Wyrley & Essington branch canal

[MrDGWalters]

Hi Tony,

 

I am not sure if I do remember the sluice to be honest Tony, I don't think my memory serves me that well.

 

Are there any more pics of the 'Castle' or 'Lions Den' in the pipeline?

 

Really enjoying the posts.

 

Thanks,

David.

[Tony K]

Hi Tony,

 

I am not sure if I do remember the sluice to be honest Tony, I don't think my memory serves me that well.

 

Are there any more pics of the 'Castle' or 'Lions Den' in the pipeline?

 

Really enjoying the posts.

 

Thanks,

 

David.

 

Sadly I'm out of dated 'material' at the moment David - if I secure anymore (nudge nudge Heartland if you have more images in the locker you could send me ) I'll certainly post them in this topic

 

 

 

 

Edit - just remembered this view of the top lock that Heartland provided (thanks)

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2013 by Tony K

[AMModels]

Its amazing to think back from these heavily sanitised days where everything is put through a fine tooth comb to check on safety and realise that for 5 years hundreds of kids every day would walk across this dilapidated lock chamber to and from school; I dont remember a single episode of anyone falling in or hurting themselves on the lock ( I tried to blame it for my poor performance in cross country but I think the teacher saw through it)

[Tony K]

Via Heartland again - thanks - the middle Sneyd lock - from the Rodney Weaver collection - 45591

 

 

 

[Laurence Hogg]

Via Heartland again - thanks - the middle Sneyd lock - from the Rodney Weaver collection - 45591

 

 

 

 

That looks awfully like the bottom lock to me with the lack of anything in the background, anyone else think so?

[Tony K]

Hi Laurence - the line of the pylon cables in the background between the two bushes..........plus the raised/elevated bank to the rear of the lock

[Capt Ahab]

There will be a two part article on the lost arms of the Wyrley and Essington in the November and December editions of Waterways World.

[Laurence Hogg]

There will be a two part article on the lost arms of the Wyrley and Essington in the November and December editions of Waterways World.

 

Look forward to this, are you covering all?

Bentley Canal, Olinthus bridge arm & tramway, Broad lane basins complex and tramways, Cannock wood arm, Essington branch, Wyrley branch, Sneyd arm, Loop at Pratts bridge cut off by railway aqueduct, Lord Hays, Gilpins arm, Slough arm(s) and the Standhills branch off the Anglesey. The Ogley section including lost loop at PipeHill, All these still have visible remains today..

Edited October 1, 2013 by Laurence Hogg

[lydfordcastle]

There will be a two part article on the lost arms of the Wyrley and Essington in the November and December editions of Waterways World.

 

Any idea of the publication date? It's not on my Sainsbury's shelf yet.

[sarahavfc]

Laurence, what remains of the Gilpins Arm? The only thing I have ever noticed is the stone plaques on the cottages on Norton Road.

[Capt Ahab]

Laurence - I have covered as much as is possible in the space available but inevitably some of the more obscure little bits have been omitted. To do all this justice it needs a book - there are about 25 miles without the minor basins and arms so I went as small as Standhills, Slough and Lord Hays. The full exploration notes are on my blog.

Gilpins offered very little unless I missed something.

Pipehill is interesting - I only noticed the loop a couple of weeks ago (long after it was submitted) and was wondering if there is a second bridge - possibly obliterated by the adjacent railway?

View it as a taster to encourage people to get out there and have a look rather than a complete record. I am a geographer by inclination rather than a historian so I defer to you and Ray for the details!

It normally comes out of the 6th of the month (ish) so I guess it will be available next week.

[Laurence Hogg]

Laurence - I have covered as much as is possible in the space available but inevitably some of the more obscure little bits have been omitted. To do all this justice it needs a book - there are about 25 miles without the minor basins and arms so I went as small as Standhills, Slough and Lord Hays. The full exploration notes are on my blog.

Gilpins offered very little unless I missed something.

Pipehill is interesting - I only noticed the loop a couple of weeks ago (long after it was submitted) and was wondering if there is a second bridge - possibly obliterated by the adjacent railway?

View it as a taster to encourage people to get out there and have a look rather than a complete record. I am a geographer by inclination rather than a historian so I defer to you and Ray for the details!

It normally comes out of the 6th of the month (ish) so I guess it will be available next week.

