Top spot for spotting steam locomotives
BACK in the 1950s a prime location for any railway enthu- siasts hoping to spot their favourite locomotives, from small shunters to heavyweight leviathans, was at Bescot Yard.
Bescot Yard was built by the LNWR in 1881 as a waggon marshalling yard and was extended in 1892 with the addition of engine sheds for 32 locomotives, turntable and coal and watering facilities.
The footbridge at the nearby Bescot Station was a good place to view the action, as aging EX-LNWR G2 Class shunters marshalled waggons, or a Stanier 8F with a heavy goods train climbed up the ‘Bescot Curve’ to the Walsall-dudley line with the help of a ‘banker.’
This picture from around 1959 shows an EX-LMS Jubilee Class locomotive pulling into Bescot Yard. Sadly, the engine’s full number is not clear, but this class of locomotive was built in the mid-1930s and designed by William Stanier. 191 were built in total and after they were withdrawn from service and scrapped in the 1960s, four have been preserved.
One of them, 45593 Kolhapur, is currently at Tyseley Locomotive Works, awaiting an overhaul to return to steam.