Tyseley: A Right Shunt...

Hi all. A fairly quiet day today; apart from the roar of the Class 08 diesel shunter; spent over at Tyseley Loco Works. I arrived at around 10:30am after a stop off at the Tyseley Corner Cafe for a spot of breakfast. When I arrived I found that the job for the most part of the day was to perform a fairly large shunting operation. The 08' had been rudely awakened from its slumbers ready to shift the bulk of the Jubilee "Kolhapur". The Jub was to be moved back to her usual home up in the Coal Stage, having spent the summer months being stored in the main works. Now that the open weekends for 2016 are complete, 5593 could go back 'upstairs'. To remove the 1934-built 5XP, a few wagons had to be moved about before the tank engine trio of the Peckett and the Panniers were brought out into the Autumn sunshine...

"The Peckett, 9600 and L94 Enjoy The Sunshine"

With the road clear for the 08', out came 5593. "Kolhapur" currently wears a very nice LMS Crimson Lake livery, applied during a cosmetic restoration a couple of years ago. The Jub now waits her turn in the overhaul queue at the former 84E but still looks well despite being out of use for a good while. The Jubilee class of three-cylinder 4-6-0s for the LMS eventually numbered 191 examples, with four surviving in preservation. "Kolhapur" has been with Tyseley since the beginning, joining "Clun Castle" to become the pioneers of the steam centre. Once 5593 was safely stored away in the Coal Stage, along with Pannier Tank 7760, I was sent to work the signalbox to aid the movements of the 08'...

When there is shunting going on the operations inside Tyseley Box are quite interesting. The movements around the yard provided plenty of lever pulling and, just before lunchtime, the job was done. The remainder of the day was spent on the ever progressing 7029 "Clun Castle": arguably Tyseley's signature engine. 7029 will hopefully return to the main line next year and there are also murmurings about a third Castle: No5080 "Defiant". All very exciting stuff and another pleasant day at Tyseley. All the best, Sam...