Warwickshire Railways

Warwickshire Railways

Published by Transport Treasury Publishing Ltd. £14.95

ISBN 978-1-913251-65-9

Compiled by Martin Creese

Embark on a nostalgic journey through the railways of Warwickshire with a seasoned enthusiast whose passion for steam locomotion spans decades. From the bustling platforms of Birmingham Snow Hill to the quaint charm of Fenny Compton, this captivating narrative weaves through the rich tapestry of Warwickshire’s railway history. Guided by vivid recollections and meticulously curated images from the Transport Treasury collection, immerse yourself in the bygone era of steam, semaphore signals, and the rhythmic clatter of iron wheels on tracks. Join the author as they traverse forgotten routes, explore hidden gems, and uncover the stories behind each railway line. With heartfelt acknowledgments to fellow enthusiasts, railway preservationists, and the unwavering support of family, this book is a testament to the enduring allure of steam travel and the enduring legacy of Warwickshire’s railways.

Warwickshire Railways Compiled by Martin Creese

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Warwickshire Railways Compiled by Martin Creese

Reviving the memories of yesterday… © Images and design: The Transport Treasury 2023. Text: Martin Creese.

ISBN 978-1-913251-65-9 First published in 2024 by Transport Treasury Publishing Ltd., 16 Highworth Close, High Wycombe, HP13 7PJ www.ttpublishing.co.uk Printed by Short Run Press Ltd., Exeter.

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Front Cover: 5010 Restormel Castle, then allocated to Stafford Road 84A, departs from Leamington Spa on 19 April 1957. New to traffic in 1927 at Old Oak Common, 5010 had only around thirty months left in traffic, being one of the earliest of its type to be withdrawn from Reading shed in October 1959. The 2.10pm from Paddington ran through to Birkenhead and paused at Leamington from 3.56pm to 3.59pm. Next stop would be Birmingham Snow Hill at 4.32pm.

The safety valves are lifting ready for the four miles of Hatton Bank shortly to come. The loco carries the early British Railways crest, the lead carriage is a Mark One brake, followed by a Hawksworth vehicle and then Collett coaches. A further wonderful selection of stock is in the bay platform and sidings on the right, with a horsebox and non-corridor vehicles visible. (R. C. Riley) Frontispiece: 29 April 1956 finds Midland Railway Johnson 3F 43222 departing from Stratford-upon-Avon (Old Town) on the Stephenson Locomotive Society SMJR Railtour which ran from King’s Cross to Hitchin where Bedford 15D allocated 43222 took over for the run to Bedford, Olney, Broom Junction and onwards to Birmingham New Street. British Railways Standard Five 73099 took over for the return to Euston via Coventry, Leamington and Rugby.

Departure from King’s Cross was at 9.14am behind Claud Hamilton 62605 and arrival back in Euston was at 7.26pm, a 267 mile journey. The tour paused at Stratford from 1.34pm to 2.21pm. 43222 was built by Neilson Reid & Co in 1890 and would survive until June 1959, being withdrawn from Sheffield Grimesthorpe. (R. C. Riley) Page 1 (Right): Taken from the Station Road overbridge and looking down onto Hatton station, change for Stratfordupon-Avon, as Rugby 2A allocated, Darlington built Stanier 8F 48559 eases its class E goods working through and is about to head towards Stratford. 48559 moved to Willesden in May 1965 and was finally withdrawn from Bolton in January 1968. The leading vehicle is thought to be ex-LNER and the fourth a steel bodied open wagon, all appear to be loaded with bricks. (David Horne) Rear Cover: Tyseley allocated Collett Large Prairie 5166 departs from Stratford-upon-Avon on a local service for Birmingham. The date was 21 April 1957 and at almost the end of the era of steam hauled local services; soon Diesel Multiple Units would be the dominant motive power. The non corridor stock seen with 5166, and also in the siding behind, would also disappear. Those first generation DMUs would survive until the early 1990s. 5166 was built at Swindon Works and was new to traffic in November 1930. A long time Tyseley (TYS/84E) resident, she would depart for Severn Tunnel Junction in November 1957. (R. C. Riley) Our sincere thanks go to the following people who contributed to the accuracy of this book: John Kilford Bill Armstrong Geoffrey Smith Malcolm Wells Chris Potts

Robert Day Peter Grant Bob Allen Andrew Newman Graham Howell

Contents Introduction

5

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

7

Part Two - To Stratford

42

Part Three - The Redditch Loop

72

Part Four - LNWR Lines to Leamington

84

Part Five - The Shipston on Stour Branch

98

Part Six - Broom Junction to Fenny Compton

102

3

Warwickshire Railways

MAP TO GO HERE

4

A

Introduction

s a child of the 1970s so much of what we see in the following pages was no more and yet, through the half century that has followed, the railways of Warwickshire have been a recurring part of my life.

Under strict supervision I was allowed to work the frame although I did find the double crossover (both up and down points on one lever) something of a challenge. Steam brought down the curtain on the semaphore signals and the sight of 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe on a set of chocolate and cream coaches on a glorious September afternoon passing Henley in Arden will live long in the memory.

My earliest memories are taking refuge in the waiting room at Wilmcote from the sound of 4771 Green Arrow passing through on the “LCGB Gresley Commemorative” tour. Roll forward to October 1974 and I watched 35028 Clan Line struggling to get away from a photo stop at Wilmcote. I was fortunate in having a father also interested, so I was taken to see any steam workings. Eight years in Shropshire didn’t stop our visits and my one and only time seeing 4468 Mallard in steam was at Wilmcote.

The family returned to Warwickshire and for sixteen years home was between Milcote and Binton stations, both long closed.

Tyseley has also been a regular haunt for open days and for three years my lunchtime escape, my workplace being just down the Warwick Road. I volunteer alongside my eldest with the Erlestoke Manor Fund, who have a restoration base at Tyseley and standing in the shed surrounded by former Great Western motive power carries you back to the Tyseley of steam days. Mention of Tyseley leads us also to Vintage Trains who bring regular steam operation onto the former GWR lines including the regular Shakespeare Express.

My early working career was spent commuting from Stratford-upon-Avon into Birmingham Snow Hill and later Tyseley. It was the last years of the first generation DMU and I studied for my accountancy exams, albeit with the pleasure of an open window as we sprinted down from Earlswood, sometimes not stopping for the request stops of the Lakes, Wood End and Danzey, a welcome distraction. These were soon replaced by Class 150s but commuters are creatures of habit and regular seats were soon established in the new units and I enjoyed many journeys with the late Derek Maymen who played such a part in saving the North Warwickshire route from closure.

It has been a privilege to explore the Transport Treasury collection of images in compiling this book, to be transported back to the steam era. I have to say a special thank you to Transport Treasury archivist Andrew Royle for pulling out over a thousand images to select from. It has been fascinating seeing the images of R.C. Riley who explored the area each April for a number of years.

Our journey starts and finishes at Fenny Compton, close to the southern county boundary with Oxfordshire. We travel all the way up the former Great Western Railway to Birmingham Snow Hill, taking advantage of earlier county boundaries rather than today’s metropolitan boroughs. We then have a look at the North Warwickshire line down through Stratfordupon-Avon and the lines from Bearley to Alcester and Bearley to Hatton. Our attention then turns to the former LMS route from Redditch down to Evesham alongside the former LNWR lines radiating from Leamington Spa, before a little

Whilst I now live in Shirley, I had the pleasure of visiting the then three surviving Great Western Railway signal boxes at Shirley, Henley-inArden and Bearley West Junction. An autumn evening sat inside the signal box, the desk lit by a solitary lamp, just watching the flow of trains, bell codes to Henley and, even allowing for DMUs; it could have still been the steam era.

5

Warwickshire Railways

look at the GWR Shipston-on-Stour branch and then finishing up with a journey from Broom Junction along the Stratford and Midland Junction Railway back to Fenny Compton.

direction it means, especially when up and down on the Solihull line are different directionally to up and down on the North Warwickshire line.

So a train heading to Birmingham could leave Stratford in the up Direction and, if routed via Hatton, take the Down Direction to Birmingham at Hatton North Junction, or, if routed via Shirley to Tyseley, become a down working at Tyseley.

What this does mean is that the LNWR line from Birmingham to Coventry and North Warwickshire doesn’t feature on this occasion.

I’ve tried to select images that hopefully haven’t been seen before, although a few previously published ones have been included as they are the best illustrations. In compiling the captions much reference has been made to books listed in the bibliography and for any reader wanting to know more they are well worth finding a copy of. I have also referred as much as possible to working timetables for the period of the images to add details around the workings.

My thanks to Martin Wood for all his help in identifying wagons, Martin Crane and Jamie Green for signalling queries and Adrian Hassell for input on a number of images. A very big thank you to Kevin Robertson and all at the Transport Treasury for giving me the opportunity to compile this volume for them.

Up

Down

Fenny Compton to Birmingham

Towards London

Towards Birmingham

Tyseley to Honeybourne

Towards Tyseley

Towards Honeybourne

Hatton to Bearley

Towards Hatton

Towards Bearley

Barnt Green to Evesham

Towards Barnt Green

Towards Evesham

Moreton-in-Marsh to Shipston on Stour

Towards Moreton-inMarsh

Towards Shipston on Stour

Berkswell to Weedon

Towards Rugby and Daventry

Towards Coventry and Berkswell

Broom Junction to Kineton

Towards Fenny Compton

Towards Broom Junction

There are two websites which have been invaluable. https://warwickshirerailways. com/ and https://www.brdatabase.info/ We take the effort, time and resources taken to make this information available to us for granted and both these websites were constant reference points as I compiled this book.

Martin Creese, Solihull, November 2023.

I’ve saved the most important acknowledgments to the end. To Ewan and Dylan who have taken on my love of steam and accompany me on many of my trips out, and, to my amazing wife Jane, the biggest thank you, for her support and encouragement. All the books I have had piled around the house to support the caption writing; I will put them back on the bookshelves now.

Finally reference in the captions is made to Up and Down trains. Hopefully the table below will make matters a little clearer in terms of which

Right: The station building (partially hidden) was a small wooden construction with a bay window on the platform to allow booking office staff to keep an eye on passengers.

Storage facilities at the station were the corrugated iron hut and a grounded coach body. Just to the left is the goods siding. 4944 Middleton Hall is on an Up train heading towards Banbury on 17 April 1956, an 81C Southall engine until moved to Plymouth Laira in January 1958. The loco would return to Southall in August 1962 before being withdrawn from there just a month later. (R. C. Riley) 6

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

Part One – Fenny Compton to Birmingham Fenny Compton We start our journey around the railways of Warwickshire at Fenny Compton which sits eight miles north of Banbury. The GWR station was opened on 1 October 1852 and the split platform arrangement seen here either side of the level crossing and low underbridge came following rebuilding around 1902.

7

Warwickshire Railways

Looking north on the same day we see both the Stratford and Midland Junction Railway Station, which opened in 1871, and the Great Western Railway station. The GWR goods facilities were sandwiched between the two. Access to these limited facilities was via the level crossing and the parapets of the underbridge that took the railway over the station road can be made out. The SMJR line curves off to the left to Kineton. Despite its well-kept appearance, passenger services on the SMJR finished in 1952. The village of Fenny Compton was a short distance to the west of the station.

The signal box controlled both the former GWR and SMJR lines, replacing two boxes in 1931. It was open from 6am on a Monday to 5.50am on a Sunday. (R. C. Riley)

Now Banbury allocated Collett 2246 slows for the stop at Fenny Compton, on its way from its home station to Leamington Spa. Taken from the LMS signal box the scene shows the GWR goods siding on the right, loading dock and cattle dock. Not a goods loop, the line went into a headshunt with a connection onto the Stratford and Midland Junction. There is a later GWR tubular post home signal by the engine. The view also affords an extra look at the grounded coach body, the guard’s lookout ducket suggesting it was a brake vehicle. Both it and the nameboard seem be leaning into the field behind. (R. C. Riley) 8

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

All change at Fenny Compton, six years later. In 1960 the connection was remodelled to allow trains heading north from Banbury to have a direct connection to the line to Stratford-upon-Avon. The Up SMJR platform and the GWR goods dock were removed, along with the signal box, which was replaced with the one seen here and opened on 7 March 1960. The station would close completely on 2 November 1964. 7026 Tenby Castle heads south with an express on 29 April 1962. Allocated to Stafford Road for much of its life, it was withdrawn from Tyseley in October 1964 after a total of fifteen years’ service and was scrapped at Cashmore’s, Great Bridge in April 1965. Castles (plus Counties and Britannias) were allowed up to 455 tons between Birmingham and Paddington and twenty-two minutes from Leamington to Banbury. (Mike Mitchell)

Greaves Siding

4954 Plaish Hall heads north with a Reading-Birmingham train on 23 April 1957, past Greaves Siding box on one side and the Harbury Cement works of Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (APCM) opposite. Richard Greaves commenced cement production at Harbury in 1855 and the plant operated until 1970, with the buildings demolished in 1994. In 1957 three kilns were in operation making cement with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes a year. Rail traffic was coal inwards to fire the kilns and cement products out, the location of the works being dictated by its rail access. Lurking behind the Hall is (we suspect) a 56xx 0-6-2T, possibly from Leamington shed. The guard is visible on the veranda of the British Railways standard 20t brake van and to the right Peckett No.9 w/n 1505, constructed 1918 and named Whitby.

There was a 12.45pm class K freight from Greaves Sidings to Bordesley sidings. (R. C. Riley) 9

Warwickshire Railways

Below: A closer shot of Peckett No.9 Whitby inside the works shunting a Presflo wagon; these were built to Diagram 1/272 with 1,840 being constructed between 1954 and 1962. The loco was transferred from Ellesmere Port works circa 1933. Surplus to requirements at Harbury, it was later transferred in parts to Southam Works but was never reassembled and scrapped in 1963. The lorry is believed to be an early s10 cabbed Foden DG6*, possibly dating from 1938-1945 as it carries a split driver’s windscreen. Behind this sits a rake of vans, likely for bagged cement. The gentleman by No.9 has his trousers held by bicycle clips against the ever-present dust and a pocket watch chain can be seen on his waistcoat. Perhaps he was the site foreman. *Foden identification courtesy of John Ormanby in the Vintage Roadscene 1955-1995 group. (R. C. Riley) Top Right: Also on 23 April 1957, Churchward 28xx 2857 leaves the Down goods line at Fosse Road with a Class H Freight working comprised of a loaded rake of iron ore wagons from Banbury Ironstone Sidings, destined either for Bilston steelworks or possibly South Wales (which it would reach via Hatton, Bearley, Stratford-upon-Avon and then Cheltenham and Gloucester). 2857 was an 84E Tyseley engine from July 1955 to June 1958 when it moved to Pontypool Road. Withdrawn from Neath in April 1963, the loco went to Barry Scrapyard from where it was rescued by the 2857 Society and returned to steam on the Severn Valley Railway. A lovely wooden post GWR bracket signal governs the loop whilst the down main has a later metal post signal. Images from 1965 show the bracket replaced by a single metal post signal. The down loop at Fosse Road would hold seventy-six standard length wagons. An unidentified Grange heads south. (R. C. Riley) Bottom Right: Still on 23 April 1957, we have the classic Harbury cutting scene with the three arch bridge carrying Bull Ring Farm Road, the farm being out of sight to the left. The village of Harbury is to the right. Just out of sight behind the train itself is the 73-yard long Harbury Tunnel. The cutting at its deepest is over 100ft deep and at the time of its construction was the largest man-made cutting in the world, all excavated by hand through Blue Lias clay. Much of the excavated material went to form the embankment at Fosse Road. Close inspection of the image reveals the telegraph pole route climbing the embankment to go over the top of the tunnel. 5061 Earl of Birkenhead is descending the 1 in 143 gradient through the cutting with (appropriately) a Bournemouth-Birkenhead service. This was an 84K Chester West engine from May 1951 to September 1958 when it moved to Reading. The lead coach looks like a four-compartment brake, possibly a Diagram D121 Collett vehicle, fifty-six of which were built in 1936. The second vehicle is also a Collett, possibly a bow ended vehicle. January 2015 saw a landslip in the cutting (beyond the bridge) which saw 350,000 tonnes of earth on the move, closing the line for a number of weeks. (R. C. Riley)

10

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

11

Warwickshire Railways

12

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

Top Left: Looking towards Leamington we see Churchward Mogul 5379 on a class H up freight climbing through Harbury Cutting; allocated to Banbury in September 1956 the engine did not have too long left, being withdrawn in May 1958 and scrapped at Swindon Works in July of that year, having had a working life of just under 40 years. The lead wagon is possibly ex-LNER and behind this are two Toad brake vans and a British Railways standard 20t brake van.

