LMS Route: Birmingham New Street to Nuneaton
LMS Route: Birmingham New Street to Tamworth

Lawley Street Goods Depot: mrls306

An internal view of Lawley Street Warehouse showing the transfer of goods between road and rail vehicles. The most effective way of transferring goods between road and rail or vice versa is demonstrated above. Within the warehouse would be a number of platforms/decks with the platform on the outer wall being accessed by rail on its inside face and by road on its outside face. Goods would be unloaded from a wagon or road dray and then moved to the appropriate vehicle to be forwarded onto the customer. The movement of complete loads was much easier as both the rail wagon and drays could be sited opposite each other. Part loads arriving or departing by rail often meant that the part load needed to be stacked on the platform before being moved elsewhere on the deck or, if departing by rail, even to another deck. In the above photograph the light coloured column in the centre has the legend LNWR and GWR transfer. This was the point where incoming part loads for either railway would be stored before they would be transported by road to Hockley or Curzon Street goods depots.

(DY 19299) This interior view shows how both road and rail vehicles could be loaded or unloaded across the decks, a process described in the two articles *Introduction to Goods Stations’ featured in MR Nos. 4 & 7. Note the ‘GW & LNW’ transfer on the column closest to the camera. This referred to traffic which had arrived at Lawley Street consigned to destinations served by either the GWR or LNWR. Much of this transfer traffic was taken by road to the LNWR depot of Curzon Street or the GWR depot at Hockley which is featured in Great Western Railway Journal Nos. 15-10 where reference to this ‘transfer by road’ is made. BRITISH RAILWAYS (DY 12755)

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