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Birmingham and Henley in Arden Railway Company
The Birmingham and Henley in Arden Railway Company
was a GWR inspired initiative to take over the abandoned embankments and
infrastructure partially completed under a previous railway initiative dating
from 1861. The earlier railway had been conceived as a mixed gauge line but
work on the railway stopped due to the lack of funding when only half of the
line was complete. Whilst the Birmingham and Henley in Arden Railway
Company's branch line commenced at Rowington and terminated at Henley in
Arden, a distance of some three and a quarter miles, local passenger services
actually started from the Great Western Railway's Kingswood station (renamed
Lapworth in 1902). Rowington Junction was located one mile fifty chains south
of Lapworth née Kingswood station. The Act of Incorporation of the
Henley in Arden and Great Western Junction Railway Act occurred on 5th
August 1873. Other particulars included 'Henley in Arden and Great Western
Junction Railway (Revival of Powers Act dated 23rd June 1884, the name of
the Company was changed to the Birmingham and Henley in Arden Railway
Company. The line was worked by the Great Western Railway Company under an
Agreement dated 4th August 1888 which was confirmed by the Great Western
Railway Act dated 12th August 1889. The Railway was amalgamated with the GWR on
1st July 1900 under the auspices of the Great Western Railway Act of 30th July
1900, a month before the GWR also took over the Birmingham and North
Warwickshire Railway Company, both being part of its strategy to open a new
main line to the West of England.. Whilst the contemporary notice advertising
the opening of the line (as seen in 'gwrha2786')
states that passenger services commenced on 6th June 1894 with goods traffic
commencing on 2nd July 1894, Gale's Official List
for the GWR states that the line officially opened on the latter date, the 2nd
July 1894.
When the North Warwickshire Railway was opened, a spur 50
chains in length from the new railway was built to connect the new line with
the original station's goods yard and shed. From 1st July 1908 the North
Warwickshire Railway became the the principal route for passenger services from
Birmingham and consequently the new line made the branch superfluous for both
passenger and goods services. Although the original station had closed to
passengers when the new station opened, some services from Rowington were
retained but these now terminated at the new station. The limited passenger
service from Lapworth continued until the branch closed to passengers from 22nd
March 1915* and to goods during the following year (with a formal closure date
of 1st January 1917). The gradients on the line were noted as being heavy
resulting in a maximum speed limit of 20 mph with a further speed restriction
of 10 mph from the 2¼ Mile Post into Henley in Arden station. Presumably
the driver of the tank engine seen in the images 'gwrha669' and 'gwrha669a'
did not obey the instruction. Other restrictions on the line included: trains
restricted to be hauled by tank locomotives (although this was lifted by 1916
when goods only trains were running - see image gwrha2795'); the maximum loading for mixed trains to
be restricted to three coaches, six wagons and a brake van; a maximum load of
ten six-wheeled vehicles; and a warning whistle to be sounded in the cutting
before Henley in Arden in order to warn the public using the level
crossing.
The journey took thirteen minutes and there were no other
stations on the line although there has been speculation (see below) as to
whether two halts were created, one at Rowington Junction and another at
Lowsonford, for a brief period. With the exception of a short siding at
Rowington Junction and the spur to Henley in Arden goods yard, the line was
taken up in May and June 1917, intended for use behind the trenches in France.
Unfortunately it was never used as the ship carrying them sank in the English
Channel. The original terminus station was converted as accommodation for the
station master whilst the goods yard and shed continued to be used as the
town's goods depot. According to the article in Great Western Railway
Journal No 11 powers to formally abandon the line were granted by the GWR
Act 1935. Trains using the goods yard now accessed it from the North
Warwickshire Line by reversing part of the way until they had arrived at the
set of points installed in order for the train to move forward into the yard -
see image 'gwrha2769'. The yard was closed for
rail-borne movements from 5th November 1962 [BR WR
Midlands Division Birmingham District Freight Train Notice No. TF 152 dated
29th October 1962] - the depot continued to be used for road-borne
movements of smaller items until 31st December 1962 when it finally closed.
* Richard Maund writes, 'I have done some delving at The
National Archives and can now state - on the strength of the GWR Passenger
Train Alterations Committee minutes and GWR working timetable supplement (RAIL
271/4 and RAIL 937/116 respectively) - that the passenger service over this
line was not withdrawn until 22nd March 1915. Unfortunately, secondary sources
until now have erroneously given the withdrawal date as 1st January
1915.'
Were there Halts on the Rowington Junction to Henley in
Arden branch line?
The following is derived from the website 'Rail Chronology' with full permission of Richard
Maund.
Richard writes, 'The question arises, every so often, as
to whether or not there were two halts on this, the Great Western's original
branch line to Henley in Arden, which is generally accepted as having opened in
1894 - on 6th June for passengers, on 2nd July for goods'.
The claims that halts existed at Rowington Junction and
Lowsonford rest on the following:
- a letter from Paul S Boness in Railway
Magazine, November 1968, p. 675*
- a query in Railway Magazine, November 2000, p.
45 - "it has long been alleged locally that a halt existed at Lowsonford" which
was answered by the late Ralph Rawlinson in the June 2001 issue, p. 29, stating
that it did exist, but closed when the line was extended in 1908
- J V G Butt’s much derided work, The Directory
of Railway Stations, which includes Lowsonford Halt (opened 6th June 1894,
closed 30th June 1908) but not Rowington.
Ralph Rawlinson, when asked to provide provenance for his
assertion, said: 'My letter to the [Railway Magazine] was posted soon after
I obtained a book on the Henley-in-Arden branch/GWR lines in Warwickshire from
the British Library but I no longer have the title or author.' All in all,
the pro side of the argument is pretty thin gruel.
