Warwickshire Western Region Lines Part 2

Warwickshire Western Region Lines Part 2
The North Warwickshire Line and Branches

Andrew Britton

264 pages. 275x215mm. Printed on gloss art paper, casebound with printed board covers.

ISBN13 9781915069443

£35.00

The North Warwickshire Line, between Tyseley Junction and Bearley Junction, where it joined the line from Hatton to Stratford-upon-Avon, was opened for traffic in 1908. At Stratford, it joined the newly doubled ‘branch’ from Honeybourne, the doubling having been carried out in conjunction with the GWR’s other new main line between Cheltenham and Honeybourne. As such, this new route from Cheltenham to Birmingham was to be the last main line opened in Britain, up until the completion of the first section of High Speed 1 in 2003. It gave the GWR a fast competing route to the Midland’s main line between Cheltenham and Birmingham, via the Lickey Incline, always something of a bottleneck in steam days with many ascending trains needing banking assistance. However, the GWR North Warwickshire Line also required the use of banking and pilot engines between Stratford and Wilmcote, and often on to the summit of the route at Earlswood Lakes.British Railways closed the route south of Stratford in 1976, following an accident which damaged the track at Winchcombe, but the line had been run down for many years prior to that. South of Stratford the track was eventually ripped up, although a two-mile stub remains at Honeybourne serving the old MoD depot at Long Marston, which is now a Rail Innovation Centre. North of Stratford, however, has fared much better, the only loss since GWR days being that of the Alcester Branch, the last section of which was closed in 1951. Bearley Junction to Hatton has been singled but remains in use, whilst the North Warwickshire Line, of which Stratford is the terminus, survived run down and two closure attempts, but is now thriving. Moor Street, the new station opened by the GWR in 1908 to serve the line, has also risen like a phoenix after being closed in 1987, with its original GWR buildings now beautifully restored to use. Although largely a commuter route today, the North Warwickshire has been given something of a heritage makeover and many of the stations retain their GWR architecture. However, within these pages, author Andrew Britton takes us back to a time when they were still in all their glory, during the the final decade of WR steam – when heavy freight trains, summer Saturday holiday expresses and local ‘stoppers’ all intermingled – and into the early years of dieselisation, with DMUs taking over many North Warwickshire Line services from the late 1950s. All set against a backdrop of the land of William Shakespeare, amidst what was still then wonderfully unspoilt Middle England countryside and all in glorious colour!

Warwickshire Western Region Lines Part 2 - Sample Images

An undated overall view of the shed site, probably taken in the summer of 1962, prior to its official closure in the September, with a steel mineral wagon loaded with coal beneath the canopy of the coaling stage on the right. The picture was taken from the end of the Up platform, with the Stratford-upon-Avon gas works building dominating the background; the works closed around the date of this photograph. There was no direct access to and from the shed, so pilot engines coming off to assist Up trains had to reverse to the end of the shed road headshunt, run forward to the carriage siding which ran beside the Down Goods Loop and then reverse towards the dock, on the right. They would then run forwards over the diamond crossing of the goods line (far left of the picture) and across the Down Main to reach the Up line. Note the black and white striped phone box on the telegraph pole, where locomen rang 'off shed' to the signalman to gain the signal. Tony Ross/Kidderminster Railway Museum

Our second sighting of Tyseley’s GWR-built 'Modified Hall No. 6971 Athelhampton Hall (see also page 182), coasting through Shirley with a southbound express in 1959. A box van can be seen on the nearer of the two mileage sidings in the goods yard on the right. Mileage sidings were where full wagons were dealt with which were charged at mileage rates, that is distance travelled, although in later years market rates tended to be charged instead of mileage. In smaller yards certainly, these loaded wagons were generally dealt with outside, as opposed to part loads – consignments of less than a ton, which were referred to as 'goods smalls' or 'sundries' and as these required sorting on unloading, they were dealt with in goods sheds. Traffic could be inwards or outwards and handling was normally by railway staff although it could be done by the consignor or the consignee; coal was the most common traffic charged on a mileage basis and was unloaded by the merchant it was destined for. Note too the relatively recently erected enamelled 6-car sign on the left, marking the stopping point for the leading Driving Motor Car of a DMU 6-car set (two 3-car units). Dieselisation of the Birmingham suburban services had commenced in 1958. Michael Mensing