|
| ||||||
BIRMINGHAM NEW STREET has a full description page to itself here. When you've viewed it, click the Back button that you'll find at top or bottom of the page to return here. For simple convenience, however, this is our main plan. We've labelled the east and west ends, but trains can go in almost any direction from either end - and when under pressure, they do!
Wheels: BM.
| ||||||
FIVE WAYS is just south of the Fiveways junction on Birmingham's Middleway ring road. The only parking is in local streets - and probably very difficult. However, there is a northbound bus stop right at the station door. Disabled access is provided, but using split lifts. A lift at the end of the ticket foyer goes down to train level for southbound passengers, and there is a path from there to the platform. An intermediate stop gives access to the flat covered overbridge, and to the second lift at the other side for trains to New Street and beyond. Both platforms have long open-faced shelters, and there is also an enclosed waiting room on the south side. Wheels: BR.
| ||||||
UNIVERSITY lies between Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the west side of Birmingham University's central campus. In addition to their clients, throngs of schoolchildren appear at appropriate times during the day. No parking facilities are offered, but lift access to both sides of the passenger overbridge is straightforward, and the ticket office is on the flat link between the street and the passenger overbridge. There is a small sweet shop on the northbound platform and both platforms have long open-faced shelters. Wheels: BR. [rev 11/2006]
| ||||||
SELLY OAK is on the east side of Bristol Road (A38), about 100 yards north of its junction with Harborne Lane. The nearer access, unnamed(?), has park and ride facilities and is on a level with the ticket office and the northbound platform. A few yards farther up Bristol Road is Heeley Road, which leads to additional park and ride spaces and ramp access up to the southbound platform. However, there is no level access between the southbound side and the ticket office - the only link is the passenger overbridge. Wheels: BR.
| ||||||
BOURNVILLE is right behind the Cadbury chocolate works. It has two approaches. The first is from Bournville Lane, which passes under the line and the adjacent canal. This is where you'll find the ticket office, but the platform access from there is a mix of ramps and stairs. The second access is from Mary Vale Road with wheel-friendly ramps going down either side from the road overbridge. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal runs closely parallel to the east side of the line, so the ramp on that side serves both, and you could conceivably cycle to the station along the towpath and put your bike on the train with you. Facilities on the platforms are limited, and the shelters are the long open-faced type. [Our thanks to a correspondent who kindly improved our original description.] Wheels: BR.
| ||||||
KINGS NORTON wears its history on its sleeve, with its old station boarded up at the south end, the middle platform stripped of buildings and out of use, and the old passenger overbridge just used to link the two bits of road butting up to the line. The new ticket office is on Pershore Road, close to the passenger overbridge at that end of the station, with a ramp down to the northbound platform. We did note a door near the foot of the steps on the southbound platform, but weren't sure of its purpose. We've recently been kindly informed that this does provide level access for wheelchair users. Open-faced shelters are provided. A lane immediately alongside the southbound side gives a one-way route to a park and ride area. This is guarded by road flaps to dissuade users from making wrong-way exits, so take care! Wheels: BR.
| ||||||
NORTHFIELD is perched high overhead when seen from Station Road, with a ramp up to the underpass, and enclosed stairs from there to the southbound platform level. But on the other side of the line, Quarry Lane gives access to modern park and ride facilities, short and reasonable ramps, the other end of the underpass, and the ticket office. The one oddity is that the stairs and ramp at the far side of the ticket office don't go directly into it, though you can reach the ticket office by going on to platform 1 first. As at Kings Norton, there is a middle platform out of use, and there is no access to platform 4 that doesn't involve those covered stairs. Wheels: BR.
| ||||||
LONGBRIDGE is on Longbridge Lane, just a quarter mile from the A38 and opposite one corner of the Longbridge car plant. It is laid out for four tracks as at the two stations before it, but there is no middle platform. The ticket office controls access to the ramp and stairs down to the southbound platform, and to the passenger overbridge link to the northbound side. There is a lift down to the northbound platform, but this is only available when staff are on duty. The platforms have open faced shelters. No station parking is offered. Wheels: BR.
| ||||||
BARNT GREEN'S rail approach from Birmingham is by embankment and a bridge over the B4120, and roads run along both sides of the line about half a mile from there to the station. On the eastern side, Hewell Road leads to the shopping street, and Station Approach turns up from there to a much larger parking area in 2007 than we recall from 2000, and easy access on to platform 4 (for Redditch). The other route, Fiery Hill Road, has a bus stop and short-term parking alongside platform 1 (northbound from Bromsgrove), but the ramp is up the road by a letter box, not at the entrance by the bus stop and overbridge as you might expect.
