Notes: The Halesowen Railway (HR) opened on 10 September 1883 and, under an agreement made on 30 July 1872, it was maintained and operated by the Midland Railway (MR) and the Great Western Railway (GWR). On 29 July 1906 the Midland Railway Act was passed and the now-bankrupt HR was vested jointly in the MR and GWR.

In 1903 the Austin Motor Car Company opened a plant adjacent to the southern end of the Halesowen branch. The company rapidly expanded from employing 1,300 people to over 22,000 by 1918. The First World War played a large part in the rapid expansion as the factory concentrated on producing armaments for the war effort. By 1915 sidings had been laid to connect the factory to the branch and thence to the Bristol to Gloucester main line. Transport links to and from the factory were limited as the original Longbridge station on the main line had closed as far back as 1849. The MR took the initiative and constructed a station a short way up the branch and north of the A38. Sadly, even with extensive research, the design of the buildings remains a mystery. It is known that the station was provided with an island platform and an additional platform on the down side; canopies extended the full length of the platforms. A footbridge from the down platform to the island platform was provided and, latterly, a footbridge from the island platform directly into the works. Access to the station was from the A38 via a ramp onto the down platform.

During the late 1940s the A38 was widened and this work necessitated the construction of a new road bridge to the south of the platforms. Along with this work the original station buildings were demolished and replaced with a new two-storey brick building which was carried on a concrete raft, supported by stilts and spanning the up and down lines. Its design had a modest dignity, perhaps unexpectedly for an untimetabled station serving a factory. The austere ‘neo-Georgian’ style is reminiscent of schools and public buildings of the 1920s-‘30s; perhaps its designer was familiar with Welwyn Garden City’s centre and station. The steep hipped roof was surrounded by a low parapet, and the tall rectangular windows had 12 lights. The island platform was provided with two ridged canopies, without adornment, backed by screens to prevent access to them from trains calling at the down platform, which had its own slanting canopy. The single-faced down platform was reached by a ramp directly adjacent to the building. A corrugated iron hut where tickets were collected was positioned at the foot of the ramp.

Prior to the First World War passenger services were operated by the MR but had been reduced from the usual five trains in each direction as a wartime economy. Following cessation of hostilities the five-train schedule resumed but, owing to the reduction of the Austin Company workforce with the switch back to the manufacture of cars, passenger numbers decreased, and in April 1919 the MR withdrew the passenger service from Halesowen to Northfield. It was the GWR who recognised that there was still a limited demand by workers travelling to and from the Austin plant, and they introduced two daily morning trains from Old Hill to Longbridge, with two return workings in the evening; these services ran Monday-to-Friday. The MR provided workmen’s trains from Birmingham New Street to Longbridge which also ran Monday-to-Friday. With the outbreak of the Second World War the Austin plant resumed production of armaments and employee numbers once again grew. Both the LMS and the GWR continued to run their respective workmen’s trains to the station, but now seven days a week. Following the end of the war the service again settled down to two trains in each direction from Old Hill and Birmingham New Street run by the GWR and LMS respectively. These services were untimetabled although they ran on a regular basis and it was not unknown for members of the general public to travel on them.

When the railways were nationalised on 1 January 1948 the Halesowen Railway was allocated to British Railways (BR) Western Region, but in a boundary adjustment on 1 February 1958 it was transferred to London Midland Region administration. Private motor vehicle ownership rapidly expanded during the 1950s, and with demand for its train services declining BR announced that the workmen’s trains would be discontinued on 29 August 1958.  Representations from Birmingham City Council over the issue of the withdrawal had a limited effect, with the Birmingham New Street to Longbridge being retained temporarily. So, on 29 August 1958, the final Longbridge to Old Hill service departed, with the Birmingham New Street services finally ending on 2 January 1960. The council placated inconvenienced passengers with the assurance that there would be ‘improvements in bus services adequate to cover the
workers’ needs’. The station officially closed on 4 January 1960.
From the mid 1950s it was increasingly apparent that the line was in decline and this attracted the attention of enthusiasts’ railtours, with several travelling over the line. Several of the tours would call at the station although it was officially closed, and there are photographs showing people swarming all over the platforms and track.

Following the closure of the branch as a through route, the station area became part of the internal railway of British Leyland and then the Rover Group. The Midland Railway signal box was maintained by BR, latterly Railtrack and Network Rail, and this seemed to allow the station building to escape demolition although the platforms had been removed. The ticket/parcels office stood on the A38 until, following the demise of the Rover Group, it was finally demolished in around 2010 as the whole works area was redeveloped. Today just the concrete stilts and the raft that the building stood on remain, along with a short section of the single-faced down platform. The trackbed to the main line is now occupied by a linear park and as the redevelopment crosses to the opposite side of the A38 the station site will soon be swallowed up by it.

Tickets from Michael Stewart and route map by Alan Young.

Sources:

• A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain - Volume 7 The West Midlands - Rex Christiansen - David St John Thomas Publisher 1991
• A Century of Railways around Birmingham and the West Midlands - John Boynton - Mid England Books Publisher 1999
• Lost Lines Birmingham and the Black Country - Nigel Welbourn - Ian Allan Publishing 2002/2006
• Lost Railways of Birmingham & The West Midlands - Terry Moors - Countryside Books 2008
• Railway Passenger Station in Great Britain - A Chronology - Michael Quick - Railway & Canal Historical Society 2009

To see other stations an the Halesowen branch click on the station name:

Rubery , Hunnington, Halesowen, Coombes Holloway Halt & Old Hill

See also:

Longbridge 1st & Longbridge 3rd