GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Leamington Shed: gwrls2620

Fitter John Thomas Kendrick is seen working on British Railways built Class 2MT 2-6-2T No 41285 at Leamington Shed. This photograph was sent in by Kate Rose who wrote 'I have come across this picture of my father (John Thomas Kendrick) and I think this was taken approximately 1950 at Leamington Shed - can anyone clarify this?'. Robert Ferris has replied, 'Shed plate 84D confirms the location is Leamington Shed prior to September 1963 after which it was renumbered 2L until closure in 1965. The 'overhead electric wire warning' flash on the bunker front would in my mind place this closer to 1960 than 1950 (baring in mind when the WCML was electrified) and this locomotive does not appear in the Leamington shed allocation list for 1950. The locomotive can be identified as an ex-LMS Ivatt design built by Crewe works in November 1950. 'I have an allocation list for Leamington shed in 1959 which includes three of the class, one of which was numbered 41285'..

Kate Rose has subsequently written, 'I have found my dad's GWR record on Ancestry and he started work at Leamington shed in 1940 when he was just 16 and then transferred to Tyseley when Leamington closed. His father (my Grandfather) Ralph Willoughby Kendrick was also on the GWR and he started at Leamington in November 1908 when he was fifteen before going off to war and then I have also have his father (my Great Grandfather) Willoughby Adolphus Kendrick was started on the GWR in Stratford on Avon in July 1883 when he was 16'.

The following table showing the locomotive's allocation over its short working life has been provided courtesy of by the BR Database Website.

back