GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Henley in Arden - New Station: gwrha1394

Another view of the Great Western Railway 2-6-2T 5101 class large prairie locomotive taking on water at the end of the bay platform in 1947 (see also 'gwrha1410a'). Water provision was a fundamental requirement when operating steam locomotives and the water delivery systems were designed to maximise the amount of water that could be transferred in the shortest possible time. Typically two thousand gallons (the full capacity of this locomotive’s tanks) could be transferred in five minutes. For more details on water cranes see 'misc_equip193'.

The locomotive is carrying a class D lamp headcode indicating an empty coaching stock train (see 'Headcodes'). The locomotive had previously brought a Moor Street to Henley-in-Arden suburban passenger service into the bay platform and had used the adjacent loop line to ran around this train, before taking the opportunity to refill with water. When this has been completed the locomotive will reverse on to the now empty train and be ready to depart. The empty coaching stock train was timetabled to leave Henley-in-Arden at 6:35pm and arrive at the Tyseley Carriage Sidings at 7:08pm.

Robert Ferris

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