Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
Encyclopedia
The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton railway was a company authorised on 4 August 1845 to construct a railway line from the Oxford and Rugby Railway at Wolvercot Junction to Worcester
, Stourbridge
, Dudley
, and Wolverhampton
, with a branch to the Grand Junction Railway
at Bushbury. This would be known as the Oxford-Worcester-Wolverhampton Line.
The line was opened in stages between 1852 and 1853, and had connections to the Great Western Railway
(GWR) at both ends. In 1860 the OWW amalgamated with the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway
and the Worcester and Hereford Railway to become the West Midland Railway, which in turn was amalgamated into the GWR in 1863.
The track exists today as far as Dudley
, with used track existing as far as the location of the old Harts Hill railway station
near Dudley. North of Dudley, the trackbed has long since been replaced, and the Wolverhampton
terminus at the Low Level
station - has, of January 2007, being almost totally demolished (bar its Grade II listed building) to make way for redevelopment.
, and Tipton Basin. The Bill stated that the track was to be mixed gauge
from Abbotswood near Worcester northwards. It also stated that if the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton failed to complete the line, the Great Western Railway
should either lease the line, or purchase the company and complete the line itself. The Bill also stated that the Wolverhampton Low Level station
was to be constructed and run jointly with two other companies: the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway
and the Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Dudley Railway.
The Great Western Railway oversaw the company's project, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel
was chief engineer. His underestimation of the cost resulted in the Great Western increasing their shareholding to four percent. Progress was slow and by 1 June 1849 all of the available money was spent, and only the middle section of the line was anywhere near complete, so the Railway Commissioners ordered the Great Western to complete the line. They refused and a legal battle started, but meanwhile the loyalty of the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton towards the Great Western was in decline and it signed an agreement with the London & North Western Railway and the Midland Railway
on 21 February 1851 which allowed those companies to finish the line themselves, and then run on it. The Great Western had the agreement made void and then offered the company a similar deal on their own terms.
A notable event during the construction of the line occurred during the construction of Campden Tunnel near the village of Mickleton
, known as the Battle of Mickleton Tunnel is was called by Berrow's Worcester Journal
at the time the Mickleton Tunnel Riot. The construction of the tunnel was contracted by the Great Western Railway to a builder named Robert Marchant, who claimed to be owed £34,000 by the Great Western Railway and failed to pay the construction crews. Marchant’s men downed tools and refused to work, in order to force work to resume Brunel gathered a private army of supporters to try and oust Marchant and take control of the tunnel. After three days two magistrates who had been brought in to read the Riot Act
ordered Marchant’s men to resume work.
The Great Western leased the line, but the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton made approaches to the London & North Western with a view to connecting to Wolverhampton High-Level
on the Stour Valley line instead, with a junction at Tipton. The GWR protested to Parliament who refused to sanction such a thing and threatened the company with heavy penalties unless the line reached the Low Level station and Cannock Rd Junction by September 1853. The line was eventually finished in July 1853, and opened on 1 December.
On the death of the contractor, Francis Tredwell, work stopped for several years while the Company entered into long litigation with his family firm over financial claims. It took the intervention of Brunel before monies were released to allow his brothers to continue work in 1851.
(near Bilston
) was closed to passenger trains in 1962, shortly before the publication of the Beeching Report
. It remained open to goods trains until December 1967. The track was lifted shortly afterwards and parts of the line have since been built on. The grounds of the Angle Ring
factory in Bloomfield Road
, Tipton
, were the first to swallow up part of the trackbed during the 1980s.
The section of line between the Birmingham New Road and Sedgley Road West overbridges on the Coseley
-Tipton border was developed as a residential street called Oxford Way in 2002, after more than 20 years of plans for housing development on the site. The overbridges were demolished a year earlier.
The section of the railway between Stourbridge
and Dudley
was later absorbed into the South Staffordshire Line
, which continued to Walsall
after forking off eastwards from Dudley. Passenger services had all been withdrawn by 1965, but goods trains continued to serve the route until 1993, when the line north of Round Oak
closed. The line is still in use up to this point to serve the local steel terminal
, and the closed section is due to re-open in 2011 as part of the Midland Metro's
second phase. A single-track line for goods trains will run alongside the Metro between Brierley Hill
and Wednesbury
and continue on the old trackbed to Walsall.
the railway was nickname
d the "Old Worse and Worse", and was a "shocking railway". On 23 August 1858 there was a serious accident between Round Oak
and Brettell Lane
which resulted in the death of 14 people and serious injury of 50 more. A Sunday excursion train to Worcester of 45 carriages hauled by two engines suffered catastrophic failures of the couplings on two occasions, ultimately resulting in a third of the carriages running loose and becoming derailed. It was described by Captain Tyler, the Board of Trade
inspector, as "Decidedly the worst railway accident that has ever occurred in this country".
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
, Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
, Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
, and Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
, with a branch to the Grand Junction Railway
Grand Junction Railway
The Grand Junction Railway was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was merged into the London and North Western Railway...
at Bushbury. This would be known as the Oxford-Worcester-Wolverhampton Line.
