Perry Barr Station

[PaternosterRow]

Perry Barr Station opened for traffic on the 4^th July 1837 and initially served the Grand Junction Railway that linked Birmingham with Manchester. The GJR, forerunner of the LNWR and today’s WCML, beat the London to Birmingham line by year to become the world’s first long distance, inter-city route. This makes Perry Barr one the oldest operational stations on record. It was also my local station as a lad and I spent many a happy hour on the platforms watching the trains go by. The layout has been set in the corporate period and the trains range from those of the mid sixties to the early eighties.

 

The LNWR took over operation of the line in 1846. The station platforms and buildings were substantially rebuilt under their ownership. It remained largely unchanged until the early sixties when the original Victorian arched road bridge was replaced with the concrete structure seen today. This was done to accommodate the widening of the main A34 (Birmingham to Walsall Road).

 

The station was electrified in around 1966 and formed part of a link in the then new WCML. As part of the Chase Line (Birmingham to Rugeley route), the station served freight and local traffic. However, mainline trains would sometimes be diverted via Perry Barr when maintenance work was carried out on the Wolverhampton to Birmingham Line.

 

The layout is a fairly standard eight by two foot affair with some compromises. For example, the track (Code 75) bends the opposite way to that of the prototype. This was done to suit my requirements as the layout will form part of a run around scheme I have planned for my loft space. Also, the blue brick bridge on the left is a lot nearer to the station than the one found at the real location. This was simply done to provide a convenient scenic break at this end. The factory is also an invention as the station originally bordered Lynton Square Shopping Centre and the original site of the dog track stadium during the period set. These couldn’t be seen at platform level plus the land graded away quite rapidly from the station embankment on that side. The factory was therefore placed there to remind the viewer that the station was on the outskirts of an industrial city setting. The overhead gantries are all hand made out of simple galvanised wire that has been soldered together in a series of jigs. Colin Graig’s superb insulators have been used to lend a bit of authenticity. The station, overbridge and platform buildings have been faithfully copied from the superb picture taken by Steve Jones in 1978.

 

The original entrance during the LNWR - sourced from the Warwickshire Railways site.

 

Map of the line between Perry Barr and Witton Stations - sourced from the Warwickshire Railways site.

 

Building of the concrete overbridge in the early sixties - sourced from the Warwickshire Railways site.

 

Picture taken in 1978 by Steve Jones. The layout was copied from this picture.

 

Hornby Class 86 in early executive livery hauling a rake of Bachmann MK1 coaches.

 

A Southern Pride Class 304 EMU in corporate livery

 

A Bachmann Class 25 hauling a short freight

 

Bachmann Class 85 in early electric blue livery hauling some Bachmann MK1 coaches

 

Hornby Class 86 hauling some Hornby Freightliner flats. Note the cross arm pantograph - this was made from nylon bristles from a brush (got into a lot of trouble from SWMO for that!)

 

Hornby Class 86 hauling a post train

 

No WCML scheme would be complete without a Hoover - this is a detailed Lima model

 

A detailed Lima Class 31 - one of my favorite locos

Edited September 25, 2018 by PaternosterRow

[wombatofludham]

Utterly brilliant.  Four years a student at the Poly commuting in by train from relatives in Walsall has left me with a bit of a soft spot for a hard, brutal station and your model captures the essence and feel of the place.  You get a sense of connection and recognition even within the relatively confined space and modifications of the model.  

 

I'm in awe.

[doodaa]

Utterly brilliant.  Four years a student at the Poly commuting in by train from relatives in Walsall has left me with a bit of a soft spot for a hard, brutal station and your model captures the essence and feel of the place.  You get a sense of connection and recognition even within the relatively confined space and modifications of the model.  

 

I'm in awe.

Another Ex Brum poly Student that spend the first year commuting from Five Ways to Perry Barr, studied Engineering in A Block most of the time so may have got better grades if I did not spend the time looking out the window

 

Great layout captures the station as I remember it almost, while I was there the station building caught fire and One Stop shopping center was built

 

Steve

[TheSignalEngineer]

Brilliant. I worked around there several times in the late 1960s/ early 1970s.

[PaternosterRow]

Hi Mark, Steve and The Signal Engineer,

 

Thanks for the kind comments. It’s great to here from people who were familiar with the place. I have vague memories of the UCE being built. I spent a lot of time as a lad exploring Lyndon Square shopping center, Perry Hall Park etc. The locals hated the One Stop when it was first built in the late eighties. However, it was an instant success and nobody can explain why the old shopping center failed so miserably. Yet it was, in my opinion, a much more friendly and architecturally beautiful environment. The station, of course, was the most exciting place of them all!

 

Mike

Edited September 25, 2018 by PaternosterRow

[Pete Harvey]

Very nice very well thought out uncomplicated well detailed layout of an unusual for gotten station.  

[Covkid]

Great work "Paternoster row",

I wish I had a pound for every journey I made through there from 1980, and your recreation is very very reminiscent.

You have also got the rolling stock right,  apart from an AM10 and an AM12 obviously. 

Edited September 25, 2018 by Covkid

[scottystitch]

Yes, echoing all the above, outstanding work and instantly recognisable (from the photograph anyway, as I've never been there)

 

Thanks for sharing.

[TheSignalEngineer]

Yes, echoing all the above, outstanding work and instantly recognisable (from the photograph anyway.......

I did a double take looking at some of the photos on my phone. Without reading the captions I mistook one of the models for a real one until I realised that the signal was different.