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London North Western
Railway:
Midland
Railway:
Stratford
Midland Junction Railway
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LMS Route: Rugby to Wolverhampton LMS Route: Birmingham -
Soho - Perry Barr - Birmingham LMS Route: Birmingham New Street to
Harborne
Monument Lane Station: lnwrml2225
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An unidentified ex-LMS 'Black 5' 4-6-0 locomotive approaches
Monument Lane station on a down express service to Wolverhampton on 27th June
1955. On the left is the water tank that was rarely used but still operational.
In front of the tank is a fogman's hut. During much of the period when steam
locomotives operated the country's dependency on coal had a very major
consequence which was smog - a combination of smoke from all of the coal fires
and fog. During winter there were many occasions when the visibility was so
poor that drivers could not see the signals. The railways tried a number of
methods to resolve this issue with colour lights having some benefits or
mechanical automatic train warning devices that rang a bell in the cab if the
locomotive passed the signal at danger. However, the most widely adopted option
was to place a fogman next to key signals who would be in contact with
the signal box. The fogman, normally employed as platelayers, would place
detonating caps on the line which would warn the drivers as their locomotive
ran over them.
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