Page 6 - The Last TRain South

Redditch Heritage The Last Train South

The line to Evesham opened on May 1868 along with a new Redditch Railway Station on
the site where the bus station now is, having moved from the previous site in Clive Road.
The station moved to its present location in 1972.

It had to be opened in stages because of the need to build a tunnel under the Ridgeway
and Mount Pleasant, which some describe as 'the greatest feat of engineering seen in
Redditch'.

"When they realised they would have to build a tunnel they wanted to go to the east side
instead where Easemore Road is but it was squashed by residents in Evesham who still
wanted the line to go through there," Mr Jarvis added.

The tunnel still exists today off Tunnel Drive. Other parts of the line can still be seen at
the back of the Alexandra Hospital in Nine Days Lane and the old station's masters house
in Green Lane in Studley remains but is now someone's home.

However had it not been for a titanic battle by councilors and MPs, Redditch could have
been left with no train service at all.

The Redditch to Birmingham line was opened in 1859 but the service struggled to make
money and by 1959 there were only nine trains a day at peak hours. The introduction of
diesel trains in 1960 brought a half hourly weekday service but in 1963 during the
'Beeching era' of railway cuts, it was proposed to close the line between Redditch and
Barnt Green. The move was described in Parliament by John Stonehouse MP as the 'height
of lunacy'.

Page: 5