Disused Stations: Birmingham Snow Hill Station

[Source: Terry Callaghan]

From the early days of rail travel station signage has always been very important and with a multitude of operating compnies often quite different. Early on the larger companies such as the GWR, LNWR, LNER etc issued detailled books listing what colour anything from battery boxes to signal boxes should be painted. The 1923 Big Four Grouping carried on this standardisation and following nationalistion in 1948 the newley formed British Railways started to consider corporate image a high priority. From running-in-boards to the lowly 'Private' notice on a door, not available to the general public, each region adopted its own colour scheme but abiding by a common font; enabling a difference in identity but also a commonality. This resulted in railway signs being instantly recognisable as such, the BR Double Arrow logo, introduced in 1965, is still today used as an indication of a railway station although BR has not existed for more than two decades. The foreward from the July 1965 British Rail Corporate Identity Manual, by Stanley Ramond BR Chariman 1965-67, sets out the task ahead:-

Birmingham Snow Hill being GWR adopted the Western Region colours and although the London Midland Region assumed responsibility for the staion in the early 1960s signage was never changed from the formers colours. The station signs of Snow Hill from the early 1970s through to the late 1980s were regularly photographed and below shows a selection.

October 1970 and at the north end of the main up platform a WR running-in-board is pictured under the decaying platform canopy.
Photo by John Mann

A rather pitted WR nameboard hangs from the station roof in October 1970. Unlike the previous example ‘Snow Hill’ is not in brackets.
Photo by John Mann

A WR ‘Way Out’ sign hangs from the roof girders in October 1970 directing passengers to the Great Charles Street exit.
Photo by John Mann

Looking from the main down platforms through to platforms 1 & 2 in October 1970 with a WR nameboard suspended over a Mini and Escort parked on the platform. The buildings of Livery Street can be glimpsed.
Photo by John Mann

A modern fingerpost sign directing the way to Snow Hill station in October 1970. This type of standard direction sign was devised by the Worboys Committee set up in 1961 to overhaul the look of British road signs and it was introduced under the 1964 Traffic Signs Regulations which brought in the signing system largely remaining in force today. The ‘Transport’ font was devised by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert for use on Britain’s new motorways in the late 1950s. This font also made an unexplained appearance on BR (Southern) station signs, including some totems, in the early 1960s. The eponymous ‘Calvert’ font was adopted by the Tyneside Metro.
Photo by John Mann

The pair of WR running-in-boards at the north end of the station captured in October 1970 having informed travellers since installation in the 1950s they were now living on borrowed time,
being removed within 12 months.
Photo by John Mann

Snow Hill prided itself on being an efficient station and clear signage was seen as paramount to this. At the top of the staircase, from the booking hall, to platforms 1 to 6 not only are the destinations served by the platforms listed but which side of the stairs should be used is clearly displayed.
Photo by Ian Baker

A Birmingham Snow Hill roundel-format totem from platform 7. This piece of railwayana was purchased for 10 Shillings and removed by a young trainspotter and his friend in 1967 in full view of some bemused passengers on a service to Leamington Spa. The only other station known to have been fitted with such signage was Bristol Temple Meads.
Photo by Stephen Burdett from his Invader1009 Flickr photostream

Standard British Rail ‘Corporate Identity’ signage was never fitted at Snow Hill. In its original 1965 form ‘Corporate Identity’ signs were on a plain white board with lettering in the ‘British Rail Alphabet’ devised by Margaret Calvert -inspired by Hoffmann and Miedinger’s ‘Helvetica’ (1957) and an evolution of Calvert’s font produced for NHS hospitals. When the station reopened in 1987 the 1960s/70s style of corporate signs had fallen out of favour and the version installed here has one of several fonts that have appeared in later BR and post-BR time. The new sign proclaims that travellers are arriving at Snow Hill; presumably they should already know that they are in the City of Birmingham.
Photo by John Mann

Even contractors’ signage began to take on a British Rail Corporate theme – although this is not in the ‘British Rail Alphabet’ font devised for BR. This image was captured at Snow Hill in 1987 proclaiming who the builders of the new station were.
Photo by John Mann

A half-flange replica WR totem has been displayed in the modern booking office to celebrate 150 years of the station.
Photo by Terry Callaghan

London Midland now operates the station and has installed its own signage which incorporates not only the company’s own logo but that of Network West Midlands. The font has not been identified but it possesses lightness, vitality and legibility. The direction indicators, beneath the main sign, are both clear and simple – unlike some of the badly crafted arrows seen on signs in some motorway service stations directing motorists where to park and how to escape.
Photo by Terry Callaghan

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[Source: Terry Callaghan]

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