Engines with rocking grates and self-cleaning smokeboxes were particularly welcomed by the men in Staveley (Barrow Hill)’s Preparation & Disposals Link. These engines included Ivatt ‘4MTs’ and ‘9Fs’, the latter often arriving with ironstone trains from Wellingborough. Perhaps this is what has brought ‘9F’ No. 92155 to Staveley in this undated view. Either way, the 2-10-0 stands in the shed yard, with the ramp to the coaling stage to the right.
P.R. BINKS/COLOUR RAILOne of the less romantic sides of footplate life was the Preparation & Disposal Link, which, as its name suggests, dealt with the preparation and disposal of a locomotive before and after a working. This is what life was like in this link at Staveley (18D), later Barrow Hill (41E) and now better known as Barrow Hill Roundhouse Museum.
When I started my footplate career, 18D was a purely goods depot, home to about 75 locomotives, comprising ‘8Fs’, ‘4Fs’, ‘3F’ 0-6-0s and ‘3F’ 0-6-0Ts (we called them ‘Jockos’ rather than ‘Jinties’), ‘1F’ 0-6-0Ts and ‘0F’ 0-4-0STs. Later, ‘WD’ 2-8-0s and Ivatt ‘4MTs’ replaced the ‘8Fs’ and ‘4Fs’.
The shed was built in 1870 to replace a much smaller structure. It was the expansion of the nearby Staveley Iron& Chemical Company, plus the growth of the north Derbyshire coal field, that spurred the need for a new shed.
The ‘Jockos’ shunted the four nearby yards that received and despatched trains. The trains were worked by ‘8Fs’ to destinations such as Toton, Washwood Heath, Rowsley, and Gowhole Sidings.
The ‘1Fs’ and ‘0Fs’ were hired to