LMS Route: Evesham to Birmingham

Redditch Station: mrred419

A 1952 view of Redditch engine shed, its enginemen's hut, the inspection pit and the water crane. The water crane could be swung out over the track so that the 'bag' could easily be dropped into the manhole at the rear of a tender locomotive. The one road shed had a new roof installed in 1938 which, as Bob Essery states, 'gives it a modern experience'. The lamppost on the left was strategically placed to light the area for night working although the benefit from a single bulb would have only been minimal. The pit on the right served two purposes; it would be used as an inspection pit to allow enginemen to get under the locomotive in order to oil and grease bearings etc; and it would also serve as a disposal pit allowing the fireman to climb beneath the locomotive in order to rake out the firebox using very long handled tools, some of which can be seen lying on the ground to the right of the pit.

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