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Midland Railway Goods Offices Birmingham 1865-1870

Genmac

proper brummie kid
I am trying to find out if there were any 'Goods Offices' for the Midland Railway in Birmingham between 1865 -1870? If so are there any records available? Where were the Midland Railway goods offices located in Birmingham?

My great grandfather Walker Riley was a new 'Railway Clerk' working for Midland Railways living in Birmingham during these years. He later by 1871 was a Railway Clerk at the new Nottingham Midland Railway station living in a new house owned by the Midland Railway company . His previous occupation/experience in 1861 was as a coal agent in the East Midlands coal mining region in Heanor Derbys
 
There are railway employment records available on Ancestry. And there are a number of W Rileys listed (some for Birmingham) but that's all I can see without a subscription.
 
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Wikipedia lists some of the Midland Railway stations...


...Lawley St, Curzon St and New St which they shared with the LNWR.

If you do find his record it should list the station he worked at.
 
Here is the entry in the Post Office Directory for 1868.

Entry for midland Railway Goods from PO directory 1868.jpg

The position of 31 New St is approximately where the red arrow points on the c 1889 map, before Corporation St was constructed.

map c 1889 showing approx. position of no 31 New St.jpg

The position of 41½ Snow Hill is marked by the blue arrow on the c 1889 map.

map c 1889 showing position of 41½ Snow hill by blue arrow.jpg

The position of 12 Hall St is shown in red on the c1889 map

map c1889 showing no 12 Hall St in red.jpg
 
There are railway employment records available on Ancestry. And there are a number of W Rileys listed (some for Birmingham) but that's all I can see without a subscription.
Thank you for suggestion. I have checked Ancestry Railway Employment records but there was no reference to Walker Riley
 
Here is the entry in the Post Office Directory for 1868.

View attachment 149118

The position of 31 New St is approximately where the red arrow points on the c 1889 map, before Corporation St was constructed.

View attachment 149121

The position of 41½ Snow Hill is marked by the blue arrow on the c 1889 map.

View attachment 149122

The position of 12 Hall St is shown in red on the c1889 map

View attachment 149119
Thank you for locations of Midland Railway goods offices in Birmingham in 1868 - very useful. I also noticed Lawley Street was mentioned - were there goods offices at this location also?

Spent many happy childhood hours at Snow Hill Station (GWR) and New Street Station spotting wonderful steam trains in 1950's. Also starting point of our family summer holidays and local rambles locations
 
I would think there might be, Probably mainly for acceptance of large and bulk items.
 
It was a practice to find railway parcels offices placed in town locations away from the goods depots and relied on road transport to move items between office and goods depot. It should also be noted that Railway Companies also had canal interchange depots.

Between 1865 and 1870 the Midland Railway was expanding its railway business and much of the railway network on the West Midlands was a subsequent development. Lawley Street was the main Birmingham Goods Depot, although there was also Camp Hill, which served as a goods depot. Their route through Birmingham was Bristol- Gloucester- Derby- Leeds, with the branch to Hampton in Arden, as well as running powers on other adjacent lines, such as to Birmingham New Street and along the South Staffordshire Railway.

Living in Birmingham somebody working in the goods department might associated with the main goods depots and the association with coal might suggest a link with coal traffic. This became a heavy traffic to Birmingham later.
 
It was a practice to find railway parcels offices placed in town locations away from the goods depots and relied on road transport to move items between office and goods depot. It should also be noted that Railway Companies also had canal interchange depots.

Between 1865 and 1870 the Midland Railway was expanding its railway business and much of the railway network on the West Midlands was a subsequent development. Lawley Street was the main Birmingham Goods Depot, although there was also Camp Hill, which served as a goods depot. Their route through Birmingham was Bristol- Gloucester- Derby- Leeds, with the branch to Hampton in Arden, as well as running powers on other adjacent lines, such as to Birmingham New Street and along the South Staffordshire Railway.

