The harborne railway – Exploring Birmingham

I explore the harborne railway that goes all the way over to the BCN mainline covering history and cinematics a lovely area to Birmingham . The Harborne Railway was a short standard gauge railway line constructed for residential travel from the Harborne area into the centre of Birmingham, England. The line opened in 1874, and was worked by the London and North Western Railway.
In the 1920s and later it suffered from road bus service competition and it closed to passenger trains in 1934. A private siding connection had been made to Mitchells & Butlers Brewery, but the line closed completely in 1963.

harborne railway history
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harborne_Railway

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– midlands outdoors

But you can just see from where we starting from the Old Railway Bridge going all the way over to the other side I love the architecture though right underneath it how you’ve got that steel going all the way across you can imagine back in the old days when this Harbor

And Railway went all the way down and it also went over the BCM Main Line itself so when we get down to there I might actually go down to that section and go and show it you but here we are it says a sign there the harbor walkway so it

Takes you onto the railway track where we used to go and a nice little Valley going into the distance and it’ll bring you out to some more sections let’s go explore it but it’s really cool seeing that so there we go one more view of the Old Railway Bridge right away in front

Of me so here we are onto the Old Railway line itself you can just see a sign here saying Bur canals and that’s actually where we’re heading to right the way down to the bottom is the view from where we’re standing underneath I was just going to show you the old walls

Just onto the corner on the very top of the bridge we can imagine there’s lots of issue with this raway link in itself let’s go and check it out it does remind me of the South staffer Railway walk and that one also dates back much of it so I have got some information

About the harbor Railway itself it says the harbor Railway was a short standard Gorge Railway line constructed for the residential travel from harborne area into the city of Birmingham the line opened in 1874 and was worked by the London and Northwestern Railway as business developed an increasingly frequent

Passenger service was operated at its peak 30 trains each way daily so in the 1920s and later it suffered from Road bus service competition and it closed to passenger trains in 1934 while really does that back back a bit like the raway by me the hous and Railway section the

Daral when that closed so the line become less frequently used so they demolished the raway itself a private signing collection had been made to Mitchell’s and Butler’s Brewery but the line closed completely 1963 so it does mention here about something about a conception in 1866 Harbor was a distinct Community outside

Birmingham with a population of over 22,000 the harbor railw was planned to serve certain suburbs of Birmingham bringing the business of people from the well-to-do areas of lapo uh near hin and harbor however there was a major opposition to the lapo end of the scheme and the promoters cut back the scheme to

A route of just under two and a half miles the harbor Railway company got its Act of parliament on the 28th of June 1866 or’s Capital was 100,000 wow you see how much it was was back then and there’s lots of more information down

Onto here but I will drop a link in the description so if you’re interested in reading more information about the harbor and ra itself I am going to do two videos on this one with Adrian who’s got expertise and knowledge on the ra itself and today I’m going to go and

Explore it and show the route going all the way down so let’s get down the harborne railway and let’s go and explore It I’m going to have to say what a beautiful section of Birmingham this is how you’ve got all the trees if I just pan around to show you all the trees on the side going all the way down and what’s interesting about this raway walk is we got the little tunnels and bridges

Right way to the bottom and it does really remind me of the South staffer Railway walk and you’ll see what I mean in the little while but wow this is one place what I’ve not really explored and I wanted to come back to see it one more time and

When I do the second video we’ll cover more history about the place because Adrian’s got over books he’s got all the knowledge on the raway itself but you could just imagine what it was even used for passenger Services maybe Goods back in the days and all the lines I don’t

Know if they all linked up to all the sections like by me and where the darell section is cuz you imagine that one also dates really far back a bit when I covered the video on that one it was used to carry passengers and it went all

The way to the Austin Works in Longbridge so they really do Fascinate with train lines though because they’re different from normal walks because you could just Vision what the train really went through back in the old days and you can just definitely tell this was a train line because of the banks going

All the way down and you can see the banks on this corner some sections go really far down into a dip and I’ll show you what I mean in a little while but I tell you what it’s absolutely freezing today day you can just really see winter is really here

I’ve got my gloves on I’ve even got my big jacket on I was thinking about putting a hat on but I’ve got to wear a helmet because I’m on bik today for my safety going across all the roads in the CIO area it’s always safe to put your helmet on when riding

Bikes but we should be com up to some more little areas now and hopefully come into another tunnel section where the train went under many years ago [Applause] So right if I just carefully park my bike onto the corner I want to show you something very quickly what I was on about earlier how the line itself goes down in the steep valley so it does really remind me on the da D when you’re walking on the line

