South Staffordshire line

The South Staffordshire line is a partially mothballed and active former mainline that connects

) along with Wednesbury and Walsall.

v t e South Staffordshire line
Legend
Birmingham & Derby Jct Rly (Midland Railway) to Burton-on-Trent │ to Tamworth Barton and Walton Wichnor Junction Central Rivers TMD Midland Railway Derby to Birmingham route Alrewas Lichfield Trent Valley Junction Lichfield Trent Valley West Coast Main Line Lichfield City Sutton Coldfield–Lichfield line Hammerwich M6 Toll Anglesey Sidings Brownhills Pelsall Rushall Sutton Park line to Water Orton Chase Line to Rugeley Trent Valley Wolverhampton Walsall Former Gas works. Goods shed. Walsall Line to Birmingham New Street Wednesbury Town Wolverhampton Darlaston Darlaston Loop Midland Metro (ex-GWR ) to Coseley Goods yard. Great Bridge North Former Horsley Works. to Birmingham Snow Hill Dudley Port Low Level Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Rly to Wolverhampton Low Level Goods shed\station. Dudley Dudley Railway Tunnel Blowers Green Bumble Hole line to Old Hill Former Thornliegh Works. Harts Hill Former Iron works, Brick works and claypits . Round Oak Steel Terminal Former Himley Colliery, gasomiter and Hope Works. Round Oak Former Iron works and colliery. Brierley Hill Former Gas works Wombourne Branch Springfieild Colliery Moor Lane Goods Yard Former Higharcal Colliery, bottle works, clay pit and glass works. Former claypits, cement works, brickworks, industrial retort and Brierley Iron Foundry Works. Brettell Lane Former Catershall Brick Works. Former Brettell Lane Fire Brick Works and industrial tram depot. Former Ambelcote (northern) fire clay brick works and retort. Former Ambelcote (southern) fire clay brick works and retort. to Birmingham Snow Hill Engine shed and water tank. Former Stourbridge UDC Gasworks. Stourbridge Town Hungary Hills Works. Stourbridge Junction Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Rly to Kidderminster Between Walsall and Round Oak the track is still in situ, but out of use. Wombourne Branch track is in situ, but out of use. The connections to the many other local industrial mineral railways not are shown.

History

The line was opened on 1 May 1850. This was soon to become part of the

To the north of Dudley Port, a link to the Birmingham Snow Hill- Wolverhampton Low Level route was added sometime between the inauguration of the line and the opening of Great Bridge South railway station in 1866. All three of the above – Dudley Port, Great Bridge and Wednesbury – were completed in 1850, and the line was then opened accordingly. All other stations on the route – from Lichfield to Walsall – were in operation from 1849.

Route

The line began in Burton, it then continued to Lichfield Trent Valley running on a small section of the present-day

Just before Stourbridge, the OW&WR crossed (and continues to cross) the massive Stambermill Viaduct which is one of the local area's most significant landmarks.^[1] It also crossed Parkhead Viaduct just south of Dudley and for several hundred yards passed through Dudley Railway Tunnel. Another landmark on the route is a restored bridge over the M6 Toll at Brownhills which was built during the opening of the M6 Toll ^[2]

Places served by the line

The line officially began at Wychnor Junction, north of Lichfield, and ran through what is now Lichfield Trent Valley. Trains then continued through to Lichfield City itself. From there, a plethora of stations along the route were served. The line continued through to Walsall and a low-level station at Dudley Port. This was technically the terminus of the line but it was connected to the OW&WR's line which ran through Dudley itself from 1860. It went on to serve other stations at the south-western extremity of the Black Country at Stourbridge Junction.

The towns and villages the line formerly served before joining the OW&W railway were:

• Burton
• Branston
• Barton-under-Needwood and Walton-on-Trent
• Alrewas
• Lichfield
• Hammerwich (also served Burntwood)
• Angelsea Sidings
• Brownhills
• Pelsall
• Rushall
• Walsall
• Darlaston
• Wednesbury
• Great Bridge
• Dudley Port
• Dudley

Services

Services began at Burton and terminated at either Walsall, Dudley or Stourbridge. There was also a Derby to Wolverhampton service that also ran on the line via the northern end at Walsall to Lichfield. When the section to Dudley closed to passengers in 1964, the section Burton continued to see a rapid decline in use from passengers. Resulting in the section to Burton closing to passengers in 1965.

