LMS Route: Nuneaton to Birmingham New Street

LMS Route: Birmingham New Street to Tamworth

Saltley Shed: mrsalt1957

Ex MR 0-6-0 No 43242 together with eight sister locomotives, standing on what had been the Saltley coal roads alongside the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal. Originally an SW Johnson design built by Neilson & Company in 1890, as MR No 3242 it was rebuilt in 1916 by H Fowler with a G7 boiler into the 3F 0-6-0 class. No 43242 was in service until August 1962. It had been a Saltley loco since early 1959. Until mid-1962, these locomotives were employed on banking from Washwood Heath up the Camp Hill line. They were ideal for the purpose, being sturdy and simple, quick to warm up, and very suitable for the intermittent heavy pushing they were called to perform throughout a working shift. The superheated train locos started out cold from Washwood Heath and depended on a solid push from the bankers. The 3Fs were arbitrarily withdrawn as a group in mid-1962. Ex-LMS 0-6-0 4Fs were used to replace them, and were wasted on the job.

Trevor Bennett

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