LMS Route: Grand Junction Railway
LMS Route: Birmingham New Street to Lichfield
LMS Route: Birmingham-Soho-Perry Barr-Birmingham

Aston Shed: lnwra2304a

Close up of image 'lnwra2304' showing rebuilt Patriot class No 45545 'Planet' stabled together with other locomotives in front of the shed. Also shown in this view is the concrete coaling plant and steel framed ash disposal plant. The coaling plant was equipped with a hoist to lift an open wagon full of coal to the top of the tower. At the top the wagon would be rotated so that its load would be tipped into one of the coal bunkers. Locomotives needing to be coaled would then be positioned beneath or, in the case of Aston, besides the coaling plant for the coal to be discharged into their tender or bunker. At large sheds where top express links were handled, it was not unusual for the coal to be segregated by quality with the best steam coal being used by express passenger locomotives and inferior coal being used by the remaining allocation. Ash plant had skips which were hoisted up with their load of ash which were then tipped into an open wagon positioned beneath.

The rebuilt Patriot class locomotive, No 45545 Planet, was a member of the last of four pre-Stanier locomotive classes rebuilt with tapered boilers. The first was the one-off conversion or rebuild of the former experimental 4-6-0 fitted with a high pressure boiler No 6399 Fury renamed British Legion and equipped with a tapered boiler. This locomotive was considered by many as the precursor to the three classes which used Stanier's 2A tapered boiler itself a modification to the boiler fitted to British Legion. The other classes provided with the new 2A boiler were two Jubilee class locomotives, Nos 5735 Comet rebuilt in May 1942 and No 5736 Phoenix rebuilt a month earlier in April 1942. From 1943 it was decided not to repeat the conversion on the remaining 189 members of the Jubilee Class but to rebuild members of the LMS 4-6-0 Royal Scot class. The Patriot locomotive seen above, No 45545, was the last Patriot class locomotive to be rebuilt. It was given the name Planet at the same time. Built as LMS No 5545 in March 1934 by Crewe works and following its rebuilding in November 1948, No 45545 was to remain in service until June 1964 when it was withdrawn from 12B Upperby shed.

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