Lightmoor Press BR25vol2 British Railways First 25 Years Vol 2 The West Midlands

The second in a series of books depicting the first twenty-five years of British Railways which will eventually cover the whole of Great Britain.
This volume looks at the West Midlands, starting at Rugby and following the two main ex-L&NWR routes as far as Stafford on the West Coast main line, and to Coventry, Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton. The former Midland Railway lines from Burton to Bromsgrove via Birmingham and the Camp Hill line are covered in some depth. There are extensive chapters on New Street station and the GWR’s Snow Hill station, together with their associated suburban routes.
The less photographed lines in the Black Country, operated by both the London Midland and Western regions, were full of industrial interest and contrast with one of the steam era’s favourite locations, the Lickey Incline. The picture selection ranges from ‘Coronations’, ‘Princesses’ and ‘Royal Scots’ on the West Coast main line and ‘Kings’ and ‘Castles’ on the Western Region expresses, to the humble freight engines trudging through the industrial areas. There are early diesel prototypes on the LMR, the newly introduced DMUs on the suburban lines, the glamorous ‘Blue Pullman’, gleaming new ‘Western’ hydraulics and the short lived ‘Lion’ prototype. More mundane diesel classes that worked the area after dieselisation are of course covered, as they took over from the ailing steam classes. There are several special features, including the 1960s rebuilding of New Street station and the journey of No. 46235 City of Birmingham through the city streets to the old Science Museum.
There is a good mix of action and depot pictures, along with plenty of unusual and ‘quirky’ shots, all described in comprehensive captions.

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

£25.00

MRP £25.00

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Contents
Introduction and acknowledgements 7

1 West Coast main line - Rugby to Stafford 8
Rugby 11
Brinklow 19
Nuneaton 25
Atherstone 30
Polesworth 31
Baddesley Colliery 31
Tamworth Low Level 32
Lichfield Trent Valley 34
Rugeley Trent Valley 42
Stafford 44

2 Rugby to Coventry and Birmingham 51
Foleshill 51
Coventry 53
Colliery engines 56
Stechford 57
Aston 59
Aston shed 60

3 Burton to Birmingham 61
Tamworth High Level 64
Whitacre, Water Orton and Hams Hall 66
Water Orton 66
Hams Hall 69
Castle Bromwich 70
Bromford Bridge and Fort Dunlop 72
Washwood Heath and Saltley 76
Saltley 78
Saltley shed 80
Landor Street Junction 83
St. Andrews Junction 85

4 Birmingham New Street 87
The 1950s 88
Prototype diesels 95
The 1960s 96
Diesel interlude 97
Demolition 99
After the rebuilding 102

5 City of Birmingham through the streets 104

6 London Midland Region in the north Birmingham suburbs 106
Birmingham New Street to Lichfield 106
Gravelly Hill 106
Erdington 107
Chester Road 108
Sutton Coldfield 109
Four Oaks 110
Shenstone 112
Lichfield 113
The Sutton Park line (Castle Bromwich to Walsall) 115
Sutton Park 115
Streetly 117
Aldridge 118

7 Leamington to Birmingham 119
Leamington 119
Hatton 125
Lapworth 128
Knowle & Dorridge 129
Bentley Heath 130
Olton and Solihull 131
Acocks Green and South Yardley 134
Tyseley 134
Tyseley shed 135
Small Heath & Sparkbrook 138

8 The North Warwickshire line (Birmingham Moor Street-Stratford) 139
Moor Street 139
Hall Green 143
Shirley 144
Earlswood Lakes 145
Wood End 145
Danzey 146
Henley-in-Arden 147
Wilmcote 147
Stratford-upon-Avon 148

9 Birmingham Snow Hill 153
Early 1950s 154
GWR railcars 156
Interlopers from the London Midland Region 157
Western 1950s and 1960s 158
London Midland takeover 164
The 'Birmingham Pullman' 166
Diesels 167
Railtour Specials 169
Decline and fall 170

10 Birmingham to Wolverhampton and the Black Country - Western Region 171
Hockley 172
Soho & Winson Green 174
The Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company 174
Handsworth & Smethwick West 175
West Bromwich and The Hawthorns 177
Wednesbury 179
Dudley 187
Bilston 188
Wolverhampton Low Level 189
Oxley 191
Stafford Road shed 194
Stafford Road Works 199
Windmill End 202
Brierley Hill 204
Brettell Lane 204
Old Hill 204
Lye 205
Hagley and Stourbridge 206

11 Birmingham to Wolverhampton - London Midland Region 210
Soho Loop 210
Perry Barr 211
Witton 212
Monument Lane shed 213
Bescot 215
Walsall 218
Wednesbury Town 219
Dudley Port 220
Dudley 221
Wolverhampton High Level 222
Bushbury 223

12 South West of Birmingham 224
Harborne 224
Selly Oak 225
Bournville 225
King's Norton 226
Northfield 227
Longbridge and the Halesowen Branch 228
Barnt Green 230
Redditch 230
The Lickey Incline 231

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