Wednesbury (10/07/1989)
| Monday 10th July 1989 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Train | Wednesbury | Loco | Comments |
| 6T42 Bescot - Brierley Hill | 06.11 | 47156 | T42 was normally the first train of the day, typically appearing just after 06.00. If it ran late T19 or M40 might show up first, but the normal situation prevailed on this day. |
| 0M40 Cardiff - Wednesbury | 06.43-07.02 | 37714 | No traffic on the final leg to Wednesbury, but it probably conveyed something as far as Brierley Hill. |
| 8T19 Bescot - Wednesbury | 06.36-06.55 | For some reason the signalman hasn't made a note of the engine number, but we can reasonably assume it's an 08 as per normal. There was quite a bit of variety in the locos used on this trip and it didn't necessarily get the same engine for extended periods, something that had been the case in 1988 when single Class 20s were used. Locos appearing during July and August 1989 included 08517, 08604, 08616, 08672 and 08746. | |
| 6M51 Scunthorpe - Brierley Hill | 08.01-08.03 | 37240 | Into the sidings at Wednesbury, probably to detach traffic. |
| 0T55 Bescot - Great Bridge | 08.05-08.38 | 31110 | T55 is the Bescot banking engine, and it's pretty clear from the timings that it's turned up at Wednesbury to bank 6M51. It's arrived in plenty of time, and has to wait for half-an-hour before 6M51 sets off, The 31 will follow to Great Bridge, which is where banking will commence. |
| 0L50 Bescot - Wednesbury | 08.23-08.59 | 31417 | This is probably an engineer's train, and certainly not a regular working. In the era of sectorisation the fact that the loco is from the LMR civil engineer's pool offers a pretty good clue. |
| 6M51 Scunthorpe - Brierley Hill | 08.33 | 37240 | The Scunthorpe sets off for Brierley Hill, with the banking engine about to follow. |
| 6V43 Wednesbury - Margam | 08.54 | 37714 | The comments column in the register says "(33)", which is probably a reference to the number of wagons in thc consist. They are likely to have been SPAs or some variant thereof. |
| 8T91 Bescot - ? | 09.23 | 20228+20145 | Although this train probably originated at Bescot there's no indication of where it was headed. All we have to go on is the time of its return, which was 13.25. A four hour round trip would have allowed it to get quite a way, but I have no real idea where it went. |
| 6M72 Gloucester - Cliffe Vale | 09.33 | The china-clay originated at St Blazey, but the Friday night train recessed at Gloucester over the weekend. | |
| 7L50 Wednesbury - ? | 09.46 | 31417 | There are no clues as to the destination of this train, but it departed north towards Bescot or Walsall. A note in the register indicates that the block bells between Wednesbury and Eagle Crossing were playing up at this point. |
| 6T52 Lawley St - Round Oak | 10.04 | 47451 | 
This picture was taken at 10.51 on Monday 31st October 1988. It shows 6T52 on the climb towards Dudley and gives a glimpse of the sort
of wagons which were conveyed in addition to the Freightliner flats. The loco is 47610, carrying what looks like quite an odd livery
in retrospect. Inter-City colours without the logo, tiny numbers that were briefly fashionable, and a yellow front that didn't
wrap-around the cab-side windows. It was soon to be converted to 47823. |
| 0T55 Brierley Hill - Bescot | 10.13 | 31110 | The banker returns to Bescot. |
| 9T19 Wednesbury - Bescot | 10.19 | ||
| 6E29 Brierley Hill - Scunthorpe | 10.31-10.33 | 37240 | Into the sidings at Wednesbury, no doubt to attach empties. |
| 6E29 Brierley Hill - Scunthorpe | 11.04 | 37240 | Half-an-hour later and 6E29 departs for Scunthorpe. |
| 0T42 Brierley Hill - Bescot | 11.46 | 47156 | |
