GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill Station: gwrbsh1777

Prairie tank engines were the mainstay of the local freight and suburban passenger services in the Birmingham Division and here two up trains headed by this type of locomotive passing Birmingham North Signal Box as they approach the north end of Birmingham Snow Hill station on Friday 7th September 1934. On the up through main line is Great Western Railway 4575 class small prairie 2-6-2T No 4579 heading a class K ordinary freight to Bordesley Junction. While Great Western Railway 5101 class large prairie 2-6-2T No 5167 brings one of the four coach Divisional ‘A’ Sets to Platform No 11 to form the 12:47 p.m. local to Leamington Spa. These are some of the sixteen, seventy foot long, steel panelled, non-corridor toplight coaches built in November 1913, which belonged to the Birmingham Divisional 'A' Sets Nos 5, 6, 7 and 8. Next to the locomotive is a brake third coach to diagram D55 (lot 1227). This had eight third class compartments, a guard’s compartment and luggage area. The coach running numbers were 1070 to 1077. Adjacent to this is a composite coach to diagram E97 (lot 1226). These had coach running numbers 6863 to 6870. These four coach sets spent almost their entire service life allocated to the Birmingham Division being eventually condemned in December 1956. They have the distinction of being the only seventy foot long non-corridor coaches to run on an English Railway and were the first vehicles on the Great Western Railway to have fireproof floors.

Locomotive No 5167 was built in December 1930 at Swindon Works as part of lot 259. These were an updated version of the 51xx class with curved drop frames, outside steam pipes, lower cab height and enlarged coal bunkers with a capacity of four tons. The tanks held 2,000 gallons of water. The locomotives were four tons heavier than their predecessors and had a maximum axle weight of 17 tons, 12 cwt, which restricted them to main lines and some branch lines (Route colour Blue). They had the same Standard No 2 boiler, which was fitted with 12 / 48 superheating and topfeed apparatus. The boiler pressure was 200 lbs and the tractive effort at 85% was 24,300 lb. This placed the locomotive in power group D. The majority of the 5101 class locomotives were allocated to the Wolverhampton Division, where their fast acceleration made them ideal for operating the region's suburban passenger services. They were eventually displaced by the arrival of Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) in the late 1950s. No 5167 was initially allocated to Stafford Road shed (SRD) in Wolverhampton, but was known to have been allocated to Leamington shed (LMTN) in January 1934. In January 1938, No 5167 was known to have been allocated back at Stafford Road shed. Prior to nationalisation in December 1947, No 5167 was allocated to Stourbridge shed (STB) and was still allocated there in August 1950. No 5167 was eventually withdrawn from Banbury shed (84C) in January 1962.

Locomotive No 4579 was built in February 1927 at Swindon Works as part of lot 242. The 4575 class locomotives were a development of the 45xx class, the first one of which had been built in 1906 for branch line use. They had the same Standard No 5 boiler, which was fitted with superheating and topfeed apparatus, but had; larger side tanks capable of holding 1,300 gallons of water (these tanks had a sloping top to improve visibility), a flanged motion bar cross frame, outside steam pipes and curved front drop ends (these last two features had actually been introduced in the earlier 1924 batch). The weight had increased and the maximum axle weight was 15 tons, 11 cwt, which restricted them to main lines and most branch lines (route colour yellow). The boiler pressure was 200 lbs and the tractive effort at 85% was 21,250 lb, which placed the locomotive in power group C. The 4575 class were mainly allocated as replacements for nineteenth century tank and tender locomotives on the West Midland Railway branch lines and No 4579 was originally allocated to Tyseley shed (TYS). The locomotive was also known to have been allocated there in January 1934. In January 1938, No 4579 was known to have been allocated to Whitland shed (WTD), was also allocated there prior to nationalisation in December 1947 and was withdrawn from Whitland shed, which was then a sub-shed to Neyland (87H) in September 1958.

Robert Ferris

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