Station Name: WEST BROMWICH


[Source: Terry Callaghan]

Date opened: 14.11.1854
Location: East of Benson Road, formerly Soho Road
Company on opening: Great Western Railway
Date closed to passengers: 6.3.1972
Date closed completely: 6.3.1972
Company on closing: British Railways London Midland Region
Present state: Demolished
County: Staffordshire
OS Grid Ref: SP047887
Date of visit: 05.11.2016

Notes: The construction of a railway north from Birmingham Snow Hill to Priestfield, where it would meet the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway (OW&WR) was authorised on 3 August 1846 to the Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Dudley Railway (BW&DR). The BW&DR favoured leasing the line to the Great Western Railway (GWR) from the outset as it planned the line to be constructed to the GWR’s broad gauge (7ft 0¼in) rather than what was, increasingly, the standard gauge (4ft 8½in). Negotiations with the GWR in regard to leasing and running the line started on 12 November 1846, only months after the railway company had been incorporated, and by Act of Parliament of 31 August 1848 the BW&DR was purchased by the GWR prior to any construction taking place. Construction of the line was started by the GWR during 1851 and by June 1852 the original Act was due to lapse and the GWR successfully applied to Parliament for a 3½-year extension to the original Act. The GWR had attempted not to construct the line at all preferring to negotiate with the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) to gain running rights along the Stour Valley line; negotiations failed as the, ever suspicious, LNWR was attempting to delay the GWR reaching its ultimate goal, Liverpool. 

Construction was complete by the summer of 1854 and the line was duly inspected by Captain Sir Douglas Strutt-Galton in August. It is not recorded whether or not the inspection was a success, but, the following day a tubular bridge over the turnpike road at Winson Green collapsed following the passage of a contractor’s locomotive working a ballast train. Isambard Kingdom Brunel visited the line the following day and a thorough inspection of the bridges along the route with John Mc Clean, the resident engineer, resulted in five of them being condemned. The opening of the line had been set for 1 September 1854 but this was now unachievable as remedial work on the structures was to take some months. Following the strengthening of the five bridges the line was again inspected and passed fit for traffic, opening on 14 November 1854.

The station opened on 14 November 1854 as West Bromwich. The main building and accommodation were located on the Birmingham-bound (up) platform. Its design, seen also at Handsworth & Smethwick, Wednesbury Central and Bilston Central stations, was in an austere Classical style, imposing and highly distinctive. The style is not unlike some of those by the noted railway architect Francis Thompson, such as Holywell Junction, but it seems unlikely that he had any direct influence on West Bromwich and its neighbours. A two-storey central block rose above single-storey wings. The particular, somewhat dour, character of the building was given by the parapet (or blocking course) on the front and rear  single-storey elevations and a cornice on the central section, almost concealing hipped roofs that lay behind them – a style associated with terraces with Classical pretensions in London, Bristol and Cheltenham. Although the overall construction was of brick, stone pilasters contributed gravitas to the upper storey of the central block, and stone was also employed in the cornices, parapets, quoins and the string course that surrounded the building. The openings on the upper floor and on the forecourt elevation of the wings were rectangular, with tablets below them bearing a simple geometric pattern; the central section of this elevation and all ground floor openings on the platform side were broad segmental arches apart from one centrally placed rectangular window. The arched openings were given stone quoins in a radial layout which added the only cheerful note to the otherwise sombre design. At the north-west end of the building was a short, single-storey extension with a lower roof-line than the adjoining wing repeating its style, even to the inclusion of a parapet.  A ridged awning carried on ornamental brackets stretched along the platform elevation of the building.

The up platform was linked to the down by a lattice-work footbridge and this platform had far humbler buildings, consisting of an awning of comparable length to its opposite number, but with small shelters at each end and a screen wall stretching between them. In later years this awning was removed and in its place a small waiting shelter was provided for passengers travelling to Wolverhampton.

Access to the station was via a short, un-named, driveway off Paradise Street. A small goods yard was initially provided to the rear of the Wolverhampton-bound platform complete with a relatively large shed. A short siding was also constructed at the Birmingham end of the Birmingham- bound platform where cattle pens were constructed and a further siding gave access to the Borough Saw Mill located close by. A further, single-road shed was constructed south of the site of the goods yard; it is unclear whether this was built at the time of the station but it existed by 1881.

