Blue Streak

Great shots of 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley seen streaking round the curves heading towards Streetly and Sutton Park, with the charter tour from Kidderminster to Lincoln. Saturday 14th March 2009.

Photo's by Nick Broome.

Streaking Across The Park

60007 Sir Nigel Gresley passes The Lime Pits, Rushall working The Railway Touring Company's 'The Severn Valley Limited'. The A4 was working the first leg of the tour between Kidderminster (SVR) and Lincoln.

Old ways...

A relic from the LNWR, "Super-D" engine number 48930 is seen at Aldridge station in the mid-1950s. This loco was later utilised on an SLS tour of the West Midlands in June 1962.

A nice example of the old-style station lamp is on show, and also the diagonal slat fencing which was used by the Midland Railway, and can still be found in the undergrowth here, and at other closed station sites along the line such as Streetly, Sutton Park and Penns (the enclosed fencing shot was taken at the driveway to the former Sutton Park station recently).

Diesel Days

While most steam enthusiasts would not have wasted precious film on the new breed of BR diesel engines that began to appear in the early 1960s, Pete Newell had no such qualms and was keen to record the new classes.

Here we have two images of Class 40s passing Aldridge on Trent Valley diversions, due to electrification work taking place between Nuneaton and Stafford over the misty weekend of 10-11 November 1962.

D341 (later 40141) is seen passing the station with a down Euston - Carlisle express. The upside platform water tank can be seen in this shot and also the entrance path to the station and the ticket collectors hut on the downside (right) of the picture.

On the up line is D289 (40089) with another diversion, a Crewe - Euston express.

Photo's copyright PP Newell

Rebecca

Colas Rail's 47727 "Rebecca" on one of her runs across Sutton Park, Thursday 19th February 2009.

97303 Looking bright...

The classic shape of a Class 37 graces Pleck Junction, in this case the Network Rail yellow 97303 looking nice in the remnants of the recent snow.

The final cut

...and this is the last steam-hauled passenger train to pass over the Sutton Park line prior to the 1968 nationwide end of steam.

Black 5 number 44944 bursts under the Anchor Road bridge at Aldridge station with a Locomotive Club of Great Britain special excursion (1Z09) from Euston to Chester on the 26th February 1967. The engine was allocated to Oxley shed at that time. Oxley closed officially along with Saltley Steam Depot in March 1967, though the occasional remaining steam engine was coaled and watered there until August of that year.

Photo copyright PP Newell.

Dazzling 37s...

Network Rails very brightly painted former Class 37s passing over Pleck Junction on the 11th February. These machines have been a regular sight in the area over the last few weeks on their driver training trips.

Snow and Steam

These excellent unpublished wintry shots were taken at Aldridge Station on 12th February 1966 by Pete Newell. The station had been closed for a year by this date but the platforms and some buildings were intact (note the width of the platforms !)

At 1045 a.m. 2-6-0 loco number 43002 arrived at the up platform with "The Midlander", a steam excursion organised by the Warwickshire Railway Society. The loco is then seen under Anchor Road bridge taking on water, the upside platform water tank being level with the engine tender at rear.

This was one of the last steam trains to call at Aldridge, and one of the last steam-hauled passenger trains to run over the Sutton Park line during BR days. A month after this photo was taken Bescot Steam Depot closed down, with Saltley following suit a year later on 5th March 1967...

A big thanks to Pete for these photo's.
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End of the Road

At 1003 on the morning of midsummers day 1966 (21st June) BR 9F number 92212 was seen hauling withdrawn 8F "Consul" class number 48109 past Aldridge on her final journey to the scrapyard at Cashmores, Great Bridge.

In the background of this shot (taken from Dumblederry Lane bridge) can just be made out the Aldridge signalbox, station and Anchor Road bridge.

To the left of the main lines is an overgrown shunt neck from the small goods yard near the station containing some bogie flats, and another track next to the main lines appears to have been lifted.

Photo copyright PP Newell.

For a comparison view of this now tree-lined location see the Black 5 video in the video bar on the right hand side of this page.
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Having a breather...

In this shot taken on the 9th May 1959, a double-headed Wolverhampton to Washwood Heath freight composed of mainly 16 ton mineral wagons (coal) pauses at Aldridge outside the shunters cabin at the up home peg. The loco numbers are 43985 + 48647.

