Bill Parker
master brummie
If I was wearing a hat I would take it off to you mike.
-
Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.
We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
Snow Hill Station
- Thread starter Alf
- Start date
If I was wearing a hat I would take it off to you mike.
cookie273uk
master brummie
Birmingham City Council is always talking grandoise schemes, and it is just that, all talk, never any action. We should have had an underground system constructed years ago, the cost now would be prohibitive and I would think out of the question. Instead we are going to extend the tramway which I think will add to the congestion across the City centre. The cities motto is 'Forward' - what a laugh ! How long will it be before we cease to be the 2nd City, if it hasn't already happened. Eric
Old & Grey
master brummie
Hello All. I'll throw in my two pennorth on the subject. The first van was an old coach at Snow Hill was owned by one Ted Westly who used to sell hot dogs,tea and coffee. Ted played the trombone in the orchestra at the Alexandra Theatre and was the Equity rep at the Alex. Ted shut his van down and started up a business called Ted's 'ot Dogs selling hot dogs and Bywaters pies from what he called bikes. These were hot dog carts based on trikes. He had pitches all over the city centre, one of the was on the edge of the church yard on the other side of the road to Snow Hill. The guys who used to sell from them had to peddle then all over the town to get to their pitches from the company base down Stafford Street what is now Aston Uni' the road has gone. The carts had the name with "always take the lead with Zwan Frankfurters" and Zwans logo. The next van hauled by a Land Rover came in around 7pm and opened for business at 9.30pm. I used to drop in after I had finished work, and when it was cold I would climb in the back of the van for a coffee made with stera. There was also another hot dog company called Vincents who had quite a few carts and the also had the Hot Potato/Chestnut carts on Stephenson Place entrance to New St Station and in Bull Street.
Anne Jessel
master brummie
The smell of baked potatoes and roast chestnuts was lovely as I waited for bus 74/5 to take me home to West Bromwich.
I often used to imagine the comings and goings of the guests occupying the floors above the "open" area underneath. When did it stop being a hotel? I note it's all built in now - what are the above storeys used for today.
I often used to imagine the comings and goings of the guests occupying the floors above the "open" area underneath. When did it stop being a hotel? I note it's all built in now - what are the above storeys used for today.
Last edited:
Annie Murray
master brummie
I've just started doing soe research about Snow Hill for a book set in WW2. Which sadly it sounds as if none of you are venerable enough to remember (and nor am I). It's been useful getting lots of impressions of Snow Hill from your conversations on here so thank you for that. But does anyone remember anything, even by hearsay, about goods at Snow Hill? I keep seeing fragments about there being fish platforms. If you know, or can remember anything about Snow Hill at that time - eg wartime changes, the bringing in of the wounded through SH, women employees like porters. Did any of your families work on the railways in the war? It would be good to hear about any of these things if so!
Sorry of this comes across as vague - I've only just begun on the research.
Sorry of this comes across as vague - I've only just begun on the research.
Annie Murray
master brummie
ps, by the way, if there was no footbridge in the old SH station was there a tunnel underneath between platforms?
Sorry to ask idiotic questions - I'm sure there will be more to follow!
Sorry to ask idiotic questions - I'm sure there will be more to follow!
john knight
signman
Annie, my friend the late Derek Harrison wrote two books about Snow Hill,which I no longer have, I sent them to a member in Italy.
I also had the privelage of restoring the original booking hall sign, which has now been relogated to Moor Street, I still have photos of the unveiling by the late Frank Carter.