The mixed gauge line was converted to standard gauge during 1869.

Analysis of Bradshaw’s December 1895 timetable shows the station having a frequent service, in both directions on Monday-to-Saturday. In the down (Wolverhampton) direction 30 services are shown from 6.14am until 11.48pm and 14 on Sunday from 9.00am through to 10.21pm. In the up direction 29 services ran on Monday-to-Saturday from 7.17am to 11.40pm and 14 on Sunday from 7.33am through to 10.28pm. By the early 1920s services had recovered to their pre-war levels, although the loss of the Sunday service on the Dudley branch meant that a small reduction was seen in Bradshaw’s July 1922 timetable; conversely the Monday-to-Saturday service had increased. In the down direction 37 Monday-to-Saturday services ran from 5.50am until 11.28pm with nine noted on Sunday from 7.18am until 10.04pm. In the up (Birmingham) direction 37 services ran on Monday-to-Saturday from 6.02am through to, a late, 11.05pm departure for Paddington (which arrived in the capital, at 3.30am). Sunday saw one extra departure than in the opposite direction, with 10 services from 9.08am through to 9.54pm.

Bradshaw's December 1895. To view a larger version click here  

At the time of the Big Four ‘Grouping’ of 1 January 1923 West Bromwich remained under the control of the GWR.

The Second World War, again, brought about a reduction in the frequency of passenger trains as the railway network as a whole struggled to move troops and armaments associated with the war effort. By 1949 a war-weary general public was looking to the railways as a means of escape for a day trip or a longer holiday and the British Railways timetable of 1949 shows that this wish was accommodated. Analysis of the workings in 1949 shows 23 services on Monday-to-Friday in the Wolverhampton direction, 24 on Saturday and 13 on Sunday. Looking at the workings in more detail reveals that nine returned passengers from holiday destinations including Penzance, Torquay, Paignton and Barmouth. In the up direction there were 23 Monday-to-Thursday workings, 25 on Friday, 27 on Saturday and 11 on Sunday. Eight of the weekday trains either ran directly or conveyed through carriages to various holiday destination in the south-west and Wales. Notable trains in the up direction would be the 10.04am Friday-only departure which conveyed through carriages to Newquay and Penzance, arriving at 7.25am and 7.20am respectively: certainly a journey not for the faint-hearted. Another Friday-only service, for the intrepid traveller, would have been the 10.56pm departure which conveyed through carriages to Torquay and Paignton, arriving 5.02am and 5.11am respectively. The balancing working for these two services departed the south-west around mid-morning arriving back at West Bromwich in the late evening.

On 1 January 1948 the railways were nationalised and West Bromwich came under the control of British Railways (BR) Western Region (WR).  During the London Midland Region’s (LMR) electrification programme of the West Coast main line (WCML), started in 1958, the line saw an increase in passenger services as many extra trains were run via the WR metals to compensate for the reduction in services on the WCML. Although this did not affect the service at West Bromwich it seemed to cement the former GWR route as still being a primary main line. Plans revealed by BR (WR) in the early 1960s for the rebuilding of Snow Hill and the introduction of new diesel Pullman services all pointed towards the future being bright. Prior to the LMR taking responsibility for the route the WR attempted to modernise some of the stations along the route. Totem nameplates and vitreous enamel running-in nameboards were installed and the waiting room on the Wolverhampton platform was demolished and replaced with a brick-built waiting shelter, similar to the shelters erected at Swan Village and Handsworth. This structure lacked ornamentation and consisted of a broad central entrance and windows either side. An awning with corrugated iron valances extended the full length of the building.

Electric lighting was also installed, at the same time, with concrete columns complete with top entry lanterns installed on both platforms.

On 1 January 1963 boundaries for BR regions were re-drawn and West Bromwich station came under the control of BR (LMR), and with the completion of the electrification programme and the linking of the main line from Paddington to Birmingham New Street the route north of Snow Hill was considered secondary.