Photo copyright PP Newell.

...from Dudley Zoo

Dusk falls over Aldridge on the evening of 6th August 1959 as 2-6-0 "Crab" loco number 42846 races past the junction for Walsall Wood with a returning excursion from Dudley Zoo to Leicester.

The large building on the extreme right of the picture is the Midland Railway goods shed. Dumblederry Lane bridge can be seen to the rear of the train at the left.

An excellent capture from the lens of rail photographer Pete Newell.

Aldridge Junction Box

A great view of Aldridge Junction signal box taken from the upside platform of the station in the early 1900s. The 'box was closed in May 1969 and demolished in July of the same year. Note that this platform was longer than it's downside counterpart.

A second Midland Railway locomotive can be seen coming off the Walsall Wood branch on the right of the picture, and the backs of houses along Station Road can be made out at left.

Daw End Departmental

More shots of the "new" Network Rail Class 97's, here seen passing through Daw End (Rushall) on Thursday 12th February.

This time it was 97302 + 97304 having a day out in the freezing weather.
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Snow

Now here's some great shots from Nick, who wandered down to the Hardwick Wood in order to photograph the cement and ended up seeing a quadruple-header on 6D44 engineers service from Bescot to Toton. Even better was that one of the loco's turned out to be the light blue 60074 " Teenage Spirit"...... all I ever see on this train seems to be boring "sheds" !

The Class 60 was on her way into storage, and the remaining 18 or so members of this once 100-strong class will soon be following suit (thanks DBS) so get 'em while you can !

Also some more snow shots enclosed from the last two weeks.

Photo's copyright Nick Broome.

Fog working...

It was a touch foggy in Sutton Park on 7th January when 66066 passed with 6G21 running from Stud Farm to Bescot stone quarry.

Freights passing

Seen kicking up the snow at Streetly on the 5th February was 66162 heading Bescot-wards with 7G24 from Washwood Heath CMX concrete sleeper depot just moments after Cotswold Rail's 47810 "Captain Sensible" headed east on the up with a train of empty freightliner flats running from Crewe to Long Marston. This train carried the nameboard "Gloucester Globetrotters". Not often you see a named freight these days (bring back the "Condor" etc etc...).

Outlook bright...

Ex-Class 37 now Network Rail Departmental Class 97 97304 rolls through Ryecroft and Aldridge on a training run today. No sun required when photting this engine....

323 In the snow....

323201 passes Pleck Junction heading for Walsall while working the 2A25 1220 Wolves to Walsall via New Street early in the afternoon of 5 January. It is hard to believe the 323s are 16 years old now.

37s on test

A Serco track recording train seen on the 5th January 2009, with 37259 leading and 37605 at the rear.

Photo one shows the train passing a snow-less Burton (Nick Broome). The second shot sees the set heading away from Aldridge towards Walsall. The final two shots were taken at Streetly Gate by the Flying Ferret.

The train was recording throughout North Wales up to Machynlleth, and returned to Derby a couple of days later.

Watling Street Station

Some shots from the former Brownhills Watling Street station site.

Photo 1. Looking across the Chester Road along the trackbed towards Walsall Wood.

Photo 2. Old wooden sleeper used as steps ?

Photo 3. Looking north along the trackbed towards Watling Street and Chasewater. Part of the old trackbed about half a mile further on forms the now preserved Chasewater Light Railway line.

Photo's 4 and 5 show the retaining wall alongside the former station. The station and trackbed were significantly higher than the surrounding Brownhills Common and had to be shored up with this brick wall. To see a photo of the station and more shots of this wall from below please refer to the "Rail Around Birmingham" website.

Chester Road bridge

The Aldridge-Brownhills branch crossed the Chester Road at Brownhills via this bridge (no.26), again only one abutment remains (on the north side). The station here was known as Brownhills Watling Street (Watling St. itself is a few hundred yards away).
The bridge wall doesn't seem very high here, so I would guess the top part has been removed, or the height of the road level increased.
The first shot shows what was probably the entrance to the former station, now gated.

Bridge remains

Towards the northern end of the Aldridge-Walsall Wood-Brownhills branch the line passed over yet another road named Coppice Lane, this one just off the Chester Road at Brownhills. For some reason only one bridge abutment remains, and it's surprising how high it seemed after having clambered up to the top...