LMS Route: Rugby to Wolverhampton
LMS Route: Birmingham - Soho - Perry Barr - Birmingham
LMS Route: Birmingham New Street to Harborne

Monument Lane Station: lnwrml2225

An unidentified ex-LMS 'Black 5' 4-6-0 locomotive approaches Monument Lane station on a down express service to Wolverhampton on 27th June 1955. On the left is the water tank that was rarely used but still operational. In front of the tank is a fogman's hut. During much of the period when steam locomotives operated the country's dependency on coal had a very major consequence which was smog - a combination of smoke from all of the coal fires and fog. During winter there were many occasions when the visibility was so poor that drivers could not see the signals. The railways tried a number of methods to resolve this issue with colour lights having some benefits or mechanical automatic train warning devices that rang a bell in the cab if the locomotive passed the signal at danger. However, the most widely adopted option was to place a fogman next to key signals who would be in contact with the signal box. The fogman, normally employed as platelayers, would place detonating caps on the line which would warn the drivers as their locomotive ran over them.

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