Look forward to it Andy, anything that promotes our under used sectors is good for the BCN, congrats in advance. Gilpins is very invisible the few visible remains are now gone apart from a slight rise in the ground and the brickwork at the entrance. Pipehill must have had an earlier bridge as the road is older than the canal by a long shot. Part of the canal is a fishing pool now btw.

[Tony K]

Yet again many thanks to Heartland - stables with Sneyd House in the background. From the Rodney Weaver collection 45592

 

 

 

Edited October 16, 2013 by Tony K

[Tony K]

Here you go David - Sneyd farm house, later to become Sneyd Inn - certainly looks a little more picturesque than how how I remember it did in the 60s and 70s

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Giles, tenant of the above Sneyd Farm/Inn with his sheep

 

 

[The Pipe]

Yet again many thanks to Heartland - stables with Sneyd House in the background. From the Rodney Weaver collection 45592

 

 

 

Who is looking after Phill and Rodney's collection now?

And are they available to copy some of the photographs?

[AMModels]

 

 

 

 

Charles Giles, tenant of the above Sneyd Farm/Inn with his sheep

 

 

 

I need to leave Wales I recognise the breed behind him.

[Tony K]

A slight deviation to this topic, but may be of interest to some readers of it...........

 

Picture by A Saunders - crossing Broad Lane in 1964 on its way to what were Essington Wood Sidings and many years earlier the Springhill Colliery which lay alongside the W&E canal

 

 

[lydfordcastle]

A slight deviation to this topic, but may be of interest to some readers of it...........

 

Picture by A Saunders - crossing Broad Lane in 1964 on its way to what were Essington Wood Sidings and many years earlier the Springhill Colliery which lay alongside the W&E canal

 

 

 

What a fantastic picture. Never knew BR loco's were allowed over that crossing.

[AMModels]

A slight deviation to this topic, but may be of interest to some readers of it...........

 

Picture by A Saunders - crossing Broad Lane in 1964 on its way to what were Essington Wood Sidings and many years earlier the Springhill Colliery which lay alongside the W&E canal

 

 

Bloody hell mate, I never thought trains that size went across that crossing; you are digging up some fantastic and evocative images, brilliant.

[Derek R.]

Aah! He said, digging out his Ian Allan ABC;

43052 2-6-0 introduced 1947. Ivatt L.M.S. taper boiler design with double chimney. Later engines were introduced with single chimney with which earlier engines are being rebuilt. Weight: Loco 59t 2cwt. Pressure: 225lb sq in. Driving wheels 5' 3" Tractive Effort: 24,170lbs.

 

The class numbered 43000 - 43161, total 162 engines.

[Heartland]

Broad Lane crossing was a London & North Western Railway branch, and is shown in the their siding diagrams. The practice of BR locos crossing there continued until the mine closed with BR Type 2 Bo Bo locos. Henry Lovatt built the link, which opened in August 1875.

 

Ray Shill

[lydfordcastle]

Aah! He said, digging out his Ian Allan ABC;

43052 2-6-0 introduced 1947. Ivatt L.M.S. taper boiler design with double chimney. Later engines were introduced with single chimney with which earlier engines are being rebuilt. Weight: Loco 59t 2cwt. Pressure: 225lb sq in. Driving wheels 5' 3" Tractive Effort: 24,170lbs.

 

The class numbered 43000 - 43161, total 162 engines.

 

I know my eyes aren't what they used to be but I'm reading the number as 43002 which, according to my Ian Allan Shed Allocation book, was a Nuneaton engine. 43052 was based at Selby, Yorkshire, so unlikely to be shunting in Essington, but by 1964 it's possible that it could have been transferred to the Midlands. I'm just kicking myself that in all the years I spent driving a taxi up and down Broad Lane to the 'Why Not' and Essington WMC, I never saw a BR steam loco on the crossing.

By the way, weren't there two level crossings in Broad Lane or is the memory playing tricks again?

[Derek R.]

It could indeed be 43002, as I have never had any shed books defer to greater knowledge!

[Tony K]

Hi Lydfordcastle and Derek R - according to the 'notes' that accompanied the picture it was IVATT 2-6-0 No 43002

 

 

 

Lydfordcastle - I can recollect that crossing in the 60's, but not another in Broad Lane itself (but I'll stand corrected). That line did head south, passing the western side of the Sneyd Reservoir and emerging to cross Sneyd Lane

 

It continued south, also crossing Lichfield Road (the main Bloxwich to Wolverhampton road)

[AMModels]

Was it replaced with the road crossing when the open cast went in?