Leamington Spa General Set BW1 10 6x4 Black+White Photos

This set of  ten 6x4 Black+White prints recalls train services in the vicinity of Leamington Spa General station from the 1930s to the 1950s. We open with a rare shot of the STREAMLINED Collett Castle No 5005 Manorbier Castle with straight splashers and nameplate, bulbous smokebox fairing and even the coal space faired over, showing the engine had only been running for a few days in streamlined form, as this was soon discarded, a truly historic view from 1935. 43xx Mogul No 4367 heads through the Up  platform at Leamington at the head of along freight in 1936, passing the truncated remains of the original 1850s Brunellian train shed that had once spanned all four running lines, but was progressively cut back from the 1890s. Star class 4-6-0 No 4058 Princess Augusta climbs out of Leamington on the daily and very heavy stock and enparts working, a white exhaust showing the fireman has mastered his job as the engine faces the stiff bank up to Harbury in the summer of 1938. The GWR loco depot is visible on the far right. No 1016, then unnamed, but later to become County of Hants enters the down platform at Leamington in 1946, when the short horse and carriage landing still survived at the Paddington end of the platform.  A rear three quarters view of No 5022 Wigmore Castle recalls that Swindon briefly applied GWR “Egyptian Serif” style BRITISH RAILWAYS lettering to a fe engines in 1948. No 5022 being caught at Leamington in March of that year. No 6023, King Edward II makes a spirited departure from Leamington past the cattle dock with a down Birmingham express in 1948, whilst an ROD simmers by the water tank on the up side. An interloper from the LM region, No 40078, a taper boilered Stanier 3MT 2-6-2T, departs from the down platform at Leamington in 1949, as a freight is on the down through and  6947, Helmingham Hall, is in the down bay.  Large Prairie No 5106, in BR lined black with Sans Serif BRITISH RAILWAYS on the tanks takes water in the up platform c1950. Prairie 4149 is in the up platform as GER diesel railcar 26 enters the up platform with an auto coach in tow. The horse and carriage siding has been lifted and the platform face extended but the surfacing has not been finished.  Our final mid-fifties view is of a gleaming 3440, City of Truro at the head of a rake of seven carmine and cream Mk 1 coaches in the up platform.  A COPY OF THESE NOTES ACCOMPANIES THE SET. These views are copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission.

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( Note to avoid confusion as the LNWR-LMS station is Set 2, there is no GWR Set 2)

Leamington Spa General Station Set BW3 10 6x4 Black+White Pix

The thirty 0-6-0s built by Beyer Peacock for the GWR in 1864-66 were a Beyer design rather than the work of any of the GWR locomotive engineers but were outstanding engines and the last survivor, No 354 spent its last ten years at Leamington where it is seen in 1933, a year prior to withdrawal. Jack Stretton-Ward began filming in 1911 and we see Saint class 4-6-0 No 2910 Lady of Shallott that year on an Up express. 3267 Cornishman is on a stopping train with a bogie Siphon at the front in 1927. It was a Dean 3252 Duke of Cornwall class.5038, Morlais Castle climbs out of the bowl Leamington sits in on an up express c1938. 6004 King George III is in BR Express passenger blue, and is on a Wolverhampton-Paddington express c1952. The first of the Modified Halls, 6959 Peatling Hall is on a non-stop Birmingham express. 6020 King Henry IV pauses in the down platform. Older enthusiasts may recall the legendary railway book seller Frieda Pinder of Leamington. She was Stetton-Ward’s secretary and often accompanied him on railway trips. She is sitting on the platform trolley! Churchward 43xx No 7315 is entering Leamington Spa before the station was rebuilt on an Up express. The station was rebuilt in 1937-38 and the remains of the old Brunellian train shed swept away. It had to cater for passengers so the old was removed in stages and the new put up in the vacated spaces. Auto coach W66 is a diagram L74 auto trailer with elongated buffer heads. 4112, in the next road was a long-term Leamington engine from new in 1936.  A COPY OF THESE NOTES ACCOMPANIES THE SET. These views are copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission.

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Leamington Spa General Station Set BW4 10 6x4 Black+White Pix

ROD 2-8-0 3003 drifts through Leamington station c1946 before the siding to the dock on the left had been lifted. Large Prairie 4112 has arrived on a local from Birmingham and the engineman is oiling round. 5003, Lulworth Castle has the original low sided tender and early Castle livery on an up express c1927. In the last months before the old station was demolished in 1937, 5069 Isambard Kingdom Brunel is on a similar duty but has a high sided tender and ‘shirt buton’ emblem. The bell on the front identifies 6000 King George V, as she climbs through Whitnash cutting on an Up Express in BR carmine and cream days. A grimy 7810 Draycott Manor is entering the ‘down’ platform in October 1947. The engine is a sad contrast with the polished steeds of the 1930s. Riddles MOS 2-8-0 77408 was one of a group of engines loadned to the GWR in 1946-47 and still carries the Westinghouse pump with which these engines were originally fitted. The 1852 Brunellian train shed roof was cut back by the turn of the century and the station was badly in need of renewal as this view, c1933 reveals. In the distance a 4 coach Birmingham division train set, which has been strengthened by a Clerestory coach shunts. Leamington Spa South Junction Signal Box was built to work connections to the new loco shed which dated from 196 and a new connection to the LNWR, the connection opening in 1908. Here is the interior of Leamington Spa South Junction SB. The different shapes of the block bells in both directions is to provide the maximum tonal difference.  .  A COPY OF THESE NOTES ACCOMPANIES THE SET. These views are copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission.

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