Local railway company crests

Rail Around Birmingham
& the West Midlands

Rail Around Birmingham & the West Midlands

 

Bookmark and Share



Princes End station crossing signal box 1981 (Laurence Hogg)
Station Menu
 
Railway News
 

Princes End Station

1863 - 1890:1895 - 1916

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).

 
Princes End station entrance to trackbed, Upper Church Lane
Princes End station site
 

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.

 
Princes End station trackbed walkway approaching station

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.

 

Google
 
Web www.railaroundbirmingham.co.uk