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.

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.

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.

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.

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!