Snow Hill Station

History

For most of a century Birmingham had two great stations. The London and North Western and the Midland ran from New Street. Snow Hill belonged to the Great Western Railway, and it was the GWR’s answer to its rivals.

Four stations on one site

The first was makeshift. On 1 October 1852 the GWR line from Oxford opened, with a temporary station that had a timber roof on timber posts and entrances from Snow Hill and Livery Street. Early timetables called it “Birmingham”, “Livery Street” or “Great Charles Street”. The GWR settled on “Birmingham Snow Hill” in 1858.

The second station was completed in 1871, with two platforms 450 yards long, four bays at the north end and an arched roof. On Colmore Row stood the Great Western Hotel, designed by J. A. Chatwin. It was leased out and never run by the railway. By 1906 it had closed as a hotel and become GWR offices, though its refreshment rooms carried on until bomb damage in 1940.

The same spot, then and now

1888–1913

Today

The third station was the one people remember. Works were authorised in November 1902 and rebuilding began in 1906. The design was by Walter Y. Armstrong, the GWR’s New Works Engineer, with Henry Lovatt Ltd as contractors and steelwork by E. C. and J. Keay. It had two island platforms, each 1,200 feet long, and a glazed booking hall roof spanning 93 feet 9½ inches. Passengers entered from Colmore Row through the old hotel building, cut through to make way. Many accounts call it the 1912 station.

Decline

The blow came from electrification at New Street. When the electric service between Euston and New Street began, main-line services were withdrawn from Snow Hill on 6 March 1967. Services south of Snow Hill ended on 4 March 1968. From 5 May 1969 the remaining stations on the line became unstaffed “Paytrain” halts.

The demolition gangs started before the trains had gone. The former hotel and the booking hall came down from 23 October 1969. Closure was approved on 24 January 1972, the last trains ran on Saturday 4 March 1972, and the official closure date was 6 March. The great station was used as a car park.

Demolition of what remained began on 4 October 1976, carried out by L. E. Jones (Demolition) Ltd. Photographs taken by the Warwickshire Industrial Archaeology Society on 27 March 1977 show it derelict.

Back from the dead

Then something unusual happened: the railway came back. A new, smaller station was built on the old site, with a council car park above. The first train worked on 2 October 1987, and the station reopened to the public on 5 October 1987. It reused the old trackbed and tunnel.

Look closely and the older stations are still there in pieces. On Livery Street a stretch of wall from the 1871 rebuild survives, with an entrance carrying the GWR crest. A Livery Street subway entrance with a coat of arms became part of the new station complex. At the corner of Livery Street and Lionel Street, public toilets built into the arch of the Snow Hill railway bridge are listed at Grade II. Out at Duddeston, an unfinished viaduct recalls a link between the GWR and the LNWR that was never completed.

Snow Hill is the rare lost station that returned. The building that made it grand has gone, but the trains run again on the Great Western’s line.

Why it disappeared

Railway changes · Redevelopment

Main-line services were transferred away when the electrified Euston–New Street service began in March 1967. Local services were cut back from 1968, the former hotel and booking hall were demolished from October 1969, and the station closed in March 1972. After use as a car park it was demolished from October 1976 (Disused Stations).