Electric Railway Museum

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The Electric Railway Museum April 2012 ElectricRailwayMuseum042012.jpg
The Electric Railway Museum April 2012

The Electric Railway Museum (formerly the Coventry Railway Centre) was located in Warwickshire, south-east of Coventry, near the village of Baginton. The heritage railway centre was immediately adjacent to Coventry Airport and so it was also known as "The Airfield Line". The site was managed by the Electric Railway Museum Limited, and was home to a sizeable collection of preserved electric multiple units (EMUs), which was the most diverse and historically significant collection of EMUs in the UK, containing unique items that are the last survivors of once typical and numerous classes. In addition, there were small industrial electric locomotives, two small industrial diesel locomotives, and one small industrial petrol locomotive, along with some other railway vehicles, which are owned by third parties. The land was leased from Coventry City Council, though it is located just outside the city boundary and is in the county of Warwickshire.

Contents

On 9 July 2017, it was announced that, owing to the site being sold for development, the museum would close on 8 October 2017 (the last open day of the year). The site was cleared by the end of July 2018 and all railway items and heritage buildings found new homes.

History

Coventry Steam Railway Centre

The site was originally established as the Coventry Steam Railway Centre in 1986 by a group who set out to preserve Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 tank locomotive number 1857. The group established the site and located the locomotive and other collected items of motive power, rolling stock and infrastructure, including Little Bowden Junction Midland Railway Signal Box there. The land was previously used as part of the municipal water treatment works and there had never been any railway infrastructure there until the creation of the Centre.

Suburban Electric Railway Association

With a small membership, progress was slow and by the mid-1990s had slowed nearly to a halt. The late nineties saw one of the original founders retire due to ill health and he sold his interest in the site to a consortium of Suburban Electric Railway Association (SERA) members, except the tank engine which was sold to another railway. By 2004, the other founders had left and SERA took over sole running of the site.

Electric Railway Museum

In 2009, the responsibility of managing the site passed to Electric Railway Museum Limited, a charitable company which had been established in 2007 to create a permanent home for preserving and representing Britain's electric railway heritage. [1] With this development, the original Coventry Railway Centre Limited company was wound up and its assets passed to Electric Railway Museum Limited. The site was open to the public, and group and individual visits could be admitted by prior booking. The first Chairman was Graeme Gleaves and the museum held its first public open day in September 2010. In 2011 the ERM won the Heritage Railway Association Best Small Group award.

Track layout

The track layout comprised two three road fans of sidings. Those at the end of the site adjacent to the Midlands Air Museum were complete with a headshunt that ran through a 40-metre cutting that was excavated by the members of the original steam centre in the early nineties. The sidings nearest Rowley Road were unconnected. The sidings were protected by an inner fence to create a secure compound.

Facilities

Other improvements made to the site by Electric Railway Museum in late 2009 included the provision of mains electricity on site and state-of-the-art CCTV equipment.

Stock

The vast majority of items not being actively restored were sheeted over to protect them from rusting, vandalism, and other damage.

Electric Multiple Units

Overhead EMUs
Third rail Southern Region
Third rail Midland Region.
Others

Locomotives

Diesel Locomotives
Electric Locomotives

Carriages

Closure

On 9 July 2017, it was announced that, owing to the site being sold for development, the museum would close on 8 October 2017 (the last open day of the year). [5] The future of the museum and its collection of unique electric multiple units and other items was uncertain at that time, with efforts to raise £10,000 underway to cover the costs of moving the stock to an as yet unknown location. Ruston & Hornsby 88 diesel shunter, nicknamed "Crabtree", and BR Class 309 unit 960 101 were moved to the Tanat Valley Light Railway in May 2018 with the EMU to serve as a static museum and buffet train at Nantmawr. [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multiple unit</span> Self-propelled train

A multiple-unit train or simply multiple unit (MU) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more carriages joined, which when coupled to another multiple unit can be controlled by a single driver, with multiple-unit train control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 07</span>

The British Rail Class 07 diesel locomotive is an off-centre cab 0-6-0 diesel-electric shunter type built by Ruston & Hornsby in 1962 for the Southern Region of British Railways. The 14 members of the class were primarily used at Southampton Docks and later also at Eastleigh Works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Kent Railway (heritage)</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Engineering Limited</span> Railway rolling stock manufacturer

