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 ...

Amblecote Amblecote is an urban village and one of the most affluent areas in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England. It lies immediately north of the historic town of Stourbridge, extending about one and a half miles from it, a ...

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Ro ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. 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 of England. It links the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (at Stourton Junction, affording access to traffic from the River Severn) with the Dudley Canal, and hence, via the Birmingha ...

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 British railway company that linked London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 mill ...

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 near the centre of Stourbridge, West Midlands, England. It is situated at the end of a short branch line linking the station with Stourbridge Junction, 0.8 miles away, where passengers can change for main ...

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 Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

. 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 Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Art ...

survives to this day at the urban

railhead In the UK, railheading refers to the practice of travelling further than necessary to reach a rail service, typically by car. The phenomenon is common among commuters seeking a more convenient journey. Reasons for railheading include, but are ...

References

External links

Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Stourbridge Town railway station
Rail transport in Dudley Canals in England Canal basins in England and Wales Stourbridge {{UK-canal-stub