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GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Bordesley Station: gwrbg2271

A composite image showing a photo and diagram of an Overhead Runway System used to handle goods

A composite image showing a photo and diagram of an Overhead Runway System used to handle goods. Following the First World War the cost of labour significantly increased and various mechanical appliances were developed to reduce the manpower required to handle mercantile goods. In 1921 at least two pocket books were produced by Great Western Railway employees detailing some of the new appliances being introduced at their goods depots and explaining how they were being used:
· Mechanical Appliances for Handling Railway Traffic, by G Buckeley, published for the Railway Gazette
· The Mechanical Handling of Goods, by C Woodfield, published for Pitman's Technical Primers.

Both books featured the Overhead Runway System manufactured by Messrs Herbert Morris of Loughborough who had perfected the installation in goods sheds and yards. The use of a flexible double roller bogie trolley that could negotiate a junction between the rolled steel joists increased the versatility of the system while maintaining the strength. The drawing shows the arrangement of a junction, while the photograph shows a trolley crossing the junction. This is a hand travelled trolley with an electrically powered hoist as installed at the Bordesley Goods Shed. The two outside chain pendants operate the steering gear while the trolley is in motion. The system at Bordesley had a rated capacity of one ton.

Robert Ferris

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