A 37 Appears...

37422 made a welcome visit to the area on Tuesday the 27th August, working the Bescot to Toton and return, the latter trip (6G77) is seen here appearing fron under the Wednesbury Road bridge, and crossing Pleck Junction, on its way into Bescot North End.

60040 puts in an appearance

Quite a few people turned out to see recently repainted 60040 "The Territorial Army Centenary" on Friday....

1. Waiting at the Walsall Cement Depot, as two-tone green Shanks' East London Express 66522 passes on a Rugeley-bound coal train.

2 & 3. Two more views at Walsall as the last few wagons are emptied.

4. Setting out across the Park line at Ryecroft Jcn (Nick Broome).

5. Rumbling through the woods at Hardwick crossing (Ferret).

Les gets a tow

Here's 47826 + 47851 + 86259 "Les Ross" on their way from Carnforth to Tyseley on Friday, the trio getting underway from WL42 signal at Aldridge after a short stop.

The last shot shows the convoy passing under the single span Anchor Road bridge (bridge no 56).

Brighten your day

Small Copper butterfly basking alongside the railway at New Hall Valley.

Bits and pieces

Stuff seen on the Sutton Park line during the last week or so.


An evening shot showing 60096 hauling empty fuel tanks from Ironbridge.

Jarvis Fastline machinery and generators seen on 6D44 Bescot - Toton.

Empty cement tanks returning to Tunstead.

56303 passing Walmley with its freightliner train 4O90.

60018 with an engineers stone train from Stud Farm.

Cattle Arch

When the Sutton Park line was constructed in the late 1870s, quite a few bridges had to be built to enable farmers and livestock owners to move cattle and ponies etc, from one side of the park to the other, as the railway bisected the park longitudinally virtually through its centre.

These photo's show the Bracebridge Cattle Arch (bridge 43) within the Park, as 66151 passes over with 4F93 coal hoppers from Toton to Warrington.

Ironically, a fence and gate now prevents livestock from moving between the two "halves" of the Park !, the bridge merely serving a waterlogged footpath underpass.

Park plastic

Of three more recent Voyager moves across the Park line, two were captured by local photographers, as shown here.

John Edkins saw 221142 passing Streetly Gate running as 5D42 from Crewe to the Barton depot, on the afternoon of Saturday 23/08/08.

The Flying Ferret also saw 221142 this time utilising headcode 5D92 passing Hardwick crossing on Thursday 29/08/08, also running from Crewe to Barton.

Not enough room

... to fit the loco in ! Despite some tree-felling around Anchor Road bridge at Aldridge (bridge no.56), the vegetation is determined to grow back as swiftly as it can. 56302 "Wilson Walshe" is seen bursting through the bridge portal with 4O90 on Wednesday afternoon.

Rumbling through...

60031 "ABP Connect" (not the most inspiring name...) cuts through New Hall Valley and heads towards Walsall with the 6G21 Mountsorrel to Bescot loaded quarry train, comprising autoballasters and 4-wheel stone carrying wagons.

Views from the Big Span

Bridge 22 is a large tall single-arched structure at Penns/Walmley, known as the Big Span. Formerly a cattle accomodation pathway bridge leading from the west side of the New Hall Valley to the east, now it is partly a footbridge from one housing estate to another, and a further two thirds of the bridge width is overgrown and unused.

1. Blue bricks made at Victoria Brickworks in Aldridge

2. Looking towards Water Orton, 56303 passes the former Penns station site where part of the old platform can be seen at left on the upside. Hardly a tree graces old 1950s photo's of this station ! That's Penns Lane bridge in the distance, with it's distinctive staggered parapet walls.

3. Looking along the north-west bridge wall, with the track below curving away towards Sutton Park and Walsall. The bridge wall is a good 5 feet high.

4. 66023 approaches from the Walsall direction, with 6E79 steel empties from Wolverhampton to Scunthorpe. Going towards Walsall on the down line is a Rugeley-bound loaded coal train, 6M49 from Goole Docks.

DRS 37s and flasks

37038 + 37602 seen in the fading light at Streetly Gate this evening with 2 flasks running from Bridgwater to Crewe. Normally this train would run via Worcester and Bescot but was today diverted over the Sutton Park line.

The Aldridge - Walsall Wood Branch

The station at Walsall Wood as it was in 1957 and today's comparison shot, both taken from the same viewpoint, the Lichfield Road bridge.