In 1966 BR (LMR) issued a proposal to close the Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton Low Level route, and all stations, in its entirety. In 1966 there were 24 trains in each direction to and from Wolverhampton, with around 2,000 people per day travelling on them (figure includes Snow Hill to Langley Green shuttle). Objections were posted to the Transport Users’ Consultative Committee (TUCC) and the case for closure was discussed on 20 September 1966. The recommendation of the TUCC was the line was to remain open as closure would cause ‘extreme hardship’. This ruling caused the LMR to change tactics with the announcement that as of 4 March 1967 the main line trains along the whole route would be withdrawn and freight trains diverted along other routes. On 15 November 1967 the Minister of Transport, Barbara Castle responded to BR’s application, refusing to allow the closure of the Wolverhampton to Snow Hill and the branch to Langley Green, but allowing the closure of the southern section from Snow Hill towards Stratford and Leamington. The LMR reduced the service level with the introduction of the May 1968 timetable in which West Bromwich saw just 24 down (Wolverhampton direction) services on Monday-to-Friday, 23 on Saturday, whilst the up workings consisted of 24 Monday-to-Saturday trains and the Sunday service was withdrawn. From May 1969 the service was reduced even further to just six workings each way  on Monday-to-Friday and seven on Saturday as the LMR attempted to undermine the line’s viability by running as few trains as possible: the station at Wednesbury lost its complement of staff at the same time. Unlike many other stations along the route the platform buildings were retained following the withdrawal of station staff although the infrastructure slowly started to decay from a combination of vandalism, brought on by the absence of staff, and a general lack of maintenance; certainly not conducive to attract new, or even retain, passengers - but that was the intention. Between May 1969 and March 1972 the service remained at a constant level of six trains each way on Monday-to-Friday with one extra working on Saturday, in the early afternoon, to cater for shoppers wishing to travel to Birmingham or Wolverhampton. Passenger numbers had dwindled to one tenth of what they had been in 1966, and on 31 March 1971 the LMR made its move and posted closure notices for Wolverhampton Low Level to Birmingham Snow Hill, including the Langley Green shuttle; objections had to be received by 19 May 1971. The Transport Users’ Consultative Committee received 199 objections in total and on 25 May, they, along with representatives from BR and WMPTE (the Executive body of the WMPTA), inspected the route and all the stations, travelling from Snow Hill by train to Wolverhampton; ironically they returned by bus! A Public Hearing was held at the Rainbow Suite in Birmingham on 14 July 1971 to listen to objections and decide the future of the line. The statement issued by the TUCC could not have been clearer: ‘The addition of displaced rail passengers at these times would aggravate an already critical situation and would result in hardship for all concerned’. Nevertheless, on 24 January 1972 the Minister granted permission for closure to be implemented with a date quickly set for 4 March. On the final day trains were expected to be heavily patronised, so, instead of being the usual single car DMU the trains were strengthened to three-car units with BR issuing souvenir tickets. The final Wolverhampton-bound train called at West Bromwich at 6.02pm, the final Birmingham-bound service departed four minutes later at 6.06pm.


The BR May 1972 Timetable showing the non-existent service

In the early 1970s the LMR demolished the entire range of buildings on the Birmingham-bound platform including the GWR Type 7a signal box dating from 1899. The footbridge was retained as was the waiting shelter on the Wolverhampton platform.

The lines through the station were lifted shortly after closure, along with removal of the footbridge, but both platforms were retained. In 1984 a linear park was established which ran along the course of the line to Swan Village station in an effort to protect the formation from building encroachment with a view to the reinstatement of a railway.

The West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority (WMPTA) had long recognised the importance of the Wolverhampton to Birmingham Snow Hill route, although it became responsible for rail services only in 1972 so nothing could be done to stop the initial closure. On 31 October 1973 the Authority and its Executive body took steps to protect the trackbed from any future development so that some kind of public transport system could be reintroduced. The Authority’s first success was the rebuilding of Snow Hill, in the late 1980s, and the introduction of heavy rail services north of the station to Stourbridge and Kidderminster in 1995. With the first Metro proposal having to be abandoned owing to public opinion and construction difficulties, the route of the former relief lines from Snow Hill to Swan Village and onward using the trackbed of the former double-track main line to Wolverhampton was chosen. The WMPTA announced this on 16 February 1988 and on 16 November 1989 an Act of Parliament was granted for its construction. It was not until 3 August 1995 that the contract for construction was let to Altram, a consortium of Ansaldo and John Laing, with construction commencing on 13 November. The final section of track was laid on 4 February 1998 with public services beginning on 31 May 1999.

