Birmingham New Street PSB

[08221]

The end of an era.....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-64007383

 

['CHARD]

Happily, NR has said it plans to continue using the Grade 2 listed building for training and the accommodation of other teams including track workers.

[SZ]

I believe that space used to be a turntable, hard to imagine what use that space would have now.

[melmerby]

10 minutes ago, SZ said:

I believe that space used to be a turntable, hard to imagine what use that space would have now.

Indeed it was:

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwrbns_str1310a.htm

[Michael Hodgson]

3 hours ago, SZ said:

I believe that space used to be a turntable, hard to imagine what use that space would have now.

It would be a good place to put some stables when electricity gets so expensive that we have to upgrade to horse-drawn trains.

[JeffP]

14 hours ago, melmerby said:

Indeed it was:

https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwrbns_str1310a.htm

Reminds me of the lovely model of BNS that used to be on here by Jim Snowdon.

His portrayal of the lamp room fascinated me.

[melmerby]

19 minutes ago, JeffP said:

His portrayal of the lamp room fascinated me.

IIRC That relic of the LNWR was still there long after the 1960s station rebuild and only vanished (fairly) recently.

Maybe one of the railway chaps on here has more info?

 

 

[Oldddudders]

2 hours ago, JeffP said:

Reminds me of the lovely model of BNS that used to be on here by Jim Snowdon.

Jim Smith-Wright?

[JeffP]

That was the guy.

Very talented, from locos to wagons to buildings to trackwork to ohle to scenery...even a 4mm scale coke can!

I wish he was still about.

[Oldddudders]

4 minutes ago, JeffP said:

That was the guy.

Very talented, from locos to wagons to buildings to trackwork to ohle to scenery...even a 4mm scale coke can!

I wish he was still about.

Interestingly, I'm sure he said he wouldn't be too bothered if it was never finished - the construction phase was his real interest. That fits with a number of other RMwebbers who build splendid layouts, and then sell them on, so they have the space to start another.

 

I think I visited New Street panel with a party, circa 1967. Brian Webb was the Duty SM that day, and he and I shared an office 20 years later at NSE South Central.

[TheSignalEngineer]

1 hour ago, JeffP said:

That was the guy.

Very talented, from locos to wagons to buildings to trackwork to ohle to scenery...even a 4mm scale coke can!

I wish he was still about.

Jim Smith-Wright can be found here https://p4newstreet.com/

Edited December 24, 2022 by TheSignalEngineer

[franciswilliamwebb]

A couple from John Turner's excellent Flickr collection, showing the area pre-PSB very nicely.  Click on the images for more details:

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by franciswilliamwebb
Added second viewpoint

[TheSignalEngineer]

At about 1552 this afternoon the last ECS is due to leave the station for Tyseley. 

This was the TD display at the start of the last operational shift.

Edited December 24, 2022 by TheSignalEngineer

[TheSignalEngineer]

5 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

At about 1552 this afternoon the last ECS is due to leave the station for Tyseley. 

Although it may get a short reprieve as 1M68 was 38 late living Cheltenham

[TheSignalEngineer]

54 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

Although it may get a short reprieve as 1M68 was 38 late living Cheltenham

1M68 terminated at Bromsgrove and unit is now heading along the Camp Hill line bound for Tyseley Depot.

Wonder what they did with any passengers still on board?

 

A few stragglers have just been cleared to Barton-under-Needwood and Wolverhampton, so I think 1626 was the last departure. 

Edited December 24, 2022 by TheSignalEngineer

[Andrew Young]

Did they get the station reopened then? Heard they lost all track circuits between New St and Proof House just after lunchtime due to a cut cable. Did the contractors start early?

 

Some of my colleagues are heading back to their New St base in taxis. One of my colleagues got to Proof House then took his tin rockets back to Coventry and stabled them there!!

 

Bit of an ignominious and shambolic end. 

