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Curzon Street Railway Station

  • Thread starter Thread starter speaky
  • Start date Start date
I gather that Curzon St is the oldest surviving example of railway architecture IN THE WORLD. Surely it would be nothing short of criminal for it to disappear? THere must be SOMETHING we can all do....? We've already lost the historic Queen's Hotel that used to be next door........
Graham
 
Re: a bit of a worry

Hello - my Granddad was a goods guard and a special constable at curzon street station - his warrant card shows he was sworn in, in September 1914.When he started work he was paid 18/- (90p) week 10hours a day 6 days a week!! as a main line passenger guard he got paid 35/-(£1.75) week he said his main run was B'ham to Euston (1hour 50mins) three times a day. I am not sure how long he worked there for he went on to purchase some land which was being sold in strips at the Mount, Shirley and farmed Poultry. When I found the information about Curzon Street and saw the lovely pictures of such a wonderful building I could not understand why so much had been demolished. I agree what is left should be preserved. Is it now a publically owned building?
Julia
 
speaky said:
I have a Bradshaws Railway Companion of 1841 giving times of train arrivals and departures, fares, maps, etc., for 1841. There is no mention of either New Street or Snow Hill as stations, the reference is simply Birmingham! Does anyone know which station that would have been in 1841? It is interesting to note that a 2nd class ticket from Birmingham to London was 20s 3p which must mean that in real terms, it's cheaper to travel by rail now than it was then!
Click to expand...
Dear Speaky, The station we now now as Curzon station was the station you are refering to, during my research I have found that there was a station called Birmingham (later snowhill), although the dates I have are 1852 as a wooden structure, the wooded building being replaced in 1871,and third rebuild in 1906, the Great western hotel was built @ 1868. Im looking for information to support the theory that the arches (before the hotel was built)was where Bulpitt and sons( Swan Brand) originated from. Hope this helps.
 
Re: a bit of a worry

I have been going round this area a lot in the last few months taking photographs.

For those that do not know the Curzon Street Station building is right inside an area called "Eastside" that is being developed. The station is planned to stay and be included in the new development.

Here is a recent panorama photo showing how the site is now (well at least a few months ago). It is a wide photo so you need to scroll to the right to see it all.

https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=48489823&postcount=7

I have posted about a dozen panoramas of the Eastside area that you can see here

https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1024483

Also more general photos of Eastside here (that I have linked to Google maps)

https://www.panoramio.com/user/3749097
 
Heres a lovely picture of Curzon Street Railway Station. The picture is dated 1838.

Curzon_St_Station.jpg
 
img108.jpg
I know a lot of this will already have been posted but the text with this print says,The Liverpool to Birmingham Railway reached Birmingham in 1837 and the London to Birmingham Railway in 1838. The terminus was at Curzon Street but this was some way from the city centre and access was poor. Four other companies ran lines into Birmingham during the next fifteen years and central stations opened at New Street and Snow Hill in 1852. Stations on these lines encouraged suburban growth, for instance, Kings Heath developed after the station opened in 1840 on the Birmingham to Gloucester line. Other suburban lines were built after 1860, e.g. The Sutton Coldfield line in 1862 and the Harborne line in 1874.
 
Hey everyone.. just a quick note about the main building, which you might already know?. The two arches(shown in the print) were never actually built, because of un-sound ground =)
Cheers Simon
 
It must be a lovely building inside as well as out , it would be another criminal act if it were destroyed.
If it can't be incorporated into a station stop,then a museum sounds a great idea, big improvement on the monstrosity opposite it!!
Dads family worked on the railways and from what I can gather was at the goods yard at Curzon .
Sue
 
Gorgeous old building that I passed today in the car. We really knew how to build great looking buildings in those days. Different to the modern day boxes that will not be around in 20 years let alone over 170 years as this was. I understand this is a Grade 1 listed building. So just knocking it down is not an option but "listing" status doesnt always save things tho.

Understand this is also part of the high speed 2 project and development of eastside. So Im gratefull for that at least.
I hope it survives intact because once it's gone thats it. I don't know what is planned around it but I hope it is given enough space and becomes a centre piece, surrounded by at least "some" greenery. Dont miss the opportunity please planners.
 
hi

the years this area lay in complete dilapidation and it is the proposed to be
the centre of the HS2 Terminal. What our Ancestors saw back in the 1830's
could be re-born. The Architects drawings are stunning.

mike jenks
 
I would imagine that planners back in the good old days of Curzon St Station (ie mid 1800's) would have met similar negtive feelings for the changes to higher speed trains and in those days it took 8 hours to get to London from here. But I still cant see the requirement to pay a lot extra (these days) just to be in London 15 minutes earlier. But maybe I'm getting older and missing something. If I am please correct me.
 
