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Snow Hill Station

Alf said:
I left Snow Hill Station Feb 1955 to do my National Service I'll never forget that.But I loved that Station and would spend hours there Train Spotting hoping to see a Castle, Manor, Grange or Hall woderful Engines O0

It was Steam Trains then
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I used to go to my nans in Bilston most Sundays and return in the evening to Snow Hill station we used to get the green DMU which stopped at all stations to Bilston Central Railway station.Sometimes if the next train due was to Wolverhampton Low level station and we had missed the DMU we would catch the low level train it would be hauled by a King or Castle class and sometimes it would be a class 52.Sometimes when we were waiting for our train the Blue Pullman would arrive or depart for Paddington what a sight that was in that blue livery great memories
 
Dumb Brummie said:
I used to go to my nans in Bilston most Sundays and return in the evening to Snow Hill station we used to get the green DMU which stopped at all stations to Bilston Central Railway station.Sometimes if the next train due was to Wolverhampton Low level station and we had missed the DMU we would catch the low level train it would be hauled by a King or Castle class and sometimes it would be a class 52.Sometimes when we were waiting for our train the Blue Pullman would arrive or depart for Paddington what a sight that was in that blue livery great memories
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From 49 Henage Street,

As a lad in the 50s I visited Show Hill and New Street stations to spot engine numbers. While I share the view that the station had some architectural merit it had fewer trains than New Street. New Street was chaotic in comparison. Compared with New Street the Great Western locomotives were similar and a bit boring. Variation came with the appearance of a ROD (ex Great Central WD locos) and a Duke Dog on iron ore trains. The Duke Dog had outside frames so had no visible wheels.

The station served some well healed area (Solihull and Stourbridge) and had the posh shops nearby. When the through trains were withdrawn the big stores, Greys followed by Lewis’s closed. When the station reopened the shops did not return but professional offices sprung up that generated a substantial commuter traffic. A clear indication of the folly of closing the station in the first place.

When will this station have electric trains?
 
Dumb Brummie said:
I used to go to my nans in Bilston most Sundays and return in the evening to Snow Hill station we used to get the green DMU which stopped at all stations to Bilston Central Railway station.Sometimes if the next train due was to Wolverhampton Low level station and we had missed the DMU we would catch the low level train it would be hauled by a King or Castle class and sometimes it would be a class 52.Sometimes when we were waiting for our train the Blue Pullman would arrive or depart for Paddington what a sight that was in that blue livery great memories
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Thank you, extra happy memories. I never managed to travel behind iconic Kings, Castles or Halls. Also never went on the iconic DMU back in the early 1950's
 
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GWR 4-6-0 Hall class No 4936 'Kinlet Hall' is seen on an up express service to Paddington as it enters Snow Hill station circa 1929



GWR 4-6-0 Hall class No 4936 'Kinlet Hall' is seen on an up express service to Paddington as it enters Snow Hill station circa 1929.
 
Pedrocut said:
6026 "King John" leaves Snow Hill tunnel with the up "Cambrian Coast Express" and its rake of chocolate and cream Mark I stock. The crane is putting the finishing touches to Rackham's department store, 1959.

(1997) A century of railways around Birmingham and the West Midlands : a personal selection. Vol.2.


View attachment 175270
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King John was the only loomotive I had not copped out of the "King" class of engines.
 
mw0njm. said:
View attachment 175442
the Dudley Dodger (auto-train) having just arrived at Snow Hill Platform 7 at 4:30 on 1st June 1957.
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Odd that it should come in on Platform 7 unless it was going off to Tyseley. I would have expected it to come in on the other side of the station perhaps into one of the bay platforms. 1957 was my era hanging about on Snow Hill. I was never a trainspotter, I just like watching the trains and would then often get a train to do a roundabout route home.
 
Diesel railcars. 34 were single cars. 34 - 38 were run as pairs being unlike the others had a corridor connection at one end. A normal coach could be inserted to make a three coach set. They ran with limited stops for a while from Cardiff to Moor Street but due the success of the service they were replaced by large prairie locos and B or D sets. I saw these on the N.Warks line before setting off for school. There was 17 and 18 which were for parcels.
 
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Yes it was the junction between the main line to Wolverhampton and the link to the South Staffs line from Walsall to Dudley. The modern Metro stop is I think called Black Lake rather than Swan Village.
Interestingly the South Staffs became LMS so GWR had to run over LMS tracks before they could reach their own tracks. Dudley was a shared station rather than a joint station so I have read that the Dudley Dodger used to reverse out of the GWR platforms past the junction, then run through the LMS platforms taking the LMS until it could turn off to Swan Village.
 
The older early GW Station was described in the extract below as an eyesore, a public inconvenience and ugly ! Edit. This was its replacement station.
Viv.

F4C99B88-3D95-4B8E-908E-5CA115414552.jpegSource: British Newspaper Archive
 

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Vivienne14 said:
The early GW Station here described as an eyesore, a public inconvenience and ugly ! Oh dear. Viv.

View attachment 176294Source: British Newspaper Archive
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Viv
that description was of the original wooden 1852 station which was erected before the hotel and replaced in the 1870s. The only photo I know of that structure is of it after it had been removed and re-erected at Didcot, and is not very clear.

original building of snow hill after reerection at didcot.jpg
 
Genmac1 said:
GWR King John 6026 was always one the prize must spots on the Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton. Thanks for excellent picture with the correct GWR chocolate and cream coach livery colours
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The reason being it was shedded at Plymouth and was very rarely seen in the Midlands, it’s also pretty rare to see a King hauling the Cambrian Coast, it was normally a Castle turn in 1959. All in all good chance King John was off maintenance at Wolverhampton perhaps and working back via Old Oak.
 
Possibly because it went unservicable working the Inter City to Wolverhampton or Swindon didn’t have space and Wolverhampton did
 
Kings were regular motive power for the down Cambrian Coast Express from the 1957 Summer timetable.

Initially they worked only as far as Wolverhampton but from Summer 1958 were permitted
through to Shrewsbury.

The up working was usually handled by a castle with the King being diagrammed for a return
Birkenhead-Paddington working coming on at Shrewsbury.

Perhaps Old Oak Common borrowed 6026 for the day if one of their regular engines wasn't available.
 
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