Stourbridge Railway
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The Stourbridge Railway was a small independent railway company in
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 ...
which existed between
1860 Events January * January 2 – The astronomer Urbain Le Verrier announces the discovery of a hypothetical planet Vulcan (hypothetical planet), Vulcan at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France. * January 10 &ndas ...
, and
1870 Events January * January 1 ** The first edition of ''The Northern Echo'' newspaper is published in Priestgate, Darlington, England. ** Plans for the Brooklyn Bridge are completed. * January 3 – Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge be ...
when it was taken over 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, ...
(GWR). The company built a line from the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OWWR) at to
Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire and then Worcestershire before bei ...
, where it joined the Stour Valley Line at Galton Junction.


History


Opening

The act of Parliament incorporating the company, the ( 23 & 24 Vict. c. xciv), was passed on 14 June 1860, allowing it to build a three and a half mile long line from Stourbridge Junction to , another act of Parliament, the ( 24 & 25 Vict. c. ccxxi), was passed the following year to allow it to reach the Stour Valley Line at Smethwick. The route was open in full by 1 April 1867.


GWR link to Handsworth

The had come under the control of the by this time, and so in order to integrate the Stourbridge Railway with their system, the constructed a link from the Stourbridge Railway at Smethwick to Handsworth Junction, which was opened at the same time, connecting it to the 's Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton Low Level Line, allowing trains to run into Snow Hill station. The running of the line was also taken over by the .


Merger with the GWR

The Stourbridge Railway was formally merged with the in 1870 after it emerged that the company's director W. T. Adcock had fraudulently issued stock.


The route today

The line still functions today as part of the Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster Line.


References


John Speller's Web Pages - Stourbridge Railway
* {{cite book , last = Boynton , first = John , year = 1997 , title = Rails Through The Hills, Birmingham-Stourbridge-Worcester-Malvern-Hereford , publisher = Mid England Books , isbn = 0-9522248-2-8 Early British railway companies Great Western Railway constituents Railway companies established in 1860 Railway lines opened in 1867 Railway companies disestablished in 1870