 Hello, thank you for joining me. I'm at a railway station today in Birmingham. We're at Smevitt-Galton Bridge It's a fairly modern station. It opened in 1995 when this section of line here Which goes that way to Birmingham Snow Hill was reopened. It was known as the jewellery line So this station has the sister stations of the Hawthorne's and jewellery court So it all built in a similar style. So perhaps one day I'll do a video on the jewellery line and those stations but today I've come to Show you Smevitt-Galton Bridge station and of course the bridge it takes its name from now as we go down here You start to see you can see there's sort of trees there. There's a bit of a gap. Then there's no trees if you look on this side You can sort of see we're actually up in the trees and the reason for that is because we are above the Birmingham Main Line canal not railway canal the canal is called the Birmingham Main Line There's a delayed train by the sounds of it and if we look through here There is the Galton Bridge, which is what we've come to have a look at it was a bridge built by Thomas Telford in 1829 so what we're going to do we're going to go out the railway station and we're going to go and have We obviously can't use the lifts but that doesn't matter Okay, so the lifts aren't working that's um, yeah, so you can see there's the lifts there What we need to do is obviously get out the station now down below us are the platforms on the other railway line Which passes through this station the railway line which runs between Birmingham and Wolverhampton So when we get up and out the station, I'll be able to show you where that is so as we go up the steps This way so I'll just tell you a bit about why they open this station You've got two railway lines which cross here and there wasn't a railway station But there was Smithic Rolf Street, which is still open and there was Smithic West, which is no longer open So the idea was of creating this station. You could create a nice interchange Effectively of a high and low level. So that's the high level platforms where we've just come from The low level platforms are just down there and they run parallel with the Birmingham Main line canal. So the way out of the station is that way. I'm just gonna quickly show you the low level platforms just so you can see exactly what I'm talking about and So we've come over the bridge now that's the high level platforms down now I'll just if I can show you through here. So if you look through the window You can see That's not a great view, but there's the low level platforms So that is on the line from Birmingham New Street to Wolverhampton So what used to happen was before the jewellery line was opened trains That's what the high level platforms now serve beyond here to Stourbridge Would have come out of Birmingham New Street and they'd have stopped at Smithic West So there's a spur of track, which is still there. So I'm gonna show you in a moment and Sounds exciting heard a very High-pitched horn. Maybe it wasn't a train So From here, so these are the high level platforms The junction is just the other side of that bridge So we're gonna go and have a look at that in a moment once we're out the station And then of course we will go and see the Galton Bridge So the yeah, just doing a video for you to have a look it's called Henry's Adventures Local wondering what I'm doing. So as we come out here, no ticket barriers have my ticket ready I've got a West Midlands Day Ranger, which is a brilliant ticket You can travel all around the West Midlands without having to worry, you know, and just travel all day really It's very good value. So back to the Other station so I'm gonna take you across the road The line we've just come on goes under there We'll show you where the junction is and West Smithic West is so underneath the road here There's a spur and that connects the two lines So what I want to know if anyone can tell me are there any passenger trains at all that use this spur because if there is I Would love to go on one because it's a bit of track. I'm done. So as soon as we get across this section of road I'll be able to show you the bit of track which as far as I'm aware No passenger trains currently use. It's got weights across the road now. There we go So as we come over here Looking directly below us You can see this section of track. There's a mile post down. It's number four So we must be four miles from Birmingham New Street and up there is the junction the Smithic West was just round there So we'll just keep the camera going while I go around here. I'm gonna walk to where Smithic West Station was it is a little bit of a way by road not far But I'll probably pause the camera in a moment and run around there and show you In fact, I Well the camera will pick it up. I think I can see where it is and it was a rather amusing blunder when they opened Smithic Golden Bridge with closing Smithic West. So Smithic West was supposed to close in 1995 but they made the administrative blunder and They couldn't legally close it. So the station stayed open for another year, but only one train a week stopped there So you probably at one point could get on the train there and Get off the train. I can actually see the old waiting shelters are still there might be hard to see But just beyond the junction the platforms are still there. You can pretty just see the platform You could get on the train from there And get off here that must be a journey of what maybe 200 yards, what do you want the shortest journeys possible on Network Rail So I'm gonna take you for a walk along here We're gonna see what we can see of The station from above also from walking along this path here By the