By way of contrast, a mixed traffic locomotive of another era, William Dean-designed GWR 'Barnum' class 2-4-0 No 3216, was also to be found at Oxley on the same day, the last Sunday of October 1934, at rest inside the shed. Considered to be the best of Dean's 2-4-0s, the class of just twenty engines dated from 1889 and brought an end to the GWR's use of 'sandwich' frames - outside frames with timber between the two sheets of steel. Superheated as late as August 1929, the pictured locomotive would finally be withdrawn in May 1936 from Croes Newydd shed. Author's Collection.

Eastleigh-allocated Bulleid 'Battle of Britain' class Pacific No 34087 145 Squadron is positioned at the Oxley shed coaling stage in 1965 having worked a Summer Saturday train up from the Southern Region to Wolverhampton (Low Level) station. Completed by British Railways in December 1948 while 145 Squadron itself was temporarily disbanded, this Light Pacific was rebuilt at Eastleigh Works from its original air-smoothed form in December 1960, this rejuvenation ultimately seeing it through to the end of Southern Region steam in July 1967. Of note in this view are the toothings in the rear wall of the Oxley coaler building, clear to see in the bright sunlight, the purpose of which would have been to key-in any later extension to the coaling bay. In the event, no such extension was required. Doug Nicholson/Simon Dewey Collection.
One of the Oxley (2B) allocation of ex-LMS 'Black Five' class 4-6-0s, No 44865, is coaled by way of the GWR's traditional archaic method at Oxley in February 1967, not long before the shed's closure in March of that year.

Completed at Crewe Works as LMS No 4865 on 28 February 1945, this locomotive was transferred to Oxley shed from Tyseley (another ex-GWR shed that had passed to the LMR) in November 1966.

It would serve from Oxley into March 1967, before being forced to find a new home; that would prove to be Crewe (South), and it would be withdrawn from there on 30 September 1967.

Simon Dewey.

BR Standard '4MT' 2-6-0 No 76039 is seen inside a largely deserted Oxley shed in the early months of 1967. By now the shed was becoming run down and it was mainly inhabited by former LMS and BR Standard engines, together with various diesel locomotives, the latter being stabled around the turntables well into the summer of that year. This depicted Riddles-designed Mogul had reached Oxley from Willesden shed, and it would be based here from September 1965 until March 1967. A Doncaster Works product of July 1954, No 76039 would go on to see some use from Croes Newydd shed, but only until June 1967, and at the year's end it would be awaiting its fate at the hands of J. Buttigieg's scrapyard in Newport.

Two ex-LMS Stanier 'Black Fives', No 44944 of Oxley shed and No 45062 of Trafford Park, stand in front of Oxley's main shed building on its final day of steam working - 4 March 1967. The photographer noted that there were thirteen 'Black Fives' here on that day, although not all were serviceable, with twelve Stanier '8Fs' making the other dominant class. Just five other steam engines were on hand, the last ex-GWR locomotives having long gone. The first casualty of this scene would be No 45062, which would only serve into April 1967, and even the massive shed buildings would soon come down - the left-hand gable of the building enclosed the once busy lifting shop, and that to the right, the stores and offices; the lower central gable, between these, was above the main south entrance to the shed itself. Mike Wood.

The overgrown rubble is still there, and for a while this included some of the green enamelled light shades that at one time hung inside the main buildings. The introduction of modern security fencing around the entire perimeter now prevents any unauthorised access to the site. The approach roads that once formed the shed running yard now serve the Alstom (Midlands Train Care Centre) high-speed traction depot, which in its own way still provides some continuity for the long tradition of local railway use for the area, instead of it having been redeveloped for housing or industrial purposes, as is so often the case.

A new shed code of OY remains in force to date, and the visiting diesel and electric locomotives can often be seen in the area of what used to be the old shed yard and sidings. A modern signal box (opened on 30 March 1969), which was positioned more or less on the opposite side of the track to where the old wooden Oxley South signal box used to be located, replaced the three South, Middle, and North manual signal boxes. However, even this new box was itself closed down and replaced in November 2010 when the West Midland Signalling Centre at Saltley took over control of the route out of Oxley.

