Brownhills railway station 1924682 4fd91ecf

Brownhills railway station is a disused railway station that served the town of

Brownhills Brownhills is a town and former administrative centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. A few miles south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is northeast of Walsall, a similar distan ...

and the village of

Clayhanger The ''Clayhanger'' Family is a series of novels by Arnold Bennett, published between 1910 and 1918. Though the series is commonly referred to as a "trilogy", and the first three novels were published in a single volume, as ''The Clayhanger Famil ...

in the

Metropolitan Borough of Walsall The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Walsall, but covers a larger area which also includes Aldridge, Bloxwich, Brownhills, ...

, West Midlands. It was on the South Staffordshire Line between

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

and

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...

History

It was opened in 1849. The station was built and served by the

South Staffordshire 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 c ...

, which later became the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

(through amalgamation of the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

). Unlike Wednesbury and Great Bridge further up the line, this station was never assigned another name when a second station was opened by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

. It closed as part of 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 ...

in January 1965. Goods trains continued to pass through the site until March 1984, when the line was completely closed. It is preserved in case the railway line between Walsall and Lichfield reopens.https://www.wmca.org.uk/media/1371/2016-06-01-mfg-summary-document_wmca.pdf

Station site today

The trackbed is now a leisure greenway from Walsall to Brownhills. Traces of the former station can still be seen and some track remains down north of Brownhills near Anglesey Sidings.

References

Disused railway stations in Walsall Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1849 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Beeching closures in England 1849 establishments in England Former London and North Western Railway stations {{WestMidlands-railstation-stub