The railway route was always in competition with road transport for passengers. In the 1950s, both Wolverhampton and Walsall operated electric trolley buses. Wolverhampton's green and yellow buses alternated with Walsall's pale blue buses on the Wolverhampton to Walsall route. Of course, the "trollies" were eliminated in favour of diesel buses.
Development of the railways around Walsall
The South Staffordshire Railway was formed in 1846 to connect Walsall with Lichfield and construct associated branches. The Grand Junction Railway line, opened in 1837, had been built to link Birmingham (at one end of the London and Birmingham Railway) with Earlestown (at the midpoint of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway). This was the start of Britain's railway network. By 1847, Walsall was linked to the Grand Junction at Bescot. Two years later, the line to Lichfield and Wychnor Junction came into operation, followed by a branch to Cannock ultimately extended to Rugeley where it made a connection with the L&NWR Trent Valley Line. In 1879, the Midland Railway opened a line from Castle Bromwich (on the Birmingham - Derby line) to Wolverhampton and triangular junctions accessed the South Stafford Line at Ryecroft Junction, just north of Walsall station.
Railways to Walsall in the 1950s
The railways around Walsall always impressed me - between Pleck Junction and Ryecroft Junction there were four running lines and extensive sidings. Pleck Junction controlled three diverging routes (Bescot on the Grand Junction, the South Stafford line to Dudley and Darlaston on the Grand Junction). Ryecroft Junction controlled no less than four diverging routes (Wolverhampton via the Midland line, the line to Cannock and Rugeley, the line to Lichfield and Wychnor Junction and Sutton Park and Castle Bromwich via the Midland Line). At a Railway Group Session at Brewood in June 2013, Keith had shown his presentation 'Black Country Railways from the Air' which included the picture below showing Walsall station in steam days.
A screenshot from Keith's presentation showing Walsall station, with its round booking hall.
I'm old enough to remember the distinctive large, round booking hall at Walsall station which is clearly visible in the above picture. It had become very shabby in its latter days (like most of our railway system post-war) and was demolished to create the Saddlers Shopping Centre which opened in 1980. I particularly remember the mechanical signalling and the impressive signal gantries that were needed to control the many routes through Walsall. There were two routes regularly used by trains between Birmingham New Street and Walsall (via the Soho Road line and via Aston) and I've listed the signal boxes which controlled these routes below.
Signal boxes between New Street and Walsall, via Soho Road line:
Birmingham New Street No. 5Signal boxes between Perry Barr North and New Street, via Aston:
Sheepcote Lane
Monument Lane
Harborne Jn.
Winson Green Jn.
Soho East Jn.
Soho Road
Handsworth Jn.
Perry Barr North Jn.
Great Barr
Newton Road
Newton Jn.
Bescot No. 1
Bescot No. 2
Bescot No. 3
Pleck Jn.
Walsall No. 1
Walsall No. 2
Walsall No. 3
Perry Barr Station JunctionYou can find detailed signal box diagrams of all the above signal boxes in the Signalling Record Society publication 'British Railways Layout Plans of the 1950's - Volume 11: LNW Lines in the West Midlands (excluding Trent Valley Line)' (ISBN: 1 873228 13 9).
Witton Goods
Aston No. 2
Aston No. 1
Vauxhall
Proof House Jn.
Birmingham New Street No. 1
I'd become familiar with the line through Bescot and Aston in the 1950s, briefly described in the post 9:17 a.m. to Birmingham. In the post My First Steam Special, I summarised a trip from New Street to Walsall via the Soho Road Line in 1960 behind the preserved Midland Compound '1000', on our way to Stoke. By July 1962, modernisation was well in hand and I described a roundabout trip to Stafford via Walsall in the post A Sunday Stroll to Stafford.
Railways to Walsall in recent times
In the 1960s, all the above signal boxes were abolished, first with the introduction of Walsall Power Box at Pleck Junction (provided with 'Westpac' modular interlocking and an 'NX' signalling panel) in 1965, then, the following year, with the commissioning of the Birmingham New Street Power Signal Box (similarly equipped with Westinghouse equipment). The striking architectural design of the New Street signal box has led to the building being Listed Grade II in 1995 (listing details).
Birmingham New Street Signal Box
During 2013, Walsall Power Box was, in turn, made redundant and control is now from the West Midlands Signalling Centre at Saltley.
The part-commissioned West Midlands Signalling Centre, Saltley, Birmingham now controls Walsall area.
To see what remains in 2013, refer to 'Railway Track Diagrams Book 4: Midlands & North West', Third Edition, published by Trackmaps (ISBN: 978-0-9549866-7-4).
A trip to Walsall in January 2014
Provided you're in no hurry, it's still possible to go from Wolverhampton to Walsall by train, using the Stour Valley Line from Wolverhampton to Birmingham New Street, changing there to a Walsall train. On Saturday, 11th January 2014, I decided to do just that.