| ||||||
ALVECHURCH
| ||||||
REDDITCH was once a station along a route but nowadays operates as a single platform, single track terminus. The modern ticket office and waiting area can be accessed on the level, and although there are two steps down from there to the platform, there is a ramp alternative. A fairly large pay-and-display car park is right alongside with aggressive notices about paying.  Near to the station is an underpass and then stairs and ramp to buses and shops. If you come to the station by car, the Ringway is well-signed for the station and you use Access 7 to turn into the town centre and then drop down Bromsgrove Road to the small but signed access to the station parking. Local residents may know better routes, but outsiders should just follow the signs. Wheels: BR. [rev. 5/2008]The photo looks down on the station from the road bridge shown at the left of the plan as a diesel multiple-unit arrives to disgorge its passengers and collect a fair number for the return trip to Birmingham. | ||||||
BROMSGROVE is not in the town centre ("a large part of its downfall" said a resident) but slightly over a mile south-east, across the A38 to Aston Fields. In addition, the road signing is less obvious than it could be. The station is actually very close to the B4184. It's very basic with just a moderate amount of parking, no ticket office, and a bus shelter on each platform. The northbound platform by the parking area is easy access, but the southbound side can only be reached by the passenger overbridge. Wheels: BR. [rev 2007]
The photo looks south from St. Godwald's Road in 2007. The station area appears to have undergone some improvement since our earlier visit, but the facilities are essentially the same, and steps are still the only route to the southbound side. Most of the parking area can be seen on the right. There now appears to be electronic train information display there. A letter in the local press made a comment along the lines of "When we eventually get our new station" - but whether that was truly in the wind or just floating a hope, we cannot say. | ||||||
DROITWICH SPA station lies off the A38 at Union Lane. From there, there is a small amount of parking, plus Monday to Friday daytime (7.00am-7.00pm) use of the Salvation Army's adjacent car park. The access road then drops down to the ticket office, and the bottom end of the road is double-yellow-lined to protect dropping-off and turning room. The ticket office includes seating space, and further along the building is a small window selling sweets, etc. A bus shelter provides refuge and a few seats when the station building is closed. The Worcester side of the station is separately reached from the adjacent Acre Lane which crosses the line to a tee-junction, with the left stub going down alongside the station, giving parking on both sides of the road. This side provides two more modern bus shelters, and there is a passenger overbridge from the Birmingham side. Both platforms are accessible by wheelchairs and prams, although the low kerb outside the Worcester platform is liable to be blocked by parked cars. Northbound trains may also reach Birmingham via Kidderminster, Stourbridge and Smethwick Galton Bridge (on the Birmingham - Kidderminster - Snow Hill line). Click here to follow that route. Wheels: BW. [rev. 2007[
| ||||||
WORCESTER FOREGATE STREET The railway strides across the northern end
of the town centre on a GWR crested viaduct over Foregate Street. The station entrance is at ground level, and
there is also a travel centre. 48 steps take you up separate staircases to the two platforms above, and both have
lifts. The lifts came recently to an awkward site, so the one to the north-side platform had to be sited in a
little alley, reached from the main road. But it's there, it's signed, and it does the job. Platform 1 has a
cafe, there are waiting rooms, and most of the station is canopied for weather protection. Signs warn you that the two platforms are each bi-directional. Trains calling at Worcester Shrub Hill use one platform; those that don't will use the other. There is no official railway parking. Wheels: BW. As the two-level arrangement
was complex (ok - a pain!) to illustrate in a single sketch you have the unusual benefit of a second sketch to
show the street level arrangement. Click here for Worcester to Birmingham via Kidderminster Click here for Worcester to Hereford Click here for Worcester to Oxford | ||||||
WORCESTER SHRUB HILL does actually sit on a hill, with a sweeping road approach from the grander days of horse and carriage. It still has a grand frontage, but the approaches are now full of parked cars (pay and display). A short distance down from the station is a free car park. Within the station, there are more platform faces than are now used for public services - i.e. the two long platform faces, plus a stub siding at the southern end of platform 2. A passenger overbridge links the two sides of the station, while wheelchairs can cross using the goods lift and bridge (with staff help). There is plenty of shelter. Those who like early railway architecture will find a listed building on platform 2 in the shape of a small wall-tiled waiting room that looks like it was built in the 1840s. It is apparently scheduled for restoration, though the current financial situation may delay that. Wheels: BW. [rev 2007] Click here for Worcester to Oxford
Please note: the notes and sketches are intended only to give a general impression, and should not be relied upon for more than that. Dudley Mall accepts no liability for errors, but will correct any significant ones notified to us through dudleymall@dudleymall.co.uk or by post to Dudley Mall, 62 Gervase Drive, Dudley, West Midlands DY1 4AT. | ||||||
Copyright © 2007 Dudley Mall.
The Redditch branch separates from the Bromsgrove route here, curving sharply away and singling its twin tracks shortly afterwards. Platforms 2 and 3 sit in the wye, readily accessed by the passenger overbridge, but the only wheeled access seems to be from Hewell Lane, across the far end of the station. This is a ramp with long steps - a minor problem for prams, but no help for wheelchairs. There are bus shelters on the platforms, but no ticket office. Wheels: 1/4 2/3. [rev 5/2007]
