Blog post from 19.05.10. There is relevance for current students to refer back to. Read below...

As part of BSA Events, some students are looking at Duddeston Viaduct to image a new public space in the dense industrial district of Digbeth, without the obvious NY High Line comparisons.

The 58 arches of the Bordesley Viaduct are a major landmark of Digbeth and Deritend. Built in 1852 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, this Grade II Listed viaduct carries the Birmingham & Oxford Railway across the Rea Valley. The Bordesley Viaduct is then joined by the Duddeston Viaduct which was built in 1846 to link the Oxford and London lines with the new station being built at New Street. However, when the Great Western Railway bought the Oxford line in 1848 and Snow Hill Station was opened, access to New Street was no longer needed and work on the almost completed Duddeston Viaduct was abandoned. Only a small part of the line near Bordesley Station was ever used and that as cattle sidings which still remain high above Upper Trinity Street. Some arches over roads have been demolished but most remains.

According to Dr Peter Leather from the University of Birmingham, prior to 1846 the lines from Birmingham to London Euston, to the south, and Manchester and Liverpool, to the north, were controlled by two separate companies. Although, in theory, collaborators, they were constantly manoeuvring for the upper hand. One piece of subterfuge was an attempt to encourage a rival line from London Paddington via Oxford (a route that was eventually taken over by the GWR) – but this backfired.

The move was a ploy to force a merger which promptly came about. However, the Great Western Railway, which had been drawn in as a bargaining counter, decided to adopt a positive role. It took up the offer (hastily withdrawn, but still on record) and received parliamentary permission for a route from Oxford to Birmingham, a cross-city tunnel, a new station at Snow Hill and a further line to Wolverhampton. The, now, merged company – the London and North Western Railway – strove long and hard to buy off what was essentially its own creation. Anything which hinted at an attempt to gain access to New Street was opposed. But, the original and now bitterly regretted offer had included access to a station at Curzon Street on the LNWR line into New Street.

In order to pursue this link, the GWR built what is known as the Duddeston Viaduct, leaving its main line at Bordesley and heading for Curzon Street. The LNWR held its ground at the property boundary and the link was never completed. The viaduct has never been used but remains to this day.
Text courtesy of Jony Easterby