The Golden Age of Steam

With regard to railway memories, one aspect I remember fondly is the steam engine shed.

I have just completed a book on Monument Lane engine shed, which was located in the Ladywood area of Birmingham. The shed opened in 1854 and closed to steam in 1962. From 1956 Monument Lane also had a diesel depot around half a mile from the steam shed, but that also closed in the 1960s.

Monument Lane in the 1950's

The men of Monument Lane

The men of Monument Lane took on a range of work including expresses to London, Manchester and Liverpool, as well as local passenger trains throughout the West Midlands.

On Saturdays in the summer they often worked holiday trains to Blackpool and North Wales. They also worked at the shunted goods yards at the likes of Soho, Oldbury and Tipton, as well as the well known Harborne branch.

Men from the shed have a well earned drink

Getting your chitty

On the Harborne branch were sidings for the Mitchells and Butlers brewery at Cape Hill. At one time, when the men worked a train there they were given a 'chit' that they could exchange for a pint. In addition, during very hot weather beer barrels left the sidings with a block of ice on top of them.

With the run down of steam it became very difficult to recruit men to take on the more unskilled jobs such as labouring. Consequently, there is a local legend that one of the shed foremen used to stand outside Winson Green prison on release day to try to tempt some of them to work at the shed.

Monument Lane steam shed 1950s

Growing up next to the sheds

I lived a stone's throw from the shed in the 1950s and 1960s and grew up among the many sounds, sights and smells associated with the shed.

At midnight at New Year the whistles of the steam engines would welcome in the new year and at other times there was always the sound of shunting or engines moving around.

Sometimes our street football would have to be suspended as a cloud of thick smoke descended on the neighbourhood.

National Indoor Arena

Although it closed to steam in 1962 the shed lingered on for a while with diesel services but the cutbacks of the 1960s were taking their toll.

More and more freight was lost to the roads so the local goods yards became redundant and a number of passenger services and local stations also closed.

Today the car park of the National Indoor Arena covers the site.

Tony Higgs.

Your memories

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