GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Handsworth Junction: gwrhs1947

Great Western Railway 39xx class 2-6-2T No 3909 is passing under Halfords Lane Bridge on the up relief line in the mid 1920s. Handsworth Junction is the other side of the bridge adjacent to the Signal Box. The train is comprises a long rake of six-wheel coaches travelling as an empty carriage stock working (denoted by lamp headcode D – see headcodes). No 3909 was built as Dean Goods 0-6-0 tender locomotive No 2507 in November 1896 and converted to a prairie tank locomotive in December 1907. At this time there was a demand for more powerful suburban locomotives especially in Birmingham where the North Warwickshire Line was soon to open. With the Swindon Works machine shops operating at full capacity, these rebuilds used all the principle parts of twenty surplus Dean Goods locomotives (all from lot 104, built in 1896) on new frames, with a Churchward standard No 5 boiler and two 750 gallon side tanks to produce these unusual looking conversions. The locomotive had inside cylinders and the large unsightly oval hole in the side tank gave access to the motion for oiling. The boiler operated at a pressure of 200 lbs producing a tractive effort at 85% of 20,155 lb and these locomotives were classified in power group B. The maximum axle weight of 17 tons 4 cwt restricted the locomotives to main lines and some branch lines (colour code – Blue). All the conversions were built initially without any superheating, but this were fitted to No 3909 in July 1917. Other modifications included; fitting top-feed apparatus and enlarging the rear bunker to increase coal capacity (circa 1920). These locomotives were designed for the Birmingham suburban traffic and No 3909 was initially allocated to Tyseley shed (TYS), remaining there until displaced by new 2-6-2T locomotives in the late 1920s. After moving away from Birmingham, No 3909 was finally withdrawn from Barry shed (BRY) in south Wales in October 1930.

The first coach is a four compartment, centre brake third, without a guard’s ducket (Diagram T39). These coaches were thirty-one feet long with three axles at nine foot, six inch centres. They had a single arc roof. One hundred and fifty-five were built between 1875 and 1883. Originally the coaches would have been built with an external look-out (ducket) for the guard (Diagram T38), but these duckets were removed in the 1920s. The three coaches immediately following this brake third are all five compartment coaches (probably third class coaches to Diagram S3). These were similar to the Diagram T39 design with a single arc roof and with three axles at nine foot six inch centres, but were slightly shorter at twenty-eight feet long. Approximately six hundred and forty-two of this coach design were built between 1872 and 1884. The brown and cream coach livery seen here was reintroduced to the Great Western Railway’s coaching stock in 1922.

An original photograph by Henry L Salmon

Robert Ferris

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