Shirley Station

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Shirley Station, first opened to passengers on 1st June 1908, was considered an important station on the North Warwickshire Line and was provided with substantial brick built buildings unlike many other stations along the line. The approach to the main station buildings and goods yard, which were located on the down side, was via short drive off Haslucks Green Road. Adjacent to the drive and fronting on to Haslucks Green Road were eight railway cottages provided by the GWR for station staff at this (then) semi-rural location. The large detached station master's house was located next to the station fronting on to the access drive. A footbridge, located to the south of the passenger buildings, connected the two platforms. A signal box was located on the down platform some two thirds of the way down the platform towards the Birmingham end of the station.

Trailing connections on either side of the main line in advance of the station provided access to two refuge sidings. The Up refuge siding could accommodate 63 standard wagons in addition to the engine and brake van, while the Down refuge siding could accommodate 56 standard wagons in addition to the engine and brake van. A goods yard was provided from the outset and consisted of two long mileage sidings which were mainly used for storing coal and mineral wagons. These had a trailing connection to the up main line while a compound slip gave access to the Down refuge siding. A third siding ran through the small goods shed and this had trailing connections to both up and down main lines. The head shut protecting the up connection was also connected through to the down refuge siding, while the down connection head shut provided access to the Cattle Pen and Loading Dock at the end of the down platform. The goods yard closed to general goods traffic on 6th July 1964 and to coal traffic on 6th May 1968.

Robert Ferris

The building of Shirley station was a great success with most of its traffic growing over the years. The table below was extracted from VicMitchell's and Keith Smith's book 'Stratford upon Avon to Birmingham Moor Street' published by Middleton Press, ISBN 1 904474 77 2.

Description	1913	1923	1933
Passenger tickets issued	18,784	40,514	43,556
Season tickets issued	376	996	3343
Parcels forwarded	2,617	2,226	12,755
General goods forwarded (tons)	38	93	211
Coal and coke received (tons)	34	198	244
Other minerals received (tons)	4,360	830	2,426
General goods received (tons)	1,204	3,511	4,397
Trucks of livestock handled	60	51	70

Much of the information on this and other pages of Warwickshire Railways is derived from articles or books listed in our 'bibliography'.

Shirley Station

Ref: gwrsh489 Postcard Looking to Birmingham with the up platform on the left and the goods yard on the down side in the distance

Ref: gwrsh489a Postcard Close up of the up platform showing the two waiting rooms and the gentlemen's toilet and poster boards

Ref: gwrsh489b Postcard Close up showing the Permanent Way gang working on both sets of tracks and the goods yard

Ref: gwrsh488 P Hopkins Looking to Birmingham from the Stratford upon Avon end of the down platform with the footbridge in the foreground

Ref: gwrsh491 Lens of Sutton Looking south from the goods yard end of the down platform with Shirley's signal box straddling the platform

Ref: gwrsh491a Lens of Sutton Close up of the passenger buildings on both platforms and the passenger footbridge connecting both platforms

Ref: gwrsh643 Lens of Sutton Looking towards the up platform which was accessed from the down platform by the passenger footbridge

Ref: gwrsh642 Lens of Sutton Looking north from Haslucks Green Road bridge towards the up platform and covered footbridge

Ref: gwrsh493 P Hopkins Shirley signal box located at the north end of the down platform with a rear window to monitor goods yard traffic

Ref: gwrsh644 Anon Looking towards Shirley Signal Box with the goods shed in the distance and on the up side, the platelayer's hut

Shirley Station's Goods Yard

Ref: gwrsh1116 RS Carpenter Looking north with the goods shed in the middle distance and on the right a landing dock and pens for live stock

Ref: gwrsh1116a RS Carpenter Close up of the goods office and shed secured by a pair of swing gates and the yard shed used to store equipment

Ref: gwrsh2950 RS Carpenter Another view of the Goods Shed at Shirley Station a few years before it closed in July 1964

Ref: gwrsh1118a RS Carpenter Close up of Shirley station's cattle dock which appears to be able to handle two separate lots of livestock

Ref: gwrsh1116b RS Carpenter Close up of the two sets of steps accessing Shirley station's cattle dock and pens and the water tower behind

Ref: gwrsh2951 RS Carpenter Another view of the now disused cattle pens at Shirley Station with water tank behind circa 1960

Ref: gwrsh1117 RS Carpenter Looking south from the Birmingham end of the down platform with the landing dock and pens to the left

Ref: gwrsh1117a RS Carpenter Close up of the end of the short siding showing Shirley station's landing dock used to off-load road vehicles

Ref: gwrsh645 Lens of Sutton View from Shirley Signal Box looking over the buffer stops towards the landing and cattle pens and goods shed

Trains seen at or near Shirley Station

Ref: gwrsh1118 RS Carpenter GWR 4-4-0 Bulldog class No 3391 'Dominion of Canada' passes the goods yard on a West of England express

Ref: gwrsh490 P Hopkins GWR 4-4-0 No 3816 'County of Leicester' on an up express to Birmingham as it passes under Haslucks Green bridge

Ref: gwrsh492 NE Stead Ex-GWR 4-6-0 No 6861 'Crynant Grange' is seen at the head of a down West Country express service

Ref: gwrsh2895 M Mensing Ex-GWR 4-6-0 No 4991 Cobham Hall approaches Hasluck's Green Road bridge on 29th August 1959

Ref: gwrsh2899 G Adams Ex-GWR 2-6-2 No 4127 stands at Shirley station with a down local passenger service on 8th June 1957

Ref: gwrsh2900 G Adams Ex-GWR 4-6-0 No 5085 'Evesham Abbey' approaches Shirley station with the northbound Cornishman

Ref: gwrsh637 P Shoesmith Ex-GWR 4-6-0 No 5994 'Roydon Hall' at the head of a West Country express passing the up refuge siding

Ref: gwrsh646 P Shoesmith Ex-GWR 4-6-0 Manor class No 7808 'Cookham Manor' passes through Shirley at the head of a 'SLS Special'

Ref: gwrsh647 J Downing BR built 4-6-2 West Country class No 34105 'Swanage' passes through Shirley on an empty stock working

Ref: gwrsh2922 P Shoesmith Ex-GWR No 6861 'Crynant Grange' passes through Shirley on a down express service on 20th June 1964

Ref: gwrsh2957 M Mensing Ex-GWR 2-6-0 43xx class No 5332 on a down class H ‘through freight’ on Saturday 29th August 1959

Ref: gwrsh2958 RS Carpenter GWR 2-6-0 26xx (Aberdare) class No 2646 shunting on the down main line with two covered wagons circa 1930

Ordnance Survey Maps & Diagrams of Shirley Station

Ref: gwrsh2898 Ordnance Survey A large scale 1937 Ordnance Survey Map of Shirley Station showing the layout of the station and goods yard

Ref: gwrsh2896 National Library of Scotland A 1914 Ordnance Survey Map showing Shirley Station, the goods yard and shed and the refuge sidings on each line

Ref: gwrsh2897 National Library of Scotland A 1938 Ordnance Survey Map showing Shirley Station, the goods yard and shed and the refuge sidings on each line

Ref: shirley-signal-diag Signalling Record Society A copy of the SRS' low resolution version of the Signalling Diagram for Shirley Signal Box dated 1948