Birmingham Viaduct

[ole man]

From google maps there is a half-built viaduct between Bordesley and Birmingham Moor Street, was it ever used to stable engines?.And where was it meant to join to?

 

[fgwrich]

My guesses would be, as Birmingham and the west midlands is a very industrial area, perhaps it led to some GWR Warfs or Warehouses?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

My guesses would be, as Birmingham and the west midlands is a very industrial area, perhaps it led to some GWR Warfs or Warehouses?

It has been half-built for 160-odd years!
It was intended to connect the Birmingham & Oxford Railway to the LNWR's Curzon Street station which was the Birmingham rail hub until 1854 when New St opened.
After disputes with the LNWR about access the GWR took over the B&O and developed its own route into Birmingham Snow Hill, leaving the viaduct unfinished and redundant.
Some more details and pictures here:
http://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-d/deritend/

 

[ole man]

Did it ever have rail installed on it?

 

[Tiny Tim]

Did it ever have rail installed on it?

Only for sidings. It wasn't finished and didn't go anywhere. Considering where it is it's a bit surprising so much of it survives.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Local businesses are based in the arches. The whole area around it is pretty cool too, the viaduct isn't going anywhere just yet.

 

[route:oxford]

If that viaduct had been retained and was still operational...

Would the route into New Street from Oxford be any quicker than it is now?

 

[David10]

Would the route into New Street from Oxford be any quicker than it is now?

Probably marginally shorter than the current route past St Andrews Football Ground but any time saving would be negligible.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

And it would still be slower than the route into Moor Street!

 

[route:oxford]

Are there any closed, mothballed or never completed routes around Birmingham that, if reopened, would make a considerable difference to the speed of services approaching the city?

 

[Cherry_Picker]

HS2, obviously, but I guess that is a completely separate thing.
If the much touted chord from the Camp Hill lines to Moor Street is ever built then probably. A lot of the problem with New Street is just congestion, you cant stuff so many trains into one place without it having an effect and if more local services coming in from the East can be diverted into Moor Street then everything should run more smoothly.
People will complain of course, they like to have the connections at New Street but assuming that most local passengers are heading into the city centre for work or shopping and given that New Street and Moor Street stations are pretty much equidistant from the bull statue outside the Bullring then spreading the load more evenly will be for the greater good.

 

[JohnB57]

This is I believe an old image of the area you mention with the unfinished viaduct top right, Moor Street at the end of its own viaduct just out of shot to the left.

The website is a gold mine for anyone interested in just about anything at all and has been mentioned elsewhere on here.

 

[PauloDavesi]

Perhaps it should be converted into a high level linear park, similar to teh 'high line' in New York

 

[LE Greys]

Or possibly a means to get local access into Curzon Street so that you can actually change to something when getting off your HS2 train.

 

[sequenci]

Are there any closed, mothballed or never completed routes around Birmingham that, if reopened, would make a considerable difference to the speed of services approaching the city?

The Camp Hill Line. There has been a lot of campaigning to re-open it. It's used occasionally by trains coming from Bristol/Cheltenham...

 

[sprinterguy]

The Camp Hill Line. There has been a lot of campaigning to re-open it. It's used occasionally by trains coming from Bristol/Cheltenham...

It's used hourly by the Manchester to Bristol service. It also keeps a considerable amount of freight activity out of New Street and off the Cross City line between there and Kings Norton, where it would be sure to cause congestion. It doesn't come under any of the categories of closed, mothballed or never completed.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Or possibly a means to get local access into Curzon Street so that you can actually change to something when getting off your HS2 train.

Given that the entrance to HS2 Curzon Street station is going to be as near as is possible to Moor Street station without the two sharing a concourse, I think that a link into Curzon Street from the Snow Hill lines would be entirely superfluous. Particularly when you consider that almost all local services on the Snow Hill lines do not terminate in Birmingham city centre anyway but instead run through it.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Are there any closed, mothballed or never completed routes around Birmingham that, if reopened, would make a considerable difference to the speed of services approaching the city?

Not quite Birmingham, but a reopened Stourbridge Jn-Dudley-Tipton line would be very valuable.
It's still open for freight to Dudley, from where there is a gap of only about 2 miles to the existing main line west of Tipton.
The alignment is still reasonably intact I think.
The old line (OW&W/GW) ran on to Wolverhampton LL but there was a spur to the High Level line at Tipton.
Cotswold line traffic could extend from Worcester via Dudley and terminate at Wolverhampton (as they used to).
Trouble is nobody would want a new conflicting junction at Tipton.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

The Camp Hill Line. There has been a lot of campaigning to re-open it. It's used occasionally by trains coming from Bristol/Cheltenham...

The Camp Hill line sees a fair amount of traffic, both passenger (XC) and freight. It's just the stations on the line which are currently closed. There has been a lot of talk of opening a spur so trains heading from south Birmingham towards New Street can be diverted into Moor Street instead which would allow for several stations to be reopened and a new local stopping service to be implemented. There is also more speculative talk of opening a second spur so trains coming the other way (in from Water Orton/Tamworth/Nuneaton) could also terminate at Moor Street instead of New Steet.

 

[WCML]

Not quite Birmingham, but a reopened Stourbridge Jn-Dudley-Tipton line would be very valuable.
It's still open for freight to Dudley, from where there is a gap of only about 2 miles to the existing main line west of Tipton.
The alignment is still reasonably intact I think.
The old line (OW&W/GW) ran on to Wolverhampton LL but there was a spur to the High Level line at Tipton.
Cotswold line traffic could extend from Worcester via Dudley and terminate at Wolverhampton (as they used to).
Trouble is nobody would want a new conflicting junction at Tipton.

The cutting is still intact for the duration of the line from where the current track stops at a warehouse in Dudley, all the way to the current live Chase/Walsall/Birmingham line near Bescot and Jct 9 of the M6. There are several quite significant sections of undisturbed track that remain, so not much would actually need doing in order to reopen the line in terms of groundworks, just a lot of de-weeding, complete track replacement and resignalling. However it could be a strategically useful chord that could provide Dudley with a proper rail link, extend services from Worcester and ease congestion in the Birmingham area.

Wasn't there talk however of this cutting/line being used as an extension of the Midland Metro from Birmingham to Dudley?

 

[The Planner]

You'll never get a link back from Stourbridge to Dudley and on to the New St - Wolves line without taking trains out from there, you could never path them. Stourbridge - Bescot is the only chance that has of re-opening.