A plan of the GWR shed and Works area at Wolverhampton Stafford Road circa 1933, following the expansion of the Works as carried out with the benefit of a Government grant. The newly developed site is that to the west side of the Victoria Basin line, stretching north to a point beyond Stafford Road Junction, with Oxley viaduct (on the Shrewsbury line) immediately beyond.

A detailed floor plan of the new repair, erecting, and machine shop areas, also indicating the uses and applications for the various equipment. The south end of the building is to the right of the diagram, the machine shop being located on the west side of the new buildings. Author's Collection - Supplement to the Railway Gazette, 1933.

A general view of the newly completed Works extension, as seen from the south end in July 1932. The large collection of wheel sets in the foreground belongs to the various locomotives undergoing overhaul and repair inside the Works. Beyond the nearest sets of wheels is the path of a traverser, the building to the right being the tank shop. Beyond there is the domain of the six-ton Goliath crane, which is partly in sight behind the building, and then there is another traverser across the south end of the main building. The wheel shop and machine shop are on the nearest side, with the middle and far bays being the repair or erecting shop. The need to lift entire engines within the repair shop necessitated the increased height of the building for these two bays. Phillip Coutanche Collection.

As already mentioned, the newly-regenerated Works was now capable of handling Heavy repairs to all but the largest locomotives, and yet even as early as 1939 a scheme had been mooted to close down the Stafford Road Works. In the event, the planned closure was summarily postponed with the outbreak of World War II, and it was not revived.

As with all other manufacturing industries, extra work had to be undertaken at Stafford Road Works following the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Swindon Works became involved in the construction of additional LMS-type locomotives, and as a result Wolverhampton Works then had to take on what would otherwise have been 'Swindon jobs'. Some of the existing LMS and newly-built Ministry of Supply '8F' 2-8-0s were maintained at Stafford Road Works. There was also an influx of some of the U.S. Army Transportation Corps 2-8-0s on loan from the U.S.A. (built for service in Western Europe) which were brought up to Wolverhampton for various adjustments to be made prior to these engines entering service. Despite all of the air-raids that took place across the industrial Midlands, the Stafford Road Works did not sustain any bomb damage, or none that was publicised, and it was able to carry on with its contribution to the war effort right through until the time that hostilities ceased in 1945.

Another official GWR photograph, taken on 24 April 1932, shows the Works erecting shop. Locomotives entered the building at the south end, and repairs were then carried out in various stages along the 450ft length of the shop. When the wheels had been replaced, the locomotives were drawn along by an electric winch set up at the north end for the final stages of overhaul and repair to be concluded. Heavy engine parts were moved around by way of four 50-ton capacity overhead cranes and two 6-ton cranes. Smaller cranes were also available for use in the adjoining machine shop.

After the war, the Stafford Road Works received much of Swindon's second-hand machinery and had to continue on through the austerity years as the economy slowly improved, the Works reverting to a more settled existence again. On a general basis, nothing much had altered at the Works by the time of Nationalisation in 1948, and Stafford Road Works was now incorporated as a part of the now-new British Railways (Western Region). Locomotive types that were repaired at the Works during the BR era included almost all of the Churchward, Collett, and Hawksworth GWR classes, with some inside visits by the 'Kings'. Among the BR-built Standard engines, examples of '4MT' and '5MT' 4-6-0s were also dealt with at Stafford Road Works, together with the '3MT' rated '82000' series 2-6-2Ts, the '78000' series 2-6-0s, and even '9F' 2-10-0s. However, a casual visitor would still have found the usual collection of small tank engines in and around the Works and sheds.

Some noteworthy visitors to Stafford Road Works included at least two of the ex-LMS unrebuilt 'Patriot' class 4-6-0s from Bristol (Barrow Road) shed, following the transfer of that engine shed to the Western Region in 1958, and three ex-London & North Western Railway Webb '17 inch' Goods 0-6-0s, which were on their way from the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway to Swindon for scrapping in 1950. Former Taff Vale Railway tanks, amongst some other old GWR absorbed types, were also repaired at Wolverhampton Works in BR days. During the course of 1956, four ex-LMS Pacifics were loaned to the Western Region when the Great Western 'Kings' were temporarily withdrawn as a class for attention to their front bogies; these Pacific locomotives were also stabled and also maintained at Stafford Road during that period.

The machine section inside the new Stafford Road Works erecting shop is seen in an official GWR publicity photograph issued by the drawing office at Swindon on 27 July 1932, shortly after the completion of the Government grant-assisted project. The enlargement of the Works was carried out with the assistance of funding made available under the provisions of the Loans & Guarantee Act, 1929, which was introduced to help alleviate national unemployment. Building work commenced on 5 November 1929 on the site to the rear of the old S&BR shops, and was finalised by 1932. This was one of a series of large glass-plate photographs taken by the GWR photographer both during the construction and soon after completion of the Works extension, most, if not all of which still exist. The machine tools were arranged in groups of eight, the electricity to power them being supplied by the Wolverhampton Corporation at 6,000 volts.

A view from the roof of the 1932 repair shop at Stafford Road, looking towards Oxley viaduct and Shrewsbury. The pointwork on the right is Stafford Road Junction, where Up passenger trains diverged left for Wolverhampton (Low Level), the line straight on (passing between the expanded Works site) being for Victoria Basin. Within the Works site itself, the engine weighbridge house is on the left. It was here that newly-repaired locomotives were given their first steaming. Able to cater for all sizes of GWR locomotives, prior to this, newly repaired locomotives had to be sent over to Tyseley to be weighed before being allowed back into traffic. The building in the foreground is the inspection pit house. Author's Collection.

