This disused signal post at Ryders Hayes between Pelsall and Brownhills isn’t the only sad remnant of the lost rail line that came through here. Archive image from 365days.

I’ll be perfectly honest here – I’m still behind with upgrading the blog under the hood stuff (which in the way of these things has turned out to be quite a bit more complicated than I expected) so posts are a bit patchy at the moment for which I apologise here and now – so I’m taking the opportunity to catch up on some simple but very interesting stuff that I’ve been meaning to post a while, like this wonderful drone video posted on Facebook by reader James Lloyd.

James has filmed the old South Staffordshire Railway Line (the one that ran from Walsall to Lichfield and was mostly removed in the 1980s) between Newtown, Brownhills and calling at some oil the disused route’s best features towards Lichfield. The footage of the aqueduct in particular is stunning – remember folks, that’s a remarkable structure and is one of only three listed constructions in Brownhills. It’s a gorgeous piece of Victorian civil engineering and needs to be preserved.

This line is of course the one whose trackbed between Holland Park and Pelsall Brian Stringer and the Back the Track crew are fighting hard to clear of rubbish, overgrowth and debris and volunteers are doing sterling work. Not as I wound folk up with last week to turn it into a water feature (April fool folks – can’t believe the angry messages I got about that) but as a cycle and walking route.

I would love to see this route stretch as a traffic free trail to Lichfield. It would be such an asset for the area.

Thanks to James for posting the film and the wonderful work he did to make it – it’s always nice to see folk creating such stuff and I know just how much hard work goes into these things. Your efforts are appreciated.

If you have anything to add, please do – comment here, or mail me: BrownhillsBob at googlemmil dot com. Cheers.

If you want to know what the South Staffordshire Rail Line looked like to a train driver, this wonderful cinefilm footage below was recorded just before the line shut through Brownhills in 1984 – enjoy, and see what you can spot.