As described in Part 1, you can find the passenger timings here and the freight timings here. The original notes appear in italics with minimal editing, followed by my recent comments attempting clarification. The numbers in brackets have been added to assist in locating entries.
Sedgeley Jn. Sat 9th February 1963
(1) The ‘Cuckoo’ with a Class 5 and a banker goes up the Loop.
(2) We get Train Out of Section for 9V03 at 7.19 a.m.
(3) The banker off the ‘Cuckoo’ returns downhill, passing the Up Walsall.
(4) Dudley offers the Snow Hill as soon as we give ‘Train Out of Section’ for the banker and the train is almost stopped at our down Home before we can get him the road. The Snow Hill is DMU diagram ‘318’.
(5) The Down Walsall speeds by.
(6) On the Up, we get a ‘Special’ for Hartlebury making good time – 44873 off T34 with a train of slack, a BR brake and 48556 (off T39) banking.
(7) On the Down, a single unit (diagram ‘108’) forms the Dudleyport local.
(8) The Up ‘Western’ speeds by (diagram 312).
(9) Having banked the ‘Special’ to Dudley, 48556 (off T39) returns downhill light engine.
(10) The single car DMU rushes back to Dudley from Dudleyport.
(11) The Leamington follows Up to Dudley.
(12) The 8.15 Down to Snow Hill is diagram 312.
(13) The Up Walsall at 8.24 includes vehicle 56152.
(14) Because T47 is running late, the engine off T39 (48556) appears unexpectedly light engine on the Up, to pick up his train.
(15) The Walsall goes down.
(16) We take on the Up Walsall from Horsley Fields just as Dudleyport offers the Parcels. We refuse the Parcels.
(17) Dudley offers the Down ‘Western’. We accept the ‘1 pause 3’ and immediately offer him the Up Walsall ‘3 pause 1’.
(18) The ‘Western’ (diagram 108) speeds by down and the up Walsall is going well.
(19) Then we can bring the Parcels down from Dudleyport and get him the road to Dudley.
(20) On the down, we take on T39 engine and brake (1 pause 1 pause 3) for Great Bridge – with the road set towards Dudleyport, we’ve got the required clearance beyond our Home signal even with the parcels approaching.
(21) The parcels blasts up to Dudley with 46425, chimney leading, on two BG.
(22) T39 is almost stopped before we can set the road to Great Bridge and get him away. The brake van is an old, grey LMS type, apparently fully fitted.
(23) The Down Walsall runs by.
(24) Next, we have an up parcels – 46457 tender first dragging a BG and BR brake van. The Guard is not in the BG or the BR brake – he’s riding on the footplate.
(25) 8M37 (WR1) comes down. It’s a ‘Westernised’ class 8 with a variety of different wagons, and the usual loaded BBCs at the rear, heading for Norton Junction.
(26) A parcels is accepted on the down. Unsure of the destination, we offer it to Tommy Toombes at Dudleyport who does not take it immediately. As the train approaches, I notice the engine is facing Great Bridge so it’s apparently the last parcels on the up returning. We get the road down the main and away he goes, with the BR brake and the BG, apparently to be stabled at Great Bridge ready to form a parcels train on Monday afternoon.
(27) T47 goes up behind 48529 – open wagons, vans, plate wagons, Midland Tar Distillers tank wagons, a raft of coal wagons and an LMR brake. There’s an unusual banking engine on the rear – a Horwich ‘Crab’ brought out for banking duties today because there are three ‘Specials’ carrying slack to Stourport shown as additional:-
* 6.30 a.m. Great Bridge – Hartlebury
* 2.00 p.m. Great Bridge – Hartlebury
* 3.20 p.m. Hednesford – Hartlebury.
(28) The down ‘Western’ (diagram 328) comes to an impatient stand at our Home signal while we wait for the earlier Parcels to clear “down the bottom”. A little later, we learnt the reason for the delay by telephone. T39 was in Cashmores’, WR1 was at Great Bridge, being backed inside so as to let the Parcels through and the Parcels was held at Horsley Fields Junction. As WR1 was being shunted, it was noticed that the load of billets on a bolster wagon had shifted and was overhanging on the up side (so it was unlikely it would be seen at Sedgeley Junction, if the problem had already occurred before passing the box). It was decided that the offending wagon would be detached so that the train could proceed.
(29) The [up?] Walsall rumbles by – now including vehicle 56155.
(30) The up ‘Western’ passes (diagram 108).
(31) A ‘Black 5’, 44827, chimney leading, passes on the down. It’s believed to be the engine off the ‘Cuckoo’ which went up as I arrived, turned at Stourbridge.
(32) The Horwich ‘Crab’ which banked T47 up to Dudley returns downhill. It’s 42859, absolutely filthy.
(33) The 11 o’clock down is the diagram 108 ‘Bubble Car’.
(34) The Walsall goes up and the ‘Western’ is offered behind but no sign yet of the Parcels from Dudleyport.
(35) The Leamington goes down as the up ‘Western’ approaches the Low Level.