I also had the privelage of restoring the original booking hall sign, which has now been relogated to Moor Street, I still have photos of the unveiling by the late Frank Carter.
cookie273uk
master brummie
Anne, if my memory serves me well (I am 82) you simply descended stairs from the main street level concourse to the appropriate platform below, in my case good old platform 7 to return to my RAF camp in the 1950's.The main concourse serving the same purpose as a foot bridge, it also contained the booking office. Eric
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
cookie273uk
master brummie
Phil, those ARE the very stairs, that pic brings back memories of my late Wife (then my girl friend) seeing me of back to camp at around midnight at platform 7 in 1952. Thanks for showing it. Eric
DavidGrain
master brummie
To get between the up and down platforms you had a choice. You could go up the stairs and across a footbridge,you did not need to go all the way back to the concourse but you did have to go through the ticket barriers at the top of each set of stairs. Alternatively there was a subway from platform 5 to 7. I think it was about by the clock in Phil's first photo in post 284. Actually thinking about it there was a second subway joining platforms 6 and 8 (continuation of platforms 5 & 7) which had an entrance and ticket office on Great Charles Street.
If you get a chance to see the DVD of the 1970s BBC TV series "Gangsters", the subway was shown in the scene "The Battle of Snow Hill Station" I think at the end of episode 1 and beginning of episode 2.
They have probably gone now but at the bottom of Old Snow Hill near the junction with Great Charles Queensway there were brick buildings which I believe was the Parcels Dept. You should be aware thought that the GWR's main parcels handling was done at Hockley, the next station north of Snow Hill. Part of the brick wall still stands in Livery Street which you can see on Google Street View with a bricked-up entrance with the GWR coat of arms above it.
If you get a chance to see the DVD of the 1970s BBC TV series "Gangsters", the subway was shown in the scene "The Battle of Snow Hill Station" I think at the end of episode 1 and beginning of episode 2.
They have probably gone now but at the bottom of Old Snow Hill near the junction with Great Charles Queensway there were brick buildings which I believe was the Parcels Dept. You should be aware thought that the GWR's main parcels handling was done at Hockley, the next station north of Snow Hill. Part of the brick wall still stands in Livery Street which you can see on Google Street View with a bricked-up entrance with the GWR coat of arms above it.
DavidGrain
master brummie
Yes Mike that is the building I mean. There were loading bays in the entrances to the left of the photo
DavidGrain
master brummie
Annie, A further reply to a question you raised. I am not aware of a fish dock at Snow Hill. I am sure that GWR had such facilities at Moor Street which was closer to the markets
DavidGrain
master brummie
Looking at Mike's photo, the line of arches shows the old alinement of Gtreat Charles Street and one of those arches would have been the Gteat Charles Street ticket office and entrance, a dim and dingy place under the bridge.
DavidGrain
master brummie
1969 I think was the time that all services from Snow Hill other than the local service to Wolverhampton and an occasional service to West Smethwick had finished. Presume you took these photos as commemoratives.
David
I went round and took the photos of this, and then later them demolishing the station later. I suppose you could call then commemoratives. I was just photographing what I thought wouldn't be there much longer, like the photographs on the I took on 1969-73 thread. I just wish now I'd taken more , as so many other people say, but film was quite expensive in those days
I went round and took the photos of this, and then later them demolishing the station later. I suppose you could call then commemoratives. I was just photographing what I thought wouldn't be there much longer, like the photographs on the I took on 1969-73 thread. I just wish now I'd taken more , as so many other people say, but film was quite expensive in those days
DavidGrain
master brummie
I don't think these links have been posted before. The Battle of Snow Hill Station from the BBC series Gangsters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8k08skzQ-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QF9yeSLkic&feature=relmfu
Watch it for the scenes of Snow Hill Station. 'Fraid you will not be able to understand it if you have not seen the full programmes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8k08skzQ-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QF9yeSLkic&feature=relmfu
Watch it for the scenes of Snow Hill Station. 'Fraid you will not be able to understand it if you have not seen the full programmes
Annie Murray
master brummie
Thank you all very much. Sorry for the slow reply - other parts of life have away of taking over.
I am, as I say, in the early stages of trying to get to grips with Snow Hill and will soon be up to get some maps etc. But what I'd like especially to know about, if any of you know, is the goods section of SN station. On the Wiki page about the station, you can read the following: Byt 'the rebuilt station they are referring to 1912, not the recent one!