I arrived at Wolverhampton station in time to see an Arriva Trains Wales DMU depart for Birmingham. A few minutes later, I boarded the following well-loaded Cross-Country 'Voyager' from Manchester which would take the Bristol line after Birmingham New Street. Following on the heels of the earlier DMU, we suffered a signal check on the way and then stood for a couple of minutes in New Street North Tunnel.
The 'Way out' signs at Birmingham's 'half-rebuilt' station were very confusing but I made my way to the concourse and decided that platform 5 offered a DMU to Rugeley via Walsall.
The rebuilt concourse at the 'half-rebuilt' Birmingham New Street Station.
There was already a Wolverhampton EMU in one end of platform 5 and, after a few minutes, a train arrived from New Street South Tunnel and stopped behind the EMU, discharging a heavy load of passengers. This train claimed to be from Rugeley but the waiting passengers were warned not to board - I don't know why - because, a few minutes later, the Passenger Information Display screens decided we were to board for Rugeley. I noticed that there are now two public address systems giving passenger announcements, one with a female voice, one with a male. I didn't find the two message streams easy to follow, I'm afraid.
The arriving train had clearly been routed via Aston but the unit did not reverse so as to retrace the same route. Rather, once the Wolverhampton EMU had left, we followed in the same direction, receiving a number of single yellow and double yellow signals before branching right at Winson Green to take the Soho Road line to Perry Barr.
At Perry Barr, we joined the Grand Junction line, always called 'The Old Road' once the Stour Valley Line was opened. This is the limit of New Street Power Box control area - beyond here, control is now from the West Midlands Signalling Centre at Saltley. A tall aqueduct leads the Tame Valley Canal over the railway. The canal was not built until 1844 so the railway got here first! We stopped at Tame Bridge Parkway - a modern invention dating from 1990 described by Wikipedia here.
We passed the large marshalling sidings at Bescot with both Down and Up sides provided with Hump Yards for dealing with the formation of single wagon loads into complete trains. The Down Hump Yard was fully automated in the 1960s, around the time British Railways abandoned the idea of being a 'full service' freight operator accepting single wagon loads and concentrated on 'block loads'. The line to Walsall diverges to the right and plunges under the elevated M6 motorway, where the remains of the abandoned route to Bescot Curve Junction and the South Stafford Line are visible. At Pleck Junction, the truncated South Stafford line to Dudley is now arranged as a siding with run-round. The line from Darlaston Junction joined on our left, we passed the Network Rail Training Centre and came to a stand in platform 1 at Walsall, where I alighted. Looking north, the short Park Street Tunnel was as gloomy as I remember but, of course, Walsall No. 3 signal box which was sited in the tunnel is long gone.
Park Street Tunnel viewed from platform 1. Note the new signal, controlled from the West Midlands Signalling Centre. The control code 'DR' stands for 'Droitwich - Ryecroft'!
After a brief stop, my DMU departed for Rugeley on what is now marketed as 'The Chase Line'. Within a few minutes, a Class 70 on a container train followed.
Bescot end of Walsall station showing a Class 70 with a container train. Note the new signals on the Up Fast, Platform 3 and Platform 2 (showing double yellow for a DMU which will shortly depart for Birmingham).
I wandered around Walsall town for a while. Although it retains a fairly traditional open market, the actual shopping areas feature the usual high street names which make one town indistinguishable from any other. I found the Saddler Shopping Centre as depressing as I expected so I hurried back to the station to catch the next EMU to Birmingham, so as to return to Birmingham by a different route.
After re-tracing my outward route as far as Perry Barr North Junction (noting with delight that the station building on the Up platform at Hamstead is still the L&NWR standard pattern wooden building), we continued on the Grand Junction Route. The line from Lichfield joined on our left at Aston (this line, also electrified, forms one end of the 'Cross-City Line').
Aston North Junction, showing converging line from Lichfield. Note the elevated M6 motorway in the background.
The four-track section from Aston towards Birmingham is now two track (with the remains of the former Goods Lines). After pausing at Duddeston Station (which used to be called Vauxhall and Duddeston), we passed the Aston Signalling Control Centre which controls the Lichfield Line beyond Aston. The building is a composite B.R. signal box design which used to be Vauxhall Signal Box and, more recently, Vauxhall Shunt Frame. At Proof House Junctions, we croseds to the Down Stour and were soon running into platform 6 at New Street. Although my train would continue All-stations to Wolverhampton, it was booked to stand for about 15 minutes first, so I found an earlier departure to complete my journey back to Wolverhampton.
Related articles on other sites
Grand Junction Railway (Wikipedia).
South Staffordshire Line Website.
Walsall Railway Station (Wikipedia).
Trolleybuses in Wolverhampton (Wikipedia).
Trolleybuses in Walsall (Wikipedia).
Related posts in this blog
9:17 a.m. to Birmingham.
My First Steam Special.
A Sunday Stroll to Stafford.
My pictures
West Midland Railways
