Halesowen Railway In Colour
When I found out about the slides in January 2006, one of the first I
took out of the boxes was a picture of the Dowery Dell viaduct (a.k.a.
Hunnington viaduct) that was part of the Halesowen Railway. Going
through the slides more thoroughly, I discovered many more of the
railway. I knew how rare and important they were and it's a real
pleasure to be able to share them here.
Halesowen Branch Nr Illey Road - 29/5/55
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This photograph was taken at the
site where the line crossed Illey Road, now known as Illey Lane.
The view is towards Birmingham with the railway curving round to the
left on its way to Halesowen. The bridge is no longer in place
but the one of the main bridge supports survives in Illey Lane as this
picture shows.
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Dowery Dell Viaduct from Field - 29/5/55
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I can't tell
you how excited I was to find this slide. The black and white
prints had only provided awkward glimpses of the structure of the
viaduct. Here it was in all it's splendour!
From the curve of the viaduct, I'd say the Hunnington end was to the
left and the Rubery end to the right.
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Dowery Dell Viaduct from Line - 29/5/55
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This was
taken from the Hunnington end of the viaduct with the line heading off
towards Rubery.
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Branch Frankley Sdgs - 29/5/55
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A nice view
of the line close to Frankley sidings. The view is looking
towards Rubery and shows the Newton Lane overbridge. See the similar
black and white shot for more notes.
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Bridge Nr Rubery Distant - 29/5/55
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This was
taken to the west of Rubery station and looking
towards it. Through the nearest bridge, another bridge can just
about be seen in the distance. My father's 1962 OS map shows that
these were purely for farm use - no roads were carried by them.
I was delighted to find this bridge still in existance when I visited
the site on 24 September 2006. To find it, park up near the
junction of Queen Elizabeth Road and Boleyn Road and you'll find a
footpath that takes you along the old track bed. This becomes
impassable after a while but a parallel path will take you to the
site. Here's
a picture I took - it does look at risk of damage from vegetation,
I'm sorry to say.
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Rubery Distant - 29/5/55
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Having moved
closer to the Rubery distant signal, the other bridge mentioned above
is now clear to see. This bridge no longer in
existance as it was demolished in 2003 after repeated incidents of
vandalism. See the bottom of the MIAC page on Relics of the Halesowen
Railway for a picture of it shortly before demolition.
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Frogmill Crossing - 25/7/55
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Frogmill
Crossing seems to have been of great interest to my father - this is
the third shot I've found of roughly the same scene! It was where
the line crossed Rubery Lane.
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Halesowen Jct - 15/8/55
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A super shot
showing the Halesowen branch leaving the Midland Railways Birmingham to
Gloucester line near the Rover works at Longbridge. The signal
box is named 'Halesowen Junction'.
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Rainbow from Viaduct - 4/9/55
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I thought
twice about including this shot here since it shows nothing of the
infrastructure of the railway. However, it does show what
wonderful countryside the line passed through.
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58143 Halesowen Branch - 4/9/55
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It seems
that on Sunday 4 September 1955, my father was out with his friend Ken
Morris as Ken took a very similar shot of 58143 steaming towards
Hunnington Viaduct. This colour picture is a real corker!
I'm pretty sure that the row of trees between the top of the engine and
the plume of smoke is Frankley Beeches.
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