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GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Moor Street Station: gwrms3884

British Railways 4-6-0 class No 7021 ‘Haverfordwest Castle’ crosses from the down relief to the down main line

British Railways 4-6-0 (Castle) class No 7021 ‘Haverfordwest Castle’ crosses from the down relief to the down main line, adjacent to Moor Street Signal Box with class C headcode (lamps on left and centre of buffer beam) indicating a parcels train. The locomotive is seen in its final guise with a double chimney, three row superheater, mechanical lubricators, modified steam pipes and has an Old Oak Common (81A) shed plate, dating the photograph to 1963.

Locomotive No 7021 was built in June 1949 at Swindon Works as part of lot 367 and was initially allocated to Landore Shed (87E). The locomotive spent most of its short service life allocated to South Wales sheds, operating on the main line between there and Paddington and is known to have frequently hauled the ‘Pembroke Coast Express’. Following experiments to improve the draughting double chimneys were fitted to Castle class locomotives with No 7021 fitted with a double chimney in November 1961. No 7021 was withdrawn from Old Oak Common Shed (81A) in September 1963, having completed 673,231 miles. The locomotive was disposed of for scrap to Cashmore, at Great Bridge.

In the foreground of the photograph is the dual trap point at the throat of the Hoist sidings. This trap point was unusual by having blades operating on both rails. There were three sidings here, one of which was straddled by the twenty ton lift which gave access to lower level Shed B warehouse below (see 'gwrms1720'). The two switches within the Hoist sidings were controlled by independent manual levers, so required no rodding from Moor Street Signal Box. Short posts carrying the two wires to the twin disc ground signals, which indicated if the route had been set for the down relief line (lever 4) or the hoist roads (lever 19), can be seen alongside a single point rod from the signal box to the dual trap point (controlled by lever 36 in the Signal Box). This dual trap point protected the busy platform lines from possible runaway vehicles originating from the Hoist sidings.

Robert Ferris

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