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Curzon Street Station yard

Vivienne14

Vivienne14

Kentish Brummie Moderator
Staff member
HS2’s archaeology programme will help archaeologists and historians to reveal the story of the development of Birmingham as an international powerhouse. They plan to explore the remains of the Curzon Street station yard.

So please post any information, images, memories or comments on this thread.

Thank you.
Viv.
 
Interesting pictures Mike, note how some staff in the forwarding office are wearing caps, could they be carters?
 
Badpenny,

Before WW1 my father was a carter working out of Curzon Street, a job he loved. He wore a cap, was the only one in his family who could read and write, was allotted his own horse and cart, but never mentioned working in an office. Nevertheless, that is a brilliant picture.

Edit: They were most probably the clerks allotting the parcels out to the carters.

Maurice
 
badpenny said:
Interesting pictures Mike, note how some staff in the forwarding office are wearing caps, could they be carters?
Click to expand...
Maurice, in post 5, suggests who they may be. I believe - along similar lines - that they were what is often known as 'runners'; that is message carriers. Runners were part of many workplaces in the past. Some interesting photos indeed.
It is difficult for many people today, with our rail network primarily passenger and a smaller unit type freight operation, to realize the vast amount of products carried by our railways. Even small towns had large goods depots but a city like Birmingham with rail links, via the LMS and GWR, handled a tremendous amount of merchandise of varying types. Besides Curzon Street there was Washwood Heath, Bordesley and Hockley.
 
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mike those are fantastic photos..just look at the ornate pillars and ceilings and also the desks

lyn
 
I think a map would be helpful to help place the position of the station yard. Please Mike ? Viv.
 
Inside the shed in the third photo I think there’s a sign which says “Royal Albert “. Would that be the name of the platform, loading/unloading area of the shed ?

And do we know the name of the road/junction in the last photo ? Viv.
 
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Wow, that’s a sizeable site. Be interesting to see which station yard part they focus on in the survey. Viv,
 
Great photographs on that site, Mike, just a pity they only had one featuring a horse at Curzon Street.

Maurice
 
Demolition of the bonded warehouse. The caption misleadingly suggests the whole station was being demolished. Well we know it wasn’t. I thought maybe it just meant the goods depot but it does say the “rest of the 128 year old station will fall”. Must have had a last minute reprieve. Viv.

4B5A62BF-92DA-469C-A318-4A45963EB758.jpeg
 
I worked shifts at the British Rail parcel depot behind the old Curzon street station in the mid 70's. It was within the area that is now cleared for the HS2 station. The people working there were a mix of Bohemian types, students, old sweats and Indians but we all rubbed along very well. There was a mess room where we brewed up and ate our sandwiches and had the occasional game of cards. The gaffers had their own room and never mixed with the rest of us. We used to pop across the road to the Woodman if it was open when the evening parcel trains were delayed and sometimes had union meetings there. Nobody seemed to mind when we came back to work having had three or four pints. On the same site to the right of the BR shed was a Royal Mail parcel depot.
 
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