'The rebuilt station had a large booking hall with an arched glass roof. It contained lavish waiting rooms with oak bars. The bottom end of the station had fish platforms and goods storage.'
If you're sitting where I;m sitting, the words 'bottom end' don't help a lot. I find this hard to visualize. Does anyone know anything about goods at SH? I'm interested in WW2 but a general understanding is very important too.
Thank you,
Annie
I am, as I say, in the early stages of trying to get to grips with Snow Hill and will soon be up to get some maps etc. But what I'd like especially to know about, if any of you know, is the goods section of SN station. On the Wiki page about the station, you can read the following: Byt 'the rebuilt station they are referring to 1912, not the recent one!
'The rebuilt station had a large booking hall with an arched glass roof. It contained lavish waiting rooms with oak bars. The bottom end of the station had fish platforms and goods storage.'
If you're sitting where I;m sitting, the words 'bottom end' don't help a lot. I find this hard to visualize. Does anyone know anything about goods at SH? I'm interested in WW2 but a general understanding is very important too.
Thank you,
Annie
DavidGrain
master brummie
Annie
Bottom end would mean the north end of the station. From Colmore Row the ground slopes away quite sharply so that from ground level at Colmore Row you had the concourse with booking hall and taxi ranks inside the building. On opposite sides of the concourse you had the carriage entrance from Livery Street to the left and steps down to Snow Hill on the right. I never used the waiting rooms so I am not sure where they were. From the concourse there were two corridors probably about 50 yards long to the two sets of stairs with the ticket barriers at the tops. There was a passage joining the two corridors at this point. As you will have seen from the photos the two flights of stairs were fairly long, probably over 20 steps down to the platforms. As you walked along the platforms you would be on the level but the ground was falling away at this point and evenually the rails and the platforms would be on a viaduct which crossed Great Charles Street, Lionel Street and the Birmingham and Fazelley Canal before the ground started to rise again the other side of the valley. The present station is in many ways a smaller version of the old station but this is inevitable as the site was particlualry narrow for a major mainline station.
As has been mentioned previously Dereck Harrison's books are well worth reading. I know that years ago they had them in the local studies section of the Lending Library at Birmingham Central Library.
Bottom end would mean the north end of the station. From Colmore Row the ground slopes away quite sharply so that from ground level at Colmore Row you had the concourse with booking hall and taxi ranks inside the building. On opposite sides of the concourse you had the carriage entrance from Livery Street to the left and steps down to Snow Hill on the right. I never used the waiting rooms so I am not sure where they were. From the concourse there were two corridors probably about 50 yards long to the two sets of stairs with the ticket barriers at the tops. There was a passage joining the two corridors at this point. As you will have seen from the photos the two flights of stairs were fairly long, probably over 20 steps down to the platforms. As you walked along the platforms you would be on the level but the ground was falling away at this point and evenually the rails and the platforms would be on a viaduct which crossed Great Charles Street, Lionel Street and the Birmingham and Fazelley Canal before the ground started to rise again the other side of the valley. The present station is in many ways a smaller version of the old station but this is inevitable as the site was particlualry narrow for a major mainline station.
As has been mentioned previously Dereck Harrison's books are well worth reading. I know that years ago they had them in the local studies section of the Lending Library at Birmingham Central Library.
Have you looked at https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/birminghamsnowhill.htm. This does not mention any fish platroms , only the large parcel offices. A word of warning, the person who wrote the captions on the photographs on the site seems to have been unable to distinguish between left and right in some cases, for example in on ephot looking down snow Hill from colmore row he describes the station as being on the right.
Annie Murray
master brummie
David - this is all very helpful, thank you. I have ordered a copy of the other Derek Harrison book which I don't have. And Mike, thank you for the link - really good as well.
I'm trying to piece it all together!
I'm trying to piece it all together!
