Cross City Line Cool facts

[Sprinter107]

I moved to Birmingham in 1978 (the same year that the enhanced Crosscity line started with the new stations and frequent service). Since then I have lived in Bournville, Longbridge and Kings Norton and have used the line for nearly 45 years. Here are some facts:
- The Camp Hill line was built first by the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, opening in 1840. The Birmingham terminus was at Camp Hill and the line was the current main line to Gloucester via Cheltenham, by-passing Droitwich and Worcester. Kings Norton station didn't open until 1849.
- The Midland Railway (MR) bought out the B&GR and obtained rights with the London and North Western to use their new New St station from 1854. So that year saw the first trains from New St to Kings Norton, but via the Camp Hill line.
- In 1876 the MR opened a single track railway from Granville St to Kings Norton via Selly Oak and Stirchley Street (now called Bournville). The railway had the grand title of the Birmingham and West Suburban Railway and operated eight trains per day in each direction. This is the existing line from just past Five Ways to Bournville following the canal. It reached Kings Norton not via the existing route, but continued to follow the canal with which it shared a bridge under the Pershore Road at Breedon Cross (Lifford Lane) then went under the Camp Hill line and made a right turn and climb to join the Camp Hill line at what was called Lifford Canal Branch Junction. The Pershore Road bridge over the canal is still there, and you can see the arch through which the trains ran.
- It wasn't until 1886 that the existing 'direct' line from Bournville to Kings Norton was opened, along with the line from the west end of New St up to Five Ways station. At the same time the line was doubled throughout.
- The electrification of the line from Lichfield TV to Redditch came about because of a death. Lichfield's Conservative MP John Heddle took his own life in December 1989, thus triggering a by-election. The proposal for the electrification had been waiting for Ministerial approval for months and was finally given by the (Conservative) Transport minister during the by-election campaign. It didn't do him any good as Labour won the by-election, but the electrification was in the bag.
- With electrification five minutes was lopped off the time taken to get from Kings Norton to New St.
- For one timetable period (I can't remember when exactly, but before electrification) an additional train per hour from Longbridge to New St ran non-stop from and to Kings Norton with a scheduled journey time of ten minutes.
- With the re-modeling of Proof House Jct in 1986 Kings Norton became the centre of the NE/SW InterCity Network instead of New St. The middle platforms were re-opened for about six-weeks, complete with a kiosk selling hot drinks. Trains from the North East to the South West and vice-versa (Eg Leeds-Paignton, Newcastle-Bristol etc) stopped at Kings Norton instead, and passengers for Birmingham and the North-West had to change here on to a Crosscity-line dmu. A special supplement for Table 51 of the passenger timetable was produced with Kings Norton at its centre!

The Cross City express trains ran for longer than one timetable period. They were started in the autumn of 1986, and were withdrawn in May 1989. They only ran once an hour in either direction. If it was an express on the North side, it became a stopper on the south side and vice versa. They were non stop Sutton Coldfield to New Street, starting from Lichfield City, and on the south side they were non stop to Kings Norton, going forward to Redditch, the service to Redditch still being only once an hour back then. The timings were very tight, they arrived and left New Street at 03 past the hour for Redditch with no dwell time, and only ran off peak. The dmus carried an Express board in the secondmans window, cant remember the colour. It was either yellow with black writing, or blue with white writing.

 

[louis97]

This service takes the Gloucester route as it's booked to continue to Bristol via the Severn Tunnel.

It is only booked via Gloucester and Severn Tunnel as a result of engineering works. It is normally fast Cheltenham Spa to Bristol Parkway.

Also, looking at RTT, it's booked to call at Gloucester, which is unusual.

This Sunday the service is affected by engineering works, it doesn't normally call at Gloucester.

 

[Liam L]

19? will transfer to Northern Rails Allerton Depot in Liverpool to replace older Class 319 units but the rest seem to be surplus to requirements.

