New Street station

Birmingham New Street Station: lnwrbns_str1915

Looking towards Wolverhampton showing the erection of the temporary roof above the West end of Platforms 2A and 3 in 1947. The steelwork was obtained from the surplus stock of Air Raid Protection (ARP) steel held during the Second World War for emergency repair or reconstruction of bomb damage. The steel girders were covered with asbestos sheets with spaces above the track to allow the smoke to escape. Richard Foster notes that the temporary nature of the work meant that no attempt was made to embellish or improve the aesthetic quality of the design. Needless to say the temporary austere canopies became a permanent feature for nearly two decades until the rebuilding of the station in the 1960s.

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