GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Hockley Station: gwrhd2623

The balcony store area in Hockley's old Inwards (or Bottom) shed and warehouse in 1929. The warehouse had storage space for household names such as Quaker Oats, Hovis Bread and Pilkington Glass. On the right the ‘Revolator’ apparatus was used for stacking reels of paper. The reels of paper were imported in bulk from Canada and stored here for the Birmingham Post and Birmingham Mail newspapers. Daily deliveries were made each morning to the newspaper's printing works. It is likely that these reels of paper would have been imported through the Liverpool Port Group (which included the port of Birkenhead) before being brought to Hockley by rail. The 1933 Birmingham ABC Railway Rates Book quotes exceptional rates for the transport of Paper from the Liverpool Port Group in two ton loads and including cartage in Birmingham, at 17 shillings 6 pence (17s / 6d).

Robert Ferris

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