Princes End station opened under the LNWR in 1863 and was the second
station to serve Princes End, the first being the then-named 'Princes End Station' - later to
be renamed Princes End & Coseley to avoid confusion - on the West Midlands Railway/GWR line
some mile or so away. The life of the station was short lived and closed in 1890 only to
re-emerge in 1895, finally closing in 1916. Nearly one hundred years on there are still some
good signs of the old line as it continued to operate into the 1980s, long after the passenger
station had closed. Above we see the signal box controlling the crossing on Upper Church Lane in
1981, heavily vandalised and decommissioned: the station stood immediately to the right of the crossing
(photo: Laurence Hogg).
Above-left we are standing on the site of the signal box looking towards Ocker Hill. The bushes just to the left of this
view are concealing the site of the station which can be seen in the next photograph. Unfortunately, I cannot discern
where the entrance to the station would have been as I have not seen a good photograph of this station when operational.
The station site backs on to the Neighbourhood Office on the High Street which looks as though it was constructed
within the last 20 years-or-so: maybe that was the spot? If you can shed some light on this matter I'd be grateful
to hear from you. Above-right we have crossed Upper Church Street (to the rear) and are on the trackbed that has
been preserved as a walkway and are standing at the site of the station itself: ahead the line follows the back
of the shops along the High Street as it makes its way to Ocker Hill.
Above we are again on the trackbed but this time approaching the station and crossing site from
the South. The line continued from here to Ocker Hill and was retained in use for coal trains serving Ocker Hill
Power Station and other goods workings until 1980.