| 9T19 Bescot - Wednesbury | 12.21-12.24 | ||
| 6T52 Round Oak - Wednesbury | 12.58-13.08 | 47451 | This is actually described in the register at 6T42, but that must be a mistake. |
| 0T52 Wednesbury - Bescot | 13.15 | 47451 | A fairly swift departure after dropping traffic at Wednesbury. |
| 8T90 Bescot - Wednesbury | 13.18-13.54 | This is likely to be a spoil train for the tip. | |
| 0T91 ? - Bescot | 13.25 | 20145+20228 | T91 returns light engine, almost certainly heading back to Bescot. |
| 0T42 Bescot - Brierley Hill | 13.43-13.58 | 47156 | The T42 loco has had to wait for T90 to be allowed into the sidings. |
| 0T90 Wednesbury - Bescot | 14.15 | The 20s off T90 depart light engine. It would be just over two hours before they re-appeared at Wednesbury, but it's more than likely that they only went to Bescot. | |
| 0T52 Bescot - Round Oak | 14.46 | 47451 | |
| 7L51 ? - Great Bridge | 15.31 | The destination of this train is recorded in the register, so isn't in doubt, but where it came from is unknown. | |
| 0Z98 Great Bridge - Bescot | 15.50 | Shown in the comments column as 0L51, so there's no doubt about which loco this is. | |
| 8T90 Bescot - Wednesbury | 16.27 | T90 turns up at Wednesbury for the second time on this afternoon. Again the load is almost certainly spoil for the tip. | |
| 6M12 Cardiff - Wednesbury | 16.47-16.56 | ||
| 0T90 Wednesbury - Bescot | 16.47 | This time we can be certain that T90 returned to Bescot given that it was back within 45 minutes. | |
| 8T19 Wednesbury - Bescot | 17.10 | ||
| 6T52 Round Oak - Lawley St | 17.22 | 47451 | |
| 6T42 Brierley Hill - Bescot | 17.42 | 47156 | |
| 8T90 Bescot - Wednesbury | 17.25-18.04 | A third visit of T90. On each occasion its brought wagons to Wednesbury, and returned light engine - which isn't a surprise given that this is a Monday. | |
| 0T90 Wednesbury - Bescot | 18.16 | ||
| 8T91 Bescot - Wednesbury | 17.40-18.20 | 20228+20145 | And now T91 appears at Wednesbury again. With three visits from T90, one from T91, plus the L50 working that means five trains visited the P.W. sidings on this day There were also L51 and T91 passing moves. In 1989 that was probably as busy as it got for engineer's workings. |
| 6V70 Cliffe Vale - St Blazey | 18.13-18.25 | Minor congestion again, as the china-clay is held waiting for 8T90 to clear the main-line and get into the sidings. T91 is evidently waiting for the T90 loco to depart before it's allowed into the sidings. | |
| 6V69 Wednesbury - Cardiff | 18.50 | ||
| 0T91 Wednesbury - Bescot | 19.28 | 20145+20228 | |
| 6V80 Bescot - East Usk | 20.26 | ||
| 6M29 Taunton - Bescot | 20.43 | ||
| Train out of section for 6M29 was sent to Eagle Crossing at 20.44, and 7-5-5 (box closing) was returned at 20.45.
Wednesbury closed at 20.55, with no sign of 6M17 Gloucester - Bescot which I imagine was running late and diverted via
Galton Jct as a result.
The box was open for 15½ hours and 41 movements were recorded in the register - an average of just under 3 movements per hour. Of these 41 movements 27 were trains and 14 were light engines. This is a slight over-statement of the true amount of traffic because it double-counts passing trains like 6M51 which called at Wednesbury for traffic. Also some of the T19 moves may have been engine and brakevan, with no wagons conveyed (those shown as 9T19 are contenders). Nonetheless the movement count is useful as a comparitive measure. Monday 10th is untypical for 1989, as the remainder of the week shows. In reality the true average was about 30-32 movements, or roughly two per hour. The longest gaps between movements were the periods of just under an hour between 07:02-08:01 and 19:28-20:26. |
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