LMS Route: Birmingham West Suburban Railway

Bournville Shed: mrb12

Midland Railway 3F 0-6-0 No 3454 was parked in a siding at Bournville on Sunday 9th April 1922. The engine has coal in the tender and is probably awaiting further use. The telegraph pole behind it suggests strongly that it was on the short spur beside one of the shed's two coal stacks. The pole can be seen in a similar view taken in 1935. The spur can be seen on the shed plan of 1939. Both are shown in a photograph taken in 1957. The unusual surface in the foreground is probably the base of the empty stack. The engine was built with a small 'B' type boiler and Johnson cab in 1894 by Dubs & Company of Glasgow. It entered service as Midland Railway 'J2' class No 2177 and was upgraded to 3F in 1907 when it was rebuilt with the large Deeley 'H' type round topped boiler.

A new improved cab was also fitted to No 2177 before being returned to service as No 3454, the number allocated in the 1907 renumbering scheme. The engine was rebuilt a second time in 1920 with a 'G7' Belpaire boiler and further improved cab. This is the form seen in the photograph, taken about two years after the rebuild, and is the final standard form of the 3F apart from changes to boiler mountings like the chimney. No 3454 was not renumbered by the LMSR, but became British Railways No 43454 in June 1948. It was withdrawn from Bedford shed in February 1955 and then scrapped at Derby.

John Dews

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