Kelvinbank, a Caledonian Railway project.

Hi Dave,

 

I sometimes think we have a tendency to model other models, rather than reality, coal staithes  being a case in point.

Looking at photographs of stations they don't seem as common as our models would suggest, rather coal heaps as you've modelled.

 

Extrapolating up if a small village of few hundred souls has a couple of wagon loads of coal a week to keep it going then a sizable town needs much more as evidence in your model.

Britain from above photos has some good coal yards

 

eg https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/SAW032170 ( Zoom in to the top of the photo)

 

Regards

 

Ian

Looks brilliant to me, I may even nick the odd idea or two

Looks spot on to me! Definitely a case of modelling what the prototype evidence shows, rather than just assuming how we think it might have looked!

This seems like a well-researched estimate of consumption: 1 ton per person per year for domestic use. 

 

Here's coal-stacking for industrial use. Note how the walls of the stack are built up using larger lumps of coal. I suspect using bagged coal to build up the walls of the stack came later than your period. What would be the optimum height for a stack? Level with the wagon top or the wagon floor? Anyway, my personal view is that your coal yard would have stacks, not heaps.

Some very good points, thanks all. The figure of 1 ton per person is interesting, the population of Glasgow was about a million people at the time I'm modelling, so about a million tons for domestic use. 

 

The overall population of Scotland from the 1911 census comes in at 4.7 million, but the figure for coal production in Scotland in 1907 is a huge 40 million tons. So roughly 90 % of coal production was being using directly by industry and transport or being shipped out for export.

 

That is an excellent picture Compound, I will have a go at modelling something like that too. 

Wonderful layout and historical reference, Dave John. Thank you for sharing the Woodlands Conservation booklet. I used to visit a friend in the early 1970s, who had a top flat in Striven Gardens and loved the view over the River Kelvin to the University and the Clyde cranes beyond the rooftops.

It is a fine view Marly, myself and the pup spend many hours walking the kelvin valley. 

Well observed modelling as always. It would be interesting to break that million tons of coal down into wagon loads; how many wagons required to bring in the domestic requirements alone I wonder?

Hi Dave, just catching up after being away. A very interesting post, and some staggering numbers. I think it looks right, and with some stacked mounds as well it will look very convincing I think.

 

Visually, I like how the coal works as a contrast to the neat Edwardian station. Typical of the railways of the time!

 

PS: You'll be needing some more horse drawn vehicles for all that coal 

What a wonderful layout! I have only just discovered your blog, and thoroughly enjoyed catching up with it.

 

I have often thought that Kelvinbridge would make an excellent prototype for a layout. Tunnels at both ends, and the sort of intensive train service that many models of rural branch lines seem to enjoy! As part of my undergraduate studies, I wrote a dissertation about the history of The Glasgow Central Railway, and have often wondered whether it could be expanded into a book. I doubt that it would interest many people, and I'm a lazy so-and-so, so I very much doubt that it will happen. Whilst at uni, my girlfriend (now wife) and I had a flat in Kensington Gate, and we often used to walk the old GCR lines, particularly around Maryhill. Happy days! As you say, there was a large amount of coal for domestic consumption handled at the various (above ground) stations. Though I haven't seen any photographic evidence, one very elderly chap that I made contact with assured me that during the summer months, as the coal was stockpile in readiness for winter, the piles were whitewashed in order to prevent, or at least show, any pilferage. He also said the he remembered, during WW1, the Royal train being berthed in the tunnel between Kelvinbridge and Botanic Gardens, with soldiers posted at each end in order to protect King George. The Royal Train running through Partick - that would be something different!

 

As a point of interest, how big is your layout? I am almost tempted to divert my modelling interests from the Southern Railway to the Caley!

 

Keep up the superb work,

 

Xavier Onassis

 

Many thanks Perthshireman. 

 

It was Kelvinbridge station that got me interested in the CR way back in the 80s, I live a couple of streets away. Over the years I have thought about modelling it, but messing about with maps and drawings showed that it would be difficult to fit in the space available. The room is about 16 'x 11', but the fictional east end of the station is through the wall in what would have been historically the bed recess. Although based on Partick Central I opted to call it Kelvinbank since I have had to condense and swap things about to make it fit. 

 

I like the story about the Royal train, I have walked through the old tunnels but there is very little to see now. 

Hi Dave,

 

I've had a quick look through my records, and the mineral traffic for Kelvinbridge in 1909 shows that just under 71,000 tons were delivered to the station, while 1,711 were sent out. As I was concentrating on the Glasgow Central Railway, I don't have the figures for L&D stations such as Partick, but I would think that the figure would be come thing similar. It would certainly add up to quite a lot of wagon loads. 

 

For or the year ending 1899/1900, the number of wagons (waggons, as shown in the original document), delivered to Springfield & Mavisbank, Queens Dock, and Princes Dock were 98,406 or 346.90 daily. I suspect that the vast majority of them would have originated from the coal fields to the east of Glasgow, but it might justify you building a fair few extra coal carrying wagons!

 

Perthshireman

Yep, it is a lot of coal. Let's say an average of 10 tons per wagon, 7100 loads. 312 working days a year, 23 wagons a day, so 46 wagons in rotation assuming they all got unloaded the same day, probably unlikely. 2 days of demurrage and the figures really do add up. 

 

Quite a few of mine are the old MWC kits , they have been rare for years. Looks like I will have to start some scratchbuilding.