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From 1976 Midlands photographs |
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25263 heads a freight train through Perry Barr and on towards Bescot. I will probably never spend so many hours rescuing one of the photographs in my collection! No less than six hours were spent eliminating much of the damage the years had done to this slide (overall brown colour cast, with mottled emulsion very visible in the sky). This is nowhere near being one of my best slides but for me it is a 'Rosebud' moment. The building in the background was the SPD Distribution warehouse, just outside Perry Barr station (the local station for most of my life). By 1976 it had closed to rail traffic but I remember it from 1966 when I started train spotting. Back then my friends told me that this building was the 'shed' for one of the class 44's (then allocated to the D16 Division). I knew no better and would stand in this park (Perry Hall Playing Fields) whenever I had the opportunity, in case it showed up. I saw very few trains working at this 'depot' and never a class 44 but all hobbies start with very little knowledge. |
