Birmingham New Street Station: lnwrbns_str1872

View looking from the 'Spare Carriage' sidings located on the East side of New Street station looking West towards the platforms circa 1863. Carriages were moved from the main line to the sidings via a turntable which allowed access to a set of rails running at 90° to the mainline. This track can be seen situated behind the van in the centre and in front of platform 3 and access to the sidings were via other turntables. Richard Foster states in the first volume of his series of books on the station Birmingham New Street - Background and Beginnings, that to the left of the sidings on the left was another siding. The two turntables seen on the left provided access to this siding from the second siding. Richard describes the coaching stock on the right in his book as, 'the first vehicle that can be seen properly is a four-compartment third, probably in all-over green livery'. Speculating that it was 'either 22 ft 6 inches or 22 ft 9 inches long' he dates its construction as being 1856. The vehicle in front with no luggage rails is 'probably a 24 ft composite of the type built from May 1862 and is apparently in the familiar LNWR livery of white and carmine lake'. The third vehicle is a 'three-compartment second dating from 1858-9 and would have been possibly 19 ft 0 in, 20 ft 0 in, or 20 ft 6 in long. Next in front is a 21 ft full brake with guards look-outs (often described as duckets) at the one end with just one just one lamp being provided. The end vehicle is wider than the rest and Richard speculates that it is probably inherited from one of the LNWR's constituent companies.

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