Looking in the 1959 working timetable, there was a class H freight from Honeybourne to Banbury leaving Leamington Spa at 1.20pm and fitting into the timing of the sequence of images R.C. Riley captured that day. Note the flat bottom rail and well-manicured ballast edge, although the lumpy contents of those sacks lying evenly spaced in the cess are a mystery – new track components, perhaps? The permanent way workers in the background may be about to deploy them. (R. C. Riley) Bottom Left: Viewed from the footbridge, 4092 Dunraven Castle heads south through Southam Road & Harbury. The stock is a mix of British Railways Mark One carriages and early Bulleid vehicles. The 1959 working timetable has train 133 as the 7.35am Birkenhead to Margate which stopped at Leamington 11.17 to 11.21. Dunraven Castle was an 84A Stafford Road engine from December 1950 to March 1958 when she moved to 81D Reading whose shed plate, I think, is discernible. Moved to 81F Oxford in October 1960, she was withdrawn in December 1961 after a working career of just over thirty-six years. A few wagons linger in the goods yard which was closed in November 1963. Behind the lead vehicle can be seen Southam Road & Harbury signal box which was a type 7D with a 33-lever frame and which closed on 2 April 1967. Out of sight to the left was the goods shed which had originally been built for the broad gauge. On the top of the hill can be seen Southam water tower which supplied water to the Southam Parishes and held 340,000 gallons. It was erected around 1956/57 which helps narrow the date of the image and, like so much in this scene, is no more. (Arthur Mace) Below: Taken a couple of months before closure in June 1965, 46442, 6697 and 73021 sit outside Leamington Spa engine shed on 16 April. Situated between the Rugby and Banbury lines it was classified LMTN in GWR days, becoming 84D under British Railways in 1950 and finally 2L from September 1963. The shed was four roads and built to Churchward’s standard design, opening in 1906. Just to the left can be seen the turntable. Of these engines, 6697 was a long-standing Leamington resident from June 1947 before moving to 88C Barry in June 1960 and 88B Radyr in July 1964.

It returned to Leamington in September 1964 and was to be finally withdrawn from 6C Croes Newydd in May 1966; today, of course, it survives in preservation at Didcot. Ivatt 2MT 46442 had a much shorter stay, arriving in October 1964 and upon Leamington’s closure moved to Tyseley from where it was withdrawn in October 1966. 73021 was a Gloucester Horton Road engine before moving to 81F Oxford in July 1965 from where it was withdrawn just a month later. Amongst the usual debris of an engine shed seem to be a lot of stray ovoids. (Tony Cousins)

13

Warwickshire Railways

Large Prairie 8109 sits alongside Leamington Spa coaling stage, the water tank above holding 45,000 gallons. Built as 3115 in 1907, the loco was renumbered to 5115 in March 1928. Rebuilt to 8109 with smaller five-foot six-inch driving wheels in 1939, 8109 was a Leamington engine from December 1939 to December 1960 when it moved to 84E Tyseley, being withdrawn in December 1965 after a working life of over sixty years and the last of the 81xxs to be withdrawn.

An overhaul in March 1963 saw the loco remain in BR black but with late crest. The bracket signal in the background is on the Rugby to Leamington line. (Neville Stead collection) Top Right: A ‘privileged position’ image from the footplate of 6003 King George IV as it approaches Leamington Spa on 23 April 1960. The wonderful wooden posted GWR bracket signal is set for the down through road, with the left signal governing the Down platform line and the right hand one the down goods, which went round the back of the Up platform. An ATC ramp is just visible in front of the engine which, as the engine goes over it, will ring all clear in the cab.

Leamington Spa South Box sits beyond the signal: A GWR type 27c, it was an all- wooden construction and contained a 45-lever frame which covered the station platform, through and goods roads to Leamington Spa North signal box.

The south exit from Leamington was on a series of bridges and viaducts and the South signal box at the front was supported on the viaduct wall and at the back on brick supporting pillars. 6003 was an Old Oak Common engine from entering service in July 1927 to September 1960 when it moved to Cardiff Canton. It returned to Old Oak Common in February 1962 and was withdrawn from there in June 1962, being cut up at Swindon in the September. Referring to the 1959 working timetable the ‘Cambrian Coast Express’ to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli was one of the few workings not scheduled to stop at Leamington Spa, passing through at 11.46pm, so R. C. Riley may well be enjoying his footplate ride on that working. Perhaps it can be assumed that he was holding his camera at arm’s length! (R. C. Riley) Bottom Right: Worcester (85A) allocated Churchward Mogul 5337 arriving at Leamington Spa General on a local working in the 1950s. Allocated to Worcester from October 1956 to May 1958, before moving on to Hereford (85C), she would survive until October 1960 and enjoyed a working life of just under forty-three years. There is plenty of luggage on the trolley down the platform and most eyes from the passengers and staff are on the arriving train. Again we can see the single slip on the crossover of the up and down through lines. GWR Journal No. 58 identified the Parcel Porter with the sack truck as Alf James. Through the smoke and on the wall of the building is a painted advert for Francis and Sons of 34-40 Bath Street, Leamington. The store had departments covering Ladies and Gentleman’s fashions, fabrics, millinery, furniture and carpets. By the time of the photograph the store was starting to decline albeit final closure did not occur until the early 1980’s. (Arthur Mace) 14

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

15

Warwickshire Railways

Below: A view from Leamington Spa Avenue station on 7 August 1953 as Stanier 8F 48526 sits in the LMS exchange siding No. 1 behind the station. Lead wagon is a Diagram 1386 21 tonne mineral wagon built by the Southern Railway.

48526 was a Bletchley engine from March 1950 to December 1956. From then to June 1965, she alternated spells between Rugby and Nuneaton sheds before finally being withdrawn in August 1966 from Stoke. No obvious emblem is apparent on the tender. The siding connected with the GWR line in the up direction forming a connection from Coventry. London Midland metals could be gained again at Leamington South Junction by the engine shed. This is maybe a working from Coventry Coalfield and avoiding the main line by running down through Kenilworth, Leamington, Daventry, and joining the line to London at Weedon. In the background can be seen Leamington Spa South signal box.

Notice also the tall LNWR signal with repeaters which was replaced, according to other sources, around this time. The building in the centre is understood to have been used by the Carriage and Wagon Department. (Arthur Mace) Top Right: 85A (Worcester) allocated Small Prairie 4571 departing from the down main platform as opposed to the bay, on, I suspect, a Worcester bound local. Stock is two non-corridors at the rear, possibly not a B-Set (as two brake vehicles cannot be discerned) and strengthened with an additional carriage. Just to the left of the engine (in the distance) can be seen All Saints Parish Church, with rakes of mineral wagons to the rear of the LMS Avenue station.

The signal is off for the up goods line, which ran round the back of the GWR station up platforms. To the right are the bay platforms and dock sidings. 4571 enjoyed a six-year stint at Worcester from February 1953 to February 1959 before moving to Laira. Its stay in the South West was not that long, being withdrawn from Penzance in March 1961 after a working career of thirty-six years. 19 April 1956. (R. C. Riley) Bottom Right: A second look at Leamington allocated Collett 66xx 6697 passing Leamington Spa North signal box on 19 April 1956. Opened in 1910 and, I think, a GWR type 7, it contained 121 levers. It was open continuously but finally closed in 1985 and is sadly no more. 6697 is leaving the GWR yard, a fan of four (known as the ‘Field’) sidings that could still be seen, albeit very overgrown in recent times. Lead vehicle appears to be a tube wagon followed by a number of box vans including one of an SR pattern. The rake goes behind the signal box with a 16T mineral, seven plank with a GWR Toad brake van bringing up the rear. Just behind and in another of the sidings on the left hand side can be seen a rake of conflats and containers. The wagons to the right on the lower level are in the LMS Avenue station yard. A very nice GWR tubular post signal covers the Up through, Platform and Goods loop lines, with a wooden post one by the signal box. Circles on the arms of the bracket above the first box van indicate non-passenger lines. (R. C. Riley)

16

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

17

Warwickshire Railways

An unidentified 84A Stafford Road King arriving at Leamington Spa. A goods sits on the left on the down through road with the roof of the goods shed above them. Another rake of mineral wagons is on the goods loop on the right and just above the roof of the brake van can be seen the chimney of an unidentified locomotive. Zooming in on the picture, a gentleman is stood on the board walk between the two trains. (Arthur Mace)

Leamington to Warwick

21A Saltley allocated 46123 Royal Irish Fusilier sat off the rails and nestling the platform ramp at the end of the up goods loop at Warwick Station in June 1962. The loco had failed to stop its unfitted goods train, which by the time of the photograph had been recovered. The loco spent a few days here before recovery and was reallocated to Carlisle on the 30 June 1962, not surviving too much longer, with withdrawal coming in November 1962. The Up refuge siding at Warwick was converted into a loop in June 1944. Its location towards the bottom of Hatton Bank meant the working instructions were that any train going into the loop should be brought to a stop before entering it. Reading some footplate recollections, the suggestion in this instance was that the working was given a clear road through Warwick before a signalman’s change of mind saw it diverted into the goods loop. An unfitted train and downhill gradient did the rest. (David Horne) 18

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

An unidentified King passes the wartime cold store between Warwick and Budbrooke. This (initially) rail-served facility was built in 1942; it continued in use until 1990 and was finally demolished in 2016. Anecdotes suggest cheese, Argentinian beef and latterly butter were amongst the food stored in it. These cold stores were built in locations less susceptible to wartime bombing and we will see another later. In the background can be seen the wartime Warwick North signal box opened in June 1942. A type 13 signal box, the box controlled the two reception sidings seen behind the King, as well as access into the two private sidings in the cold store and the trailing connection from the Down main line. Signal box open hours were 8.15am to 3.25pm and closed on Sundays. Warwick North signal box was closed around September 1961. The loco is seemingly working wrong line and is well into the early climb of Hatton Bank.

Close examination of the scan shows the King is Old Oak Common 81A allocated. The locomotive also, I think, has the early pattern fabricated double chimney rather than the later more elliptical design and is carrying the early British Railways crest so is thought to be 6015 King Richard III. (David Horne)

19

Warwickshire Railways

On 20 April 1957, Tyseley 84E’s Collett 2251 No. 2279 shuffles along the down goods running line, having just passed under the skew bridge that carries Dark Lane over the railway. A Class K working with just the single lamp over the right buffer, this may have been the 10.35 Leamington Spa to Bordesley working which passed Hatton around 11.55, for which the angle of the light on the engine is about right. The timetable had just under an hour at Warwick hence the long journey time to this point. New concrete sleepers for installation on the goods line sit between it and the down main. (R. C. Riley)

On the same day and looking north towards Hatton station we see Stanier Black Five 44666, which at the time was a 21A Saltley engine, where it was shedded from November 1949 to October 1965. Built at Crewe in 1949 it was, I think, the penultimate Crewe built Black Five. It also has the forward top feed on the boiler. Carrying a Class D head code for this Bordesley-Hinksey express freight, with at least 30% of the wagons vacuum braked, the engine has steam on as it begins the descent of Hatton Bank. The outer home for Hatton can be seen on the down goods running line and wagons fill the refuge sidings. (R. C. Riley) 20

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

A classic Hatton scene with 4090 Dorchester Castle hauling the ‘Cambrian Coast Express’ on 20 April 1957, with a British Railways standard pattern headboard and displaying ‘183’ as the reporting number for this Down working. It was timed to pass Hatton at 11.52. At this point Dorchester Castle was 81A Old Oak Common allocated and had only just returned to traffic, after fitting with a double chimney at a Heavy General Overhaul which had lasted 164 days. She was also fitted with a Hawksworth tender which she was paired with until her next visit to Swindon in November 1958 before reverting to a Collett pattern tender. Leading vehicle is a Hawksworth Corridor with BR Mark Ones following. Looking through the right hand arch I suspect a Collett restaurant car is in the formation. The cutting sides are sadly very much more overgrown at the time of writing, but steam can still be enjoyed and GWR Castles run occasional excursions with Vintage Trains over the route. Dorchester Castle would head west in September 1959 to 87E Landore and was finally withdrawn from Cardiff East Dock in June 1963, being cut up at Cashmore’s Newport in June 1964. (R. C. Riley)

Hatton

Churchward 2-8-0 2888 passes through Hatton station on an unidentified class C working. The catalogue dates this as a 1953 image and an 86E Severn Tunnel Junction shed plate is just discernible where the engine was allocated from January 1953 to September 1958. The ‘Super D’ with brake van is 2A Rugby allocated and may be 49433, although it is not possible to completely discern the numbers. Hatton South signal box was a GWR type 11 and dated from January 1937, having a 84-lever frame of which seventy-four were originally working and ten spare. Very similar to a type 7, it didn’t have the ornate barge board supports and engineering blue bricks around the base and windows. Closed on the 1 September 1969, it and all the station buildings were demolished shortly after. The siding on the right was only accessible by rail. Prior to 1913 a turntable occupied the space between the siding and branch platform. (Arthur Mace) 21

Warwickshire Railways

Below: 6821 Leaton Grange passing through Hatton station in 1960 on an up parcels working. First two vehicles are exLNER Gresley, the leading one, I think, being a Diagram 327 built to a 1944 design with hardwood panelling and none of the beading seen on the carriage behind. Behind the engine is an old carriage body which was the cycle store. Beyond are the station cottages with a Morris Minor Traveller lurking between. The carriage body was soon to be replaced by a larger tin shed, itself now long gone, along with all on the station. The cottages are still there, however. Leaton Grange was an 81F Oxford engine from March 1958 to November 1959 before heading to South Wales and 86G Pontypool Road. (Alec George) Top Right: Signs of change. The old carriage body has now been replaced with a tin cycle store. On the concrete lamp post is a three car stop sign for the diesel hauled local services and a six car stop visible at the end of the platform.

