In the Madeley Signal Box, September 2014
Posted in Chasewater Railway, Chasewater Railway Museum
Tagged Aldridge, Asbestos, Bloxwich, Brownhills, Burntwood, Cannock, Chasetown, Chasewater Railway, Chasewater Railway Museum, Cheslyn Hay, Engine Driver, Great Wyrley, Heath Hayes, Hednesford, Lichfield, Norton Canes, Pelsall, Steam Engines, Walsall, Walsall Wood, Wolverhampton
London & North-Western
Railway Buses
On 1st October 1912 the London & North-Western Railway introduced a bus service between Brownhills, Norton Canes and Hednesford using two Milnes Daimler double-decker buses purchased second-hand 3 years previously from the Associated Omnibus Co., London.
The following year, on the 16th June, a variant of the above service began running via Chasetown and Chase Terrace and additional buses, double-decker Commers were sent to Brownhills (as the one in the photograph).
Painted in standard coaching colours of chocolate and milk, buses carried the company name or initials on the front, back and sides of the top deck and displayed the company Coat of Arms on the sides of the lower deck.
The majority of the LNWR bus services in various parts of England and Wales were withdrawn on 17th April 1915, both Brownhills services included. The decision to withdraw services being brought about by the continued ‘call-up’ of staff for military service and the probability of buses being commandeered by the War Office.
The bus shown, BM2597 was numbered 45 in the LNWR fleet and carried 34 passengers seated.
Posted in Brownhills
Tagged Brownhills, Chasetown, Hednesford, LNWR, LNWR Bus Garage, LNWR Buses
Brighton Road station, Birmingham, was opened on 1 November 1875, and was just under 3 miles from the Birmingham & Gloucester Railway’s junction with the London & Birmingham Railway. A Midland Railway train hauled by a Johnson 0-6-0 No.3694 passes the timber platform during the second decade of the last century.
Originally conceived to link Birmingham with docks at Gloucester, a lengthy debate on the route resulted in a line (authorised on 22 April 1836) which avoided Tewkesbury and Worcester, though public pressure forced a diversion to Cheltenham. Its main bugbear was the Lickey Incline, 2.5 miles at 1 in 37.5 – built as an economy, it kept the Company in debt for all of its independent life. The line opened from Cheltenham to Bromsgrove on 24 June 1840, Bromsgrove to Cofton on 17 September, Cheltenham – Gloucester on 4 November, Cofton – Camp Hill on 17 December, and to Curzon Street Birmingham, on 16 August 1841. It was leased by the Midland Railway with effect from 1 July 1845, which absorbed the Company on 3 August 1846.
Big Bertha – Lickey Incline
Incorporated on 31 July 1871 to build south from Albion Wharf to King’s Norton, with a junction with the ex-Birmingham & Gloucester Railway, the 6.75-mile single track was vested in the Midland Railway from 1 July 1875. It was opened on 3 April 1876, and widened and extended following authority of 18 July 1881; Midland Railway expresses were diverted along it from 1 October 1885. In 1892 a triangular junction was built at Lifford (authorised on 24 July 1888), to make a circular suburban service possible.
Bournville Station.
View northward, towards Birmingham New Street; ex-Midland Birmingham – Bristol main line (Birmingham West Suburban section), now electrified (to Redditch) — seen in pouring rain. Worcester & Birmingham Canal is beside the line on right, Cadbury’s Factory behind camera.
Date 4 September 1962 Source From geograph.org.uk Ben Brooksbank This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
The original Southern Belle was a streamlined passenger train that ran between Kansas City and New Orleans from 1940 until 1969. Thanks to the Kansas City Southern, a new, beautifully-restored Southern Belle streamliner train is now used for business meetings, public affairs and charitable events.
Before it was merged into the Union Pacific in 1982, the Missouri Pacific was a vast railroad system operating in eleven states. The UP has honored the MP with a beautiful Heritage locomotive.
This Cannock & Rugeley Colliery wagion plate is not the most common item ever seen in the museum – in fact, no-one we have asked has ever seen one! This obviously makes it a bit special. Unfortunately, it has a crack (repaired) through the right-hand bolt hole – I wonder how that happened?!
This next item, a book for the library, has come along at a good time – as we have recently seen the return of the horse-drawn parcels van.
It should be pointed out that the horses in this book used to pull carts, vans, etc. unlike the Chasewater Railway Museum version, which seems to prefer to ride in them!
The final item was a raffle prize at the recent Gerald Reece talk about Brownhills, and shows Brownhills High Street in the early 1900s, won by one of the museum staff. If you’ve seen the photo on Brownhills Bob’s site, the bald headed bloke on the back row, right-hand side!
http://brownhillsbob.com/2014/11/30/happy-talk/
Bedford St Johns railway station.
Cambridge – Bletchley line, which was closed on 1/1/68, view SW towards Bletchley (left), the connection to Bedford Midland Road being to the right. This station survived as a terminus until on 14/5/84 a replacement station was opened on the loop to Midland Road station and Bletchley trains then terminated there.
Date 4 June 1962 From geograph.org.uk Author Ben Brooksbank
Licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
An 1836 plan for a line between Cambridge and the London & Birmingham Railway via Bedford was dropped, but in 1844 George Stephenson visited Bedford to discuss a branch which, when authorised on 30 June 1845 and opened on 17 November 1846, was a line from Bletchley to Bedford. It was built by the London & Birmingham Railway, and absorbed by the London & North Western Railway on completion as provided for by the authorising Act, though the Company was not dissolved until 21 July 1879. It became the basis for the Bedford & Cambridge Railway.
The fine Midland-type canopy of the Bedford & Cambridge Railway at Potton, Beds. When this picture was taken, in July 1987, restoration was in hand with a view to use as a museum
Incorporated on 6 August 1869 as a 29.5-mile line between the two towns, the route used the track-bed of the Sandy & Potton Railway which the Company bought out. Opinions differ on the date of opening, some citing 1 August 1862, others October of that year. The Company had close ties with the London & North Western Railway, with which Working Agreements were made under an Act of 23 June 1864, and which absorbed it on 5 July 1865. The line closed to passengers on 1 January 1968.
Disused Stations:Millbrook Station
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk
The attractive blue paviours were also used at a number of stations on the Bedford and Cambridge Railway.
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