The Electric Railway Museum (formerly the Coventry Railway Centre) was located in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

, south-east of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

, near the village of Baginton. The heritage railway centre was immediately adjacent to

Coventry Airport Coventry Airport is located south-southeast of Coventry city centre, in the village of Baginton, Warwickshire, England. The airport is operated and licensed by Coventry Airport Limited. Its CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P902) allows flights ...

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 locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or g ...

s, two small industrial diesel locomotives, and one small industrial

petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic c ...

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

. 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 Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. History The company was founded as Hudswell and Clarke in 1860. In 1870 the name was changed to Hud ...

0-6-0

tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...

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 The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

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 2008 to create a permanent home for preserving and representing Britain's electric railway heritage. 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 Heritage Railway Association (HRA) is an umbrella organisation representing the majority of the heritage and tourist railways, railway museums, steam centres and railway preservation groups in the UK and Ireland. Groups and individuals involved ...

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 A headshunt (or escape track in the United States) is a short length of track provided to release locomotives at terminal platforms, or to allow shunting to take place clear of main lines. Terminal headshunt A 'terminal headshunt' is a short le ...

that ran through a 40-metre

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

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 Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH) ...

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term ...

, and other damage.

Electric Multiple Units

;Overhead EMUs *BR Class 307 Vehicle 75023 (DT) Br blue. Built in 1955. (To

Colne Valley Railway The Colne Valley Railway is a heritage railway based at Castle Hedingham Station, near Halstead in Essex, England. The railway consists of a long running line, with a fully reconstructed station, signal box and railway yard. History The ra ...

.) *BR Class 308 Vehicle 75881 (DTCoL) (To

.) *BR Class 309 Units 960 101 & 960 102 (to the

Lavender Line The Lavender Line is a heritage railway based at Isfield Station, near Uckfield in East Sussex, England. History The Lavender Line was originally part of the Lewes to Uckfield Railway opened to the public on 18 October 1858. This indepen ...

and

Tanat Valley Light Railway The Tanat Valley Light Railway (TVLR) was a 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 va ...

*BR Class 312 Vehicles 78037 (DTCoL) and 71205 (TSO) (To

.) *BR Class 370 Vehicle 49006 (NDM) (To

Crewe Heritage Centre Crewe Heritage Centre is a railway museum located in Crewe, England. Managed by the Crewe Heritage Trust, the museum is located between the railway station and the town centre; the site was the location of the 'Old Works' which was demolished i ...

) ;Third rail Southern Region *BR Class 405 4Sub unit 4732 Vehicle nos: 12795-12354-10239-12796 (To Locomotive Storage Ltd.) *BR Class 414 2Hap unit 4311 Vehicle nos: 61287-75407 (To

Peak Rail Peak Rail is a preserved railway in Derbyshire, England, which operates a steam and heritage diesel service for tourists and visitors to both the Peak District and the Derbyshire Dales. The preserved railway line is over 3½ miles (5.6 km) ...

.) *BR Class 416 2EPB units 932053 and 6307 (To Battlefield Line Railway and Hope Farm, Sellindge, Kent.) *BR Class 457 unit 7001 vehicle 67300 (To

East Kent Railway The East Kent Railway (EKR) was an early railway operating between Strood and Faversham in Kent, England, during 1858 and 1859. In the latter year it changed its name to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway to reflect its ambitions to build a ...

.) ;Third rail Midland Region. *BR Class 501 2 car unit formed DMBS vehicle 61183 + DTBS vehicle 75186 (To

MoD Bicester MoD Bicester is a large military storage and distribution centre just outside Bicester in Oxfordshire. History The site dates back to September 1942 when a depot was constructed near Bicester to provide logistical support for operations in Europ ...

.) *BR Class 503 unit 28690+29720+29289 (To Locomotive Storage Ltd.) ;Others *

Liverpool Overhead Railway The Liverpool Overhead Railway (known locally as the Dockers' Umbrella or Ovee) was an overhead railway in Liverpool which operated along the Liverpool Docks and opened in 1893 with lightweight electric multiple units. The railway had a number ...

