Stood
outside Grand Junction box, my father took this picture looking towards
the city centre a few weeks after the one above. The lines to the
left were originally the Midland lines to Bristol. Those on the
right were the L&NWR lines to Coventry.
Paul provided this
cracking modern view. He commented:
"The picture is a few feet lower than the original, since the box went
with the first remodelling of the area in the early 1960's, only to be
remodelled again in 1999 as part of the Proofhouse Junction
improvements (?). Fortunately the second rebuild resulted in a nice
high overhead line structure base being put in, in exactly the same
position as the signal box.
As you can see, track rationalisation & electrification are the
biggest change on the railway along with multi aspect signalling, but
the changes to the Birmingham City Centre skyline are just as big.
The bridge in the background was also rebuilt in 1999 & carries the
Vauxhall lines to Duddeston Station and onto Aston South Junction. The
new bridge is narrower the the one it replaced as the railway no longer
needs access to the old Curzon Street sidings."
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