Coventry Railway Centre
Encyclopedia
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, south of Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
city, outside Baginton
Baginton
Baginton is a village and civil parish in the Warwick district of Warwickshire, England, and has a common border with the City of Coventry of the West Midlands county. With a population of 801 , Baginton village is four miles south of Coventry city centre and seven miles north of...
, and near to Coventry Airport
Coventry Airport
Coventry Airport is located south southeast of Coventry city centre, in the village of Baginton, Warwickshire, England, and about outside Coventry boundaries...
. The heritage railway centre was also known as "The Airfield Line" as the railway was built on the site of a greenfield. The site is managed by the Electric Railway Museum Limited, and is home to a sizeable collection of preserved electrical multiple units, which is the most diverse and historically significant collection of EMUs in the UK, containing unique items that are the last survivors of once typical and numerous classes. In addition there are three electric locomotive
Electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...
s and two small industrial diesel locomotive
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
s on site along with some other railway vehicles which are owned by third parties. The land is leased from Coventry City Council, though it is located just outside the city boundary and is in the county of Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
.
Coventry Steam Railway Centre
The site was originally established, as the Coventry Steam Railway Centre, in 1986 by a group who set out to preserve Hudswell ClarkeHudswell Clarke
Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-History:...
0-6-0
0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...
tank locomotive
Tank locomotive
A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...
number 1857. The group established the site and located the loco and other collected items of motive power, rolling stock and infrastructure including Little Bowden Junction Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
Signal Box
Signal box
On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetable...
there. The land was previously used as part of the municipal water treatment works and there was never any railway infrastructure there until the creation of the Centre.
Suburban Electric Railway Association
Never blessed with a large membership progress was slow and by the mid-1990s had slowed to near stop. The late nineties saw one of the original founders retire due to ill health and he sold his interest in the site to a consortium of Suburban Electric Railway Association (SERA) members, except the tank engine which was sold to another railway. By 2004 the other founders had called it a day and SERA took over sole running of the site's future.Electric Railway Museum
In 2009 the responsibility of managing the site passed to Electric Railway Museum Limited, a charitable company which had been established in 2008 to create a permanent home for preserving and representing Britain's electric railway heritage. With this development the original Coventry Railway Centre Limited company was wound up and its assets passed to Electric Railway Museum Limited. The site is open to the public, group and individual visits can be admitted by prior booking.Track layout
The track layout comprises two three road fans of sidings. Those at the end of the site adjacent to the Midlands Air Museum are complete with a headshuntHeadshunt
A headshunt is a short length of track, provided to release locomotives at terminal platforms, or to allow shunting to take place clear of main lines.- Terminal Headshunts :...
that runs through a 40 metre cutting
Cut (earthmoving)
In civil engineering, a cut or cutting is where soil or rock material from a hill or mountain is cut out to make way for a canal, road or railway line....
that was excavated by the members of the original steam centre in the early nineties. The sidings nearest Rowley Road are unconnected at the time of writing. The sidings are protected by an inner fence to create a secure compound to deter unwelcome visitors.
Facilities
Other improvements made to the site by Electric Railway Museum in late 2009 include the provision of mains electricity on site and state of the art CCTV equipment.Stock
The vast majority of items not being actively restored are sheeted over to protect them from rusting, vandalismVandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
, and other damage.
Electrical Multiple Units
Overhead EMUs- BR Class 307British Rail Class 307The British Rail Class 307 electric multiple units were built by BR at Eastleigh Works from 1954-1956. They were initially classified as AM7 before the introduction of TOPS.-Description:...
Vehicle 75023 (DT) - BR Class 308British Rail Class 308The British Rail Class 308 alternating current electric multiple units were built by BR at York, in three batches, from 1959–61. They were initially classified as AM8 units before the introduction of TOPS.-Class 308/1:...
Vehicle 75881 (DTCoL) - BR Class 309British Rail Class 309The British Rail Class 309 "Clacton Express" electric multiple units were built by British Rail York Works from 1962-1963. They were initially classified as Class AM9 before the introduction of TOPS...
Units 960 101 & 960 102 - BR Class 312British Rail Class 312The British Rail Class 312 is a type of alternating current electric multiple unit built in 1975-1978 for use on outer-suburban passenger services. It was the last class of multiple unit to be constructed with the British Rail Mark 2 bodyshell, and also the last with slam doors...
Vehicles 78037 (DTCoL) and 71205 (TSO) - BR Class 370British Rail Class 370British Rail's Class 370 tilting trains, also referred to as APT-P , were the pre-production Advanced Passenger Train units...
