GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill Station: gwrbsh1745

View of main tracks through Birmingham Snow Hill station from above the central scissor cross-over switch junctions located on the north side of the plate girder bridge crossing Great Charles Street. This photograph was taken shortly after the reconstruction of the station was completed, as it shows the massive glass windscreen before the panels in the arch over the main tracks were removed. The platforms were 400 yards long and could easily accommodate two trains. The rear of an up passenger train consisting of what appears to be five clerestory eight wheeled coaches can be seen in platform No 7. In the foreground on the right, partly protected by the raised wooden ramps, are the Siemens power point machines for the two facing switch points on the down scissors cross-over junction. These were controlled by levers 41 and 48 in the Birmingham South Signal Box and they both have an additional locking bar mechanism with detector. This was to ensure that the switches were securely fixed in their operated position. It was a mandated requirement as facing switch points could be the cause of derailments if they operated when a train was passing. On the left are similar power point machines for the two trailing switch points on the up scissors cross-over junction, which were controlled by levers 63 and 66 in the Birmingham North Signal Box.

No locking bar mechanism is required on trailing switch points as it is desirable for a train’s wheels pass through even an incorrectly set trailing point. It is worth noting that the two pairs of levers controlling the two scissors cross-over switch point junctions operated both the relevant facing and trailing switch point and the associated locking bar mechanism. In a conventional rod operated box this would have required three individual levers for each of the two pairs (i.e. a total of twelve conventional levers were replaced with four powered levers). The signals protruding from the roof are for the down main central track, with the home (lever 92 from Birmingham South Signal Box) and distant signal (lever 209 from Birmingham North Signal Box) referring to the continuation of the down through line and the lower home signal (lever 90 from Birmingham South Signal Box) referring to the line adjacent to platform No 6 reached via the scissor cross-over switch. Two short armed ‘Calling On’ (CO) signals (levers 91 and 89 from Birmingham South Signal Box) are positioned at the bottom of each post. A second group of signals for the down platform (No. 5) track were positioned under the canopy (see gwrbsh1768 and gwrbsh1769) for more details.

Robert Ferris

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