Bescot shunting duties (1976)
Bescot had an allocation of 27 Class 08s in late 1976. They were 08005, 08019, 08025, 08041, 08083, 08177, 08294, 08327, 08356, 08466, 08474, 08585, 08588, 08590, 08613, 08614, 08672, 08673, 08674, 08700, 08765, 08783, 08788, 08809, 08827, 08841 and 08901. Of these 08294 and 08327 were usually employed as the Up and Down Hump pilots at Bescot (they had radio-telephones fitted I believe). The 08s had taken over the hump duties from a pair of Class 11s, namely 12056 and 12087.
Two years later, in 1978, Bescot's allocation had shrunk by four. 08005 and 08041 had been withdrawn, while 08025 and 08827 had been transferred out. 08025 went to Chester (on paper at least), but was soon withdrawn. 08827 went to Eastfield. The remainder of the fleet remained intact, with no shunters transferred in to cover the losses.
This table lists the duties in 1976. It was originally written from memory, with the help of Clive Butcher's books on the history of the railways around Stourbridge (available through Oakwood Press), but has subsequently been enhanced with the help of the trip notice. There are 19 duties in this list.
| Bescot shunting duties 1976 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Number of pilots | Comments | |
| Bescot Yard | 6 | The individual duties were...
T01 Up Hump (now the Virtual Quarry) T02 Up Yard, South End (now the Engineers Sidings) T03 Down Hump T04 Up Yard/Transfer pilot T07 Down Yard, North End T08 Down Local Sidings All operated continuously from 06:00 Monday to 05:30 Saturday, with the exception of T01, T04 and T08 which by this time had no afternoon shift and didn't operate between 13:30 and 22:05. |
|
| Wednesbury | 2 | T05 and T51. Operated from 06:30 to 21:10 (SX). Usually returned to Bescot at weekends. | |
| Walsall | 1 | T16. Operated from 06:10 to 21:50 (SX). Usually returned to Bescot at weekends. | |
| Spring Vale (Bilston steelworks) | 1 | T09. Operated from 06:35 to 21:40 (SX). | |
| Wednesfield Road Goods depot | 1 | T45. Operated 07:00-17:00 (SX). Trips to Oxley, Spring Vale, Ductile and Wolverhampton Steel Terminal as required. | |
| Wolverhampton High Level | 1 | T46. Operated 01:00-09:00 (MO), 19:00-11:25 (SX) and 23:00-06:00 (Sat night). This loco basically worked nights and weekday mornings. Trips to Wolverhampton Low Level as required. | |
| Wolverhampton Steel Terminal | 1 | T47. Booked for a dual-braked loco. Operated 06:30-21:45 (SX). Trips to Priestfield Esso as required. | |
| Wellington | 1 | T48. Operated 06:00 to 18:30 (SX). Trips to Oakengates as required. Outstabled at weekends. | |
| Oxley Carriage Sidings | 1 | T49. Operated 22:00 Sunday to 14:00 (following) Sunday. Required a dual-braked and waterproofed loco (08765, 08841 or 08901) | |
| Wolverhampton Low Level Parcels Depot | 1 | T50. Operated 06:30 Monday to 13:20 Saturday, but there was no afternoon shift and it didn't operate 13:35-19:00 (SX). Booked to stable at Wolverhampton Holding Sidings. | |
| Brierley Hill | 1 | T54. Operated 06:20 Monday to 05:20 Saturday. Stabled at Stourbridge over the weekend. | |
| Round Oak | 1 | T55. Operated 07:15 - 16:00 (SX). Stabled at Stourbridge over the weekend. | |
| Kidderminster | 1 | T59. Operated 06:30-11:40 and 14:00-19:45 (SX). Stabled at Stourbridge over the weekend. | |
For simplicity I've omitted periods of an hour or less when pilot duties were booked to be inoperative (typically shift-changes).
Amongst the duties lost in the mid-1970s were those at Langley Green and Oldbury Goods Yard (on which site the car park at Sandwell & Dudley railway station now stands).
Three of these nineteen duties survived by the end of 2009: one at Bescot, one at Wolverhampton Steel Terminal, and one at Oxley. The sole remaining Bescot duty is based in the Engineer's Yard, but covers all shunting duties on the Down Side as required. The North End (Down Yard) pilot duty was abolished in August 2009, no doubt a victim of the almost complete loss of remaining West Midlands Enterprise traffic over the last few years.