[Birmingham] Smethwick West - Handsworth Junction?

[DaveHarries]

Greetings all,

I have recently acquired for my collection signal notice 15G which was for Birmingham New Street MAS Stages 1A to 1C. As part of Stage 1C the box at Galton Junction, previously closed 06/1964, was returned to use to control the ex. WR line between Stourbridge and Birmingham Snow Hill and also the new junction to the Stour Line where the route to Galton Junction turned off. However the map for Stage 1C, when Smethwick West station (closed 1972 if I read Wikipedia correctly) still existed shows that there was a line from Smethwick West to Handsworth Junction. According to the same map Handsworth Junction, where the other end of a line from Smethwick West is not referred to) was located where what is now Perry Barr West Junction is and I can't find any route on the NPE maps website's 1953 view to give a route from Handsworth Jcn / Perry Barr West to Smethwick West.

Is the SN wrong (ie. is the idea of a Smethwick West to Handsworth Junction line a misprint on the map in the SN - see attached image - and the line given as going to Handsworth Junction is, in fact, the one which now runs through Smethwick Galton Bridge to The Hawthorns) or am I missing something? And if there was indeed a line direct from Smethwick West to Handsworth (now Perry Barr West) Junction, which route did it take?

The track with the lines through it is the route which came into use under Stage 1C. Handsworth (now Perry Barr West) Junction is visible at the lower left of the photo where the bracket semaphore - HH2 - is shown).

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Sprinter107]

I dont know of a box at Galton Junction specifically. There was a box on the down side just after Rolfe Street. There was a box at Smethwick Junction which closed around 1956 when the line from Smethwick Junction to Galton Junction was abandoned. About the same time in June 1956, Smethwick Junction station was renamed Smethwick West. Smethwick Junction box was reopened along with the link from Smethwick Junction to Galton Junction in 1966 to allow Stourbridge line trains to reach New Street upon the closure of Snow Hill. It certainly didn't control the whole line. At that point there were still boxes at Langley Green East, Langley Green Middle, Langley Green West, Rowley Regis, Old Hill, Cradley Heath, Lye, Stourbridge Junction North and Stourbridge Junction Middle all still in use.

Smethwick West station didnt close in 1972, but in 1996. However the remaining train service through Smethwick West to Snow Hill did come off in March 1972. This was the service that wouldve passed Handsworth Junction. Handsworth Junction was where the line from Smethwick West joined the line from Wolverhampton Low Level and then continued on into Snow Hill. The site of Handsworth Junction today is just before The Hawthorns station as you come off the right hand bend.

Handsworth Junction was never known as Perry Barr West Junction which is on a separate line, and not on the map you have. Thats on the line from Soho to Perry Barr.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Handsworth Junction was on the Snow Hill-Wolverhampton Low Level line.

Any reference to the Perry Barr line is irrelevant.

 

[ac6000cw]

There's a bit of history about the Stourbridge - Smethwick line here - The Stourbridge Railway

Basically it was originally planned to connect with the LNWR (at Galton Jct.), but came under the control of the GWR before the line was completed in 1867, who added the connection from Smethwick Jct. to Handsworth Jct.

Even though the LNWR and GWR were competitors, the Smethwick Jct. - Galton Jct. link was obviously useful enough to keep for almost the next 90 years (and then restore again 10 years later).

(In the 1970s the route was my local railway)

 

[DaveHarries]

Handsworth Junction was where the line from Smethwick West joined the line from Wolverhampton Low Level and then continued on into Snow Hill. The site of Handsworth Junction today is just before The Hawthorns station as you come off the right hand bend.

Handsworth Junction was on the Snow Hill-Wolverhampton Low Level line. Any reference to the Perry Barr line is irrelevant.

Handsworth Junction was never known as Perry Barr West Junction which is on a separate line, and not on the map you have. Thats on the line from Soho to Perry Barr.

Ah ok interesting. Thanks both for the reply and thanks also @Dr Hoo for the location information.

As for whether there is a Handsworth Junction on the map I have here it is. My thoughts on it being the location of Perry Barr West (which I happily stand corrected on) goes by the fact that the signal numbers around the Handsworth Junction shown here are also used on SimSig's layout for the Perry Barr area as part of the Birmingham New Street PSB layout. Here is another part of the map: it almost makes it sound like there were two Handsworth Junctions but perhaps the one on my map is a misprint.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Gloster]

Smethwick Junction Signal Box was renamed Smethwick West in October 1956 and was closed from June 1964 to April 1966, at which point it received a new LM-design lever frame. Regular traffic appears to have been withdrawn from the Galton Junction-Smethwick West curve in September 1958.

 

[ac6000cw]

As for whether there is a Handsworth Junction on the map I have here it is. My thoughts on it being the location of Perry Barr West (which I happily stand corrected on) goes by the fact that the signal numbers around the Handsworth Junction shown here are also used on SimSig's layout for the Perry Barr area as part of the Birmingham New Street PSB layout. Here is another part of the map: it almost makes it sound like there were two Handsworth Junctions but perhaps the one on my map is a misprint.

Cheers,
Dave

No hard evidence for this, but I suspect that Handsworth Junction on the ex-LNWR line got renamed to Perry Barr West Junction at some point, to avoid there being two junctions with the same name in close proximity. Looking at an old 1923 map, there was a Handsworth Wood station on the ex-LNWR line south of the junction, lending credence to the idea of it being named Handsworth Junction originally.

 

[Gloster]

The Pre-Grouping Atlas and RCH Junction Diagrams (Ian Allan, 1958/2014) shows Handsworth Junction for the location given as Perry Barr West Junction in the 2005 Quail. A station called Handsworth Wood was just south of the junction; it was open 1896-1941 according to .warwickshirerailways.com

 

[Sprinter107]

Smethwick Junction Signal Box was renamed Smethwick West in October 1956 and was closed from June 1964 to April 1966, at which point it received a new LM-design lever frame. Regular traffic appears to have been withdrawn from the Galton Junction-Smethwick West curve in September 1958.

I thought it was 1956 that the Smethwick Junction to Galton Junction was closed to traffic, which was when Smethwick Junction station was renamed Smethwick West, which was in the June, but I'll stand corrected because I'm not 100% sure. I do have a photograph showing the box disused, the track disused and full of weeds and severed at the Smethwick Junction end. I dont know if it was severed at the Galton Junction end because I've never managed to find a photograph. The box was still called Smethwick Junction Signal Box in the 1980s, there are photos on the net showing its nameplate.

 

[Dr Hoo]

No hard evidence for this, but I suspect that Handsworth Junction on the ex-LNWR line got renamed to Perry Barr West Junction at some point, to avoid there being two junctions with the same name in close proximity. Looking at an old 1923 map, there was a Handsworth Wood station on the ex-LNWR line south of the junction, lending credence to the idea of it being named Handsworth Junction originally.

The Railway Clearing House map for Staffordshire shows the junction in question as Handsworth Junction.

 

[Gloster]

The Rail Atlas 1970 (Ian Allan, 2003) shows it as Handsworth Junction, as do Ordnance Survey maps up to the mid-1960s, but these could just have been carrying over the old name. The 1978 Baker doesn’t specifically name it, but calls the triangle Perry Barr Juncs.