Austerity 2-8-0 at Birkenhead, 1960
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Austerity 2-8-0 at Birkenhead, 1960 by Alan Murray-Rust as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Austerity 2-8-0 at Birkenhead, 1960
Image: © Alan Murray-Rust Taken: Unknown
This class of locomotive was built for the War Department during WW2 for wartime service at home and abroad. Over 700 were taken into British Railways ownership after the war, formally as WD Class, and colloquially as 'DubDees'. The external condition of these locomotives generally left a lot to be desired making it often difficult to discern the number, as in this instance. The location is Blackpool Street Junction, with its distinctive signal box on a gantry, where the lines into Birkenhead Woodside Station diverged from those into the docks, which is where this train is heading. In the background to the left are the concrete towers of the coaling plant and ash plant respectively at Birkenhead locomotive shed. The building to the right is part of the town's gas works.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
53.386484
Longitude
-3.016943