LMS Route: The Birmingham West Suburban Railway

Mick Bramich writes "The best place for me to watch the coming and goings on the old Midland route to the south west, was near the laundry at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. A short cycle ride in the evening or at the weekend, or even better, during school holidays, brought me into contact with all sorts of ‘foreigners’. Leeds based Jubilees, B1’s and A3’s (very scarce), Robinson 2-8-0’s from the Eastern region, the last of the unrebuilt Patriots from the north west plus a host of local motive power from Saltley and Bournville.

Double headers were not uncommon and many of the trains stopped at suburban stations such as Selly Oak, Bournville and Kings Norton prior to running non-stop to Gloucester and then on to Cardiff, Bristol or Bath. I caught a train in about 1964 at Selly Oak to visit Barry and the famous scrap yard of Dai Woodham. I don't recall ever seeing diesels on this route. I suppose the powers that were let the old Midland carry on in their time honoured way."

Select a station or subheading to view associated images. Numbers in [brackets] specify the number of photos on each page.

		Birmingham New Street [160]
		Five Ways [6]
		Granville Street [0] [Photos Wanted]
		Central Goods [5] [Photos Wanted]
		Church Road [0] [Photos Wanted]
		Somerset Road [4] [Photos Wanted]
		Selly Oak [2] [Photos Wanted]
		Cadbury Wharf [Photos Wanted]
		Bournville :
		Station [10]
		Shed [39]
		Kings Norton
		Station [42]
		Lineside Photographs [95