Railways around Coventry

Chasewater?

Hi MR, yes it is the Chasewater Railway, off the A5 by Brownhills. A good day out, particularly on one of their gala days when there will be up to four steam locomotives and a number of diesel locomotives in use. As a bonus there is a good cafe, you can walk by the lake, feed the ducks, have an ice cream (not in January) or play in the playground. Some of these activities are better suited to my grandchildren who love the place. The real attraction is shown below - not exactly a Coventry connection, but similar engines would have been hard at work on the Foleshill Railway or later at Courtaulds right up to the early 60's I think.

Hi all I saw this loco several times working specials that journeyed along the Foleshill line. They were the UKs first 2000HP diesel, very efficient compared to the steamers, but even a Stanier black five would outperform them.

Preserved, and still running on the East Lancashire Railway

Whilst Deltics have made a number of runs on the main line through Coventry (and indeed ran frequently on Saturdays for Virgin Trains to and from Ramsgate a few years back), only once has one ever appeared on the Coventry to Nuneaton line. On Saturday 2nd June 2012, one was operating a charter train which ran into a series of operating difficulties which caused it to terminate at Didcot close to midnight, a few hours later than planned. Consequently it couldn't return to Crewe that evening as 'booked'. Engineering work on the Sunday delayed it further. The end result was that the empty stock returned to Crewe via 'the Spires' around 1610 on the VERY wet afternoon of Sunday 3rd June 2012. It is seen here about to pass under Lockhurst Lane bridge. Mention was also made of the yellow diesels that shunted at Coventry Colliery and worked the coal trains to and from Three Spires Yard, now the site of the Ricoh car park. Over the years there have been a number of them, mostly 0-6-0's built by Hunslet's of Leeds. An example is seen here shunting loaded MGR wagons at the Colliery, eventually destined for Didcot Power Station.It is also worth mentioning that the Colliery and Homefire Plant were run as separate businesses, consequently each having their own locos. Those supplied to Homefire were 'big' heavy Hunslet's with an 0-8-0 wheel arrangement. Initially they were painted green with a red stripe (clearly distinguishing them from those that worked the Colliery). 'Homefire No.1' and 'Homefire No.2' were both later repainted into blue, still with the red stripe, following heavy maintenance. The railway operations at Keresley were later combined and all locos sensibly worked both sites. Although yellow diesel shunters could be seen almost to the very end, a very mixed fleet of diesels were operated in later years, including a substantial fleet of Class 08's hired in from British Rail. When time permits I'll scan a few slides and post should anyone be interested in seeing them...

Hi & thank you Ron & Midland Red, You are brill!

40145 starting up from cold and having a ball.. It's getting cloudy

The "Green Goddesses" which worked the Coventry lines were invariably of the disc headcode type. Oddly though their smaller Type 3 cousins usually had split headcode boxes.

Ron - thanks for the information about the Keresley Colliery diesels. I certainly remember them from 1973/75 time when I lived in Meadow Rd and had a clear view across what were then allotments to the line down to Three Spires Junction. On Sunday mornings the crews seemed to delight in playing tunes on the horns, probably because there were no 'gaffers' about. Regards. Roger

Here is 40145 in Warwickshire in 2006

More poor reporting from Trinity Mirror The images of "abandoned trains" - these were taken at The Electric Railway Museum, Baginton, so they are hardly "abandoned" The whole gallery is pretty poor fare, too, with several subjects repeated - worth giving it a miss, I'd say!

News just said no new renovation now to Coventry train station the bus station they have run out of money.

That's not true. They were hoping to raise £31 million for a station masterplan, but so far have only managed 2/3 of that. This means that parts of the masterplan will no be going ahead yet. The parts not going ahead are a new bus interchange and car parking plus downsized facilities in the new station entrance off Warwick Road.

Daimler Halt was opened in 1917. Situated immediately on the Radford Road side of the Sandy Lane road bridge, it was roughly a quarter of a mile from the Daimler works itself. Access to the platforms were via two sets of steps, one each side of the bridge. The steps were constructed of wood, as was the rest of the station. Closure came along with all the stations on the Coventry to Nuneaton line effective from 18th January 1965. This was the view from Sandy Lane bridge on 12th September 1971. Although the passenger service was withdrawn well over 6 and half years earlier, only now are the remnants of the halt being removed. The planking that formed the platforms was being removed and the supports themselves were then cut back to ensure there were no gauging issues for passing trains.The demolition gang have stopped work for the passage of the train. No hi-viz clothing in those days. The train itself is interesting in that it is operating a Coventry to Nuneaton shuttle to connect passengers with Euston to Coventry and Birmingham trains that were being diverted via Nuneaton due to engineering work somewhere on the Rugby to Birmingham via Coventry line.The diversion shuttles operated for a few more years before being replaced by the now infamous 'Rail Replacement [bus]Service'. The footbridge that can be seen in the background stems back to the opening of the line in 1850 and links what is now Swillington Road and St Nicholas Street. It had a severe arch - as did the footbridge at the end of Daimler Road - and was entirely open. Unfortunately it became a well known haunt for vandals and for a few years trains were regularly 'stoned' from this bridge. Of interest is that a siding left the line to Coventry immediately on the Halt side of the footbridge. It ran along the left hand edge of the area seen in this photograph, and crossed Sandy Lane to what was the original Daimler factory situated behind Widdrington Road. Does anybody know of any photographs that shows this crossing? The view today is somewhat restricted. The bridge parapet was raised some years back and so is difficult to see over unless you are over 7 feet tall. So, unless you are on the upper deck of a passing bus, the only was to see over is to be as stupid as I am and stand on a small set of steps. There is no footpath on this side but fortunately traffic over this narrow bridge is now controlled by traffic lights and therefore passes by in single file. The footbridge in the background was rebuilt a few years ago (as was the Daimler Road footbridge) into a cage-like structure to make life a little more difficult for the stone throwers. The area to the left is now completely built upon with blocks of apartments. Lastly, of interest to some is the track.You can clearly see the extent to which the track has been re-engineered over recent years and the heavy ballast on which it is laid. This enables the line to carry the up to 2000 ton trains which now regularly traverse the branch, Harbury landslips permitting.

Hi Ron, I remember that footbridge well as I used to walk to work that way sometimes in the 60'as a short cut from the Radford Road to the EMEB offices that were once part of the Daimler Factory. I did not go that way if it was icy because as you say it was quite a curve. We later moved to the buildings that were now on what is called Electric Wharf. The land that the blocks of flats are now built on were our car park. Here is a snap from Britain from above 1934 and I think if I have it correct Daimler Halt is at the bottom of the picture. There is a curve from it toward the corner if Widdrington Road, could this have been the route of the line? I don't recall a line but the line on the picture follows throught on to what is now the industrial estate.