History of Birmingham Snow Hill.

[BanburyBlue]

When I first started taking an interest in railways, late 70's, trains from Leamington Spa, Stratford upon Avon etc, terminated at Birmingham Moor Street as at that time the Snow Hill tunnel was closed. I always assumed that likewise, trains from Kidderminster, Worcester etc, terminated at Birmingham Snow Hill. So, questions...

• Is this the case? I saw reference in another thread to building Snow Hill station, so I wasn't sure whether is was building a new station, or re-building the old one.
• What happened in the 'old days'? Did there used to be through services from Leamington, Dorridge, Stratford etc to Kidderminster/Worcester?
• Why and when did the tunnel close?
• And I guess, why did they decide to reopen it?

Thanks.

 

[jfollows]

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Snow_Hill_railway_station
Birmingham Snow Hill was closed and demolished in the 1970s and trains from Kidderminster and the Stourbridge line terminated at Birmingham New Street, using Galton Junction. The article I refer to then goes on to say that the services from this direction were reinstated over rebuilt lines on the GWR formation back to Snow Hill in 1995.

In the "old days" Snow Hill was the GWR station in Birmingham and through services used it, also to Wolverhampton for Birkenhead, over the route the tram now uses in the main.

EDIT See, for example, the timetable showing the 6:30am Birkenhead to Paddington and other trains passing through Snow Hill on a weekday morning in the up direction from the 15/9/58 to 14/6/59 timetable attached.

FURTHER EDIT Maps of the area "pre-grouping" showing Great Western in orange and London & North Western in black, from "Pre-grouping atlas and gazetteer, Ian Allan, 1976" although I think it's been reprinted more recently.

 

[D6968]

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Snow_Hill_railway_station
Birmingham Snow Hill was closed and demolished in the 1970s and trains from Kidderminster and the Stourbridge line terminated at Birmingham New Street, using Galton Junction. The article I refer to then goes on to say that the services from this direction were reinstated over rebuilt lines on the GWR formation back to Snow Hill in 1995.

In the "old days" Snow Hill was the GWR station in Birmingham and through services used it, also to Wolverhampton for Birkenhead, over the route the tram now uses in the main.

EDIT See, for example, the timetable showing the 6:30am Birkenhead to Paddington and other trains passing through Snow Hill on a weekday morning in the up direction from the 15/9/58 to 14/6/59 timetable attached.

Haven’t access to the book (think it was by John Buynton? If I’ve spelt that right?)
But didn't Snow Hill close in 1972/3 and then WMPTE decided it needed to reopen very shortly afterwards to relieve congestion at New Street? Think it may have been about 1979 that a firm plan came along about reopening the site again.
I certainly remember using the cycle/footpath from Kendrick Park to go into West Bromwich as a very young sprog between 1987/89 which is now the Midland Metro.

 

[jfollows]

This book I guess

I just bought a second-hand copy for <£5 including postage.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Snow Hill tunnel was closed between 1968 and 1987, when through platforms were also added at Moor St.
While it has reopened, there is no heavy rail route to Wolverhampton Low Level any more, as the trackbed is now used by the West Midlands Metro trams (with deviations).
The only heavy rail route today is towards Stourbridge Jn/Kidderminster/Worcester.

 

[30907]

The main station building had almost entirely been demolished when I visited just before closure, and IIRC the site was completely cleared at track level.

Yes, there were cross-Birmingham stoppers (you can see one in the timetable upthread), but there were also 4 north-end bays IIRC.

The tunnel to the south closed first (March 68, a year after the London service switched (back) to New Street), leaving a couple of North end bays for a peak hour only service to Wolverhampton and 2tpd (?) to Langley Green.

The formation of WMPTE and the consequent increase in suburban services through New Street (Cross-city most obviously - back when Snow Hill closed Redditch also had something like 3tpd) meant that an alternative was needed. This included the through platforms at Moor St BTW.

 

[Bald Rick]

Snow Hill to Smethwick reopened to passenger service in 1995.

 

[D6968]

This book I guess
View attachment 127121
I just bought a second-hand copy for <£5 including postage.

This was the one I was thinking of, I’d forgotten about the one you’ve mentioned. I’ll have a look at ordering a copy.

 

[Sprinter107]

When I first started taking an interest in railways, late 70's, trains from Leamington Spa, Stratford upon Avon etc, terminated at Birmingham Moor Street as at that time the Snow Hill tunnel was closed. I always assumed that likewise, trains from Kidderminster, Worcester etc, terminated at Birmingham Snow Hill. So, questions...

