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Halesowen Railway

C

Cutmonster

Guest
Hi All - I've just joined this fabulous web ring and am having a great time learning more about our City; I wonder if anyone has any memories, recollections or photographs of the old Halesowen Railway, which started at Longbridge, went through the Austin Car Works and on to Halesowen and then Old Hill and Dudley? This old railway, long pulled up before I came on the scene, has been of immense interest to me ever since I was a kid and I am keen to learn as much as possible about it.

Thanks and all the best, David
 
Yes, those photos by D J Norton are a terrific record. I still have schoolday memories of getting off a Bristol Road tram in March 1951 at Northfield with a girl friend of the time and walking round past Kitwell to Woodgate, where we got a rare Midland Red bus to Bearwood. There was no motorway then of course - just quiet, peaceful countryside - and I well remember the first of the two Longbridge trains being driven over the viaduct about 3.30 or 4.00 in the afternoon. Never travelled on the line although I could have done, but I did do the Harborne line in 1950 I think.
Peter
 
Peter Walker said:
Yes, those photos by D J Norton are a terrific record. I still have schoolday memories of getting off a Bristol Road tram in March 1951 at Northfield with a girl friend of the time and walking round past Kitwell to Woodgate, where we got a rare Midland Red bus to Bearwood. There was no motorway then of course - just quiet, peaceful countryside - and I well remember the first of the two Longbridge trains being driven over the viaduct about 3.30 or 4.00 in the afternoon. Never travelled on the line although I could have done, but I did do the Harborne line in 1950 I think.
Peter
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Those are nice memories, I have had a look round both the Harborne and Halesowen lines myself. Were you a passenger on the June 1950 SLS Special to Harborne and other places, I've seen pictures of that!
 
The photos were a great reminder as one day I cycled there with a school friend and we walked to the centre of Dowrey Dell viaduct with our collection of bangers stored after bonfire night one year with a view to blowing it up. However, part way into our expedition we noticed a plume smoke rising from near the Bluebird factory and realized that a train was approaching.
We legged it off viaduct pretty sharpish but could have saved BR some money if had succeeded.
I decided with that success that perhaps I not cut out for the SAS.
 
The viaduct was perhaps the most important engineering structure on the Halesowen Railway, which was promoted by an independent railway company and took a few years to complete. The line through Longbridge was a branch from an originally intended main line that promised to link the Corngreaves Ironworks with Bromsgrove. Work started on the Longbridge branch first and all that was finally built was the line from Longbridge to Halesowen. Here a junction was made with the GWR branch from Old Hill. The Halesowen Railway was worked as a joint line GWR/Midland, then GWR/ LMS until British Railways took over
 
A colleague and myself are searching for a model locomotive in 00 gauge of 2F Johnson with Belpaire bolier and Deeley cab to run on a projected layout of the old Longbridge-Rubery-Hunnington-Halesowen branch line, but....do you think we can get one ??? NO WAY..... after searching for months it would seem they are few and far between, it was said that a model was made some years back in kit form but not now, if they do come up for auction on the 'usual' outlets they fetch a small fortune...so there is quite a demand for these locos yet no one seems to have grasped the gap in the market, coming from Brmingham...the workshop of the world that once was....it's quite surprising how things have changed and we rely on China and far east to produce our loco models, with all the modern technology & 3D printers...one would have thought there would have been a capable person out there......there usually was in Birmingham....at one time our city would produce just anything.......but however...I see the latest fantastic addition to our Birmingham Standard bus models are made in Canada......Rapido trains do a fabulous model of them
 

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Incidentally, it took some years for the railway line to disappear under development. As a youngster, me and my school-mates used to walk from Old Hill to Windmill End along the trackbed.
 
