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Willenhall Stafford Street


MarkK
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Hi all,

 

I am new to the forum and hope that I have posted in the correct topic.  I have returned to the hobby after a decade or so and want to have a go at modelling a real location.  I would like to model Willenhall Stafford Street, which was part of the Midland region post 1948.  The station closed to passengers in 1931 but remained a very busy goods yard until the end of steam. 

 

I wondered if anybody has any photographs of this location.  The internet is very limited. 

 

Thanks in advance.

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Good luck in your quest, the old Midland Railway line from Walsall to Wolverhampton is one of those poor ignored lines that get very little attention, as you say it's passenger trains ended in 1931, and only use was thanks to the, then, very industrialised area it served, with the building of the M6 in 1964 the line was severed, and traffic was mainly either from Walsall to Birchills power station, or Wolverhampton to a small number of Wednesfield industries until 1981, the somewhat little traffic to Willenhall ending well before that. Stafford Street station was also called 'Market Place' for a time. Although I must admit I've not heard anything about him for some time, the only source of info now would be someone like Ned Williams. As I said - the very best of luck.

The only pic of Stafford Street I have is one on page 94 in the book 'Black Country Railways' by Ned published by Sutton Publishing ISBN 0-7509-0934-X, now quite old, and probably well out of print.

Edited by bike2steam
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Hi all,

 

I am new to the forum and hope that I have posted in the correct topic.  I have returned to the hobby after a decade or so and want to have a go at modelling a real location.  I would like to model Willenhall Stafford Street, which was part of the Midland region post 1948.  The station closed to passengers in 1931 but remained a very busy goods yard until the end of steam. 

 

I wondered if anybody has any photographs of this location.  The internet is very limited. 

 

Thanks in advance.

MarkK

 

Check out the station index here: http://www.mulehouse.myzen.co.uk/stations/and search for Willenhall.

 

Decoding the references is a bit tricky, but read the very comprehensive descriptions.

 

Mark A

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Hi all,

 

I am new to the forum and hope that I have posted in the correct topic.  I have returned to the hobby after a decade or so and want to have a go at modelling a real location.  I would like to model Willenhall Stafford Street, which was part of the Midland region post 1948.  The station closed to passengers in 1931 but remained a very busy goods yard until the end of steam. 

 

I wondered if anybody has any photographs of this location.  The internet is very limited. 

 

Thanks in advance.

Mark K

 

Another search. Dis a search in The National Archives on Willenhall in RAIL (obvious), AN (After Nationalisation) and MT 6 (BoT reports---Inspections, accidents etc) and got:

 

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r/2?_st=adv&_aq=willenhall&_cr1=RAIL&_cr2=AN&_cr3=MT%206&_dss=range&_ro=any

 

Mark A

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Mark, biketosteam, many thanks for both of your replies.  I purchased 'Wolverhampton to Stafford including Walsall' by Vic Mitchell recently, it contained some photographs that I hadn't seen before.  I didn't realise the yard had a travelling crane until now.  I could really do with knowing the approximate size of the goods shed and signal box dimensions at this stage.  The goods shed looks huge when referring to the map.  I am pretty sure the signal box is a type 2b and was in use from conception of the railway.  Knowing the footprint of these buildings would really speed up the design process of the layout. 

 

Mark

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Hi Mark,  thanks again.  I have a sneaky feeling that the reference to Willenhall you found in the National archives refers to Willenhall Coventry.  Appreciate the assistance.

Mark K

 

Some of them almost certainly do. Some will be for what you want. I would advise checking them.

 

MT 6 in particular is a bit of a nightmare. Someone once described it to me as having been compiled by someone who didn't understand railways, and typed up by someone who couldn't read their hand-writing :-) However, they often contain very accurate track plans, often giving two periods on one plan (existing layout overwritten with new plan in red). Even accident reports can illuminate issues, e.g. make-up of trains.

 

If you want any assistance in using TNA, contact me.

 

Mark A

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Mark A, I might take you up on your offer of assistance with the National Archives.  I have a good idea of the track plan from the internet and a book I have.  I am going to go one of two ways, model the goods shed assuming Wednesfield station (a station further down the line) has a same or similar goods shed to that of Willenhall, or dig deeper in the archives in hope of unearthing photographs from that particular side of the goods yard.  There are a number of photographs of Wednesfield goods shed available and I may model it on that.

