GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Henley in Arden - New Station: gwrha1410a

Close up of image 'gwrha1410' with the up platform's water crane being used to fill a Great Western Railway 2-6-2T 5101 class large prairie locomotive with water. These locomotives had tanks with a capacity for 2,000 gallons of water. The driver is seen standing at the base of the water column having just turned off the water supply as his fireman is seen about to descend from the front buffer beam having just pulled the 'bag' out of the Prairie's side tank with the chain. Notice that the water crane has a cranked horizontal pipe to give it more height, this was a modification carried out at selected sites following the introduction of higher capacity tenders in the late 1930’s. For more details on water cranes see 'misc_equip193'. This view also shows that the bay side of the island platform had a recessed slope requiring a timber handrail to be positioned. A large cast iron manhole cover can be seen at the base of this slope which probably gave access to a drainage pit. Good drainage was required to prevent damage to the railway track formation and therefore essential around areas where water spillage was likely to occur.

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