Vehicle 49006 (NDM)
3rd Rail Southern Region
- BR Class 405British Rail Class 405Under the British Rail TOPS computer system, Class 415 was allocated to surviving examples of the Southern Railway 4-Sub Class electric multiple units built between 1941 and 1951...
4Sub unit 4732 - BR Class 414British Rail Class 414The British Rail Class 414 electric multiple units were built between 1956 and 1963.209 of these two car units were built to two similar sub-classes. The first batch of thirty-six units were built on the underframes of older SR Class 2Nol units, and numbered in the range 5601-5636...
2Hap unit 4311 - BR Class 416British Rail Class 416British Rail Class 416 electric multiple units were built between 1953 and 1956. They were intended for inner suburban passenger services on London's Southern Electric network...
2EPB units 932053 and 6307 - BR Class 457British Rail Class 457Class 316 and Class 457 were TOPS classifications assigned to a single electric multiple unit at different stages of its use as a prototype for the Networker series.-Project:...
unit 7001 vehicle 67300
3rd Rail non-Southern Region.
- BR Class 501British Rail Class 501The British Rail Class 501 electric multiple units were built in 1957/58 for use on the former LNWR/LMS suburban electric network of the London Midland Region...
2 car unit formed DMBS vehicle 61183 + DTBS vehicle 75186 - BR Class 503British Rail Class 503British Rail Class 503 trains were 70 mph electric multiple units. They were introduced in two batches — in 1938 by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway with a further batch in 1956 by the then nationalised British Railways...
unit 28690+29720+29289
Others
- Liverpool Overhead RailwayLiverpool Overhead RailwayThe Liverpool Overhead Railway was the world's first electrically operated overhead railway. The railway was carried mainly on iron viaducts, with a corrugated iron decking, onto which the tracks were laid. It ran close to the River Mersey in Liverpool, England, following the line of Liverpool Docks...
Rebuilt First Class Trailer Car No. 7
Locomotives
Diesel Locomotives- Ruston & Hornsby 0-4-0 Diesel Electric 165DE b. 1950 Wks. No. 268881 "Mazda"
- Ruston & Hornsby 4wd Diesel Mechanical 88DS b. 1953 Wks. No. 338416 "Crabtree"
Electric Locomotives
- Spondon Power Station No. 1 = 4wd battery/Overhead Electric Loco b. 1935 English ElectricEnglish ElectricEnglish Electric was a British industrial manufacturer. Founded in 1918, it initially specialised in industrial electric motors and transformers...
Wks. No. E905 - Kearsley Power StationKearsley Power StationKearsley Power Station was a coal-fired power station in Stoneclough, near Kearsley, Greater Manchester, England. It was designed in 1927 by Dr H.F.Parshall for The Lancashire Electric Power Company. The original installation was known as Kearsley 'A', comprising two British Thomson-Houston ...
No. 1 = Bo-Bo Overhead 550vDC Electric Loco b. 1928 Hawthorn LeslieHawthorn Leslie and CompanyR. & W. Hawthorn Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilding and locomotive manufacturer. The Company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982.-History:...
Wks No. 3682 - Heysham Power StationHeysham Power StationHeysham Power Station is a nuclear power station located in Heysham, Lancashire, England, operated by British Energy. The site is divided into two separately-managed stations, Heysham 1 and Heysham 2, both of the advanced gas-cooled reactor type, with two reactors each...
No. 1 = Bo-Bo Battery Electric Loco b. 1945 Robert Stephenson and HawthornsRobert Stephenson and HawthornsRobert Stephenson and Hawthorns Ltd was a locomotive builder with works in North East England.-History:The company was formed in September 1937 when Robert Stephenson and Company, which was based in Darlington took over the locomotive building department of Hawthorn Leslie and Company, based in...
Wks No. 7284
Carriages
- No. 135 City & South London RailwayCity & South London RailwayThe City and South London Railway was the first deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction...
Wood Body Carriage - No. 163 City & South London RailwayCity & South London RailwayThe City and South London Railway was the first deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction...
Steel Body Carriage
Other preserved electric units
Two British Rail Class 505British Rail Class 505
British Railways Class 505 were 1,500 V DC electric multiple units introduced in 1931 by the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway...
trailer cars are preserved by the Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society at Midland Railway – Butterley.
External links
- Electric Railway Museum Limited - Site Managers as well as owners of the Class 309 units, SR 2-EPB Unit, Class 307, Class 308 and custodians of Spondon No.1 Locomotive.
- Suburban Electric Railway Association - Custodians of many other items of stock on site.