It is also a popular location for photographers with a wealth of habitat, flora and fauna. Smestow Valley Local Nature Reserve is part of the disused Oxley to Kingswinford line, originally owned by the Great Western Railway. Tettenhall Station and Goods Shed, adjoin Smestow Valley. The station was one of the last to be built by the GWR. Construction began in 1913. The station, though largely used
for goods traffic, church outings and later, in the second world war, for the wartime ambulance trains. This line only had a single track, which was used for both up and down traffic. It was run as a passenger service for only 7 years, 1925 to 1932, and continued to run as a goods service until 24 June 1965 when it was closed following the Beeching Report. The former trackbed and reserve runs parallel to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. The canal is 74 km (46 miles) long, from Stourport-on-Severn and the River Severn to Great Haywood, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. It was designed by James Brindley, and opened for traffic in 1772. Smestow Valley extends from Oxley in the north, down to Castlecroft in the south. We bought the reserve in sections, mainly during the 1970s.
