The railway from Worcester and Bromsgrove, and Redditch to Birmingham runs alongside the canal here and for the rest of the way into New Street. The bridge (No 77A) ahead carried another railway, now dismantled.
The Worcester and Birmingham Canal was fully open by 1815. The thirty mile (48 kilometre) long route with 58 locks gives access to the River Severn at Diglis Basin in Worcester. The canal took twenty-three years to build, and eventually took coal and industrial products south and brought grain, farm produce and building materials into Birmingham. According to William Dargue, pairs of donkeys were used to tow the narrow boats on this canal - the reason is unknown. Other companies normally used single horses.
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Important cargoes on this line included coal, salt, and (from the late 1800s) Cadbury's used the canal to bring the ingredients for chocolate-making to their wharf at Bournville.