| The railway came to Acocks Green in 1852, when the G.W.R.
opened
Acocks Green station for goods traffic. Passengers followed in 1853.
Acocks Green developed as a 'railway suburb', initially for wealthy business
people and those retiring to the country. The railway was originally going to be built by the Birmingham and Oxford Junction
Railway, but the Great Western took it over, and built it with mixed gauge
rails: i.e. including a third rail to accommodate Brunel's broad gauge
trains. The track width for broad gauge was seven feet. Brunel lost the
'Battle of the Gauges' and the third rail was removed by 1869.
A mile-long cutting had to be dug out to reach Acocks Green.
The first station had a couple of sheds, a man porter, a lad porter, two
signalmen and a station master. The signalman was obliged to walk along the
line to work the signals until around 1880. In 1878 the station had
been renamed Acocks Green and South Yardley.
Tyseley Station opened in 1906
as a junction station for the soon to come North Warwickshire line. Also in
1906, Acocks Green station was rebuilt and two lines became four as far as
Olton.
Mike Wood writes:
The wide track clearance between platform faces is a legacy from Broad Gauge
days. The construction works of 1906 involved widening the site, with the
left hand platform becoming an island with a new line passing behind it.
Likewise with the right hand platform, where a passenger line and a goods
loop were installed. New buildings were erected. The contractor was Mr H.
Lovatt of Clarence Street, Wolverhampton. The coloured postcard below shows
the work in progress. Muddy Lane's (Woodberry Walk, also known on old
postcards as Woodcock Lane, which used to go as far as the Avenue) brick
built bridge was replaced by them in accordance with the contract, although
it had originally been built with accommodation for four tracks (Bridge 125¾).
83 charges of tonite were placed in previously drilled holes in the
brickwork. Two hours occupation was allowed to protect the main line with
timbers, blow up the structure and clear the debris!
Tyseley engine shed was built around this time to
accommodate engines that could no longer be stored at Bordesley. A
carriage depot and a complex web of lines and points was created at Tyseley.
For a while, it was claimed to be one of the largest sheds in the country.
The North Warwickshire line opened for goods in 1907, and for passengers in
1908.
Spring Road was not built as a station, but as a
halt. It later became a 'platform', when it acquired a booking office. The
booking office was by the road, with the platform down in the cutting. Steam
railmotors and diesel railcars: carriages with engines incorporated rather than
separate, operated on the North Warwickshire Line. The diesel railcars
were used on an express service to Cardiff in the 1930s.
Steam gave way to diesel in the 1960s, and the station
buildings at Acocks Green were taken down in 1968. The goods loop, used both
for keeping wagons and passenger coaches, also went. Tyseley has one shed
now and a
Railway Museum.
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