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Soho and Winson Green Station
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Brief overview of Soho and Winson Green Station
Soho & Winson Green Station opened on the Birmingham,
Wolverhampton and Dudley Railway’s mixed gauge line as Soho station on
14th November 1854. This intermediate station was a simple two road station
without a goods yard. It should have opened in August, but a 63 foot long
wrought iron tubular bridge over Winson turnpike to the west of Soho station
collapsed the day after the Board of Trade inspection. The railway had been
purchased by the Great Western Railway in 1846, but the engineer responsible
for construction was John Robinson McClean of the South Staffordshire Railway.
After examining all the bridges on the line, a further five bridges were
condemned and had to be replaced or strengthened. In common with all lines
north of Oxford, the third rails on the mixed gauge track, which allowed broad
gauge operation were removed at the end of March 1869.
In May 1893 the station name was changed to Soho &
Winson Green to reflect the growing importance of the expanding adjacent
suburbs and at the same time a single goods siding was added. In December 1909
the lines between Handsworth Junction and the west end of Soho & Winson
Green station were quadrupled and a temporary signal box built at the west end
of the station. Prior to this, the line between Birmingham Snow Hill and
Hockley had also been quadrupled. The missing section between Soho & Winson
Green and Hockley was quadrupled on 9th June 1912 and the station completely
remodelled and rebuilt at this date. A goods yard was constructed at the west
end of the station and a new replacement signal box built at the east end of
the station. There were now two pairs of lines (main and relief) from Snow Hill
to Handsworth Junction. At the same time a fifth line was installed between
Hockley and Soho & Winson Green as a Down goods line. In 1933 a sixth
(pilot) line was introduced as part of the work associated with the
construction of the enlarged Goods Depot and warehouse at Soho & Winson
Green.
On 14th June 1965 the station name was changed to Winson
Green. This followed the closure of the Stour Valley line station of this name.
In 1966 British Railways proposed withdrawal of passenger services from the
Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton Line and all the stations on the route
(including Winson Green), but the line was retained following objections, By
March 1967 the writing was on the wall again and in August 1968 the up and down
main lines of the quadrupled section were taken out of use. Finally in November
1971 the line between Birmingham and Wolverhampton finally lost its passenger
service and Winson Green station closed. At the same time the goods depot also
closed. The signal box was closed the following year.
Robert Ferris
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Extract from Great Western Magazine: Volume 51, No 5, May
1939
Containers and their Control
Robert Ferris has also transcribed another article from the
Great Western Magazine focusing upon Soho and Winson Green.
It is found that despite decreased general carryings of
merchandise in recent months, the number of loaded containers forwarded has
shown an increase on the corresponding periods of last year. A record total of
2,003 was reached for the week ended march 25 to be surpassed in the following
week, when 2,116 containers were despatched. An outstanding example occurred
during that week, when a special train conveying 33 container loads of
bedsteads and mattresses was despatched on Saturday , April 1, from Soho &
Winson Green station to Skegness. This contract had been secured by a
well-known Birmingham firm for a holiday camp at Skegness, to replace beds
destroyed in a fire. Special arrangements were made with the London & North
Eastern Company for delivery of the traffic and return of the stock, and the
empty containers were exchanged back to the Great Western Railway on Tuesday
morning, April 4.
The supply of containers is regulated by the container
control section in the Chief Goods Manager's development office at Paddington,
where a card record is maintained of the movements of every container. An
individual ‘container card’ of a different colour for each type of
container, is kept for every unit, and on this is recorded the date of
forwarding and destination for each journey, loaded or empty. This information
is supplied by the district offices. The central feature of the control is a
large board, divided into sections corresponding to the areas controlled by the
district managers. Each section of the board is provided with four hooks on
which the record cards of containers at stations in the particular districts
are hung, each hook representing a day in transit. Upon an advice being
received from the district office that a container has been despatched, the
card for that particular container is endorsed with details of the movement and
placed on the first peg of the district in which the destination station is
situated. On the following day the card is transferred to the second peg, and
on the third day to the third peg, and so on. This enables the control clerk to
see at a glance how many containers of each type are in each district and how
long they have been there.
If necessary pressure can be applied to prevent any undue
detention, while at the same time the number of empty containers supplied for
loading can be kept to the minimum consistent with requirements. Day by day all
the district offices state their requirements for the next day, and indicate
the spare stock on hand at stations in their respective districts. Orders are
then given for disposal of the spares, and empty haulage is kept down to a
minimum conditional upon prompt supply of stock to meet demands. It is no
unusual feature for one container to make three loaded journeys in a week. A
close watch is kept on the number of stock off the Great Western system to
avoid undue delay in the return of Great Western containers. The result of this
individual control of stock is that all demands can be promptly met, despite
the wide variety of container types operated, as the whereabouts of particular
containers, including those fitted for special traffic, are always known.
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Views of Soho and Winson Green station
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Views of Soho and Winson Green Goods Yard and
Warehouse
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Locomotives and trains seen at Soho and Winson Green
station
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