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New Street Station From1854

Radiorails said:
That old picture could suggest a special train is due to arrive or something unusual is going to happen. I believe the left hand side is Midland Railway and the right hand side the London & North Western. The colours look correct for the L&NWR
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:worried: I may have missed something here but I can't see any colours in this black and white picture
 
Radiorails said:
You are presumably unacquainted with L&NWR colours.
I have chosen this as it is Handsworth, note the similarities of the coach "colours".
Here is the photo with accompanying details:
Click to expand...
Not being a railway buff unfortunately I am not acquainted with with the "colours" of Railway Companies. As a layman all I see is a black and white picture. Forgive my ignorance and perhaps my being a bit of a pedant but perhaps "livery" may be a better word to use to the uninitiated like myself.
 
The picture above from Vivienne 14 is captioned at www.warwickshirerailways.com as:
"View from the Queens Hotel looking across to the West end of Platform 3 showing the signals controlling access to the tunnel to Wolverhampton. To the left beneath the soot and smoke encrusted glazed gable of the original train shed can be seen the columns supporting the 'Paxton roof' named after Joseph Paxton, gardener to the Duke of Devonshire. This extra roof was required because under the LNWR's original Act the station had to be completely under cover. On the right of Platform 1 in the foreground is the ramp leading to the subway which was extended beyond the station to provide direct access to the Post "

That would make the road in the background Queen's Drive.
 
You need to remember that New Street Station was two separate stations with Queens Drive separating them. The Stephenson Street side was London and North Western Railway (trains to Coventry, Wolverhampton beyond) and the Station Street side was Midland Railway (trains to Derby, Leicester, Gloucester and beyond). In 1923 these companies merged into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.
 
Found this 1920's picture of New St station. Station St. bottom right, Navigation St.(amended!) half way up on left. Surprised to see the east/west façade half way across the station, I suppose this got flattened during the war.
I think this confirms that the road in #214 is Queens Drive.
Screenshot (280).png
 
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Actually, Devonjim, the road halfway up on the left is Navigation Street and Pinfold Street. This map from 1920 shows roughly the area covered by your photo. I presume that the East/West facade that you refer to must be the buildings set back from the Station Street frontage. I have no idea what they are as I do not remember them.1566216966539.png
 
Another shot of that office block behind Station St. Both my pictures are from "Britain from Above". I've corrected my mistaken naming of Navigation Street, #219.
Screenshot (281).png
 
Peg Monkey said:
I lived on the Lyndhurst Estate 1959-1972 and always thought the line bordering it's western boundary was LMS, I recently discovered from a map of 1892-1908 vintage it was actually L&NWR, were they amalgamated?
Peg.
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I think it was LNER and yes they were all gradually merged loosing much of their identity
 
Richarddye said:
I think it was LNER and yes they were all gradually merged loosing much of their identity.
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It was the LMS. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) was a British railway company formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railways into four. The companies merged into the LMS included the London and North Western Railway, Midland Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (which had previously merged with the London and North Western Railway on 1 January 1922), several Scottish railway companies (including the Caledonian Railway), and numerous other, smaller ventures.
 
Lloyd said:
It was the LMS. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) was a British railway company formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railways into four. The companies merged into the LMS included the London and North Western Railway, Midland Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (which had previously merged with the London and North Western Railway on 1 January 1922), several Scottish railway companies (including the Caledonian Railway), and numerous other, smaller ventures.
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Thank you...………...I stand corrected!
 
A lot of black-out material needed here. I can only imagine how low spirits must have been at this time knowing we were at war again. So glimpses of early morning sunshine breaking into the Station must have lifted the spirits if only for an hour or so. Viv,

71440AD4-0738-4538-8D04-2A7863B7A883.jpeg
Source: British Newspaper Archive
 
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As a trainspotter who used to infest the chunk of platform at the south east end of the station between the LNW and Midland sides of the station between about 1956 to 1958, it is so good to see historic views of the old station.

Herr Hitler's Luftwaffe did so much damage to the LNW side during the war. My memory is of the temporary canopies over the platforms erected after the overall roof had to be demolished. The LNW side was always busier than the Midland side (which still had its overall roof still in place.) Despite the muck & filth, it was still a magical place and as I walked along the overall bridge which gave access to the platforms, there was always the sense of anticipation which the sound of steam locos moving around gave.
 
Busy August bank holiday at New Street Station. Can’t quite make sense of the fact that there were many soldiers on the platform, despite it being 1929. Maybe they were training. Viv.

C2F61F73-13E4-4590-912C-A05F7C08F535.jpeg


E77C776C-3E74-494D-A157-6A40CC943856.jpeg

Here’s the caption. I can’t get it into one image so the top lines of the two extracts should be read consecutively.
E3A3A980-FDBB-4B64-AEA7-22DF412B1D1B.jpeg
6F0F5FE6-99FD-4B27-B30E-AE9D32F91690.jpeg
Source: British Newspaper Archive
 
The end of the train nearest the camera looks to be a guard's/luggage van, (note the double doors with two scouts loading kit). Perhaps the soldiers also had bulky kit that they were wanting put in the van? I suggest that there were only a few soldiers travelling on the train, it's just that they needed to be at the van end whereas most of the public didn't so they dominate the view here.
 
Yes the soldiers do seem to be concentrated at the nearest end. Thanks Spargone. And it looks pretty chaotic to me.

Viv
 
Well seemingly not during the General Strike of 1926 !
But the locomotive looks like at 5P 4F 2-6-0 which was a type introduced in 1926 and built in batches thereafter. Rail enthusiasts called the type "crab".
 
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