Castle Bromwich Station

Location

The original Castle Bromwich station was opened on 10th February 1842 on the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway's (B&DJR) section of line between Lawley Street, Birmingham and Whitacre at the behest of the Earl of Bradford, a local landowner. This section of the B&DJR was initially authorised in 1836 with the bill originally envisaging the line running from Derby via Whitacre to Stechford, and then from here, over the London and Birmingham Railway's metals into Curzon Street station. London traffic was intended to run from Whitacre to Derby Junction (later known as Hampton station) at Hampton in Arden and then to be taken forward by London & Birmingham Railway (L&BR) services to Euston. The first section opened was from Whitacre to Hampton where onward traffic to and from Birmingham and London over L&BR rails commenced. However due to the high tolls charged by the L&BR, and also the significant traffic delays experienced by B&DJR travellers using the L&BR's services into Birmingham, the B&DJR very quickly decided to built their own direct line to Birmingham. However because their route needed to be terminated in Birmingham, they elected to run along the Tame and Rea valleys to a new station in Lawley Street rather than at Stechford as originally planned. Also known as the Tame Valley Railway, this and the Birmingham & Gloucester railway were merged in 1846 with other companies to become part of the Midland Railway.

The Station and its facilities

Castle Bromwich station was orientated roughly east to west with east being on the Whitacre side of the station and west being on the Lawley street side of the station. The station was located on the east side of Chester Road and was provided with two platforms, with the two running lines being located in between the two platform faces, and with its main passenger facilities located on the down platform. The up platform was only provided with waiting facilities reflecting the fact that the majority of traffic was to and from Birmingham. As seen on the 1886 OS map passengers requiring tickets to travel to stations east of Castle Bromwich would cross via the road bridge, utilising steps located on either side of the bridge. The station's goods facilities were limited being just a single siding located to the rear of the down platform. Access by road to both the goods yard and passenger facilities on the down platform were via a long drive off and running parallel to the Chester Road. A signal box, located on the Whitacre side of the up platform, had been erected to control the main line through the station and movements into and out of the goods siding. So busy was the Tame valley line to become that in 1902 the Midland Railway quadrupled the route through Castle Bromwich. The installation of these two extra lines required the station to be completely remodeled with the signal box being moved from the up line to the down line.

In its new form Castle Bromwich retained its East to West orientation but this time sited its principal building and entrance to face directly on to Chester Road (see image 'mrcb34'). The two storey building was erected to the south of the road bridge, with its upper storey facing on to Chester Road and at ground level goods offices facing on to the goods yard (as seen in image 'mrcb1030'). The goods facilities were expanded during the remodelling to include an additional siding, one following more or less the line of the original siding, the other angled to follow the yard's boundary yard to access a landing dock sited behind the weighbridge and office. Terry Callaghan describes the architectural style of the building fronting on to the Chester Road in Disused Stations as follows, 'Although built in brick there were occasional terra-cotta courses to provide some fashionable distinction. The ridge of the roof was parallel to the road and ended with two tall chimney stacks which were treated to terra-cotta courses. The road frontage looked unbalanced with a large gable, topped with a ball finial, facing the road towards its southern end and pierced by an oeil-de-boeuf window; a much smaller but more elaborately designed gable, with a similar window and a ball finial, was found towards the northern end. A verandah was clasped between wing walls at each end of the building which were capped by remarkably large ball finials. The building was entered via a triple arcade. The two storey building viewed from the platform elevation was less elaborate, but not without interest. Two asymmetrically placed gables projected a short distance from the structure, one with a tall chimney stack springing from it. Openings on this elevation were a mixture of complete and segmental arches'.

