MARSDEN RAIL
Volume 21
Birmingham - Two

Complementing Number 8 in the Marsden Rail archive series, 'Birmingham and the West Midlands', the programme opens at a bustling Snow Hill station, with steam much in evidence, before leaving for Stourbridge Jct. via Soho and Winson Green, Handsworth and West Smethwick. Scenes at Stourbridge are followed by a return to the industrial Midlands, where trolleybuses still occupy the streets of Wolverhampton and Low Level station is host to Halls, Patriots and newly-built 'Western' diesels.

WCML traffic at Lichfield finds Duchesses, Jubilees, and Britannias 'under the wires' in the company of blue electrics and the LMS-designed diesel no 10001, while to the north-west, scenes at Codsall, Shifnal and Shrewsbury are featured. No programme of the Birmingham area would be complete without mention of the Lickey Incline and views at Bromsgrove emphasise the scale of the gradient and the challenge it posed to steam traction.

March 1965 saw many services between Stourbridge and Birmingham revert to steam haulage due to a shortage of diesel units and almost any type of ex-GWR loco was pushed into service! This period is captured on film, in addition to superb views of the steam operated push-pull service to Stourbridge Town.

DVD Info

Region: 2
Running Time: 63 minutes