GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill Station: gwrbsh70

View of Great Western Railway 39xx class 2-6-2T No 3907 seen standing on the sector table at the south end of the bay platforms Nos. 3 and 4 whilst being 'turned'. The principle of the sector table was to allow a locomotive to be released after it had arrived with a train in one of the bay platforms. The sector table would move the locomotive to the free line so that it could pass alongside its train in order to be serviced or couple up to the other end of the train. The traditional way of achieving this was to provide crossover switches, but they required considerably more space, which was unavailable in this restricted station site.

The sector table seen above is set in its normal 'resting' position, which allows a locomotive to run on to it from either track. The sector table, which is pivoted at the far end, will now rotate to the right until the rails the locomotive is standing on are aligned with the rails of the track to the right to release the locomotive. Such innovative solutions to overcoming space constraints were not rare, as Moor Street was fitted with a traverser, which instead of rotating in an arc, as above, the entire table moved sideways until the track was aligned.

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