The layout of the rebuilt station was unusual insofar that when looked at in plan (see image 'mrcb1020a') it appeared as having two island platforms with the four lines running on either side of the two islands with a stand-alone platform sited to the north of the up platform. This stand-alone platform was served by a single line ending at a buffer stop located just short of the embankment leading up to the bridge carrying the Chester Road over the railway. Adjacent to this single line and also ending in a buffer stop by the embankment was a refuge siding accessed off the up slow line east of the station. In fact each of the two island platforms only had one platform face being used for passenger trains. The other side of both island platforms were fenced off by railings as the track running on this side of the island platforms were for use by goods traffic proceeding to and from Washwood Heath Sidings and beyond. The down platform was numbered '1' (for passenger traffic to Birmingham) and the up platform was numbered '2' (for traffic from Birmingham). The standalone platform was numbered '3'. Both the up and down platforms were provided with timber framed buildings with the down platform having the larger structure as the majority of passengers leaving the station (and therefore require waiting facilities) were bound for Birmingham. The platform buildings had a roof line which continued as a cantilevered canopy to the full depth of the platform and set at angle with the 'fall' of the canopy and roof being to the rear of the buildings. The third platform had no such structure on the platform.

The third stand-alone platform was allegedly to be used for excursion traffic, but how this traffic was to be generated at the turn of the 20th century in what was still primarily a rural environment, is unclear to the writer. The refuge siding located adjacent to the third platform was still being used in the 1960s (as seen in image 'mrcb1032'). The station's booking office was located at road level by the main entrance. Following the purchase of their tickets passengers then gained access to their platform via a covered footbridge which bridged all four lines. The covered passenger steps to both the up and down platforms were at sited 90º to the covered footbridge as can be seen in image 'mrcb1740'. A similar set of steps which led down to the third 'excursion' platform was also provided, as seen in the 1916 Ordnance Plan, but by the 1960s this had been removed and reoriented as an open set of stairs to run parallel with Chester Road. It has been suggested that this set of open stairs was to provide access to the British Industries Fair Exhibition and their length and angle of descent would support this theory (see iimage 'mrcb1031b').

Passenger and Goods Services

The timetable for March 1850 showed three trains from Castle Bromwich to Derby and four trains to Birmingham Lawley Street on Mondays to Saturdays with no service being available on Sundays. On 1st July 1879, a new service began between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton via Sutton Park which also called at Castle Bromwich. This used the Midland Railway's new route to Walsall from a junction opened just short of a mile to the east of Castle Bromwich. As stated above, during the last decades of the 19th century the Tame valley line became a very busy main line for the Midland Railway handling significant amounts of freight traffic as well as passenger traffic. The expansion of Washwood Heath Sidings and New Street Station bearing testomony to this expansion. The timetable for December 1895 showed Castle Bromwich as having nineteen up and twenty-three down trains Monday to Saturday with none on Sundays, of these eleven trains in each direction ran between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. By July 1922 (which was the Midland Railway's last year of independence prior to grouping), Castle Bromwich station was being served by twenty-two up and nineteen down trains Monday to Saturday with again none on a Sunday. Twenty-five years later, when the railways were nationalisation on 1st January 1948, Castle Bromwich became under the juristiction of the London Midland Region of British Railways. The timetable for the summer 1948 showed twenty-three up and sixteen down trains Monday to Friday but with additional services on Saturdays and for the first time, two trains calling in each direction on a Sunday. The British Railways timetable for the winter of 1948 showed an ammended service with twenty-two up and twenty-one down services Monday to Friday with a couple of extra trains on a Saturday. As would be expected, trains calling at Castle Bromwich were in the main local return services from Birmingham New Street to Derby, Leicester via Nuneaton Abbey Street and to Walsall via Sutton Park. It was recorded that a few express trains stopped here including the Worcester to York service.

The Railway Clearing House's 1929 Handbook of Railway Stations states Castle Bromwich provided the general public and commerce with a full set of services. These are recorded as: Goods traffic; Passenger and Parcels traffic; Furniture Vans, Carriages, Portable Engines, and Machines on Wheels; Live Stock; Horse boxes and Prize Cattle Vans; Carriages by Passenger Trains (GPFLHC). There were no cranage facilities provided in the goods yard so merchants would either have to man handle the loading/unloading of goods themselves or, if necessary, bring in a mobile crane. The British Industries Fair (BIF) exhibition centre opened in 1920 and located alongside the railway to the north of the station. In 1933 the BIF annual fair exhibited the first diesel train in the country which had arrived on its maiden run from Euston. In 1934 LMS 6P 4-6-0 No 6100 'The Royal Scot', complete with it with American issued large lamp and bell, was exhibited at the British Industrial Fair's siding located adjacent to the station. From 1920 until 1960 (with the exception of 1925 and the period 1941 to 1946), exhibitions lasting two weeks were held every year at this fore runner of the NEC. Thousands of people travelled to these fairs by service train and by special excursions making Castle Bromwich a very busy station. With the opening of the British Industries Fair in 1956, British Railways operated new Diesel Multiple Units to carry visitors to the event on a shuttle service between Birmingham New Street and Castle Bromwich.

