Exploring Telford
The Railways of Telford
The most interesting part of this section is at Horsehay Station (here's another picture), where the Telford Steam Railway (external) has a range of rolling stock. As well as the main line, there are some sidings remaining at a higher level west of the line, and the gates of two level crossings (or replacement gates, perhaps) remain. From one of them a pair of rails in the road points the way to the Old Loco Shed, whilst the other, next to it, indicates that once there were lines down the side of the shed too; which is confirmed by another pair of rails at the far end of the tarmac area there. This was not a branch line: it ended at Horsehay Pool. In the opposite direction, the Station Inn remains and flourishes - I enjoyed my pint of Flowers.
The Steam Railway's line runs north from Horsehay to the disused tunnel at Heath Hill. You can follow the line on the East side along Old Office Road. Both ends of the tunnel are heavily overgrown - if you want to take a look, go on a nice dry day in winter!
The Telford Steam Railway (external) is reopening Heath Hill tunnel, and has plans to extend their line in both directions, from Doseley in the south through the tunnel to a new loop north of it. Indeed, they would like to reconstruct the line south to Lightmoor Junction and run trains to Ironbridge, but the costs are considerable.
Beyond the tunnel, the half-mile to Lawley is lost - the ground has been remodelled, and the modern path lies west of where the railway went. There was a station at the bottom of Lawley Bank, commemorated in the name, Station Road, and a halt at Newdale beyond (shown only on the OS Series 6 map of c.1956). From here you may look back towards the tunnel, emerging from the right-hand clump of trees at the back of this picture, and forwards towards Ketley, marked by the right-hand tower block - with a fine view over the plain beyond. 2010 - these views now include a good deal of newly-built housing.
The line from Newdale to Ketley Station exists as a footpath, but you cannot walk it in one go because there is no bridge over the M54. As a result, the part of the path immediately beyond the motorway is disused and overgrown.
Ketley Station stood on the south side of the A5 - another Station Road - and was demolished relatively recently to make way for the shops here. The platform, I am told, was demolished after being damaged by children - it must have been in a pretty poor state. Beyond the shops there was a level crossing.
The right-hand of the two paths north of Station Road is the railway, descending and curving left, under a fine extant bridge, to join the Birmingham line east of Wellington at Ketley Junction.
