Editing Smethwick (section)

===Transport history===
====Canals====
{{See also|BCN Main Line}}

Smethwick has a long association with canals, which were the town's first major transport links from a time before decent roads and of course railways. The Birmingham Canal Navigation Old and New Main Line Canals run through the industrial areas and right past the High Street, running parallel to the [[Stour Valley Line]]: all three end up in [[Wolverhampton]]. [[James Brindley]] was the engineer charged with building the canal, a man who gives his name to the busy district in the centre of Birmingham near the International Convention Centre, National Indoor Arena and Broad Street.
[[File:GaltonBridgeRJH01.JPG|thumb|Galton Bridge viewed from the Galton Tunnel]]

The old main line was completed through Smethwick by 1769. It required 12 locks to climb over the hill through the town; Brindley had found the earth too soft to dig a cutting through at the time. Water was supplied by two steam engines. One of them was located on the [[Engine Arm]] which led to the [[Smethwick Engine]] on Rabone Lane and the other was near Spon Lane. [[New Smethwick Pumping Station]] next to Brasshouse Lane was added later in 1892. Because of the locks, the canal through Smethwick became a bottleneck and [[Thomas Telford]] was commissioned in 1824 to look at alternatives.

The new main line through Smethwick was completed by 1829 and completely bypassed all six remaining locks of the summit with a deep cutting. The Engine Arm and Stewarts aqueducts were built to carry their respective canals over the new mainline. The cutting was built through the land of the local businessman [[Samuel Galton, Jr.|Samuel Galton]] and thus this cutting created the Galton Valley and [[Galton Bridge]] was named in his honour. The bridge was the longest single-span iron bridge in the world at the time. The canals of the new and old main line diverged at one end at [[Smethwick Junction (canal)|Smethwick Junction]] near Bridge Street and rejoined at [[Bromford Junction]] near Bromford Road in Oldbury.

Today Galton Valley is a nature area and of more historical interest than commercial, and used mainly for leisure rather than transporting commercial goods.

====Railways====
The [[London and North Western Railway|LNWR]] was the first to construct a railway through Smethwick in [[Stour Valley Railway|1852]] from [[Birmingham New Street railway station|New Street]] towards [[Wolverhampton railway station|Wolverhampton]] and the North West, [[Smethwick Rolfe Street railway station|Rolfe Street]] and [[Spon Lane railway station|Spon Lane]] opened that year followed by [[Soho railway station|Soho]] in 1853. In 1867 the [[Stourbridge Railway]] opened a link between the [[Great Western Railway|Great Western]] [[Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Dudley Railway]] (of 1852) near the current [[The Hawthorns railway station|Hawthorns]] and [[Stourbridge Junction railway station|Stourbridge]] with a station at [[Smethwick West railway station|Smethwick West]] and a link to the Stour Valley line towards New Street called Smethwick Junction, the Stourbridge Railway was merged into the Great Western in 1870. Not until 1931 was a railway station  constructed at the Hawthorns, although it was a 'halt' primarily for the football ground; this station closed in 1967.

[[File:Swanage railway station - geograph.org.uk - 46448.jpg|thumb|right|[[British Rail Class 33]] at Swanage, built by the [[Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company]]]]
From 1854 the [[Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company]] was based in Smethwick until its closure in 1963. The company not only built trains, but also [[London Underground]] stock, buses and a military equipment.

Soho railway station closed in 1949, followed by Spon Lane station in 1968. In 1972 the section of line between Smethwick West and [[Birmingham Moor Street railway station|Birmingham Moor Street]], as well as the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley railway, was closed, with the exception of a single line between Smethwick West and Coopers Scrap Metal in Handsworth; and all Stourbridge services were diverted into Birmingham New Street. In 1995 the line between [[Birmingham Snow Hill railway station|Birmingham Snow Hill]] and Smethwick West was restored and a new station called [[Smethwick Galton Bridge railway station|Smethwick Galton Bridge]] was constructed over both the Snow Hill and Stour Valley lines to provide an interchange. Smethwick West was due to close when Galton Bridge opened, but due to a legal error [[British Rail]]ways had to maintain a [[parliamentary train]] service to the station. Most local trains from Stourbridge to Birmingham were diverted into Snow Hill although it was not until 2004 that the last regular service used the route into Birmingham New Street via Smethwick Junction.

