On the surface the ramps towards the western end of New Street were used for transport ing mail andother services between platforms. If you ever visited the stat ion when BRUTE trolley’s were in use youcould often see trains of them appearing from the gloom. Its one of the reasons that the more common 3wheeled Lansing Bagnall TOER platform tugs lost out to the more heavy duty Reliance Mercury types asdepicted above. However the story goes a bit further than that in that there was (is) quite a subterraneanunderground system under the city centre. From the platforms of New Street mail could get direct ly tothe mailbox w ithout ever seeing daylight via quite a substant ial tunnel. Occasionally this is opened to thepublic and more can be seen here

What is Anchor?

As kids we all thought the ramps led to a top secret nuclear bunker and that ’s not actually all that far fromthe truth as there is indeed a hardened facility under Birmingham, built in the event of an atomic attack.Its one of 3 during the 1950′s, designed to house and shield communicat ion systems from a Hiroshimasized atomic weapon exploding nearby (although it would never have survived a direct hit). It was calledAnchor after the hallmark of Birmingham’s Assay Office. The other bunkers were Guardian in Manchesterand Kingsway in London. Anchor is the largest of the 3. There is a rumour of a 4th facility under Glasgowbut no evidence that it ever existed has ever come to light.

It was built under the cover story of Birmingham’s underground railway system and cost £4 million pounds.The public were later told that the underground system was not viable and had been abandoned butAnchor was completed in September 1957 and was soon automatically handling 250,000 calls a day. Themain site is located underneath the BT tower on Newall Street. The construct ion site entrance for Anchorwas located opposite Moor Street stat ion and later became public underpass.

The main tunnel at Anchor was roughly the same size and shape as those used on the Londonunderground and went out to Hill Street and then to Essex Street passing under New Street stat ion. It isnot clear if the anchor tunnels and the Post office tunnels are actually linked together but some ex postalworkers have stated that they could get from New Street to the other post office at the top of hill streetvia the tunnels. It is also claimed that the mysterious heavy duty and strangely small, door that was part ofthe LNWR stables building at the end of platform 1 was also linked to a tunnel that took you to Hill Street.

Anchor had its own water supply in the form of a 300 ft deep well under the site as well as the obvious airfilt rat ion systems but it was only ever designed to keep communicat ions running and not as the site of thesalvat ion of the Brummy masses, the idea of some huge facility that can house the populat ion at the endof the world, anywhere in the world is probably nothing more than Hollywood myth and w ishfull thinking.Indeed the air systems were as much to keep the air cooled machines running as anything else. The mainentrance was via a lift at the back of Telephone house (between Fleet street and Lionel Street) and theentrance was protected w ith blast doors.

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Anchor was only ever put on full alert during the Cuban missile crisis and was officially declassified in the late1960′s w ith various members of the press being allowed to visit the site.

Such was the pace of Nuclear weapon development that all 3 exchanges were obsolete before they wereeven completed but Anchor cont inued to remain operat ional unt il the late 1980′s. Its is now, reportedly,abandoned and suffers regular flooding from Birmingham’s rising water table (the result of the decline ofheavy industry in the area)

So whats left?

The main site is st ill there unless the recent closing of the underpasses was a cover for somehow removingit or filling it in, unlikely givent the t imescales. There is st ill some evidence of its existence above ground.

On the left one of the vent ilat ion shafts which can be seen from the A38. On the right a mysterious butvery secure looking BT doorway virtually opposite the entrance to Snow Hill stat ion which is sometimes saidto be an entrance. I have to admit, that while i know no better the concrete looks far too new forsomething supposedly built so long ago. There is also a goods lift st ill visible on Lionel Street.

5 Responses

Brilliant, Jim.

I had a couple of mates that used to work at the main post office in the 80′s

and they used to tell me about an extensive tunnel system under the city. But

I always thought they were pulling my leg!

Wonder if you ever heard the myth about the bunker under the GPO tower –

that it was never any good as wet coal dust from an adjoining basement used

to leak through the concrete when it rained?

I worked in the Jewelery Trade when I left school (back in ’78) and would

often walk past the tower and Assay Office down Newhall Street on my way to

work. Never knew the name of the bunker was after the Assay mark though.

Don’t know if you are old enough to remember them test ing the nuclear alert

sirens every once in a while. I could clearly hear them at night sometimes –

even as far away as Perry Barr where I grew up. Also remember cycling down

the canal tow path underneath the tower and being amazed by the huge

concrete st ilts that held the adjoining building up over the canal.

Thanks for that – really brought back some great memories. Especially of those

trains of brutes at the end of the platforms. Another great photo of the layout

by the way.

22/10/2013 at 9:59 pm

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Eric Steele

Simon Davis

jim s-w

Simon Davis

Hi Jim, In days of yore the building in your picture was the Lamp Rooms and

Footwarmer Store. That would be before proper heat ing and light ing in trains.

The ramp from Platform 1 cont inued under there and there were two lifts into

the subway, one in the Footwarmer Store and one in the Lamp Room around

the point where that low steel door is situated. Later part of it became the

S&T Depot, the Inspector’s office moved to the PSB. In 1966/7 we st ill had a

Mess Room at the end nearest Hill St.

There was a tunnel to Hill St Sort ing Office before the Mailbox was built .

Regarding the Anchor tunnel to Essex St. I think it had emergency access

points every 500 yards or so, hence that door could well have been a shaft into

it .

22/10/2013 at 10:02 pm

The concrete entrance near to Snow Hill is nothing to do w ith Anchor, its a

glorified PCP (primary connect ion point, the green boxes you see roadside) that

is at ground level to the underpass which used to be located here but has now

been filled in and landscaped over. The doorway merely leads down to a

miniature frame, and is exact ly the same use as a surface built structure located

at Birmingham Business Park. Two of the three repeater stat ions for Anchor

survive, one of which is now a telephone exchange in Great Barr known as

Beacon and is located on Whitecrest. The other two at Sheldon (Lyndon) and

West Heath (Selly Oak) are no longer BT property and have gone for

redevelopment. I think Lyndon is st ill standing, but Selly Oak is long gone. I’m a

regular visitor in Beacon and Snow Hill though, especially when contractors cut

the phone lines they serve.

09/11/2013 at 11:58 pm

Thanks for the info Simon. The underpass was the one w ith the GWR mosaics

wasn’t it?

10/11/2013 at 11:32 am

The GWR mosaics were at St Chads Circus if I recall, now one of the most

horrendous traffic light ‘controlled’ (hindered) junct ions in the city, especially

when the tunnels are closed and I’m driving back from Bournville MRC. 30

minutes to get through the city because of the ‘improved’ roadways here at

11pm…thats progress!

The underpass near Snow Hill where the doorway is located was called Colmore

Circus if I remember right ly, now Colmore Circus Queensway. I think originally

the entrance was from the underpass rather than the roadway, I don’t

remember that entrance always being there, but Colmore Circus was infilled

way before I started working for Openreach BT.

10/11/2013 at 4:57 pm

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