Station to Station

In a recent edition of the My Imaginary University podcast, recorded live at the Wonkhe Festival of HE,  Nick Hillman created a university which had its very own train station on the new HS2 train line.

Other than being a regular passenger and very much enjoying train rides through interesting scenery, ideally abroad, I know very little about trains. I’ve never been a spotter, owned a train set or harboured a secret desire to be a train driver. But I am interested in trains and higher education. And Nick’s idea for a university station did get me thinking as I do recall a number of attempts by the University of Nottingham to secure approval to develop a station next to its Jubilee Campus.

Only two UK universities have stations I believe. The larger of these is the University station at the University of Birmingham  which has recently been upgraded. It is very handy indeed for travel to the University.

The other one is a bit smaller and serves the University of Ulster at Coleraine. I must admit I’ve not had the opportunity to use the station.

There used to be a Varsity Line which linked Oxford and Cambridge and ran from 1845 but was closed in the late 60s. There are plans in place to restore it to its former glory but these have only got so far.

Beyond the UK

There are a few more in other parts of the world but not a huge number and there is, of course, a handy Wikipedia list of these

I particularly like this one in Argentina – not only does it serve the Cuidad Universitaria campus of the University of Buenos Aires but is right by the River Plate Stadium.

Do the locomotive

It also appears there is a range of locomotives named after UK universities. I’ve no idea how many of these are still in service or indeed how comprehensive this list from an online Rail forum actually is (did I mention I know nothing about trains) but this collection of numbered locomotives is an interesting one:

• 43013 University of Bristol
• 43053 University of Worcester
• 43056 University of Bradford
• 43149 University of Plymouth
• 43153 University of Durham
• 43173 Swansea University
• 43177 University of Exeter
• 47444 University of Nottingham
• 47470 University of Edinburgh
• 47535 University of Leicester
• 47547 University of Oxford
• 47550 University of Dundee
• 47614 University of Stirling (Planned – Not applied)
• 47617 University of Stirling
• 47640 University of Strathclyde
• 73112 University of Kent at Canterbury
• 73117 University of Surrey
• 86217 City University
• 86237 University of East Anglia
• 86421 London School of Economics
• 86434 University of London

More recently it seems that Cambridge University Railway Club has also had an engine named after it. Nice.

Also, arguably more impressively, a number of US universities have their own trains and railways. But they all do look really rather old school, to say the least. Like this one at Purdue University:

Finally, just for completeness, there are several UK universities offering undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Railway engineering including Birmingham, UEL and Leeds. Indeed Birmingham really does appear to be the focus for rail-related research and education and is home to the Centre for Railway Research and Education which is also lead academic partner for the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network. Good thing they do have a station then.

So, there is a fair bit of Higher Ed and railway crossover material but perhaps not enough to get too excited about. Unless it is your discipline of course. Do let me know where I’ve missed anything here.