The arguments against the existence of these halts
are:
- Charles Clinker’s very detailed Chronology of
the Railways of the West Midlands (1953) ignores them (he lived in the
county at the time of its compilation)
- in a letter in Railway Magazine, February 1969,
p. 104, he wrote: “I am interested to read Mr Boness' statement in your
November issue (page 675) that there were halts at Lowsonford and Rowington
Junction because, after careful research some years ago, I dismissed this as
myth. There is no evidence in any contemporary working instructions, timetables
or maps of the existence of these halts, neither were they marked on the
engineer's two-chain plan. Could Mr Boness please quote contemporary evidence
to back up his statement? - C.R.CLINKER, Padstow, Cornwall”. Nothing
further from Mr. Boness appeared in Railway Magazine
- the Great Western's public and working timetables for
the whole period in question (available at the National Archives, Kew in the
RAIL 936 and RAIL 937 series, respectively) fail to mention the "halts".
- Ordnance Survey large scale maps of 1905 (1:2500) and
1906 (1:10560), which show every signal post and mile post, carry not a whiff
of any halt at the road underbridges at Lowsonford or Rowington Junction [these
maps can be consulted at the
Old Maps
website, using coordinates 418600 268200 (Lowsonford) and 419300 269000
(Rowington Junction)].
- railway historian T.R. Perkins, who lived in Henley in
Arden and who travelled on the line, referred to it in the Railway
Magazine on three occasions (February 1908, p. 118, September 1928, p. 234,
and April 1937, pp. 297-9) and made no mention of any intermediate stopping
place(s).
- they do not appear in the Railway Clearing House's 1904
edition of its Handbook of Stations.
As an example, the GWR working timetable for May 1899 (RAIL
937/70) shows absolutely no evidence to support halts at either place. The
services at this period were worked by "trains" (as opposed to "rail motors"),
with most shuttling to and from Kingswood (now known as Lapworth) but some
running through to or from farther afield: the 7:35am and 7:00pm Kingswood came
from Birmingham, the 3:40pm Sundays from Wolverhampton. The 7:55am from Henley
ran through to Dudley, the 7:20pm and 8:05pm Sundays to Wolverhampton. Hardly
the sort of stock to be picking up or setting down at platform-less locations.
The Sunday service was worked by a light engine from Leamington (reversing at
Rowington Junction) and, after working one round trip, continued to Bordesley
Junction. The notation CS at Rowington Junction showed that the single line
train staff was taken up or set down at the signal box, but that no traffic
stop was to be made.
While it must be clear that no halts or platforms ever
existed, it is more difficult to disprove than to prove the existence of
informal stopping places. Had either of the locations sported a level crossing
that task would have been much more difficult, but at both prospective
locations the railway was on a rail over road bridge, so readers can judge for
themselves the likelihood of the GWR stopping casually to pick up prospective
passengers who had scrambled through the boundary fence and up the embankment
side. Frankly, as one who once hailed from that part of the world, I am quite
certain these halts are a relatively recent (sub-)urban myth - although I
remain curious as to why such myth should have come into existence.
Richard Maund
This article is based on material which originally
appeared as paragraphs in Railway and Canal Historical Society Railway
Chronology Group Coordinating Newsletter no. 58, April 2009 and 59, July
2009.
Postscript
* Paul Boness has subsequently contacted us (48 years
after his letter was published in the Railway Magazine) and writes,
'I have just seen a reference to a letter I wrote to the Railway Magazine in
1968 on your website. I would just like to set the record straight: I did
provide the Railway Magazine with my source in a subsequent letter, but it was
never published.
The source of my information on possible halts at
Rowington Junction and Lowsonford was a Mr Ben Taylor, a resident of Lapworth,
now long deceased. He told me quite firmly and convincingly that he was taken
to Lowsonford by train as a child. He also stated that a stop was made at
Rowington Junction.'
In response to the above by Paul Boness, Richard Maund
writes, 'I see that you have published a note from Paul Boness; he wrote me
in similar terms (although he did not specify his source's name), and I
responded as follows:
'The Great Western - where it opened halts - was always
very keen to publicise them in their public timetable, unless they were purely
for some war time factory (that did not, of course, apply here) - although in
the latter case they were always included in the working timetables. As I have
stated, no intermediate halt appeared in any GWR public or working timetable
for the whole period of the branch's life, nor did any record of any such
facility appear on GWR engineering records. It is clear, therefore, that there
were no official intermediate stopping places on the branch. I also comment, in
my webpage, on the (relative) impracticability of accessing track-side which
would have made use as an unofficial stopping place difficult, while
acknowledging that it would be impossible to prove that no-one was ever
unofficially set down - perhaps even your late "elderly resident". That,
however, would not qualify as an official halt or stopping place. I'm afraid
Lowsonford and Rowington have to remain in the "urban myth" category.'
Robert Ferris writes, 'My personal opinion is that there
is insufficient evidence for any halts on the branch. I believe there has been
a suggestion that the Rowington stop was to pick up the single line staff and
the 'CS' reference on the Working Time Table (WTT)
would support this). The relevant page from the Winter 1906 Working Time Table
shows, like the other WTTs already on the website, there are no references of
additional halts.'
N.B. A Working Time Table (WTT) is the rail industry's
version of the public timetable. It shows ALL movements on the railway(s)
including freight trains, empty trains and those coming in and out of depots,
etc. It also includes any identification codes for each train, and intermediate
times for journeys, including which stations a train is not scheduled to stop
at. 'Its important to note this document should NOT be confused with the
passenger timetable which only provides the times of trains arriving and/or
departing from stations'.
An article about the Henley-in-Arden Branch from the Great
Western Railway Magazine published in June 1944.
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