The Kinver Light Railway

 We came across a railway that I had to admit I had never heard of before. The attraction we had been heading for was the rock houses at Kinver in south Staffordshire, now protected by the National Trust. The dwellings, hewn into a sandstone hilltop, had been occupied until the mid-twentieth century, and it was therefore a fascinating location in its own right. One of the tour guide’s families had lived in the houses when he was a small boy, and in earlier times as many as 46 people had occupied the location at one time.

Inside one of the houses was a photograph of the Kinver Light Railway’s car No. 49. During the early twentieth century, the extended tramway brought visitors to the location - by then a curiosity and tourist attraction. The residents in one of the rock houses provided afternoon tea for the sightseers.

Starting at Amblecote, where it connected with the established Dudley and Stourbridge tramway system, the line was built to a 3-foot 6-inch gauge and ran for just over 4 miles. It. Trams were single deck and power was supplied by an electric overhead cable. The railway operated between 1901 and 1930, when it lost out to increased competition from motor buses. We were told by the on-site NT volunteer staff that nothing remains of the tramway set-up at Kinver itself. The former course can be traced in part, though, and evidence remains of some former culverts, depot inspection pits, bridge abutments and some odd bits of rail.