British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was the railway systems engineering subsidiary of British Rail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 73</span> British electro-diesel locomotive

The British Rail Class 73 is a British electro-diesel locomotive. The type is unusual in that it can operate from the Southern Region's 650/750 V DC third-rail or an on-board diesel engine to allow it to operate on non-electrified routes. This makes it very versatile, although the diesel engine produces less power than is available from the third-rail supply so the locomotives are rarely operated outside of the former Southern Region of British Rail. Following the withdrawal and scrapping of the more powerful Class 74 electro-diesels in 1977, the Class 73 was unique on the British railway network until the introduction of the Class 88 electro-diesels in 2017. Ten locomotives have been scrapped.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 309</span> Electric multiple unit

The British Rail Class 309 "Clacton Express" electric multiple units (EMUs) were built by British Rail (BR) York Carriage Works from 1962–1963. They were initially classified as Class AM9 before the introduction of TOPS. These units were the first express 25 kV alternating current (AC) units to be built by British Rail and were their first EMUs capable of 100 mph.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Anglian Railway Museum</span> Industrial railway museum in Essex, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 37</span> Class of diesel-electric locomotives

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambrian Heritage Railways</span> Heritage railway in Shropshire, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 307</span>

The British Rail Class 307 electric multiple units were built by BR at Eastleigh Works from 1954 to 1956. They were initially classified as AM7 before the introduction of TOPS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruston & Hornsby</span> British industrial equipment manufacturer, 1918–1966

Ruston & Hornsby was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England founded in 1918. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam locomotives and a range of internal combustion engines, and later gas turbines. It is now a subsidiary of Siemens.

An electro-diesel locomotive is a type of locomotive that can be powered either from an electricity supply or by using the onboard diesel engine. For the most part, these locomotives are built to serve regional, niche markets with a very specific purpose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 71</span> Class of electric locomotives

The British Rail Class 71 was an electric locomotive used on the Southern Region of British Railways. Unlike Southern Region electro-diesel locomotives they could not operate away from the electrified system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 325</span> British bulk mail carrying electric train

The British Rail Class 325 is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train owned by and operated for the Royal Mail to carry bulk mail. The class consists of four-car sets with dual-voltage 25 kV (AC) and 750 V (DC) power. While the Class 325 cabs bear a resemblance to the Networker family of DMUs and EMUs, the Class 325 is based on the Class 319.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Co-Co locomotive</span> Locomotive wheel arrangement

Co-Co is the wheel arrangement for diesel and electric locomotives with two six-wheeled bogies with all axles powered, with a separate traction motor per axle. The equivalent UIC classification (Europe) for this arrangement is Co′Co′, or C-C for AAR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 506</span>

The British Rail Class 506 was a 3 carriage electric multiple unit (EMU) built for local services between Manchester, Glossop and Hadfield on the Woodhead Line, which was electrified in 1954 on the 1,500 V DC overhead system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanat Valley Light Railway</span>

The Tanat Valley Light Railway (TVLR) was a 15-mile (24 km) long standard gauge light railway. It ran westwards from Llanyblodwel in Shropshire, about 5 miles or 8 km south-west of Oswestry. It crossed the Wales–England border and continued up the Tanat valley, terminating at Llangynog in Powys. It opened in 1904, providing access to a fairly remote area, and transport facilities for slate production and agriculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Dorset Railway</span>

North Dorset Railway is a heritage railway based at Shillingstone railway station on the former Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Coventry's Electric Railway Museum to close". www.whatsonlive.co.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Electric Railway Museum". Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  3. 1 2 Hewitt, Sam (31 October 2019). "Electric Railway Museum stock stored at Colne Valley - The Railway Magazine". Archived from the original on 17 October 2020.
  4. "Electric Railway Museum". Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  5. "Coventry rail museum set to close in October". Coventry Telegraph. 11 July 2017. Archived from the original on 14 July 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  6. "untitled". TVLR Facebook group. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  7. "untitled". TVLR Facebook group. Archived from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2018.

52°22′25″N1°28′54″W / 52.373593°N 1.4816°W / 52.373593; -1.4816