GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Hockley Station: gwrhd1656

Demonstrating the old and new methods of moving railway vehicles around a goods yard on 6th April 1949. The old methods required either a shunting horse and handler or two men on powered capstans, the latter seen above. The new method being demonstrated was the BSA Truck Mover which only required one man to operate the device and move the wagon. The photograph seen above is apparently recording the first ever trial of this device. To the limited knowledge of the writer the device was not widely deployed but cannot say for what reason. Clearly the motor used to power the Truck Mover was obviously a twin-stroke motorcycle engine which must have been very noisy and may have been one reason for its lack of adoption. British Pathe filmed the BSA Truck Mover together with other equipment on show at the British Industries Fair at Castle Bromwich as part of their newsreel film. See the last section of the film clip available on the British Pathe website (as of 12th October 2011).

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