The Kingswinford Railway

The railway was built and owned by the Great Western Railway Company, they had wanted to build a direct rail link from Wolverhampton to Bridgnorth, passengers wanting to reach Bridgnorth had to go via Kidderminster and Stourport or catch a bus from the low-level station in Wolverhampton. In fact G.W.R. had been the first company to run a motor bus in the town.

In 1905 the G.W.R. gained permission from parliament to build the railway. Work started in 1912 it was not completed until 1925 due to the outbreak of the First World War.

It was decided that the line should leave the main Shrewsbury - Chester line at Oxley sidings and travel down past Aldersley, through Tettenhall to Compton, Lower Penn and Wombourne (near the Bratch). The company then faced a dilemma, should they carry on west towards Bridgnorth or continue south and connect up with the Earl of Dudley's Pensnett Railway at Baggeridge Junction and the Dudley - Stourbridge line at Brettle Lane. The southern route was chosen as it guaranteed the work would be completed sooner.

The track was laid from the station buildings and coalyard at Wombourne to Himley, where the Earl of Dudley was able to demand certain favours as he was a director of the company. He demanded that trees were planted so as to hide the railway from his view at Himley Hall and the bridge over the Stourbridge Road was faced with red sandstone instead of the more usual blue engineering bricks. From here it ran to Lower Gornal, Pensnett, Bromley and Brockmore before joining the Dudley - Stourbridge line at Brettle Lane.

The line was not very successful, the motor bus had become the norm and the passengers for the service were scarce as it connected a series of small villages. Eventually passenger services were withdrawn in 1932, the line being used for goods traffic only after this date, except for a short period after the D-Day landings in Normandy during World War II when it was used to ferry wounded allied soldiers to various hospitals in the area.

After nationalisation in 1948 the line became part of the Western Region of British Railways. The further decline in traffic throughout the 1950's and early 60's resulted in closure under the Beeching Report. The last train to run on the line was on 24th June 1965.