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New Street Station 1967 - 2014

New Street Station underwent an important transition between 1964 and 1967 which created the air port style station which was popular in its day but maligned since. I wonder when the work started in 2009 will be finished. Today it is simply a station hijacked by the retail trade
 
I do not know if this is the right thread if not could a moderator direct it to a more appropriate place. In RAIL magazine this fortnight is an article with photographs of West Midlands Railways from the air and the first picture is a superb aerial view of New Street Station and the surrounding area. Very difficult for me to work out what is where, but the Rotunda is quite obvious. Is there a system for asking a magazine for permission to reprint it on the forum, because I am sure the mappers and historians would love to overlay it with old maps, and it is a fascinating view of the station from the air.

Bob
 
As reconstructed and reopened in March 1967, New Street Station was very different to the previous station on that site. Those earlier stations had changed with time eventually becoming one under the LMS. During the electrification of the West Coast Main Line, Birmingham New Street was rebuilt in concrete, with the Pallasade Shopping Centre and a Car Park above it.

In the days of British Railways it became an important interchange point for the long distance loco hauled services the cross country semi fast routes and the local commuters. During the 1970's a wide variety of locomotives could be seen there including the various electric locomotives used on the line to London Euston and the North West. In those days the Liverpool service was locomotive hauled. It was common for locomotives to run around their trains there and railwaymen in the shunting grade were employed to uncouple and couple the stock. Services from the South West and the South destined for Sheffield, Leeds, York and Newcastle would pass through with locomotives including the Peak Class in regular regular use, the Western class, might also venture to New Street, but would rarely work north.

It was a station of shadow and light and often provided the opportunity for the photographer to capture the mood.
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When built in the 1960s most of the trains would be loco hauled and the locos would stand outside the covered area so much of the exhaust would be dissipated. As more trains became diesel multiple units these engines would be distributed along the train so that many of them would be exhausting into the covered area. This applied not just to the local services but also to long distance trains such as the Voyagers on the cross Country services and some Virgin services. I know that there were extractor fans but these could not clear the air completely.

With the new station there seems to be more attempt being made to make use of the A and B designations on the platform numbers so that the trains stop near the ends of the platforms rather than in the middle of the platforms as they did with the 1960s station. They can do this now that there are two sets of escalators for most platforms.
 
There is clear concern for the diesel exhaust fumes that are the byproducts of chiefly the Cross Country units and Transport for Wales, but are also from the Virgin Voyagers that pass through. It is an increasing threat to health in confines of a station where the open areas have been reduced through the making of Grand Central. Whilst there is an obligation to switch off the engines of standing for long periods, the trains passing through continue to pollute. The health consequences for station platform staff must be a concern to Network Rail. The number of services that use the station have increased since privatisation, but units are often smaller in size, as the franchise hires all of its stock and this a cost that has to be balanced against profitability. Platforms could have two or even three units in at time, and if diesel powered contributing the noxious gases and particles to the immediate area for all to inhale.
 
Heartland said:
There is clear concern for the diesel exhaust fumes that are the byproducts of chiefly the Cross Country units and Transport for Wales, but are also from the Virgin Voyagers that pass through. It is an increasing threat to health in confines of a station where the open areas have been reduced through the making of Grand Central. Whilst there is an obligation to switch off the engines of standing for long periods, the trains passing through continue to pollute. The health consequences for station platform staff must be a concern to Network Rail. The number of services that use the station have increased since privatisation, but units are often smaller in size, as the franchise hires all of its stock and this a cost that has to be balanced against profitability. Platforms could have two or even three units in at time, and if diesel powered contributing the noxious gases and particles to the immediate area for all to inhale.
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Will these diesel units have to pay to enter the Clean Air Zone?
 
Of course from 1967, there were many electric locomotives and units working to New Street. In the early days
there was variety of different types. These were part of the clean revolution for transport, and as said the diesel locomotives were often in the open. Diesel Multiple units were less in those times, by comparison, as previously stated.


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Having travelled on Cross Country from Totnes to York most stations seem to be open to the sky and those such as Leeds are still quite airy. New Street, however, is a miserable gloomy place and even with modern lighting that is now there is is unwelcoming. Of course the principal reason is that New Street, above tracks, is a shopping mall rather than a railway hub.
 
New Street Station also suffers from the fact that it is an underground station which is why it had a smoking ban after the Kings Cross fire and before all stations had smoking bans. The approach through tunnels from all directions does not help its image.
 
