I asked Mike Bentley about Mystery 101 and the following information has come from him.

The Midland 0-4-4T engines at Longsight shed had two jobs: the Stockport-Stalybridge locals, which had been a Longsight turn before the opening of Stockport Edgeley shed and remained so after it; and the Styal line push-and-pull trains, on which they were sandwiched between the carriages.

When the class was introduced, some of them were sent to Buxton for working the Buxton-Millers Dale trains. No. 1278, seen in this picture, was sent to Longisight from Buxton and eventually returned there. As BR no. 58042 it was the last engine at Buxton to have Salter safety valves.

At Longsight the Midland engines were replaced by Stanier 0-4-4Ts nos. 6405-6, which later became nos. 1905-6, and 1908 joined them there later.

The chimney above the shed on the right-hand side is that of the foreman's office. During the war, the roof over the four roads on the right-hand side, nos. 9-12, was damaged in a German air raid. What was left of the roof was dismantled, and the roads remained open to the elements. After the war, the rest of the roof was rebuilt in the then modern style.

The only pull+push service that comes to mind is that from Manchester London Road to Warrington Bank Quay and Ditton via Broadheath and Latchford.

From the Grouping these ex-MR tank locomotives would be available to take over this service from the LNWR ‘Chopper’ 2-4-2Ts. The MR ‘1532’ 1P 0-4-4T engines were built from 1881 onwards. No. 1274 was scrapped in 1937 but no. 1278 was not disposed of until 1952 from Buxton (9D), BR no. 58042.

Other types of loco that were available were the Stanier/Johnson 2P 0-4-4Ts from 1934. Nos. 1908 and 1909 were fitted for pull+push operations. No. 1908 (41908) was at Longsight (9A) from 1948 until withdrawn in1959. The Ivatt 2P 2-6-2Ts were the last type of loco on the above service in 1962 when the passenger service was withdrawn.