Tag Archives: Conduit Colliery

Chasewater Railway Museum June 2017 Newsletter

Chasewater Railway Museum

June 2017 Newsletter

The visitor numbers for May were a little lower than in recent years at 1,584.

We’ve received some very nice items during May, not least from former local residents Sue and Diana Windsor. Sue sent the following email:

Daphne and Sue Windsor in the museum.

‘My grandfather Albert Edward Rose was a train driver in the collieries and I have some photos of trains at Fair Lady Pit Heath Hayes, Conduit Pit, photos of my grandad and other work colleagues on the engines. There are a few old newspaper cuttings about the history of the local collieries. There is also a letter from the then Prime Minister, Mr Attlee sent to the coal workers dated Jan 1951 asking them to work harder due to the threat of a coal shortage and finally a postcard in memory of the men who lost their lives in the Grove Pit disaster of 1930.

The museum was delighted to accept the offer.

 

Click on a photo for a larger version and use the side arrow to move to another pic.

 

The following item is a very well put together scrapbook of photos and postcards donated by Mrs D.Lawton in memory of Mr.K.Lawton, who had a footplate ride when very ill and Mr.M.J.Layland.

These two items were given to the museum by one of the very early members of the Railway, Laurence Hodgkinson, now, of course, at Amerton Railway.  The first item is an LNWR ticket rack and the second, a poster board heading from Hednesford.

Our Curator, Barry Bull, donated a fine LNWR pay check from Camden.

David Bathurst donated his collection of Chasewater Railway mugs to add to our ever-increasing catalogue of railway –related items.

 

 

 

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More photos for our collection

More photos for our collection

Diana and Sue Windsor in the museum.

The museum had a visit from Diana and Sue Windor on May 19th.  They used to live locally and Diana’s father was a loco driver at the Coppice Colliery, Heath Hayes, (Fair Lady) and the Conduit Colliery at Norton Canes..  Diana, Sue’s mum, celebrated her 90th birthday on May 18th.  Her father, Albert Edward Rose, was born in 1902.  The ladies gave us a selection of photographs, the first of which are shown here.  We also have other items, including newspaper cuttings, which will be shown over the next few days.

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Chasewater Railway Museum – Some very local Midland Railway mineral invoices

Chasewater Railway Museum

Some Midland Railway mineral invoices

Some of these passed through the site of the Chasewater Railway’s Brownhills West Station, and others started at Walsall Wood.

(Click to enlarge)

The Midland Railway Walsall Wood Extension Railway

In 1880 the Midland Railway gained permission to build their long-awaited foothold into the Cannock Chase coalfield.  The Walsall Wood Extension Railway would enable them to link their line from Aldridge with the Cannock Chase & Wolverhampton Railway near Chasewater.

The line opened in 1882 to bring coal out of the pits, but two years later, was also opened to passenger traffic as far as the Brownhills Midland Railway Station, between the Chester Road and the A5.  The passenger service was not a great success and was closed in 1930.

The Midland Railway continued as a mineral only line until September 1960 when, following the demise of the coalfield, it was closed.

The Brownhills West Station and the first half-mile or so of the track of the Chasewater Railway is on the former Midland Railway line.