History of the Station
History of the Station
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The first station on this site was opened in 1852 on the Oxford to Birmingham line of the Great Western Railway. Engineered by Brunel, the track was broad gauge and the original station had a timber overall roof, later cut back to very ugly canopies.
Aided by government loans, the GWR redeveloped the whole site in the 1930s, creating access at road level. The buildings and fittings are in Art Deco style, rare in British mainline stations as there was little modernisation being carried out elsewhere at that time. After nationalisation of the railways in 1948 few big changes were made, but decades of neglect led to a shabby appearance and loss of features such as the running-in boards and the booking office clock.
This map of the two stations in Leamington in 1951 (taken from the excellent Birmingham and West Midlands Railway Atlas) shows how extensive the facilities were. The Avenue station and the line to Rugby are long closed but the route north west to Coventry and many places beyond remains, whilst a new Kenilworth station opened in 2018.
Leamington Spa 1951
Reproduced with permission from the Birmingham & West Midlands Railway Atlas (Ian Allan) (c) Joe Brown (2016)
On privatisation in 1997 the station was initially managed by Railtrack / Network Rail, but Chiltern Railways took over in 2006 and have led a series of significant improvements to the fabric.
Diligent photography by enthusiasts such as Patrick Kingston provided important references during restoration. The distinctive Art Deco style helped in getting a Grade ll listing in 2003. This was achieved by Ruth Bennion, Janet Storrie, Patrick Kingston with the support of Alan Mayes, Conservation Architect for Warwick District Council.
See Warwickshire railways, with a vast amount of historic detail.
Notable Visitors
Notable Visitors
Situated as we are on the ex GWR main line, many high profile visitors have used the station over the years.
Broad gauge train. Thanks to Didcot Railway centre
Queen Victoria passed through many times en route from Windsor to Scotland aboard the Royal Train. Depending on the time of day, her train would stop for refreshments to be taken aboard. Such stops were kept private and HM did not alight.
Royal visits
April1951 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
March 1954 Princess Margaret
November 1958 Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
November 1966 Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
March 1988 Queen Elizabeth II
GWR Castle Class: Another notable visitor, this time in 2010
Others we know of
Anthony Eden as MP for Leamington and Warwick and later for a brief period as Prime Minister.
Edward Heath before becoming Prime Minister
Anne Widdicombe
Paul Robeson, American singer and actor, playing Othello at Stratford upon Avon in 1959.
When the former Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, was studying at Oxford, he would meet his wife to be, Mary, in the station refreshment room for tea.
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