Granville Street railway station

Granville Street railway station was a railway station in Birmingham, England. It was the original terminus of the Midland Railway's Birmingham West Suburban Railway (BWSR).

Granville Street
Trackbed of the disused spur line near the site of the former station, over the cutting of the replacement line
General information
Location	Birmingham, Birmingham England
Coordinates	52.474594°N 1.908859°W / 52.474594; -1.908859
Grid reference	SP062862
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Birmingham West Suburban Railway
Pre-grouping	Midland Railway
Key dates
1876	Opened[1]
1885	Closed[1]

History

The station operated between 1876 and 1885. Although no known photographs of the station survive, it was described as having a single platform, with wooden buildings and a run around loop.^[2]

The original intended terminus for the BWSR was to have been at a station called Suffolk Street, which would have been to the north of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and closer to the centre of Birmingham, reached by a viaduct crossing the canal. As the promoters were unable to raise the funds to build the viaduct, the terminus was cut back to Granville Street station to the south of the canal.^[3]

It was an isolated terminus, on the edge of the city-centre, with no connection to the rest of the railway network, and so the Midland Railway (which had taken over the BWSR) decided to extend the line into New Street station, double the track, and integrate the BWSR into their wider network. As Granville Street was at a higher elevation than New Street, a new line had to be constructed alongside at a lower level, through deep brick lined cuttings and several tunnels,^[4] once this was complete, the station became redundant and closed. Most traces of the station were removed by 1887 when the now spur line was extended via a tunnel under the canal to create Central Goods railway station, much of the trackbed of this former spur is still visible.^[3]

Station masters

• H. Scobie 1876 - 1877^[5]
• Edward Upstone 1877 - 1880
• Charles Angell 1880 - 1883 (formerly station master at Church Road)
• John Edward Hemmings 1884^[6] - 1885 (afterwards station master at Five Ways)

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Terminus Line closed, station closed		Midland Railway Birmingham West Suburban Railway		Church Road Line closed, station closed

References

1. "Granville Street Station". Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
2. "Granville Street Station". Warwickshire Railways. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
3. Boynton 1993, pp. 21–27.
4. Doherty, Andy (14 March 2009). "Granville St – Birmingham's Lost Rail Terminus". Birmingham Roundabout. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
5. "1871-1879 Coaching". Midland Railway Operating Traffic and Coaching Departments. 491/1024: 766. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
6. "1881-1898 Coaching". Midland Railway Operating Traffic and Coaching Departments. 491/1024: 328. Retrieved 27 March 2020.

• Boynton, John (1993). Rails Across The City, The Story of The Birmingham Cross City Line. Kidderminster: Mid England Books. ISBN 0-9522248-0-1.