way, I've never actually been down here before so I'm discovering it as I show it to you There is the junction So I want to know that bit of track over there. I don't have any passenger trains I don't think there are but I might be wrong. So if someone knows then please do comment and tell me and I'll have to come and get another Like I said another West Midlands Day Ranger It's getting a bit wet this one because of today's weather get another West Midlands Day Ranger and do that bit of track Or maybe I'll just um buy a ticket from Smithic Rd Street Which is further down that way so you can just see the tunnel now over there on the other side of the tunnel There's a junction with the low-level lines which pass through Smithic Gautam Bridge now So we come up to here. I don't know if this was the main entrance to station But look at this it's um you can see a path perhaps this was the main entrance looking down here If you have a look The way outside is still there. There's still some station signs. I didn't expect that I was expecting to see platforms, but I was not Expecting like a full abandoned intact station. I know the Ticket office was demolished, which I believe was on the road up here Just let you see through the Palisade fence. I appreciate it's not the best for you But and what I do I will take some pictures and post them on the Facebook page So you'd be able to have a better look, but that is quite cool. The fact we've got a whole abandoned station area I've got a good view there. You can see the abandoned shelter. There's a way outside even some of the platform lights are still intact They're not actually switched on but it's quite interesting to see how it's just been Abandoned like that and left intact I'd love to have come on one of those trains though to make things even funnier. It's actually a train stop there now It must be waiting at a signal. I'm not sure what the reason for holding a train there is But the station that we've come to see which is closed currently has a train stopped at it Let's have a look. So there we are Trains still stop at Smith at West just that you cannot get on or off Pity really because I could have walked down there jumped on it and had a lift back So I'm not sure why that stopped there. I think where we're coming to now It's possibly where the ticket office would have been there's a road just across here There's the the train the class 172 which has Stopped at the former Smith at West station. We're coming to here. There's a road here and The train is departing now. I think if someone could confirm this I think the station building possibly was here somewhere, but I don't know entirely that train is now departing So if we're quick we might just see The train disappeared. Okay You see that There goes a train departing the abandoned Smithic West station now if we just have a look here I think the ticket office must have been either there or There I can just see there's a path going down. You can see the old abandoned station path Can you see that just down there running down to the platforms and there's some more lights still intact Well, I'm gonna do now. I'm gonna walk back to Smithic Gaulton bridge and we're gonna go and see the Gaulton bridge, which I bought you here to see coming to look at this Was just an added bonus really so I'm gonna run over back to the station now So I've come back to Smithic Gaulton bridge station Which had our little trip to the abandoned Smithic West station now. Let's go and see the Gaulton bridge itself There are a cool sculpture there, which looks like it's got a model of the Gaulton bridge on top So let's go over and under the Gaulton bridge So the Gaulton bridge was built in 1829 by Thomas Telford It when it was built it was the largest Single span bridge in the world. It really is once you're on it You realize how big it is and it was named after One the company's shareholders Samuel Gaulton hence Gaulton, so that's what it's called the Gaulton bridge And if you look down there, this is the other railway line What currently has the low-level platforms lines out of New Street? And if we go over here We get a much better view of this end of the low-level platforms and you can see the station So you can see it's currently trained on the high-level bridge below it is the low-level platforms and We're now crossing the Gaulton bridge itself So it takes us over the railway, so I assume the bridge must have been here first and then they put the railway in Second and then I assume that rail came third Obviously it would have been Open to all road traffic once but now it's purely pedestrianized as a train departing What on what's known as the jewellery line towards Birmingham Snow Hill and probably beyond probably going to Dorwich You can see how high up we are above the canal It's yeah, quite exciting Now if we have a look on this side There's something else a bit more modern. There's Gaulton tunnel down there So my aim is to take you down to Gaulton tunnel We're gonna have a look and that tunnel I said is modern It was built basically to put a road interchange above the canal and the railway So there's a modern railway tunnel and on the other side the modern railway tunnel is the other junction with the line Which trains would have taken to through Smithic West so we get here. There's a canal cycle way one day I'm just gonna hire a bike I think and just have you know a month off work I'm just gonna cycle around all the canals of Birmingham or maybe hire a boat one or the other So it says the new mainline canal now before we go down to have a look We'll show you something else just to show you how Exciting this area is for canals. So we walk through this industrial part of