The line was opened in stages between 1852 and 1853, and had connections to the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
(GWR) at both ends. In 1860 the OWW amalgamated with the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway
Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway
The Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway was a railway line connecting the Welsh port city of Newport via Abergavenny, to the major English market town of Hereford.Sponsored by the LNWR, it opened on 6 December 1853...
and the Worcester and Hereford Railway to become the West Midland Railway, which in turn was amalgamated into the GWR in 1863.
The track exists today as far as Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
, with used track existing as far as the location of the old Harts Hill railway station
Harts Hill railway station
Harts Hill railway station was a station on the Oxford-Worcester-Wolverhampton Line. It was opened in 1895 by a GWR keen to invest in what was perceived to be the lucrative passenger area of the Black Country, and it was intended to serve the communities between Brierley Hill and Dudley...
near Dudley. North of Dudley, the trackbed has long since been replaced, and the Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
terminus at the Low Level
Wolverhampton Low Level railway station
Wolverhampton Low Level was a railway station on Sun Street, in Springfield, Wolverhampton, England .It was built by the Great Western Railway, on their route from London to Birkenhead via Birmingham...
station - has, of January 2007, being almost totally demolished (bar its Grade II listed building) to make way for redevelopment.
Development
Other branches included lines to KingswinfordKingswinford
Kingswinford is a suburban area in the West Midlands.Historically within Staffordshire, the area is mentioned in the Domesday Book its name relates to a ford for the King's swine - Latin Swinford Regis. The current significance is probably in tourism, education and housing...
, and Tipton Basin. The Bill stated that the track was to be mixed gauge
Dual gauge
A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail...
from Abbotswood near Worcester northwards. It also stated that if the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton failed to complete the line, the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
should either lease the line, or purchase the company and complete the line itself. The Bill also stated that the Wolverhampton Low Level station
Wolverhampton Low Level railway station
Wolverhampton Low Level was a railway station on Sun Street, in Springfield, Wolverhampton, England .It was built by the Great Western Railway, on their route from London to Birkenhead via Birmingham...
was to be constructed and run jointly with two other companies: the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway
Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway
The Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway opened on 12 November 1849. It merged with the Great Western Railway on 1 September 1854.The company formed originally as the Shrewsbury & Wolverhampton, Dudley & Birmingham Railway in 1844, it became Shrewsbury & Birmingham Railway in 1847.When the section...
and the Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Dudley Railway.
The Great Western Railway oversaw the company's project, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
was chief engineer. His underestimation of the cost resulted in the Great Western increasing their shareholding to four percent. Progress was slow and by 1 June 1849 all of the available money was spent, and only the middle section of the line was anywhere near complete, so the Railway Commissioners ordered the Great Western to complete the line. They refused and a legal battle started, but meanwhile the loyalty of the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton towards the Great Western was in decline and it signed an agreement with the London & North Western Railway and the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
on 21 February 1851 which allowed those companies to finish the line themselves, and then run on it. The Great Western had the agreement made void and then offered the company a similar deal on their own terms.
A notable event during the construction of the line occurred during the construction of Campden Tunnel near the village of Mickleton
Mickleton, Gloucestershire
Mickleton, with a population of 1551 , is the northernmost village in Gloucestershire, England.- Location :Mickleton lies close to the county border with Worcestershire and Warwickshire....
, known as the Battle of Mickleton Tunnel is was called by Berrow's Worcester Journal
Berrow's Worcester Journal
Berrow's Worcester Journal claims to be "the oldest surviving newspaper in the World", It is owned by Newsquest, the second largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom.The common belief that Berrow's Worcester Journal, or its...
at the time the Mickleton Tunnel Riot. The construction of the tunnel was contracted by the Great Western Railway to a builder named Robert Marchant, who claimed to be owed £34,000 by the Great Western Railway and failed to pay the construction crews. Marchant’s men downed tools and refused to work, in order to force work to resume Brunel gathered a private army of supporters to try and oust Marchant and take control of the tunnel. After three days two magistrates who had been brought in to read the Riot Act
Riot Act
The Riot Act was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain that authorised local authorities to declare any group of twelve or more people to be unlawfully assembled, and thus have to disperse or face punitive action...
ordered Marchant’s men to resume work.
The Great Western leased the line, but the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton made approaches to the London & North Western with a view to connecting to Wolverhampton High-Level
Wolverhampton railway station
Wolverhampton railway station in Wolverhampton, West Midlands is on the West Coast Main Line. It is served by London Midland, CrossCountry, Virgin Trains and Arriva Trains Wales.-History:...
on the Stour Valley line instead, with a junction at Tipton. The GWR protested to Parliament who refused to sanction such a thing and threatened the company with heavy penalties unless the line reached the Low Level station and Cannock Rd Junction by September 1853. The line was eventually finished in July 1853, and opened on 1 December.
On the death of the contractor, Francis Tredwell, work stopped for several years while the Company entered into long litigation with his family firm over financial claims. It took the intervention of Brunel before monies were released to allow his brothers to continue work in 1851.
