LMS Route: Birmingham West Suburban Railway

Church Road Station: mrchrd871

View of Church Road's Midland Railway down home station from Birmingham Central Goods. Bob Essery in Part Two of his series 'DJ Norton's pictorial survey of Railways in the West Midlands' states that the signal attracted a lot of of attention because the platform was supported by decorative ironwork which included the outline of a 'wyvern'¹. This was originally the crest of the Leicester & Swannington Railway, which was absorbed by the Midland Railway on 27th July 1946 at which point the wyvern was adopted as the Midland Railway's crest. Usually seen portrayed in cast iron or stone work and even in luggage racks, it was in Bob's opinion unusual for it to be seen incorporated on signals.

¹. A legendary winged reptilian creature with a dragon's head, the hindquarters of a snake or lizard with two legs or none, and a barbed tail. The wyvern was often found in mediaeval heraldry.

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