Today a small section of wall from the original station still exists, to the rear of the Wolverhampton platform, at the current West Bromwich tram stop. There is no further evidence of a station ever existing at this location.

Tickets from Michael Stewart & Brian Halford, route map by Alan Young

Sources:

  • Bradshaw's December 1895 Railway Guide - Middleton Press 2011
  • Bradshaw's July 1922 Railway Guide - David & Charles 1985
  • By Rail to Halesowen - Michael Hale & Ned Williams - Michael Hale Publishing 1974
  • Forgotten Railways: Volume 10 The West Midlands - Rex Christiansen - David St John Thomas Publisher 1985
  • A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain - Volume 7 The West Midlands - Rex Christiansen - David St John Thomas Publisher 1995
  • Lost Lines Birmingham & the Black Country - Nigel Welbourn - Ian Allan Publishing - 2002
  • Railway Passenger Station in Great Britain - A ChronologyMichael Quick - Railway & Canal Historical Society 2009

To see the other stations on the Birmingham Snow Hill - Chester General line click on the station name: Birmingham Snow Hill, Hockley, Winson Green,
Handsworth
,
The Hawthorns, Swan Village, Wednesbury,
Bradley & Moxley
, Bilston, Priestfield,
Wolverhampton Low Level,
Dunstall Park
, Stafford Road,
New Hadley Halt, Admaston Halt, Walcot,
Upton Magna
,
Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury S&C,
Leaton, Oldwoods Halt, Baschurch, Stanwardine Halt, Haughton Halt,
Rednal & West Felton
,
Whittington Low Level, Weston Rhyn, Whitehurst Halt, Rhosymedre, Rhosymedre Halt, Wynville Halt, Rhos, Johnstown & Hafod, Rhosrobin Halt, Gresford, Rossett, Pulford, Balderton and Saltney

Looking towards Birmingham in the Edwardian period with an abundance of interest around the station. To the left are the First & Second Class Ladies and Gentlemens (seperate of course) Waiting Rooms, the Booking Hall, a couple of milk churns on the Birmingham platform along with an abundance of advertising on both platforms.



The 1886 1:500 Town Plan showing the sizeble station complete with Goods Shed and cattle pens. Quite a number of houses have already been built in close proximity to the station.

The 1958 1:2500 OS map shows very little change in the station layout and the surrounding areas since the late 1800's.


The 1:2500 OS map shows station after closure devoid of track at the north end and in the goods facilities but with track through the station.

Looking towards Wolverhampton during June 1958 with a King 60xx Class 4-6-0 No.6001 locomotive passing through on an express service. Of particular note is the waiting shelter on the Wolverhampton platform which would shortly be demolished.
Photographer unknown


1M18 Penzance to Wolverhampton is headed by a diesel-hydraulic Western D10xx locomotive passing through a wintry West Bromwich in the 1960s. Note the waiting shelter on the Wolverhampton platform has been replaced.
Photo by John Evans
Reproduced under Creative Commone Licence from Steve Jones's Flickr photostream

Looking towards Wolverhampton in the early 1970s following the demolition of the main station building. Bus Stop style shelters were planned by the LMR although never erected.
Photo by John Mann


Looking in the Wolverhampton direction during 1980 with nature having engulfed most of the platform surface. The linear park to Swan Village would be established within the next four years.
Photo by Nick Catford

Looking towards Wolverhampton in the winter of 1984 with the linear park having been established, this was a shrewd move and protected the railway alignment for the future.
Photo by Nick Catford

Looking towards Wolverhampton on 8 September 1997 with work well underway on the construction of West Bromwich tram stop which occupies part of the original station site.
Photo by Martin Beddall

Looking towards Wolverhampton on 5 November 2016 from what would have been the Birmingham bound platform.
Photo by Terry Callaghan

Looking towards Birmingham on 5 November 2016. The wall is the only remnant of the station left.
Photo by Terry Callaghan


To see more pictures of West Bromwich click here


 

 

 

[Source: Terry Callaghan]




Last updated: Friday, 26-May-2017 09:58:24 CEST
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