Behind is the goods siding with a five-plank wagon leading a 16t mineral and then box vans. The corrugated tin hut was a general goods store and bike store. 6026 King John became an 81A Old Oak Common engine as late as February 1960, staying there until withdrawal in September 1962 after a working life of just over thirty-two years. More signs of change are the adoption of alpha numeric train codes in 1960. M denoted the region of destination, in this case Midland Region, and M11 was recorded as the 11.10am Paddington to Birkenhead which was due to pass Hatton at 12.54. The stock looks predominantly British Railways Mark One carriages with the leading two vehicles Hawksworths. Finally, in the background can be glimpsed a train of tank wagons awaiting passage north. 31 August 1962 (Henry Priestley) Bottom Right: Looking north from Station Road Bridge in April 1953, ROD 3042 drifts south on a class H through freight, steam shut off ready for the descent of Hatton bank. To the left goes the line to Bearley and Stratford. A series of engineer’s sidings sit between this and the Birmingham line. Behind the ROD is the up goods running line and a headshunt which ran into a short dock platform in the station. In the distance can be seen the Grand Union Canal.

3042 itself had an interesting history. It was built in 1917 and worked in France as ROD No. 1826, loaned to the GWR in February 1920 as No. 3091, stored at Stratton September 1921 until May 1925, then worked as No. 3042 until withdrawn July 1956, its last shed being Pontypool Road. The second wagon is a 10t salt wagon still with private owner markings of Mangers visible which were based in Stafford. You can still stand here and watch the passage of trains. The canal makes a delightful walk albeit tree growth obscures the view of it from the bridge. The track layout is far simpler with access to the branch only from the branch platform. (Arthur Mace)

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Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

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Warwickshire Railways

Looking back at Station Road Bridge on 30 July 1951, 81F Oxford allocated 7008 Swansea Castle comes under the bridge.

Smoke rolling from the chimney suggests the regulator is closed with Hatton North’s distant, probably at caution. The engine looks unusually dirty for the period and is coupled to a Hawksworth tender. Stock looks like GWR carriages.

The first of the British Railways built Castles, 7008 entered traffic on the 12th May 1948 and for much of its life was an Oxford engine. It received a double chimney in 1959 and was withdrawn from 81A Old Oak Common in September 1964 , being scrapped at Birds of Risca in May 1965 . The headshunt into the dock platform can be seen going under the bridge to the left with the up and down mains through the main bridge span and the branch platform to the right. A rake of tank wagons sits in the siding behind the branch platform. (J. C. Flemons)

We have now moved to Hatton North Junction with the line to Hatton West Junction (making the triangle) and onto Bearley and Stratford diverging away to the right. Oxley 84B allocated Churchward Mogul 5309 on a class H freight made up of iron ore wagons probably bound for the Black Country. The engine only had a couple of years left in traffic, being withdrawn in January 1953 after thirty-six years’ service. The enthusiastic position of the fireman makes you wonder whether he knew the photographer was waiting for him. (J. C. Flemons) 24

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

Now looking towards Birmingham for a final view on 30 July 1951 5008 Raglan Castle, which was an 84A Stafford Road engine, has a clear road through Hatton. The engine has the earlier pattern inside cylinder block with curved edges and early pattern outside steam pipes. She received a double chimney very late in life in March 1961. Finally withdrawn in September 1962 she was scrapped at Cashmore’s at Great Bridge. The impressive signal gantry reads Stratford Branch, Up Main to Leamington and Goods running line. In the background is the impressive three arch bridge which carries Shrewley Common over the line. The line, which had been level from Hatton to just before North Junction, climbs at 1 in 177 for a short distance before descending to Rowington. The ‘Inter City’ was introduced in 1950 and ran from Wolverhampton to Paddington, leaving Birmingham Snow Hill at 4.50pm and passing Hatton around 5.15pm. Again, perusing the 1959 working timetable a solid block in the timetable reads ‘The Inter City’. The lead vehicle looks like a Collett, possibly a bow ender with three Hawksworth vehicles following. (J. C. Flemons)

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Warwickshire Railways

A sequence on 24 April 1957: Looking towards Hatton 5912 Queen’s Hall takes water over Rowington troughs. Note the spray just at the base of the tender and billowing water out of the water filler, which may have been left open. The reservoir tank for the troughs is seen bottom left and held forty thousand gallons. Constructed in 1902 the troughs were originally 440 yards long but were extended to 560 yards in 1908. Queen’s Hall was an 84E Tyseley engine from June 1952, staying until April 1960 when she moved to 84F Stourbridge Junction. An early BR crest is on the tender and I suspect she may be in British Railways lined black livery. In the distance the line sweeps to the left with the occupation bridge at Shrewley visible. A Hawksworth vehicle is the fourth carriage with the first one a passenger brake van, possibly a diagram K40. The September 1957 working timetable has the 3.30 from Oxford being a working to Malvern Wells stopping at Leamington 4.28pm to 4.33pm, Warwick 4.39pm and then non-stop to Snow Hill arriving at 5.14pm.

(R. C. Riley) Top Right: In glorious light 84B Oxley allocated Churchward 28XX 2830 plods south over Rowington troughs on a class H through freight. The slight back lighting and lengthening shadows puts this around 5pm. The 1959 working timetable does not contain any workings that match. The bridge the image is taken from was a farm occupation bridge for the nearby Finwood Farm but is no longer here, along with the cutting sides on the left, having been replaced with the M40 motorway running parallel to the line at this point. In the distance can be seen Rowington Junction; the sixth vehicle is possibly a 14t ‘Murgatroyds’ chlorine wagon. Murgatroyds were based at Elworth and Sandbach, near Middlewich, Cheshire, and produced chlorine, and other chemicals, and went on to become part of BP Chemicals. (R. C. Riley) Bottom Right: 21A Saltley allocated Stanier Black Five 44965 passes Rowington Junction on a Class D freight which may be the 4.40pm from Hinksey to Water Orton passing Rowington Junction around 6.40pm. To the right trails the original line to Henley in Arden opened in June 1894. The opening of the North Warwickshire line in 1908 brought about the demise of the line with passenger traffic ceasing in January 1915 and goods traffic two years later. A short section was retained to store surplus or crippled wagons and coaches. The signal box unusually faces away from the main line and was a GWR type 5 opening in 1894. Closure came in October 1957. A small permanent way brick hut with wooden extension sits just in front with presumably the signalman’s bicycle propped up against it. (R. C. Riley) 26

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

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Warwickshire Railways

Lapworth

We now arrive at Lapworth, the end of the four-track section from Tyseley and end point of the Birmingham suburban services. 6816 Frankton Grange heads a class C parcels working with a Gresley full brake, followed by an unidentified wagon and then a Siphon, possibly G. The signal box is a GWR type 10 built there in 1932 in connection with the line’s quadrupling. Closure came in September 1969. The local platform on the left had no access to the up main at the southern end to the station, terminating in a headshunt before allowing a run round via the down main in the centre.

Between the signal box and train can be seen the trackwork that gave access from the down goods loop on the far left across the up relief, down main, up main and into the yard. (Neville Stead collection)

Collett 2251 class and Leamington 84D allocated No 2210 heads along the up main on a rake with a class C working comprised of car flats. The front ones have BMC Minis on them. A Birmingham bound DMU heads along the down relief. 2210 had become a Leamington engine in October 1961 and would stay there until December 1964 when it moved to Banbury, its last shed before withdrawal in June 1965. This view is taken from Rising Lane bridge which, on heading east, leads to the moated manor house of Baddesley Clinton. The DMUs were introduced on local services in June 1957 with three car class 116 Derby-built units. The fare from Lapworth to Birmingham was 3s 10d. (Alec George) 28

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

Knowle and Dorridge

Looking from the footbridge at the south end of Knowle and Dorridge station in 1964 (which is still a favoured vantage point for railway enthusiasts), we see 6961 Stedham Hall heading south on the up main on a class D goods working.

The steam is unfortunately obscuring identification of the wagons behind. The station was rebuilt with the quadrupling of the lines; to the left are the down and up relief lines and suburban platforms. The owner of No. 2 Alcott Close has an Austin A40 Somerset or Hereford parked on the drive. Behind are the houses of Haydon Close. Like Lapworth the signal box was a GWR type 10 built in August 1932 and contained seventy-four levers. Working hours were from 6.45am to 11pm Monday to Saturday and closed on a Sunday. To the right is the goods yard which was used for loading cars; it was a shunting move from here that led to the collision of 15 August 1963 when the signalman mistakenly accepted an express on the up main. The Down Relief Platform is no more although the line now forms the down goods loop. The Up Relief is still there, and the termination point for the Snow Hill local services. The signal box closed in September 1969 and the yard is now, like so many, a very well used car park. The footbridge, albeit a modern replacement, can still be stood upon to watch the passing of trains. (Arthur Mace)

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Warwickshire Railways

Another, to this day, popular vantage point is Bentley Heath Crossing where Mill Lane crosses the line. A GWR all wooden construction type 28b signal box sits just out of sight to the left, which was open continuously. To the right was access to a Ministry of Food cold store which opened in May 1942 and closed in November 1964. 6828 Trellech Grange became an Oxley 84B engine in October 1961, having been transferred from 83F Truro. She was withdrawn from Oxley in July 1963. The footbridge the photographer is on (in 1960) still stands but the up and down relief lines are gone, as is the connection into the cold store which is now housing. In the left background, I think, are the houses on Poplar Road, with the open ground a clay pit and brickworks, the bricks of which were used in constructing the cottages on the left. (Arthur Mace)

This is Bentley Heath Crossing, looking north with Four Ashes Road Bridge in the distance. On 3 August 1957, a goods makes its way on the down relief towards Birmingham whilst Tyseley 84E allocated 61xx Large Prairie 6166 heads along the up relief towards Knowle and Dorridge. Coaching stock looks like two Collett non-corridor coaches with a strengthening Collett corridor on the rear. Her stay at Tyseley would soon be coming to an end with a move to Severn Tunnel Junction 86E in November 1957. Final withdrawal came in January 1962 from Newton Abbot 83A. The houses of Bentley Farm Close form the backdrop. (Arthur Cundall) 30

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

Widney Manor station looking north with an unidentified Castle on the up main in October 1961. The original station opened in 1899. The signal box was a GWR type 7 dating from around 1898 and initially had a 27-lever frame which was expanded to 44 upon the quadrupling in 1933. The bridge in the foreground carried the railway over Widney Lane.

The goods yard can be seen behind the Castle and slightly hidden by the parapets is the cattle dock. The yard closed in May 1963, and it will not surprise the reader to hear the yard is now covered by housing. The main station building was to the right and out of sight of the photographer and is no more but a new one has been built on what were the relief lines. At the time of writing, in the run up to Christmas you can still enjoy a Castle at speed through this station on the ‘Polar Express’ specials. (Arthur Mace)

Collett 66xx 6625, which was allocated at Leamington Spa from June 1947 to March 1952, is seen on a class K freight which is just setting back into Solihull goods yard during 1951. By 1959, the working timetable showed a morning pick up goods to Lapworth which shunted at Solihull from 10am to 11.20am and then an evening working which was at Solihull from 6.53pm to 7.13pm, before going on to Knowle and Dorridge and arriving at Leamington at 9.20pm. The building to the right of 6625 is Solihull Methodist Church. (J. C. Flemons)

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Warwickshire Railways

Solihull

The rolling countryside is now left behind and we find ourselves in suburbia in October 1961. From Widney Manor the line runs through residential areas and then on a long embankment first as it skirts Malvern Park then Tudor Grange Park. The first station at Solihull was slightly north of this one and dated from the line’s opening in 1852. The later station at Solihull was built on an embankment and consisted of two island platforms which were accessed via a subway and the ticket office is out of sight behind the engine and at ground level. 5066 was built in 1937 and named Wardour Castle, later to be renamed as Sir Felix Pole in April 1956. She was also a one shed engine, being always allocated to 81A Old Oak Common. The stock looks to be a uniform set of British Railways Mark One carriages. At the London end of the platforms the line crosses Blossomfield Road. (Arthur Mace)

Two months in from the launch of the DMU service, a Lapworth bound local pauses at Solihull on 17 August 1957. This was the relief line platform with the main line platforms to the right. Then, as now, Solihull generated a lot of traffic, commuters into Birmingham and travellers down to London. What the footplate crew walking to the front are thinking is lost in time. If the date is correct, it was not a very warm August day looking at the coats the ladies are wearing.

The DMU livery with the whiskers is still quite striking. The buildings and canopies date from the 1933 rebuilding on quadrupling the line. It is the little details that stand out, the ash surface with paved areas under the canopies only and along the platform edge. Concrete lamp posts and concrete station nameboard posts, the wooden end screens with fire buckets hanging from them, shielding the Gentlemens Lavatories. The wooden signs hanging from the canopy reads Gentlemen, Ladies Waiting Room, Platform 3 and Way Out. (Arthur Cundall) 32

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

With Grange Road behind, 6005 King George II approaches Solihull on an up express in December 1948. A reporting cage is on the smokebox with no reporting numbers attached. At the time of the image 6005 was a Stafford Road engine, being allocated there continuously from June 1934 to September 1962. She was withdrawn from her original shed of Old Oak Common in November 1962 and scrapped at J. Cashmore of Newport in October 1963. The allocation code of SRD was carried just on the apex of the buffer beam and running plate. Shed plates for GWR locomotives came a little later in the British Railways era. 6005 also still carries a single chimney and a two-row superheater boiler as evidenced by the small cover on the side of the smokebox; the double chimney would be fitted in July 1956. Two very nice wooden posted Distants stand here for the Up Relief and Up Main. (J. C. Flemons)

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Warwickshire Railways

From Solihull the line runs through mainly residential areas. The exception is Olton Reservoir which was created in 1799 to feed the Grand Union Canal. The line then crosses Warwick Road (now the A41) on very impressive girder bridges before Olton Station which we see here. Like Solihull it is on an embankment and has two broad island platforms and the main entrance building is at ground level and fronts onto Warwick Road. I suspect, as this local is on the Up main line platform, it is Leamington bound. 5185 was a Leamington 84D engine until June 1958 when, with most local services in the hands of DMUs, it became surplus. It moved to Taunton 83B from where it was withdrawn in March 1960. Stock looks like GWR non-corridor coaches from which three gentlemen in suits and hats have alighted. In the background are the houses of Braemar Road. (Neville Stead collection) Top Right: Nearing the end of steam working in 1965, Oxford 81F allocated 6956 Mottram Hall speeds along the Down Main through Acocks Green and South Yardley station (now known as just Acocks Green). Opened in September 1852 as Acocks Green, it was renamed Acocks Green and South Yardley in 1878. The section from Olton to Tyseley was the first to be quadrupled in 1907 with the GWR Type 27c signal box in the background dating from then. Inside was a 33-lever frame controlling the up and down main and relief lines along with a down goods loop to the far right. The signal box finally closed on the 1 September 1969. Access to the two island platforms was from a road level station building on the bridge carrying Sherbourne Road over the railway. Next door the recently closed public house is still known as the “Great Western”. Sadly, the platforms where the photographer is stood are no more, making way for a car park, with only the up and down main lines and island platform to the left remaining. (Arthur Mace) Bottom Right: By today’s standards, this is a brave shot by the photographer, standing as he does between the down main and up relief lines on 20 August 1949. Acocks Green station building can be seen on Sherbourne Road bridge in the background and the bridge that frames the scene is now a footbridge between Flint Green Road and Alexander Road. 5151 spent its life allocated to Midlands sheds, moving between Stafford Road, Tyseley, Leamington and Stourbridge and ending its days at Kidderminster from where it was withdrawn in August 1962, having covered nearly 750,000 miles. The coaches look like GWR corridor vehicles of various vintages. The down main line on which 5151 is running has flat bottom rail, which would only recently have been introduced to the network by BR at the time the photograph was taken. (J. C. Flemons) 34

Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

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Warwickshire Railways

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Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

Top Left: An unidentified King, possibly in the 601x series, passes through Tyseley station on the down main line in the 1930s. The station nameboard proclaims ‘Junction for the North Warwickshire Line’ which we shall be heading down shortly. Tyseley station opened on 1 October 1906. The station remains open and, standing in the same position, looks remarkably similar and the sound of a GWR engine running through can be enjoyed regularly. Like Acocks Green the station building sits on the road overbridge, in this case Wharfedale Road. Out of shot to the left was a nice GWR stable block which survived many years after the yard closure, also off to the left. (Transport Treasury collection) Bottom Left: In the early 1960s, an unidentified Large Prairie hurries its suburban working along the up fast through Tyseley station. Leading coach looks like a British Railways suburban brake with earlier Collett vehicles following. To the left can be seen the roof of the carriage shed and extensive carriage sidings. Whilst the carriage sheds are no more, the sidings are still in use today. The goods shed sits to the right of the train and the old Great Western Railway advertising has been painted out but in earlier images “Express Goods Train Services, One Day Transits between Important Towns” can be made out. GWR tubular post signalling is to the fore. Behind sat an extensive goods yard, now sadly out of use. (Arthur Mace) Below: No visit to Tyseley is complete without a look at the Shed. TYS in GWR days and 84E in British Railways Western Region days. Opened in 1908 Tyseley featured two roundhouses, a coaling stage and repair shop featured along with an allocation approaching a hundred engines in the 1950s. The East Roundhouse was for passenger engines, the West Roundhouse goods engines. Many memorable images were taken inside such as this one on 12 December 1954 with Banbury allocated Churchward 28xx 2816 sat on the turntable. Large Prairies 5156 and 6118 sit alongside a Churchward Mogul, possibly 6325. The two Large Prairies were Tyseley allocated. Sadly, the roundhouses are no more but the passenger turntable and coaling stage, along with new sheds and workshops, are the home of Vintage Trains. (R. C. Riley)

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Warwickshire Railways

Below: Tyseley 84E allocated 41XX 4167 passes on the up relief through Small Heath Station on a class E goods working during 1963. Like Tyseley, the station building sits on the road bridge above, in this case Golden Hillock Road. The canopies and platform buildings are long gone and the main line platforms overgrown and out of use. The background is dramatically different now, featuring the dual carriageway of the Coventry Road (A45) and resulting in the demolition of those houses. Of the wagons, the first is a BR Conflat, the second, a BR Lowfit, potentially a diagram 1/002 with what looks like a fabricated tank on it. There then follows an ex-LNER fruit van, and a GWR design van; from there LMS design three plank mediums follow on. (Alec George) Top Right: Midland Railway built (December 1921) Fowler 4F and Saltley 21A allocated 43949 sits on the down goods line at Small Heath with a train of withdrawn London tube stock. Behind is a headshunt for the down yard which is just beyond Golden Hillock Road on the Birmingham side. A ‘Not in common use’ GWR Toad is behind the loco, then an LMS/BR 5 plank open, corrugated ends. As there is a tie bar between the axle guards, it is likely to be fitted with Morton brakes. Also, as the tube stock was air braked, the working is unfitted. Built in the years 1923-1934 by the likes of Birmingham Railway, Carriage and Wagon, Metropolitan Cammell, both Birmingham manufacturers, this stock generally was in the last years of service, the last examples seeing service on the Northern line until November 1966.

Behind the railway are the houses on Armoury Road named by BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) who bought twenty-five acres of land and built a factory in 1863, one of the conditions being the GWR provided a station. (Alec George) Bottom Right: In early BR days (20 August 1949) 7800 Torquay Manor eases a lengthy class K freight towards Bordesley with the skyline of Birmingham city centre in the background. Torquay Manor flitted between Banbury and Tyseley in the early BR era before moving to Chester in November 1952. She survived until 1964, being withdrawn from Shrewsbury.

The tower nicely framed by the signal on the left still stands at a chapel of a hostel for working boys, led by Father John Lopes. To the right on the skyline is the Lewis building which dates from 1885, albeit the building pictured dates from 1924 and extended in 1931. To the right of this is the tower of the Methodist Central Hall. Bordesley signal box was a GWR type 27c of all wood construction and was opened in 1913. It housed a forty-seven lever frame and closed on the 26th February 1967 when the track layout was rationalised. From Bordesley a sixty-three arch viaduct took the railway to Birmingham Moor Street and Snow Hill, carrying five lines in all: The up and down main lines, up and down relief and then the down goods line giving access into Moor Street goods depot and stretched for two thousand nine hundred feet. The cattle wagons on the right stand on the line onto the unfinished Duddeston viaduct. This was designed by Brunel to link the Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway with the Grand Junction Railway at Curzon Street, however with the takeover of the B&O by the Great Western Railway and the opening of Birmingham Snow Hill the viaduct was abandoned incomplete. (J. C. Flemons)

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Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

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Warwickshire Railways

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Part One - Fenny Compton to Birmingham

Top Left: Birmingham’s Moor Street station was opened in 1909, built to cope with the growing volume of commuter traffic into the centre of Birmingham and becoming the terminus for workings from Leamington and the North Warwickshire Line from Stratford. The main buildings which are still in use today date from 1914. The station was opened with the island platform seen here but an additional platform to the left was added in 1930. Electric traversers were installed to save space and allow engines to run round, being taken out of use in December 1967 and the plain run round seen here added. There would be goods facilities either side of the station with a warehouse between the Snow Hill lines and Moor Street station and the High Level goods facilities seen here. Two wagon hoists lowered wagons into goods sheds beneath what can be seen in this image, taken during the late 1960s. Goods facilities closed in 1972.

In 1987, the terminus was replaced by through platforms on the reopened Snow Hill line. In a case of history repeating itself, the listed terminus station was restored and reopened in December 2010 to cope with the increased volume of commuter traffic. (Arthur Mace) Bottom Left: The main line side of Moor Street with 6013 King Henry VIII having just left Snow Hill Tunnel, hidden in the smoke behind. This King was an Old Oak Common 81A engine until April 1959 when it moved to Plymouth Laira 83D. Withdrawal came from Stafford Road in June 1962. 6013 still carries a single chimney and two row superheater boiler. To the far left can be seen one of the wagon hoists used to lower wagons to the lower goods depot. Stabled non-corridor brake coaches hide the goods warehouse. To the right of 6013 can be seen a flat roofed building which is on Park Street, which itself crosses the eastbound exit from Birmingham New Street and goes under the railway.

Above this can be seen the Lewis Building. Today the scene is very different with platforms either side, the warehouse demolished and a very different, loftier Birmingham skyline. 20 August 1949. (J. C. Flemons)

Journey’s end for this first part of our book. It’s sobering to reflect that within little more than ten years, all of this scene at Snow Hill would be gone, with main line services withdrawn on 6 March 1967. Demolition would follow (commencing in 1976), only to be succeeded by a new and considerably smaller facility in 1987. This is the Wolverhampton end of Snow Hill and a local DMU sits just behind an express working on 21 March 1960, a carriage board just visible on the last coach. The DMU is sat on Platform 8 with bay platforms 9 and 10 behind. Note the scissors crossing from the up through to up main and vice versa allowing the long platform to accommodate two workings, along with the bridge girders on the right carrying the station over Great Charles Street. In the bay platform is a Southern Railway bogie luggage van, coded a van B. Often used for newspaper traffic these vehicles were very long lived, the last examples being taken out of use in September 1986. (R. C. Riley) 41

Warwickshire Railways

Part Two – To Stratford North Warwickshire Line – Tyseley to Bearley Junction (including the Alcester Branch and Hatton to Bearley) The line was originally promoted by the Birmingham, North Warwickshire and Stratford Railway in 1894 and was to run from an independent terminus at Moor Street station to Stratfordupon-Avon linking with the East and West Junction Railway from Broom Junction to Stratford-uponAvon. The scheme languished and in 1900 the GWR secured an Act of Parliament that enabled it to take over the powers to construct the line. Starting at a junction at Tyseley, the line joined the existing line from Hatton through to Honeybourne, south of which the GWR was building a line through to Cheltenham. This gave the GWR a new, shorter and faster route to Bristol. The completed North Warwickshire line opened to goods in December 1907 and passengers in July 1908.

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Part Two - To Stratford

From Tyseley the line runs through Spring Road, Hall Green and down through Yardley Wood, suburbs that developed with the coming of the railway. 7024 Powis Castle has just crossed over Robin Hood Lane between Hall Green and Yardley Wood. Webb Lane can be seen on the right. 7024 was an Old Oak Common engine from new; it was allocated to Stafford Road 84A in August 1961 and then moved to Oxley 2B in September 1963 upon closure of the depot and was withdrawn from Oxley in February 1965. The leading two coaches are Collett with the rest of the set looking like British Railways Mark One vehicles. Just above the third coach can be seen the distant signal for Hall Green. (Arthur Mace)

Left: The start point for the North Warwickshire line is Tyseley South Junction, seen here as an unidentified Saint passes, heading for Birmingham on 20 August 1949. In the background is Tyseley South Junction signal box, with Tyseley station building visible on the bridge, along with the houses of Blythswood Road on the right. A double decker bus is just on the bridge to the left of the station. The junction is much simpler today with the connections to the up and down main lines removed. The leading vehicle is a restaurant car of Diagram H.44 and originally Centenary stock built for the “Cornish Riviera Express” in 1935. On the headshunt sits an old clerestory vehicle. The Saint, whilst unidentified, is interesting as a straight framed version with the high cab sides like the recreation 2999 Lady of Legend at Didcot. She is modified with a curved footplate at the front and outside steam pipes but has a pole reverser (rather than a screw one) as evidenced by the parallel reversing lever to the footplate. 2903 Lady of Lyons was withdrawn from Tyseley in November 1949 and 2906 Lady of Lynn survived at Cardiff Canton until August 1952. The land to the left is now occupied by Cousin’s furniture store and for many years the back wall facing the railway was adorned with graffiti reading “The Velvet Underpants”, a little-known Birmingham punk band from the 1970s. (J. C. Flemons) 43

Warwickshire Railways

Below: This is an often published view but as it features my local station, please excuse the indulgence of the inclusion.

6861 Crynant Grange was a Tyseley 84E engine from December 1955 until its withdrawal in October 1965. Coaching stock is Stanier Period III vehicles with a brake leading. Shirley station opened in June 1908 and was the destination of suburban services with many turning back here. The station is situated on Haslucks Green Road. The footbridge by this date (in 1964) has lost its roof and would later have replacement steps before final replacement in 2014; the new one being constructed on the other side of the station buildings. The signal box, the roof of which can be seen above the second coach, was closed in October 2010 and was a GWR type 7, the author having the pleasure of a lot of time spent in it over its last few months including working the frame under supervision. Apart from class 150s on the local services, with the bell codes to and from Henley, original frame and block shelf, it was a little time warp. The Goods shed closed in July 1964 and was demolished, the yard now being occupied by a builders’ merchants. The station buildings survive with the ticket office still open and lots of commuter traffic. The station house, which is just out of shot behind the footbridge to the right, is a very nice private residence. You can of course still enjoy occasional steam excursions with Vintage Trains’ ‘Shakespeare Express’ passing through on selected Sundays. (Neville Stead collection) Top Right: From Shirley you are out of Birmingham and the commuter suburbs. The line passes through Whitlocks End which is now the terminus of local services and has a large free car park, then Wythall and reaches the summit of the line at Earlswood and the watershed between the Severn and Trent. Descending, the line passes The Lakes halt, the lakes being feeder reservoirs for the nearby canal, then through Wood End, which is situated in a deep cutting with a tunnel at the south end, before arriving at Danzey. The buildings seen here were similar to those at Wythall and Wood End and were modular in construction with asbestos sheeting attached to timber framing. In the distance can be seen Danzey signal box, again a GWR type 7 which opened in December 1907. Out of sight on the left was a small goods yard which closed in 1964. The station remains open as an unstaffed halt, the scots pine trees on the right still providing shelter for the passengers. (Henry Priestley) Bottom Right: Henley in Arden and Tyseley allocated 8108 waits on a Birmingham bound service in 1957. 8108 was originally built as 3133 in January 1906, becoming 5133 in November 1928 and 8108 in September 1939. She would survive in traffic until November 1960 after a working life of fifty-four years. The footbridge was taken down in October 2013 and a replacement one built on the same location. The original is now at Broadway (on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway) and superbly restored. The station buildings here were similar to Shirley, albeit 8108 is on an island platform with an additional platform road and refuge siding off to the right. The island platform canopy and buildings were demolished and the main platform building closed in 1993, being boarded up. In April 2023 restoration started to create a community space and micro-brewery in the building. (Neville Stead collection)

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Now at the south end of Henley station and Worcester 85A allocated 6947 Helmingham Hall sits at the head of a Down working in 1959. To traffic in December 1942, she was a Worcester engine until moving to Gloucester in October 1962.

Withdrawn from Oxford in November 1965, she was scrapped at Cashmore’s of Newport. One quirk was that whilst the Solihull line London-bound trains were in the up direction at Tyseley, the southbound North Warwicks became the Down line. In the background can be seen Henley in Arden signal box which like the others on the line was a GWR Type 7. Closed in October 2010 I stood on the footbridge and watched it being demolished, a grab dumping the remains in a skip. Just out of sight is the junction for the connection with the original station at Henley which was the terminus on the branch from Rowington Junction. (Neville Stead collection)

Alcester Branch junction at Bearley, seen in August 1960. Edstone aqueduct carrying the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal over the line is in the background. At 145m long this is the longest cast iron aquduct in England and comprises thirtyfive sections bolted together and standing on thirteen piers. The towpath is also at the bottom of the trough. As the branch went under the aqueduct there was a water pipe allowing engines to take water. In the distance can be seen Bearley North Junction signal box. (Norris Forrest) 46

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Interlude - Bearley to Alcester From Bearley, a six and three quarter mile line ran across to Alcester on the Midland Railway line from Barnt Green down to Evesham, built by the Alcester Railway Company and encouraged by the GWR as it gave access to the manufacturing town of Alcester. Opened in 1876, services from the outset were operated by the Great Western Railway with maintenance being handed over to the GWR in 1877 and they fully took over the line in 1883. The line closed for the first time in January 1917 with the track being lifted. Reinstatement came in 1922 with the line fully reopened from August 1923. Passenger services were withdrawn in September 1939 upon the outbreak of World War Two. At Great Alne a shadow factory was built for the Maudslay Motor Company as a precaution for the main Coventry factory being bombed, which happened in the Baedecker raids of 1942. With production moved to Great Alne, services ran from Leamington to bring workers from Coventry.

These finished in 1944 when buses were substituted. The branch closed on 1st March 1951.

The branch was used for storage of withdrawn wagons and a long rake is seen at Aston Cantlow Halt on 23 October 1954. Situated one mile thirty-seven chains from Bearley Junction, the halt was opened in 1922 at the behest of residents who petitioned the GWR for one and had a two hundred foot sleeper built platform. An arc roofed corrugated iron waiting shed once occupied the boarded area in the middle of the image and lighting came from oil lamps in GWR style glass lanterns, the remains of one which can be made out as the foreground path joins the platform.

