History
It is located on the site of the first through-station in the town, opened by the Great Western Railway (GWR) on its new line from Birmingham to Oxford in 1852.
The London and North-Western Railway (LNWR) had reached Leamington eight years earlier, in 1844, with a branch from Coventry. That line, however, terminated about a mile and a half from the town centre, at Milverton, and the LNWR did not open a more central station until 1854. The station booking hall was sympathetically refurbished over the five months to March 2008 to resemble the original Great Western Railway art-deco style, including the installation of ticket barriers. GWR-style running in boards have been installed at the 'up' end of platforms 2 & 3. Plans exist to add to these running-in boards.
The signal box at Leamington saw the first conventional use of British Rail Solid State Interlocking (SSI) in 1985 when control was transferred from the original Leamington North mechanical box to a new Power Box situated nearby. In 2006 trials of the new Westinghouse Rail Systems Westlock Interlocking commenced, which replaced the old SSI completely in 2008. The signal box now covers an area from a point near Warwick to Little Bourton, just north of Banbury railway station.
In late 2007 Chiltern railway began installing ticket barriers, which came into operation in early 2008. In 2011 the two waiting rooms were restored and refurbished as part of £395,000 improvements that also include 80 new parking spaces at the front of the station and improved disabled access.
Read more about this topic: Leamington Spa Railway Station
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