GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Shirley Station: gwrsh2950

The Goods Shed at Shirley a few years before it closed in July 1964. It had remained virtually unchanged since the station was built in 1908. The main building was approximately sixty-three feet long by thirty feet wide with a single through rail road on the main line side. Within the Goods Shed was a loading platform which would have had a wooden floor to provide some protection to the materials. A cart access bay was provided on the other side, so that items could be transhipped under cover. Most goods were moved using sack trucks, but a centrally placed 1 ton, 10 cwt manually operated crane was available for heavier items. Within the Goods Shed would be secure lockup for storing valuable items and a weighing machine. The separate Goods Office on the left housed the Goods Clerk and staff.

The arrangement here was typical of Goods Sheds built prior to the First World War, but with increased road competition and motor vehicles with a greater operating range, the railways started to concentrate their goods handling facilities at a fewer larger sites where mechanised equipment could improve efficiency. On the Great Western Railway, they introduced the Country Lorry Service and Railhead Distribution, but retained the goods yard at Shirley for local traffic and in the 1938 ‘GWR Towns, Villages Outlying Works etc’ a free company cartage service is identified for locations within 1.5 miles of the station, while cartage was still provided to more outlying villages like Hollywood (which was 2.5 miles distant), but this was not free.

Robert Ferris

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