[TheSignalEngineer]

2 hours ago, Andrew Young said:

Heard they lost all track circuits between New St and Proof House just after lunchtime due to a cut cable.

 It looked at the end as if they were making it up as they went along. I don't know what had happened yet. 

The controls in New Street Interlocking took a lot of understanding due to the complex PWay and confined space. Organising blockages and disconnections required detailed knowledge of how it worked as some things were not obvious when looking at a schematic plan or the signalling panel. There were a lot of cases where you were allowed to get from A to B via different routes depending on what was already set, by selection buttons or sometimes preferred routing unless that one was already in use. In a couple of places I actually removed some of the alternatives in the early days due to operators tying themselves in a knot by granting possessions and isolations that meant although you could signal a route it couldn't be used by an electric train. If the driver took it te train would grind to a halt half way across the junction and the Jocko would have to push it onto live wiring. 

I expect all of that knowledge had disappeared over the years as those of us who had been on it since 1966 are long retired now and the fragmentisation since privatisation broke the learning cycle.

[Phil Parker]

5 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

 It looked at the end as if they were making it up as they went along. I don't know what had happened yet. 

 

Over enthusiastic contractor I'm told. 

[TheSignalEngineer]

So the end of an era. New Street was where I started my career when the box was only a few weeks old. The station reconstruction was still ongoing and not completed until 1967.

I was there when the last colour light signal was put up. My Grandfather was on the gang there at the time and had been involved in putting up the first colour light signal at New Street following a collision caused by misreading the old semaphores c1924.

[Andrew Young]

1 hour ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Over enthusiastic contractor I'm told. 

Reckon that’s their profit for the job gone with the delays and cancellations from today!

[melmerby]

The diagram on Railcam is showing different to the openrail one:

Openrail:

Railcam:

 

 

Just realised, the Openrail is also upside down! Silly me!

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by melmerby

[melmerby]

3 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

My Grandfather was on the gang there at the time and had been involved in putting up the first colour light signal at New Street following a collision caused by misreading the old semaphores c1924.

Which signal was that?

 

 

 

[Grovenor]

Reminder of the old days for me as well, spent a lot of my first year with BR on New St remodelling, doing changes to the interlocking in the old boxes, especially No. 5  for regular stageworks, every couple of weeks or so. It was a good learning experience!

[TheSignalEngineer]

2 hours ago, Grovenor said:

Reminder of the old days for me as well, spent a lot of my first year with BR on New St remodelling, doing changes to the interlocking in the old boxes, especially No. 5  for regular stageworks, every couple of weeks or so. It was a good learning experience!

My early years on BR were very similar but with the alterations for the closure of Snow Hill and then Saltley PSB either side of a year at Crewe Works and Pedley Street depot.

23 hours ago, melmerby said:

Which signal was that?

 

 

 

The signals on the Midland side, middle of platforms 7 and 8 were the first. There was a rear ender with several fatalities on what became Platform 7, No.4 Line as it was called in November 1921 when the accident occurred. The Inspecting Officer criticised the signalling arrangements and suggested colour lights, which were the hot topic with the IRSE at the time. 

[melmerby]

3 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

The signals on the Midland side, middle of platforms 7 and 8 were the first. There was a rear ender with several fatalities on what became Platform 7, No.4 Line as it was called in November 1921 when the accident occurred. The Inspecting Officer criticised the signalling arrangements and suggested colour lights, which were the hot topic with the IRSE at the time. 

I can only remember the MR platform end starters which IIRC were still mostly LQ semaphores until the 60s rebuild, the LNWR side had gained some stubby UQs to replace those lost due to bomb damage and the subsequent trainshed removal and replacement 'temporary' platform shelters.

 

The old New Street had character, even if it was very run down in the 50s.

When I was still a schoolboy I had a puncture on my bike whilst spotting in BNS and I was "trying" to repair it by the sidings at the end of platform 6.

The bobby in No.1 box took pity on me and took me and my bike into the box and repaired the puncture for me.