 

Mark F,  Many thanks for offering to look through your books, any new images on this particular location would be a bonus.

 

Mark K

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Funny you should mention Wednesfield, I used to have a mate who lived there, and I'd go over to his place, from where I lived in Darlaston in the late 1960's, on a push-bike I had at the time, I used to go past the old Stafford Road station, I knew I should have taken some pics. We used to take our bikes over to Cannock Chase to see the last steam locos at work, he had a camera with him all the time, I didn't (shame). I also had a motor-bike, and used it to see the last BR steam in the north-west - hence my username - enough from me rambling on :-) .

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I schooled at Little London junior school late 70's early 80's, the station was long since gone.  You could still make out the footprint of the station and platforms.  I can recall taking a short cut across the yard on my way home and climbing the remaining signal, which is still there, although all that remains is the pole and half the ladder. 

 

What a fantastic experience it must have been to hear, see, smell the working engines in the yard, which must have been no more than four or five hundred yards away.

 

Such a shame so little has been recorded for prosperity.  But maybe, just maybe, it might live on if I manage to model it :)

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Have you tried the web site .. "Britain from the Air" ??  http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/

I entered  " Willenhall Walsall"  and got a raft of aerial shots of the town .. one (1939) with a marker for Willenhall Market Place station ! The Stafford Street line and station seem to me to be at the top of the photo showing an oblique view across the site.

I could not Zoom-in because I have not been able to register over this week end.  

 

I lived in a road about 200 yards north of the Stafford Street bridge in late 1945 to late1947. (and have not been back ! ) As a spotty kid I took no notice of things Railway!! 

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Biketosteam, Donb,  many thanks for the links you suggested.  I did not know of either of these sites.  They have been helpful, I now have an idea if the track bed for the traversing crane.  It also helped to see the yard layout from the period I am intending to model, the only other map I had seen was from 1901.

 

Thanks again guys!

 

Mark

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This web site is good and can only get better (as they scan more 25 inch maps)

 

http://maps.nls.uk/

 

Select

 

1. Series Maps

2. In the north you'll need to select Ordnance Survey, Six-Inch, England and Wales - 1842-1952, in the south Ordnance Survey, 25 inch, England and Wales (in process) - 1841-1952

 

They seem to be slowly working north

 

3. Then select - "As individual sheets using a zoomable map of England and Wales"

4. Zoom in until you can clearly see the map squares - click on the area you are interested in

5. look on the right and choose the map year from the one's available

 

The 6 inch maps aren't bad but the 25 inch maps are very detailed.

 

Ian

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I can't add much more to any of the above, but Google Earth (pictures dated 1999) shows the Track Bed is now a Cycle path, the deepish cutting still exists, as do the bridge parapet walls. There is an access path down from the bridge walls, both sides of the road, so I assume that the bridge must be still virtually intact(??) but may be blocked.  Anyone local enough for a Photo?

 

Looking way ahead, as far as a model is concerned, the buildings on the Southside of Harpur Street and Bank Street at the top of the embankment are all pre-war and, I think, OK for a back-drop from about 1935 to closure.

My sister and I remember them from when we lived opposite them, ('45-'47), and they don't seem to have changed much, if at all.

 

 

I schooled at Little London junior school late 70's early 80's, the station was long since gone.  You could still make out the footprint of the station and platforms.  I can recall taking a short cut across the yard on my way home and climbing the remaining signal, which is still there, although all that remains is the pole and half the ladder. 

 

What a fantastic experience it must have been to hear, see, smell the working engines in the yard, which must have been no more than four or five hundred yards away.

 

Such a shame.

 

 so little has been recorded for prosperity.  But maybe, just maybe, it might live on if I manage to model it :)

 

 I don't recall hearing the clank of wagon buffers while living there.  

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  • 1 month later...

Success !!!

 

I got in touch with Willenhall History Society, fortunately, somebody had already researched this location and the society were kind enough to give me a copy.  I now have pages of information, including many photographs I have never seen.  I even have a picture shot from inside the signal box.

 

Many thanks to all those that were kind enough help me on this topic.

 

Mark K

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