They said there was a lift near the Mark's and Spencer's I looked everywhere but couldn't find it I thought if the lift was still working I would secretly go in
I remember riding on it, and the thing that struck me most, was that the seats were fairly close together, and so the carriages would not have been wide enough to accommodate a manual wheelchair,with someone in it!
Went to Merry Hill last Saturday and noticed that the lift shaft up to the station has now been blocked up by a ceiling, so I hope that's not a sign that the station is going to be knocked down.
Yep they blocked it up last year. Speaking to the guys at Intu, I believe it's because of the drafts that were coming through the lift shaft, and because there's an awful lot of pigeons that have made the station their home. Sad though, I used to like looking up into it
_itz_tom_h_ unfortunately I don't think they do tours, but a few of the items that are in this video have been taken out and displayed in the shopping centre I think they are by ed's diner next to the old lift
_itz_tom_h_ we spoke to Westfield who owned merryhill at the time of recording, bit since then people have asked intu for a tour but intu havent let the general public up for health and safety reasons.
never knew this still survives.i always thaught all the system was dissmanteled and taken away by the company that installed it due to the fact that it was never paid for.
I used to go up there to do weekly checks. The person doing the tour is Rachel! God I would give her one if I could! Always fancied the knickers off her!
You're so lucky being able to visit Central station. I'm so jealous! I'd be there with my mother almost every week until I started school in September 1993. I remember the monorail like yesterday. In a way, it's nice to see they haven't touched the place since closure but sad at it what could be such a useful and bustling system today. Reliability may have been a problem but if only it was free to use, it may not have closed down. Thanks for sharing!
390h8er thank you, apparently people have asked the new owners if they can go up since I made this video, but intu wouldn't let them for health and safety reasons.
My uncle used to be a maintenance engineer on the monorail and it did indeed break down a lot, so he was always kept busy! There's an entrance to the central station inside the staff area of what is now Marks and Spencer - my brother worked there 10 years ago and told me about it.
hi there could you tell me how you got up there im working with.some one important and we are goin to contact merry hill and see if we could arrange it but any input and info from you would be helpfull thanks
this monorail needs to be reopened and even build the Merry hill Tower that was planed by richardson brothers there is some waste land left on the Waterfront way that can used for the Merry hill Tower that wood be nice if we can reopen the monorail to the Merry hill Tower as well and merry hill tower can become the new transmitter for the whole of the Black country area that wood replace the older relay transmitter in brierley hill and mybe the one main transmitter in Sutton coldfield as well.
There's a chance that this could become the Midland Metro station for Merry Hill when they finally build the line extension. The escalators to the station used to be by where Starbucks is now on the upper level.
RegularCapital A station right smack bang in the middle of the shopping centre would do wonders for the Metro, especially with links to all major towns around it and park and ride sites planned too.
That must have been a good job to have. Just out of curiosity, do you happen to know where exactly 'Waterfront West' was going to be had it have been built?
i think central was left because taking it down would proberly do a lot of damage to the marks and spencer roof and the life shaft would be sticking out the roof lol
been looking at the video and viewing google maps from a birds eye view and i think the exit/entrance must be at the rear end of (nearest the car park) Marks and Spencer. They should open it up as an attraction so people who are interested in it can view it. ok it would need to be made a bit safer make sure the electrics was safe but its small money to a big company like merry hill and they could even charge 50p for a viewing.
hopefully they will use it as the proposed metro line extension! but that has been on the cards for ages now so chances look slim! and in todays day and age they could build a new roof and lower the lift shaft! not that i want them to as its the last remaining reminder of the legend that was 'the merry hill monorail' :(
yeah a remember that been announced back in 2007. It will be a 5 year extension and will bring trams. that was the last said about it. They should open it up as a viewing area or a information point with a cafe. They would have to seal the automatic doors shut and get electrics updated but should not cost to much. Why have they not opened a shop up there by now is beyond me.
hi jack thank you so much for posting this i use to ride this all the time with my parent/grandparents when i was little such a shame to see it like this how did you mange to get access i have e-mailed merry hill asking for permission to go up there as im moving away to kent in a couple of weeks and would love to see the only bit left of how amazing merry hill was can you point me in the right direction of who to ask or speak too any help would be appreciated
Cool video I would love to go up there sometime, will bring back a lot of memories, I am 24 now and loved to go to merry hill when I was younger just to go on the monorail. I've not been to merry hill properly since the 90s, they have wrecked the place, so much traffic and food stalls inside. As previously stated, it's lost it's spark, I noticed they got rid of the bird water feature that was outside the old C&A.
I think the monorail should be preserved as a peice of local history, because only itself and vernes food court 'philleas fogg' are the only things left of the original merry hill shopping centre after they closed down and westfeild took over it was no longer unique and was just your average old boring shopping centre and as a result is no longer as popular with the public
where about was the fire exit. is it by the toilets near argos. who was the lady showing you round what was her name. They should turn it into a cafe or viewing area because it looks over a lot of merry hill. Could even setup a community radio station up there where the public can dj throughout the centre.
is that door in m&s as you go in on the right, there is a door that must be directly underneath the old station that says "authorised personel only" and has a combination lock on the door?
Im 15 , I have a interest in local history, and my dad organised a trip with health and safety , I also took pictures and merryhill are going to use them in a memorial page sometime soon, soon after this video was made, roy richardson (half of the richardson brothers) got in touch and said he would show me pictures of merryhill and the monorail that have never been publically released, and may even show me the original plans and blueprints! Thanks for all the positive feedback it means alot
That is amazing, I've been wanting to find out what it's like in there eversince the Monorail was dismantled. Everytime I visit Merry Hill now I have a glance up the lift shaft wondering what it's like up there now. It's a shame to leave it as it is, they could easily make some other use of it, like turn it into a Cafe or something.
