BRITAIN’S SHORTEST BRANCH LINE
STOURBRIDGE is a West Midlands market town with a proud industrial heritage, and despite its size – 0.8 miles – the town’s short branch line is connected to a wealth of history, not to mention its own share of fascinating stories.
Stourbridge’s railway pedigree dates to long before the main line or the branch were even thought of, when the most efficient way of moving cargo was by water. Already a centre of industry, Stourbridge stepped into the history books when an ironworks branched out to form a new foundry – Foster, Rastrick & Company – which, among other things, produced fish belly rail for the Midland’s first steam-hauled railway (the Shutt End line), and the first locomotive to steam on US soil.
Stourbridge Lion and siblings Delaware and Hudson were shipped to America in 1829. Meanwhile, a third locomotive – Agenoria – worked the Shutt End line for 30 years. However, despite being at the cutting edge of rail technology, a passenger railway did not make its way into Stourbridge town itself until 50 years later.
Tribulations
The imaginatively titled Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway (OWWR) was formed in 1844, though the venture was not to be a smooth one, and the railway would later acquire the nickname ‘The Old Worse & Worse’! A brief summary of the OWWR’s tribulations prior to opening included the following: vehement objections from the canal companies, the loss of £27,000 when the company’s chosen bank failed, disputes over the gauge, a literal reading of The Riot Act, a violent skirmish over money owed, and finally the resignation of their engineer (no less a personage than Isambard Kingdom Brunel).
Nonetheless the railway finally opened on the May 1, 1852, with all necessary pomp. Stourbridge station had two platforms, each covered for a short length by a small canopy.
A small footbridge allowed passengers to move between platforms. Sadly for the people of Stourbridge, the station given that name in fact stopped almost a mile outside of the town in Oldswinford!
