GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Shirley Station: gwrsh2951

Cattle pens at Shirley with water tank behind circa 1960. The cattle pens were a standard arrangement constructed from lengths of bridge rail which were prefabricated at Swindon for this purpose. The bridge rail uprights were 7 foot 10 inches long, of which 3 foot was buried below the platform surface. The fence was constructed of the four horizontal bridge rails and between each of the upper two pairs there was a 2 by ¾ inch iron flat bar. The two double access gates were approximately 6 foot 6 inches wide and separated by 14 foot 7 inches to allow two cattle wagons to be loaded. The fence was set back about 3 foot from the platform edge, but the access gates opened outwards so there was no gap during loading. Normally there was a pen adjacent to each access gate and a third larger pen behind. The siding was taken out of use on 4th September 1971, but these cattle pens were redundant before this.

Robert Ferris

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