Closure

Burton-Lichfield-Walsall (Northern Section)

Freight used the northern section of the line after closure to passengers and continued to do so until the section from Angelsea Sidings to Ryecroft Junction was closed to all traffic when the last train ran along the line 1984 and the track being lifted two years later. A stub from Angelsea Sidings to Lichfield City continued to see usage to serve an oil terminal at Newtown, Brownhills until 2001, when the stub was closed and mothballed by Network Rail.

The section from Lichfield to Burton is still open for freight traffic and depot returning trains. The line sees one passenger service a week^[3] though is used for diversions.

Walsall-Dudley-Stourbridge (Southern Section)

Despite the withdrawal of all passenger services and the complete closure of the line between Dudley and Bilston by 1968, the southern section of the line was still used by freight as a diversion line and to serve Dudley Freightliner Terminal. The terminal closed in the 1989 although the line remained in use until the section between Walsall and Harts Hill on the border of Dudley and Brierley Hill closed in 1993.

Present day

Northern Section

The section from Burton to Lichfield remains open to freight traffic and

• The
  Connecting Communities: Expanding Access to the Rail Network suggested reopening of the Walsall-Lichfield section for passenger services with new stations at Pelsall and Brownhills which identified the line as viable for reopening but nothing has become of the scheme so far.^{[citation needed}
  ]

• In a strategy which has been conducted by the West Midlands Combined Authority, the line from Walsall to Lichfield has been identified as a disused rail corridor and this means that it is a long-term ambition to reopen the line from Walsall to Lichfield as either a rail/light rail corridor. There are also aspirations to reconnect the disused line at Wednesbury to Walsall as either rail or tram.[4]

• In January 2019, the Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line which was listed as Priority 2 for reopening. Priority 2 is for those lines which require further development or a change in circumstances (such as housing developments).^[5]

• In June 2019, the
  East Staffordshire Borough Council
  . Suggestions to look at bringing trams into Burton to promote tourism and businesses. Among the suggestions was the following quote from the article:

"The report is part of the Burton upon Trent Regeneration Strategy which looks at how the town could be improved for its shoppers, employees and visitors up to 2030 and beyond. If given the go-ahead, the tram trains could take passengers on the existing Ivanhoe freight line and the Worcester to Derby Main Line Railway between Stourbridge and Burton." This was among the support for reopening the Leicester to Burton upon Trent line which closed in the 1960s along with the South Staffordshire Line.

Southern Section

The line from Bescot to Harts Hills is mothballed and is planned to be converted from Potters Lane, Wednesbury to Brierley Hill via Dudley to become part of the

• To run a passenger service between Stourbridge Junction and Brierley Hill, with stations being re-opened along the OWWR, including Brierley Hill. The service would be operated by railcars built by Parry People Movers, who built the Class 139 units which run the Stourbridge Town service.^[7]
• The re-opening of the line between Wednesbury and Brierley Hill had received government backing, and work is set to begin in 2017.^[8]
• The scheme had been awarded backing by the government and the councils at Sandwell and Dudley. The scheme also has been discussed by TfWM and Network Rail as the line remains from Stourbridge Junction to Walsall in the ownership of Network Rail.
• TfWM (Transport for West Midlands) and Midland Metro Alliance began negotiations with Network Rail regarding the sharing of the line from the former level crossing at Potters Lane which is where the disused Wednesbury Town station was to Harts Hill where the goods trains would serve both the Round Oak Steel Terminal and connect to the mainline at Stourbridge Junction.
• In 2021 the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre was opened on the site of the former Dudley Freightliner Terminal. This utilises the trackbed from the site of Dudley to Blowers Green, including Dudley Railway Tunnel.^[9][10]

Restoring Your Railway

In March 2020, two bids were made to the

• Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
• London and North Western Railway

References

Sources

• Hayes, David J (December 2013). "Farewell to Dudley". Rail Express.
  ISSN 1362-234X
  .

• Rail around Birmingham website
• South Staffordshire site
• Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway on Railscot
• South Staffs Rail website
• Walsall to Lichfield Railway Line