Boscomoor Sidings and the Littleton Colliery branch, Staffordshire

[hmrspaul]

Hi PGH,

Many thanks indeed for posting these wonderful photos - they really are incredibly atmospheric and evocative.

Such a tragic shame this industry was lost.

I've never seen these GEC locos before, they are real brutes (lovely!).

Cheers,

John E.

 

There are several more of the GEC locos in my collection, such as http://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/littletoncollieryplace/e11b0f1dc

 

Paul Bartlett

[coachmann]

Lots of very useful detail in those excellent shots PGH, showing the industrial lines were rather different from BR metals.

[mikeh]

Just remembered about this thread having been tied up with less interesting things of late.

 

Many thanks for posting the wonderful Littleton shots PGH and for giving me a better timescale for the Rowntrees warehouse.

 

I had a couple unofficial of cab rides on the GECs and they were absolutely hellfire engines. If Mr Edge does one of those I may have to learn how to solder!

 

I also managed a brajkevan ride behind the YE No.6 on an organised visit.

 

Some of my pics

 

 

No.6 at the pit head 9th july 1987

 

 

 

Western King outside the shed 9th July 1987

 

 

 

Western Progress at Otherton 9th August 1988

 

 

 

Western Queen at Otherton 9th July 1987

 

 

Regards

Mike

[Andy Y]

A bit of an appeal if I may on behalf of another party. Does anyone have photos of the exchange sidings at Penkridge they can share? How many hundreds of times have I crossed the bridge on Bungham Lane and never taken a photo?

[crusader]

I am preparing an article on the history of this colliery railway for the Industrial Railway Society's journal (IR Record). I would like to use some of the excellent photos included in this site by Mike Hollick and PGH, with their agreement. Could either of these persons please contact me off line.

My e-mail address is bob@yatehome.plus.com

[LNERGE]

A bit of an appeal if I may on behalf of another party. Does anyone have photos of the exchange sidings at Penkridge they can share? How many hundreds of times have I crossed the bridge on Bungham Lane and never taken a photo?

I have some shots taken from the steps of Littleton Colliery Sidings box somewhere. There may be one or two of the inside also.

[LNERGE]

Something seems to have happened to this photo but the detail can still be read..

 

 

I'll scan the others a bit later.

Edited March 7, 2014 by LNERGE

[LNERGE]

Not very good i'm afraid but they may be of use.

 

[Gordon A]

What does "S.F." stand for please?

 

Gordon A

Bristol

[TheSignalEngineer]

What does "S.F." stand for please?

 

Gordon A

Bristol

Shunting Frame. It was usually applied to signal boxes that were reduced in status when power boxes took over. Littletons Colliery was reduced from a Block Post to a Shunting Frame when Wolverhampton Power Signal Box was commissioned. Wolverhampton controlled the main line and released the frame at Littletons so that the sidings could be accessed. This enabled shunting to take place under local control without the Wolverhampton signalman getting involved. He only came into play when trains went to or from the main line.

[Devonbelle]

Amazing thread and I have only just found it.

 

This year is 25 years since Littleton Colliery closed. I went on the last day (3-12-93?), I spoke to the surface superintendent, saying I was the Ops Manager of the Avon Valley Railway which had Littleton No.5 (which was our only working steamer at the time; i was then humbled they summoned Western Enterprise and I had a cab ride around the entire system and down to Penkridge. Very sad but at the same time enjoyable. Drive Ray Rushton had me in tears of laughter with stories of Littleton No.5 working in the 60s and 70s. 

 

My pictures attached. 

 

Paul 

[Gordon A]

Devonbelle,

 

If by Littleton No 5 you mean the Manning Wardle 0-6-0 she is at Bitton on the Avon Valley Railway awaiting restoration.

 

Gordon A

[Devonbelle]

Devonbelle,

 

If by Littleton No 5 you mean the Manning Wardle 0-6-0 she is at Bitton on the Avon Valley Railway awaiting restoration.

 

Gordon A

I do indeed mean the 0-6-0 Gordon. It last ran at Bitton in June 1994; double heading with the Hunslet Saddle tank Darfield. Val Baldwin (RIP) was firing. J Miles was driving.

 

Littleton No.5 was a noisy locomotive, some old boy once said to me at Bitton when I was the Guard, and Littleton No.5 was working, it sounded like a King Arthur class loco.

 

Paul S

[avonside1563]

I remember Ray Rushton, he and Tony Maskant (Spelling?) were our guides when we took 'Wimblebury' and 'Whiston' to Littleton for a charter just before they announced the closure of the colliery. Tony had the nickname 'No Steam Tone' as he claimed he much preferred the diesels, however he seemed more than happy to be back in charge of an austerity. The colliery guys said they much preferred the 16" Hunslets to any of the other locos as they were steamed well and rode better even though they weren't as strong as the 18" locos and the Mannings. The highlight was definitely Ray and Tony each driving one of the austerities racing each other along the exchange sidings at Penkridge towards the single line, one of the locos propelling a brakevan full of, increasingly concerned looking, photographers as the neck of the yard got ever closer!

[PeterD58]

I’ve been doing a bit of research on the railways of Penkridge and wondered if the article mentioned in the IRS journal was published?  I’m trying to find out when the Rowntree warehouse was opened. At the moment I’m looking through OS maps.

 

The route is now a partial walking route.