Locomotive Allocations at Oxley Shed

Details of the different types of locomotive allocated to Oxley shed from the Edwardian years onwards would provide sufficient information for a separate publication in its own right. In the early years the allocation was, of course, primarily goods engines, and this situation remained fairly constant until the 1930s when various types of mixed traffic engines, such as 'Hall', 'Grange' and 'Manor' class 4-6-0s, started to appear and be allocated on a regular basis. The years following the end of World War 11, and after Nationalisation in 1948, saw the Oxley allocation begin to change into what was soon to become a very eclectic mix. As previously mentioned, by the mid-1960s 'foreign' former LMS locomotives and BR Standard engines were starting to mix in on a regular basis with the old GWR engines.

Express passenger 'Castle' class steam locomotives had been a regular sight on shed for many years, and even the occasional former LNER 'Bl' class 4-6-0 had been serviced there. Add into this mix various ex-War Department 'Austerity' engines, and even visits by Southern Region Pacifics on football specials or occasionally working everyday trains from the south, together with attention to engines working railway enthusiasts' special trains, and you begin to have just an overview of the transformation that eventually took place. In the last few months, up until closure in 1967, Oxley shed only hosted ex-LMS and BR Standard steam locomotives, a situation that the Directors of the GWR back in 1905 would never have imagined.

The last steam locomotives to be allocated to Oxley shed were three former LMS Stanier '8F' class 2-8-0s - Nos 48105, 48177 and 48160 - which arrived on 4 February 1967; they were withdrawn from service only a month later. However, the honour of the very last locomotive to be allocated to Oxley fell to No 03039, which was one of the original batch of diesel-electric shunters allocated in 1954, but in later years this diesel shunter had been transferred away, only to return to be shedded there once again from 25 March 1967; it was soon transferred over to Bescot on 22 April 1967 after Oxley shed had officially closed down.

The very last day of steam operation at Oxley was Saturday, 4 March 1967, and the following locomotives were noted at the shed on that day.

In the shed yard were:

'Black Five' 4-6-0s Nos 44945, 44944, 44812, 45344, 45062.
Stanier '8F' 2-8-0s Nos 48061, 48674, 48018, 48556, 48165 (sidings).
BR '9F' 2-10-0 No 92079.

In the workshop and shed were:

'Black Five' 4-6-0s Nos 45186, 45006, 45264, 44856, 44876, 44808.
Stanier '8F' 2-8-0s Nos 48105, 48035, 48464. BR '4MT' 2-6-0s Nos 76039, 76041.

Stored locomotives awaiting scrapping were:

'Black Five' 4-6-0s Nos 45040, 45283.
'8F' 2-8-0s Nos 48724, 48475, 48180, 48177. BR '4MT' 2-6-0 No 76087.
Ex-LMS '2F' 2-6-0 No 46426.

Also present in Oxley sidings was a former Great Western Railway 1890s' wooden-bodied clerestory-roofed coach, Departmental No ED DW14571, which had recently been moved up from one of the bay platforms at Wolverhampton (Low Level) station, and sadly it too was awaiting scrapping. Some of the original GWR fabric window blinds from this coach have however been saved from destruction.

This former GWR 1890s clerestory coach (Departmental No W14571 W) was photographed while stored in Oxley sidings on 4 March 1967 having previously been in use as an engineer's and railwaymen's mess coach; at this late stage in its life it was painted matt black. Over a period of time it had been brought up from Birmingham to Wolverhampton (Low Level) station, and for a while it was left in a bay platform there. Eventually taken to Oxley sidings, sometime later it was returned to the Civil Engineer's Department just outside Wolverhampton (Low Level) station where the wooden body was deliberately set fire to and destroyed to gain access to the metal underframe for scrap purposes. Another lost opportunity for the preservation of a GWR vintage coach, which at the time, despite its prima facia appearance of neglect, was in fact in reasonable condition, and it would nowadays have provided an excellent restoration project. Mike Wood.
 
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