Shakespeare Line

Shakespeare Line
Description	The Shakespeare Line, and the Chiltern Main Line betweeen Tyseley and Hatton.
Country	United Kingdom
Time period	2025
Train Operating Company	West Midlands Railway, CrossCountry, Chiltern Railways
Simulation difficulty
Author	Oxalin
Repository	Shakespeare Line
Website	Shakespeare Line
Rolling Stock	Class 165 Class 168 Class 172 Class 220 Class 221
Collapse Route map Birmingham Tyseley Up Siding Tyseley Yard Tyseley Tyseley Carriage Neck Spring Road Acocks Green Hall Green Olton Yardley Wood Solihull Shirley Widney Manor Whitlocks End Dorridge Siding Wythall Dorridge Up Loop Earlswood Dorridge The Lakes Dorridge Down Loop Wood End Lapworth Wood End Tunnel Danzey Henley-in-Arden Claverdon Wootton Wawen Bearley Hatton Wilmcote Hatton Siding Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway Hatton Down Goods Loop Stratford-upon-Avon Chiltern Main Line Stratford-upon-Avon Siding

The Shakespeare Line (normally known as the North Warwickshire Line) is named after the southern terminus Stratford-upon-Avon - the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

The line runs south from Birmingham Moor Street, diverging from the Chiltern Main Line at Tyseley, to Stratford-upon-Avon. Trains used to continue on the Honeybourne Line to Honeybourne, and on to Cardiff. The line south of Stratford-upon-Avon is now closed, however some has been retained as the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway. As such, Stratford-upon-Avon is now a terminus station.

Also included in this simulation is the Chiltern Main Line via Dorridge to Hatton, and the Leamington - Stratford Line connecting the two.

Services on the Shakespeare Line today, as well as to Stratford-upon-Avon via Dorridge, are operated by West Midlands Railway using Class 172 DMUs. Services to London Marylebone on the Chiltern Main Line are operated by Chiltern Railways using mainly Class 168s, with some services operated by Class 68s and Mark 3 carriages. Services from Leamington to Stratford-upon-Avon and Birmingham are also operated by Chiltern Railways, mainly using Class 165s. West Midlands Railway also operate a couple of services to Leamington Spa each day.

Timetable

PLEASE NOTE: The included timetable requires RailOS v2.23.0 or above, as it makes use of the new Minimum Dwell Time feature.

A timetable for a 2nd April 2025 is included, with all passenger, freight and ECS moves simulated.

The following standard services operate:

Shakespeare Line Services
Train Operating Company	Origin	Destination	Frequency (tph)
Chiltern Railways	London Marylebone	Birmingham Snow Hill	0.5
		Birmingham Moor Street	1
	Leamington Spa		0.5
		Stratford-upon-Avon	0.5
West Midlands Railway	Kidderminster		1
	Worcester Foregate Street		1
		Dorridge	1
	Whitlocks End	Kidderminster	1
CrossCountry	Newcastle	Reading	Irregular

Operational Tips

• Be careful not to set routes too early - trains can travel long distances in relatively short times.
• At the Birmingham exit, the bottom pair of lines goes to Birmingham Moor Street while the top pair goes to Landor St Junction for Birmingham New Street. All Chiltern and West Midlands Railway services go to Birmingham Moor Street, while CrossCountry services head to Landor St Junction.
• Freight services typically go to Landor St Junction, but 6V34 instead heads to Birmingham Moor Street.
• Keep an eye on instructions for freight trains, some southbound services use the Down Loop at Dorridge instead of the more usual Up Loop.
• Keep an eye on instructions for trains departing Stratford-upon-Avon - 2Vxx services run via Dorridge most the day, but in the evening switch to running via Whitlocks End.
• Trains terminating at Dorridge should use the loop platform, as this is the only bi-directional platform.