Stourbridge Town railway station

Stourbridge Town is a railway station in the town of Stourbridge, West Midlands, England. It is situated at the end of a short branch line linking the station with Stourbridge Junction, 0.8 miles away, where passengers can change for mainline train services. It is said to be the shortest operational branch railway line in Europe.^[1]

Stourbridge Town
Stourbridge Town railway station
General information
Location	Stourbridge, Dudley England
Coordinates	52.455°N 2.142°W / 52.455; -2.142
Grid reference	SO904842
Managed by	West Midlands Railway
Transit authority	Transport for West Midlands
Platforms	1
Other information
Station code	SBT
Fare zone	5
Classification	DfT category E
History
Original company	Stourbridge Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
1 October 1879	First station opened
29 March 1915	Closed
3 March 1919	Reopened
18 February 1979	Resited
10 January 1994	Closed
19 April 1994	Reopened on third site
Passengers
2019/20	0.559 million
2020/21	0.159 million
2021/22	0.264 million
2022/23	0.295 million
2023/24	0.346 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

It opened to passenger traffic on Wednesday 1 October 1879,^[2] Stourbridge Town was built because it was considered that the existing station at Stourbridge Junction was situated too far from Stourbridge town centre. The original station, built of white brick with courses of stone, and red and blue brick, situated upon the site now occupied by Stourbridge bus station, was a surprisingly grand affair, with one 298 ft (91 m) platform paved with ornamental blue bricks and substantial brick buildings covered by a full-length awning of wood and glass on an iron framework. The building comprised a first and second-class ladies’ waiting room, third class ladies’ waiting room, first and second-class general waiting room, third-class general waiting room, a parcels and clock room, lamp room and offices. The booking office was in the centre of the block of rooms between the two general waiting rooms, in each of which was a ticket portal.^[2]

The station was closed as a wartime economy measure between 1 April 1915^[3] and 3 March 1919,^[4] with passenger services being replaced by Midland Red buses. During the General Strike in 1926, the bus service between Junction and Town stations was re-introduced from 7 May to 10 July to cover for the withdrawn train services.

The original station in 1977, two years before demolition.

The station and branch were listed for closure in 1964^[5] under the Beeching axe, but won a stay of execution in 1965,^[6] although the station lost its parcels service^[7] and became unstaffed from July 1967. The 1879 station survived mostly intact until February 1979 when it was demolished.

In 1979, the branch was cut back by 70 yards (64 m) towards Junction station, leaving room for a bus station. The new station was a low-cost portable building built by British Rail and artifacts from the old station were acquired by the Birmingham Railway Museum for their depot at Tyseley.^[8]

Despite threats and rumours of closure in the 1980s and 1990s, the station building was replaced in early 1994, with a new station opening to passengers on 25 April 1994. The current station is a small modern facility directly linked to the bus station allowing easy interchange with bus services at this urban railhead. It has a single 170 ft (52 m) platform which is more than long enough to hold a single car Class 153 railcar, which formerly shuttled passengers between the station and Stourbridge Junction; the line now uses two Class 139 people mover-type cars. Due to the nature of the gradient, there is a short section of rails behind the initial buffer stop to prevent accidents such as those which occurred in 1989 and 1990. This runs parallel to the station pathway, and is surrounded by a wall and railings for safety reasons.

Services

The shuttle service to Stourbridge Junction runs every ten minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, and every fifteen minutes on Sundays. All services are operated by PRE Metro Operations but is branded as West Midlands Railway.^[9][10]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Stourbridge Junction		West Midlands Railway Stourbridge Town Branch Line		Terminus

References

1. "Parry People Mover on test in West Midlands, U.K." Light Rail Transit Association. 3 February 1999. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
2. "Opening of the Branch Railway". County Express; Brierley Hill, Stourbridge, Kidderminster, and Dudley News. England. 4 October 1879. Retrieved 16 October 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
3. "Closing of Great Western Passenger Stations". Birmingham Mail. England. 27 March 1915. Retrieved 17 October 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "Stourbridge Station to be Opened". Birmingham Daily Gazette. England. 1 March 1919. Retrieved 17 October 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "'Closure of station loss to B.R.'". Birmingham Daily Post. England. 30 June 1964. Retrieved 16 October 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "'Justify station's existence' call". Birmingham Daily Post. England. 9 September 1965. Retrieved 16 October 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Parcels service to be withdrawn". Birmingham Daily Post. England. 6 January 1965. Retrieved 16 October 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "Steam fans give building project some tender care". Birmingham Daily Postl. England. 16 April 1979. Retrieved 16 October 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "Train timetables and schedules | Stourbridge Town". West Midlands Railway.
10. "Train times | Snow Hill Lines - Worcester to Birmingham Snow Hill, Solihull and Stratford upon Avon | 21 May until 9 December 2023". West Midlands Railway.

Further reading

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2007). Worcester to Birmingham. Middleton Press. figs. 58-66. ISBN 9781904474975. OCLC 263292710.

External links

• Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Stourbridge Town railway station
• Parry People Movers – Stourbridge