Hammerwich railway station is a disused station on the South Staffordshire Line. It opened in 1849. 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. 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

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 ...

). This was one of the three closed stations on this route that remained open beyond the closure of the South Staffordshire route as part of the Burton-Wolverhampton line that fell, also as part of the Beeching Axe, less than a year later. Goods traffic continued to pass here until March 1984, when the line was closed to through traffic. The section through here remained open to serve a Charringtons fuel oil terminal at Anglesey Sidings (near Brownhills) thereafter, until it also closed in 2001 - since then the line has been mothballed and officially marked 'out of use' by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

. It is being preserved for the future re-opening of the railway line between Walsall and Lichfield. The old station platforms have been demolished, but the station house still stands and is used as a private residence. The station footbridge is also accessible to the public and safe to use.Moors, Terry: ''Lost Railways of Birmingham & The West Midlands'', page 44. Countryside Books, 2008 The station served the village of Hammerwich and was also the nearest station for

Burntwood Burntwood is a former mining town and civil parish in the Lichfield District in Staffordshire, England, approximately west of Lichfield and north east of Brownhills. The town had a population of 26,049 and forms part of Lichfield district. ...

which is under 2 miles away. And also served the small village of Muckley Corner which was only half a mile east. In 2019, a local group named the Burntwood Action Group made a bid to convert the disused line into a leisure greenway to connect to Chasewater and link up with the recently opened greenway at Brownhills. However, the bid was rejected by

Lichfield District Council 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 ...

due to lack of clarity.

References

Rail around Birmingham and the West Midlands

South Staffs Rail Group
Disused railway stations in Staffordshire 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