R. C. Riley’s Morris Minor can be seen on the far right. The road sign is pointing right to Bearley, left to Little Alne and with Aston Cantlow behind the photographer. (R. C. Riley)

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R.C. Riley’s exploration in October 1954 now takes him to Great Alne Station, seen here from the Alcester end, situated three miles fifty-eight chains from the junction at Bearley. With the line closed in 1951 and tracks lifted the scene presents a sad appearance, the gates closed to a train that will never come. The gates protect the lane from Haselor joining the Alcester to Wootton Wawen road just in front of the station building, which was to a William Clarke design and survives as a private residence. On the other side of the station in the Bearley direction was a loop siding controlled by a two lever ground frame. When the line was reopened in 1922 a mileage siding was added at the rear of the yard. A GWR corrugated iron hut was provided on the platform but looks to have gone by the time of this visit. (R. C. Riley)

Final stop on R. C. Riley’s exploration was Alcester and here we see the Junction with the Midland line and the GWR locomotive shed. The shed dated from the opening of the line in 1876 and was accessed from the GWR line behind the photographer. Some thirty-eight feet long, the line ran through it into a headshunt with a coaling stage at the other end. Water for the water tower, which was an independent structure, is thought to have been pumped from the nearby River Alne. It was a sub shed of Tyseley with allocations and closed on the 27th October 1939 with Collett 0-4-2 Auto Tank 4811 being one of the last engines allocated to it. (R. C. Riley) 48

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Stanier Black 5 44814 is captured from Edstone Aqueduct heading north on an excursion. This was a long standing Saltley 21A engine until April 1964 when she moved to Rugby. Withdrawn in March 1967 from Crewe South, she was scrapped at Cohen’s of Kettering. Stock looks to be a mix of Stanier and Collett coaches. To the right the spur to Alcester has been lifted, the rails and sleepers awaiting collection. The remains of the branch were closed in August 1960 with track lifting taking place shortly after, which probably dates the image to around September 1960. The arm for the branch has been removed from the wooden post signal gantry. Apparent here is how the up and down lines diverge as they go under the aqueduct. (David Horne)

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Bearley North Junction signal box was a GWR type 27C opened in November 1907 and contained a thirty-five lever frame. Pictured here just after closure in August 1960, it presents a sad sight with all the glass panes shattered. The junction signal in the background still contains both arms for the chord to Bearley East Junction. (Norris Forrest)

Top Right: On the right is the closed single line chord round to Bearley East Junction, which was taken out of use in August 1960, a sleeper placed across the rails. 4083 Abbotsbury Castle passes as it heads towards Stratford. This was an 83A Newton Abbot engine until September 1960 when it moved to Exeter. She retains her original inside cylinders with the curved casings. The GWR signals all look to be wooden post and there is evidence of engineering work with the down line freshly ballasted and cast concrete blocks sat between the running lines. (Norris Forrest) Bottom Right: Over the weekends of the 24th and 31st May 1959 the main line through Rowington was closed, resulting in workings to and from Birmingham being diverted via Hatton, Bearley East Junction, Bearley North Junction and then along the North Warwickshire Line to Tyseley. 4089 Donnington Castle entered traffic in July 1925 and at the time of the photograph carries an 81A Old Oak Common shed plate. One of the first batch of Castles, she has replacement inside cylinders with the later square covers. In the background can be seen Bearley East Junction signal box. The chord did not see a lot of use but was used for stabling the Royal Train on a couple of occasions in the 1950s.

No trace remains today with the cutting filled in and returned to farmland. (David Horne)

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Hatton to Bearley

The nine and a quarter mile branch from Hatton to Stratford on Avon opened in April 1860. Built as a mixed gauge single line, the broad gauge rails were removed in 1869. Built as a single line, by the 1930s the line was heavily used for freight traffic to South Wales, especially ironstone traffic from the Banbury area as well as excursion traffic in the summer timetables, plus its usefulness as a diversionary route to the North Warwicks line. In May 1938 work commenced to double the line, the completed works being brought into use from the 2 July 1939, the line to Hatton West Junction being the Up line and that to Bearley, the Down line. (J. C. Flemons) A brief return to Hatton as we pick up the branch to Bearley. AEC Railcar W29 complete with Auto Trailer in tow leaves the down main line and joins the branch on the afternoon of 15 August 1949. W29 was new to traffic in 1941 and was Leamington allocated at Nationalisation in 1948 along with W26. Last allocation was at Reading and withdrawal came in August 1962. Close examination of the photo suggests W29 is still carrying GWR chocolate and cream livery. The railcars ran four or five shuttle services between Leamington and Stratford-upon-Avon daily with one trip extended to Honeybourne. The Auto Trailer is possibly No.62 which appears in scenes around this time and was a Diagram L, seventy foot coach dating from January 1908. (J. C. Flemons) 52

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Claverdon

Worcester 85A allocated Large Prairie 4109 pauses at Claverdon on what is probably a Worcester- Leamington local which would have run via Honeybourne and Bearley. Allocated to Worcester between March 1959 and October 1961 helps date the scene. Withdrawal would come in April 1964 from Gloucester Horton Road 85B. The waiting shelters on the platform date from 1939 when the line was doubled, the original buildings becoming a goods lock up and were the other side of the bridge from where the photographer is stood. The booking office was, and still remains, on the road bridge. (David Horne)

24 September 1955 sees 7920 Coney Hall, an 85A Worcester resident from March 1951 to withdrawal in June 1965, working from Leamington to Worcester. Between Claverdon and Bearley this is the last of three footpath crossings in quick succession at Edstone. The engine is shut off with Bearley Station and junctions just a short distance away.

Coaching stock looks like non-corridor, the lead vehicle possibly a British Railways Mark One fifty-seven foot suburban with two Collett vehicles behind. (R. C. Riley)

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Below: A quite lovely image of Bearley East Junction signal box and track layout in August 1960. To the right are two sidings for Bearley goods yard with the loading gauge visible. Note that in Great Western Railway practice that there is no direct access to the yard from the Up line thus avoiding a facing point on the main line, a single slip only giving direct access from the down line. The signal box dates from the 1870s (I have seen both 1876 and 1879 quoted) and is a McKenzie and Holland type 3 which had a thirty-one lever frame. The right set of signals governed access to the chord to Bearley North Junction and the North Warwickshire Line. Note the distant is fixed. There were a couple of sidings behind the signal box added in 1942 to serve a nearby MoD site and later used for the storage of wagons, although it appears these had been lifted by the date of this picture. (Norris Forrest) Top Right: On 24 April 1957, Leamington’s non auto fitted 58xx 5815 departs from Bearley on a Leamington to Stratford on Avon local. She had just moved from Worcester in the same month. Her stay was relatively short as

by February 1958 she moved to Banbury and then in April 1958 to Swindon from where she was withdrawn in April 1961. Just twenty of these non auto fitted 0-4-2 tanks were built with 5815 entering service in 1933. Final mileage was recorded at 637,989. Livery, albeit not very discernible from the image, was unlined black and the stock, a couple of what look like Collett non-corridor coaches with a strengthening coach. To the left, is probably the signalman’s Austin A30 sits parked by the platelayers’ hut. The lines closest to it are the goods yard with two sidings following the chord round to Bearley North for a short distance. (R. C. Riley) Bottom Right: We look towards Wilmcote Station. The signal box is a GWR type 7d from 1907 and from when the line was doubled and contains a twenty-seven lever frame. Closure would come in 1966. The original station was this side of the bridge where the signal box stands. Churchward Mogul 6388 was a Worcester 85A engine, staying until a move to Neyland 87H in June 1958 following the dieselisation of local services. Rolling stock again looks like GWR noncorridor stock. What looks like a horse drawn trailer sits at the end of the siding. 6388 looks nicely in her stride with a Worcester-Leamington train, the gradient here having eased from the 1 in 75 of Wilmcote bank to a 1 in 180 downhill to Bearley West Junction. (R. C. Riley)

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Part Two – To Stratford Top Left: A scene that is remarkably still very similar as WD 90125 brings its class F working, which is probably empty iron ore wagons returning from South Wales to the iron ore quarries of Oxfordshire, through Wilmcote Station. The climb of the 1 in 75 of Wilmcote bank is almost over with easier grades to Bearley Junction. The footbridge and station buildings which date from the doubling of the line in 1938 all remain at the time of writing albeit the bike shed on the lower right has been replaced with a brick one. Access to the station was down a slope from the road bridge just out of frame to the right, the lower portion of which can be made out to the right of the footbridge. The station building on this platform had a booking office and waiting room, Ladies Waiting Room and Gentlemans. 90125 was an 86C Cardiff Canton engine from November 1954 to September 1962 when it moved to Warrington Dallam. It was withdrawn in July 1965 from Lostock Hall but returned to the Midlands for scrapping at Cashmore’s of Great Bridge. The village of Wilmcote is of course famous for Mary Arden’s house. (R. C. Riley) Bottom Left: 4903 Astley Hall descends the 1 in 75 of Wilmcote bank down towards Stratford-upon-Avon. The first two coaches appear to be Collett bow ended stock. Wilmcote station can be seen in the background along with the refuge siding into which trains could be set back, the capacity was fifty-two wagons; on this occasion it looks like a couple of bolsters sit in the siding. The change in gradient can be seen in comparison between the refuge siding and running lines and what looks like fresh ballast and flat bottom rail suggests recent permanent way activity. Behind the photographer is a footbridge known as Canada Bridge. (John Jennings)

An unidentified Large Prairie departing Stratford-upon-Avon. The original terminus at Stratford for the line from Hatton was off to the left by the Prairie and was on Birmingham Road and opened in October 1860. Its life was very short as by July 1861 a new station was built which connected with the line from Honeybourne, the Birmingham Road station becoming the goods yard. The buildings on the left are the Flower & Sons Brewery which was built in 1874. It was finally closed in 1968 as part of the Whitbread Flowers Group. Above the train rise the gas holders and just at the base of these can be seen carriages in the siding or goods loop with either a Castle or Hall at the head. Stratford-uponAvon East signal box can also be seen with Stratford Station being just off to the right of the frame. (John Jennings) 57

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Looking towards Birmingham, Hawksworth 94xx 9401, which had just been allocated to Worcester 85A in November 1957, waits in the carriage siding alongside the down goods loop on 14 December 1957. The coaches seem to be a mixture of corridor and non-corridor vehicles, the leading one a Collett bow ended, then two Collett non-corridors.

Steam heating is on with tell tale wisps from underneath the second coach. Collett 22xx 2238 sits in the loop. Apart from a brief stint at Machynlleth, 2238 was a Tyseley engine for her fifteen year working life. To the far left is the back of Stratford-upon-Avon East signal box along with the water tower at the end of the loop. To the right of 9401 can be seen standard 16t mineral wagons in the goods yard. Another lost railway feature is the telegraph pole and wires. (R. C. Riley) Top Right: Now preserved 4930 Hagley Hall, then allocated to 83C Exeter, has the signal to proceed from the east loop at Stratford and through the station on a class H freight working on 14 May 1962. Tucked in behind is Collett 14xx 1468, also an 83C Exeter engine until January 1962 when it moved to Oxford from where it was withdrawn in March 1962. She was sold as scrap to Cashmore’s on the 7 May 1962, so the supposition is that this was possibly an Oxford towards Gloucester working. Close examination reveals a ballast wagon (Grampus or similar) and then a selection of British Railways 16t mineral wagons and early wooden bodied versions, but only about ten wagons before the brake van which can just be seen to the left of the telegraph pole. Note just behind the signal a water crane which would have been welcome for goods workings held in the loop. (John Jennings) Bottom Right: Stratford-upon-Avon had a Churchward design two road brick built engine shed opened in 1911, being a sub shed of Tyseley. The two roads were 155ft long. The coaling stage was a steel construction clad in wood and a cantilevered awning to provide some protection when shovelling coal out of the wagons. Above the stage sits a 22,500 gallon water tank. Access to the engine shed was off a loading dock platform, necessitating a number of reversals to get on and off shed. Dominating the skyline is the gas works buildings and chimneys. The loco by the coaling stage is not identified but may be a Collett 2251, which were banking engines for the climb to Wilmcote and onwards to Earlswood.

Just outside the shed is a Large Prairie. April 1950. (R. C. Riley)

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Top Left: A last look at Stratford engine shed seen here as 6930 Aldersey Hall, an 85A Worcester engine until October 1958 when it moved to Stourbridge Junction 84F, arrives with a local working probably to its home base. Stock is a four coach GWR suburban set strengthened with a British Railways Mark One suburban. Just to the right of 6930, an unidentified 9F sits alongside the shed and behind the third coach a plume of steam can be made out. 6930 has acquired the later BR crest on the tender so is in Lined Green livery whilst the coaches may well be in Carmine as opposed to the later Maroon. (Neville Stead collection) Bottom Left: Looking south on 15 April 1956, a rather nice overall scene of Stratford-upon-Avon station. Moving across the image from left to right, dock siding to the left, the points on far left which gave access to the engine shed; the need for reversals to access can be appreciated. Exit from the goods loop to the Down main and platform one. 6317 heading a ballast train is on the up main and 5198 has the 10.30am departure to Birmingham on the up back platform with the coaches stabled on the cold store loop. Far right is the 1942 built cold store which was rail connected. An extract from Hansard in 1946 mentions the store in connection with a parliamentary enquiry on the freezing and storage of fish. The station location itself dates from 1861 with the original building being on the down side and replaced when the island platform was added in 1911 with the cold store loop the final addition in 1942. 5198 was a Tyseley 84E engine, moving to Leamington in November 1957 and then onto Oxford. 6317 was a Shrewsbury engine, 84G. Note the water cranes at the end of the platforms as well as the GWR lamps. Also, the gentle S curves of the layout through the station which made getting away from the station on the rising gradient to the canal bridge a tricky proposition. Out of sight on the left was a large cattle market which closed in 2001 and which has been redeveloped for housing. (R. C. Riley)

An undated scene and the unusual sight of 9F 92212 with Class A head lamps on an Up passenger at Stratford-uponAvon. New to service at Banbury in October 1959, she was later allocated to Tyseley 84E in July 1962 having moved from Ebbw Junction Newport 86A, which perhaps helps date the image to around July 1962 especially as close examination of the image reveals no shed plate. The Up Home signal which was situated on the down side is already pulled off. Coaching stock is British Railways Mark One, mostly in maroon livery. Riddles 9Fs were no strangers to passenger workings especially on the Somerset and Dorset and the ’Pines Express’; 92220 Evening Star was recorded on the ’Red Dragon’ from Cardiff to Paddington and return. 92212 would be withdrawn in January 1968 from Carnforth and after a number of years in Woodham’s scrapyard at Barry was initially preserved at the Great Central Railway at Loughborough. (John Jennings) 61

