page_title: Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
section_title: Stourbridge Town branch
hierarchical_section_title: Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway / Stourbridge Town branch
caption_attribution_description: English: Auto-train for Dudley at Stourbridge Junction. The auto-train is propelled by Collett auto-fitted 0-6-0PT No. 6422 (built 8/35, withdrawn 9/62).
context_page_description: The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway was a railway company in England. It built a line from Wolvercot Junction near Oxford to Worcester, Stourbridge, Dudley and Wolverhampton, as well as some branches.
  Its main line was opened in stages between 1852 and 1853. When the West Midland Railway was formed by amalgamation in 1860, the OW&WR was the dominant partner, but the West Midland company amalgamated with the Great Western Railway in 1863. Several branches and extensions were built in the West Midlands, and the main line was developed as an important trunk route.
  Much of the original main line is in use at present.
context_section_description: The Stourbridge station of the OW&WR was over a mile from the town: goods were brought up to the railway from the town on a rope-worked inclined plane at a gradient of 1 in 14.
  On 30th July, 1859 a branch was completed from the OWWR main line to the north of the viaduct, probably very close to where the junction to the engine shed was to be located, to the ironworks that had been built on the western side of Lower High Street… There was a hope that the branch would be available for passenger traffic. However, due to the steepness of the incline (1 in 14), which necessitated traffic having to be winched up and down using a cable attached to a stationary engine, it was doubtful that such traffic could be handled safely.
  In time, this was considered to be unsatisfactory and an Act for construction of a short branch to a Town station was secured by the GWR on 30 June 1874. The little branch was also on a gradient of 1 in 67 with double track, and beyond the new "Town" station there was a 1 in 27 gradient leading down to sidings on the River Stour. The passenger part of the line opened on 1 May 1879 and the goods extension on 1 January 1880. The new station was called Stourbridge, and the existing Stourbridge station was renamed Stourbridge Junction.
  The branch curved round to the north to reach the junction station on joining the main line, but in 1901 Stourbridge Junction station was relocated further south, and the branch was altered to run to it and to face the south.
  The branch was closed to passengers from 29 March 1915 to 1 May 1919.
caption: An auto train for Dudley at Stourbridge Junction station
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