and Honeybourne as work progressed along the line.

And there were more diversions to come. The Spring 1958 GRS News reported:

Engineering works beyond Toddington has again necessitated diverting all through trains via Evesham from 2 Feb to 6 April inclusive. 

For this closure trains did not reverse at Norton Junction as in earlier years, instead both passenger and freight services used the connection at Evesham to cross from the ex-GW Oxford - Worcester to the ex-Midland Ashchurch line.

But on the other side of the coin, a new connection was put in at Stratford-on-Avon Racecourse from the Stratford & Midland Junction -SMJ- line enabling freight trains to use the Honeybourne route to and from Cheltenham and South Wales from June 1960, diverting this traffic away from the Evesham - Ashchurch branch.