I was born into a railway family, my father and three of his brothers being L.M.S. employees, and their father foreman for "Wagon Repairs Ltd" in Bushbury Yard until his death in 1925. As a small boy in the early 1930s my chief interest lay in the activities of the Shed and I was regularly chastised for arriving home filthy dirty from the grimy grass which grew in the fields along Fordhouse Road and Showell Road. I soon learned to distinguish the principal types of locomotive by colour and shape and well remember peering through the fence on the bridge to see a pair of standard compounds alongside the shed. At that time these engines worked in pairs on the London expresses, but were replaced when the rebuilt 'Claughtons' appeared as 'Patriots'.

I must have been about eight years of age when I started train spotting as a regular hobby during the summer holidays. A group of boys collected on the Showell Road side of the road bridge abutment, opposite the signal box. This was before the factories were built on that side of the road. From this point we had an excellent view of both lines to the south and on a clear day could see the steam of engines in the, High Level station. By the time an express reached Bushbury it was travelling at full speed and the sight of a 'George' or a 'Prince' swaying and rocking down the hill, its high pitched whistle screeching as it approached, cannot be forgotten. Some of the names come back to me, 'Gallipoli', 'Racehorse' and 'Queen of the Belgians'. On the old Grand Junction line speed was usually much slower, with trains being frequently held up at the signal near Nine Elms Lane. Many of these were the Bournville excursions usually hauled by a 2-6-0 'Crab'. Each evening would appear over this line the Saltley Goods with a Midland 0-6-0 at its head. These were of innumerable variety, and some had been rebuilt several times. I was never able to remember the differences between the permutations.

Although we had an unimpaired view of the lines to the south, we could see nothing of trains travelling from the north, and could only wait as the noise of each express increased until it burst into view under the bridge. The most impressive of these trains was The 'Pines Express' which ran from Manchester to Bournmouth each day, usually in several parts. The first part usually with a 'Royal Scot' travelled over the Grand Junction line to Birmingham and the second via the Stour Valley line through Wolverhampton.

Also from time to time would appear from under the bridge a line of coal wagons bound for the G.W.R.  junction line off the Grand Junction line. These would be pushed by one of standard 0-6-0 tank engines called 'Jintys'.

Local trains to Stafford and Stoke were usually hauled by a Fowler tank engine, small or large, although occasionally a Precursor tank would be used.

The ubiquitous L.N.W.R. ‘D’ 0-8-0s handled most of the goods trains but sometimes a demoted 'Claughton', original or rebuilt would appear.

A 'Patriot' took the Camden Goods southwards each evening just after eight o'clock.

The group of train spotters ranged in age from about eight to twenty, and among the older boys there was much talk about the exotic sights to be seen in places as far away as Crewe and Toton.

As the 1930s progressed the 'Black 5s' appeared, at first without top feed and then the tapered boilered 2-6-0s, efficient no doubt, but less attractive than the Horwich design with its huge outside cylinders. The tapered boilered tanks appeared to supplement the Fowlers, and occasionally we saw the 2-8-0 freight engines which were to give such excellent service overseas during the war. (I came across one on-shed at Lydda in Israel in 1951).

One event which remains clear in my mind was being taken by my father one Sunday lunchtime along Fordhouse Road to climb up on to the shunting hump and look down on the mainline. In a few minutes, travelling north, approached a strange sight, what was apparently a motor bus with flanged wheels. This was the 'Micheline', a product of the French tyre company Michelin. I have since found out that it was powered by a 27h.p. Panhard and Lavassor sleeve valve petrol engine, and that the wheels incorporated Michelin pneumatic tyres 910/125in, operating at 85 lb/square inch. The vehicle was on test in various parts of the country and its appearance at Wolverhampton was on April 10th 1932, two days before my sixth birthday.

Although my train spotting activities had ceased by 1939, I still took an interest in the sheds, and recall seeing what was I believe the first 'Pacific' through Bushbury. One Saturday afternoon in 1941 the Scottish expresses were being routed over the Grand Junction line because of a bomb on the Trent Valley line, and I saw a 'Duchess' stop to pick up a pilot driver in Bushbury yard.

Years later, I was told another war-time story by the late Mr. W.A. Wells of the Electric Construction Co. A vital piece of switch-gear produced by the company had to be aboard a ship waiting to sail from the Clyde. Time was very short and it was obvious that only a passenger train would arrive in time.

One of the old Southern Railway six wheeled parcel vans was procured, and a Glasgow express stopped in Bushbury yard for it to be attached. This practice was unorthodox to say the least, and the railway official was duly "carpeted" for arranging such an unofficial stop, and not following the correct procedure by sending the van to the High Level. However, the end justified the means and the switchgear was shipped as required.

It has all gone now, a whole way of life has disappeared and Bushbury today is a very different place to the railway community I knew in the 1930s. I hope it will not be forgotten.