Foprd Houses station

[bobyate]

Ford Houses station was located about 3 miles north of Bushbury Jcn on the W'ton - Stafford line, and was built in 1941 with a single island platform, located on the up loop, and with a footbridge that connected to the WD Shell Filling Factory at Paradise (also known as Brinsford or Featherstone) for the benefit of the workers brought there. This station had no public access, and was closed in 1945, but the platform remained, as did the connection to the Ordnance Factory. The up sidings of the station were then used for carriage storage, until mid 1960s. Does anyone have any more details of ECS workings from Wolverhampton HL or elsewhere, or any other workings until the rails were removed (probably around 1966, when electrification started). Or even better, any photos ?
I am preparing a book on the GJR from Stafford to B'ham, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[pre65]

I like a challenge, but this is proving to be a big one.

Was the station platform officially named ?

I found this snippet on a planning application.

"At the time the application was made, there were 132 buildings/ structures,
including earthworks, partially demolished structures and subterranean
structures within a 25ha area of the site. They are mostly brick built with
concrete slabs and dating from 1942 but there are also later buildings from 1950
and from 1965. The layout of the site was specifically designed for the
manufacture and storage of munitions. The storage was mainly around the edge
of the site and the manufacturing buildings were grouped together and
integrated with the railway network. "

Please let me know if you find any information.

[pre65]

As an aside, I see a new station is in the offing in that area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinsfo...ailway_station

[keith morgan]

Hello Bobyate, as an ex- Bushbury fireman I remember Fordhouses well. Your information that the siding was used for ECS. is correct, (normally ten coach rakes). When i was in the control link, we had quite a few jobs from there mainly to Willesden, on one occasion the train was made up of 20xcoaches, i remembered this trip well, as we collided with a vehicle on Marston Green (B-ham) crossing.
Also we had one special ECS. job to Llandudno Jct. i can't remember how we ran round the train to travel north, because Fordhouses was a dead end siding,with trains facing south, i think.
Guards were not keen on working these trains, because it was not unusual for homeless ,people to use the coaches to sleep in.and they had to be removed, by the way these stock movements were usually carried out at night.