LMS Route: Birmingham New Street to Tamworth

LMS Route: Nuneaton to Birmingham New Street

Washwood Heath Sidings: mrwhg345f

This close up of image 'mrwhg345' shows what appears to be new wagons, a four plank and seven plank open and a cattle truck, the colouring of their bodies and the white lettering would support this theory. Behind the wagons are the roads to the open sided building seen in image 'mrwhg345c' with a standard MR water column, lampposts and telegraph/telephone poles.

Another unidentified MR 0-6-0 stands at the back of the sidings. Note the locomotive number is on the cabside, Bob Essery and Derek Jenkinson in their book "Midland Locomotives Vol One," page 100, state the location for the number was moved to the tender side in 1906. Apparently the change from brass cabside to tender transfers was made in connection with the Midland's new traffic reporting system.

Kevin Allsop was kind enough to write with the following information. "The Midland had experimented with a train control system for goods trains in 1907 and from 1909 onwards brake vans were fitted with tablet racks to carry their train code. Basically the system was composed of three groups of letters. The first signifying the trains departure time was based on a clock face whose numbers from 1-12 were lettered from A - M respectively (likewise with the divisions 5mins to 55mins).

Afternoon departures were suffixed with the letter P, thus a train leaving at 5.40 a.m. would have the code EH and one leaving at 2.30 p.m. would have BFP. The second and third groups were arranged below the first and showed the originating and destination stations of the train usually made up of the first and last letters of the name e.g. Kettering to Nottingham would have KG NM."

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