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The Oldbury Branch Railway was a short branch line which ran from Langley Green on the Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster line to the town of Oldbury. It also served the Oldbury Division of the manufacturing company, Albright and Wilson. It was owned and operated by the Great Western Railway.
The Dudley and Oldbury Junction Railway was incorporated on 21 July 1873 for a line from Langley Green, Dudley to Halesowen; there were also to be two branches. The company entered into a working agreement with the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1876, and on 11 August 1881 the name was altered to the Oldbury Railway. [1] The line was opened for goods in 1884, and to passengers the following year; services were operated by the GWR under the working agreement of 1876. The Oldbury Railway was fully absorbed by the GWR following an act of Parliament[ which? ] of 31 July 1894. [2]
The line was built in 1885 by the Great Western Railway and was built on a short stub of line near the present day, Halesowen Street. There was also a goods yard on an embankment via a bridge on Seven Stars Road, a short distance north of the station.
The station at Oldbury had a very short lifespan, closing in 1916 as a result of the first world war and never reopened, although the line remained in use for goods traffic to the local factories until 1960s when the section from Albright and Wilson Oldbury Division to the site of Oldbury was severed by the building of the M5 Motorway. This meant the stub north had been closed but the section near Langley Green remained open for freight traffic until 1996 when the entire line was put out of use.
Today, the station site at Oldbury has been redeveloped for both industrial use near the former goods yard and the station site is now a Mecca Bingo hall. The trackbed to Tat Bank Road near the former Albright and Wilson Oldbury Division has been blocked by the M5 viaduct and the section built on by both housing and road realignments. There is still quite a lot of track still in situ around the former sidings at Albright and Wilson Oldbury Division and the bridge over the Titford Canal. The track has been dismantled and fenced off at the former Oldbury Platforms at Langley Green although still extant.
Tipton is an industrial town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands County in England. It had a population of 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham and southeast of Wolverhampton. It is also contiguous with nearby towns of Darlaston, Dudley, Wednesbury and Bilston.
Oldbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It is the administrative centre of the borough. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 13,606, while the 2017 population of the wider built-up area was estimated at 25,488. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, which defines Oldbury Town as consisting of the wards of Bristnall, Langley, Oldbury, and Old Warley, gave the population as 50,641 in 2011.
Sandwell & Dudley railway station is on the Birmingham Loop of the West Coast Main Line, on the outskirts of Oldbury. The name of the station is somewhat misleading; the station is actually located between Oldbury and West Bromwich, and not near Dudley. The nearest station to the town of Dudley is Dudley Port.
Highbridge and Burnham railway station is situated on the Bristol Temple Meads - Exeter St David's Line in the town of Highbridge, Somerset and also serves the neighbouring town of Burnham-on-Sea. It is 145 miles 25 chains from the zero point at London Paddington via Box. It is unstaffed but managed by Great Western Railway who operate all the regular services.
The Wrexham and Minera Railway or Wrexham and Minera Branch was a railway line in North Wales between the city of Wrexham, the village of Brymbo where it served the Brymbo Steelworks, and the lead mines and limeworks at Minera. A further branch ran from Brymbo to Coed Talon, where it connected with lines to Mold. The system was constructed in several stages between 1844 and 1872, while the various lines making up the system closed in 1952, 1972 and 1982.
Langley Green railway station serves the Langley Green area of Oldbury in Sandwell, in the West Midlands, England. It is located on the Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster Line. The station is managed by West Midlands Trains, who provide the majority of train services; there are also occasional services provided by Chiltern Railways.
The Stour Valley Line is the present-day name given to the railway line between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, in England. It was authorised as the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway in 1836; the title was often shortened to the Stour Valley Railway.
The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OW&WR) was a railway company in England. It built a line from Wolvercot Junction near Oxford to Worcester, Stourbridge, Dudley and Wolverhampton, as well as some branches.
The Ruabon–Barmouth line was a standard-gauge line owned by the Great Western Railway across the north of Wales which connected Ruabon, in the east, with Barmouth on the west coast.
The Dartmouth and Torbay Railway was a broad gauge railway linking the South Devon Railway branch at Torquay with Kingswear in Devon, England. It was operated from the outset by the South Devon Railway.
