Rail Art

Steve Merry: sm02

Ex-LNWR 2-4-2T No 6636 stands beneath the passenger footbridge at New Street upon which No 5 Signal Cabin is perched as sentinel. The two clocks were used to display the arrival and departure time of each service whilst the 'finger boards' pointed to the section of platform being used with the names of the stations painted on both sides. The footbridge which carried a public right of way across the station, and the arched entrances to the platform stairways, made Birmingham New Street an unmistakable location. No 3 Signal Cabin, perched on top of the footbridge, is in the centre of this picture. The locomotive, 5ft 6in 2-4-2 Tank, LMS No 6636, was formerly LNWR No 1735 of 1892 (withdrawn 1947). It is painted in the post-1928 lined black livery, with round-cornered single red lines on the tank and bunker sides. The letters LMS and the number are 14 inches high plus shading. These and the 1P cabside power classification would have been hand painted in straw colour, shaded red to the right and crimson lake below. Shed 2D at this time was Nuneaton. On the LNWR carriages behind and opposite the loco the roof rainstrips continue onto the ends of the roof whereas on the MR-style carriage to the right they stop short of the roof end. All are painted in LMS crimson lake with the 1934 simplified yellow and black lining scheme.

The painting is based upon a photograph taken in 1938. LNWRS SOC 814

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