Stourbridge Basin was a
canal basin
A canal basin is (particularly in the United Kingdom) an expanse of waterway alongside or at the end of a canal, and wider than the canal, constructed to allow boats to moor or unload cargo without impeding the progress of other traffic, and to al ...
at
Amblecote
Amblecote is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately north of the historic town of Stourbridge on the southwestern edge of the West Midlands conurbation. Histori ...
,
Stourbridge
Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham,
at the southwester ...
,
West Midlands,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It lay at the end of the 'Stourbridge Town Arm', a short canal branch which connected to the
Stourbridge Canal
The Stourbridge Canal is a canal in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It links the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (at Stourton, Staffordshire, Stourton Junction, affording access to traffic from the River Severn) wi ...
at Wordsley Junction. The basin was also the site of the Amblecote Goods Depot at the terminus of the
Stourbridge Branch Line.
Construction and expansion
The canal branch to Stourbridge Town was built in the 18th century and ended in a basin west of Amblecote High Street (the
A491 road
The A491 is an A road in Zone 4 of the Great Britain numbering scheme.
History
The road north of Oldswinford forms part of an ancient road, probably of Anglo-Saxon origin, joining the burhs of Worcester and Stafford. The crossing of the Ri ...
) which mainly served the ironworks of
John Bradley. In the 1830s a short extension to the canal was built under the roadway to serve the ironworks of
Foster and Orme east of High Street.
Construction of the Stourbridge Branch Line by the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...
was authorised by an Act of Parliament on 30 June 1874. The branch opened for passenger traffic to
Stourbridge Town railway station
Stourbridge Town is a railway station in the town of Stourbridge, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is situated at the end of a Stourbridge Town branch line, short branch line linking the station with , 0.8 miles away, where pa ...
in 1879. The last of the line continued via bridges over Foster Street and Birmingham Street to a terminus at the basin east of Lower High Street where a large goods yard was constructed and where goods could be interchanged with the terminus of the Stourbridge Canal. This section, which was used for goods traffic only, opened on 1 January 1880. The GWR branch line itself ended at a level crossing in High Street over which a short private siding continued to Bradley & Co's ironworks.
In 1895 the GWR acquired the former Mersey Wheel and Axle Works located next to the canal, with the two-storey building being converted into a freight handling and storage facility. By the 1920s the Amblecote Goods Depot could handle more than 230 four-wheeled wagons.
Closure
By 1963 a number of sidings had closed including those of Turner & Co, the gas works, and the private siding for Bradley & Co. British Rail announced in 1964 that the Amblecote Goods Depot and Stourbridge Town station were to close under the
Beeching Axe
The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...
. Although they were subsequently delisted, the Goods Depot and branch were nevertheless closed in 1965. The last freight train left the yard on 30 April 1965 and all work there ended on 5 July. Lifting of the track began in September of that year and was completed by October 1967. The bridge over Foster Street was demolished in September 1967, permanently severing the link,
with the Birmingham Street bridge also being demolished
The interchange area, including the portion of the canal east of High Street, was then redeveloped as an industrial estate.
A further stretch of line was closed, when Stourbridge Town station was moved back some yards. A bus station was built on the land thus recovered.
The rest of the
line survives to this day at the urban