New street station had a big reconstruction during which the Birmingham shopping center was created (changed its name to the pallasades in the early 80s)the centre opened in 1971 which had escalators from new street station going into the center also had exits to the bridge link bullring,another one to the Midland red bus station and one to st Stephenson street where all the buses stopped it also had escalators and a lift just outside Asda going down to the indoor car park and not forgetting the ramp off course.it was a very busy center as I started working in Asda in 1974 till it closed in 1990.Lots of shops came and went over the years like meb show room.habitat,athenas poster shop,brentford's nylons city butchers,Gino's open restaurant.,fruity fruits,wimbushes cafe,druckers ,2 hair salons one was called Vidal sassoon (which you needed a weeks wage to get your hair done in there)a big model shop I think was called beaties and many more .Yes had many happy years there .
 
Sugar

I thought New Street shopping centre opened a long time before 1971, as I can remember it in the mid 60's. In fact in 1971/72 we did quite a bit of work in the centre such as knocking out party walls to enlarge some shops. To be quite honest they were some of the only walls we ever had to use pneumatic picks on they were that well built. Another job was removing some large green marble faced plant pots from the centre mall because people used them as rubbish bins. We only left the fountain and one that was converted to a kiosk.
 
Phil said:
Sugar

I thought New Street shopping centre opened a long time before 1971, as I can remember it in the mid 60's. In fact in 1971/72 we did quite a bit of work in the centre such as knocking out party walls to enlarge some shops. To be quite honest they were some of the only walls we ever had to use pneumatic picks on they were that well built. Another job was removing some large green marble faced plant pots from the centre mall because people used them as rubbish bins. We only left the fountain and one that was converted to a kiosk.
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I got the information off wikipedia I put in grand central Birmingham and it gave me this information so have a look you may be right but I dont KNOW!
 
I agree, that the Pallisades was pre 1971. New Street Station opened in 1967 and the infrastructure for the shopping centre was in place then, as to get to the station, a walk from the ramp at the top of New Street took people to the top of the stairs and escalators down to the concourse and the booking offices. travel centre, the ticket barriers and the newsagents. There were glass door that on both sides of the escalator bottoms that went out to the road link to the Queensway.

It was also possible to walk through the Pallisades during the construction, and pre station opening, to the top of the stairs that led down to Station Street This pedestrian route replaced the bridge that linked Stephenson Street with Station Street and which was a right of way. When New Street was reconstructed again that route still had to be maintained and is now at the original level again.
 
Not 1967 but 2020.
However, York has some interesting new visitors due to lockdown. I wonder what is happening at New Street?

#goosecam hashtag on Twitter

On Apr 28 @LNER tweeted: " HONK #GOOSECAM ALERT Another.." - read what others are saying and join the conversation.
twitter.com twitter.com
 
I always remember using passenger luggage in advance, which was presumably run by the parcels service
 
Dianad said:
The teacher who hit us over our heads became a mayor. Isn't that ironic.
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Vivienne14 said:
Does this mural ring any bells with people ? I don’t remember it. Viv.

Source: British Newspaper Archive
View attachment 158149
View attachment 158150
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DavidGrain said:
All I can say is that it has triggered a memory but I can't say from when or where at New Street Station. I would have been more concerned at looking down at my feet when travelling down those escalators.
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It triggered a memory for me too, I think, but it's vague.
 
They pulled down the old station with the open and high roofs just at the time they were getting rid of steam locos. I did love the smell of steam locos. The new station was all enclosed with diesel trains that had sickly smelling exhausts.

While the new station looked very modern and spaced age in design, it very quickly started to look shabby with the fumes from the diesel trains and the tiles getting smashed by all those post office truck that ran on the platforms.
 
Opening day in 1967. This is how I remember the 60s station. Being a frequent traveller for work in the 1980s, just after that arriving back from London when I moved away, it really lacked any charm, warmth or character. By then it had, to me, become simply a place you passed through, without lingering and rushing to catch the next train out as soon as possible. Don’t think the bright, white lighting did it any favours either. It was like boarding a train from a Cold War MI5 bunker. Viv.

E5E59D47-9201-4C39-A5C2-96BFCC225A81.jpeg
 
The train bit below is a little bit better . but not much. I remember the bar on the "bridge", which in later years they tried to "improve" This partly involved repainting and then going to great trouble to make the ceiling in this (no smoking) area look as if the ceiling was tobacco-smoke-stained
 
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