Norton Junction was a

railway junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge), provided by ''points'' ( ...

and goods yard that served multiple coal lines and mineral lines to and from the local collieries and other industrial-related businesses, most notably Pelsall Steelworks and Walsall Wood Colliery.

Closure

Traffic into the junction began to decline in the

1950s The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the " '50s") (among other variants) was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959. Throughout the decade, the world continued its re ...

following closure of many local mines and collieries. The lines to Ryders Hayes, Brownhills and Hednesford had all closed by 1964, so there was no junction. The South Staffs line remained as a through route between Walsall and Lichfield until 1984. Shortly afterward, no tracks remained at Norton junction.

Present day

The entire site has been built on by housing and roads but some of the trackbed can still be followed as far as

Pelsall Pelsall is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. Forming part of the borough's border with Staffordshire, Pelsall is located 4 miles north of central Walsall, midway between the towns of Bloxwich and Brownhil ...

and

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 ...

External links

* * *{{cite web , url=https://brownhillsbob.com/2011/03/19/the-trains-dont-stop-here-anymore , title=The trains don't stop here anymore , date=March 19, 2011 , website=BrownhillsBob's Brownhills Blog , access-date=2019-08-09 Former Midland Railway stations Cannock Chase District Railway stations opened in 1879 Railway stations closed in 1964