|
|
GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton
Moor Street Station: gwrms3884
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was withdrawn from Old Oak Common Shed (81A) in September 1963, having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
back
|