From Agenoria to Beeching – The first and last days of steam in Dudley

Black Country 1 Minute
The introductory poster

An exhibition of photographs and other material entitled From Agenoria to Beeching – The first and last days of steam in Dudley was organised by the Dudley Archives and Local History Service and the Black Country Society between October and December 2025, as a contribution to the national Railways 200 celebrations, which marked the 200th anniversary of Railways in Britain. The exhibition, held in the foyer of the Archives, was in two parts. The first part illustrated the first days of steam railways in the Dudley area between 1830 and 1860, mainly using material from the Dudley Archive collections. The second part of the exhibition illustrated the final days of steam in the area, from the late 1950s and early 1960s, through photographs from the Terry Hyde Collection held by the Black Country Society.

The Exhibition organisers were the Black Country Society (Chris Baker, Keith Hodgkins and Quintin Watt) snd Dudley Archives and Local History Service (Hannah Clynes and Paul Ford). In this post I present those aspects of the exhibition which I contributed – primarily the material on the early days of steam in the Dudley area and the introductory slide loop and poster. Some photos from the opening of the exhibition are also included. More information and a fuller descrition of the exhibition can be found on the Black Country Society website.

Introductory slide loop

From Agenoria ……

The route of the Kingswinford Railway on the Kingswinford Tithe Map of 1839.
Route of the Kingswinford Railway
The Opening of the Shutt End Railway, 2 June 1829 (1). From the Birmingham Gazette, 9 June 1829.
Report on the opening of the railway (1)
The Opening of the Shutt End Railway, 2 June 1829 (2). From the Birmingham Gazette, 9 June 1829.
Report on the opening of the railway (2)
Plaque from 1988 commemorating the Agenoria and the Stourbridge Lion A photo of a plaque from 1988 commemorating the Agenoria and the Stourbridge Lion, mounted in the John Bradley Foundry. Photo from David Marlow
Commemorative plaque Foster Rastrick factory
Plaque ccommemorating Agenoria and Stourbridge Lion 1959 A photograph taken in 2005 by Keith Hodghins of a 1959 plaque in the derelict John Bradley Factory, before its renovation, commemorating the Agenoria and Stourbridge Lion
Commemorative plaque from the Foster Rastrick factory
Extracts from The Engineer March 7th 1890. Some technical details of the locomotive and woodcuts of Agenoria and Stourbridge Lion. Downloaded from Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
Details of the Agenoria from the Engineer Magazine
Photograph of Agenoria provided by David Marlow. This is a copy of a photograph of the Agenoria donated to the National Railway Museum in the 1990s by David Marlow. Family tradition says that the engine driver (next to the loco on the footplate) is Edward Stockton, David Marlow's great great grandfather.
Phpograph of Agenoria from David Marlowe c 1860
Photographs of the steam locomotive ‘Agenoria’, c. 1860 . The 'Agenoria' was a Rocket-era steam locomotive built in 1828-1829 by Foster, Rastrick & Company, Stourbridge. The company, founded in 1816, derived its name from its founders – James Foster, ironmaster and senior partner of John Bradley & Co., Stourbridge, and John Urpeth Rastrick, an engineer who was a judge at the Rainhill Trials in 1829. The Agenoria was one of two almost identical steam locomotives built by Foster, Rastrick & Company and was designed for use not far from the Company’s Stourbridge works, on the Earl of Dudley’s Shutt End Railway in Kingswinford and was the only locomotive on the railway for many years. It was the first steam locomotive to operate in the Black Country. The bottom right picture is from https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/629939/view/agenoria-locomotive-historical-image. the others are from https://www.stourbridge.com/agenoria.htm Similar photos are available in the Dudley Archives collection - Ref: p/56, Ref: p/142. Ref: p/2024
Photographs of the Agenoria
Railway Timetables for trains serving Dudley Station in 1857 from the Wolverhampton Chronicle of December 9th 1857. The first timetable shows weekday departures on the South Staffordshire Railway to Walsall, and from there to Birmingham – this was the most direct route at the time. The second shows southbound weekday trains on the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton line to Worcester, Oxford and London Paddington. There were through coaches to Paddington on four trains each day, with journey times of 5 to 6 hours.
18857 train timetables for the Dudley lines
Accidents on the Kingswinford Railway – inquest transcripts from the Wolverhampton Chronicle in 1830 and 1847. Accidents were not uncommon in the early days of railways and the two inquest transcripts shown give details of two that occurred on the Kingswinford Railway in the early years of operation. In both instances the Agenoria would have been involved, as it was the only locomotive on the railway at that time.
Accidents on the Kingswinford Railway
View of the original wooden viaduct, Stambermill Viaduct, Stourbridge, c. 1865. Stambermill Viaduct carried the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway over the River Stour from Stourbridge to Dudley. This wooden viaduct was replaced in 1881 by a brick viaduct, built by the Great Western Railway. The original stone piers for the wooden viaduct were designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. From Streetlifers of Stourbridge and All Surrounding Areas Facebook Group April 2025. An identical picture can be found in Dudley Archives at Ref: p/6
Stambermill Viaduct
Dudley Railway Station in the late 1850s.
Dudley Railway Station in the late 1850s.

Exhbition opening

Published

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