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The Midlands

A Railwayman's View - BR Midland Region by Peter Collins > The Midlands
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Images 1-7 of 7 displayed.

LPPC DSL BW 0478 There is a delicious irony here in this Sunday shot at Birmingham New Street station as a North East/South West train rests after arrival on an autumn afternoon 1974. What was a delightful, cavernous, dark and, perhaps, dingy Victorian station has been replaced with a soulless, morale-sapping, cavernous, dark and dingy brutalist structure from which has emerged Peak Class 45 number 45009 terminating the Sundays only 09.55 from Leeds. The brave, new, white-hot heat of the technological revolution represented by the station and the overhead electrical paraphernalia is rather marred by the large cloud of train-heating steam issuing from a leaking Mark One coach pipe connection. One assumes that the lone figure on the platform is waiting for a train. The final word on New Street is that its top floor has already outlived its usefulness and been converted into a massive food and retail area. Why run comfortable and popular, staffed, buffet and restaurant cars in trains when revenue can be generated by passengers spending money at stations purchasing carry-out refreshments? Keywords: Digital, Rights Managed, Stock
LPPC DSL BW 0479 It’s a dreary Sunday and the power is off in the Birmingham traffic area, so diesel drags are in action, usually to the delight of enthusiasts as, more often than not, the trains cover rare routes on their way to their destinations. This is probably a London Euston to Wolverhampton Inter City service which would have arrived at New Street station from the south with its AL6 Class 86 at the head, dropping its pantograph on arrival. In this case, the diesel pilot is a Brush Type 4 Class 47, powering the ensemble towards the tunnels that lead to Soho and Monument Lane.
LPPC DSL BW 1246 Plenty of detail visible here as a 5000hp Class 87 Bo-Bo electric (87010) heads north-west out of Birmingham New Street heading for the final stop of the train from Euston at Sandwell and Dudley before terminating at Wolverhampton. Keeping to the right, it is about to plunge into the gloom of the tunnel to Smethwick. If it kept to the left, it would turn south past Five Ways and so to the Lickey Incline, Cheltenham and Bristol. Keywords: Digital, ISO, John Stiles
LPPC DSL BW 1247 Facing a choice of three platform lines, a Brush Type 4 Class 47 diesel hauled ‘drag’ arrives out of the darkness of the tunnel to the north-west of Birmingham New Street with a diverted express that has come from either Wolverhampton or the WCML via Rugeley. Rarely is a clear view through the gloom of the tunnel available. At the other end, in pre-diesel days, would have been found Monument Lane MPD whilst the tracks curving steeply to the left lead to the Lifford Junctions, the Lickey Incline and ultimately the south west of England. Keywords: Digital, ISO, John Stiles
LPPC DSL BW 0886 The north end of Wolverhampton station – once High Level - witnesses the meeting of two AC electric powered services and in the foreground, having terminated from London, is Class 87 number 87017. This class was built, in 1973/4, specifically for WCML services after the inauguration of overhead electric wiring throughout London to Glasgow. With 5000hp they had the capacity to single head Inter City expresses that had previously required two Class 50 diesels. This loco was later named Iron Duke and eventually was sold to Bulgaria in 2009. Approaching is an AL6 Class 86 3300hp engine (86214) heading what is probably a through train from Manchester to the West Country or South Wales via Birmingham New Street. It is rounding the tight curve having travelled from Stafford. The route to the left ahead leads to Shrewsbury. Keywords: Digital, Rights Managed, Stock
LPPC DSL BW 0885 Wolverhampton Banana Yard in 1976. Locomotives were stabled in what was the old freight handling facility for perishable goods. Here are two Sulzer Type 2 Class 25s and a Brush Type 4 Class 47. The two 25s may be parked up ready for a summer dated through train to Shrewsbury/Welshpool/Aberystwyth. Meanwhile, an AL6 Class 86 is either arriving or is standing in the neck at the north end of station while the staff Fords, an Escort and an Anglia, await their next trip.
LPPC DSL BW 0391 You can hear and feel the slow clankety-clank tickover sound of a pair of BR Sulzer Type 2 Class 24, numbers 24083 and 24053 double-heading as they wait time at the northern end of Wolverhampton station on a damp autumnal morning soon after sunrise. Having been headed by Class 86 number 86012 from Euston on Saturday October 5th 1974 this is the annual Tallylyn Railway Preservation Society AGM special which was run every autumn from London to Towyn and return. The Type 2s have taken over from the Class 86 after a fast run from the capital and they will head to the Cambrian Coast via the little used Abbey Foregate curve behind the famous signalbox outside Shrewsbury station. Keywords: Digital, Rights Managed, Stock

Images 1-7 of 7 displayed.