Jewellery Quarter station opened in 1995, along with the Hawthorns and Smethwick Galton Bridge,
on what was named the 'Jewellery Line', opened with the intention of creating "a third cross city line linking the
lines to Worcester and Hereford with those to Stratford-upon-Avon and Leamington Spa" according to Centro.
The Midland Metro stop was added with the opening of that system in 1999 utilising the old Snow Hill
to Wolverhampton line as far as Preistfield. The station occupies
a spot which once housed some of the Hockley goods facilities and is a hundred yards or so away from the site
of the old Hockley station proper which, along with the old goods facilities, is dealt with on its own page.
Above we see the entrance building to the station which, along with the rest of its construction, is somewhat
of a scaled-down Smethwick Galton Bridge in design. The station is a joint light/heavy rail
stop sitting as it does on the Leamington-Kidderminster (via Snow Hill) line and on line 1 of the
Midland Metro.
Above-left we are standing on the Leamington platform looking across at the
Kidderminster platform and beyond it can still clearly be seen some remains from the days when this
site was home to part of the extensive Hockley goods facilities. Above-right we are in the same
spot but this time looking along the rather uninspiring platforms towards Soho, Benson Road. The Metro
platforms are to the right of this shot.
Above-left we have moved over to the Metro side of the station and are standing on
the Wolverhampton platform looking back towards the tunnel as T69 tramcar 08 pulls away to pass
under Vyse Street en-route to Snow Hill. Above-right we are in the same spot but this time looking
towards Wolverhampton and in the distance, the site of the old GWR Hockley passenger station.
Above-left is a shot also from the Wolverhampton platform looking-up at the station
structure - the entrance building is at the top of the raised section on the right-hand
side. Above-right we have moved back to the Leamington platform to take a better look at the
Kidderminster platform and the arrangement of structures above. This position also provides a good
angle to see into the Vyse Street tunnel after which a succession of 'tunnels' (wide bridges in reality)
lead the Metro line into St Paul's Metro stop and the main line into Snow Hill. As far as Metro stops go, this is
by far the most interesting I have found which, of course, is due to the main line rail serving the site
leading to the provision of a quality structure.
