Tag: Old Station

May 9th – I went to Leicester today. This involved catching a train from Platform 12 at New Street. Platform 12 is rapidly becoming the platform nine and three quarters of the New Street, new start project. It’s the bête noire of the whole place – hard to get to by lift and without yet any of the benefits of the rebuild. To get to it using lifts involves a complicated route that would challenge Mario the plumber, but main access is from the still open old access bridge, which feels oddly end-of-days now. The advertising hoardings have gone, sections of false ceiling are missing and huge hanks of data cable hang in the exposed rafters. It’s grubby, dark, and people move cautiously and quickly past boarded up doorways, sheets of polythene and purposeful technicians in hi-viz.

Oddly, the cafes are still open here, due to the new units not being ready in the revamped side, but the pub is stripped. There’s lots of noise here, the death rattle of a once bustling place, being changed forever.

December 1st -Darlaston is full of odd little corners. Often architecturally stunning, as I’ve previously noted, this villagey little Black Country town is also peppered with delightful green spaces of various sizes. The site of the former railway station, close to the centre of town, is now known as Victoria Park, and still maintains the profile of a cutting.This wonderful stretch of greenery is a quiet spot crossed by a lovely wooden bridge. The walkway beneath also extends under the busy Walsall Road, providing a safe underpass for pedestrians.