The line had been opened in 1839 by the
Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway from
Derby, to a south-facing junction with the
London and Birmingham Railway just north of
Hampton-in-Arden. Due to increasing traffic, and the inconvenience of having to reverse trains at Hampton-in-Arden to reach
Birmingham Curzon Street, a branch was built in 1842 west from Whitacre to a new Midland Railway passenger station at
Birmingham Lawley Street. The station opened to serve this junction. The Midland Railway generally used the London and North-Western Railway
Trent Valley Line and Great Northern Railway tracks to reach London, so the line south to Hampton faded into obscurity. By 1907 the 6½ mile route to
Hampton-in-Arden was used by only 1 train per day. In 1864, the Midland built a new line eastwards to Nuneaton. It is not clear when the original station was built, but it was moved 60 chains further south at this time. In 1909 a cutoff line was built between
Water Orton and
Kingsbury. The station closed on 4 March 1968. ==Stationmasters==