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Halesowen station 20/07/1966 (David Bathurst)
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Photos submitted by readers of Rail Around Birmingham

Since Rail Around Birmingham first went onto the WWW in 2003, I have received some fascinating photographs kindly sent to me by readers of the site. Until now I've displayed some of these shots in the reader_photos section but as I am fortunate enough to have a growing collection of photos from people who have enjoyed the site, I felt it time to setup a dedicated section of the site to display their work. Should anyone wish to see their photographs of the region's railways displayed on this site, please feel free to contact me through the Contact page as I am always pleased to display the work of readers.


 

I'm very fortunate to be able to present the four photographs below of Hockley Goods station. As far as I am aware they have never been published before and came to light during the clearance of Linread Automotive who occupied premises at 33 Pitsford Street which borders the facilities. The photos are stamped 'GWR 1908' on the rear and give a fascinating glimpse of the goods workings at the turn of the last century. My thanks to Brian Shanahan for sending them to me.

 
Hockley Goods station Hockley Goods station Hockley Goods station Hockley Goods station

The view from All Saints St bridge towards Snow Hill with Hockley station centre-left.

Good shot of horse-drawn GWR wagons loading/unloading at the goods sheds.

A fascinating insight in this shot taken inside one of the goods sheds at the site.

Horse-drawn road delivery vehicles outside the main goods shed, Pitsford Street.

 

 

Once again I have to thank a reader of this site for sending me the photographs below and for kindly allowing me to display them here. Dave Morrall took these photographs of Halesowen and Hunnington stations on the Halesowen Railway around 1970 and they provide a fascinating snapshot of the two sites taken only two years after the closure of Halesowen station to goods, and six years after the closure of the line from Halesowen to Longbridge on which Hunnington station stood.

 
Halesowen station towards Mucklow Hill Halesowen station towards Old Hill Halesowen station Rubery platform Hunnington station approach

In this shot we are looking along the Longbridge platform of Halesowen station towards Longbridge with Mucklow Hill in the distance where the track ran under the road but the route is blocked-off in this shot.

Here again we are looking along the Longbridge platform of Halesowen station but this time in the direction of Old Hill.

We are now on the trackbed taking a closer look at the Longbridge platform again in the direction of Old Hill.

We have now moved along the line towards Longbridge and are looking at Hunnington station building from its approach road off Bromsgrove Road.

 
Hunnington platform entrance Hunnington station towards Halesowen Hunnington station towards Rubery Dowery Dell viaduct site

This is the trackside view of Hunnington station showing the building looking rather the worse-for-wear. However, the structure appears sound.

This view takes-in the whole station looking in the direction of Halesowen. In its heyday, the station served Blue Bird's toffee factory and a coal merchants and had a small goods yard for this purpose. The station building is now a private residence.

Above we are in the same position as the previous shot but looking along the trackbed towards Rubery.

Here we see the site of the most impressive structure on the Halesowen Railway: the 660 feet long, 100 feet high Dowery Dell trestle viaduct. As can be seen, the iron viaduct had long-since been scrapped although the stone abutments are visible either side of the bottom of the photograph.

 

 

The following photographs were taken of Langley Green station in 1993 by Bernard Shaw who kindly sent them to me and gave his permission for them to be displayed here. They show the station as it was before the old buildings were removed and replaced by the booking office in situ today and at a time when the GWR Oldbury extension was still in use, and controlled by a signal box, serving Albright and Wilson's chemical works at Oldbury.

 
Langley Green station booking office Langley Green station view towards Birmingham Langley Green station signal box Langley Green station signal box

In this shot we can see the now demolished booking office on Western Road perched above the Birmingham platform.

Again, here we see the booking office and also, through the footbridge, the signal box controlling the Oldbury branch and Rood End sidings just beyond the station.

Here we get a closer look at the signal box from Western Road with the Oldbury branch to the left off-camera.

This shot was taken on the Birmingham platform showing the signal box and the Oldbury branch heading-off to Albright and Wilson's chemical works to the left. Ahead are Rood End sidings: the station is now to our rear.

 
Langley Green station signal box interior Oldbury branch

This is an interesting and unique shot inside Langley Green signal box showing the array of levers required to control the junction and sidings.

Here we are standing at the end of the Birmingham platform with the signal box to our left looking along the now defunct Oldbury branch towards Albright and Wilson's chemical works.

 

 

Ray Durrant kindly sent me the following four photographs of Rushall Crossing on the South Staffordshire Railway's Walsall to Lichfield line that shed some light on what used to be at the site as I had not previously seen any shots of this part of the line. The photos were taken in 1984 and show all that remained of the railway some 75 years after the station had been demolished.

 
Rushall station crossing Rushall station crossing Rushall station crossing Rushall station crossing

In this shot, Ray was standing on the site of the old station looking to the level crossing and signal box on Station Road and beyond them towards Pelsall and Lichfield beyond.

This shot is taken from Station Road giving a great view of the box and barrier looking towards Walsall.

To get your bearings, the pitched roofing of the factory seen to the left of this shot and beyond the signal box in the first shot of the series can be discerned through the bushes on the right of the last photograph on the Rushall Station page.

A final shot of the now demolished box in a spot where you'd now be hard pressed to discern a railway had ever been.

 

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