LMS Route: Rugby to Wolverhampton

LMS Route: Birmingham New Street to Lichfield

LMS Route: Birmingham New Street to Soho and Perry Barr

Curzon Street Goods Station: lnwrcs2125

A special order of wire rope being loaded direct from Wrights Ropes' factory on to MR railway wagons on 15th March 1922. Richard Foster states that Wright's normal practice was to send their goods via Banbury Street or Lawley Street goods yards. However because Wrights specialised in providing very long lengths of rope they would on occasion need to make special arrangements. The scene seen above is one such occasion when Wrights were asked to produce a length of plaited strand wire rope some 36,300 feet long weighing 65 tons. In order to produce and to transport the rope the Midland Railway constructed a special siding adjacent to Wrights Ropes' factory adjacent to Exchange Sidings' signal cabin, which can be seen beyond the shear-legs on the right. The rope was then manufactured and then drawn up the embankment and into the wagons as one operation. This was achieved by using the drum winch seen on the right and then onto the wagons using the shear-legs and pulley. The two Midland Railway bogie wagons (diagram 340) used for this operation were adapted by providing a steel and sleeper pen within which the rope was coiled. Its not known who wanted nearly 7 miles of rope but it is known that the rope had to be looped 180 times within the wagons. The siding was retained for future use in transporting extra long wire ropes.

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