GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Moor Street Station: gwrms1735

Great Western Railway 4-4-2T No 4600 on the middle road of the traverser table being transferred to the loop line from the line serving island platform No 3. The traverser is operated by an electric motor beneath the chequer plated traverser table, which moved the wheeled traverser table sideways on nine rails. The motor was controlled by the handle on the platform, which was interlocked by a lever in Moor Street Signal Box (lever No 24). Between the tracks at the opposite end of the traverser table was a red / green light, which indicated when the traverser tracks were correctly aligned with the main tracks. Information about the traverser construction and operational instructions can be found in GWR Article - Traversing Tables and GWR Service Time Table – Instructions. In the background is a selection of horse-drawn vehicles outside the high level goods shed.

No 4600 was built at Swindon Works in November 1913 as the only locomotive in lot 197. The locomotive was smaller (five foot eight inch wheels and 28 foot wheelbase) than the 4-4-0T 22xx class County Tanks (six foot eight and a half inch wheels and 32 foot wheelbase) and can be recognised from the sloping tanks and the curved frames at both the front and back. This 4-4-2T small atlantic type was designed to replace the 2-4-0T Metro Tank as a light passenger tank for suburban and branch line traffic. The design was however found to be too heavy and insufficiently flexible for the tight curves found on typical branch lines. It was also less versatile than the powerful new 2-6-2T prairie designs for main line suburban duties and as a result no other locomotives were built to this design. With a tractive effort (at 85%) of 17,340 lb the locomotive had a group ‘A’ power classification and the poorly distributed weight resulted in a 16 ton 7 cwt maximum axle weight, which gave the locomotive a Blue route classification and restricted it to red and blue routes. No 4600 was initially allocated to Tyseley shed (TYS) for work on Birmingham suburban passenger traffic. In May 1915 the front bogie was moved forward four inches to improve the weight distribution and riding quality. In December 1918 the locomotive was fitted with superheating and in that year moved from Birmingham to west Wales. No 4600 was known to have been allocated at Pembroke Dock sub-shed (WTD) in January 1921. In July 1925, No 4600 was withdrawn from Neath shed (NEA) after a relatively short life and a total recorded mileage of only 248,458.

Robert Ferris

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