GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill Station: gwrbsh1765

Great Western Railway 39xx class 2-6-2T No 3904 with a class E express freight train on the down centre road at the north end of Snow Hill station in 1929. In the background is Birmingham's Catholic Cathedral. No 3904 was built as Dean Goods 0-6-0 tender locomotive No 2504 in October 1896 and converted to a tender locomotive in May 1907. At this time there was a demand for more powerful suburban locomotives especially in Birmingham where the North Warwickshire Line was soon to open. With the Swindon Works machine shops operating at full capacity, these rebuilds used all the principle parts of twenty surplus Dean Goods locomotives on new frames with a Churchward standard No 5 boiler and two 750 gallon side tanks to produce these unusual looking prairie tank conversions. The locomotive had inside cylinders and the large unsightly hole in the side tank gave access to the motion for oiling. The boiler operated at a pressure of 200 lbs producing a tractive effort at 85% of 20,155 lb and these locomotives were classified in power group B. The maximum axle weight was 17 tons 4 cwt restricting the locomotives to main lines and some branch lines (colour code – Blue). All the conversions were built without superheaters, but No 3904 had one fitted in August 1914. Other modifications included; fitting top-feed apparatus, enlarging the rear bunker to increase coal capacity (around 1920) and fitting of Automatic Train Control (ATC) around 1931.

These locomotives were designed for the Birmingham suburban traffic and No 3904 was known to have been allocated to Tyseley shed (TYS) in both January 1921 and May 1922. By 1929 most had been displaced by the new 2-6-2T locomotives and No 3904 was withdrawn from Neath shed (NEA) in south Wales in October 1933. The other locomotive in the photograph is Great Western Railway ‘Flower’ class 4-4-0 No 4149 ‘Auricula’. This locomotive was built as No 4101 at Swindon Works in May 1908, as the first locomotive in lot 176. There were twenty locomotives in the flower class and they were said to be the favourites of George Churchward, the Chief Mechanical Engineer, who was a keen horticulturist. The numbers were changed in December 1912 as part of the general renumbering scheme designed to group locomotives of a similar power together. No 4149 carried a three quarters coned (type D3) Standard No 2 boiler with a Belpaire firebox. The locomotive was fitted with superheating in April 1911 and top-feed apparatus in the same year. The boiler operated at 195 lbs to give a tractive effort, at 85%, of 17,345 lbs and the locomotive was classified in power group A. The deep frames resulted in a heavy locomotive with a maximum axle weight was 18 tons, so it was restricted to main lines and a few branch lines (Colour code – Red). These locomotives were initially allocated to south Wales sheds to operate fast passenger services on Cross Country routes, such as Fishguard to Cardiff and Cardiff to Salisbury. Later they were used on short semi fast services including; Birmingham to Leamington, Oxford, Cardiff or Swansea. In January 1921, No 4149 was known to have been allocated to Goodwick shed (FGD) at Fishguard, while in May 1922 was allocated to Cardiff shed (CDF). In 1929, No 4149 was withdrawn from Leamington shed (LMTN).

Robert Ferris

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