![The site of Brownhills station in 2018](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/The_site_of_Brownhills_station_in_2018.jpg)
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
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