Martyn's Blog

On a cloudy Monday morning, 13th May 2024, I ticked off another station on the Cross-City Line list by visiting Selly Oak, between Bournville and University. I also checked out the new station buildings at University station, which finally opened on 28th January 2024 after lengthy delays.

There were no lengthy delays for my train direct from Burton on Trent to University. For the first time on my hundreds of trips from Burton, I was stopped by a fare enforcement officer who checked my ticket. They were stopping everyone, not just targeting me. I arrived at University, just a couple of minutes late.

University station was opened in 1978 as part of the creation of the then-new Cross-City Line. It consists of two platforms and is fully staffed. The new buildings are spacious and bright, with plenty of space compared to the old entrance, which still exists. I am not sure what will happen to it now that the new one has opened. The station was built to serve the University of Birmingham, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Birmingham Women’s Hospital. It is the seventh-busiest station in the West Midlands transport area, serving around four million passengers a year in pre-pandemic times, which has fallen to just over two and a half million in the most recent figures in 2023. It was originally designed to cater for 700,000 passengers per year, hence the rebuilding.

I had a quick look at a statue in the grounds of the University, before heading off to a footpath which runs alongside Bourn Brook.

The Faraday Statue commemorates the scientist Michael Faraday, who discovered electromagnetic induction. The bronze sculpture was installed in the year 2000 and was designed by the artist Eduardo Paolozzi. It forms part of a larger public sculpture trail through the grounds of the University. The carved rock is on the pathway which runs alongside the Bourn Brook, and is one of at least two similar rocks which I passed on the short walk to the main road. The path actually continues for many more miles, towards Halesowen in the west of Birmingham.

I walked up the main road to the entrance to Selly Oak Park, a large public park opened 125 years ago in April 1899. The land was donated by Thomas Gibbins and his wife Emma (who was a member of the famous Cadbury confectionary family), and their four sons who owned the Birmingham Battery and Metal Company. The park is home to various wild animals, including bats and woodpeckers. There are also a clutch of sculptures dotted around the park.

Most of the original park features, such as a bandstand, shelter and pavilion were all demolished in the 20th century. The park does have play equipment, sports fields and is host to an annual festival.

Around a fifteen minute walk from the park is the local parish church, St Mary’s. It was built in 1860 and consecrated the following year. The church is often featured in the BBC One daytime drama serial Doctors, which is filmed just down the road at the BBC Drama Village.

I had to head back to the railway station, and so I walked to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, which runs alongside the railway line.

Within the last few years, the area close to Selly Oak railway station has been transformed, with a huge student halls building being constructed, alongside a new Sainsburys supermarket, and the area alongside the canal has been done up with paving and new pathways.

The Selly Oak pumping station pictured above was built in 1878 to house a steam engine which pumped water for domestic use from its opening until the 1920s. It was designed to resemble a French Gothic Royal Chapel. The station is now owned by an electricity company and is used as an electricity sub-station.

Close to the pumping station is the town’s former library, opened in 1905 and closed in 2018. It was Grade II listed in 2011, but is now looking quite derelict.

Across the main road from the library, and up a side road, is one of the entrances to Selly Oak railway station.

The original Selly Oak station was opened in April 1876 by the Midland Railway on their Birmingham West Suburban Railway branch line. It became part of the Cross-City Line in 1978, whereupon it was rebuilt in the style of most of the other stations on the line. It has had a facelift recently, with new lifts being installed for step-free access, as well as expansion of the car park, making it a “park and ride” station. I caught the next train to University, having just missed one on arrival. Trains are quite frequent from Selly Oak to University, every ten minutes or so during the day. I rode on one of the new Class 730 trains which recently entered service on the line.

My train back to Burton on Trent arrived just behind the train I alighted from at University, and I made the forty minute trip back up the road to Burton on Trent. That’s it for this post, and almost it for the Cross-City Line, with just two more stations to visit. Thanks for reading.