On Thursday 9th September 2021 I attended the last day of the Railtex and Infrarail combined exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham, together with one of my friends from Bath who travelled independently by train.
Getting there
Once again, I took the first bus from Brewood to Wolverhampton at 07:30 and walked to the railway station. For a change, I decided to catch the 'local' to Birmingham New Street. The service currently then continues to Walsall (I described using this circuitous route to Walsall in the post Walsall by Rail). In recent years, platform 5, the bay platform 5 at the south end of the station on the Down side) is used by the terminating 'all stations' Electric Multiple Units along the Stour Valley line but, before electrification and then called 'Down Bay' I think, it wasn't very often used by passenger trains (but I've described catching one Diesel Multiple Unit from this bay during 1962 in the post here). As part of the station redevelopment which accompanied electrification, the end of this bay became a parcels sundries depot, which has now been demolished.
Wolverhampton Station: View from platform 5 showing stop signs, remains of the parcels sundries shed and, in the background, new station in black and orange
There weren't many passengers on the train when I boarded but by departure time at 08:22, the train was reasonably full and at each stop, more people boarded than alighted so we were quite full on arrival at Birmingham New Street. We stopped at Coseley, Tipton, and Dudleyport (all stations I regularly used 60 years ago when making unofficial visits to signal boxes as described in the postVisiting Signalboxes). Stops were then made at Sandwell and Dudley, Smethwick Galton Bridge and Smethwick Rolfe Street. Smethwick Galton Bridge is a relatively recent development, opened in 1995 to provide connections with the 'Jewellery Line'. Over the years, I've occasionally used all six stations between Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street. Currently, 25 minutes are allowed including stops.
I had expected us to arrive in platform 1 at New Street but discovered it was closed with engineering works on the platform being carried out so we used platform 2. I've complained previously about the confusion that can arise in attempting to change platforms using the stairs or escalators at the 'A' (southern) end of the platforms which seems to involve leaving through the ticket barriers and then coming back in again through another ticket barrier. I was amused to see that signs have now been erected recommending using the 'B' end when changing platforms. With plenty of time in hand, I decided to have another look at the adjacent Grand Central Shopping Centre to see if I liked it any better than on a visit in 2016 described here. I didn't, so I left the station to look at the Midland Metro Tram station in Stephenson Place.
This tram station hadn't been completed at the time of my 2016 visit, but was in use in 2019 when I attended the UKRRIN Annual Conference (described here). However, in September 2021 I was surprised to find the area dug-up again and piles of pre-cast sleepers around. It appeared that the service had been terminated at Bull Street whilst an urgent track relaying along Corporation Street to Stephenson Place was carried out, expected to be completed before Christmas 2021. No explanation was available about the reasons for such major works only five years after completion of build on this section.
Sleepers in Stephenson Place for track replacement (West Midland Metro)
I walked as far as the Town Hall before returning to the railway station along pedestrianised New Street then through the Arcade past the Macdonald Burlington Hotel. When this was still the Midland Hotel it had a decent, old-fashioned restaurant on the first floor overlooking New Street which I used to enjoy visiting for lunch occasionally. On platform 4, I joined a Cross Country 'Voyager' from Manchester, where I was joined by my friend for the 9-minute journey to Birmingham International station. Birmingham International is another relatively recent development, opened in 1976 to serve both the adjacent airport and the National Exhibition Centre.
The Venue
When I started my own business in 1966, all major trade shows were held in London at Olympia or Earl's Court, which were both showing their age. The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is one of the better ideas promoted by Birmingham City Council, in my opinion. The idea of a new exhibition location on a 'greenfield' site with good motorway, main-line railway and international air connections appealed to me. The first stage was opened in 1976 and expansion up to 1998 now offers 20 exhibition spaces of various sizes, including the multi-purpose indoor Arena which can be used for exhibitions or entertainment events. 'London-centric'-thinking made establishing the venue rather difficult. For instance, in 2000, the ExCeL exhibition and conference centre opened in London and its foreign owners have continued to develop that competing site. In 2014, Birmingham City Council sold the site which is currently owned by the Blackstone Group.
The Exhibition
'Railtex' and 'Infrarail' are two leading exhibitions in the UK aimed at the railway industry. Following the inability to stage this type of exhibition at all during 2020 because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the two exhibitions were combined under the banner of the 'UK Rail Hub'in 2021. The event was open 7th-9th September in Halls 11 and 12 of the NEC. 'Railtex' was billed as "the 15th international exhibition of railway equipment, systems and services" and 'Infrarail' as "the 13th international railway infrastructure exhibition".
Arriving at the show during the Age of Covid-19 provided a new experience. On the broad, covered overhead walkway connecting the railway station to the NEC, teams of security checked documentation relating to the Covid-19 status of visitors, who were then asked to wear a self-adhesive wrist-strap to confirm a satisfactory check.
On reaching the exhibition halls, registration was quick - I'd signed-up on-line previously and printed out the confirmation which included what used to be called a 'QR Code' (for quick response) but, with wider utilisation for all sorts of purposes, including railway ticketing, is also called a '2D Barcode'. There's an excellent article about these codes on Wikipedia here. A pleasant lady scanned my confirmation at a special pedestal at the entrance which immediately printed a card label which she attached to a lanyard and I was 'in'.
The show was useful but, perhaps understandably, seemed rather more subdued than previous, similar events I've been to. But I found it good that people were starting to meet face-to-face rather than by the dreaded 'Zoom' or 'Teams' video conferencing.
By mid-afternoon, my friend and I had achieved all we'd hoped and we walked back to Birmingham International station. The northbound train we caught was rather full so we stood in the coach vestibule to Birmingham New Street, where my friend had a change of train. The passengers thinned-out somewhat here so I found a seat to complete my journey back to Wolverhampton.
My local railway pictures
West Midland Railways.