17 for Northern, 9 off-lease

 

[Ken H]

In the past twelve months the Class 323 used on the Cross City Line have received names of the stations they serve, all except 323240 Dave Pomfrey an engineer at Soho Depot where the units are maintained. A named example is 323201 Duddeston.
The future for the 323s is unclearwhen they are replaced by new Class 730/0 units. 19? will transfer to Northern Rails Allerton Depot in Liverpool to replace older Class 319 units but the rest seem to be surplus to requirements.

The 323's were interesting because of:-

1. The noise they made. quite musical
2. Holec, who made the traction package, thought the use of a Interference Current Monitoring Unit (ICMU) was not necessary if the software that managed the traction package monitored for interferance. All other trains up to then had an IMCU as a 'bolt on goody'
3. They were made in Leeds - but then I am biased!

 

[Crossover]

You get a weekly train from Leeds to Birmingham (and beyond) diverted via Lichfield, currently departing Sundays at 0930 from Derby.

By extension, there have been occasions in the past (when the line via Tamworth was shut) that CrossCountry services have made a passenger call at Lichfield City (presumably for better connections to Tamworth - naturally they can't use Trent Valley due to the platform layout)

 

[crosscity]

1E10 06:55 Gloucester-Leeds D350; see #20 and the rest of the discussion in this other thread is about the 1982 (and earlier) lack of services to Redditch prior to electrification including timetable extracts.

This train was still running in 1979 (ie after the Crosscity line started up). It called at Longbridge, Northfield and Kings Norton. I caught it a few times from Longbridge to get to work at Bournville. It wasn't very convenient as I had to change at Kings Norton, but it was a hoot travelling in a Mark I coach behind a Peak to get to work!

The Cross City express trains ran for longer than one timetable period. They were started in the autumn of 1986, and were withdrawn in May 1989. They only ran once an hour in either direction. If it was an express on the North side, it became a stopper on the south side and vice versa. They were non stop Sutton Coldfield to New Street, starting from Lichfield City, and on the south side they were non stop to Kings Norton, going forward to Redditch, the service to Redditch still being only once an hour back then. The timings were very tight, they arrived and left New Street at 03 past the hour for Redditch with no dwell time, and only ran off peak. The dmus carried an Express board in the secondmans window, cant remember the colour. It was either yellow with black writing, or blue with white writing.

Thanks for providing the detail. I only had my memory of it, which isn't as sharp as it once was. It clearly lasted longer than I remember.

I lived behind Kings Norton station and would catch a fast if I could. This wasn't all that often as I would only be going to New St on a Saturday or if I was on holiday.

 

[Sprinter107]

This train was still running in 1979 (ie after the Crosscity line started up). It called at Longbridge, Northfield and Kings Norton. I caught it a few times from Longbridge to get to work at Bournville. It wasn't very convenient as I had to change at Kings Norton, but it was a hoot travelling in a Mark I coach behind a Peak to get to work!


Thanks for providing the detail. I only had my memory of it, which isn't as sharp as it once was. It clearly lasted longer than I remember.

I lived behind Kings Norton station and would catch a fast if I could. This wasn't all that often as I would only be going to New St on a Saturday or if I was on holiday.

I think those Cross City express trains were a great idea to be honest. It was a quicker journey for those passengers from the outer extremes of the route wanting Birmingham. It would be nice if they could develop something like that now with the electrics.

 

[jfollows]

I think those Cross City express trains were a great idea to be honest. It was a quicker journey for those passengers from the outer extremes of the route wanting Birmingham. It would be nice if they could develop something like that now with the electrics.

I suspect there isn't the capacity to do this.
It was interesting to look at the 1970s "service" which was almost completely non-existent. Great how things have changed. More recently I used to go to University as part of my job to visit the computing centre, and it was very busy then, not surprising that it's been rebuilt. Still quite amazing in a way that an almost non-service has changed to regular 6-car EMU services at very high frequency which are usually busy.

 

[SargeNpton]

To get back to the original point of this thread...

Not a railway related point of interest, but Shenstone was where, for a few years, Norton motorcycles were built.