Closure

The 'Beeching’ report of 1963 recommended the withdrawal of all stopping services between Birmingham and Derby and the closure of the stations at which they called. Despite the identification of this route for closure Castle Bromwich was, surprisingly, not named in the list of stations to be closed. The summer 1962 timetable showed that the station had a good service of thirty-two up and twenty-eight down trains Monday-to-Friday; it served a large residential area close to the centre of Birmingham. The Major Trunk Routes for Development report of 1964 (follow up to the Reshaping of British Railways) recognised the importance of the Tame valley line as part of a north-east and south-west trunk route, and it was recommended for retention and improvement. On 9th September 1964 formal notice was published of the proposal to withdraw Derby – Tamworth – Birmingham local trains, but it took until 16th August 1967 for Barbara Castle, Secretary of State for Transport to give her approval, reprieving one of the stations. Castle Bromwich station finally closed to passenger services on 4th March 1968.

Our thanks to Terry Callaghan of www.disused-stations.org.uk for additional information on the station.

British Industries Fair (B.I.F.)

This huge trade fair began at premises next to Castle Bromwich station in 1920 (it had been running in London since 1915). Its theme was demonstrating the wonders of British products, attracting visitors from around the world. Held for two weeks each year, at one point it was officially the most visited attraction in the country. Railways were part of the fair, with exhibits inside and a chance to showcase vehicles in use on the special shuttles that ran from Birmingham. DMUs were used for this from 1955. However by the 1950s, many of the exhibitors were travelling to trade fairs abroad rather than expecting foreign buyers to travel to the UK, and the declining number of exhibitors meant the final fair was held in 1957. The site became the Castle Vale housing estate.

1955 - Derby Lighweights borrowed from Lincolnshire

Three drivers and four twin diesel units were sent from Derby, the units arriving on April 18th. The shuttle ran between May 2nd - 13th, they made nine trips a day between Birmingham and Castle Bromwich. The services were worked by E79030/E79622 + E79031/E79623 but on Saturday, 9th May, and when some special parties were conveyed, E79032/E79624 were added to make a six car unit. As far as known the fourth set was not used, and remained for the whole of the period in Saltley Carriage sheds.

1956 - Met-Camm Lightweights

Local company Met-Camm (who constructed their units in Saltley) requested that their units be used for the shuttles during the April 23rd - May 4th opening. The Eastern Region agreed that units being built for them could be used there first, which resulted in E79061-3 with E79277-9 being used. Afterwards they were sent to Derby.

1957 - Rolls Royce powered Met-Camms

At the end of 1956 the B.I.F. organisers requested that a 63'6" unit be exhibited at the 1957 fair. Derby would be building the suburban sets for the Westerm Region (Class 116s) at the time, these were considered unsuitable for exhibition. Instead thoughts turned to the Rolls Royce engined set 50000/56000, to which the ER agreed. However with just weeks to go the organisers then decided that on account of site difficulties displaying a unit in the exhibition would not be practicable, and the vehicles were exhibited at a Rolls Royce Exhibition from 6th to 11th May 1957 instead. Late in 1956 there were huge problems with fuel oil supplies, and the LMR was considering not using diesel units for the 1957 shuttles. Luckily by the start of April 1957 the situation had improved, so the decision was taken to go ahead, using the Rolls-Royce engined Met-Camm units. Longsight sets 50134/56090, 50136/56092 and 50137/56093 were used on the Birmingham New St. to Castle Bromwich shuttles from the 6th to the 17th May. On the Saturday (11th) additional services were worked by 101s 50207/56059 and 50208/56090 fresh from Saltley. The 111s were back in Manchester by the 19th.

Our thanks to Stuart Mackay of www.railcar.co.uk for the information on the DMU services to the British Industries Fair.