Spring Road (platform) railway station
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Spring Road is a small railway station in the Acocks Green area of Birmingham, England. It is situated on the Birmingham to Stratford Line, between Tyseley and Hall Green stations. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by London Midland.
The station was opened in 1908 as a halt named Spring Road Platform to ease traffic from the station at Tyseley, and to serve a cluster of cottages on the nearby land, which were owned until 1925 by the landowner at Fox Hollies Hall, Zaccheus Walker IV. The station consisted of two platforms with shelters, with ramps leading from street level to the station below. Passengers had to purchase their tickets on the train.
The station served as a request stop for the railmotor excursions throughout the years before the First World War, with Acocks Green building up around it. Zaccheus Walker IV, who was a well-respected philanthropist in the area, used the station for school trips (paid for by him personally) to the countryside and Stratford upon Avon.
At the end of the Second World War, a factory consisting of two buildings was built alongside the station, belonging to Lucas. The larger of the two known as BW3 and BW4 were later sold to Magneti Marelli in the early 1990s, before passing into the hands of Denso in 2003. The smaller BW5 stayed in the hands of Lucas as part of Lucas Aerospace. Lucas was bought out by TRW in 1998, BW5 has been in the hands of Goodrich since October 2002 When TRW sold off all their Aerospace businesses.
In the 1950s, a permanent ticket-office was placed at the top of the ramp leading to Platform 1 (towards Birmingham). An older shelter at the top of this ramp built after the Second World War was converted into a toolshed, which it is used as today.
Workers at the factory first used the station to travel to and from work, which kept the station open during the era of the Beeching Axe, but traffic became less with the appearance of the private car.Reproduced with the kind permission of The Lens of Sutton Association.
