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Lifford Lane, BIRMINGHAM, B30 3JH

Railway bridge over Lifford Lane just before it joins the A441 Pershore Road at Breedon Cross.

Above Lifford Lane was once a passenger station. This photo is taken looking towards Hazelwell and Kings Heath, with factory units either side of the track. Behind the camera is the loop-line around to Bournville and the line down to Kings Norton. On the right of the track, about 50 yards from where the photo was taken, can be seen the metal girder that supports the railway as it crosses the Worcester & Birmingham Canal, and the land that once carried another goods line from south of Bournville, along the route of the canal and around back onto this line beyond the loop line. See http://www.railaroundbirmingham.co.uk/Stations/lifford.php for more details.

This looks a well-established plant, almost certainly old enough to have been there in the days of 'Big Orange' RMC.

The Worcester and Birmingham Canal was built in stages between 1791 and 1815 to connect the River Severn in Worcester to the Birmingham Canal System using a quicker route than the earlier Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Grain, timber and agricultural produce were carried to the Midlands. Industrial goods and coal were carried down towards Worcester, often for onward transport to Bristol. Later, salt carrying was added as a regular cargo. Pairs of donkeys were often used in preference to horses, maybe because they could easily be put onto the boats which had to be legged (or pulled by tug) through the four tunnels near Birmingham.

Bridge No 74 ahead carries the railway line between Birmingham, and Bromsgrove and Worcester. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal was fully open by 1815. The thirty mile (48 kilometre) long route with 58 locks gives access to the River Severn at Diglis Basin in Worcester. The canal took twenty-three years to build, and eventually took coal and industrial products south and brought grain, farm produce and building materials into Birmingham. According to William Dargue, pairs of donkeys were used to tow the narrow boats on this canal - the reason is unknown. Other companies normally used single horses. http://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-k/kings-norton/ Important cargoes on this line included coal, salt, and (from the late 1800s) Cadbury's used the canal to bring the ingredients for chocolate-making to their wharf at Bournville.

Bridge 74 on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal near King's Norton carries a railway line.

Mid-to-late 19th century terraced housing, by the look of it.