Disaster on the tracks
What caused railway crash 160 years ago?
THERE is something of a mystery attached to this week’s front page photograph and we’d like readers’ help in solving it.
The dramatic scene dates, we believe, from 1859, and it shows the aftermath of a railway accident in Wednesbury.
The photograph shows the original wooden viaduct that carried the London and North Western Railway’s South Staffordshire line across Elwell’s Pool. A locomotive has been derailed and lies partially submerged in the water.
The tall chimney in the background belongs to Wednesbury Forge and the sharper eyed readers may have spotted the large iron pipe that is suspended from the viaduct’s upright supports. That was the water main that ran from Walsall
Reservoir to Wood Green Pumping Station.
However, despite searching through newspapers of the day, we have been unable to find an account of the accident. What happened that day? What caused the accident and was anyone injured? Can the railway enthusiasts among our readers tell us any more?
Connected
The South Staffordshire line originally ran from Wychnor Junction, near Lichfield, through Walsall, Wednesbury and Darlaston to Dudley, where it connected with the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway. The line opened in 1850 and soon after was absorbed into the London and North Western Railway, later becoming part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and, finally, British Rail.
Today most of the route is mothballed and some sections of track have been lifted altogether.
Nothing remains of Elwell’s Pool, named after the owners of Wednesbury Forge. It has been drained and the land redeveloped. But the line of the railway is still visible, as is the modern bridge that still crosses where the pool used to be. ■ Can you tell us about the railway accident at Elwell’s Pool? Please email dshaw@blackcountrybugle.co.uk, call 01384 889000 or contact the Black Country Bugle, Dudley Archives Centre, Tipton Road, Dudley, DY1 4SQ.