LMS Route: Nuneaton to Coventry

LMS Route: Coventry Loop Line

Coventry Loop Line: lnwrcll3407

A gang of labourers pose for the camera alongside the contractor's narrow gauge railway used to move spoil from the earthworks. Manning Wardle 0-4-0ST No 475 / 1873 'Exit' is in charge of a rake of side tipping wagons at Courthouse Green, later the site of Morris Motors. The contractor's wagons were crude insofar they were devoid of springing, brakes and fitted only with dumb buffers formed by the large section of timber chassis extending beyond the end of the wagon. A narrow gauge railway was ideal for initially constructing the line as it was light in nature and could be quickly laid (note the almost absence of sleepers holding the rail in place. Peter Lee in his book 'Nuneaton, Coventry & Leamington Railway' notes the locomotive was put up for sale by the LNWR on 23rd July 1914. Peter records it was later used on the nearby Courtaulds main site but they do not have a record of its subsequent history.

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