Duddeston railway station is situated in the

Duddeston Duddeston is an inner-city area of the Nechells ward of central Birmingham, England. It was part of the Birmingham Duddeston constituency until that ceased to exist in 1950. Etymology The name ''Duddeston'' comes from ''Dud's Town'', with Dud be ...

area of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England on the

Redditch Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...

Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the Birmingham station group, three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England, and a central hub of the Rail transport in the United Kingdom, British railway system. It is a ma ...

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...

Cross-City Line The Cross-City Line is a commuter rail line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs for from Redditch and Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, its two southern termini, to Lichfield, Staffordshire, its northern terminus, via Birmingham New Str ...

and the

Walsall line The Chase Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs from its southern terminus, Birmingham New Street, to Walsall, and then Rugeley in Staffordshire, where it joins the Trent Valley Line. The name of the lin ...

. Services on the Cross-City Line (and occasionally on the Walsall line) are usually operated by

Class 323 The British Rail Class 323 are electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger trains built by Hunslet Transportation Projects and Holec. All 43 units were built from 1992 through to 1995, although mock-ups and prototypes were built and tested in 1990 ...

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

s, while Class 350 electric multiple units are commonly used on services to and from Walsall.

History

Duddeston opened in 1837 as Vauxhall, the temporary Birmingham terminus of the

Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway. The line built by the company w ...

from

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

. When the permanent terminus at

Curzon Street Curzon Street is located within the Mayfair district of London. The street is located entirely within the W1J postcode district; the eastern end is north-east of Green Park underground station. It is within the City of Westminster, running ap ...

opened in 1839, Vauxhall became a goods-only station. An extract from an 1859 railway inspector's report into a minor collision reveals something of how the station was operated: The station was rebuilt and re-opened to passengers in 1869 under the

LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lond ...

and was renamed Vauxhall and Duddeston in 1889. In 1941 it was hit by a bomb during a night raid and was destroyed. It was rebuilt in a temporary fashion, and in the mid-1950s it caught fire and was subsequently rebuilt. The line through the station, to Walsall via

Perry Barr Perry Barr is a suburban area in north Birmingham, England. It is also the name of a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. Birmingham Perry Barr is also a parliamentary constituency; its Member of Parliament is Khalid Ma ...

, was electrified in 1966 as part of the London Midland Region's electrification programme. The actual energization of the line from Coventry to Walsall through Perry Barr took place on 15 August 1966. The station was renamed Duddeston on 6 May 1974. The entrance and ticket hall are over the tracks, on the Duddeston Mill Road bridge. The former

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

line to

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

is nearby. Adjacent are railway sheds that were once used for industrial purposes. They are now disused and the entrance has been blocked to prevent

trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding ...

ing. A shed on the opposite side of the station to the remaining sheds has been demolished and its site is wasteland. The station has two

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

s serving four tracks, but only one island platform remains in use; the other has fallen into disrepair. The remaining platform features artwork on black metal backgrounds.

Services

Two services in each direction stop every hour: * On the Cross-City Line, between Four Oaks and

, calling at all stations. * On the Walsall Line, between

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

and

, calling at all stations. A limited number of trains continue past Walsall to Hednesford or Rugeley Trent Valley. In 2011, London Midland proposed the closure of the ticket office. The request was denied.

References

External links

Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Duddeston Station
{{West Midlands railway stations, open Grand Junction Railway Railway stations in Birmingham, West Midlands DfT Category E stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1837 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1839 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1869 Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains 1869 establishments in England 1837 establishments in England