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.

 

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 6 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 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 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 LNWR was the first to construct a railway through Smethwick in 1852 from New Street towards Wolverhampton and the North West, Rolfe Street and Spon Lane opened that year followed by Soho in 1853. In 1867 the Stourbridge Railway opened a link between the Great Western Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Dudley Railway (of 1852) near the current Hawthorns and Stourbridge with a station at 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. It was not until 1931 that a railway station was constructed at the Hawthorns, although it was a 'Halt' primarily for football ground, this station closed in 1967.

 

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 in 1968. beginning the first of several rail closures in the town. In 1972 the section of line between Smethwick West and 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 and Smethwick West was restored and a new station called 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 Railways 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 of Wellington Street. It is the principal train depot for West Midlands Trains' Class 323 train fleet, which are often seen providing local train services in the area.

Buses and trams

 

A Midland Red D9 in 2002

The town of Smethwick has a long association with buses. From 1914 the famous 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.^[23] Smethwick never had its own Corporation Transport Department, like West Bromwich or 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 WMPTE until 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.^[24] Route 34 was the first route to go in Smethwick in 1930 and 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.

 

The Hawthorns railway station and metro stop

The Midland 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 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.^[25] The metro can be caught at the Hawthorns railway station.