GWR Route: Hatton to Bearley and Alcester Branch Junction

Aston Cantlow: gwrac2299

Looking towards Bearley showing a minor road bridge crossing the branch line at 2 miles 53 chains. See image 'gwrac2298' for the Ordnance Survey map. The overhead electricity line crossing the railway in the foreground is connected to a 66/11kV Primary Substation just out of sight on the right. This substation was built to supply power to the Maudslay Motor Company Factory, which had been relocated from Coventry to a new rural site at Great Alne in 1941 in order to avoid air raids. The Maudslay Motor Company had turned over its entire production capacity to military vehicles and tanks at the out-break of war in 1939 and it was considered to be strategically important. The new factory was a short distance from the railway line, but the choice of the substation location here was probably influenced by the need to transport two large transformers and other electrical equipment to this remote location.

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