GWR Route: Stratford on Avon to Honeybourne

Stratford-on-Avon Racecourse Platform: gwr_src613

Looking towards the former SMJ route to Broom as an unidentified former WD 2-8-0 is seen about to cross the GWR Stratford on Avon to Honeybourne line at the head of a Midlands to South Wales mineral train. The spur is obviously newly installed as the track is brilliant white with no staining on the track. The spur was intended to shorten the route for such traffic and to allow closure of both the SMJ to the West of Stratford Upon Avon as well as the former Midland Railway route between Redditch and Evesham. The catch point on the up line was installed to trap any runaway wagons as the spur from the GWR to the SMJ was built on a rising gradient. No such trap was required for the down line as the locomotive would have been at the front of the train.

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