Ripple station opened under the Midland Railway on a newly constructed branch linking their
Birmingham to Aschurch line with the GWR's Worcester to Hereford line in 1861. The station, along with the branch itself,
led a fairly inauspicious life in the region's railway history, being reduced to single-line working
following the truncating of the route with the closure of the Malvern to Upton-on-Severn section in 1952. The station,
along with the line, closed in 1961. Above we see the station in 1957 (photo: Hugh Ballantyne) looking towards the
Station Road bridge and on to Upton-On-Severn and Great Malvern beyond. |
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Above-left we are on Station Road near to its junction with Bow Lane with the entrance to the
station ahead, the gates carrying a small sign on the right-hand post stating 'Station House'. Above-right we have
entered the gates and moved along the entrance driveway and are looking at the station building - which is now a private
dwelling and was, at the time of my visit, for sale - with the long-lifted trackbed to our right. |
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Above-left, and a great garden feature, is the bridge carrying Station Road over the trackbed: the station
is to our rear and we are looking in the direction of Upton-on-Severn - this bridge can clearly be seen in the 1957 photograph above. The station
house, in this view, is to our left. Above-right is a similar shot to the that immediately above but gives a better indication of the
position of the track which ran along the hedge line to the right. |
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Above-left we have moved closer to the station building and can see that the platforms are still in situ,
albeit the trackbed has been in-filled to meet the level of the surrounding land: the keen-eyed may also spot a Midland Railway
notice attached to the wall. Above-right we have moved ahead and turned to look along the railside of the station building in the
direction of Upton-on-Severn. The immaculate state of the building is a credit to its owners and I can only hope that whoever
buys it, maintains the appearance sympathetically with that of its railway heritage. |
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Above-left is a similar shot to the previous one, again looking in the direction of Upton-on-Severn. Above-right
we are back on Station Road looking at the bridge over the trackbed with the station immediately to our left. This was a very pleasant site to visit
and I would recommend anyone interested to take a look however, there is no public vantage point other than walking up the
drive to the house which the new owners may not appreciate. As an aside, at the time of my visit I was looking for a property to
purchase but unfortunately failed to convince my wife that moving from Birmingham into the rural idyll of Ripple was
a sensible goal! |
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