BR Period Locomotives: lnwrbns_br1798

Restored Midland Railway 2-4-0 No 158A, seen being exhibited at Birmingham New Street during the station's centenary year, on 2nd June 1954. Withdrawn from service in 1947, this double framed veteran was restored, and then preserved as part of the national collection at Clapham in London. Matthew Kirtley, its designer, had strong connections with Birmingham's early railway history, as he had been the locomotive superintendent of the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, with a home in nearby Hampton-in-Arden. The locomotive was originally built in 1866, but many changes had been made over the years. The outside frames were still Kirtley's, but the boiler and cab were Johnson's and the smoke box door and chimney were Deeley's. The restored number 158A acknowledges this, as it was the one carried between 1896 and 1907. The locomotive had been a locally allocated one in LMSR days. Compare this view of it with photographs taken when it was in service in the 1930s at New Street, Bournville and Kings Norton. See images 'lnwrbns_lms1944', 'mrb17' and 'mrknlms233'.

John Dews

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