Guest Book: Page 26

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Very good website and very informative about the lines through Warwickshire and surrounding areas.

Jason Matthews

I am the Commercial Director of the Toddington to Cheltenham heritage railway but live in Stretton on Fosse. Many thanks for your fascinating information and good luck.

Malcolm Temple

Really enjoyed reading about Maxstoke/Coleshill station. I have taken some photographs today of the bridge just past the station, and of the bridge over the river Blythe. If you would like to use them for your site you would be more than welcome to.

Jenny Collins

Hi Jenny. Many thanks for your kind words and the offer of using your photographs on the website. However because of the scale of the task in hand - I reckon I have at least two years work ahead to revisit the site and to update the existing photos and captions - I have to stick to my time period of 1838 to 1968 otherwise I would never stand a chance of having a website which provides the minimum level of information. I haven't even addressed industrial railways which could take another two years. - Mike

Hello - I've just been looking at the GWR photos on your Warwickshire Railways site and have noticed a number of inaccuracies, perhaps you would permit me to provide some correct details?
Firstly, there appears to be a general misconception over the naming of the running lines between Banbury and Birmingham on some of the photos. "Up" is towards Banbury (and thus London) and "Down" is towards Birmingham. The GWR never had "Fast" and "Slow" lines, Fast lines were always "Main Lines" and Slow lines were "Relief Lines" All the Signal Boxes on this route (with the exception of Widney Manor - see my comments on it's photo) closed in September 1969 when control of the route from Birmingham as far as Warwick was taken over by Saltley Power Signal Box.

Now to the Photos, starting at Warwick and heading North:
GWRW389: The Signal Box closed as a result of resignalling, not closure of the goods yard.

GWRL949: This train is standing in Platform 3 at Lapworth, which was a dead-end Up and Down Bay platform, so would not be on a Leamington service, rather a terminating service from Birmingham. The other face of this platform, No.2, is the Down Main. The line in the foreground is the Down Goods loop, which continued beyond the station to become the Down Relief line northwards.

GWRKD130: This photo is taken from the Up Main platform (No.1) Platform 2, next across, is the Down Main. The opposite side of the island platform, No.3 is the Up Relief with No.4 being the Down Relief. These comments apply to GWRKD130a and 130b as well. GWRKD125: This train is on the Down Main heading North, so cannot be a Birkenhead to London train!

GWRKD1006: This is a Down Local, standing on the Down Relief at Platform 4

GWRKD1008: This photo is taken on the Up Main at Lapworth!

GWRWM422: Widney Manor Signal Box originally had a 27 lever frame, a new frame of 44 levers was installed for the quadrupling of the line in 1932. The box closed on 26/04/1959 and most of the photos post-date this as all the signals can be seen to have been removed, although the box structure remained for a while afterwards.

GWRWM420: This is the Down Relief platform, No.4) next to it is the Up Relief line (applies to 420a and 420b as well) GWRWM420c shows the Main station building on the Up Main platform (No.1)

GWRWM428: This is the Up Main platform (No.1) 428b shows the Down Main platform (No.2)

GWRWM433b: This shows Platform 3 - the Up Relief, and No.4 the Down Relief. Unlike the other stations that were rebuilt for the quadrupling in 1932, the Relief Line platforms were built of wood, as can be seen in the photos. (The rebuilt Olton station had wooden faces to the platforms for a while as can be seen in the relevant photos, but were subsequently replaced with conventional brick and flagstones).

All the photos for Solihull and Olton are captioned correctly apart from the erroneous reference to "Fast" and ""Slow" lines. "Main" and "Relief" please!

GWRAG17b: The Signal Box was replaced as stated in 1907. This was when the line was quadrupled as far as Olton, requiring the rebuild of the station at the same time. Quadrupling southwards from Olton to Lapworth was done in 1932. The Relief lines were subsequently removed between Tyseley and Lapworth in stages between 1967 and 1969 in connection with the Saltley resignalling scheme.

Hope this information helps!

Regards - Martin Crane

Hi Martin. I have got the message loud and clear, the GWR never had slow trains only reliefs!! Seriously, many thanks for your comprehensive review and corrections which hopefully have all been carried out as per your corrections. Its contributions such yours that helps to rectify my errors and make the site factually correct. Regards - Mike

Really enjoyed the site - I was particularly interested in the material for Rugby and engine sheds. Excellent cross-section of subject matter and eras.

Keith Hutchins

I have just been scanning a large collection of negatives taken in the late 1960s and early 1970s mainly of stations, trains and people on the North Warwickshire line from Snow Hill/Moor Street out to Tyseley and beyond. The photographer recorded everything from signals to ticket machines, booking offices, waiting rooms etc. I have scanned about 10% and some examples are included here. I hold copyright and would be happy for you to use any on your site if any are of interest.

Regards - Ivan Stewart

Ivan - Many thanks for your kind offer which I will certainly take you up on. Its very timely as Robert Ferris and myself are to shortly up grade the North Warwickshire Route.

Great website, very useful. I have a comment regarding Saltley Station: mrsalt426 The bridge shown in the lithograph is Bridge No 370 on the Rugby Birmingham Line at 110 miles 1236 yards. You may wish to update your records.

Regards, John Fancote

John - Many thanks for the information which I have added to the caption. It all helps to build up the website's accuracy and level of information.

Excellent website. Thank you for your efforts,putting this website together. If possible could you send me a site layout from GC bridge 1960s era. We Fastline/Jarvis have a stabling point at the far side of platform, but I can't place the site in its heyday.

All the best - Malc Fentem from Derby

I have put Malc in touch with someone who I know can help.

I have just logged on your site for the first time and find it extremely fascinating and informative and have had great pleasure reading sections of it.

Rodney Lilley

Mike - Just had a look at 'mrwhg354' and 'mrwhg354a'. I am afraid I am pretty sure it is Toton Up yard (South end). I am sure I have seen it before but cannot recall where. There are 3 wagons used for the Stonebridge Coal trains in the wagon repair works on the right which would be consistent. I remember a footbridge spanning the yard at this point which would match with the angle of the shot. There is an LMS official film out on video which shows the area, called "LMS Freight" or similar (which as usual I can't find)!

Sorry (again) Tony

Hi Tony - Thanks for the information. As you could tell from my commentary I had suspected the photo was of another location. It wasn't as bad a piece of news as your original email - those photos of Wigston were magic. The Washwood Heath photo appeared in Pat Whitehouse's book 'Pre-Grouping in the West Midlands', which I contributed to some 25 years ago, both by identifying sources and with two photos.

Great website. As I work on most of these routes it's fantastic to see what they were like in their heyday.

John

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