REGARDING the flashback photograph (Wednesday, June 8) the branch line led from Foregate Street to The Butts siding.

This siding was used a time ago when racehorses were sent by rail and taken to The Butts siding to unload and take to the station. It was also used for truckloads of cattle that were taken to the abattoir close by. It was in existence until Foregate signal box was no longer in use and then all connections were removed. I had the luck to have a ride on one of the trips in the late 1940s to fetch a wagon out - the guard on this trip was the late Les Dickens.

The signalman at Foregate Street could close the points and shunt the loco and guards van and had a signal to keep the train in the siding until it was clear to come back to Worcester yard.

I was yard master clerk from September 1947 until August 1950.

W ACOCK, Worcester