Union Branch and Albion Interchange

Union Branch

December 2024

The location of the lost Union Branch remains confusing no matter how many times you look at the map, zipping back and forth across Telfords New Main Line.

The reason for this is that the branch predates Telford's canal and was in fact a branch off Brindley's 1767 original canal connecting Birmingham with the collieries of Balls Hill. The New canal sliced right through the branch in two places creating several loops and arms in the process.

Pudding Green Junction area

To complicate matters further the Albion Railway Interchange Basin was built next to the branch's entrance to the Wednesbury Old Canal.

Not easy to understand but well worth the effort expended in the process.

Union Branch and basins off Wednesbury Old Canal

Union Branch west of New Main Line

Union Branch mid section 1951 - Britain from Above

Albion Interchange Basin 1951 - Britain from Above

sally Meadow Basin 1934 - Britain from Above

Entrance to Sally Meadow Basin - Hugh Potter 1974

The above photos have been assembled from various sources, including those freely found on the internet. My thanks go to the many photographers alive and dead who have contributed to this collection and in so doing, are keeping the memory of these lost canals alive. These images are reproduced for ease of research are are not necessarily the property of this blog, and as such should not be used for commercial gain without the explicit permission of the owner (whoever that may be).

The Old Izon Turn

The Old Izon Turn

December 2024

The creation of Telford's New Mainline Canal criss crossed Brindley's 1767 original canal, carving off great loops along its way, taking a much straighter course towards Wolverhampton.

Among these loops there is what I tend to call the Old Iron Turn on account of its proximity to the lost Izon Branch near Pudding Green Junction. This name may be inaccurate and I stand ready to be corrected.

These days you go north from the bottom of Spon Lane Locks / Bromford Junction and then the original Brindley route veers to the east but when originally constructed the Birmingham canal swerved in a loop to the west, smoothing the turn east towards Balls Hill and the coal deposits.

This loop continued to serve the adjacent industry but in time the central section silted up and by the 1940's just the northern end remained in water, playing host to a boatyard with a side slip on its western shore.

1948 - Britain from Above

1948 - Britain from Above

Boats on Izon Old Turn 1961 - HE Evans CRT

Pudding Green Junction from Izon Old Turn 1961 - H E Evans CRT

Pudding Green Junction 1948 - Britain from Above

Pudding Green Junction 1961 - H E Evans CRT

The above photos have been assembled from various sources, including those freely found on the internet. My thanks go to the many photographers alive and dead who have contributed to this collection and in so doing, are keeping the memory of these lost canals alive. These images are reproduced for ease of research are are not necessarily the property of this blog, and as such should not be used for commercial gain without the explicit permission of the owner (whoever that may be).