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Below: Leamington Spa 84D Large Prairie 5185 arriving at Stratford-upon-Avon on what is probably a Worcester bound local service. Dieselisation of the local services led to a move to Taunton 83B in June 1958 from where she was withdrawn in March 1960. The gas holders are continuing to dominate the background as does a chimney for the gas works. The dock siding to the right contains a spare passenger coach and it was from this that access was gained to the engine shed. Although the picture is undated, the flower beds in bloom and high sun suggest April/May time, albeit seeing a number of waiting passengers in mackintosh coats, the forecast may have been inclement. The fashions and the smartness of the attire are of a bygone age. The platform buildings to the left are a waiting room nearest, and a Ladies Room / Gentlemen to the rear. Hanging from under the canopy and also to the right are GWR gas lamps with a swan necked variant behind the nearest passenger. (Arthur Mace) Top Right: The south end of the station in 1950 with Worcester allocated Bulldog 3377. Built in 1903 she carried the name Penzance. She was withdrawn in March 1951 after a nearly forty-eight year working life. Note the early version of “British Railways” on the tender in GWR lettering. Alcester Road bridge is partially obscured by the steam and Stratford-upon-Avon West signal box can be seen on the other side along with the substantial water tower. The leading coach, W3746, is a Churchward Toplight fifty-seven foot brake third to diagram D.53 and was completed in October 1913, steel panelled and with an absence of any decorative mouldings. (Arthur Mace) Bottom Right: A fascinating just post-war scene of 2905 Lady Macbeth on a Down working. A straight framed example, she is noted as allocated to Cardiff Canton in summer 1947. New to traffic in 1905, her working life only extended a few more months, being withdrawn in April 1948. The leading coach, which looks like a Collett brake, may be in overall chocolate livery with a rather grubby chocolate and cream vehicle behind. On the end of the station building is an advert for Bristol and just to the right a vending machine. The station canopy is in need of some attention with a length of guttering missing above the engine’s cab along with some of the canopy teeth. 24 May 1947. (R. C. Riley)

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Top Left: The changing scene at Stratford on 15 December 1957 with the dieselisation of local services. Both are Class 116 three car units built at Derby in 1957 and allocated to Tyseley from new and maintaining a long association with the depot, being finally withdrawn from there in 1988. Both cars featured here (W50108 and W50065) were scrapped at Vic Berry’s yard in Leicester. The cold store can be seen on the left with its unloading platform. Whilst the platform is still in use the island platform buildings were sadly demolished, leaving passengers waiting for trains with a much less sheltered experience. (R. C. Riley) Bottom Left: The last Hawksworth Modified Hall 7929 Wyke Hall, which started and ended its career at Tyseley 84E, heads towards Honeybourne on 29 April 1963. To the left is the Up refuge siding and trains were split to avoid blocking the crossing which took you into Shottery. It was a little more of a challenge for those on the Up Main held by Stratford on Avon West Junction which can be glimpsed in the distance. There are stories of locals not willing to wait, climbing under wagons to get across the crossing. Note the down home and distant and in the distance can be seen the bracket governing access into platforms two and three. The line south of Stratford closed in 1976 following the derailment of a goods train at Winchcombe, making Stratford-upon-Avon Station into a terminus. (John Jennings) Below: Evesham Road was crossed via a level crossing controlled by the signal box seen here. A GWR type five, it was built in 1891 and contained a thirteen lever frame. It was replaced by a much bigger type 17 box with a flat roof just to the right in 1960, which contained a fifty lever frame. 8787 was a Worcester 85A engine from October 1957, having been transferred from South Wales. Her stay was not long, leaving for Hereford in August 1958. At least six coaches make up this local set with a mix of GWR and BR standard non-corridor vehicles. 9 April 1958 (R. C. Riley)

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Looking down from Sanctus Road bridge in Stratford, 5067 St. Fagans Castle, then allocated to Bristol Bath Road, passes with the Down ‘Cornishman’ on 9 April 1958. Originally the name was used for a working from Paddington which had ceased pre-war. However, in 1952 the Western Region resurrected the name for a Wolverhampton to Penzance working with a portion for Kingswear. The 1959 summer working timetable records this working as coming via the main line through Solihull to Hatton North Junction and calling at Stratford-upon-Avon from 10.16 to 10.19. 825 was the reporting number for many years of the 9.00am Wolverhampton to Penzance working (Saturdays excepted). It was also one of the first named Western Region trains to receive British Railways Mark One stock. The Up working was the 10.30am departure from Penzance and carried the reporting number 675. (R. C. Riley) Top Right: Now looking south from Sanctus Road bridge on the same date, 2813 heads north on a class H working with empty iron ore hoppers probably heading to the Oxfordshire ironstone quarries near Banbury. 2813 at this point was fifty-three years old, emerging from Swindon works in 1905. Allocated to Cardiff Canton 86C she would move to Aberdare 86J in November 1958 and work for two more years until withdrawal in November 1960. On the left is Stratford-upon-Avon S&M Junction signal box, a McKenzie and Holland Type 2 design which contained an eighteen lever frame. The lines curving up to Old Town station and the Stratford and Midland Junction Railway can be seen along with the line to Broom Junction (which will be visited later) which can be seen to the right. Sanctus Road was also the location of the original line from Honeybourne with the nicely readied field for potatoes to the right of the engine shed.

(R. C. Riley) Bottom Right: Viewed from the Stratford and Midland Junction Railway bridge 4924 Eydon Hall, which was a Tyseley 84E allocated engine at the time and probably carrying British Railways lined black livery with coaches in Carmine and Cream. Lead carriage is a Hawksworth brake with a Churchward toplight behind. Racecourse station was opened in May 1933 and comprised of two 550 foot sleeper built platforms supported with Barlow rail. As can be seen facilities were rudimentary! Closure came in March 1968 with more racegoers arriving by car. 2 June 1952. (R. C. Riley)

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Top Left: In 1960 a new chord was added from Stratford Old Town station to just south of Stratford Racecourse station. This allowed through running from the Stratford and Midland Junction line onto the Honeybourne line for freights from Banbury to South Wales, which had run via Fenny Compton to Stratford. 1012 County of Denbigh was a Swindon 82C engine from October 1956 to withdrawal in April 1964. To the right Riddles 9F 92001 waits to head south with a down goods on 9 June 1962. (John Jennings) Bottom Left: From Stratford the line runs along the River Avon flood plain. In July 1961 Worcester 85A Collett ‘5101 class’ 4142 is seen approaching Milcote working wrong line with two Collett coaches, the leading one a bow ender.

Milcote Down Home in the background. As we have seen earlier in the book the down line is flat bottomed rail and the up, still bullhead. (John Jennings) Below: Milcote station served the two villages of Weston and Welford on Avon and was located where the line crossed the Clifford Chambers to Welford Road. The original station here was on the south side of the crossing and opened in 1859, built by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway on its branch from Honeybourne to Stratford-uponAvon. With the doubling of the line a new station, seen here, was built on the Stratford side of the crossing in 1908.

On the same day as the previous view, Worcester 85A Collett 22xx 2246 is running wrong line on the Down line with engineers’ wagons sat on the up. The Down platform has the screen of pines to give some protection to passengers from the prevailing winds. These still stand and you can walk the trackbed here as part of the greenway. (John Jennings)

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A close look at Milcote signal box in July 1961, a GWR type 5 which dates from 1891. The original station building can be seen to the right which featured single storey buildings either side of a two storey building, with a high pitched roof and quite ornate barge boards. To the south of the station there was a small goods yard with two loops, weighbridge and loading dock. The signal box contained a twenty-one lever frame with the level crossing gates controlled via a gate wheel. Milcote station became unstaffed in March 1956, closed to goods in July 1963 and closed to passengers in January 1966. The signal box survived a little longer, closing late in 1976. (John Jennings)

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An unidentified Stafford Road 84A Castle in the 50xx series heads south at Pebworth Halt in 1958. Technically we are now in Worcestershire but as a little completeness on our journey from Tyseley it would be remiss not to include it, especially as shots at the halt are quite rare. Opened in September 1937, it was one of a number designed to counter the increasing threat of bus traffic. The road from Marston Grange to Pebworth can be seen descending to the right of the engine and would make a sharp turn under the railway line at the other end of the platform. The two platforms were 150ft long and of timber construction, each with a small wooden waiting shelter and accessed via steps up the embankment. A corrugated oil store can be seen to the right. An earlier halt known as Broad Marston Halt existed a little to the north from here from 1904 to 1916. (Arthur Mace)

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Part Three - The Redditch Loop Opened in three sections, Barnt Green to Redditch in September 1859, Ashchurch to Evesham in October 1864 and Evesham to Redditch in May 1868, the 32½-mile route was operated by the Midland Railway and formed a very useful alternative secondary route which avoided the 1 in 37 of the Lickey Incline. The passenger service between Redditch and Ashchurch ended in June 1963 with Evesham to Alcester closing totally at the same time. The state of the track had meant that buses were used from October 1962. Freight services from Alcester to Redditch survived a little longer to July 1964. From the junction with the Birmingham to Worcester line at Barnt Green, the line runs through Worcestershire, passing through Alvechurch and Redditch before crossing into Warwickshire north of Studley, which is where we commence our journey along the line. The prevailing gradient had been down from Barnt Green apart from a short climb into Redditch.

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Next frame in the sequence shows 42816 passing Studley and Astwood Bank station itself. As will be seen a number of the stations on the line were single platform, even allowing for the quite substantial station house and station building.

In the background can be seen the goods shed and yard which contained four sidings and, just hidden in the smoke, the Midland Railway design signal box. The road bridge the photographer is stood on, carries what is now the A448 but is also known as ‘The Slough’, pronounced ‘sluff’! Studley was a centre of needle making which dated from Elizabethan times, producing both sewing and surgical needles. (R. C. Riley)

Left: Saltley (21A) allocated Hughes ’Crab’ 42816 approaches Studley and Astwood Bank station on a northbound class D goods working with mostly vans. The date was 16 April 1955. Reference to the 1957 working timetable suggests this was the 12.35 from Gloucester Barnwood Sidings to Water Orton which passed Studley around 2.43pm. Built as 13116 and new to traffic in June 1929, the loco was withdrawn from Gorton shed in October 1964. (R. C. Riley) 73

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From Studley the line continued its descent and ten miles from Barnt Green, Coughton was reached and is seen here in a view taken from a down working on 9 May 1959. A single platform station, which opened on the 4th May 1868 and closed on 30 June 1952, it was accessed via a footpath from the road overbridge (south of the platform) which carried Sambourne Lane over the line. To the north was situated a goods loop with a siding back to a loading bank on the platform. Access was a loop, using ground frames at either end, an earlier signal box closing in 1891. The nearby Coughton Court played its part in the Gunpowder plot, being rented by Sir Everard Digby, one of the conspirators.

(Leslie Freeman)

Top Right: A northbound departure from Alcester on a fine summer day in the early 60s with Saltley 21A allocated Fowler 2-6-4T 42421, another of the last batch of Fowler class 4Ps. A Midland Railway fixed distant protects the approaches to Alcester for down trains. (Arthur Mace)

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Arriving at Alcester from the Evesham direction, Fowler 2-6-4T 42417 with what appears to be a five coach noncorridor rake. The lead vehicle is possibly a Western Collett vehicle with Stanier vehicles following. 42417 was a 21A Saltley engine from August 1960 until withdrawal in April 1964. It was one of the final batch of thirty locomotives built at Derby in 1934; these had side window cabs, flat side rods and reflected the design changes of William Stanier which flowed into his own design of 2-6-4 tanks. The bridge in the background carries Allimore Lane over the railway. On closer inspection, just by the bridge is a Midland combined signal with a Down advanced starter and up inner home on the same post. It is suggested this was replaced in 1960. Out of sight behind the carriages, a short siding finished just under the bridge. (David Horne) 75

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Top Left: At the northern end of Alcester, the LMS built signal box from 1932 replaced two Midland signal boxes.

The Bearley branch we saw in Part Two ran off to the right of the bracket signal, now showing just one signal with the branch closure. A loop runs behind the signal box with a British Railways 16t mineral wagon under the loading gauge. A further wooden bodied wagon can be seen just behind the signal box along with a pile of coal belonging to the local coal merchants. The yard had three sidings, one into the goods shed which contained a one and half ton crane, one into a loading dock and one into a cattle dock. There was considerable livestock traffic both for a weekly market but also an abattoir situated adjacent to the goods yard. July 1960. (Norris Forrest) Bottom Left: Alcester Station in July 1960. The line ran on the west side of the town with access to the station off Icknield Street. To the north of the station alongside the goods yard sat a cabinet works, and on the corner of the road up to the station and Icknield Street was the original Minerva Needle Works and later Terry’s Steel Spring Works.

Opened in June 1866 the Up platform just visible on the left was added in September 1876 with the opening of the branch to Bearley. Alcester was also the first crossing point after Redditch followed by Broom Junction. A substantial station house is followed by a single storey station building which was extended. Beyond that is a goods shed and in the background the Cabinet Works. A Midland signal box sat this side of the station sign from 1905 to 1932 before being closed and replaced by the one at the north end of the station. (Norris Forrest) Below: From Alcester the line descended down to the crossing of the River Arrow which it would then run close to before crossing it again just before Wixford, which featured a single platform and goods siding. After another half mile, we arrive at Broom Junction, some fourteen and three quarter miles from Barnt Green and seen here on a glorious summer afternoon of 9 July 1960. The layout, including the goods sidings on the right, can be seen here along with island platform, station building and vintage carriage body. Access to the platform was via the boarded crossing seen. Broom was initially an exchange only platform, allowing passengers to change trains from the Evesham to Alcester line to the Stratford line, beginning in 1879 with the opening of the line from Stratford. It appeared in the public timetables from 1880. (Henry Priestley)

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Below: Standard 4MT 80063, which was new to Saltley 21A in May 1953 (where it stayed until November 1954, moving on to Kentish Town), departs Broom Junction on a Down working heading for Evesham. To the left the Stratford and Midland Junction Railway curves east whilst the line to Evesham heads to the right. Two sidings can be seen, and the spur used to access a turntable which was taken out of use when the triangle was completed in 1942. Midland Railway banana trains from Avonmouth would work via Cheltenham and Evesham to Broom Junction where they would reverse, heading along the SMJR to Olney where they gained access to the Midland main line to London (and Somers Town as the eventual destination). Empty trains worked back the same way. Passenger services to Stratford ceased in 1947.

(David Horne) Top Right: An undated image, with 42419 arriving on an Up working. The spur to the old turntable has now been removed but the two sidings remain and are in use. A Saltley 21A engine from November 1960 until withdrawal, 42419 had spent the early part of her British Railways career at Greenock and Corkerhill. Three Stanier corridor coaches with a Stanier non-corridor make up the rake. The 1957 working timetable shows five Up and Down trains on weekdays.

(David Horne) Bottom Right: Shortly after leaving Broom Junction, Broom West Junction was reached where the wartime south chord onto the Stratford Line was constructed and opened in 1942. Opened at the same time was this LMS ARP pattern signal box of all brick construction, with precast concrete roof and designed to survive wartime blast damage.