Birmingham As I said, that's the new mainline canal, but there's also the old mainline canal By the way, where we started the video see this bridge here. That's the railway We would have been just the other side of that fence when I started on the platforms So I'm just gonna show you the old mainline canal And then we're gonna go and have a look at the new mainline canal probably about a mile in that direction There is a junction where the two join. I'm not gonna do that today That's a bit far. It's not the best of weathers, but from this bridge We get fairly good view There's the old mainline canal and of course the railway line which takes you to Snow Hill on this side It's some clotted trees. So can't see a lot Can't see anything They must have made a cut and cover tunnel because look there's nothing down there I didn't know about that, but they must have like I said when they Built that road that roundabout there where they've had to create a new tunnel on The on the canal and the railway. They've also had to create one here But it looks like that bridge becomes the northern portal to the tunnel. So I hadn't planned to but Since we're here, let's just go down to the old mainline canal and let's have a look at and inspect this tunnel I won't take you through it and if I had a bit longer, I'd walk the mile down to the junction But like I said, I think that's for another day So here we are Here is what appears to be a bridge that's ended up becoming a tunnel It's very muddy down. I haven't really got the right footwear for doing too much muddy walks along canals today Middle, this was more meant to be more of an urban walk, but Hello Train coming And we'll see that in a moment. Yes as we come down here. Look you can see how So that's you called the summit bridge and there is the modern summit tunnel So it starts just inside the bridge. So there is a little bit of daylight shown above the bridge So that's the summit tunnel and then this is known as the summit railway bridge So it's quite cool down here in between a bridge and a tunnel quite like it So just let you have a look at the tunnel the bridge summit bridge and some tunnel and now Let's go to the back to the Gulf and bridge. I've been over it course. We really should go under it Once we've gone up all these steps on this second little unplanned excursion But Birmingham lies as any brummy will tell you Birmingham has more canals than Venice Which is true. The reason being is Venice has a lot of canals in a small area Birmingham has a lot of miles of canals covering a much wider area. So that is the reason How Birmingham comes to have more canals than Venice We're now coming back up and out Go back to the Gulf and bridge now. We're gonna go under it and we're gonna have a look at the the other new tunnel Funny, but this industrial state stuck here between two canals Give you a view over the Gulf and bridge Now let's go down and underneath the Gulf and bridge There's a train on the railway line over there Class 350 So, yeah, it's quite a good place for coming and seeing trains if you were to You know hire a boat or cycle around the canals of Birmingham. You see plenty of trains as well So the path goes down here has a hairpin bend and takes us right down to underneath the gulf and bridge So where the actual hairpin been there is that's above the modern tunnel some cyclists They're just cycling into the tunnel and there's the bridge be quite good They could cut these trees down. I should say that arson men were chainsaws down there And then that would reveal the bridge in all its glory Might get it's actually man up in the tree. It's like I might be getting my wish here. I think they are actually cutting down those trees Hang on here. You can see How big and how high up the gulf and bridges and this This is the top of the modern tunnel. There's actually man up in the tree as we come down here There's the gulf and bridge and you can see another train that's move it go from bridge station Having a look at the railway bridge, you can see how they've had to put the platforms On as like an extension to the bridge because when the bridge was built wasn't ever probably designed to How's a railway station? It was designed just to be a bridge So you can see how they've put the concrete platforms on to the bridge. We're now Directly below the gulf and bridge Pretty large You can hear the train departing so we've now walked under the bridge That's called some epic station bridge. So one day we're perhaps called well up there Well, I want to finish the video By taking you through the modern tunnel. So really in this video It's been a bit of old railways bit of modern railways bit of old canal bridges and a bit of modern canal tunnels Bit of everything canal and railway. We just need a barge to come along now That would complete everything. So this is the gulf and tunnel I'm just gonna let you see the the bridge behind us quite like it down here It's quite nice some peaceful away from the the noise of all the streets above. There's the tunnel There's the winding path would just come down. Let's go into the tunnel It's not too long. Like I said, it is a modern tunnel. So You know, it was built just to take the canal under the roadway I feel like we've got to finish the video on the other side of the tunnel and we get there I know you can't see much of me. I'm just going to pause the camera now and I'll kind of talk a minute. You can actually see me rather than just see the ghostly silhouette of me So we are just coming to the other end of the tunnel quite echoey. Here we are this is the end of the gulf and tunnel the modern gulf and tunnel There's a Half going up there that probably take me back to the station