The 6-ton gantry crane that served the Works inspection yard. This travelling crane spanned nine roads of track and was installed during the course of the 1931/32 enlargement of the Works. Author’s Collection - Supplement to the Railway Gazette, 1933.

The photograph above and the one below were taken on the same day in 1935. They combine to show the length of the erecting shop at Stafford Road Works, as both ends of the building are collectively shown. The smokebox and bunker ends of 2-6-2T No 5122 (built at Swindon Works in 1905) help to locate the photographer's relative position between the two scenes. The 2-6-2T's side tanks have been removed and are out of view; they are probably receiving attention elsewhere in the Works as other removed parts seem to be in the centre of the erecting shop. Various 0-6-0PTs and passenger class locomotives are also receiving attention. The view is probably photographed at a weekend or during a lunch break, hence the absence of staff, the two 50-ton overhead cranes that serve this side of the erecting shop being parked at the extremities of the building. Both Lens of Sutton Collection.

As is well known, it was during the 1950s that British Railways began to further its major modernisation plan, which included the rapid replacement of steam locomotives with diesel and electric power. Even so, Stafford Road Works was still expected to continue to have a future in the new order of things, an internal report stating that 'The modernisation programme, in its furtherance of the progress of the railways, will make itself felt in Stafford Road Works as the steam locomotive is replaced by the new diesel-hydraulic and diesel-electric locomotives. These changes will, in time, bring a different class of work and repair to Stafford Road, and to meet this change, proposals and plans are being formulated for these Works to undertake the maintenance of main-line diesel locomotives in the future'.

An 0-6-0 locomotive, No 2380, the last of the '2361' class to be built, is seen nearing the end of a General overhaul on 3 March 1937 at a time when the engine has just six years of service left before its withdrawal. A compressed-air device hangs outside of the smokebox, this being used to expand the ends of the boiler tubes. Author's Collection.

A GWR 4-4-0 locomotive, No 3366 (formerly Earl of Cork) is pictured awaiting attention in Stafford Road Works on 1 March 1939. R. M. Casserley Collection.

A busy scene in the early years of British Railways (Western Region) activity at the Stafford Road Works shows 0-6-0PT No 3740, without its pannier tanks, undergoing an extensive overhaul on 7 May 1950. Author's Collection/R. S. Carpenter Photos.
Swindon Works was, however, by now very much involved in the manufacture of the new diesel-hydraulic locomotives. As a result, the Stafford Road Works was called upon to deal with a great deal of the steam locomotive maintenance work which would otherwise have been carried out at Swindon, and during the course of 1959 some 310 locomotives and 183 boilers were all repaired at Wolverhampton Works. It was in that year that a list of closures for various Locomotive Works appeared in The Sunday Times and also in The New Statesman, with Stafford Road being on the closures list.

It seems that the management at Stafford Road Works were themselves unaware of the intended closure, and so urgent enquiries brought an assurance that the Wolverhampton jobs were safe, for the Works had been designated to become a main-line diesel maintenance depot. However, apart from a brief guest appearance on the canal-side coaling stage turntable of Stafford Road running shed by the prototype Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company diesel locomotive Lion in May of 1962, nothing was to come of this proposal. Even when the new 'Western' class diesel-hydraulic locomotives started to make their appearance later on in the same month (prior to the wholesale withdrawal of the 'Kings' in September 1963), these were all stabled over at Oxley shed, and likewise with the Brush Sulzer Type '4' diesels which followed, instead of sending them to Stafford Road. The end was very clearly now in sight, and it was to come within the next two years.

0-6-2T No 6600 is seen mid-overhaul inside the 1932 Stafford Road Works building, circa 1960, together with an 0-6-0T that is believed to be No 9618 and a 2-6-2 Prairie tank, which are awaiting attention to the rear of the line. By this time Swindon Works was already at the heart of the Western Region's move to diesel-hydraulic traction, and so Wolverhampton had been benefiting from additional steam work. However, a closure threat suddenly looming during a very busy 1959 saw staff at all levels concerned about the future. They were reassured that Wolverhampton Works would ultimately be a main line diesel repair depot, so their jobs were safe. Author's Collection.

A '5600' class 0 6 2T and '8400' 0-6-0T are seen approaching the end of repairs in the eastern bay of the 1932 repair shop in 1962, in a view looking south. Simon Dewey.

The Wolverhampton Express & Star newspaper reported in the September of 1963 that the first forty-one Stafford Road employees had been given six-weeks notice of redundancy. This was done by way of a single-page pro-forma letter, with the employee's name written in by hand. Following departure of the last locomotive in February 1964, Stafford Road Works was then closed completely in June of that year, after 115 years of history, with over five hundred men in total losing their jobs. Many of the redundant employees went on to find alternative jobs with places like the Goodyear Tyre Factory, Courtaulds, and the local aerospace factories, usually, it has to be said, at better rates of pay.

Stafford Road lower yard, around September 1962, with the sprawling Works complex in the background and Dunstall Park station to the right. This part of the Works site was developed in the 1850s, and this photograph makes an interesting comparison with that taken from a near identical position in 1883, as seen in part one. The most prominent locomotive in this scene is No 4096 Highclere Castle, with its distinctive curved-pattern inside-cylinder casing. This 4-6-0 locomotive would be in charge of the last 'Cornishman' working out from Wolverhampton (Low Level) station on Sunday, 9 September 1963. J. B. Bucknall.

No 5938 5tanley Hall is seen here in use as a stationary boiler outside of the main Works erecting shop in June 1963, having been condemned the previous month. This 4-6-0 locomotive would subsequently be cut up at Stafford Road Works by September 1963. Simon Dewey.
   
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