Vintage Trains adopted Tyseley mainline station from West Midlands Trains in 2020. The Friends of Vintage Trains are working closely on developing the station with West Midlands trains and the Shakespeare Line Rail User Group and other rail organisations, including the Heart of England community rail network, who support local involvement in developing local stations. The Friends’ volunteer archivist has written an article on the history of Tyseley station and goods yard (PDF, 5.1MB) which gives a fascinating insight into the history of the station.
The project aims to make the station more welcoming, and also to showcase Vintage Trains and the Friends of Vintage Trains. The longer-term ambition is to gain access to the buildings to refurbish them for future use by Vintage Trains, Friends of Vintage Trains and the local community. To meet this aim, there are two main aspects to the continuing work on the station:
- work such as planting and maintaining the flower beds and generally looking after the station, including the all-too-regular graffiti removal, which is volunteer-led. For this type of work the Friends are working closely with the Vintage Trains volunteer co-ordinator
- substantial building and renovation work, such as bringing the waiting rooms back into service, which will be led by the rail companies due to the need for professional qualifications for much of this work, but supported by volunteers
The Friends regularly work on some of the flower beds, a job which has been made easier by the installation of a water tap on the platform, funded by West Midlands Trains.
Strong links have also been developed with the Shakespeare Line Rail User Group, who have similar arrangements for the stations from and including Spring Road (the first station past Tyseley on the Shakespeare Line) to Stratford-upon-Avon, and also garden centres such as the Earlswood Garden Centre who have donated plants and compost to the Friends. A member of the Friends was also present when the Rotarians planted some purple crocus bulbs in the flower beds on the station to acknowledge World Polio Research Day in 2023.
Expressions of interest to become involved in this project are welcome. To express an interest and for more details please contact us though the Contact Us page and we will be pleased to give you more details and discuss how you could become involved.