LMS Route: Birmingham West Suburban Railway

Bournville Shed: mrb17

Ex-MR double framed 2-4-0, LMS No 20002, is seen at the entrance to the roundhouse at Bournville on Saturday 2nd March 1935. Built at Derby, this Kirtley designed '156' class engine entered service as Midland Railway No 158 in 1866. There were twenty-nine of this class, constructed with 6' 2" diameter driving wheels. The Midland rebuilt No 158 with larger cylinders & Johnson boiler & cab in December 1881 (probably replacing the original tender with an inside framed one at the same time), renumbered it No 158A on the duplicate list in August 1896, rebuilt it again with a larger boiler in June 1897, assigned it to power class 1 in 1906, renumbered it No 2 in October 1907, then rebuilt it again with a 1897 boiler in 1916. After the grouping, the LMS reboilered it in 1925 & 1927, reclassified it 1P in 1928, renumbered it No 20002 in May 1934, then finally withdrew it from service in July 1947. It was the last surviving ex-MR double framed passenger engine and was restored to its Edwardian condition as Midland Railway No 158A, paired with the distinctive horseshoe tender from Kirtley 0-6-0 No 22834, also withdrawn in 1947. Seen as a static exhibit in Birmingham during the New Street Station centenary celebrations in 1954 (see image'lnwrbns_br1798', it is now on show at the Midland Railway Centre in Butterley, on loan from the National Railway Museum in York.

John Dews

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