Nature reserve improvements on track
Released: 26 February 2008
Work is steaming ahead to convert former railway station buildings into a field studies centre for a popular nature reserve.
Work on the makeover of the old Tettenhall railway station began in January after Wolverhampton City Council approved £600,000 worth of improvements.
The former station building will become home to a new field studies and interpretation centre for visitors to Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve, while the old booking office will be converted for use by the countryside rangers as a mess room and office.
Work on the redevelopment of the booking office is progressing well. It has been gutted and dehumidifiers have been put in to dry it out. The remaining rotten roof beams and joinery will shortly be replaced and the guttering repaired, with internal work beginning once the building has dried out sufficiently.
The adjoining toilet block has been knocked down and a new one will be erected next to the booking office.
Landscaping work is continuing in order to improve access for disabled people while work on the former station building, which will become the field studies centre, is expected to begin in May.
John Reynolds, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture, said: “This is a very exciting development and is something people who come to the nature reserve have asked us for.
“The field studies centre will tell visitors all about the history of the building and of the railway line, and about the sort of flora and fauna that they can see in the area today”, he added.
The work will cost around £600,000 and is being paid for by the European Regional Development Fund.
Tettenhall station was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1925, when passenger services were first introduced along the route.
But usage was never very high, despite the introduction of a number of station amenities which failed to improve patronage. It closed a mere seven years later, though goods trains continued to rumble past the buildings until the line was completely shut in the mid-1960s.
Issued by the press office.