Britain doesn’t hold many current railway records, but it does have a line in the West Midlands that claims the title of Europe’s shortest – the Stourbridge branch line.
At just 0.8 miles (1.2km/1,287 metres) in length, it’s also Britain’s shortest railway line.
What’s more, the service that runs on it is operated by ‘Pre Metro’ and West Midlands Railway using a pair of rare Class 139 ‘Parry People Movers’.
They are the only Class 139s in service in the UK.
The one-car vehicles – the brainchild of light rail pioneer John Parry – are described by Pre Metro as ‘self-sustained trams’, powered by a hybrid flywheel and an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) engine.
Europe’s shortest railway line – the Stourbridge branch line
The website for the line explains that the flywheel enables the shuttle to perform regenerative braking, where the vehicle’s kinetic energy is collected when braking, and later re-used for acceleration.
The line they trundle up and down was opened in 1879, with Parry People Mover passengers today carried along it at up to 20mph (32kph).
The journey, between Stourbridge Town and Stourbridge Junction, takes just three minutes, with services departing every 10 minutes.
The service that runs on the Stourbridge branch line is operated by ‘Pre Metro’ and West Midlands Railway using a pair of rare Class 139 ‘Parry People Movers’
The journey, between Stourbridge Town and Stourbridge Junction, takes just three minutes, with services departing every 10 minutes
The line was opened in 1879, with Parry People Mover passengers today carried along it at up to 20mph (32kph)
That’s 1,370 services every week, with two drivers in place for ‘safety and stellar customer service’, according to Pre Metro.
The line was originally built to move goods and people between Stourbridge’s canal basin and the mainline rail network at Stourbridge junction, providing a vital link to Worcester, Kidderminster and Birmingham.
Another notably short passenger route in the UK is the journey by plane from Papa Westray to Westray in the Scottish archipelago of Orkney – with the flight covering a distance of just 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometres).
It takes just one minute and 14 seconds.
The shortest railway in the world is Los Angeles’ Angels Flight funicular, which is just 298 feet long.
It takes passengers from Hill Street to Grand Avenue.
The one-car Class 139s – the brainchild of light rail pioneer John Parry – are described as ‘self-sustained trams’
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Pictured: The railway in Britain that’s Europe’s shortest line – it’s less than one mile in length and passengers trundle along it in quirky ‘people movers’ at a peak speed of 20mph
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