Itself what goes all the way to the top you can just see the little Valley going right way to the bottom just down to there it really amazes me though how some of these train lines when they went across they’re really high up and the banks go really steep down it’s not as

Steep on that corner but you can just see that little Valley to the bottom we’ve got a stream running all the way down I think that is actually called Chad Brook so right it is here’s a Google map section of where we are at the moment

You can just see Chad Brook that runs all the way through Harbor Nature Reserve itself so all the surrounding land you can see going right right to the back is the Nature Reserve so it’s also one point what I’ve never covered before and then just further behind me

Over that way there’s tons of allotments according to Google Maps so where we should be heading is even further than crossing under some bridges and tunnels wow I’m going to have to say where that Chad Brook is right away to the bottom that Valley going down the

Distance is really beautiful you can get down to there but I don’t think we’re going to cycle down to it if I pan around to show you you can just see we’re out the way down there so when I do come back with um Adrian we might

Actually cover down there and go show you close to the Chadbrook itself so here we are we’re at the first section for the harborne railway where one of the very old bridges crosses right way over so here we are you just imagine how far this really does Di back

It’s got all the original brick when the train used to run through it many years ago I just do love looking at old bridges like this because it does give you a sense of the old past and I know there is a few bridges down there what

Got filled in back in the old days and I will show you evidence that as I get closer to where the Birmingham Canal section is so I think we pass through a park and there is another one of these what got filled in with soil so there is

Only showing the top end of it but if I just carefully show you goes really tall up to the ceiling so it does remind me of some of these bridges on the south staffer Railway line you see right way to the top of the ceiling up to

There so you can just sort of get a little bit of a better view of the side of the walls here I mean how old they really are and there we go that’s the first Bridge what we’ passed right the way through pretty cool though so right let’s go and journey on

We’ve got more stuff to show you so we should be coming to some more of these and there is oneand that I’m going to pass in a little while which is a bit more longer than this and it’s much more darker the So wow this is it this is what Adam was tell me about in the last visit this little Valley going right away to the bottom is so beautiful and impressive he said he had something to show me when he took me down to here it really blow my

Mind because of the nature what’s suround here you can just seear the bird life at a moment into the distance wow there is something special about this this is why I wanted to come back it’s just a beautiful bike ride today to come all way through you know to start your day

Wow it does give me really good vibes of a rawi coming through here many years ago like I mentioned how you’ve got the valley how it splits off right the two parts really cool but you can just see what I mean the valley going right way through the

Cutting but I must say though when you’re look at it the banks going right way the top it must have took a good while to cut all the way through this Valley to go right to the bottom but you can just see it’s equal on both angles right away there and also

Right away there a really beautiful start to the winter period so relaxing I could spend hours listening to the wildlife it’s one of my favorite things really special so as we pass through the valley itself we’ve got another Bridge coming right way up so here we are this is the next one

Passing over way under and I find it’s pretty cool when you come underneath it dark under it you can just see it and this is what I was on about these old tunnels going underneath where the train come all the way through I just think it’s pretty cool you can just see

Where the bike lights coming to the floor I mean how this comes really narrow I don’t know whether this was actually here when the train was here I think this actually a modern part of it but I think the original part was all the way here then the constructed this

Part going all the way through you just see how old the ceilings really are sh haven’t got much touch but if I get my phone out quickly you can just see this right away to the top of the ceiling well I mean check out that it’s really so old

But I don’t know it is making me wonder how old this really is is this actually a modern part of the tunnel itself but if we come back to the old section check out all this you can see how old the walls are lead North way

Down and then from this angle you can see from this area here so I’m glad to say it’s pretty cool to see this this is one of the things that I wanted to show you on the Harbor Railway you can just really sense when the train used to come all the way

Through here pretty dark and this is what I mentioned one of the darkest tunnels going all the way down let’s go and journey further down the harbor rwi walk itself and let’s go and see what other things we can actually do discover Hey So I think if I remember I might be wrong we got a bridge here when it comes past a little park and it comes out to another section so we’re not too far away now from the Birmingham canals themselves so this one’s quite cool the one we’re passing under right now it’s

Not a big one but you can just see the architecture and design of it right away in front but here we are here’s the next one right away Above This is actually one that’s actually similar to the bottom what got filled in many years ago but

You just see the design of it right the way there how old it really is and then the first one what I showed you earlier is actually similar to this one you see it’s not that uh wide all together it’s not that big but you can just see the dark

