Trains at Rugeley Trent Valley (WCML-TV, CL) - 16/08/2023

Описание: The 196th video of my train spotting adventures.
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This video follows on the day after the lengthy excursion to Crewe, speeding along down the Trent Valley route from past Crewe and Stafford to one of the many Trent Valley stations, namely Rugeley Trent Valley. A minor 3-platform interchange station, it still sees regular services between Crewe and London Euston by LNR, as well as regional stopper services back through the West Midlands to Birmingham International.
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The Trent Valley section of the West Coast Mainline, and Rugeley Trent Valley with it, arrived in the region around 1847; back then it remained at just two tracks for most of its length between Rugby and Stafford. Back then, the Cannock Mineral Railway company built an extension of their railway line from Cannock to join the London North Western Railway's tracks at Rugeley, which today forms part of the overall Chase Line (referring to Cannock Chase which the line runs through at its Northern end); the extension was opened in 1859. As a result of the Beeching Cuts in January 1965, services from Birmingham New Street and Walsall had been cut off from Rugeley Trent Valley, but the line was extended back to Rugeley, completed around the 25th May 1998.
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Between that period (mid 1960s to 1998), the station was only served by local stopping trains between Stafford and Rugby or Coventry. Once work began to upgrade the Trent Valley Line to four tracks instead of two in 2004, these services were withdrawn, replaced in 2008 by then London Midland's (now London Northwestern Railway's) hourly semi-fast service between Crewe and London Euston. As well as these services, in 2019 electrification of the Chase Line was completed, and as of now (2023), a half-hourly service ran by West Midlands Railway (under LNR branding & trains) runs from the station to and from Birmingham International via Walsall and Birmingham New Street.
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Interestingly, the station was the location of Queen Elizabeth II's naming of Class 67 locomotive No. 67029 "Royal Diamond", marking her diamond wedding anniversary with Prince Philip, on 12 October 2007.
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Filmed on the:
West Coast Mainline - Trent Valley
Chase Line (end of line)
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Services seen:
AWC) Services towards Rugby, Milton Keynes Central, Watford Junction, London Euston, Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly, Crewe, Liverpool Lime Street, and the North of England & Scotland.
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WMR/LNR) Services towards Stafford, Crewe, Lichfield Trent Valley, Tamworth, Athestone, Nuneaton, Rugby, Northampton, Milton Keynes Central, Watford Junction, London Euston, Walsall, Birmingham New Street, and Birmingham International.
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Trains seen:
AWC) Class 390 Pendolino, Class 221 Super Voyager
LNR) Class 350 Desiro
WMR) Class 730 Aventra (test)
Colas) Class 43 HST
NR) Track Maintenance Unit
FL) Class 66
DB) Class 66
DRS) Class 66, Class 68 UKLight
RM) Class 325 Networker
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