Stourbridge Town railway station

Stourbridge Town is a railway station near the centre of Stourbridge, West Midlands, England. It is situated at the end of a short branch line linking the station with Stourbridge Junction just 0.8 miles (1.3 km) away, where passengers can change for mainline train services. It is said to be the shortest operational branch railway line in the world.

History
Opened to passenger traffic on Wednesday 1 October 1879, Stourbridge Town was built because it was considered that the existing station at Stourbridge Junction was situated too far from Stourbridge town centre. The original station, situated upon the site now occupied by Stourbridge bus station, was a surprisingly grand affair, with one 298 ft (91 m) platform and substantial brick buildings covered by a full-length awning. The station was closed as a wartime economy measure between 1 April 1915 and 28 February 1919, with passenger services being replaced by Midland Red buses. During the General Strike in 1926, the bus service between Junction and Town stations was re-introduced from 7 May to 10 July to cover for the withdrawn train services.

The station and branch were listed for closure under the Beeching axe, but won a stay of execution in 1965, although the station became unstaffed from July 1967. The 1879 station survived mostly intact until February 1979 when it was demolished. Some of the material from the old station was saved and used for buildings at Tyseley Locomotive Works.

In 1979, the branch was cut back by 70 yards (64 m) towards Junction station, leaving room for a bus station. The new station was a low-cost portable building.

Despite threats and rumours of closure in the 1980s and 1990s, the station building was replaced in early 1994, with a new station opening to passengers on 25 April 1994. The current station is a small modern facility directly linked to the bus station allowing easy interchange with bus services at this urban railhead. It has a single 170 ft (52 m) platform which is more than long enough to hold a single car Class 153 railcar, which formerly shuttled passengers between the station and Stourbridge Junction; the line now uses two Class 139 people mover-type cars. Due to the nature of the gradient, there is a short section of rails behind the initial buffer stop to prevent accidents such as those which occurred in 1989 and 1990. This runs parallel to the station pathway, and is surrounded by a wall and railings for safety reasons.