page_title: Birmingham Snow Hill railway station
section_title: Historic services
hierarchical_section_title: Birmingham Snow Hill railway station / History / Early history / Historic services
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the Booking Hall at Birmingham Snow Hill station in 1914.
context_page_description: Birmingham Snow Hill is a railway station in Birmingham City Centre, England. It is one of the three main city-centre stations in Birmingham along with Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Moor Street.
  Snow Hill was once the main station of the Great Western Railway in Birmingham, and at its height it rivalled New Street station, with competitive services to destinations including London Paddington, Wolverhampton Low Level, Birkenhead Woodside, Wales and South West England. The station has been rebuilt several times since the first station at Snow Hill; a temporary wooden structure, was opened in 1852; it was rebuilt as a permanent station in 1871, and then rebuilt again on a much grander scale during 1906–1912. The electrification of the main line from London to New Street in the 1960s saw New Street favoured over Snow Hill, which saw most of its services withdrawn in the late 1960s. This led to the station's eventual closure in 1972, and demolition five years later. After fifteen years of closure a new Snow Hill station, the present incarnation, was built; it reopened in 1987.
context_section_description: At its height, many trains that now run into New Street station ran into Snow Hill, along with some that no longer run. Services included:
  London Paddington – service transferred to New Street in 1967, and later abandoned altogether. The London service was restored in the early 1990s, but now to London Marylebone - making this Snow Hill's only long-distance service.
  Wolverhampton Low Level, and Dudley;– The branch from Snow Hill to Dudley was closed in 1964, and the service to Wolverhampton Low Level was one of the last to survive, ending in 1972. A Snow Hill-Wolverhampton service was resumed in 1999, when the Midland Metro tram line, which now runs along the former route to Wolverhampton was opened, although this does not serve the former Low Level station, instead leaving the former trackbed and running on-street to a terminus at Wolverhampton St George's.
  Birkenhead Woodside via Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury, Wrexham and Chester – this was on the old GWR route from London Paddington. British Railways ended this service before closing Snow Hill in 1967.
  Mid Wales via Shrewsbury;– these trains now run into New Street (although it is now possible to join a train to Smethwick Galton Bridge and change onto a Transport for Wales service to these destinations).
  Hereford via Stourbridge Junction and Worcester Foregate Street; - the Snow Hill-Worcester-Hereford services were diverted to New Street in 1967, in 1995 services were resumed between Snow Hill, Stourbridge and Worcester.
  Cardiff via Stratford upon Avon - In 1908 the North Warwickshire Line route via Stratford and Cheltenham Spa Malvern Road was opened, and became the principal GWR route between Birmingham and the South West and South Wales. A pioneering diesel railcar service with a buffet commenced running in July 1934 between Snow Hill and Cardiff, running non-stop through Stratford,  with only two stops at Gloucester and Newport. This was the first long-distance diesel express service in Britain. The railcar service ran until 1946, when it was replaced with a conventional steam service, which continued until it was diverted via New Street in 1962.
  Bristol Temple Meads, Exeter St Davids, Plymouth and Penzance via Stratford-upon-Avon – These services were diverted via New Street and Bromsgrove in 1962. British Railways later closed the line between Stratford and Cheltenham in 1976.
caption: The old station's arched glass booking hall in 1914.
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