Bumble Hole Line - Remains

Remains

By 1980 most signs of the line had been completely obliterated, at least to the casual observer, though a number of reminders of the line - including embankments, cuttings, three former road bridges over the line (at New Road, St. Peters Road and Greaves Road) and the remains other bridges including an overbridge in Old Hill - are still in existence some 40 years after the line's closure. With the assistance of a pre-Beeching closure map and the current Explorer Ordnance Survey map of the area (sheet 219) it is possible to trace much of the line either on foot or on satellite images available on the Internet. As the OS map shows, much of the Netherton end of the line (including the canal branch) is now a footpath and it is possible to walk on the former track bed from the New Road crossing, south of Dudley, to the site of Windmill End Station and a little beyond with just a few detours around new buildings. Access to the line is more difficult as it approaches Old Hill but since little of the line has been built on, it is clearly visible using the satellite images from Google Maps, for example.