Sutton Park Signal Box.

A charming photo of the signalbox at Sutton Park Station, taken around 1969, just before closure. The new Saltley PSB was about to be commissioned, with control of the Sutton Park line to eventually be shared with Walsall PSB, with the loss of the lines Midland Railway signalboxes. We can perhaps assume that the gentleman deep in thought as he enjoys his pipe is the signalman, no doubt pondering future developments.

Pumpkin Pie

37194+37261 streak across Branton Hill this evening with this weeks flask working. Dreadful as the shot is, it just couldn't have been done with a film camera, considering that it was practically dark !

Shed site

In this scene taken earlier this afternoon, a Class 66 is coming off the Sutton Park line at Ryecroft Jn with a short and colourful engineers train for Crewe (6K50). The lines curving in from the right are the Cannock lines and the viewpoint is from the bank at the rear of where the old steam shed used to stand.

Filming the Photters

GBRf loco 66715 VALOUR, pictured on a filming run across the Sutton Park line. The loco ran from Soho EMU depot near Birmingham to Park Lane Jn (near Water Orton) and back, so whether this indicates a new freight flow for GBRf we'll have to wait and see...

Streetly three

Here comes 56302, 66607+66551 and 60055 one after each other on the down Sutton Park on Friday. Only for 56302 was there any sunlight around....

Bonus going-away shot !

... of todays "bomb" number 26.

On the run

Today's flask (number 26) is hauled past Branton Hill quarry this afternoon by 20310 + 37688, and 15 minutes later I captured it again, this time at Mill Lane, Ryecroft. What happened to the sunny morning ? !

Blue sky beast

37219 brings a pick-up freight (9T37) past the long-abandoned wagon at the Sutton Park crossover this afternoon.
Oh alright then, it was really a re-enactment of a freight train scenario from the 1960s/70s and was about to arrive at Brownhills West yard on the Chasewater Light Railway !
A nicely restored loco...

Gridslip

56302 as seen from the Bosty Lane bridge, passing the repaired landslip site near Aldridge with the Grain liner today.
The embankment was just as overgrown as the one on the opposite side, until the heavy rains in June caused trees and clay-bound earth to fall trackwards (see June 15th post).

The right stuff

DRS 37s numbers 688+510 drop down through Rushall this afternoon with flask no. 17 for Crewe, and ultimately Sellafield (formerly known as Windscale !).

Looking East

... and into the sun, as 37417 returns with the empties from the infamous Birch Coppice terminal, seen here passing Wylde Green.

Birch Beast

37417 powers up through Daw End this morning on the Birch Coppice trip.

Sutton Park Parcels

25259 at the head of Trip 74 (Bescot to Washwood Heath) sets back into the GPO depot at Sutton Park via the down loop, in order to detach a parcels van, 3rd November 1975. The mail centre lost it's rail connection in the early 1990s but still exists as a Royal Mail sorting depot.
Note the fairly intact old station platforms, of which one (the island platform on the right) still exists.

Photo copyright M.Mensing.

Up The Junction '78

Almost 30 years ago if you were out with your camera at Ryecroft Junction here's the variety of traffic that could've been seen. These were all taken on the 27th February 1978 and are:-

1) 45060 Sherwood Forseter coming off the South Staffs line

2) 37168 powering away from Walsall

3) 25151 heading towards the Sutton Park line

4) 47165 on 0E46 heading out of Walsall

Photo's taken by D Jennings

You Know My Name, Look Up The Number

56302 Wilson Walshe on 4O90 plus 20311 Class 20 Fifty and 37688 Kingmoor T.M.D. on 6M53 work their way through Streetly Gate today. All three locos have recently been named.

The Whistle Blower

Whistle While You Work

40145 East Lancashire Railway and 55022 Royal Scots Grey pass Streetly Gate working 0Z40 17:10 Tyseley to Castleton heading back to their base at the East Lancashire Railway.

Needle and Pin

A pair of Harry Needle Railroad Co. "Choppers", numbers 20096+905, run through Aldridge in June 2006, en route Bescot to collect 37667.

Round the bend

56303 negotiates the curves at Streetly Woods today.

Bombs in the Wood

37602+37510 growl their way through Streetly Hardwick Wood this afternoon with the return Crewe flask.

Lafarge Express

Here's a train formed from the Lafarge stone hoppers and discharge machines at Ryecroft on Saturday. The train was running from Mountsorrel to Bescot behind loco 66150 where a second loco was attached at the rear and the formation left for weekend engineering work at Bentley Heath (Dorridge) via Coventry and Leamington.