(36) T65 heads up the loop with 45329, vans, open wagons, tube wagons, vans, coal, one ‘Hybar’, a BR brake and the ‘Crab’ banking.
(37) Right behind, T63 goes up with a Stanier 2-6-0 (42979), a loaded ‘Trestrol’, bolster wagons, loaded plate wagons, empty tube wagons and a BR brake.
(38) At last, the Parcels is accepted from Dudleyport. Dudley accepts it ‘Under the Warning’, so that he can get T63 out. We bring the Parcels ‘Under Control’ at the Home signal, pull it ‘Off’ and display our bright green flag outside the window. The driver acknowledges with a ‘poop’ and opens up. The driver of 46425 waves as he passes with two 4-wheel vans, a BG with the West Indian guard leaning out, and a GUV-type van (as used all morning) at the rear.
(39) Before long, the Parcels Engine is passing on the down, returning to shed.
(40) WR2 is right behind on the down – a ‘Western’ 8F 48450 with ‘15 on’ comprising 16-ton mineral wagons with some 20-ton mineral at the rear: a mixture of empties, dross and coal with a LMR brake at the rear. He’s batting along with such a light load!
(41) The down ‘Western’ is taken on as we ‘knock out’ for WR2 – it’s diagram 312.
(42) The up ‘Western’ at 12.20 is the ‘Bubble Car’ (diagram 108) again.
(43) Having disposed of its train, the Stanier 2-6-0 off T63 trips down to Great Bridge, “Engine and Brake”.
(44) On the down, we take on a ‘3 pause 2’. It’s a train of ‘Pools’ from the Western - 44873 off the earlier up ‘Special’ rushing away with a long train of empty mineral wagons with a browny-black LMR brake bouncing at the rear.
(45) The Walsall local goes up to Dudley.
(46) At 1 o’clock, the ‘Western’ ‘Bubble Car’ goes back to Snow Hill.
(47) The up ‘Western’ at 1.15 is diagram 328.
(48) The down Walsall passes.
(49) After the Walsall, 48529 off T47 goes down. He’s been turned and is dragging the same LMR brake van with the grab-handles freshly painted white he took onto the Western earlier. Control grumbles that he was supposed to have loaded back!
(50) The 2 o’clock down ‘Western’ is diagram 328. I give ‘Section’ to Horsley Fields just as he gives me ‘2’ for the Up local and the two bell signals clash.
(51) The ‘Bubble Car’ goes up to Dudley.
(52) The up ‘Special’ gets in difficulties “down the bottom” by Dudleyport Low Level. Eventually, 48734 on the front draws level. Both driver and fireman are young. They grin and point the blame at their banker. However, checking the tension of the couplings down the train, the train engine is pulling 12 slack wagons and the ‘Crab’, now in better circumstances, is pushing 15 slack wagons and the BR brake. The banker slips once, just for a moment, on the facing points leading to the loop.
(53) The 3 o’clock down ‘Western’ is the ‘Bubble Car’, once again.
(54) T65 [down] has a string of ‘Pools’, an LMR brake and a WR brake.
(55) WR1 on the up has 48459 with glands blowing, coal wagons, slack wagons and a grey-painted LMR brake. Once again, the ‘Crab’ is assisting and makes a slight slip just outside the box, much to the amusement of the fireman on the ‘Crab’.
(2) 6.30 p.m. Wolverhampton – Burton is a 2-6-0 tender first with a British Rail 1st/2nd Composite and an ER Brake/2nd Composite! I don't understand this working at present.
(3) The up ‘Western’ is a single unit.
(4) T34 passes on the down – a Class 8 tender first with 8 Vans (including one Long Wheel Base) and a BR Brake.
(5) The Leamington Parcels rushes uphill at an unaccustomed speed.
(6) The 7.0 p.m. down Snow Hill is a 3-car set.
(7) The down Parcels is a 2-6-0 chimney-leading with two ‘BG’.
(8) The up Snow Hill at 7.30 p.m. is the ‘Bubble Car’.
(9) The down Snow Hill at 8.0 p.m. is the ‘Bubble Car’ returning.
(10) T47 really blasts the sky with his exhaust, making noise and with the drain cocks open. The train is vans, ‘Conflats’, empty mineral wagons, another van, coal empties, various loaded coal wagons, an empty ‘Hybar’, a long wheel base tube wagon and an LMR brake. A ‘Class 8’ is assisting.
(11) The Parcels Engine follows up and stands at our up Home for a moment before we can get him away to Dudley.
(12) The ‘8F’ bank engine off T47 returns downhill to Great Bridge.
(13) A ‘Class 8’ takes T63 up – vans and eight open wagons with a BR brake.
(14) As T63 plods uphill, the Parcels Engine takes a single short utility vehicle down to Dudleyport. Soon, the Parcels Engine returns and we get him away to Bescot Light Engine, holding a down Engine and Brake for a moment.
(15) The Engine and Brake is T63, propelling his brake to Great Bridge.
(16) The single unit ‘Western’ goes down.
(17) The Walsall grinds up to Dudley, re-appearing on the down soon after.
