New Street Station - Early History 1

[Peter Walker]

After the opening of Stockton and Darlington Railway demonstrated that steam railways were commercially and technically viable, the next important development in Britain was the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, which carried heavier traffic over a greater distance, opening in. From that date on, railways were projected throughout the kingdom and, after much haggling with landowners, two Acts of parliament were passed on 6 May 1933 authorising the London & Birmingham Railway and the Grand Junction Railway, which was to the London line with the existing Liverpool & Manchester Railway. The London line was to terminate in Birmingham at an impressive station in Curzon Street, while it seems that the original plan may have been for a Grand Junction Railway terminus off Pritchett Street, Aston - presumably with an end-on link with the London line at Curzon Street, passing near Gosta Green. This proposal was vetoed by James Watt Junior (whose father had more or less invented the steam engine!) as proprietor of Aston Hall, who insisted that the new railway run to the north of Aston Parish Church, looping through Duddeston to a station near to Curzon Street, with a connection for through trains.

Curzon St station, opened in 1838, was badly sited on the edge of the town, without a decent road connection and, as the railway system expanded, it was clearly time to consider a new central station, with a direct link towards Wolverhampton, and the route selected for the new line was parallel with the Stour Valley from Monument Road through to Smethwick and Tipton. The new Central station was to be off New Street in the very centre of the town, and it was to boast the largest single-span overall roof in Europe for many years. Together with the Stour Valley line, it opened on 1 June 1854 - eight years after the parliamentary powers were obtained in 1846.

The map below is a copy of the excellent map published in 1839 by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, on which I have overlaid the railway and station built in 1846-54. There were only four main platforms, with a number of bays for reversing trains, and it was shared between the owner, the London and North Western Railway and the Midland Railway, until the growth in traffic and pressure for a new line to the south-east resulted in the Midland Railway building its own station to the south - see part 2.
Peter Walker

 

[Peter Walker]

The early history of New Street Station - 2

The Midland Railway was formed from a merger of the railways to Gloucester and to Derby and the north-east, and at first its two main lines met at a point between Bordesley and Saltley, and ran into a terminal station in Lawley Street, not far from Curzon St LNWR station. It must have been happy to share the right to use the new central station at New Street, although growing traffic made it increasingly difficult to handle all the traffic there.
Quite separately, in 1871, the privately-promoted Birmingham West Suburban Railway was authorised, a single-track line from a new terminus off Suffolk Street running parallel with the Worcester Canal via Selly oak to meet the Midland line at Lifford. Apart from a cut back at the Birmingham end to a terminus in Granville Street (to avoid the cost of crossing the canal), this line was built and opened in 1876, being operated by the Midland Railway.
The opportunity of reaching New Street station was soon recognised and the Midland Railway obtained powers in 1881 to build the new line from near Five Ways to a new part of New Street Station which would be owned and operated by the Midland Railway. Also included was the doubling of the two-track access tunnel and cuttings to the east of New Street. The new station was opened in opened in October 1885.
The map below shows the new station superimposed on Kelly's street plan of 1879.
Building the new tunnel under the Worcester Canal Basin was a major engineering operation, and today it is hard to visualise the what an achievement that short railway link was.
Peter Walker

 

[Alf]

Thanks Peter as usual I like that one

 

[jennyann]

Thanks for posting the early history of New Street Station., Peter. I'm always interested in the Station's history as in some small way I was part of it
back in 1957 when I worked there. It was so different to today's
Station and I am glad I was able to roam all around the platforms and waiting rooms, etc.

 

[Jayell]

Very interesting article Peter.

 

[Wendy]

Peter your posts are always of such quality and wonderful information. I think New Street Station was a part of most of our lives.

I remember as a 15 year old in 1969 travelling every day to Birmingham New Street from Blake Street station near Sutton. I had to attend a 2 week course on manucure at New Street Hotel. I found it quite daunting at 15 but I passed the exam.

 

[guilbert53]

This topic has not been updated since 2008. but I though I would add a little bit extra (as this topic mentions Granville Street).

I was up in Birmingham this weekend just gone (11th April 2010) and was walking round the new Cube building (at the back of the Mailbox).

I happened to be walking down Granville Street and briefly stepped on to the canal towpath.

As I glanced to my right I noticed a track bed of a railway line (no rails) running under Granville Street (much lower than the canal level).

After looking over the various bridges near there I saw the current railway line out of New Street that runs to Five Ways, and it ran alongside the track bed.

A bit of research on the web showed there was a Granville Street station nearby at one time, but it was closed down in 1885.

There is a write up on Granville Street station here (see below), and the track bed shown in the first picture is still there (running alongside the line to Five Ways).

Not sure how you get down to the track bed, but it is amazing what is "hidden" undernerath when you walk round the streets.

https://www.railaroundbirmingham.co.uk/Stations/granville_street.php