The line ran from Aldridge to Brownhills and although it was closed to passengers in 1930, these station buildings survived, possibly being used as offices in connection with the local Walsall Wood colliery, although they seem to be boarded up in the old photo. The buildings and platforms stood until the late 1970s.

More on the Aldridge - Walsall Wood Branch

There's not much left of this old line which opened in 1884 and ran from Aldridge Junction on the Sutton Park line, to Walsall Wood and Brownhills. The double-track railway closed completely around 1962, so it's unlikely that a diesel loco ever ran over it... If anyone has any older photo's of this area they would be very gratefully received !

1 & 2 The railway passed under Coppy Lane (now known as Coppice Lane) at this bridge north of Aldridge. The Vigo Landfill (called "Utopia" Quarry !) has obliterated all trace of the trackbed on the northside.

3 Looking from the Coppy Lane bridge towards Aldridge, with the old Colliery site on the right. Part of the former trackbed is now flooded, and that telegraph pole in the centre of the picture is probably all that remains from the railway at track level !

4 A-Z map showing the area, dating from around 1964. The Daw End canal branch is shown in blue, the Aldridge - Walsall Wood line being to the right of the canal, running roughly parallel to it.

Another bridge remains at Vigo Road, more photo's in the pipeline........

The Leighswood Branch

Included because of it's connection to Aldridge, this single track freight-only railway ran from near Pelsall on the South Staffs line, via Stubbers Green to Leighswood Colliery and various brickworks north of Aldridge. Not many relics now survive, as this line was also closed in the mid-1960s.

1 Sections of old bullhead rail used as fence posts, near Northywood Bridge.

2 Until just a few years ago Barnfield Bridge over the canal was pretty much intact, but now only the abutments remain (one shown, on the Brickyard Lane side).

3 Stubbers Green quarry is still heavily worked for clay used in brickmaking, but virtually all traces of the branch line have now been obliterated.

4 Leighswood Branch passed under the Lichfield Road at Shelfield, only this west wall of the bridge remains, the cutting having been filled in.

5 A-Z map of the area, showing the Leighswood Branch coming in from the top left (west side) and the many rail sidings in the area. It looks as though the branch may have connected with the Aldridge - Walsall Wood line at Leighswood.

The junction for the Walsall Wood branch can be seen at bottom right of the map, near Anchor Rd at Aldridge, which was also the Aldridge Station and Goods Yard location.

The week that was

A selection of shots from the last week at various points along the line. Nothing too exciting i'm afraid.

67029 "Royal Diamond" with 6G77 Burton - Bescot steel.

66092 + 66053 on 6D44 Bescot - Toton engineers.

60085 leading 0R66 with 3 loco's from Newport - Bescot.

66721 "Harry Beck" on a training run 0Z22 Walsall - Hams Hall.

60049 heading 6G21 Stud Farm - Bescot stone.

The end of steam (1968)

It was 40 years ago this week when British Rail brought the 150-years reign of steam to an end. A number of special trains ran in the North-West from Manchester and Carlisle, to commemorate the event.

In the West Midlands steam had been phased out gradually and had disappeared well before 1968.

The last steam-hauled expresses on the ex-GWR line through West Bromwich ran in March 1967, the last steam hauled freights had also ended by that date.

On the ex-LNWR lines around Bescot and Walsall, steam-hauled local passenger services were gradually replaced by DMU's from the late 1950s, some of these in turn being replaced by EMU's on the electrified lines, from 1965 onwards.

Steam-hauled freights from Bescot were thought to have come to an end by the close of 1966. A colleague ("needmorerail") was witness to what was possibly the last steam departure from Bescot when an immaculate Class 8F locomotive left the North End yard on a mixed freight train, and took the Bescot Curve line towards Wednesbury and Dudley, the former South Staffs route. A number of BR employees and officials saw the train off, which would seem to indicate that this was the very last working for a steam locomotive from Bescot. This was thought to have been in 1966 or possibly 1967, but needs confirmation.

The Walsall Chronicle article above shows ex-Bescot driver and Train Crew Supervisor Ken Broome with a model of former Bescot-allocated LMS Stanier Class 8f 2-8-0 engine which is up for sale via auction.

A day out (1924)

An LMS handbill from 1924 showing details of cheap tickets to Sutton Park and Lichfield, from various stations in the West Midlands.