Arley & Fillongley Station

Arley & Fillongley station was one of three provided when the line from Nuneaton to Whitacre Junction was opened on 1st November 1864 as part of the Midland Railway's Nuneaton to Birmingham route. The other two stations were Shustoke and Stockingford, all three having the same standard designed station building and with two facing platforms with the running lines in between. It initially carried the name Arley but was renamed as Arley & Fillongley on 1st March 1867. The main station buildings were sited on the Birmingham (down) platform and comprised of a two storey structure at one end of the building (the Nuneaton end) and a large single storey structure at the other end (the Whitacre end). The single storey portion of the structure was divided architecturally into two; a rear section, being a substantial brick built structure, and a front section facing on to the platform constructed using timber. The two storey structure accommodated the station master and possible some staff and was built of brick. Both parts of the building were topped by sloping slate covered roof. The single storey section provided the station master's booking office, at least two waiting rooms, one being dedicated for ladies, and a storage room. In addition, accessed off the platform was a gentlemen's urinal which had a flat roof. The ladies convenience was provided off the ladies only waiting room. There was a small brick built waiting room on the up platform which was open on the side facing the platform.

A small goods yard with two sidings was situated off the down (Birmingham) line of with a cattle and landing dock plus a public weighbridge and office. The cattle dock was effectively a third short siding opposite of which was a head shunt of reasonable length to shunt wagons into both the cattle dock and the two sidings. Next to the junction of sidings and head shunt was Arley & Fillongley Signal Box. Access to both the station and goods yard was via Tamworth Road. In addition, an access to the bottom of the goods yard was available off Station Road. The station was closed to passenger services on 7th November 1960 and to goods traffic on 4th January 1965. The Railway Clearing House's 1929 Handbook of Railway Stations states Arley & Fillongley station provided the general public and businesses with the following services: Goods traffic; Passenger and Parcels traffic; Furniture Vans; Live Stock; Horse Boxes and Prize Cattle Vans; and Carriages (Horse-drawn - Ed) by Passenger Trains (GPFLHC). There were no cranage facilities provided in the goods yard so merchants would either have to man handle the loading/unloading of goods themselves or, if necessary, bring in a mobile crane. The 1894 edition of The Railway Clearing House Handbook of Railway Stations did not provide information to the same detail e.g. the number of categories listed, and only recorded (GPFL), however its reasonable to assume that the same facilities recorded in 1929 were offered from the outset.