Earl of Dudley’s Railway

The Earl of Dudley’s Railway or Pensnett Railway, was a standard gauge railway that developed from a single 3 mile line opened in 1829 to, at its maximum extent, a 40 miles (64 km) long network around the Earl of Dudley’s Iron Works at Round Oak near Brierley Hill.

In the 19th century, the Ward family, owners of Dudley Castle, had large holdings of land in the Black Country region of England. They had added to their possessions in the 18th century by the enclosure of Pensnett Chase which had formerly been common land and, much further back in time, a hunting ground for the Barons of Dudley. Much of this land covered coal seams and deposits of industrial material including iron ore and fire-clay. Canals had been cut into the Black Country region in the second half of the 18th century but not all were conveniently close to the mines of the Dudley Estate. It was therefore decided to construct a railway linking coal mines near Shut End to a purpose-built canal basin at Ashwood on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, a distance of around 3 miles.

An agreement to construct a rail line was signed in 1827 by James Foster, a local ironmaster, and Francis Downing, the mineral agent of John William Ward, the 4th Viscount Dudley and Ward, soon to become the 1st Earl of Dudley. James Foster (1786-1853) controlled the company John Bradley & Co a large industrial concern that owned the Stourbridge Iron Works. In 1823 John Bradley & Co., had taken a lease of land at Shut End, Kingswinford from J.H.H. Foley. In addition to John Bradley & Co., James Foster was also involved with the engineer John Urpeth Rastrick and, in 1819, they formed the company Foster Rastrick & Co. Rastrick had experience of steam engine construction and railway engineering.

The line opened on 2 June 1829 with the steam locomotive Agenoria purpose-built to haul wagons of coal from pits to the canal basin. The railway crossed land either owned by the Dudley Estate or leased by James Foster. The line was known as the Kingswinford Railway although sometimes it was called the Shutt (or Shut) End Railway. It was a standard gauge line set on stone blocks. From the Ashwood canal basin, the line ran up an incline for around 500 yards before reaching a level section which extended for around 2 miles. The line then tilted upwards again for a second incline to the vicinity of Shut End. A short level section brought it to its termination at Corbyn's Hall collieries. Agenoria only had sufficient power to pull carriages along the level section of the line. The two inclines were worked by self-acting mechanisms where loaded coal wagons moving down the slope pulled empty wagons uphill. The locomotive, constructed by Foster Rastrick & Co of Stourbridge ran for in excess of three decades. After a period of neglect, it was eventually donated to the Science Museum in South Kensington in 1885 and is now on display at the National Railway Museum in York.

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