Stourbridge Town Branch Line

Stourbridge Town branch line
A Parry People Mover approaching Stourbridge Town station.
Overview
Type	Branch line
Locale	West Midlands
Termini	Stourbridge Junction Stourbridge Town
Operation
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Pre Metro Operations (on behalf of London Midland)
Rolling stock	2 Class 139s
Technical
Line length	0.8 miles (1.3 km)
Number of tracks	Single track throughout
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The Stourbridge Town branch line is a 0.8 miles (1.3 km) railway branch line, in Stourbridge, West Midlands, England. It is claimed to be the shortest branch line in Europe, and many miniature railways are certainly longer.

Now used solely for passenger traffic, it was originally constructed to allow transshipment with the Stourbridge Town Arm of the Stourbridge Canal.

The passenger service along the branch is operated by Pre Metro Operations on behalf of London Midland; the service is currently branded as the London Midland Stourbridge Shuttle. Service is provided using two Class 139 Parry People Movers. Replacement buses ran from December 2008 until March 2009 due to the previous Class 153 being reallocated from December 2008, this being the date the Parry People Mover was originally intended to start working the service. However, due to customer feedback, the Class 153 was re-introduced from 15 March until mid June, when the Parry People Mover finally entered full service. For the first time in many years, a Sunday service is operated.

Opened in 1879, it has operated continually since, save for a short break for the First World War. The short and steeply inclined branch originally carried both passenger traffic from nearby Stourbridge Junction to the terminus at Stourbridge Town and freight to Stourbridge Basin.

Although the branch line was originally double-tracked, after 1935 the two tracks were worked as two parallel single lines, with the non-passenger track used for freight workings beyond the station over a bridge across Foster Street (a bridge rebuilt in 1957 then subsequently demolished in 1967) towards the Stourbridge Basin. The station and branch were listed for closure under the Beeching Axe, but were later delisted in 1965.