[[Soho TMD]] is located next to Soho rail junction; road access is just off Wellington Street. It is the principal train depot for [[West Midlands Trains]]' [[British Rail Class 323|Class 323]] train fleet, which are often seen providing local train services in the area.

====Buses and trams====
[[File:Midland Red bus 5399 (BHA 399C), 26 August 2002 (1).jpg|thumb|left|A [[Midland Red]] D9 in 2002]]
The town of Smethwick has a long association with buses. From 1914 the famous [[Midland Red|Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Company (BMMO or Midland Red)]] was based on Bearwood Road on the site of the current Bearwood Shopping Centre until 1974. The garage later saw use as an indoor market until it was demolished in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://midlandred.net/depots/bd.shtml |title=MidlandRed.net - Depots - Bearwood depot |access-date=25 February 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402123034/http://midlandred.net/depots/bd.shtml |archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref> Smethwick never had its own Corporation Transport Department, like West Bromwich or [[Birmingham City Transport|Birmingham]]. Most bus services until the earlier 1970s were provided by the Midland Red, West Bromwich and Birmingham. In the early 1970s, all local bus transport was taken over by the [[West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive|WMPTE]] until [[Bus deregulation in the United Kingdom|deregulation]] in the 1980s. Since then, [[National Express West Midlands]] has been the primary operator in the West Midlands.

Steam trams started through Smethwick in 1885 operated by Birmingham and Midland Tramways. These were replaced by electric trams in 1904 and then merged into the [[Birmingham Corporation Tramways]] in 1906 and trams eventually ran from both the Dudley Road and Hagley Road direction. Dudley Road trams operated to Cape Hill and then diverged to either take the route towards [[Dudley]] (Route 87) via the High Street or towards Bearwood (Route 29) via Waterloo Road, terminating near the site of current Bearwood Bus Station and Kings Head public house. Route 34 from Birmingham to Bearwood along the Hagley Road and terminated at the top of Bearwood Road next to the route from Cape Hill, despite terminating so close to each other there was no physical link between route 29 and 34 in Bearwood.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol17/pp120-123 |title=Smethwick: Public services &#124; British History Online |website=British-history.ac.uk |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925023736/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol17/pp120-123 |url-status=live }}</ref> Route 34 was the first route in Smethwick to disappear, in 1930; the last tram route was closed in 1939 and replaced by motor buses. Both the current [[National Express West Midlands]] routes 82 and 87 are former tram routes and the 87 in fact uses the same number.

[[File:The Hawthorns Station - geograph.org.uk - 1366107.jpg|thumb|[[The Hawthorns railway station]] and metro stop]]
The [[West Midlands Metro]], opened in 1999, is more of a light railway than a tramway. It follows the former [[Great Western Railway]] track bed from [[Birmingham Snow Hill railway station|Birmingham Snow Hill station]] to the former Wolverhampton Low Level via West Bromwich until Priestfield in Wolverhampton. After that, it becomes a tramway proper and runs along the Bilston Road into Wolverhampton city centre. From late 2015 the service was extended from its former terminus at Snow Hill through the city centre to [[Grand Central tram stop|Grand Central]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.centro.org.uk/transport/metro/birmingham-extension/construction-phases/ |title=Construction phases - Construction phases |website=Centro.org.uk |date=2016-06-17 |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=13 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150313080543/http://www.centro.org.uk/transport/metro/birmingham-extension/construction-phases/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The metro can be caught at the [[The Hawthorns railway station|Hawthorns railway station]].