 

[crosscity]

I suspect there isn't the capacity to do this.
It was interesting to look at the 1970s "service" which was almost completely non-existent. Great how things have changed. More recently I used to go to University as part of my job to visit the computing centre, and it was very busy then, not surprising that it's been rebuilt. Still quite amazing in a way that an almost non-service has changed to regular 6-car EMU services at very high frequency which are usually busy.

The big change was in 1978. The core service from Longbridge to New St was every 15 minutes all day right until close of play. Now there are four trains an hour on a roughly 10/20 cycle - that's a worse service in my view. Admittedly the extremities (Redditch and Lichfield) were not so good, and Bromsgrove is now in the Crosscity fold. University is better served with the longer distance services. A bit of a curate's egg, really.

 

[DaventryRabbit]

Sutton Coldfield was the site of a Motorail terminal. (And also the site of a serious accident.)

The Accident here (involving a Mail Train IIRC?) Was down to Excessive Speed and led to the Adoption of the now Familiar Yellow 'Stencil' Style Speed Limit Signs.

Also when Butlers Lane Opened (1957?) It had Wooden 'Temporary' Platforms....These lasted untill 1992!
A good Source of Trivia for this line might be the Video 125 Cab Ride DVD Filmed from a 323 not long after Electrification. It's Narrated by Kay Alexander (of BBC Midlands News Fame back in the Day)

 

[Gloster]

The Accident here (involving a Mail Train IIRC?) Was down to Excessive Speed and led to the Adoption of the now Familiar Yellow 'Stencil' Style Speed Limit Signs.

I am thinking of the 1955 one, when a Sunday diversion of a York-Bristol express was involved. It may well have led to the introduction of Speed Limit Signs, as the inspector made a few comments about this in the report.

 

[MarkWiles]

Blake St is the last station in WM county going north. The crossover there is north of the station, so WM Centro would not fund it when x-city first started. So eventually all trains went to Lichfield.
I may not have that 100% right, so may be worth doing some digging.
If you can find old copies of Modern Railways it was documented in there.

More or less, what happened was WMPTE (as it was) wanted to increase the service north of Four Oaks (where three of the then four per hour trains terminated) to Blake Street following extensive housing development. Negotiations with Staffordshire County Council to fund the extension of trains through to Lichfield came to nothing (at the time Staffs was dominated by Stoke councillors who wanted their "D" road funding so the rest of the county got virtually nothing) so WMPTE ended up funding a crossover at Blake Street within the county boundary via Section 20, with a big red light on the boundary as if to say "Those of you who live in Staffordshire, this is your County's attitude to trains". Ironically just as this was installed, bus deregulation led Provincial to introduce extra trains to Lichfield anyway to keep market share as express buses from Lichfield to Birmingham increased, so the crossover is used by just a few early morning trains today, although it does provide a useful turnback for any disruption beyond Blake St.

It's also worth noting that the line beyond Blake St was also considered for singling at one point, and even on electrification, consideration was given to running a diesel shuttle from Blake St to Lichfield due to the lack of any funding from the County, something that also bedevilled the reopening of the Chase Line where Centro used their rarely used power to fund train services beyond the boundary to underwrite the experimental Speller service, which was hy the station signage all had Centro logos even though it was outside the Centro area.

Certainly up until the 1990s Staffordshire wasn't the most progressive council when it came to rail investment.

 

[Sunil_P]

I always thought Wylde Green would make an awesome name for a band!

 

[crosscity]

The 323's were interesting because of:-

1. The noise they made. quite musical
2. Holec, who made the traction package, thought the use of a Interference Current Monitoring Unit (ICMU) was not necessary if the software that managed the traction package monitored for interferance. All other trains up to then had an IMCU as a 'bolt on goody'
3. They were made in Leeds - but then I am biased!

They were indeed built in Leeds, but they were designed in Stirchley! Hunslet Transportation Projects was set up by some engineers from Metro-Cammell at Washwood Heath.

 

[Ken H]

They were indeed built in Leeds, but they were designed in Stirchley! Hunslet Transportation Projects was set up by some engineers from Metro-Cammell at Washwood Heath.

Gosh yes. I had forgotten that. Good to see 'Hunslet' on the tread plates tho.

