Tyseley Locomotive Works, formerly the Birmingham Railway Museum, is the engineering arm of steam railtour promoter

Vintage Trains Vintage Trains is an operator of heritage railtours in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of Birmingham Railway Museum Trust, and is based at Tyseley Locomotive Works, the trust's other subsidiary. Mainline locomotives Vintage Trains opera ...

based in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It occupies part of the former

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

's Tyseley depot, built in 1908 to accommodate expanding operations in the West Midlands, particularly the opening of the

North Warwickshire Line The North Warwickshire Line (also known as the Shakespeare Line) is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom. It runs from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, now the southern terminus of the line, a ...

as a new main line from Birmingham to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

. As well as supporting the trust's operating wing

, it is home to an extensive collection of steam engines, from small industrial builds to Great Western Railway 'Castles' and 'Halls', and large ex-mainline diesel engines.

Background

Following the purchase of GWR Castle Class No.7029 ''Clun Castle'' in January 1966 by

Patrick Whitehouse Patrick Bruce Whitehouse OBE (25 February 1922 – 17 July 1993) was one of the pioneers of railway preservation, when he helped save the Talyllyn Railway in 1951. He also led the restoration to working order of several of Britain's steam loco ...

, the locomotive needed a base close to its central West Midlands supporters' base. Whitehouse found space available at Tyseley, on the site of the former GWR depot, and formed 7029 Clun Castle Ltd to own both the locomotive and the rights to stable it at the depot. In October 1968, 7029 Clun Castle Ltd purchased LMS Jubilee Class No.5593 "Kolhapur". With further locomotives and railway artefacts available as a result of the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

, the supporters established the Standard Gauge Steam Trust as a registered educational charity, to preserve and demonstrate the steam locomotives. Following negotiations the trust acquired a long-term lease on a large part of the Tyseley site, and established the Tyseley Collection which still owns the locomotives and artefacts via the limited company; the depot site became the "Birmingham Railway Museum". The trust cleared buildings and repaired the dilapidated tracks, and two

water column A water column is a conceptual column of water from the surface of a sea, river or lake to the bottom sediment.Munson, B.H., Axler, R., Hagley C., Host G., Merrick G., Richards C. (2004).Glossary. ''Water on the Web''. University of Minnesota-D ...

s were repaired to allow steam locomotives to stay at the site. In 1968 the old coaling stage was converted into a two-road shed with an inspection pit to hold both acquired locomotives. In November 1966 ''Clun Castle'' was stripped and restored. In 1999 the trust achieved its long-held objective of running a regular steam train service on the national main line railway network: the

Shakespeare Express The ''Shakespeare Express'' is a steam-hauled passenger excursion train that has operated since 1999. It operates two trips in each direction on selected summer Sundays from to with a journey times of 60 to 70 minutes in each direction. The ...

between Birmingham Snow Hill and

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

. At this point the trust felt that the term museum was inappropriate for its new status, and hence separated its assets and operations into two new organisations, Tyseley Locomotive Works and the operating arm

, with the third arm remaining the Tyseley Collection. Tyseley locomotive workshops 24170660848

Shakespeare Express

As part of its educational programme the trust's operational arm

runs the

between Birmingham Snow Hill and

. Aimed at recreating the feeling of the 1950s holiday trains, it has strong appeal to families. It is increasingly being used by coach and tour operators as a new feature within their programme. In October 2004 the trust announced the acquisition of a site adjacent to Stratford-upon-Avon railway station for future use as the Stratford Railway Tourist Centre and Steam Locomotive Centre. This will provide a steam loco servicing centre at the southern end of the Shakespeare Line. A small museum is also being considered.

References

External links

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Stock list
{{coord, 52.4544, -1.8455, display=title, region:GB_scale:2000 Railway depots in England Heritage railways in the West Midlands (county) Rail transport in Birmingham, West Midlands Museums in Birmingham, West Midlands Railway museums in England