[jim.allwood]

The articles were in Issues 222 and 223 (September and December 2015 respectively.  I lived in Penkridge from 1990 to 1994 and didn't take anything like enough photos whilst the exchange sidings and branch were still open!  I am now aiming to build the former in 2mm finescale in the last years of operation.

 

Jim

[wagonbasher]

On ‎30‎/‎01‎/‎2020 at 13:41, PeterD58 said:

I’ve been doing a bit of research on the railways of Penkridge and wondered if the article mentioned in the IRS journal was published?  I’m trying to find out when the Rowntree warehouse was opened. At the moment I’m looking through OS maps.

 

The route is now a partial walking route.

This is a link to OS maps (National Library of Scotland, I know...  I don't get it).

 

This is circa 1922

 

There are no newer maps of this location on this site.  You can see the layout of the exchange sidings at Penkridge (adjacent to the mainline) the sidings at the canal wharf and on the adjacent map (Huntingdon) you can see the colliery layout...   On this map there is a later version circa 1938

https://maps.nls.uk/view/102347354

 

Andy

[tractionman]

I find the best way to see if NLS have a particular 6" map edition is to use the 'Find by Place' function (just pop in the place-name), ie for 6" scale

 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=13&lat=52.7154&lon=-2.1633&layers=102&b=1&z=1&point=52.7167,-2.1313

 

and for 25":

 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=14&lat=52.7083&lon=-2.1453&layers=101&b=1&z=1&point=52.7094,-2.1441

 

the available (digitised) sheets come up on the right-hand side as a list depending which sheet-index square is clicked on.

 

all the best,

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

[rubber duck]

Hi

 I wonder if anyone out there could shed any light on the working of this junction, it appears that empties were propelled of the main lines, did they come from both directions,  did full trains leave in both directions?

were the roads opposite the SF long enough for full trains or did they have to be split?

any help much appreciated...

Regards Pete.

[Mark Forrest]

2 hours ago, rubber duck said:

Hi

 I wonder if anyone out there could shed any light on the working of this junction, it appears that empties were propelled of the main lines, did they come from both directions,  did full trains leave in both directions?

were the roads opposite the SF long enough for full trains or did they have to be split?

any help much appreciated...

Regards Pete.

Answers may depend on what era you are looking at.  When I lived in Penkridge in the '80s/90's, the empties would arrive from the Wolverhampton direction and set back into the loop the was the other side of the A449 adjacent to what was the Rowntrees warehouse.  Loaded wagons were then collected from the sidings opposite the shunt frame and departure was back towards Wolves. 

[rubber duck]

5 minutes ago, Mark Forrest said:

Answers may depend on what era you are looking at.  When I lived in Penkridge in the '80s/90's, the empties would arrive from the Wolverhampton direction and set back into the loop the was the other side of the A449 adjacent to what was the Rowntrees warehouse.  Loaded wagons were then collected from the sidings opposite the shunt frame and departure was back towards Wolves. 

Thanks very much for the reply.

i'm looking to model it in the late 70's so would this era be the same movements?

were the sidings opposite the SF long enough for a full rake or were they split requiring double shunting?  its hard to tell from the Box diagrams etc 

[Mark Forrest]

56 minutes ago, rubber duck said:

Thanks very much for the reply.

i'm looking to model it in the late 70's so would this era be the same movements?

were the sidings opposite the SF long enough for a full rake or were they split requiring double shunting?  its hard to tell from the Box diagrams etc 

I think they were split, I don't believe a full rake of HAAs would fit. If you have a look on the old OS maps on the National Library of Scotland website, you should be able to estimate the siding length.

[rubber duck]

2 minutes ago, Mark Forrest said:

I think they were split, I don't believe a full rake of HAAs would fit. If you have a look on the old OS maps on the National Library of Scotland website, you should be able to estimate the siding length.

Thanks Mark

that's very useful information,  appreciate that,  must have been entertaining shunting the half rakes between running the main line trains , should make a fun model!

Regards Pete.

[rubber duck]

just to slightly resurrect this thread,  I'm planning to do a site visit to the former exchange sidings just off the main line, i appreciate there wont be much trace now, but i'm hoping to photograph the road bridges etc....

could anyone provide a street name or landmark to head for 

Also what was the official name for the mainline junction ?

Regards Pete.

[Mark Forrest]

12 minutes ago, rubber duck said:

just to slightly resurrect this thread,  I'm planning to do a site visit to the former exchange sidings just off the main line, i appreciate there wont be much trace now, but i'm hoping to photograph the road bridges etc....

could anyone provide a street name or landmark to head for 

Also what was the official name for the mainline junction ?

Regards Pete.

This dropped pin should be the location of the bridge under Wolverhampton Road (A449), I'd park by the Co-Op and walk over from there.  Not sure how accessible it is these days

https://goo.gl/maps/BxcVAZ6LCN56HuLA7

 

This was the location of the sidings adjacent to the mainline, which were visible from Bungham Lane bridge and from a footpath which ran between the railway and the houses in Grange Crescent

https://goo.gl/maps/neSSbV2Y776xgYVw8

 

Couple of sources that I've looked at don't name the junction, just refer to the location as Littleton Colliery Sidings (and Littleton Colliery Shunt Frame)

https://railphotoprints.uk/p118298982/h23563D6A#h23563d6a