GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Acocks Green Station: gwrag1059

View of Acocks Green & South Yardley station being rebuilt with the boundary line marked by timber posts circa 1906. The photographer is looking in the direction of Birmingham during the quadrupling of the line and station by contractors with the 1852 station building seen above the pile of materials. The open-cab contractors 0-4-0PT locomotive was typical of the type found on large scale engineering works with the roughly laid temporary track used to move spoil and materials. The term 'Permanent Way', now used to describe the lines used by railway companies, was originally used to differentiate between the contractors own temporary trackwork and the permanent track used by the operating railway company. Mike Wood writes on Acocks Green History Society's website, 'The construction works of 1906 involved widening the site, with the left hand platform becoming an island with a new line passing behind it. Likewise with the right hand platform, where a passenger line and a goods loop were installed. New buildings were erected. The contractor was Mr H. Lovatt of Clarence Street, Wolverhampton. The coloured postcard shows the work in progress. Muddy Lane's (Woodberry Walk, also known on old postcards as Woodcock Lane, which used to go as far as the Avenue) brick built bridge was replaced by them in accordance with the contract, although it had originally been built with accommodation for four tracks (Bridge 125¾). 83 charges of tonite were placed in previously drilled holes in the brickwork. Two hours occupation was allowed to protect the main line with timbers, blow up the structure and clear the debris!'.

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