Probably one of the greatest railway stations in Britain in my book, this station had so much character, and I think today it would be actually considered an architectural gem. It would have looked absolutely fabulous if it had been properly refurbished, so shame on those who pulled this lovely old station down.. And then added insult to injury years later by opening a modern excuse for a railway station as a replacement on the same site. There was so much character in these railway buildings back in the day. It's all so sad to think that stations of this caliber are gone now forever along with most of the steam locomotives & early diesels. If this is what is called progress they can have it..!
I still have a pencil sketch of the moment I saw a goods train headed by a very energetic 5700 pannier tank, heading south, coming out of the tunnel into the daylight (as such) of Snow Hill station.
As a non-UK resident I only managed one visit to Snow Hill and that was in 1966. I spent a few hours there and there was not one ex-GWR type loco to be seen. I did manage to photograph several Stanier Black Fives. Most passenger trains were diesel-hauled or worked by DMUs. A very atmospheric station but alas it has gone the way of other great stations such as Nottingham Victoria, Liverpool Exchange, Manchester Central, Sheffield Victoria et cetera.
Remember running round the station in the 1970's when it was closed and derelict. Was a kid's paradise with lots of dark spooky rooms and tunnels to explore. JUst shows how shortsighted politicians are, never thinking more than 20 years ahead, when the original massive site would have ideal for HS2, but who could have guessed that a ever growing national population would need more transport links not less?
There still is a bricked up entrance and a small section of wall of the original station just down and opposite from The Old Contemptibles pub in Edmund Street.
I managed a visit to Snow Hill in 1966 when going for an interview at Birmingham University. My train left Paddington with a new 47 on the front, but arrived 3 hours late with a Manor. That breakdown changed my life.
A fantastic station, bulldozed for offices and a car park. Ironic that it is still a route today, much better in its day than New street, which was in turn replaced by a soulless characterless concrete bunker.
The main reason British Rail closed Snow Hill Station, partially demolish it and let it rot for several years was so it would not be retained and get listed status, which would meant that BR would have to maintain it as a listed building. It was a deliberate example of the BR 'closure by stealth'. Transfer to London Midland Region, they obviously preferred New Street - so they stopped most inter city trains running into Snow Hill and diverted the rest into New Street. Snow Hill was left with two single railcar services. They didn't last long, job done. London Midland Region had a great excuse to close Snow Hill. After a few years rotting away, it was declared unsafe, so - no surprise - it had to be demolished. In its place now it a 'grotesque mass of concrete' with a small station underneath it. The fact that this 'station' has reopened is proof that the original Snow Hill Station should never have been closed. Before anyone replies saying I am talking out of my arse, I did actually work for BR in the early 1970s
@@22whizzo56 - I loved Snow Hill, but BR was in a dire financial state by 1960. Eliminating duplicate routes and costly multiple city centre stations was core to the Beeching Report. BR did look carefully at which main Birmingham station to retain and New Street offered many more route options (Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester etc) as well as central to the electrification schemes. Snow Hill was not a great interchange and traffic forecasts at that time showed that a rebuilt New Street could handle all long distance travel and release valuable city centre land. Harsh yes, but that was the reality. And yes, I also worked for BR.
@@timedwards7044 agreed, my dad grew up in a house in Yardley Wood backing onto the Stratford line and to this day reminisces about the ex-GWR Castle hauled expresses from Cornwall to Snow Hill passing the back garden. But by the late 60s BR had no choice but to save money and close one main station just like in Edinburgh where I grew up. At least Moor Street never closed and the Snow Hill line is open again!
I remember when I was an infant after the railway station had been pulled down. The teachers took us to the murals on the subway wall. We then visited the site all you could see were grand blue brick arches which I thought looked rather like horse stables. My mum and dad were more like grandparents in age and they would talk about the station. My mum was especially upset about it. When they built the new station, I was a teenager. The new Snowhill had construction lights along the platforms. I remember reading that they were meant to be temporary but had been so popular that they kept them. Apparently folk would come from far away just to see the lights.
A most exciting station but then all the Railways were then. Now travellers anxiety levels are high each time they take the train as to what stunt the rail companies are going to pull this time.
I don't like what they did to both Snow Hill and New Street stations, both were marvels of Victorian architecture and were good as they were. Like they say if it isn't broke, don't fix it. But no, all for the sake of modernisation they decided to take them down and replace them with the concrete monstrosities that succeeded them.
