Birmingham GWR Railway Wartime Control Centre Bunker - June 2024

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Joined
Jul 27, 2020
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Not a bad find. The bunker is situated underneath one of the Central Stations.

The bunker was built in WW2 with 2m thick concrete walls. It has a entrance and emergency escape both fitted with gas proof blast doors, a what would have been a ventilation plant room and main room next door which im guessing would have once housed telephone equipment.

GWR had many of these type of bunkers built across the region with only a few remaining.

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What a wartime railway control bunker looked like during WW2.

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Gas tight door
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Original ventilation ducting
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Original sign in the Plant Room.
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Plant room ventilation
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Thank you, I never knew about those bunkers though I think one of the lads that came on here might have stumbled on the one at Reading or at least something similar
 
You say "Not a bad find. The bunker is situated underneath one of the Central Stations". At the time, Snow Hill was the main GWR station in Birmingham. Are you able to say how close the bunker is to the present Snow Hill station which, presumably, is close to the site of the original GWR one?
 
You say "Not a bad find. The bunker is situated underneath one of the Central Stations". At the time, Snow Hill was the main GWR station in Birmingham. Are you able to say how close the bunker is to the present Snow Hill station which, presumably, is close to the site of the original GWR one?
Basically underneath the Platforms area at the present Snow Hill Station.
 
My guess the bricked up escape exit would have come out somewhere on platform 3 but could be wrong.

While the other entrance comes out in the arches beneath the present Snow Hill Station platforms.
 
Basically underneath the Platforms area at the present Snow Hill Station.
Thanks a lot for that information. Not much left in the way of equipment, but the photos certainly show the strength of the whole structure. The Great Western Society at Didcot - and other original GWR enthusiasts - would be interested in seeing your photos.
 
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