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LMS Route: Evesham to Birmingham

Kings Heath Station: mrkh733

A new Midland Railway Carriage & Wagon Company Ltd 8 ton 5 plank coal wagon destined for Kings Heath

A new Midland Railway Carriage & Wagon Company Ltd 8 ton 5 plank coal wagon destined for Kings Heath. Barrie Geens states that FW Russell, coal merchant, had a base at Kings Heath from 1910 to 1931, which means that the wagon seen above was purchased at the time the business was established as the photograph was taken in 1910. The livery is not known but it is thought it was white lettering on a black background.

Keith Turton writes: Frederick William Russell was the son of brassfounder Josepth, Frederick was, in 1901, the manager of a coal merchant before becoming self employed in the trade, based as Kings Heath, a station on the original Birmingham and Gloucester line of the Midland Railway, he was obviously in some competition with a number of similar merchants, the horse drawn delivery vehicles of which were lines no for individual photos taken collectively for some occasion in the first decade of 1910. One wonders why, if any of these merchants owned their own coal wagons, they were not also featured. That no delivery wagon of Russell's is included in the lineup is well and truly compensated for by this image of his wagon No 2, taken as it left the builders works and one of the very rare survivors of what must have been a substantial photo archive built up over many years'.

'Russell, in 1901, lived at 91 Institute Road, Kings Heath with wife Alice. He was then aged 30, born in Birmingham in 1871. In 1911 the family, now expanded by daughters Norah and Louisa, had moved to 54 Livingstone Road, Kings Heath where they had also been joined by father Joseph, aged 67 and presumably a widower. The wagon No 3 was built by the Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. and has five planks and side doors only. It is painted black with white letters. Note that there is no full stop after the W in the owners name. Measurements are suggested at 14'6" x 7'6" x 2'10"'.

'To complete the Kings Heath scene are images of delivery carts and possibly their owners from Frederick Sharp, W Baker and Son, Dixon and Baker and a more modern image of Andrew Harrison and Sons'.

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