One of my interests from the 1960s to the 1990s was observing and recording operations at busy centres on summer Saturdays, when the regular timetable was augmented by seasonal trains to and from holiday destinations. Many happy hours were spent at the likes of Derby, Preston, York and Reading. On 28th August 1965, towards the end of the season, I visited Birmingham Snow Hill. I think that this trip was prompted by the knowledge that Snow Hill station faced an uncertain future, following the completion of electrification from London Euston through Birmingham New Street in 1967. In addition, 1965 was likely to be the last year that any of the summer Saturday trains would be steam hauled. Making a day trip from my home in South Leicestershire, I was not on site until shortly after 10.00. This meant that I missed seeing the early holiday train departures, but I always found the performance of returning holiday trains – subject to delays from operating problems or ailing locomotives – to be of most interest.
The routes to Snow Hill
Snow Hill station was built to accommodate trains of the Oxford & Birmingham Railway and the Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Dudley Railway, after they failed to secure access to the London & North Western Railway's Curzon Street station. The viaduct built to take trains from Oxford towards Curzon Street, which was never used, stands to this day. The O&BR and BW&DR were taken over by the Great Western Railway on 31st August 1848 and the lines from Oxford and onwards to Wolverhampton opened on 1st October and 14th November 1854 respectively. The branch from Swan Village to Dudley followed on 1st September 1866.
The route from Stourbridge Junction to Handsworth Junction was opened in stages between 1863 and 1st April 1867, its completion allowing GWR trains from Kidderminster, Worcester and beyond to reach Snow Hill. To the south, the North Warwickshire line via Henley-in-Arden opened to passengers on 1st July1908 and the cut-off from Aynho Junction to Ashendon Junction via Bicester, shortening the route to London Paddington, on 1st July 1910.
Development of the station
Originally called Birmingham Station, its name was changed to Great Charles Street and then Livery Street. It was finally renamed Snow Hill in 1858, and the Great Western Hotel was added in 1863. In 1871 it was rebuilt and replaced with a permanent station having two through platforms, plus bays at the Wolverhampton end, covered by an arched roof. Access to the station was from the west side, in Livery Street. Trains from the south
