Historic city station reopens

The station provides a historic gateway to the new shopping area

The golden age of the Great Western Railway returns to Birmingham this weekend with the reopening of Moor Street Station after an £11m makeover.

The station - first opened in 1909 - has been restored to how it looked at its best in the 1930s.

The Birmingham Alliance, the regeneration partnership responsible for the Bullring complex, has overseen the transformation of the Grade II listed station.

The Edwardian building had lain derelict since 1986.

It has been refurbished in the style of a 1930s railway station with brickwork, colouring, signage, fixtures and fittings chosen to reflect this era.

The original entrance gates and central pillar from the old Snow Hill Station have been used in the design and the restored wrought iron booking hall entrance from Snow Hill forms a focal point for the station entrance.

The refurbishment includes shops and plans for a wine bar.

Steam locomotives

The wine bar, designed to complement the existing building, incorporates the listed building frontage from the former parcels office, which was saved for this purpose when the rest of the building was demolished.

Platform signs and seating have been designed to replicate the originals and the concourse will be lit using reproduction GWR lamps

The refurbished station will eventually be connected to the mainline network and provide a Birmingham terminal station for Chiltern Railways for trains from London Marylebone that will travel along the former GWR route.

Moor Street is also being equipped with traditional watering facilities for use by steam locomotives.

An original water crane will be returned near to its original position at the end of Platform 2 and a water tank has been built and erected with the assistance of Tyseley Locomotive Works.

It is hoped that the Shakespeare Express steam service will run on the route from Moor Street to Stratford-upon-Avon, offering shoppers and tourists the chance to take a nostalgic express steam train to Birmingham.