The opening of the new chord at Stratford in 1960 (onto the Honeybourne line) brought about the closure of this chord and the line to Stratford, hence the box clearly now being closed and only a fixed distant remaining on the bracket post. It was possible to use the concrete stairs up to the operating floor of the box for many years after. At the time of writing, if you drive along the A46 dual carriageway from Alcester down to Salford Priors you will pass the derelict shell which is slowly being engulfed by vegetation and graffiti. 22 July 1962 (John Jennings)

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Top Left: We are now sixteen and a quarter miles from Barnt Green and after continuing to follow the River Arrow we see Ivatt 4MT 2-6-0 43049 arriving at Salford Priors on a Down working. The station house is very similar to those at Studley and Alcester, as well as the next station at Harvington. This was also a single platform with a goods loop at the north end of the station. In the background can be seen the loop and goods shed adjacent to the platform, access to the loop being off ground frames, as Salford Priors was not a block post. At the north end of the goods loop a headshunt gave access to cattle pens and an additional siding ran behind the goods shed. 43049 was new to traffic at Derby 17A in 1949, moving to Saltley 21A in August 1956 and staying until September 1962 when it moved to Heaton Mersey 9F. Just to the right of the last coach a siding went into Bomford and Eversheds works. (David Horne) Bottom Left: Opposite Salford Priors station were the works of Bomford and Evershed Agricultural Engineers, some of its fleet available for hire with various road rollers and a riding van visible. (David Horne)

Bromsgrove 21C allocated Fowler 3F 47276 is on an Up train at Salford Priors on 21 April 1962, giving us a view of the goods shed and the LMS pattern Hawkseye station nameboard. By this time Bromsgrove shed was responsible for supplying the Redditch pilot, one of the duties of which was working Saturday passenger services to Ashchurch - a less demanding task than banking trains up the Lickey Incline! In April 1964 47276 moved to Bath Green Park 82F, from where it was withdrawn in March 1966. In 1965 the engine was painted in Apple Green and appeared in the film “The Wrong Box” starring Michael Caine, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore amongst a classic British cast. (John Jennings)

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Running south from Salford Priors the line passes into Worcestershire and back into Warwickshire, whilst the River Arrow, which the line has been following from Alcester, joins the River Avon. Arriving at Harvington we are back over the county border and into Worcestershire. Harvington was a block post, and the Midland Railway signal box forms the backdrop to the token exchange, the signalman being provided with a wooden platform for the task. On 21 April 1962, Saltley’s Fowler 4MT 42417 once again is the motive power and in the background can be seen the single platform of Harvington. (John Jennings)

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We are now eighteen and a quarter miles from Barnt Green and at Harvington. The station building and house is like those seen before. There is no goods shed but a goods loop, which can be seen behind the last vehicle with a single siding running off and behind the platform. Two Metropolitan Cammell units (latterly class 101) pass on a down special working, a brief hint of modernity on an otherwise little-changed railway. To the right is the station allotment garden looking in need of some TLC. (David Horne)

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Part Four – LNWR Lines to Leamington Leamington Spa was not only on the Great Western Railway London to Birmingham route but also on a series of lines from Berkswell and Coventry to Rugby and Weedon . First to arrive into Leamington was the London and Birmingham Railway which opened from Coventry on 9 December 1844 and which ran to Leamington Spa (Milverton) station. A cut off route from Kenilworth Junction to Berkswell opened in June 1884. The LNWR, concerned over the arrival of the GWR into what was perceived as their territory, added the line from Leamington to Rugby, opening Leamington Spa Avenue station alongside the Great Western one. Finally, the line from Weedon (Northamptonshire) to Daventry opened in March 1888 and was extended to Marton Junction, opening on 1 August 1895.

Passenger services on the Weedon to Leamington line were withdrawn as early as September 1958, Leamington Spa to Rugby ending in June 1959. Services from Leamington to Coventry and Berkswell survived until January 1965. Of the four lines, the ones to Weedon and Coventry were single track whereas those to Berkswell and Rugby were double track.

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Looking towards Kenilworth is Ivatt 2MT 41228 which was Warwick (2E) allocated (from new) in October 1948 to November 1958. Warwick shed was off to the left, to the north of the goods yard which is just visible on the far left.

Opened in 1844 the shed was expanded to a six road northlight building. In 1954 the allocation was twelve engines, nine of which were tank engines for local services and three for freight workings. Closure came in October 1958 with the remaining duties transferring to the former GWR Leamington shed, after which the site was briefly used to store newly-delivered DMUs. The girders by the first carriage carry the line over Rugby Road. The leading two vehicles are panelled wooden bodied stock. Behind the last carriage can be seen Warwick (Milverton) signal box which was to a standard LNWR design. (David Horne)

Left: The exterior of Leamington Spa (Milverton) Station, the building of which sat at road level on Warwick New Road. The station seen here dated from 1883. An earlier station north of here at Milverton was the site of the original LNWR terminus on the line from Coventry, being chosen as about halfway between both Warwick and Leamington, so providing a service for both towns. This compromise was not entirely successful, as the name changed nine times over its life. Initially a terminus, it became a through line in 1851 with the opening of the line from Rugby. (David Horne)

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Below: From Milverton the line paralleled Princes Drive on an embankment and then an impressive viaduct which took the line over the River Leam before coming in alongside the Great Western Railway Station. The LNWR opened a station here in February 1854, the brick built structure seen here in July 1953 with Webb 1P 2-4-2T 46654 on push-pull duty, dating from March 1860. (Alec Ford) Top Right: The station frontage of Leamington Spa (Avenue) station. Taking its name from Avenue Road that the station approach came off, it changed its name five times over its life. The Italianate design is apparent. In the background can be seen the LNWR pattern Leamington Spa (Avenue) signal box which contained a fifty-one lever frame. Two loops existed on this side serving a carriage landing just visible to the right of the signal box as well as access into the lower coal yard a little further towards Warwick. (Leslie Freeman) Bottom Right: A fascinating scene at Leamington Spa (Avenue) station with GWR Pannier tank 3624, which was Leamington Spa 84D allocated from September 1951 until it moved to Neyland in October 1960, adding a horse box to what is probably a Rugby or Weedon bound working. The train engine is Ivatt 2MT 41227, which was Warwick (2E) allocated from new in October 1948 prior to moving to Llandudno Junction in August 1960. Note the pannier tank has a shunter’s truck with it. Access to the LMS station from GWR running lines was at both ends of Avenue station. (Arthur Mace)

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Top Left: It is sobering to reflect how early passenger workings were withdrawn on the lines radiating from Leamington Spa (Avenue) station. The Weedon branch ended in September 1958 and was quickly followed by passenger workings finishing on the Rugby line in June 1959. Coventry line passenger workings survived up until January 1965, after which it became a valuable freight-only and diversionary route. (R. C. Riley) Bottom Left: We allow ourselves a final study of Leamington Spa (Avenue) station, this time looking towards Milverton. An unidentified Ivatt 2MT has the road and the angle permits a good view of the driving compartment end of the motor trains and how they are converted from a non-corridor brake coach. Just above the left hand buffer can be seen the words ‘pull and push’. The control system was vacuum operated - the control piping can be made out on the buffer beam. Between the Ivatt and the signal box are the GWR yard and sidings and a rake of wagons, with what I think are new BMC Minis, can just be discerned. The foreground also shows the wooden platform extension and to the left a crossover between the up and down lines. (Arthur Mace)

We now head along the line towards Rugby and the first station is Marton, seven and a half miles from Milverton.

Opening in 1851 the line was initially single with the goods yard opposite the station. With doubling of the line in 1880 to accommodate the new up platform, it was staggered and built outwards across the bridge carrying the line over the Southam to Coventry Road. Note the LMS ‘Hawkseye’ station nameboard on a wooden platform and LNWR pattern waiting shelter. (Leslie Freeman) 89

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15 June 1959 was the last day of passenger workings, and some local children pose enthusiastically with 41227 for a final image. If any readers recognise themselves or anyone else, please get in touch! The final working was the 7.54pm from Rugby to Leamington and on the smokebox was chalked “Oh Sir Brian”, a reference to the then British Transport Commission Chairman – Sir Brian Robertson. Dr Beeching was yet to enter the railway’s vocabulary, of course. As with so many last day workings the train is strengthened to four non-corridor coaches. The inexorable rise of the motor car and better bus services had precipitated a decline in passengers, with just five Rugby to Leamington services timetabled each day during the last year. Birdingbury was eight and three-quarter miles from Milverton. (David Horne)

Top Right: A better view of Birdingbury station itself on 13 June 1959 with Leamington 84D allocated (following the closure of Milverton shed) 41228 on a Leamington bound motor train. Just to the south of the station the line crossed the River Leam on a viaduct. (A. E. Bennett) Bottom Right: Ivatt 2MT 41285 arrives at Dunchurch on a Leamington bound working from Rugby. New to traffic in November 1950, a move to Warwick took place in October 1953 and 41285 stayed as a Rugby/Warwick/Leamington engine until moving to Oswestry in July 1963. Dunchurch opened to passengers in October 1871, the station being nearly two miles from the village it served. The standard LNWR pattern signal box sits at the end of the Up Platform.

This contained a twenty lever frame and to the right of the engine can be seen the goods siding and carriage loading dock. (A. E. Bennett)

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Top Left: The two main motive power types for the motor trains are captured side by side at Dunchurch station in 1949. The LNWR 2-4-2 is sadly unidentified as it is seen arriving on a Leamington bound working, and still carries LMS livery. A few passengers are alighting or boarding the Rugby bound working with 41227. (Arthur Mace) Bottom Left: Looking towards Leamington in the down direction, we see the wooden station building and canopy which shelters a motorcycle, alongside the more substantial brick built station house. The bridge carries the Northampton to Coventry road, now the A45, over the line. Dunchurch village was to the east (or left of the station as seen here). The lamppost is looking rather bereft with its lamp removed and the building behind is either a parcels store or goods lock up. Platforms are brick built with brick capping rather than stone and an unpaved platform surface. (James Harrold)

Looking south from Lawford Road bridge in the late 1950s, we see an excursion heading towards Leamington Spa and passing the grain store at Bilton Sidings, with plenty of grain wagons in evidence. To the left as well was a goods yard, the signalling diagram shared online by the Signalling Record Society refers to this as ‘Rugby Corpy Sidings’. (Arthur Mace)

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On the outskirts of Rugby in August 1956, Fowler 3F 47269 passes New Bilton Sidings signal box with a rake of grain wagons, probably en route to New Bilton public wharf. New Bilton Sidings signal box was a standard LNWR design and contained a twenty-six lever LNWR tumbler frame. Access into the Rugby Portland Cement works was just behind the signal box and a rake of wagons can be glimpsed above 47269. Viewing period maps shows allotments to be on the land beyond the brake van. Bilton sidings were situated about a mile and a quarter from Rugby station; they served the New Bilton works of the Rugby Portland Cement company. The extensive quarry ran north from here right up to the Trent Valley line from Rugby, with the line from Rugby to Coventry cutting through it. Production is believed to have started around 1855 and continues today. (Arthur Mace)

Rugby Portland Cement Works had an extensive standard gauge railway system and sidings, seen here on 8 April 1958.

Locomotive No.5 was built by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns (w/n 7387) and delivered in 1948. Dumb buffers as well as conventional buffers are fitted, plus transverse girders on each end of the frames to support the locomotive in the event of a derailment. The engine was scrapped in March 1966. In the background, there are a selection of British Railways steel chalk tipplers and 16t mineral wagons, chalk, coal and gypsum being brought in as raw materials for the cement making process. On the far left a wooden bodied wagon carries the initials RPC. (R. C. Riley)

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Returning to Marton Junction, LNWR 2-4-2 46712 is seen at Marton Junction and taking the Weedon line. The line became single here through to Weedon. In the background is the LNWR Marton Junction signal box which dates from 1894 when the line to Weedon was opened. It housed a twenty-five lever frame of which six were spare. Workings to Weedon were on a Webb and Thompson electric train staff. Motor train working was introduced in 1910, replacing a steam railcar. The motor sets were made up of standard non-corridor stock converted for motor train operation. The railway may be gone today but Hunningham High Bridge in the background remains across the empty cutting. (David Horne)

Southam and Long Itchington station is in the background, the other side of the road bridge as we look towards Leamington Spa and into the goods yard and sidings. The bulk of this train (on 8 April 1958) are chalk tipplers with the leading wagon a Charles Roberts slope sided mineral wagon, followed by an earlier five- plank. Further chalk tipplers sit in the siding to the left. 49377 was allocated to Rugby 2A in March 1956, Warwick 2C in March 1957 before returning to Rugby in October 1958. (R. C. Riley) 95

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Looking towards Weedon on 17 April 1956 we see Warwick 2E Stanier 8F 48012 arriving on a mixed goods. The sidings on the right served the Southam Works of Rugby Portland Cement. Quarrying activity started in 1854 and by the 1960s the works was making 500,000 tonnes of cement annually, consuming 2,000 tonnes of chalk, 350 tonnes of coal each day and around 500 tonnes of gypsum a week . The line in the foreground gives access into the goods yard seen above and in the background girders carry the line over a branch of the Warwick and Napton Canal which served the works.

Leading wagons include an SR pattern box van with chalk or gypsum in the rear wagons. Although passenger services finished in September 1958, and goods in 1965, Rugby to Marton Junction remained open for traffic to the cement works until 1985. Class 25 diesels were the usual motive power to the end, with locomotives running round their trains underneath the Hunningham Bridge referred to earlier. (R. C. Riley)

The Southam Works of Crown Cement Co Ltd had a one foot , eleven and a half inches internal rail system. On 24 November 1954, we see Peckett 1632/1923 Liassic with a rake of well loaded tipplers . Another rake sits in front waiting to be tipped, with the works to the left. Liassic dated from 1923, being the second engine to carry the name, and today is preserved at Statfold Barn. (Eric Sawford) 96

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A second scene at Southam works, this time featuring Jurassic, built by Peckett as P1008 in 1903. Six of these attractive 0-6-0STs operated over the years at Southam, each named after a geological era, Jurassic being the first and built in 1903; the last, Liassic, in 1923. The rake of empty tipplers behind are ready to return to the quarry with the works seen in the background. Jurassic also survives, at the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway. (Eric Sawford)

It is quite fitting we conclude our look at the LNWR lines radiating from Leamington with another view of Ivatt 2MT 41227, this time at Napton and Stockton station departing with a Weedon bound train in September 1958. The station opened in August 1895 and served the villages of Napton, which was two miles away, and Stockton which was a little closer. The station was all wooden in construction with the main station building seen here on the left housing Gentlemans, General Waiting Room, Ladies and a booking office. The line was single from Marton Junction to Weedon so the building also housed a small lever frame and token instruments; the rodding can be seen running alongside the down platform. The lamps on the down and up side which can be seen were oil. As passenger services between Weedon and Leamington ceased in September 1958, this may well have been the last day of operation. (Arthur Mace) 97

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Part Five – The Shipston on Stour Branch

The origins of this line were in the sixteen-mile long Stratford and Moreton Tramway which opened on 5 September 1826 as a horse worked tramway, the original Act of Parliament forbidding the use of a steam locomotive. The branch to Shipston on Stour from Longdon Road opened in February 1836. The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway took the line over in 1853 and relaid the line to a standard suitable to accept main line wagons, albeit it was still horse worked. The opening of the line from Honeybourne to Stratford in 1859 took away most of the traffic from Moreton to Stratford and by 1904 the northern section of the tramway was closed with the track lifted in 1918. The branch to Shipston had a Stratford facing connection at Longdon Road and the GWR, who had taken over the OWWR in 1882, laid a short south facing spur to allow through running from Moreton to Shipston. The line reopened in 1889 and with another Act of Parliament to lift the restriction on steam locomotives. Intermediate stations were at Longdon Road and Stretton on Fosse. Passenger trains ceased in 1929, with a goods service finally ceasing on 2 May 1960.

