Seeking: Birmingham area freight WTT 1990 [or similar]

[Dave W]

Hi,

As I've referred in other threads, I'm putting together a model railway based on the Midlands circa 1990.

I'm doing a fair bit of research into the running of that era - I've used several online timetables of the time to build a passenger TT, and I was hoping to locate freight documents to do a similar job.

I've had a look round and discovered Section CT of the London Midland region working timetable (here: https://britishrailwaybooks.co.uk/wtt/lmregion/br31179-5-ct-140584.php) This covers the exact area I'm looking at but this one is for 1984/85. The question is... Am I on the right lines with this - perhaps this isn't the whole picture? In practice, my layout would only deal with locos coming off trains working into an off-scene yard, so a totally comprehensive representation isn't necessary, but does anyone know where I might find a 1990 copy of this (or equivalent) to set me in the right direction?

Any help to this end would be most welcome!

Many thanks!
Dave

 

[150219]

This might be helpful. https://rcts.org.uk/archive/wtt-collection/

Otherwise, eBay is always a good bet. Some WTTs are rarer than others, so can be quite pricey. Other than that, some freight workings won't be shown in the WTT and would only be shown in trip working books, which would typically list a loco working between Saltley and Kingsbury back and forth/as required for example.

 

[Mollington St]

Hi Dave,

I might be able to help , i have many many WTTs listed on my site and many more still to scan and list at Transport Pasttimes .
Drop me a line via the site and i will come back to you , hope to be able to help

Oliver

 

[Dave W]

Thank you very much both - I'll seek out the website.

 

[jfollows]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353478303456?hash=item524cf2dee0:g:ILYAAOSwK-FgjZfI or https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393080173651?hash=item5b85677453:g:m0cAAOSwRodf8NGG, for example?
The sellers usually include information to enable you to identify the area covered.
My interest is in passenger trains but I've spent many pounds through eBay this year in the pursuit of a working timetable collection.

EDIT My yardstick price is £10 including postage, by the way. Per timetable. With exceptions of course. I think this is a reasonable price, and sellers who start out much more than this don't generally get my custom.

 

[Dave W]

Perfect - that '88 one is a great opening gambit! I shall buy it immediately. You should get commission! I think ~£10 is about right.

Thanks for your input; hugely welcomed!

 

[jfollows]

Just one additional point - check the terminology.
You're OK here, but if you change the year you're looking for, you might find that the working timetable is for "mandatory" train services, which includes freight trains. So, for example, a Freightliner Trafford Park to Holyhead via the Fallowfield loop and Manchester Victoria shows up in my 1977 WTT. But I think by your time period the freight trains had been separated out into their own timetable. In the 1970s there are also working timetables of "conditional" services, which are mainly freight.
As I say, I'm more interested in passenger services, but I've noticed this difference for different years.

 

[Adrian Barr]

Just stumbled across this thread and it reminded me of an excellent website I found a while back. Had some trouble finding it again!

http://bescotplus.co.uk/wednesbury_1989

It has entries from the train register at Wednesbury for a few dates in 1976, 1989 and 1993, together with loco numbers and comments on the traffic, and also includes trip workings which might not appear in a WTT. Gives a good outline of freight services on that line. Elsewhere on the site there are plenty of photos of the West Midlands area.

For a general freight timetable for 1990 it would be useful to get hold of a copy of "Freightfax" for that year. This was published in 1990 and 1991 by Michael Rhodes and Paul Shannon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Freight-Fax-1990-Comprehensive-Movements/dp/0947971467

It's a similar idea to the Freightmaster books (but in a smaller 6 x 4 inch format) and has tables for Washwood Heath, Bescot, Rugby and Oxford to give a picture of traffic passing through the West Midlands. It was a follow-up to their 3-volume "Freight Only" series (which described freight workings in the 1980s by area) which should show up in this Amazon link; any freight books by those authors are worth reading.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?i=stripb...es,+Michael+&+Shannon&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1

 

[Dave W]

Thanks Adrian, I’ve been making healthy use of Bescot Plus but I hadn’t discovered that corner of the site - most informative!

And thanks for the links - I shall review.