Bernard67Arnold
master brummie
My late father, known as Big Joe was a carter for the GWR before WW2, he passed away while I was in the army. I can only remember him working from Moor street station. The
stables for the horses were in Park street under the arches, now
a car park I believe. The amount of fruit and veg that can came
by rail was enormous, milk as well. Sorry I cant be of more help
Bernard
Annie Murray
master brummie
I wonder what any of you make of the description below, from the BBC Oral history archive, describing a night in August 1940 (I'm guessing the 25th). When he talks about the underground tunnel, it sounds as if he is not talking about the long tunnel outside the station, but an actual underground PO tunnel? What of the unmanned trains and the casualties? This is so early in the history of Birmingham's blitz. I wonder where the casualties were going? Anyone know about the underground line, these unmanned trains and how any of this links up?
'At Snow Hill he arrived in the late afternoon and while he and a buddy he had travelled back from Dundee when the air raid sirens started. Station announcers directed passengers down to a Post Office underground railway that ran under Snow Hill station. There were hundreds of people on the platform and as everyone was making their way to the underground and lady pushed through the crowd and without a word placed a baby girl into Dad’s arms and then she was gone. Astounded all Dad could do was gaze around in astonishment! Eventually they got downstairs and sat alongside the railway track. Every now and then an unmanned train — a miniature of the London Underground — would pass by. Air raids did not stop the mail!
Then began the crump of bombs overhead. Occasionally a drizzle of dust motes from the ceiling indicated a stick of bombs falling nearby. The baby was getting fidgety and a woman suggested to Dad that perhaps it needed a clean nappy. All he had was his kitbag and rifle but typical of the British public within minutes appeared not only a clean nappy but also a baby’s bottle filled with milk!
Thus passed a very traumatic evening. It was not long before the underground train stopped carrying mail and began carrying casualties. One such memorable casualty Dad recalled was a red-bearded Scotsman complete with kilt singing at the top of his voice and both his legs had been blown off!
Many, many casualty trains rumbled by that evening as the hours passed. On and on went the raid. The continuous rumble and crump of bombs falling continued unabated for hours and hours. Everyone in the tunnel tried to get what sleep they could. The baby was restless but very good considering the circumstances.
After nearly 13 hours station staff announced the all-clear was sounding.'
'At Snow Hill he arrived in the late afternoon and while he and a buddy he had travelled back from Dundee when the air raid sirens started. Station announcers directed passengers down to a Post Office underground railway that ran under Snow Hill station. There were hundreds of people on the platform and as everyone was making their way to the underground and lady pushed through the crowd and without a word placed a baby girl into Dad’s arms and then she was gone. Astounded all Dad could do was gaze around in astonishment! Eventually they got downstairs and sat alongside the railway track. Every now and then an unmanned train — a miniature of the London Underground — would pass by. Air raids did not stop the mail!
Then began the crump of bombs overhead. Occasionally a drizzle of dust motes from the ceiling indicated a stick of bombs falling nearby. The baby was getting fidgety and a woman suggested to Dad that perhaps it needed a clean nappy. All he had was his kitbag and rifle but typical of the British public within minutes appeared not only a clean nappy but also a baby’s bottle filled with milk!
Thus passed a very traumatic evening. It was not long before the underground train stopped carrying mail and began carrying casualties. One such memorable casualty Dad recalled was a red-bearded Scotsman complete with kilt singing at the top of his voice and both his legs had been blown off!
Many, many casualty trains rumbled by that evening as the hours passed. On and on went the raid. The continuous rumble and crump of bombs falling continued unabated for hours and hours. Everyone in the tunnel tried to get what sleep they could. The baby was restless but very good considering the circumstances.
After nearly 13 hours station staff announced the all-clear was sounding.'
DavidGrain
master brummie
I think this is Snow Hill, London not Birmingham. There was a Snow Hill Station in London which closed in 1916 and the Post Office Railway would have run in that area. Snow Hill London station would have been on the site of the present City ThamesLink Station towards the north end.