Living in Birmingham somebody working in the goods department might associated with the main goods depots and the association with coal might suggest a link with coal traffic. This became a heavy traffic to Birmingham later.
Thank you Heartland for your helpful information. Apparently it was Midland Railway practise in this period that when a young man applied to be a Railway Clerk at his local railway station ,either Nottingham of Derby in this case, in the first few years in his new job he would be offered posts many miles away. It was a start and as they advanced up the ranks they found their way back closer to home ( at Nottingham Midland Station on 1871 Census). Walker Riley started in Derby in 1865, then moved to Sheffield in 1867 and ended up at his last posting in Birmingham in 1870 before settling back in Nottingham by 1871.

Yes Walker Riley was a Coal Agent in his early 20's working at the Shipley Wharf on the Nutbrook Canal shipping coal from the Shipley Coalfields on canal/Midland Rail to the main line at Shipley also on the main Erewash canal. So it likely when the canal business reduced he applied for a job at Derby Midland as a clerk on coal goods. The Shipley Coafields were owned by the Miller-Munday family at Shipley Hall. So he might have worked as a clerk in the Birmingham Midland Railway Coal Goods Yard at Curzon Street or Lawley Street in the late 1860's?
 
Here is the entry in the Post Office Directory for 1868.

View attachment 149118

The position of 31 New St is approximately where the red arrow points on the c 1889 map, before Corporation St was constructed.

View attachment 149121

The position of 41½ Snow Hill is marked by the blue arrow on the c 1889 map.

View attachment 149122

The position of 12 Hall St is shown in red on the c1889 map

View attachment 149119
Fascinating to see the Hall St map as my apartment block Quartz is at 10 Hall St. 12 is now a little piece of empty land. I can’t imagine the lives of the people over whose history I now live. The Tesco’s is where the bank was and I’m a few floors over that. The courtyards must have some stories to tell.
 
Fascinating to see the Hall St map as my apartment block Quartz is at 10 Hall St. 12 is now a little piece of empty land. I can’t imagine the lives of the people over whose history I now live. The Tesco’s is where the bank was and I’m a few floors over that. The courtyards must have some stories to tell.
Hi brianthelion. I did not realize where the 3rd parcel office Midland Railway was located in Hall Street in 1860's. I think my great grandfather was more likely to have been a heavy goods clerk at Curzon Street or Lawley Street goods stations.

My wife's family have many associations with this area where you live in the past.

- her great great grandparents (Frosts) lived and worked near around your area and are buried in Key Hill cemetary.
- her grandfather (Lowe) worked as a Seal Stone Engraver somewhere in the Jewellery Quarter in early 1900's
- her father (Lowe) worked at the Birmingham Assay Office just round the corner and then at George Cannings Electroplaters just opposite on the corner of the main road
- her other great grandfather (Lowe) worked as a Horse Smith in the back to back Courts in Horsefair/ Digbeth area

Thanks for your post
 
It is difficult see a link with Curzon Street as that was London & North Western Railway, but Lawley Street was Midland Railway and traffic from the East Midlands collieries would have been directed there.
 
It is difficult see a link with Curzon Street as that was London & North Western Railway, but Lawley Street was Midland Railway and traffic from the East Midlands collieries would have been directed there.
Thank you for clarification. I thought that this might be the case,thanks
 
In relation to this, where might anyone guess that the Midland Railway would unload cattle destined for a nearby abattoir?
 
There were cattle pens at Camp hill, but I would have thought most likely Banbury St wnarf sidings, as these were next to the cattle market
 
Thanks, that certainly shows up as having cattle pens. Certainly make sense. Incoming animals would presumably be taken on foot to their fate.
 
There were cattle pens at Camp hill, but I would have thought most likely Banbury St wnarf sidings, as these were next to the cattle market
Thanks, that's interesting too. The animals on the train in question (it actually crashed on the way) had come from Liverpool. That suggests, imported via Princes Dock, and for slaughter. They had 14 days for this, and they were quarantined and not allowed to mix with domestic animals, and wouldn't go to a market.
 
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