Rebuilt First Class Trailer Car No. 7 (To Hope Farm, Sellindge.)

Locomotives

;Diesel Locomotives *

Ruston & Hornsby 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 ca ...

0-4-0 Diesel Electric 165DE b. 1950 Wks. No. 268881 "Mazda" (Operational) (To Battlefield Line Railway.) *

4wd Diesel Mechanical 88DS b. 1953 Wks. No. 338416 "Crabtree" (Undergoing restoration) (To

.) ;Electric Locomotives *Spondon Power Station No. 1 = 4wd battery/Overhead Electric Loco b. 1935 English Electric Wks. No. E905 (Operational) (To Battlefield Line Railway.) *

Kearsley Power Station Kearsley Power Station was a coal-fired power station in Stoneclough, near Kearsley, Bolton, England. It was designed in 1927 by Dr H.F. Parshall for the Lancashire Electric Power Company. The original installation was known as Kearsley 'A', c ...

No. 1 = Bo-Bo Overhead 550vDC Electric Loco b. 1928

Hawthorn Leslie R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilder and locomotive manufacturer. The company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982. History The company was form ...

Wks No. 3682 (Awaiting restoration) (To

.) *

Heysham Power Station Heysham nuclear power station is operated by EDF Energy in Heysham, Lancashire, England. The site is divided into two separately-managed nuclear power stations, Heysham 1 and Heysham 2, both with two reactors of the advanced gas-cooled reactor ...

No. 1 = Bo-Bo Battery Electric Loco b. 1945

Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Ltd (RSH) was a locomotive builder with works in North East England. History The company was formed in September 1937 when Robert Stephenson and Company, which was based in Darlington, took over the locomotive ...

Wks No. 7284 "Doug Tottman" (Operational) (To

Carriages

*No. 135 City & South London Railway Wood Body Carriage (To Hope Farm, Sellindge.) *No. 163 City & South London Railway Steel Body Carriage (to

Neasden Depot Neasden Depot is a London Underground depot located in Neasden in the London Borough of Brent, between Neasden and Wembley Park stations on the Metropolitan line. It is the largest depot on the London Underground, and is currently responsible f ...

.) *No. 60750 / RDB 975386 experimental tilting coach 'Hastings' (To Battlefield Line Railway.)

Gallery

File:English Electric E905 (6243717021).jpg, English Electric "Spondon No. 1" E905 File:Ruston & Hornsby 268881 (6243667561).jpg, Ruston 0-4-0DE No. 268881 "Mazda" File:Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn 7284 (6250860062).jpg, RSH No. 7284 "Doug Tottman" File:Kearsley power station 9m07.JPG, Hawthorn Leslie Kearsley Power Station No. 1 File:Ruston & Hornsby 338416 (6244233212).jpg, Ruston 88DS 4wd No. 338416 "Crabtree" File:Hibberd Petrol Loco (7652242382).jpg, Hibberd 4wd No. 2895 Image:British Rail Class 457 - unit 7001 - vehicle 67300.JPG, British Rail Class 457, unit 7001, vehicle 67300 Image:British Rail Class 503 (DTS number 29289).JPG, British Rail Class 503, DTS no. 29289.

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). 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.

88 diesel shunter, nicknamed "Crabtree", and BR Class 309 unit 960 101 were moved to the

in May 2018 with the EMU to serve as a static museum and buffet train at Nantmawr.

References

External links

Electric Railway Museum Limited
- Site Managers as well as owners of the Class 309 units, SR 2-EPB Unit, Class 307, Class 308 and custodians of Spondon No.1 Locomotive.
Suburban Electric Railway Association
- Custodians of many other items of stock on site. {{Coord, 52.373593, -1.4816, region:GB-WAR, display=title Heritage railways in Warwickshire Railway museums in England Electric railways