Ground Frames at Foley Park

Foley Park Sidings

Extract from 1951 OS Map showing Foley Park sidings and Foley Park Halt

Access to Foley Park sidings was achieved by a ground frame. A description of the arrangements is contained in this extract from the "Instructions for working to Sugar Beet Factory Sidings, Appendix to Service Timetable, February 1943."

1. The four sidings adjoining the single running line at Foley Park are available for use for traffic purposes

2. The sidings have a connection with the running line, facing from the direction of Kidderminster; the points are worked from a ground frame locked by key on the Electric Train Token for the section Kidderminster Junction – Bewdley South. The site of the connection with the running line at the Sidings is on a short stretch of level; the running line on the Kidderminster side to a point just before reaching the connection is on a gradient of 1 in 112, falling towards the siding, and on the Bewdley side the line rises 1 in 115 in the direction of Bewdley.

3. An intermediate Electric Train Token instrument is fixed in the ground frame cabin for the reception and issue of the Token for the Kidderminster Junction – Bewdley South Section. Telephonic communication with Kidderminster Junction is provided in the ground frame cabin.

SVR/BR Boundary

After the closure of the Bewdley-Kidderminster line, two two-lever ground frames were installed at an unknown date on the single line adjacent to the sidings, used to control access between BR and the SVR. It appears they each controlled a single trap point and associated FPL, with an SVR GF controlling traps in one direction, and a BR GF controlling traps in the other. The ground frames can be seen in this photograph: Link.

References

• A photograph showing a special train proceeding past the BR/SVR ground frames, C E Steele, 1979. Photograph uploaded to the RMweb forums. Link. Accessed 09/01/2015.
• Great Western Railway Service Time Tables, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Hereford and Newport, July 6th-September 27th 1936. A scanned version of this document available on the website of Michael Clemens - see Link.