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New Street Station 1967 - 2014

I suppose if there has to be a bit of 'Brutalist' concrete in the city, the New Street Power Box is far better than Madin's library. For attractive brutalism (no, its not all bad), look at Preston's bus station.
 
The fact is that the signal box has served its purpose and is no longer of use for what it was originally designed for. Over the years control of the signalling on the railways in the West Midlands has been moved to Saltley and the final act following the recent re-signalling of New Street would be for the signal box to be taken out of service.
 
For anyone wishing to visit the signal box on Friday 31st March, you can apply for two tickets in the ballot - details here..

www.ianvisits.co.uk

Tickets Alert: Rare tours of Birmingham’s brutalist railway signal control box

It's not London, but, yikes, this will appeal to you lot, as the famously brutalist signal control box at Birmingham New Street station will be open to the public for one day later this month.
www.ianvisits.co.uk
 
A Sparks said:
For anyone wishing to visit the signal box on Friday 31st March, you can apply for two tickets in the ballot - details here..

www.ianvisits.co.uk

Tickets Alert: Rare tours of Birmingham’s brutalist railway signal control box

It's not London, but, yikes, this will appeal to you lot, as the famously brutalist signal control box at Birmingham New Street station will be open to the public for one day later this month.
www.ianvisits.co.uk
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Thank you - 2 tickets booked. Its not a ballot by the way - first come first served by the looks of it
 
well done sir thanks for trying.....that is suprising morton they quite good as a rule
www.networkrail.co.uk

Working with railway heritage - Network Rail

We work hard to develop the railway for the 21st century, while keeping an eye on preserving its built heritage.
www.networkrail.co.uk www.networkrail.co.uk
www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

End of an era for Birmingham New Street’s iconic signal box

After safely getting tens of millions of trains to where they need to be over 56 years, the Network Rail team at Birmingham New Street’s iconic railway signal box will move its last service on Christmas Eve.
www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk
 
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Might be the telecoms side still has security implications? I gather there's a big PABX, just because Birmingham have moved to full digital doesn't mean the whole of the UK has. I'd imagine this is a hardened building. With luck Network Rail will have taken photos, but they are not made public.

When it was working this building was of strategic importance, I imagine that there is as much below ground as above, perhaps a bunker and connections to the emergency exchange Anchor? While Anchor is generally known about I think contemporary fibre-optic cables run in the old tunnels. Secrecy is endemic to officials, sometimes there is good reason. But is is good that some of us will be able to go inside.
 
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I am extremely annoyed as my ticket reads as a perfectly valid admission ticket. There is no mention on it to say that it is a lottery or ballot ticket. This is a complete misdescription but I have no idea what we can do about it.

As we have not lost any money, there is no point in complaining to Birmingham Trading Standards.
 
DavidGrain said:
I am extremely annoyed as my ticket reads as a perfectly valid admission ticket. There is no mention on it to say that it is a lottery or ballot ticket. This is a complete misdescription but I have no idea what we can do about it.

As we have not lost any money, there is no point in complaining to Birmingham Trading Standards.
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I think they quietly updated the website first to say it was a ballot and then to say there were 60 places. But you have my sympathy. Stokkie
 
Stokkie said:
So was anybody lucky in the draw? Over 7000 of us applied for 60 places it seems!
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No - it was a ballot after all, although the tickets did not intimate this - you booked a timeslot and you got what appeared to be a valid ticket - then got an email last Thursday to say we were in a ballot after all. GGGRRRRRR......... Oh well - remember if it is too good to be true it almost certainly is........
So - my apologies Ian & Stokkie - you were right all along!!!!
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Sorry you've been unsuccessful :(
Maybe they will decide to run further tours as they are obviously very popular.
 
Mark Tooze said:
No - it was a ballot after all, although the tickets did not intimate this - you booked a timeslot and you got what appeared to be a valid ticket - then got an email last Thursday to say we were in a ballot after all. GGGRRRRRR......... Oh well - remember if it is too good to be true it almost certainly is........
So - my apologies Ian & Stokkie - you were right all along!!!!
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View attachment 178708
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I was unlucky too (naturally).
 
Oh well - to drown our collective sorrows (as it appears no-one got a ticket) - I've dug into the negative files and found a wide selection of New St Station photos from the late 70's to mid 80's - many varieties of rolling stock (and weather...)

Firstly - who remembers the destination boards - genuine analogue technology:-
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Next a selection of Diesel Multiple Units (DMU's) going to a variety of destinations:-
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great set of photos again mark...thanks for posting them....can anyone name the pub top right of post 219 photo 1

lyn
 
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