 

[city dweller]

If you know anything interesting about: Northfield, Erdington, Blake Street or Shenstone, please let me know, it would be much appreciated

Many stations on the Cross City Line were scheduled to close

 

[Andyjs247]

Three stations on the Cross City Line are named after roads (Blake Street, Butlers Lane and Chester Road). The Chester Road doesn’t go to Chester.

Butlers Lane was opened as Butlers Lane Halt in 1957 with wooden platforms. It was rebuilt in 1991/92 at the time of electrification.

Five Ways, University and Longbrdge stations opened in 1978 when the Cross City Line service began.

 

[Sprinter107]

Five Ways was a reopening. The next two stations at Church Road and Somerset Road didnt reopen. You can see traces of both if you know where to look.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Butlers Lane station opened on Monday 30th September 1957. Nearly 200 people used it during the first three hours it was open. It was the first new station to be built in the Birmingham area since the Second World War.

And anyone born on the same day that the station opened would be 65 years old now.

 

[satisnek]

During the period immediately prior to electrification it was apparently known as the 'Wacky Races' as a result of the diverse hotchpotch of clapped-out DMU vehicles in use, together with the service frequency. I think the term may have originated from the drivers of long-distance services from the southwest, who would often find themselves stuck behind one of these things from Kings Norton all the way into New Street. Does anybody know more about this?

 

[AlterEgo]

The cheapest public ticket in the UK is between Lichfield City and Lichfield Trent Valley.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Bourneville was a destination for very many special excursions visiting the nearby factory.

 

[BrianW]

A fire destroyed the original booking office at Erdington in the late 80s.

Northfield - the station building was set on fire by suffragettes in a 1913 protest. The blaze was extinguished without any lasting damage done.

A serious incident was narrowly averted at Erdington in 1966 when a obstacle was placed across the tracks. Luckily someone spotted it and alerted the nearest signalbox.

Arsonists were more successful in the 1970s when they successfully destroyed the original station building.

Of more interest to current day travellers at Northfield may be the no longer accessible centre platforms. These were originally landscaped after the Cross-City line opened, and the remains of sculptures installed in 1993 can still be seen. The sculptures were made from old sleepers and were carved to represent 'Town and Country' items including a bolt, a saw and an ear of wheat.

Also some of the Northbound station buildings at Sutton Coldfield station were burned down in the 1970s.

A lot of arson about back in the day?

 

[Joe_Dodman]

The cheapest public ticket in the UK is between Lichfield City and Lichfield Trent Valley.

Arguably that would be between Heathrow terminals as you can get a free ticket

But yes LIC - LTV is the cheapest with a single of £1 and a return of £1.20 (Anytime, No Railcard)

You get a weekly train from Leeds to Birmingham (and beyond) diverted via Lichfield, currently departing Sundays at 0930 from Derby.

1V48 Leeds-Plymouth

I've done that line when Water Orton was closed

 

[bussnapperwm]

There used to be a line from Longbridge to Halesowen

 

[Ken H]

There used to be a line from Longbridge to Halesowen

The eastern end became the Longbridge Car Plant internal railway. There was a disused station building on the west side of the A38.

 

[Mordac]

I just had a ticket check on the cross city line it must be a Christmas miracle

 

[Liam L]

I just had a ticket check on the cross city line it must be a Christmas miracle

You sure it wasn’t a dream?

 

[Wyrleybart]

In the early 1990s the Cross City line north was used to test some of the Eurostar Trains (Wahwood Heath built sets) in the middle of the night around 3am when no other trains were operating. The tests under their own power were only between Lichfield and Erdington.

Also some of the Northbound station buildings at Sutton Coldfield station were burned down in the 1970s.

Correct class 47 on each end with barriers of course went out of the works at Washwood Heath, but not sure where they reversed - possibly Wichnor Jn (also spelt Wychnor). The 47s they moved the train to Lichfield City where they detached and the 373 was panned up and ran as far south as Erdington or Chester Road.

Pretty sure all the Met Camm built 373s were tested this way but unfortunately, because it was overnight you don't get to see any photos online.