GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Soho and Winson Green: gwrswg1568

Taken in 1933 this picture shows the new Soho & Winson Green goods transit shed with three storey warehouse above. The building was constructed using a reinforced concrete frame and external brick panelling. A foundation of 400 reinforced concrete piles of the West Rotinoff design had to be driven to an average of 15 feet to stabilise the soft ground at this location and 175,000 cubic yards of earth had to be excavated and removed. The entrance to the yard was from Winson Green Road. Additional sidings with accommodation for 292 wagons were laid in the adjacent yard, which covered an area of 90,000 sq feet.

Most of the sidings could be served by road vehicles directly from a series of new concrete access roads. In the picture sheeted wagon loads of sawn timber can be seen in 5 plank open wagons. The Great Western Railway General Appendix to the Rule Book (1936) gave specific instructions on how to load overhanging timber complete with example pictures. In this case the projecting timber has been loaded so that it overhangs an adjacent wagon loaded in the same manner. This avoids the need to protect every overhang with a separate runner wagon.

Robert Ferris

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