The South Staffordshire Railway (SSR) was authorised in 1847 to build a line from Dudley in the West Midlands of England through Walsall and Lichfield to a junction with the Midland Railway on the way to Burton upon Trent, with authorised share capital of £945,000. It was supported by the newly-formed London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and the Midland Railway, giving each company access to important areas. It completed its main line in 1849. As collieries in the Cannock region rose in importance, it built a second main line from Walsall to Rugeley, as well as numerous short spurs and connections to lines it intersected. Colliery working in the Cannock area expanded enormously, and mineral traffic carryings increased in step.
The Bumble Hole line was a short railway located in Central England. It opened in 1878 to give Dudley a direct railway link with Old Hill, over a distance of three miles. It was used as a connection between Dudley town and Snow Hill, and was dual track all of the way, to allow its inclusion into a mainline route. As with most lines of this nature, patronage was extremely poor and passengers would often find themselves alone on the single car Class 122 DMU that operated the service in later years.
The Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway was a Welsh railway company formed to connect the upper end of the Rhondda Fawr with Swansea, with the chief objective of transporting coal and other minerals to Swansea docks. It was incorporated in 1882, but at first the connection to Swansea from Briton Ferry was refused.
Galton Village is a residential area of Smethwick, West Midlands, England. It takes its name from the iconic Galton Bridge that was named after local businessman Samuel Galton. The Birmingham Canal Navigations main line to Wolverhampton borders the north of Galton Village, as does the Stour Valley section of the West Coast Mainline. The Oldbury Road A457 runs through the area, which begins next to Smethwick’s Galton Bridge railway station and ends at Spon Lane, at a small shopping centre.
Oldbury was the terminal station on the Great Western Railway's, half mile (0.8 km) long, Oldbury branch running from Langley Green railway station.
The Halesowen Railway, also known as the Halesowen and Northfield Railway and the Halesowen Joint Railway, was a standard gauge railway in what is now the West Midlands of England. It connected the Great Western Railway's branch from Old Hill to Halesowen with the Midland Railway’s Birmingham to Gloucester line at Longbridge Junction near the present Longbridge station. The term "Halesowen Railway" is sometimes applied to the whole line between Old Hill and Longbridge but, strictly, it applies only to the portion south of Halesowen.
The Golden Valley Railway was a railway company which constructed a branch line from Pontrilas in Herefordshire, England, to Hay on Wye. Pontrilas was on the Great Western Railway main line between Newport and Hereford. The Golden Valley Railway Company opened the first part of its line from Pontrilas to Dorstone in 1881. It was constantly beset with shortage of money, but opened an extension to Hay in 1889. Its directors had grand ideas of extending further to Monmouth and forming part of a long-distance trunk route. It issued misleading promotional material which secured significant investment from the public, but exposure of the falsehoods resulted in collapse.
This article details a number of defunct schools that were once located in Sandwell in the West Midlands of England. For details of currently operating schools in Sandwell, please see: List of schools in Sandwell.
The Mitcheldean Road and Forest of Dean Junction Railway was an independent railway company incorporated in 1871, to provide a northerly outlet for iron ore and coal products from the Cinderford and Whimsey area in the Forest of Dean, to the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway line; mineral traffic to industrial centres in South Wales and the Midlands was foreseen.
Between the late 11th century and 1844, the English county of Shropshire possessed a large exclave within the present-day Black Country and surrounding area. This territory was gained from neighbouring Worcestershire, and the exclave's border corresponded with the medieval Manor of Hala. Shropshire (Detached) contained the townships of Halesowen, Oldbury, Warley Salop, Ridgacre, Hunnington, Romsley and Langley. The exceptions were Cradley, Lutley and Warley Wigorn, which were exclaves or enclaves still aligned with the original county. Bounded entirely by Staffordshire and Worcestershire, Hala was part of Brimstree hundred, and totally detached from the rest of Shropshire. Bridgnorth, the nearest town within the main body of Shropshire, is 16.8 miles (27.03 km) away from Halesowen, whilst the county town of Shrewsbury is 34.6 miles (55.62 km) away.
