I suppose like most counties, Shropshire has its share of unusual and imaginative memorials. At Alberbury church an aeroplane propellor has been made into a cross, at Jackfield a footbridge across the Severn serves as a memorial to the dead of both world wars and at Monkhopton church a stone cider press forms part of the village memorial. My favourite however is a Stanier 8F locomotive which served during a long working life in places such as Persia, Iran and Egypt. In 1968 it was transferred to the Severn Valley Railway in its early days as a heritage steam railway attraction. In 1986 it was dedicated as a memorial to all the British railwaymen who gave their lives in World War Two (see plaque above). The locomotive is shortly to be displayed at the Education Centre at Highley station on the SVR along with a roll of honour of all railway 'sappers' who died in the same war. For more details try the Stanier 8F Locomotive Society's website:
