Contreversial building had high hopes

A former Wolverhampton railway station at the centre of a planning row was intended to be a jewel in the crown of the West Midlands railway network, a new book has revealed.

Today the old Tettenhall station off Henwood Road is being transformed into a visitor centre for the Smestow Valley Nature Reserve and a controversial proposal to open an Indian restaurant there is to be considered by council chiefs.

The plans are a far cry from the site's origins as a railway station at the end of the Wombourne line, providing both goods and passenger services after its opening in 1925.

Great things were expected of the station's two platforms and waiting rooms but during the whole life of the station, which closed in the mid-1960s, neither were ever brought into use, writes Terry Moors in Lost Railways of Birmingham And the West Midlands.

From the beginning, because of its late introduction into the railway scene, the line faced competition from other forms of public transport.

By 1925 bus services were becoming popular with locals, because of their direct links with town centres and greater choice of boarding points.

The number of trains was reduced to five in each direction but passenger numbers still continued to fall.

Eventually when running costs had risen to seven times the ticket revenue, the Great Western Railway (GWR) which ran the line, withdrew passenger services altogether.

The last train ran on October 29, 1932, although the line continued to be used for freight until it closed altogether on March 1, 1965.

It has survived almost intact following its restoration in 1984 by Wolverhampton Council and now its waiting rooms are finally going to be used as part of the current £600,000 revamp.