Closures and changes
The final section of the railway between Dudley and Priestfield JunctionPriestfield railway station
Priestfield railway station was a junction station built by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway in 1854. It was situated on the junction of the Oxford-Worcester-Wolverhampton Line and the Birmingham Snow Hill-Wolverhampton Low Level Line...
(near Bilston
Bilston
Bilston is a town in the English county of West Midlands, situated in the southeastern corner of the City of Wolverhampton. Three wards of Wolverhampton City Council cover the town: Bilston East and Bilston North, which almost entirely comprise parts of the historic Borough of Bilston, and...
) was closed to passenger trains in 1962, shortly before the publication of the Beeching Report
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
. It remained open to goods trains until December 1967. The track was lifted shortly afterwards and parts of the line have since been built on. The grounds of the Angle Ring
Angle Ring
The Angle Ring Company Limited is an engineering firm based in Tipton, West Midlands, England. It was founded in 1951 at a site in Bloomfield Road, and has since expanded to become one of the most prominent steel benders / curvers of metal and alloys in its market. By 1980, it was Britain's largest...
factory in Bloomfield Road
Bloomfield Road
Bloomfield Road is an all-seater football stadium in the English town of Blackpool, Lancashire. It has been the permanent home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901 and is named after the road on which the stadium's main entrance used to stand. The stadium has been in a process of redevelopment since 2000...
, Tipton
Tipton
Tipton is a town in the Sandwell borough of the West Midlands, England, with a population of around 47,000. Tipton is located about halfway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is a part of the Black Country....
, were the first to swallow up part of the trackbed during the 1980s.
The section of line between the Birmingham New Road and Sedgley Road West overbridges on the Coseley
Coseley
Coseley is a town located mostly within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the English West Midlands. Part of the Black Country, it lies south east of Wolverhampton and north of Dudley....
-Tipton border was developed as a residential street called Oxford Way in 2002, after more than 20 years of plans for housing development on the site. The overbridges were demolished a year earlier.
The section of the railway between Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
and Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
was later absorbed into the South Staffordshire Line
South Staffordshire Line
The South Staffordshire Line was a railway line that connected Lichfield in Staffordshire, England with Dudley, formerly in Worcestershire. However, it joined the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway's line just north of Dudley Station, where it, in essence, continued to Stourbridge, in...
, which continued to Walsall
Walsall
Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
after forking off eastwards from Dudley. Passenger services had all been withdrawn by 1965, but goods trains continued to serve the route until 1993, when the line north of Round Oak
Round Oak railway station
-History:It was opened in 1852 to serve the town of Brierley Hill. Two railways/routes served the station - originally the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway and the South Staffordshire Railway, which later became the Great Western Railway and London, Midland and Scottish Railway ...
closed. The line is still in use up to this point to serve the local steel terminal
Round Oak Steel Terminal
Round Oak Steel Terminal is a railway freight terminal dealing in steel from the Round Oak Steel Works until 1982 and from other sources thereafter, in Brierley Hill, West Midlands, England managed by Corus Group.-History:...
, and the closed section is due to re-open in 2011 as part of the Midland Metro's
Midland Metro
The Midland Metro is a light-rail or tram line in the West Midlands of England between the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via West Bromwich and Wednesbury. It is owned and promoted by Centro, and operated by West Midlands Travel Limited, a subsidiary of the National Express Group , under...
second phase. A single-track line for goods trains will run alongside the Metro between Brierley Hill
Brierley Hill
Brierley Hill is a town and electoral ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England. It is one of the larger Black Country towns with a population of 9,631 and is heavily industrialised, best known for glass and steel manufacturing, although the industry has declined...
and Wednesbury
Wednesbury
Wednesbury is a market town in England's Black Country, part of the Sandwell metropolitan borough in West Midlands, near the source of the River Tame. Similarly to the word Wednesday, it is pronounced .-Pre-Medieval and Medieval times:...
and continue on the old trackbed to Walsall.
Accident
According to L. T. C. RoltL. T. C. Rolt
Lionel Thomas Caswall Rolt was a prolific English writer and the biographer of major civil engineering figures including Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Thomas Telford...
the railway was nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
d the "Old Worse and Worse", and was a "shocking railway". On 23 August 1858 there was a serious accident between Round Oak
Round Oak railway station
-History:It was opened in 1852 to serve the town of Brierley Hill. Two railways/routes served the station - originally the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway and the South Staffordshire Railway, which later became the Great Western Railway and London, Midland and Scottish Railway ...
and Brettell Lane
Brettell Lane railway station
-Brettell Lane railway station:Brettell Lane railway station was a station on the Oxford-Worcester-Wolverhampton Line built to serve the communities between Brierley Hill and Stourbridge in England.-History:...
which resulted in the death of 14 people and serious injury of 50 more. A Sunday excursion train to Worcester of 45 carriages hauled by two engines suffered catastrophic failures of the couplings on two occasions, ultimately resulting in a third of the carriages running loose and becoming derailed. It was described by Captain Tyler, the Board of Trade
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
inspector, as "Decidedly the worst railway accident that has ever occurred in this country".
See also
- West Midland Railway