MidlandRed.net

The attached photograph shows the manufacturing company stencilled letters
revealed on platform 1 canopy; this may be significant as the company re-organised in 1935 by dropping the (1926) part of the Ltd name, making me wonder if the removal of the glass roof and installation of the replacement canopies took quite a while to achieve. The history website above gives the completion date as 1938, but the information on platform 1 suggests a start may have been in 1935 perhaps, or even earlier. On the other hand, the steel fabricator may have been using an old stencil, but it is strange that the (1926) title doesn’t appear on the platform 2 steelwork - only the later 1935 company name. In addition, I have been slow in taking a shot of the inner part of the passenger overbridge which has been painted white with black and grey sides. Remedied as below;

Sadly, since the last report the script has been covered with undercoat and white paint and probably won't see the light of day for another 80 years.

Apologies for not mentioning this some time ago, but, in late August 2024, Murphy's contractors put spray paint on Shrub Hill platform one adjacent to the West Midland Railways crew reporting office door. It showed the point where an emergency staircase is to begin for the refurbished goods over-bridge and was to have been assembled at the same time as new lifts were installed to enable disabled and less able passengers to cross over to platform two instead of using the horrible barrow crossing escorted by a qualified member of the platform staff. On the other side of the bridge another emergency staircase has been earmarked to exit to the north of the bridge on platform two. All this was promised faithfully to the Cotswold Line Promotion Group Chairman by the agencies concerned to begin in November 2024, but as yet nothing has happened except that Murphys have removed all their gear stored on platform two and taken the Portacabins away from the car park adjacent to the refurbished Motorail shack at south end of platform one, in other words they have pulled out. Work is now rumoured to start in March, but on past performance I'm wondering in which year!