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Harborne Railway

Ah, still a few old buildings left, thank goodness. "Henry Wong" was previously a bank and is now a Chinese restaurant, and the whole place has more than its fair share of double yellow lines. A passenger line with a regular service into New Street would no doubt be very welcome, but I shudder to think what the fare would be today! Thanks for the pictures.

Maurice

Aye, I do think the line would be well used (I'd use it!) but it wouldn't have the charm of the old line... no signal boxes, sidings or coal trains. Nevertheless, that's still better than what we currently have!
 
I walked the Harborne Railway yesterday from Harborne to Somerfield Park. I tried to find the branch to M & B Cape Hill Brewery but did not find it. However I have since studied Google Satellite View and think I can see some evidence of the actual location. The problem today would be managing to get out onto the main line with the number of trains running today from Birmingham to Wolverhampton.
 
I walked the Harborne Railway yesterday from Harborne to Somerfield Park. I tried to find the branch to M & B Cape Hill Brewery but did not find it. However I have since studied Google Satellite View and think I can see some evidence of the actual location. The problem today would be managing to get out onto the main line with the number of trains running today from Birmingham to Wolverhampton.

That's true, it was one of the reasons why people stopped using the passenger service.

Regarding the M&B branch, the cutting it ran through has been filled in, although you can obviously still walk through the site of the triangle junction where the exchange sidings were located.
 
Thank you Harbornite. Yes it is not easy to see the filled in cutting near Rotton Park Road. I first came across the Harborne Railway at the point where the Cape Hill line crossed City Road. I then, during my time at George Dixons School, traced the still working line from Hagley Road to Harborne. As I could not at that time find the line north of Portland Road, I assumed that the line at City Road was the onward connection to the main line. It was not till I bought my first A-Z that I could trace it on the map.
 
I also walked the line a few weeks ago - I used to live next to Icknield Port Road station - attached a bit of old mapping that might be of interest......

That's a good map, Malvernian. Even today you can still just about make out the mound which marks the site of the island platform.

Thank you Harbornite. Yes it is not easy to see the filled in cutting near Rotton Park Road. I first came across the Harborne Railway at the point where the Cape Hill line crossed City Road. I then, during my time at George Dixons School, traced the still working line from Hagley Road to Harborne. As I could not at that time find the line north of Portland Road, I assumed that the line at City Road was the onward connection to the main line. It was not till I bought my first A-Z that I could trace it on the map.


When you say "still working", do you mean that you can remember the line when it was operational?
 
That's a good map, Malvernian. Even today you can still just about make out the mound which marks the site of the island platform.




When you say "still working", do you mean that you can remember the line when it was operational?

Was still operational when I lived next to it from 1956, until it closed in 1963 - the weekday morning goods train at about 7:15?, struggling up the 1 in 70 gradient under IPR was the family wake up call. Attached a pic someone sent me of the old IPR station site in that period. There's also a couple of movie clips of special trains on the line - search YouTube for "harborne railway"
 

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Was still operational when I lived next to it from 1956, until it closed in 1963 - the weekday morning goods train at about 7:15?, struggling up the 1 in 70 gradient under IPR was the family wake up call. Attached a pic someone sent me of the old IPR station site in that period. There's also a couple of movie clips of special trains on the line - search YouTube for "harborne railway"

That's a nice shot, one of the only ones I've seen of that station in colour. By the 1950's there were only three freight trains a day according to disused railways, one in the morning, afternoon and evening. It's a shame that the line isn't open any more.
 
I saw a loco shunting at Hagley Road Station on at least two occasions. I have a vague idea that I could have seen steam or a train when I was much younger traveling on a bus either on Hagley Road or City Road
 
I saw a loco shunting at Hagley Road Station on at least two occasions. I have a vague idea that I could have seen steam or a train when I was much younger traveling on a bus either on Hagley Road or City Road
Oh I see! If it was city road then the loco would probably have been one of the Mitchells and Butlers locomotives that were used for shunting goods wagons round their brewery at Cape Hill. Can you remember if the locomotive was a tender or tank engine?

On another note, here's some more pictures of the branch: https://www.keithhoban.com/harbranch.htm

I have also seen both videos on youtube of railtours that visited the branch, one was in 1959 and the other was in 1963.
 
The locos I saw shunting in Hagley Road Station were tank engines. I cannot be more specific as, surprisingly perhaps, I was never a trainspotter in spite of the hours I spent on both New Street and Snow Hill watching the trains. My interest was more in watching the operations than in identifying and recording engines
 
Hello! I'm doing research on the M&B railway that spurred off the Harborne branch near Rotton Park, ran down the side of the sports pitches, under city road and past another sports areas and into the brewery. Love to speak with anyone who has memories of the railway, worked on the railway or has any photos of the railway. I've also got a bit a of mystery that I'm hoping you might be able to solve.
 
I would sometimes play on a derelict "Bomb site" next to the line on the south side of Hagley Road, and would sometimes see a train coming from Harborne. A few coal trucks and vans probably from the Chad Valley toy factory. I also saw the very last train, an ex LMS 'black five' I think, hauling bogie flat wagons, with a caterpillar-tracked crane following it lifting the track sections onto the wagons. :-(
 
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