• Is this the case? I saw reference in another thread to building Snow Hill station, so I wasn't sure whether is was building a new station, or re-building the old one.
• What happened in the 'old days'? Did there used to be through services from Leamington, Dorridge, Stratford etc to Kidderminster/Worcester?
• Why and when did the tunnel close?
• And I guess, why did they decide to reopen it?

Thanks.

Yes, there were cross Birmingham services. From June 1957, they were mainly the hourly Wellington to Lapworth stoppers. From the mid 1960s, these started to worked separately, with many of the locals from Wellington only going as far as Snow Hill, likewise with the ones from Lapworth, with just a handful continuing to cross Snow Hill. There were other odd services from the North Warwicks and Kidderminster lines that crossed Snow Hill, usually in rush hours.
After the main line services stopped in March 1967, local trains from the South were reduced to the odd rush hour train into Snow Hill, the majority going to either Moor Street or New Street, but the locals to Wolverhampton continued on the same frequency as before the main line trains were withdrawn. The Kidderminster stoppers were diverted via a reinstated Smethwick Junction to Galton Junction line into New Street, and a new shuttle introduced with a class 122 running every 2 hours throughout the day and into the evening with extra rush hour journeys, ran from Langley Green to Snow Hill connecting with the Kidderminster stoppers.
From May 1968, the Wolverhampton stoppers were reduced to 3 each way in the morning rush, and 3 each way in the evening rush, and the Langley Green shuttle went to about the same frequency. No daytime service except for one each way on Saturday lunchtime. 1968 also saw the remaining stoppers from the South withdrawn from Snow Hill and the tunnel closed. In August 1968 the 3 car 116s on the Wolverhampton stoppers went to class 122s, and in May 1969, all the stations including Wolverhampton Low Level and Birmingham Snow Hill became unstaffed. And this is how it remained til closure in March 1072. After the closure of the tunnel, the dmus for this service running from Tyseley via New Street to Snow Hill reversing at Langley Green.

 

[BanburyBlue]

Many thanks for all your replies.

So I'm guessing that when Snow Hill station closed, so did The Hawthorns and Jewellery Quarter (assuming they were stations back then).

And has demand changed? Do a lot of people use the line as a through service, or do most people still terminate their journey at Snow Hill/Moor Street?

 

[jfollows]

Many thanks for all your replies.

So I'm guessing that when Snow Hill station closed, so did The Hawthorns and Jewellery Quarter (assuming they were stations back then).

Neither were stations - you will see from the map and timetable I posted that the stations were

• Hockley
• Soho and Winson Green
• Handsworth & Smethwick

before the branch at Handsworth Junction

however you may find that the new stations were built on the site of the old ones of course.

EDIT The Hawthorns existed as a football halt between 1931 and 1968 according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hawthorns_station.
Jewellery Quarter is on the site of "Hockley goods facilities" according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewellery_Quarter#Transport.

 

[150219]

Many thanks for all your replies.

So I'm guessing that when Snow Hill station closed, so did The Hawthorns and Jewellery Quarter (assuming they were stations back then).

And has demand changed? Do a lot of people use the line as a through service, or do most people still terminate their journey at Snow Hill/Moor Street?

GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

The above link will help with the route. The equivalent stations for The Hawthorns and Jewellery Quarter were Handsworth & Smethwick and Hockley respectively. Handsworth & Smethwick was at the same location as the Midlands Metro stop at Handsworth Booth Street.

 

[Magdalia]

So I'm guessing that when Snow Hill station closed, so did The Hawthorns and Jewellery Quarter (assuming they were stations back then).

As has already been stated, The Hawthorns was a station only used on matchdays, and Hockley was close to where Jewellery Quarter is now.

The Disused Stations website is your friend here:

Disused Stations: The Hawthorns Halt

Disused Stations: Hockley Station

These pages give details of the stations and passenger services with lots of pictures too.

 

[Sprinter107]

Many thanks for all your replies.

So I'm guessing that when Snow Hill station closed, so did The Hawthorns and Jewellery Quarter (assuming they were stations back then).

And has demand changed? Do a lot of people use the line as a through service, or do most people still terminate their journey at Snow Hill/Moor Street?

The Hawthorns did exist, but only one platform of today's station, the one for Stourbridge is in the same place as the original. The other 3 platforms of the original were the other side of the road bridge. Handsworth and Smethwick is now Handsworth Booth Street Metro stop. Soho and Winson Green is now what is Benson Road Metro stop. Hockley was closed, and nothing reopened on the original site, but Jewellery Quarter was opened on the other side of Icknield Street road bridge from where Hockley was. There are remnants of all three closed stations if you know where to look.