IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Potters Lane, WEDNESBURY, WS10 7NR

The old London & North Western Railway goods shed near what used to be Wednesbury Town station (see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2678913). I visited this site in 1993 and at that time the yard was heavily overgrown and contained, among a lot of other scrap, two tiny diesel shunters standing on the remains of a siding roughly where the red car bumper is in this shot. Later on, I drove a truck for a haulage company based in this yard ... I had a good look around but sadly all trace of the railway had disappeared. The building was still in good condition though, as was the rail overbridge I'm standing on to take this shot, even though it had been infilled on one side.

This is the old goods yard operated by the LNWR at Wednesbury. I have a 1975 picture of this yard in Ned Williams's book "Railways of the Black Country" which shows these two little diesel locos parked up in exactly the same place! After the yard closed to railway freight traffic, it was operated as a scrap yard by R A Giblin; this picture shows the site just before it was cleared.

Wednesbury Museum is Sandwell's Museum and Art Gallery. It is purpose built Victorian Art Gallery, housing collections which include fine art paintings, applied art, old toys as well as one of the world's largest collections of Ruskin pottery.

Car 16 of the older series of cars is parked at the end of a siding outside the depot.

Sant Nirankari Centre of the Sant Nirankari Mission, which teaches Neti Neti Meditation. https://www.sandwell.gov.uk/directory_record/3025/sant_nirankari_centre The mission, which is based in Delhi, claims to be neither a new religion nor a sect of any existing religion, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sant_Nirankari_Mission The Nirankari movement originated in Punjab among Sikhs. https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Nirankari The Oneness Centre is next to the Great Western Street tram station.

This bridge - still there today but now infilled from the far side - carried Victoria Street over the line from Wednesbury Town to Darlaston. Originally a passenger service operated over the line, but this lasted only until 1887, after which date the line was used solely for freight traffic. It mostly served Patent Shaft steelworks which were near here. I worked for a while for a road haulage company which was based in the old goods yard and shed, and this bridge was used as our garage!

Taken on the same day as my photo of Wednesbury No.1 Signal Box, this shows Wednesbury Town station in March 1993. The station closed to passengers in 1964 but freight trains continued to use the line until just before this picture was taken. The track and platforms are still there, but the level crossing over Potters Lane in the immediate foreground has recently been tarmacked over and the platforms fenced off. The site is now densely overgrown - see Tim Marshall's later photo at http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1710465

I can't remember exactly when this was taken, but I do remember deliberately going out with my camera about a week after reading of the closure of the freight line between Walsall and Stourbridge. This took place on 19th March 1993, so this must have been taken a week or so later. It shows Wednesbury No.1 Signal Box, which used to control access to the exchange sidings which linked the LNWR line shown here and the GWR line which ran on the embankment in the immediate background. This embankment now carries the Midland Metro line on a new bridge. The signal box is long gone although the track is still there. See also Tim Marshall's photo at http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1710498

Overgrown trackbed and barely visible platforms at the former Wednesbury (LMR) station. This line has been mothballed for many years. View from Potters Lane looking in the direction of Walsall.