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Taken on the 24 April 1955 during the REC railtour to Shipston on Stour, this scene from the buffer stop highlights the wooden station building, still in reasonable condition considering the withdrawal of passenger services some twenty-six years earlier. The building contained, from left to right, Gentleman, Ladies Waiting room, waiting room and a booking office. The platform on the left was a loading dock with a headshunt from the run round loop running up to it. On the left can be seen the goods shed. (R. C. Riley)

Left: Dean Goods 2458 is seen shunting at Shipston on Stour. Built at Swindon and new to traffic in December 1895 she would survive until April 1954, being withdrawn from Brecon where she moved to in January 1954. Prior to that she was a Worcester engine, being allocated there in June 1947. To the right can be seen the cattle dock and goods shed, the latter a utilitarian design with corrugated iron sheeting and a curved roof. The summer 1952 working timetable records that on weekdays there was one goods from Moreton-in-Marsh leaving at 12.30 and taking a leisurely hour and a quarter to travel the nine miles, arriving at 1.47pm. After just under an hour allowed for shunting, departure was at 2.40pm and arrival back at Moreton-in-Marsh at 3.53pm. Branch services were limited to 20mph with around eight level crossings for the crews to open and close, hence the easy schedule. (David Horne) 99

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Below: Dick Riley travelled on the earlier Stephenson Locomotive Society special from Oxford to Shipston on Stour on 31 August 1952, hauled by former Midland and South Western Junction Railway 2-4-0 1335, which was built by Dubs & Co., entering service in January 1894. A Reading engine, it was withdrawn soon after on 24 September 1952. The Six Bells Junction website records that arrival at Shipston was scheduled to be at 15.10 and departure at 15.20, which didn’t give very long for participants to explore the station. (R. C. Riley) Top Right: The loco’s crew watch from the footplate as the 1955 special nears Longdon Road station. Leaking steam from around its dome, No. 2474 was working its last duty and was withdrawn from Reading shed (81D) immediately afterwards. The Railway Enthusiasts Circle (REC) tour ran from Oxford to Broom Junction, Evesham, Moreton in Marsh, Shipston on Stour and back to Oxford. Dean Goods 2474 worked the excursion from Moreton to Shipston with Dukedog 9015 on the other legs. New to traffic in March 1896, 2474 was allocated to Reading 81D from where it was (officially) withdrawn on 27 April 1955. Longdon Road was just over two miles from Shipston on Stour and had a short brick-built platform and wooden station building in a smaller but similar style to that at Shipston. A corrugated iron hut was added for parcels. (David Horne) Bottom Right: On the outward journey of 31 August 1952, we see 1335 approaching Longdon Road Crossing with the SLS special and over the 1883 south spur added to the route to Moreton. There was a small goods yard this side of the crossing and the original line headed off to the left (beyond the engine) to Stratford. Behind the house was Longdon Road Crossing station. The 1922 timetable shows just two trips a day from Moreton-in-Marsh, leaving at 10.05 and 17.05, and returning from Shipston at 11.40 and 18.15. (R. C. Riley)

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Part Six – Broom to Fenny Compton The last part of our exploration of Warwickshire sees us journey from Broom Junction to Fenny Compton via the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway (SMJR). The SMJR was formed in 1909 from the amalgamation of three companies; the East and West Junction Railway, the Evesham, Redditch and Stratford-upon-Avon Junction Railway and the Stratford-upon-Avon, Towcester and Midland Junction Railway. In 1910, the Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway was also purchased.

The constituent lines had each been built with a view to carrying Northamptonshire iron ore to South Wales and the West Midlands, and the amalgamated line gave links to Northampton, Bedford, Banbury, Stratford-upon-Avon, Birmingham and Gloucester.

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A post-closure scene on 22 July 1962 of Bidford on Avon and the siding into the brickworks. The track has already been lifted beyond here and through the road bridge was Bidford on Avon station, which was a single track platform, single line affair with the station facilities of a booking office and waiting room housed in a bricked up arch of the road bridge (on the left hand side as you look at the image). The siding was for the Canada Brickworks company, although from 1909 the siding was also used for general goods for Bidford on Avon with the largest commodity loaded being hay sent to the Railway Provender company in Manchester. (John Jennings)

Left: Broom Junction station has, of course, already featured; this unusual view of Broom East Junction shows Broom East signal box with the line to Broom station in front of it. To the far left is the wartime chord curving round to Broom West Junction giving direct access to the line south to Evesham. Finally, over the girder bridge in the foreground is the line to Stratford-upon-Avon. In the background can be seen wagons that are probably in the sidings just south of Broom Junction station. Broom East Junction was an all timber signal box, unlike the similar vintage Broom West Junction and was built from standard prefabricated panels, being opened on 17 May 1942. Its life was very short as with the opening of the chord at Stratford-upon-Avon to the Honeybourne line, the section from Broom to Stratford was closed, with both East and West signal boxes being taken out of use on 1 July 1960. No longer would class 9F 2-10-0s pass through this quiet corner of Warwickshire. (David Horne) 103

Warwickshire Railways

To the next station and three miles on from Bidford is Binton. Opened in 1879 the station was located alongside the Stratford Road and on the west side of the junction with the road into Welford on Avon and over the river at Binton Bridges. The River Avon is down to the right, again running parallel to the railway. A short goods loop, the west end seen here in July 1960, gave access into the stone goods shed seen in the background along with a headshunt and cattle dock. A traction engine can be seen as well, the yard for a long time storing many old ploughing engines, some converted to diesel power. Although the station lost its passenger services in 1947 and goods in March 1960, the buildings survived, the site being used as a gas depot. This has sadly been redeveloped for housing, which has seen the goods shed demolished. (Norris Forrest)

Images of workings on the Stratford-upon-Avon to Broom line are not common, hence our journey so far has focused on the stations. As we approach Stratford on 2 June 1952, we see Saltley 21A Fowler 4F 44362 on the hump crossing over the Honeybourne line with what I suspect is an excursion from Birmingham New Street to Stratford (via Broom Junction). In the background the line heads for Luddington and onwards to Binton. Look at the track recently relaid with concrete sleepers, with bullhead rail. The houses are on Sanctus Street, with the allotments between there and the SMJR line. (R. C. Riley) 104

Part Six - Broom to Fenny Compton

The hump needed to allow the SMJR to clear the Honeybourne line is very apparent as Woodford Halse 2G allocated WD 2-8-0 90095 brings its class F freight rake of mostly empty plate wagons on 24 April 1960, with a bogie bolster apparent in the middle. The 1960 chord linking Stratford Old Town with the Honeybourne line allowing direct running south can be seen to the left and its opening would cause the closure of the line to Broom which 90095 has just traversed. The lifted track in the left foreground was a spur off the turntable (out of sight). Sidings in the background are sadly empty. (R. C. Riley)

Again looking west, this time from the station platform on 25 April 1957, Bedford 15D Fowler 4F 43971 can be seen on the right on the chord that linked Old Town with the Honeybourne line running north. The south chord has yet to be constructed and the sidings on the north side of the line to Broom contain a mixture of wagons. To the left in the engine shed, Bristol Barrow Road 22A 4F 44553 is being watered. Alongside the Broom line is the rudimentary coaling stage with engines coaled direct from the wagons. (R. C. Riley) 105

Warwickshire Railways

Bedford 15D Midland 4F 43971 is in the Up platform at Stratford-upon-Avon Old Town station in April 1957, with a rake of loaded coal wagons. There are a few steel 16t wagons towards the rear of the set but the majority are wooden bodied. Passenger services ceased in 1952, so only freight was to be seen on SMJR rails. 43971 was built by Armstrong Whitworth in 1922, entering service just before the grouping of 1923. A Bedford 15D engine at Nationalisation in 1948, she would stay there until September 1958 with a move to Kentish Town. After over forty-two years in service she was withdrawn from Toton in March 1964. The station was opened in 1873 with a single storey main station building (seen behind 43971) which contained a booking hall and office, waiting rooms, stores and (at this end) the refreshments room and a tap room. Originally a middle siding occupied the space between the up and down lines but it is believed this was removed as early as 1879. (R. C. Riley)

Top Right: Passenger services between Blisworth and Stratford-upon-Avon were withdrawn on Saturday 5th April 1952. The last down working, which was just a single carriage, leaving Blisworth at 6.50pm was hauled by Johnson 3F 43822 which was built at Derby Works in 1908. Allocated to Stratford she is seen on shed, her smokebox marking the occasion. A Union Jack was also draped on the smokebox. Another example of the class can be seen behind. The rebuilt shed can be seen behind with its corrugated iron covering along with the water tower. 43822 would soon depart to Bournville 21B from the 19th April 1952 and was finally withdrawn from Buxton 9D in April 1962. (R. C. Riley) Bottom Right: Our last view in Stratford is looking east and the bridge over the River Avon. Out of shot to the left are weirs in the river which I suspect accounts for the flotsam. The line is double track from Stratford-upon-Avon Old Town to Clifford Sidings, hence these two Fowler 4Fs passing. An examination of the September 1956 timetable shows a 7.10am Down freight from Olney which originated at Bedford, arriving at Stratford at 10.21am. Also showing is a 7.30am empties from Gloucester Barnwood passing Broom Junction at 9.25am, Stratford at 9.50 and being held at Clifford Sidings until 10.35. The 4F heading east has a high sided Fowler 3,500 gallon tender of which only ten were built and may be 44587, which we see at Kineton later. The label with the photo records Bedford 15A 44317 as the approaching 4F. The elbowed steam pipe seen on the left hand side indicates the engine was fitted with an exhaust steam injector. To conclude in 2023, this is now a link road which runs from close to Clifford Sidings to where the line crossed the Honeybourne line. A roundabout guides the road along the Honeybourne line to Evesham Place. A small section of the Up platform still can be seen. 30 April 1956. (R. C. Riley)

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On 8 April 1958, Northampton 2E Fowler 4F 44242 is heading an Up K Class freight away from Stratford-upon-Avon.

This is the 8.45am to Blisworth, arriving there at 1.56pm. In the background is the wartime grain silo built near the SMJR station and Lucy’s Mill. The photographer is stood on the former Stratford and Moreton Tramway bridge. The doubling of the line here also dates from 1942. The second vehicle in the set is a former Great Western Railway milk brake. (R. C. Riley)

Toton 18A Stanier 8F 48194 works past Clifford Sidings signal box on 24 April 1957 with a Class H through freight, the signalman standing with staff in hand for the crew to collect. The set looks like Warwell wagons loaded with military trucks probably destined for the MoD depot at Kineton. A siding here appears on maps from the 1880s to serve nearby Clifford Chambers, mostly for agricultural traffic. With the doubling of the line in 1942, two additional sidings were laid and are seen on the left. The sidings ceased to be used after November 1960, the signal box becoming a block post, being manned until April 1965 and closing officially in August 1966. (R. C. Riley) 108

Part Six - Broom to Fenny Compton

From Clifford Sidings the line climbed for the next four miles as we head east, culminating in two miles of 1 in 80 to a summit at Goldicote cutting, an impressive sixty foot deep affair through the Lias rock which itself was somewhat unstable. Great Western Railway Dukedog 9015 is at the head of the Railway Enthusiasts Club ‘South Midlander’ Railtour from Oxford to Broom Junction, Evesham and then back to Moreton-in-Marsh for a trip along the branch to Shipston on Stour (as we saw earlier). 24 April 1955. (R. C. Riley)

As we head east, we are going backwards in terms of the railtour’s journey: 9015 is seen arriving in the up platform at Ettington Station. The small main building is evident and, as a design, could be seen at Byfield, Moreton Pinkney and Blakesley. Originally opened in 1873 as a single platform and goods siding, it later saw the addition of a passing loop and further goods sidings. The loop was extended in the 1950s and could accommodate up to sixty wagons. The Railway Signalling Company signal box on the down platform dates from 1919. Given that passenger services ceased three years earlier the station looks in good condition. The notice board on the end of the station building still reads LMS; a ‘Hawkseye’ nameboard is in place along with all the station lamps and the Gentlemen sign at the other end. The yard would remain open for goods traffic until November 1963. (R. C. Riley) 109

Warwickshire Railways

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Top Left: The signalman and fireman are ready, staff in hand, to perform the token exchange at Kineton as Fowler 4F 44587 passes on a class J goods working and a rake of mostly steel bodied mineral wagons. 44587 was a very late built example, emerging from Derby in September 1939. By 1948 it was a Stratford-upon-Avon 21D allocated engine, although by the time of this photograph (30 April 1956) had moved to Gloucester Barnwood 22B. Its career would end in May 1965, being withdrawn from Buxton 9L. Note again the high sided 3,500 gallon Fowler tender. Again the station, despite the withdrawal of passenger services four years previously, still looks complete and the ‘Hawkseye’ nameboard and Midland pattern fencing can be seen on the Down platform. Also on the road bridge are diamond plates advising weight restrictions on the bridge. (R. C. Riley) Bottom Left: Burton Dassett had a rather chequered history, opening in 1871 as Warwick Road, only to close in 1873. Reopened in 1909 it once again was reported as out of use by 1912. Reopened again in the 1930s, it remained an unadvertised halt until final closure in 1946. The sleeper-built platform and brick station building are on the other side of the bridge and hidden by Monument Lane (3E) Fowler 4F 44057, which has an excursion working there on 14 July 1951. Built by the North British Locomotive Works in August 1923, she would be withdrawn from Bescot in November 1965. The loop line in the foreground connected with the Edge Hill Light Railway, which curved away behind the photographer. (R. C. Riley)

The Edge Hill Light Railway was designed to extract ironstone from quarries above the Edge Hill escarpment near to Burton Dassett. The line from the junction with the S&MJR ran to the foot of the escarpment where a self-acting cable worked incline used loaded wagons to bring empties up to the quarry. The line was engineered by Colonel Holman F. Stephens and the Light Railway Order granted in 1919. Construction allowed the first ore to be brought down from the quarries in 1922. The line had a very short period of operation with the last recorded load being despatched in January 1925, although an accident on the incline in 1922 may have curtailed commercial operation earlier for a while. (Mike Hughes)

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In 1919 the Edge Hill Light Railway acquired two former London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Terriers. This is EHLR No.2, the former 674 Shadwell, which was still in its A1 as-built form. Behind is a brake van which was of Great Eastern Railway origin along with the remains of tipping wagons. The other Terrier, which is just out of sight, was formerly 673 Deptford which was acquired from the Longmoor Military Railway and had been rebuilt as an A1X. Maintenance of both engines was done at Stratford-upon-Avon and there are suggestions that the Terriers would work on the service to Broom Junction. Having survived the war years, scrapping finally came in 1946. (Neville Stead collection)

We return to Fenny Compton, this time on the Stratford and Midland Junction Railway side; Northampton 4F 44491 sits in the Down platform with a class K goods working on 17 April 1956. To the right is the SMJR goods yard which contained a couple of sidings. The familiar LMS ‘Hawkseye’ running-in board can be seen on the platform with a lamp hut just behind and almost hidden by 44491 is the station building, which was similar in design to Ettington. To the left can be seen the up platform narrowing alongside the GWR goods siding and a glimpse inside the signal box shows the two lever frames, one for the SMJR and one for the GWR main line behind. (R. C. Riley) 112

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Warwickshire Railways

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Embark on a nostalgic journey through the railways of Warwickshire with a seasoned enthusiast whose passion for steam locomotion spans decades. From the bustling platforms of Birmingham Snow Hill to the quaint charm of Fenny Compton, this captivating narrative weaves through the rich tapestry of Warwickshire’s railway history. Guided by vivid recollections and meticulously curated images from the Transport Treasury collection, immerse yourself in the bygone era of steam, semaphore signals, and the rhythmic clatter of iron wheels on tracks. Join the author as they traverse forgotten routes, explore hidden gems, and uncover the stories behind each railway line. With heartfelt acknowledgments to fellow enthusiasts, railway preservationists, and the unwavering support of family, this book is a testament to the enduring allure of steam travel and the enduring legacy of Warwickshire’s railways.

Warwickshire Railways Compiled by Martin Creese