It could be a Christmas card, but a problem with Parry People Mover unit No. 139002 on January 9, 2010, saw it taken off duties and replaced by 139001. This simple shunt makes use of the link to the main line and is used on Sundays to swap the units over, thus providing a rare chance for both units to be in the picture.
STEVE BURDETT
THE Stourbridge branch was served by Stourbridge shed, which predated the opening of the branch by many years, having been built to serve the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway. About a quarter of a mile north of Stambermill Viaduct, the shed was located on the west side of the line, close to where the 1859 incline branch met the main line.
An old BR ticket for Stourbridge Town to Stourbridge Junction. Today, the 3½ old pence fare would be equivalent to one new penny. The fare now is £1.10 single.
The original 1870 construction was a four-road shed, constructed in local brick and home to a mix of R & W Hawthorn, Stephenson, Fairbairn, and Beyer, Peacock locomotives. The Dean locomotives and other saddle tanks that worked the branch were also stabled here.
STOURBRIDGE is a West Midlands market town with a proud industrial heritage, and despite its size - 0.8 miles - the town's short branch line is connected to a wealth of history, not to mention its own share of fascinating stories.
In 1926 - superseded by a new roundhouse - this shed was used to house diesel railcars, gradually falling into disrepair. Notably, the new roundhouse, built around a 65ft turntable, had the distinction of being the last one to be built by the GWR.
Stourbridge's railway pedigree dates to long before the main line or the branch were even thought of, when the most efficient way of moving cargo was by water. Already a centre of industry, Stourbridge stepped into the history books when an ironworks branched out to form a new foundry - Foster, Rastrick & Company - which, among other things, produced fish belly rail for the Midland's first steam-hauled railway (the Shutt End line), and the first locomotive to steam on US soil.
Extended and altered to fit the changing face of the railways, the 1926 shed was home to steam for 40 years, housing largely pannier tanks, prairie tanks and a clutch of'Granges' and 'Halls; though the latter were not destined for Stourbridge Town!
Stourbridge Lion and siblings Delaware and Hudson were shipped to America in 1829. Meanwhile, a third locomotive - Agenoria - worked the Shutt End line for 30 years. However, despite being at the cutting edge of rail technology, a passenger railway did not make its way into Stourbridge town itself until 50 years later.
Sadly, the shed did not last long after steam's withdrawal, closing in 1968. Demolished soon after, the land was used for housing development and the road names now bear those of GWR officials, such as Churchward, Collett and Gooch.
Tribulations
Over the years the motive power used on the line varied greatly. The early trains were hauled by saddle tanks, but from the 1920s onwards the use of autotrailers became common place.
The imaginatively titled Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway ( OWWR) was formed in 1844, though the venture was not to be a smooth one, and the railway would later acquire the nickname 'The Old Worse &Worse'! A brief summary of the OWWR's tribulations prior to opening included the following: vehement objections from the canal companies, the loss of £27,000 when the company's chosen bank failed, disputes over the gauge, a literal reading of The Riot Act, a violent skirmish over money owed, and finally the resignation of their engineer (no less a personage than Isambard Kingdom Brunel).
In the first half of the 20th century, two autotrailers could usually be seen coupled behind a '14XX' 0-4-2T. By the late-1950s, this arrangement had been switched out for former GWR diesel rail cars, known as the'Flying Bananas; thanks to their curved shape