Corners at the top of when the line was actually used back in the old days but I’m going to have to say it’s pretty cool to series what I’m going to do now is get the old Ordinance survey Maps up and actually show you the railway line

Itself from the very old view but we can just see here it says L and NWR Harbor Branch what leads all the way through we’ve got houses on either side on that section and also that section there so some of the hous is around here really

Do date back and you can just see all the way across we’ve got some more stuff right way back down there and something called Summerfield Park which I think is right right down to the distance at the bottom oh I was actually wrong check out this there is actually another Railway

Bridge I thought that was the last one but there’s actually one more I must say what I find cool about this one is this section here going all the way down how we got a little bit of a pool forming and then just right away in front we’ve got another raway Bridge

Sort of similar to the last one but it’s actually a little bit more longer so I’m not going to stop and film this one but I pass right away underneath it but you can just see the design one more time it’s all similar design Bridges going all the way through

But you just see this one is a bit more longer and then one more time what I find cool when the railway was even here you can just see we’ve got all the yard rocks what go all the way through especially on that side there lead North way down

Now I’m actually wrong again there’s actually another raway Bridge just before we get into the park here we go you see this one’s really cool if I to stop to show you so know this bridge here what goes all the way across is different designed

To the other ones because if we look at the architecture going all the way across zooming in you can see the sty of the bricks going that way those are actually different patterns compared to the other ones and what I have noticed noticed underneath here I guess it could

Be really old if I zoom in there’s some very OD wire sticking all way under that angle and then from there the train would have gone all the way through where the Park section is over to the other side and then over to the Birmingham Canal section over the main

Line so I am guessing there’s probably a lot of history beyond the park what we’re going to pass through right now so we’ll have a quick look before we get to the buron canal so we’ll see what more stuff we can see but you can see passed

Under some gates right away there the tunnel and then into the beautiful part now which stretches all the way around so here we are from the sections from where we covered now into some open area you can see the park stretches all the way around the back but I’m going to

Stop here and tell you more about it in a little second so here we are the section what you can see all the way around us right away now five pan around all this is called Summerfield Park stretching right away to the back and it says here Birmingham Town Council

Initially brought six act Acres of his parland to create Summerfield Park in 1876 the house itself was demolished some 10 years later and a band stand built on the site it says there added to the park in 1890 the city’s first bonfire Carnival was held here in 1960

Attended by 255,000 people the park was extended in 1981 by the addition of the walkway along the former Harbor Railway but you can just see from where I come from all the way from the bottom where the harbor Railway starts and where we are going all the way now is past the

Old Harbor Railway section what went over the canal line so there is a bits and pieces what have been lost but I’ll go and show you where they’re actually Located So just on of that angle there I will show you in a second the train used to go underneath there because I filled it with soil under there they know to the other side where that very old school is onto the corner so you can just see the last

Sections of the harborne Railway so it used to stretch all way from that angle there from where we come from all way from the park then many years ago all this was the St deep down under the ground so it used to go straight under

There old photo on for you now so you can just see it and then from this angle you can just see the top of the raway bridge right away here it’s a shame I filled it in but I heard there was numerous like vandalism and several

Things so the counter had to fill this in but there’s the bottom area of it right away there lead North way up very OD brick but I’m going have to say it’s really cool to see this but there’s evidence more of the harbor Railway the Lost sections of

It and here we are on the final section on the Birmingham Canal Mainline where the harborne railway crossed over the canal itself and went to the other side Just Right Way in the middle of the Birmingham Canal you can just see the brick going right way to the Top This is

Actually the support for the bridge itself going over the canal and the railway used to come from right away above me from over there and over on to this section here then on to the other side so once more it’s really cool to see this and to show you the final

Section before we end the video just zooming in we can just see some little things there some very old like Loops coming out of w metal this make wonder the harbor raway was there two sections leading from one side to the other but you can just see there so that might

Have been another section going right right to this corner and then another section from there really don’t know so it’d be cool to know how many train sections were on this bridge itself going all the way to the other side of the canal there we go I’ve really enjoyed

Showing you the harbor and ra walk coming all the way from Celio down the paths and to end at the Birmington Canal itself so I’ve got a nice little journey home now so I’m going to go all the way down the mainline head all the way through neverton tunnel and back home so

It’s been absolutely fantastic but one more view of the old bridge support going all the way over and I will come back with Adrian and we’ll cover more history of the harborne Railway but thank you very much for watching I hope you’ve enjoyed it and showing your new

Fantastic route going all the way through to the Birmingham sections itself see you soon for Mid Outdoors out