Midland Mainline Upgrade Programme
Midland Mainline Upgrade Programme
We provided heritage and engineering advice to Network Rail on the electrification of the Midland Main Line over seven years. This ranged from a strategic statement of significance for the whole route, through to input into the detailed design of proposals for two Grade-II listed stations – Kettering and Wellingborough.
These stations were constructed in the mid-nineteenth century to designs by Charles Henry Driver. Although they have subsequently been altered, many historic features survive, including the elegant platform canopies with their decorative ironwork brackets.
Electrification meant that a considerable amount of new equipment, known as Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) was to be installed along the route. In addition, and in order to prevent contact between passengers and the high voltage electrical currents that pass through the OLE, certain clearances were required between these new elements and existing structures. In practice, this meant that the surviving historic canopies needed to be cut back.
At Kettering & Wellingborough Stations, this meant cutting back the beautiful Victorian platform canopies to accommodate the overhead wires. 48 of the ornate brackets had to be replaced by brand-new iron castings, made to new dimensions but replicating the complex detail exactly. We believe this is the first time in a hundred years or more that new, highly decorative iron castings have been used structurally on the railways – in this case cantilevered over express trains travelling at 100mph.
At the same time, lost cast-iron detail such as finials has been recreated from original drawings, the nasty polycarbonate covering has been replaced with clear glazing, and the ironwork has been repainted in correct Midland Railway colours by using the results of historic paint analysis carried out for St Pancras International and hours spent examining black and white photographs. The net result has been to recreate historic character lost decades ago, and improve the passenger’s lot.
The success of the project is the result of our collaboration with Farida Marano and all her colleagues at Network Rail, Stephen Oliver of Oliver Architects, and Historic England’s Dale Dishon.
In 2022, our work at Kettering & Wellingborough Stations was recognised with the Best Overall Award at the National Railway Heritage Awards. Parallel works to Wellingborough Station and Goods Shed were also shortlisted for the The London Underground Operational Enhancement Award.
Client: Network Rail
Architect: Oliver Architecture (At Kettering & Wellingborough Stations)