[Source:Nick Catford]
Cannock Station Gallery 2: After closure - January 2019
 Looking due south at Cannock's Down platform and main building sometime after closure to passengers. The photographer stood upon the Up (southbound) platform which by this time had no track serving it; following withdrawal of the passenger service the track was simplified, the former centre road becoming the Up line. The line never closed completely and until restoration of the passenger service remained open for goods traffic and the occasional diverted passenger train. The dates for closure of stations along the line to goods varied by location, with Cannock closing to goods on 10 August 1964. A private siding did however remain in use, or at least remained available for use, this being that serving the sawmill of Wootton & Son Ltd., which was taken over by Messrs. Rudders & Payne sometime around 1960. The sawmill was north of the station on the Down side and was set back from the main line. Geographically it stood at the east end of Hollies Avenue and the area is today occupied by Hollies Business Park. When the private siding was abandoned is not known. Toward the far end of the station's Down platform a single gas lamp had been retained, presumed to cast lumens over the foot access to the signal box which appears to have been via a gate at the rear of the platform. The stanchions for the running-in board can also be seen, now minus the board. The shadow at centre left tells us the Up platform building was still present at the time of the photograph.Photo from Jim Lake collection 2.jpg) Looking north at the site of Cannock station in May 1987, shortly before the station was rebuilt. The overgrown Up platform can just be made out on the left. The line remained busy for freight traffic after closure to passengers.
Photo by John Mann 3.jpg) After the Walsall - Rugeley line closed to regular passenger trains it was retained for goods and diversions. Photographed from the remains of the Up platform on Sunday 5 April 1987, Class 47 No. 47436 passes Cannock with the diverted 06:25 Newhaven Harbour - Manchester Piccadilly service (the timetable stated 'Newhaven Harbour (Marine)'). This particular train was Sundays only; although the service was daily, on Sundays the calling points differed and journey time was subsequently longer. Arrival at Manchester was 13:08 as against Monday - Saturday when arrival was a significantly earlier 10:41, departure time from Newhaven being the same. The southbound journey departed Manchester at 16:15 Monday - Saturday and 16:20 Sundays, arrival at Newhaven was 21:15 on all days. These trains connected of course with the ferry to and from Dieppe. The Newhaven service was not a commercial success and lasted for only one year. Other trains also connected Liverpool or Manchester with Dover Marine/Western Docks as well as Brighton. During its goods/diversions only days, the Walsall - Rugeley line was restricted to a maximum speed limit of 45mph and following reintroduction of the passenger service and subsequent electrification this was raised to a somewhat less tedious 60mph. No. 47436 began life in January 1964 as No. D1552. Withdrawal came in December 1991 and she did not escape being scrapped. In contrast and at the time of writing a few members of Class 47 remained in service as did a number of others rebuilt to Class 57.
Photo by John Whitehouse from his Flickr photostream 1.jpg)
In July 1987 the southbound platform survives although now devoid of all buildings. There were originally three lines running through the station The centre line was used as a siding but with the lifting of the platform line it has become the main line. The northbound platform appears to have been completely demolished.
Photo by Nick Catford 
The new Cannock station under construction in 1989.Platform 2, left, shows evidence of its modular construction, tactile strip and the now-very-familiar "Mind The Gap" warnings.
Photo by Ben Brooksbank  The new Cannock station looking north shortly after opening on 10 April 1989. Cannock's new platforms are 90 metres in length. Today's Cannock station is not untypical of many new or rebuilt wayside stations, being of simple construction with basic waiting shelters, ticket machines and information screens. Detested by those who live their lives steeped in nostalgia, these stations nevertheless serve their purpose adequately.
Photo by John Mann 
The new Cannock stations southbound platform shortly after opening on 10 April 1989.
Photo
by John Mann
Looking north towards Rugeley in February 2018. On the right, behind the two signs a surviving fragment of the north end of the original Up platform can be seen. The signs warn the public not to trespass on the railway, which includes not crossing the tracks to reach one platform from the other. Public ingress and egress is via Lichfield Road or the station car park for the Up platform and via Remington Drive for the Down platform. The Up platform can also be reached from Remington Drive via footpath and subway. The section of Lichfield Road passing the station was formerly Mill Street. The Car Stop indicators on the left of the photograph also display 'SDO' which means 'Selective Door Opening', used when trains are longer than platforms. At the time of the photograph electrification work was underway but the cantilever arms from which the overhead wires would be suspended have yet to be fitted. Preliminary work ahead of electrification included re-signalling the line, which saw closure of the remaining three manual signal boxes, these being at Bloxwich, Hednesford and Brereton Sidings (Rugeley Town). Control then passed to Saltley Rail Operating Centre, a fancy but nevertheless not inaccurate name for what in reality is an enormous electronic signal box. Electrification was completed about one year late and by the time this photograph was taken electric trains should have been operating. The problem was the discovery of abandoned mine workings beneath the track, the existence of which had not previously been known. This necessitated a redesign of catenary mast bases for use at the affected locations. Electric trains commenced public service operation in May 2019.
Photo by by Simon C-S from his Flickr Photostream 
In this January 2019 view a diesel multiple-unit has just departed from Platform 2. It is formed of a two-car Class 170 and a single car Class 153, this being a common formation on the line in the period immediately prior to electrification. In comparison with the February 2018 view the OLE (Overhead Line Equipment) is now fully erected. Once this is complete various tests have to be conducted before public electric services can commence, which in this case was in May 2019. Usually commencement of a full electric service coincides with the introduction of a new timetable, as was the case with what is now marketed as "The Chase Line" although quite often electric services commence earlier with trains running to the previous, slower timetable. The electrification is 25kV 50Hz Single Phase, now the standard system for OLE in Britain and is also used in certain other countries. At one time in Britain the standard OLE system was 1500V DC but only one British system now uses this - the Tyne & Wear Metro. Now largely gone are the days when railway companies owned and operated their own power stations; this was fine for smaller, isolated electrified systems but impractical and uneconomic for large scale electrification of which the Walsall - Rugeley line is a small part of the far larger Euston - Birmingham/Glasgow/Manchester/Liverpool scheme, the genesis of which was in 1959. Instead, power is now supplied by The National Grid which distributes electricity to substations of either 275kV or, mostly, 400kV at 50Hz Three Phase. The Three Phase supply is a three wire system which is normally only used where higher voltages are required, in industry for example. The standard British domestic supply is 230V AC Single Phase, in other words the two wire system, i.e. one Live wire and one Neutral wire. Network Rail has its own electricity substations at which the supply from The National Grid is transformed down to 25kV and converted to Single Phase, the latter being achieved by the simple expedient of using a single wire tap instead of two. Some readers may be wondering why the Three Phase supply cannot be used to directly power trains. The answer is it can but the system is clumsy, requiring multiple overhead wires (two per track if the return path is via the running rails, otherwise three) and either multiple pantographs or pantographs with two contact strips insulated from each other. In addition the system is unsuitable for railway electrification where the voltage is above about 3kV. Three Phase railway electrification harks back a century or more and the Italian Railways are perhaps the best known former user of the system. Traditionally British AC electric locomotives, such as Class 81 etc., carried rectifiers to supply traction motors with DC (Direct Current) but locomotives with Three Phase motors supplied by onboard phase conversion equipment are now becoming common. While the principle is similar, it should be pointed out it is a very different system to that which drew Three Phase power from OLE.
Photo by Nigel Thompson, reproduced from Geograph under creative commons licence
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