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GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Bentley Heath: gwrbh2323

An unidentified ex Great Western Railway 2884 class 2-8-0 locomotive with a northbound class E express freight passes Bentley Heath Crossing on the down relief line

An unidentified ex-Great Western Railway 2884 class 2-8-0 locomotive with a northbound class E express freight passes Bentley Heath Crossing on the down relief line on a bleak Saturday 23rd January 1965. A class E express freight could travel up to 45mph, but must have not less than four braked vehicles next to the engine and connected by automatic brake pipe. In this case after the vacuum braked high sided wooden open wagon, there are three foreign railway pitched roof covered wagons. Behind these wagons are two signal posts. The nearest signal post controls the high speed crossover from the up relief line to the up main line and is indicating that the up relief line is clear. Both the up and down crossovers were taken out of use on 17th September 1961, but the up crossover was reinstated a week later. The second signal post controls the up main line and path to up goods loop, which commenced beyond the level crossing. This was adjacent to the footbridge, which crosses the lines in the background.

The powerful heavy freight 2884 class locomotives introduced in 1938 were an improved version of the 28xx class, which Jackson Churchward had designed in 1903 at the start of his career. The improvements included outside steam pipes, modified motion plate, curved front drop ends, larger cabs with side windows, a fire iron compartment, short safety valve, whistle shields, smokebox door lamp-irons and automatic train control (ATC). The boiler pressure was 225lb providing a tractive effort at 85% of 33,495lb (power group - E) and the maximum axle weight was 18 tons, which restricted the locomotives to main lines and a few branch lines (route classification – Red). Originally built for the heavy coal traffic from South Wales to London, the 28xx and later 2884 class locomotives became the mainstay of the heavy night express freights between the major conurbations and all past into British Railways ownership. By the end of January 1965 all the eighty-four 28xx class locomotives had been withdrawn and only thirty-two of the eighty-three 2884 class locomotives remained. None would be operational at the end of the year, but happily several are now preserved.

Robert Ferris

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