LMS Route: Birmingham New Street to Tamworth

Wilnecote Station: mrw440

Looking north towards Tamworth as ex-LMS 5XP 4-6-0 No 45696 'Arethusa' thunders under the A5 road bridge with a down express on the 10th August 1949. Apart from providing a good overall view of the station buildings, the small street level booking office can be seen at the top of the steps on the right hand edge of the photograph (see also images 'mrw1285' and 'mrw440c'). Less than two years after nationalisation little has changed here, for example the LMSR ‘hawkeye’ design station name boards are still painted in the company’s colour scheme of black lettering on a reflective yellow background. The photograph also shows the Watling Street bridge as originally built by the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway in the late 1830s, the bridge being almost three years older than the station.

The appearance of this fine structure, executed in robustley modelled sandstone, was later spoiled by a scheme to widen the road with utilitarian concrete and brick additions to both sides as shown in 'mrw439'. This photograph includes a rare glimpse of Wilnecote signal box, the roof of which can just be seen above the leading carriages of the train. The box closed not long after this photograph was taken in November 1951 leaving Perrin and Harrison’s Sidings signal box, half a mile to the north (see 'mrw446' and 'mrw1107') as the block post controlling train movements through Wilnecote until its closure in 1969 when mechanical signalling was replaced by multiple aspect colour light signalling controlled from Saltley.

Toby Clempson

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