South Staffordshire line

This station was built ten years after the original connection, however, and trains on the South Staffordshire line ran from Walsall to Stourbridge fairly early on.

Dudley provided a useful change point for passengers from Walsall and Stourbridge to Wolverhampton, though this wasn't utilised to quite the effect the OW&WR had hoped, due to the similar connection at Dudley Port by the SSR with the Stour Valley Line – which today forms part of the West Midlands section of the West Coast Main Line.

To the north of Dudley Port, a link to the Birmingham Snow Hill- Wolverhampton Low Level route was added sometime between the inauguration of the line and the opening of Great Bridge South railway station in 1866.

It then branched off south of Lichfield City towards Walsall via Hammerwich, Brownhills, Pelsall and Rushall.

Dudley served as the terminus although some services continued onto Stourbridge on the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway.

This allowed passengers to change for the other lines on the route at Lichfield, Walsall, Dudley and Stourbridge.

The towns and villages the line formerly served before joining the OW&W railway were: Services began at Burton and terminated at either Walsall, Dudley or Stourbridge.

The section from Burton to Lichfield remains open to freight traffic and Voyager trains returning to a depot near Barton.

There would also be passive provisions to allow heavy rail to run the section for freight and potential passenger services.