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Heyday of Tyseley and its Locomotives by Michael Whitehouse & Ian Hogarth HardCo
Heyday of Tyseley and its Locomotives by Michael Whitehouse & Ian Hogarth
Hard Cover Reflections from lights on some photos
79 pages
Copyright 2003
CONTENTS
No 7029 Clun Castle
GWR No 4555
GWR No 6435
GWR Grange
No 5369
No 6953, No 7918
No 4110
No 8109
No 42069
No 44774
No 45428
No L94
No 532
No 5080
No 5593
No 7752
Cadbury Bournville
INTRODUCTION
The word `heyday' commonly conjures up visions of the dim and distant past, but not at Tyseley. The depot now has more famous engines either based there or as visitors than ever before. Hopefully in the future it will have more still; that, certainly, is the intention, as both the depot and the vintage trains which run from it gain increasing national and international reputations.
There has been steam at Tyseley continuously since 1908. The depot was built on a greenfield site to cater for the growth in traffic on the GWR in the Birmingham area with the development of city suburban services, the opening of the new cross-country route through Stratford and Cheltenham to the west and the growth of freight traffic, not least the Moor Street fruit market near the Bull Ring.
Tyseley was constructed in standard GWR modular buildings: two roundhouses (one for passenger engines, the other for freight), a coal stage with electric lifting platform for coal tubs and a factory for repairs. Provision was made for two further roundhouses but these were never constructed, engines being stored outside near the Warwick Road frontage and easily visible from the top of a bus, their brass and copperwork glinting in the summer sunshine; Lady of Lynne, Saint Helena, Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, several `Halls' and a whole host of pannier tanks and eight-coupled goods engines could be seen.
It was not easy for the casual visitor to gain access to the shed, but if one was bold and ventured into the Stygian interior of the roundhouses, one was rewarded with an awesome feast of engines gathered round two turntables, some with their features picked out by the shafts of sunlight penetrating through the windows in the roof.
Tyseley's motive power remained more or less unchanged through the years, although more modern engines gradually replaced the Dean, then Churchward and Collett designs. Tyseley was never a top-link shed, but during the late 1950s and early 1960s it became host to an extraordinary series of unusual or elite engines for enthusiast specials - the inspiration of Arthur Camwell of the Stephenson Locomotive Society. Skylark, Saint David, Princess Margaret, King Henry VI and County of
Chester all took their turn on trains, usually to Swindon, having been groomed at Tyseley the week before, with the front number being painted on the buffer-beam in true GWR tradition in a last defiant gesture to the nationalised railway.
Tyseley did not escape the effects of the Modernisation Plan, the fleet of 2-6-2Ts giving way to diesel multiple-units in the 1960s. But, elated with special-train fever, the shed proved a magnet to small GWR tank engines which had been preserved. Nos 4555, 6435 and 1638 were all to be found in the roundhouse on their way to the Dart Valley Railway purchased by Midlands businessmen Pat Whitehouse and Pat Garland. Shedmaster Tommy Field - a man prepared to make decisions and stand by them - saw no reason why 4555 should not be used, even though it was not the property of his lords and masters. Thus, to the delight of the commuters, daily routine would sometimes be shattered by a sparkling green `Small Prairie' on the 5.05pm Snow Hill all-stations to Knowle & Dorridge. The heyday had begun.
Running these trains was fun. It was easy for the two Pats to pop down to the shed after Sunday lunch to see their engines and
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