As one of the original Grand Junction Railway stations, Newton Road opened in 1837,[1]: 17 [a] but under subsequent LNWR control, it was deemed that a more suitable site should be found, and the station was shifted a short distance north-west along the track in 1863 to the junction of Ray Hall Lane with the railway, at a location now buried under the M5 motorway.[b]
However, this move yielded few dividends in passenger numbers, so the station was shifted back near its original position on Newton Road in 1902, where it stayed until final closure in 1945.[2]
Incidents
Site of the 2nd Newton Road stationThe site of the final Newton Road station
On 2 September 1848 a LNWR express train, comprising a locomotive, tender, luggage van and three passenger carriages, from Stratford to Birmingham departed from Wolverhampton 25 minutes behind schedule. Passengers noticed unusual osculations, and those in the rear carriage, which belonged to the Scottish Central Railway, reported a series of bangs, after which the train derailed, coming to rest about a quarter of a mile past Newton Road station. A light engine travelling in the other direction - and with Francis Trevithick aboard - struck the wreckage and was also derailed. At least one passenger died as a result of the initial derailment.[3]
^Drake, James (1838). Drake’s Road Book of the Grand Junction Railway (1838). Moorland Reprints. ISBN0903485257.
^Quick, M. E. (2002). Railway passenger stations in England, Scotland and Wales – a chronology. Richmond: Railway and Canal Historical Society. p. 317. OCLC931112387.
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