View source for Princes End branch line

{{Short description|UK railway branch line}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
The '''Princes End branch line''' was a railway located in the [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]] of [[England]], which opened in September 1863 and survived as a through route for nearly 120 years.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tiptoncivicsociety.co.uk/brief-history-of-tipton.php |title=Brief History of Tipton |access-date=2012-06-08 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120915100741/http://www.tiptoncivicsociety.co.uk/brief-history-of-tipton.php |archive-date=2012-09-15 |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

Its route began on the [[West Coast Main Line]] railway just north of [[Tipton]] town centre and terminated approximately two miles away on the [[South Staffordshire Line]] just south of [[Wednesbury]] town centre.

It featured two stations. [[Princes End railway station]] opened in 1863 before closing in 1890. It re-opened in 1895 but closed in 1916 as a [[World War I|wartime]] economy measure and never re-opened, as happened with [[Ocker Hill railway station]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.railaroundbirmingham.co.uk/Stations/princes_end.php|title = Princes End Station}}</ref> However, the line remained open to goods trains, providing a useful link to [[Ocker Hill Power Station]] following its opening in 1897.

Following several years of declining use due to [[deindustrialization|deindustrialisation]] of the local area,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bescot.plus.com/wednesbury_1989|title=Wednesbury in 1989}}</ref> it finally closed in April 1981, although the final stub connecting Wednesbury to Ocker Hill Power Station remained open until February 1991, finally signalling the end of the whole line 128 years after its opening.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.railaroundbirmingham.co.uk/Stations/ocker_hill.php|title = Ocker Hill Station}}</ref>

The section of disused line between Princes End and Ocker Hill was converted into a public walkway in the late 1980s.

== References ==
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[[Category:Rail transport in Sandwell]]