The pre-fab years (gbw,74/15/12)

geoff7918
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The pre-fab years (gbw,74/15/12)
The pre-fab years (gbw,74/15/12)

Before I started railway photography, I carried an Olympus Trip 35 with me and just snapped what I saw. This picture from Pritchatts Road Edgbaston shows the canal bank of the Birmingham to Worcester canal when it had just a skimpy fence and a well trodden track as the towpath. Across the railway we see a colony of pre-fabs, these were accessed from Vincent Drive and their road was called Credon Grove. The back gardens are a credit to the occupants, the lawns neat and tidy, one with a children's swing on it, further down the row a line full of clean washing receives the benefit of a pair of elderly class 31's.
I don't know what the train was, it carries 1B28 as a reporting number, it is a very big train for a pair of 31's. I could have been an ecs move from New Street via Lifford curve for the 10.25 to Paddington?
Today the pre-fabs and Credon Grove are a memory, the site is now a Technology hub, the high wall facing the railway a mass of graffiti and tagging, the canal is bounded by a 3 metre high fence and the towpath hard surfaced for walkers and cyclists. The new University station fills the scrubland in the background.
31295 was built at Brush, Loughborough as D5828, it entered service new to Sheffield Darnall 28/12/1961. Under TOPS it became 31295 06/12/1973, the loco was rebuilt with eth and became 31447 30/07/1984. Another renumbering happened 31/12/1989 when it received 31547. The loco was withdrawn 01/01/1996 and scrapped by T.J. Thomson & Son at Stockton.
31291 was built at Brush Loughborough as D5823, it entered service new to Sheffield Darnall 16/11/1961. Under TOPS it became 31291 24/11/1973, the loco was rebuilt with eth and became 31456 15/11/1984. Another renumbering happened 30/04/1990 when it received 31556. The loco was scrapped by C.F. Booth at Rotherham in January 2010.
Copyright Geoff Dowling 14/04/1974; all rights reserved

© All Rights Reserved
Taken on: April 14, 1974
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with Pritchatts Road Pritchatts Road Everybody's photos tagged with Credon Grove Credon Grove Everybody's photos tagged with pre-fabs pre-fabs more » Everybody's photos tagged with 31295 31295 Everybody's photos tagged with 31291 31291 Everybody's photos tagged with 1B28 1B28 « less
Sets appears in:   • 1974 railways   
Groups appears in:   • Birmingham Photography Group    • UK Railway Photographic Locations.    more » • ! British Rail 1974 (No 30/60 Limit)    • Urban Landscape Railway Photography    • Transport Scenes That Are Now Lost To History. [No 30/60 limit.    • All in black and white in the 11 dimensions known up to now    « less
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