GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Bordesley Station: gwrbg1333c

Close up of image 'gwrbg1333' showing a British Railways Class 08 Diesel at work with a GWR shunters truck attached in front and with two shunters in attendance. The shunters truck was used to store spare parts and to carry the men. The man on the shunters truck is standing on a wide foot board provided for this purpose. Each man has a shunters pole in his hand which was approximately six feet long with a a long metal spike twisted in to a hook. This was used to unhook the couplings or help push down the brake levers on the side of the wagon during shunting. One example is when 'fly shunting' was used to get wagons onto sidings.

The wagons would be uncoupled from the loco which would then push them along the track, the loco would then stop leaving the wagons to roll on down the siding. A shunter had to run alongside the wagon and apply the brakes to avoid it crashing into the buffers or into other stock on the siding. One dodge was to push the pole under the solebar of the wagon and above the hand brake handle and push down until his feet left the ground. Riding the pole in this way was dangerous enough but was even more so if the man sat on the pole as when he jumped down it would be behind him and a stumble could result in a very nasty accident.

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