Manningham station in the Edwardian era

Here a very old picture of Manningham station

 

 

Probably about or just after the turn of the last

century early 1900's

The engine has post 1907 numbering and is one

of the Midland Railway 156 Class which were a class of 2-4-0 tender engines built at Derby Works between 1866–1874. In total 29 of the class were built under the Midland Railway and 21 survived to become part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) fleet of engines in 1923. By then they were reduced to the humblest of roles. The LMS recognised the significance of the class and number 156 itself was ear-marked for preservation but the decision was over turned and the engine scrapped in 1932. However fifteen years later one of its classmates was spared. It can be seen at the

Midland Railway Centre at Butterley  

 

 

This is the oldest surviving Midland Railway engine

 

 

LMSR 1P 2-4-0 No 22 heads a Birmingham bound train standing at Kings Norton station on Saturday 7th November 1931. The Midland Railway double framed engine was one of the long lived Kirtley "156" class. It was also one of the five which survived long enough to be renumbered onto the LMSR duplicate list of 1934.

 

My thanks to Warwickshire Railways.com I have reprinted their article as it is so good in it's

description of the class and their fate.

 

 

LMSR 1P 2-4-0 No 20002 photographed outside the shed at Bournville on Saturday 2nd March 1935. It may have been deliberately posed for H.C.Casserley, as the points behind the engine are not set for it to enter or leave the shed. Originally constructed in 1866 at the Midland Railway's Derby Works, this double framed locomotive entered service as No 158. Fitted with six foot three inch diameter driving wheels, it was one of twenty-nine Kirtley designed '156' class engines, the last of which was built in 1874, after his death. No 158 was substantially rebuilt in December 1881 with larger cylinders, new Johnson boiler and a cab instead of a weatherboard. The original tender was probably replaced by an inside framed one at the same time. The first of its classmates to be scrapped was No 157 in October 1894. In August 1896 No 158 was transferred onto the MR duplicate list [suffix "A" added], but despite this apparent downgrading, No 158A was further rebuilt with a larger Johnson boiler in June 1897. In 1907 the twenty-two surviving '156' class engines, all by then on the duplicate list, were renumbered from 1 to 22 in the main stock list, No 158A becoming No 2 in October.
All these survivors had been rebuilt like No 2 and were fitted with Deeley style chimneys and smokebox doors. This was the final form of the class and twenty-one lasted long enough to become LMSR property in 1923. The first one built, withdrawn in 1930, was restored to its Edwardian condition at Derby with a view to preservation, but the powers that be changed their mind and it was broken up in 1932. Five lasted long enough to be renumbered onto the LMSR duplicate list of 1934, No 2 becoming No 20002 in May of that year. It was given a front number plate at a later date, not the usual practice for 2xxxx engines. Withdrawn in July 1947, it was the last surviving ex-MR double framed passenger engine, and was restored to its Edwardian condition as Midland Railway No 158A, paired with the distinctive ' horseshoe' tender from Kirtley 0-6-0 No 22834 [21B allocated in 1945]. Unlike its unlucky classmate, it has been preserved as part of the national collection, and was placed on show in Birmingham during the New Street Station centenary celebrations in 1954, see lnwrbns_br1798. It can now be seen as a static exhibit at Midland Railway Butterley in Derbyshire, on loan from the National Railway Museum in York.
John Dews

Once again many thanks John Dews