Birmingham New Street Station: lnwrbns_str1295c

Close up of image 'lnwrbns_str1295' showing New Street station's juxtaposition between the 1885 built extension to the original 1854 LNWR station and and the covered section of Queens Drive linking both. The need for a station that covered 14½ acres, of which 8 acres were roofed, and with a total platform length of 2,850 yards covering 146,520 square yards was because of the rapid expansion of services experienced by both railway companies. Whereas in 1872 the LNWR had 50 services arriving from the East of the station (including services from the North via Aston) just ten years later this figure had risen to 62. At the same time the Midland Railway's services arriving from the East increased from 39 to 62. Departures from the West end of the station for the LNWR for the years 1872 and 1882 also rose from 38 to 72 with no such departures for the Midland as both years predated the opening of the tunnel connecting to the West Suburban Railway.

In 1889 the LNWR recorded 70 arrivals from the East with 78 departures from the West end of the station whilst the Midland Railway's figures showed 59 arrivals from the East and 32 departures from the West end of the station. In 1905, the station saw its busiest period ever with the LNWR recording 101 arrivals from the East and 98 departures from the West end of the station. The Midland Railway also recorded substantial increases for the same year with 79 arrivals from the East and 51 departures from the West end of the station. Richard Foster writes in Volume 2 of his four-book history on the station, that in 1900 during the period of 8am to noon and 4pm to 8pm an average of 40 trains an hour were arriving and departing with a peak of 53 trains being achieved between 9am and 10am.

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