RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted March 15, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2020 30 minutes ago, keefer said: I remembered mention of the mk1 bullion vans going to Leeds The Mk1 bullion vans used to come into Curzon St when i was working down there. The Freightliner flats used to go into Lawley Street. I remember one of the containers getting nicked, at Southampton IIRC, when it was contained something like 4 tons of the old size two bob bits. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted March 15, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 15, 2020 2 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said: The Mk1 bullion vans used to come into Curzon St when i was working down there. The Freightliner flats used to go into Lawley Street. I remember one of the containers getting nicked, at Southampton IIRC, when it was contained something like 4 tons of the old size two bob bits. They wouldn't of been happy at whoever gave them that inside info! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted March 15, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2020 It was rumoured that a container with £2million worth of 50p pieces (so, 40 million coins) newly minted from Llantrisant went walkies from Stratford Freightliner during my time as a freight guard at Canton on the early 70s, ‘71 IIRC. If true, it was never reported in the media! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted March 15, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 15, 2020 3 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said: When the Bank of England building was on the corner of Temple Street and St Phillip's Place Are you sure? In the list of title deeds held by the Birmingham branch it says that the original building faced Temple Row, Cherry St & Cannon Street from c1826 - 1968, which is the same site as the modern replacement. (No longer BoE) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted March 16, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 16, 2020 9 hours ago, Mallard60022 said: That was known as the 'Whitewash Coach' Steve. When there was a rough bit of track the geezer sat in it (Technician of some sort) used to let a splash of whitewash onto the track, to be identified later by a track gang. P In 1955 it still had some of its original Toplight features very much on display. When I was mere lad of 17 and a Temporary Class 4 Clerk I had the interesting occasional job of dealing with the keys for the Bullion Vans. They were all based at Old Oak and the keys were kept at Paddington with two sets for each van, one set was normally always kept at Paddington and the other set was sent as a Value package with the Guard of a different train from the one on which the van worked. Every journey I ever heard of either started from or terminated at Paddington and the vans were always attached to Class 1 passenger trains. They were used to move money between the Bank of England and its provincial offices but their main use by far in my time was for the transfer of gold bullion between ports and the Bank or vice versa - mostly from Avonmouth Docks to Paddington in the mid/late 1960s. It could get quite entertaining - as occasionally happened - if a train was replatformed without thinking about which side the doors were on the van; not popular with the BT Police who had to hang around for a lot longer than normal while the train was shunted to a suitable platform. When the 50p coins started being minted at Llantrisant (which was known to those who had been transferred there from London as 'the mint in the hole') they were shipped to London by passenger train contained in small oil drums which were simply loaded in a van. Apparently there was no sort of marking at the oil drums to identify them as containing coin, they just looked like very ordinary, but very heavy, 10 gallon oil drums and they were transferred direct to a Bank of England vehicle at Paddington. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted March 16, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 16, 2020 8 hours ago, melmerby said: Are you sure? In the list of title deeds held by the Birmingham branch it says that the original building faced Temple Row, Cherry St & Cannon Street from c1826 - 1968, which is the same site as the modern replacement. (No longer BoE) Well if I'm wrong so are Historic England. https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/AA42/00437 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted March 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 16, 2020 1 hour ago, TheSignalEngineer said: Well if I'm wrong so are Historic England. https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/AA42/00437 Thanks for that. I had been trying to find a picture of it and none of the books of Birmingham I have feature it. I'm sure I can remember that building, never took any notice of who it was. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted March 16, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 16, 2020 1 hour ago, TheSignalEngineer said: Well if I'm wrong so are Historic England. https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/AA42/00437 I don't think you necessarily are. Mrs Stationmaster used to work for the BoE, in London, and recalls a differeent address for the BoE in Brum so she thinks it possible that it might have moved at some time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted March 16, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 16, 2020 49 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said: I don't think you necessarily are. Mrs Stationmaster used to work for the BoE, in London, and recalls a differeent address for the BoE in Brum so she thinks it possible that it might have moved at some time. In the 1960s they moved to a new building across the road on the corner of Temple Row and Cherry Street. I think they are now in Newhall Street. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted March 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 16, 2020 42 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said: In the 1960s they moved to a new building across the road on the corner of Temple Row and Cherry Street. I think they are now in Newhall Street. They don't have any branch offices around the UK anymore. (Since 1997)* They rely on local "agents" What is now the 1960's block Bank House in Cherry St was the Bank of England (& Bank of Ireland) Birmingham branch but is now just an office block. This was the site referenced in the article I quoted from and seem to suggest it was there that they were holding title deeds for properties way back. * Bank of England's own records Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 5 minutes ago, melmerby said: They don't have any branch offices around the UK anymore. (Since 1997)* They rely on local "agents" What is now the 1960's block Bank House in Cherry St was the Bank of England (& Bank of Ireland) Birmingham branch but is now just an office block. This was the site referenced in the article I quoted from and seem to suggest it was there that they were holding title deeds for properties way back. * Bank of England's own records Where else did they have 'branch offices'? I remember Bristol, Leeds and Newcastle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted March 16, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 16, 2020 1 hour ago, Fat Controller said: Where else did they have 'branch offices'? I remember Bristol, Leeds and Newcastle. Plymouth - although that one went a long time ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium petethemole Posted March 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 16, 2020 (edited) There was a branch in Southampton High Street. It regularly handled bullion and currency en route to/from overseas by ocean liner. The rear entrance had a very stout gate with an observation turret adjacent. The original gate has gone. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.9003271,-1.4025908,3a,75y,277.57h,85.75t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLFof44AN3cv7IuuCC-UlhA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 Edited March 16, 2020 by petethemole 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 Liverpool definitely. The building is still there. I believe the staff moved to a modern building though. Jason 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted March 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 16, 2020 5 hours ago, Fat Controller said: Where else did they have 'branch offices'? I remember Bristol, Leeds and Newcastle. List edited from BoE report in 1963: BOE.doc 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted March 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 16, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, Fat Controller said: Where else did they have 'branch offices'? I remember Bristol, Leeds and Newcastle. List edited from BoE report in 1963: BoE branches up to Q4 1963 GLOUCESTER 19th July 1826 MANCHESTER 21st Sept. 1826 SWANSEA 23rd Oct. 1826 BIRMINGHAM 1st Jan. 1827 The branch took over its present premises from the Staffordshire Joint Stock Bank in 1890 and is the only remaining branch carrying on business in a building which was not especially built for the Bank. LIVERPOOL 2nd July 1827 BRISTOL 12th July 1827 LEEDS 23rd Aug. 1827 EXETER 17th Dec. 1827 NEWCASTLE 21st April 1828 HULL 2nd Jan. 1829 NORWICH 1st Dec. 1829 PLYMOUTH 1st May 1834 PORTSMOUTH 16th May 1834 LEICESTER 1st Jan. 1844 SOUTHAMPTON 29th April 1940 (copied from BoE records) By this time several had already closed Edited March 16, 2020 by melmerby 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted March 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 16, 2020 AS the BoE didn't move into the building in Temple Row until 1890 that brings the question: When did the bullion connection to the GWR happen? Snow Hill station was first rebuilt in 1871, so it couldn't have been done then. It was rebuilt again c1912 so would presumably been then. Wikipedia mentions the siding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Hill_tunnel_(Birmingham) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoxUnpopuli Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 (edited) Deleted, didn't check all the numbers Edited March 16, 2020 by FoxUnpopuli Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now