LMS Route: Birmingham West Suburban Railway

Bournville Shed: mrb15

An ex-MR double framed 0-6-0, LMS No 22863, is seen on the siding alongside the shed on Sunday 27th July 1947. The broken shed windows suggest there might have been a vandalism problem, but the old locomotive was still in use. Built by Dubs & Company of Glasgow, the engine entered service as Midland Railway '700' class No 1063 in 1874. The Midland rebuilt it in 1890 with Johnson boiler & cab, assigned it to power class 1 in 1905, renumbered it No 2863 in 1907, rebuilt it again with 1897 'D' boiler & 18" cylinders to make it power class 2 in April 1908, then rebuilt it again with an 1899 boiler in 1912. The Deeley rounded eaves cab seen in the photo would probably have been fitted in 1908 or 1912. After the grouping, the LMS rebuilt it with a Fowler 'G6' Belpaire boiler in March 1923, reclassified it as 2F in 1928, then renumbered it No 22863 on their duplicate list in April 1934. It's likely that no new number plate was made, hence the crudely painted number on the smoke box door where the plate would have been attached. Bournville was its home shed in the post-war years 1945-9. British Railways allotted it No 58113 but it was still carrying its LMS number when withdrawn from service in January 1949. It was one of the four ex-MR outside framed 0-6-0s to be allotted BR numbers and the first of them to be withdrawn.

John Dews

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