Hiking in Stone Bridge Trail: trails, map and practical info

The Stonebridge Railway was a railway line between Whitacre Junction and Hampton-in-Arden in Warwickshire, England, passing through Stonebridge. It had an intermediate station at Coleshill, which was renamed Maxstoke in 1923. The railway opened in 1839 as part of the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway (B&DJR). It was a key part of that company's route from the North Midlands and Yorkshire, to connect with the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) and the South East. The line to Birmingham Lawley Street opened on February 10, 1842. After a period of fierce competition between the B&DJR and the Midland Counties Railway (MCR) for the coal traffic to London (the MCR had a shorter route that joined with the L&BR at Rugby), the two merged, with the North Midland Railway, to form the Midland Railway. As all the London traffic was now diverted on the former MCR route, the Stonebridge Railway lost all strategic importance and became in effect a minor branch line. When originally opened, the Stonebridge Railway was a double tracked main line, though the second running line was removed in 1843. This is believed to be the first "singling" (downgrading a railway to single track operation) in railway history. Even after the line was singled, until February 1845, two of the three daily services each way carried through coaches to London. The daily service was reduced from three trains to two in 1859, and from May 1877 the service was reduced to a Parliamentary train service of a single morning train in each direction. This being the minimum level of service required by law. This lasted until 1917, when the passenger service was finally withdrawn as a wartime economy measure, while under government control (but not ownership) during the First World War. The line continued in use for freight until 1935 when it was officially closed, following a bridge failure in Packington. However, the track at the northern end remained in place, and was used as a siding for the storage of disabled wagons between the mid 1930s and 1951, when the track was finally removed. The Hampton end track had become a minor siding, and was lifted in 1963. Two of the most famous men in the history of the Midland Railway were associated with this line - Sir James Joseph Allport (who started his career as a traffic agent in Hampden in Arden), and Matthew Kirtley (who was once the locomotive superintendent of the B&DJR).