Duddeston is a stop on the Cross-City North Line between Birmingham New Street and Aston, and also the Walsall Line between New Street and Witton. It is Birmingham's oldest railway station.
West Midlands Railway 323 205 stands at Duddeston
Information
Type:
National Rail (Cross-City Line & Walsall Line)
Station code:
DUD
Opened:
1837
Platforms:
2
Duddeston was opened by the Grand Junction Railway as 1837 as Vauxhall and was the terminus of the line from the North (and thus Birmingham's first railway terminus) for 2 years until the opening of Birmingham Curzon Street.
After the opening of Curzon Street, Duddeston (still known as Vauxhall) closed to passenger services, being used for freight only until it was rebuilt by the London & North Western Railway in 1869. In 1889 it was renamed to Vauxhall & Duddeston. The final renaming to Duddeston came in 1974 [1]. The station has suffered destruction a number of times. The station was hit by a German bomb in 1941 which destroyed the main station building. The replacement building burned down in the 1950s!
Duddeston used to be adjacent to the Grand Junction Railway's engine shed (which opened in 1840) and a sizeable goods yard though these have now gone. The lines through the station were quadrupled in 1891 though only one island platform is in use now (the other has become a buddleia plantation!)
As part of the Cross-City and Walsall Lines, the route through Duddeston has been electrified. However, not all of the services on these busy lines stop at Duddeston. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway.
Station entrance
View down the platform
The other platform, the old engine sheds beyond
WMR and London Northwestern Railway meet
LNWR 350 127 prepares to depart
[1] Vic Mitchell, North of Birmingham (Middleton Press, 2014) fig. 75