Hi

Yep they were as today NIMBYS all over the place in most cases acts of Parliament had to be used to
force the Railways through. Canals had the same problems.
Overload on the WCML and the terrible layout of the Birmingham section from Rugby where the WCML
splits. Its difficult to run a Railway with Goods Local and Express virtually on one Track. But thats
another Story. Its the shear volume of Passenger Growth unfortunately going to London

Mike Jenks
 
Perhaps if we had continued to use ALL of the railway resources at our disposal, instead of the old rivalries between the companies and then regions IE GWR(Western Region/LMS(London Midland) causing massive closures of the GWR route, we would still have four tracks to and from Birmingham to and from the South into and out of Snow Hill as far as Lapworth, thus giving lots of capacity for expresses and local services on the route which was always the fastest to London, thanks to finer engineering of the line. We would also have had another route North as well, because that is the next one they will decide to throw money at, but then maybe not because it won't assist London!!
Chiltern Railways are slowly but steadily improving the route South and I can foresee a time when their route will be faster than the West Coast route and competing for the business from the white elephant which will be HS2 (if it gets built), just like HS1 which is conveniently not discussed. Or maybe when Chiltern have invested all of their resources the franchise will pass to the First group for them to make massive profits out of. Rant over........for a while!!
 
hi

Yep the 4 Track GWR was the Answer but the terrible price we are now paying for the closure
of Systems that in today,s terms would literally be mega Trillions to build from scratch must go
down has a mega blunder. Even the Canals survived and are growing each year for leisure.
In effect Chiltern are using sections of the Old Gwr and routing into Marylabone.
Your point on Chiltern is interesting clearly building up from Scratch does not bother the present
political situation with Virgin who started with a few Old 86 and 87 class back in 1997.
Anyway its all a waste of time now I think Ill go ack to Tamworth Fields for a few hours.

Mike Jenks
 
Mike, you will be lucky to get close to Tamworth Fields at the minute, there are works going on everywhere!! But you can still watch from the platforms for free and if you are lucky the new retail facilities may be open lol
Sue
 
There are still a lot of train spotters there Mike at different times. Used to take Owen there when he was younger to watch the trains and he still likes to go early now if we meet his sisters from either London or Liverpool. He is still looking at train driving as a career and loves travelling on trains, he's quite adventurous too, went to London by himself earlier in the year to see his big sister, think I was more worried than him!
Going back to the thread, the old station is Katys favourite building in Birmingham , she still looks for it if she travels through New Street, so is chuffed that it may be re-used.
Sue
 
This drawing is of Curzon Street Station (Birmingham Railway Station) 1845. It's probably from a bill head. But what and where was The Railway Pen? Anyone know? Viv.ImageUploadedByTapatalk1360336518.675570.jpg
 
Hi

There,s interesting normally this is easy for our string of Historians.
very early in Railway History there may be a series of them representing early
city Stations. Well done a good challenge.
Mom96 a lot better from the bad time last few weeks. Still cant eat or drink but the
Nose feeding is working well. Its great talking to her again.

mike jenks
 
Mike, so pleased to hear your mom is picking up, hope her recovery continues - slow but sure we used to say - and like you say to talk to her makes a world of difference.
I looked at the plans for Curzon Street and it will be impressive if it goes ahead.
Sue
 
Vivienne14 said:
This drawing is of Curzon Street Station (Birmingham Railway Station) 1845. But what and where was The Railway Pen? Anyone know? Viv.
Click to expand...

More likely what than where. I think it would be a writing pen, using the railway as a means of indicating it was a new design or invention, the picture possibly coming from a box containg such a pen, or a number of them.
 
Hi

Yep Birmingham was the centre of Pen nibs and the Railways exported them. I saw a google reference to Pens
nibs and Curzon St although not to the Drawing.
Well done best yet on this puzzle

Mike Jenks
 
Now that makes perfect sense Mike and Lloyd! Never even occurred to me, but I should have made the connection. Maybe they were made for official railway use or to meet a surge in popularity of all things railway connected. My original line of thought drifted off towards cattle pens but not writing pens. In trying to find out more about the Railway Pen I came across this wonderful watercolour by Paul Braddon (1865 - 1938) of "Birmingham Railway Station on Curzon Street". Afraid no date, but a splendid view. Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1360409659.925622.jpg
 
I wonder whether this last picture is an artists impression of how it might look when finished, or did the station frontage look like that on completion?

Its still a great picture all the same..
 
Strictly speaking the view is not of the station proper, but of the station hotel, named The Queen Victoria (or shortened to The Queen). It is also not a view painted before completion of the original station hotel, as the left hand wing of the hotel was added after completion, and originally there was a gate each side of the hotel, one for incoming passengers, and the other side for passengers who had disenbarked. The left entrance was soon replaced by the extension.
 
I also wondered why there seems to be an american flag hanging on the right. It does suggest the painting might have been made for reasons other than being a piece of art. Viv.
 
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