Interesting that both Halesowen Railway and the Harborne Railway are mentioned on this thread. Perhaps less well known is that the Harborne Railway was originally intended to continue on to Halesowen but vested railway interests prevented this.
 
superdad3 said:
Interesting that both Halesowen Railway and the Harborne Railway are mentioned on this thread. Perhaps less well known is that the Harborne Railway was originally intended to continue on to Halesowen but vested railway interests prevented this.
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That's so true ...and I had a work colleague that used to be a fireman on a 2F Johnson loco on the Harborne line...he was based at Monument Lane shed.... he had some fascinating stories ...and of course on the Harborne Branch there was a line to Mitchells and Butlers.....another very interesting branch
 
There is a nice little film of the Halesowen line on you tube, not sure how to transfer it to this post though
 
Lloyd said:
Just put up the page address, or even just the name of the film.
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And there is a great DVD of the line that is sold by Tennents trains of Halesowen...it was done by John Tennent......a very worthwhile purchase I might add.......in my collection of course
 
Very good DVD from Tennents Trains at Hayley Green....done by John Tennent...well worth the money and has some amazing footage of this railway branch line
 
I think it's amazing what the members on here find in their archives......and a colleague and I are still researching the Longbridge Halesowen Branch line and we both are astonished at photos coming out of the woodwork so to speak, what have you got hidden away ?? my colleague is planning a layout of this branch line and it's so good to come across photos so useful, D J Norton had so many that were handy and we recently saw one in Mike Hitches book....you just don't know who or where the next ones will appear from ....anyone sorting out their old photos ?????........PLEASE !!!!
 
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mikeflan said:
I think it's amazing what the members on here find in their archives......and a colleague and I are still researching the Longbridge Halesowen Branch line and we both are astonished at photos coming out of the woodwork so to speak, what have you got hidden away ?? my colleague is planning a layout of this ranch line and it's so good to come across photos so useful, D J Norton had so many that were handy and we recently saw one in Mike Hitches book....you just don't know who or where the next ones will appear from ....anyone sorting out their old photos ?????........PLEASE !!!!
Click to expand...
what gauge is the layout?
 
I walked this line last summer with my son. Its suprising how much of it is left. I was building a wall in my garden, so the following week, my son and i went back with some sacks to collect a few bricks from the remains of Dowery Dell Viaduct. We got quite a few, (there are hundreds lying about) and carried them back to my car. Trust me to choose the hottest day of the year to do this. When we got to the car the sweat was running off us. Anyway i now have a part of the Viaduct in my garden, and the bricks are as good as the day they were made. If you have the pleasure of walking this old line, look out for items such as bolts chairs, sleepers etc, you never know what you might find. Further along the line to Halesowen, is Hunnington Station, as im sure many of you already know. This is now a private dwelling, but has kept its station character, which is a credit to the owner.
 
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Talking of the Halesowen line, if you have Facebook, check out the 'Rubery Station' page .... the remains of the station platforms and foundations of the building have been part-revealed, the area tidied up and scrub cleared. Great effort by all those involved. We even found some of the glazed white tiling from the gents' urinal :)
 
Thanks for the welcome guys. About 18 months ago i walked some of this line with a friend, we found a couple of sleeper chairs, and i took one home with me, i didnt need to go to the gym for a week after carrying this. Anyway i rubbed it down and there was LMSR with a couple of numbers on it. I painted it up and highlighted the castings on it, and it is now a feature in my garden. Further up the line towards Longbridge, the old line passes through Frankley. There is a bridge in situ here, and in good condition. There was one a bit further down ,but due to mindless vandalism the council demolished that one. At the Longbridge end of the line, although this site has been re-developed, the bridge is still there, and has been restored. It is fenced off but i managed to get under it, and there is still soot on the roof. The old Longbridge platform was removed about 4 years ago.
 
Having walked this line a few times, i remember once we had just walked past New Street bridge ( not the Birmingham one ), They have filled the cutting in about 15 years ago. We were happily walking along the top of the embankment, and i noticed an apple tree growing out the side of the of it. I clambered down the bank to it and tried an apple or two. They tasted lovely, so we took a few with us. I should imagine that it got there because of a passenger throwing his/her apple core out of the window many years ago. This old line must still hold a few suprises and secrets.
 
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