Great Bridge North railway station was a station on the South Staffordshire Line that served the village of Great Bridge and town of

Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the West Midlands in England with a population of around 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham. Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country, w ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

The station was built in 1850 and was initially 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 ...

. The South Staffordshire Railway was later absorbed by 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 ...

, which amalgamated with several other railways in 1923 to create 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 ...

. The station shared the name ''Great Bridge'' with its

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

counterpart built in 1866. ''North'' was appended to the name of the station just after nationalisation. Passenger usage declined in the early 1880s, and the line became mainly freight in 1887. It remained open for goods traffic as the district became highly industrialised in the heyday of the

Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ro ...

's industrial past. Local industry declined after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and road transport became more common. British Rail closed the station to passengers through 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 1964, but it continued as a freight station for local factories until 1972. Goods trains continued to pass through the site of the station until 1993. By that date no sign of the station or the goods yard remained. It is now derelict and mostly fenced off.

Midland Metro

A £1,100,000/15-year-long regeneration project is expected to re-open the closed section of railway through

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

as a combined

Midland Metro The West Midlands Metro (originally named Midland Metro) is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. Opened on 30 May 1999, it currently consists of a single route, Line 1, which operates between the cities of Birmi ...

tramway with a separate heavy rail line for goods trains. The old station site is earmarked as the location of a Midland Metro stop on the local tram network's second 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 ...

Dudley Port railway station Dudley Port railway station serves the Dudley Port and Great Bridge areas of Tipton, West Midlands, England, Situated on the Stour Valley Line, the station is operated by West Midlands Railway. Upper Level station History The station opened ...

Dudley railway station Dudley Railway Station was a railway station in Dudley, West Midlands, England, built where the Oxford-Worcester-Wolverhampton Line and the South Staffordshire Line diverged to Wolverhampton and Walsall and Lichfield respectively. History Th ...

and the

Merry Hill Shopping Centre Merry Hill (formerly Westfield Merry Hill and The Merry Hill Shopping Centre) is a large shopping complex in Brierley Hill near Dudley, England. It was developed between 1985 and 1990, with several subsequent expansion and renovation project ...

scheduled for opening upon completion in 2011.SDIT The freighters would continue on past

Brettell Lane railway station Brettell Lane railway station was a station on the Oxford-Worcester-Wolverhampton Line which served the town of Brierley Hill in England. History It was opened in 1852 by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway. Local coal mining a ...

and on to the mainline at Stourbridge junction.

Gallery

File:Gt. Bridge St. N. 2003 road crossing's end.jpg, Great Bridge North looking down from the crossing and past the

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

, 2003 File:Gt. Bridge St. N. 2003.jpg, Great Bridge North station, 2003 File:Gt. Bridge St. N. 2005.jpg , Great Bridge North station, 2005 File:Great Bridge St. N. signal box 2001.JPG, Great Bridge North signal box, 2001. File:Gt. Bridge St. N. 2003 road crossing.jpg, Great Bridge North's road crossing by the signal box, 2003. File:Great Bridge North station 2003..jpg, Great Bridge North railway station, walking down from the crossing and past the signal box, towards the modern warehouse in 2003. The canal bridge is fenced off and collapsing. File:Great Bridge station 2011.jpg , The former siding and platform entrance outside Great Bridge North station, 2011

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Great Bridge North Railway Station Disused railway stations in Sandwell Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1850 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1964 Beeching closures in England Former London and North Western Railway stations

History

Midland Metro

Gallery

See also

References