GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Handsworth & Smethwick: gwrhs2645

The inside of the spacious Handsworth & Smethwick Goods Shed in February 1933. The shed was 200 feet long with a pair of loop sidings passing through on the running line side. There were three cranes on the platform each adjacent to a loading bay. The iron framed timber roof had a glazed central apex, while additional illumination was provided by the gas lighting. At each end of the shed were internal buildings on the platform for bonded stores, offices and staff facilitates. In the nearest loading bay is lorry No 2689 which is thought to be a Thornycroft PB chassis fitted with a platform body with detachable sides.

The nearest wooden covered goods van (telegraphic code - Mink) is No 89238 built to diagram V14 under Lot L708 for total of 300 covered goods vans. There were 1,625 of these diagram V14 Mink A ten ton wagons built between 1912 and 1923 and a further 2,186 twelve ton wagons built between 1923 and 1927. They were sixteen foot long over their headstocks with a nine foot wheelbase, the maximum height inside was seven foot, seven inches and the door aperture was six foot, one inch high by four foot, ten inches wide. The end bonnets (two on each end) had sliding shutters which were individually controlled by external handles and this qualified the wagons to be called ventilated and have the suffix A applied to the telegraphic code. As built these Mink A wagons had Dean-Churchward (DC3) brakes and were unfitted, but this wagon has a vacuum pipe.

Robert Ferris

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