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 (1.3 km) away, where passengers can change for mainline train services. It is said to be the shortest operational branch railway line in Europe.[1]

Stourbridge Town
Stourbridge Town railway station.
Location
PlaceStourbridge
Local authorityDudley
Coordinates52.455°N 2.142°W / 52.455; -2.142
Grid referenceSO904842
Operations
Station codeSBT
Managed byWest Midlands Trains
Number of platforms1
DfT categoryE
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 0.498 million
2015/16 0.546 million
2016/17 0.575 million
2017/18 0.609 million
2018/19 0.592 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTETransport for West Midlands
Zone5
History
Original companyStourbridge Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
1 October 1879First station opened
29 March 1915Closed
3 March 1919Reopened
18 February 1979Resited
10 January 1994Closed
19 April 1994Reopened on third site
National Rail – UK railway stations
  • Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Stourbridge Town from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History

It opened to passenger traffic on Wednesday 1 October 1879, Stourbridge Town was built because it was considered that the existing station at Stourbridge Junction was situated too far from Stourbridge town centre. The original station, situated upon the site now occupied by Stourbridge bus station, was a surprisingly grand affair, with one 298 ft (91 m) platform and substantial brick buildings covered by a full-length awning. The station was closed as a wartime economy measure between 1 April 1915 and 28 February 1919, with passenger services being replaced by Midland Red buses. During the General Strike in 1926, the bus service between Junction and Town stations was re-introduced from 7 May to 10 July to cover for the withdrawn train services.

The original station in 1977, two years before demolition.

The station and branch were listed for closure under the Beeching axe, but won a stay of execution in 1965, although the station became unstaffed from July 1967. The 1879 station survived mostly intact until February 1979 when it was demolished. Some of the material from the old station was saved and used for buildings at Tyseley Locomotive Works.

In 1979, the branch was cut back by 70 yards (64 m) towards Junction station, leaving room for a bus station. The new station was a low-cost portable building built by British Rail.

Despite threats and rumours of closure in the 1980s and 1990s, the station building was replaced in early 1994, with a new station opening to passengers on 25 April 1994. The current station is a small modern facility directly linked to the bus station allowing easy interchange with bus services at this urban railhead. It has a single 170 ft (52 m) platform which is more than long enough to hold a single car Class 153 railcar, which formerly shuttled passengers between the station and Stourbridge Junction; the line now uses two Class 139 people mover-type cars. Due to the nature of the gradient, there is a short section of rails behind the initial buffer stop to prevent accidents such as those which occurred in 1989 and 1990. This runs parallel to the station pathway, and is surrounded by a wall and railings for safety reasons.

Services

The shuttle service to Stourbridge Junction runs every ten minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, and every fifteen minutes on Sundays. All services are operated by PRE Metro Operations but is branded as West Midlands Railway.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Stourbridge Junction   West Midlands Railway
Stourbridge Town Branch Line		   Terminus
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References
  1. "Parry People Mover on test in West Midlands, U.K." Light Rail Transit Association. 3 February 1999. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2019.

Further reading
  • Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2007). Worcester to Birmingham. Middleton Press. figs. 58-66. ISBN 9781904474975. OCLC 263292710.
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