GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Lapworth Station: gwrl2498

Great Western Railway steel ballast wagon No 60926 is seen standing in Lapworth yard in July 1947. This yard was on the up side at the Birmingham end of the station and contained two loop sidings accessed by a trailing connection to the up main line (lever 49) and a goods sidings which is seen here behind the wagon. There was no goods shed, but a cattle dock and pens for loading livestock and horses, which were serviced from the goods siding. There was also an up refuge siding capable of holding 72 wagons in addition to the locomotive and brake van. The up refuge siding also acted as the head shunt for the goods siding. The points leading from the up refuge siding to the goods yard were hand operated points worked by a Ground Lever, which when not in use were padlocked for the Refuge Siding and the key retained in the Signal Box. The goods yard was opened in April 1888 and remained virtually unchanged during the quadrupling work in the 1930’s, although the up refuge siding was lengthened, increasing its capacity from 67 wagons. The goods siding was taken out of use in 1967 and the remaining loop sidings and up refuge siding were taken out of use at the end of the following year.

The steel ballast wagon No 60926 was built in 1914 as part of Lot L793. Three hundred of these Diagram P14 wagons were ordered between 1911 and 1914 in three equal lots (L677, L712 and L793), but construction of this last lot was curtailed by the outbreak of World War I and only 70 of the lot were built. The uncompleted lot was finally closed out on the books in 1928. These ballast wagons had a ten ton capacity and were designed to hold eight cubic yards of stone. They were 16 feet long and had two piece drop sides through which their load would be discharged manually. These were the only ballast wagon designed to be fitted with self-contained buffers, which had been introduced in 1910. These buffers had a large diameter shank which engaged against a coiled spring contained inside the parallel housing. This wagon has standard OK F oil axleboxes and has the Great Western Railway’s unique Dean Churchward brake arrangement. The wagon is marked as belonging to the Permanent Way section of the Engineering Department. The circled CO indicates that it is to be used for construction only.

This photograph is displayed courtesy of the HMRS (Historical Model Railway Society) and copies can be ordered directly from them using the link HERE, quoting reference AEL225.

Robert Ferris

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