West moors station

[andrew_m]

Hi guys. I am looking for some help, I am trying to get some scale drawings or plans of west moors station. Would like some drawings before I start trying to get sizes based on some photographs so I can start to build a 4mm model.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Andrew,

You probably realise, but West Moors wasn't on the Somerset & Dorset line.It was the junction for another S&D - the Salisbury and Dorset line, later part of the LSWR.

Edited January 25, 2013 by Western Sunset

[aussiebrfan]

Andrew,

the Nigel Gray book - The Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway might be of some help. It has trackplan/signalling diagrams from 1910, 1912 and 1949 for West Moors. As well as some good photos and a description of each staion along the line, history etc. Cant be of specific help with building plans as have looked in the past myself unsuccessfully. However the crossing keepers cottage still exists albeit with a slightly altered facade next to the Tap and Railway pub. Some others on here I'm sure could be of help with scaling your own plans from photos, good luck Glenn

ps. if you are familiar with current day West Moors you may recognise my avatar!

[andrew_m]

Thanks, and yes I recognise your avatar. I grew up in west moors left the area in 2001! Am posting everywhere I can to try and get as much info so I can recreate the station.

[Blandford1969]

Based on what I found out about West Moors I think you will have to do your own elevation plans for West Moors.

 

The signal box is based on a standard design of windows which can be found on the Oakwood press book on LSWR signal Boxes http://www.flickr.com/photos/g1ulz/4621387316/ and this http://www.flickr.com/photos/70023venus2009/8355329786/ show useful views of it.

 

The concrete footbridge was shown in a plan an early Modelling Railways Illustrated I think from memory.

 

The main building is a bit of a one as I have never found a view of the rear of the building. There are however as you probably know lots taken from the same angles including http://www.flickr.com/photos/g1ulz/2382927471/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/g1ulz/1241339499/  and http://www.flickr.com/photos/g1ulz/1241338275/ this last view is useful as the footbridge has gone and shows the end of the building.

 

The Crossing Keepers house still stands today http://www.flickr.com/photos/g1ulz/1241338275/ and in earlier days http://www.flickr.com/photos/g1ulz/2407470150/

 

I think for the main building you will have to make an assumption that the rear is very similar to Fordingbridge and go from there.

 

There are also more photos in the Middleton Press 'Branch lines around Wimbourne' and a track plan that could be expanded from an OS map

 

Sorry I cant be of more help

Duncan

[The Dorset Wanderer]

Found this- several pics I havent seen before.

May be of use.The Railtour Files.htm

Steve

[The Dorset Wanderer]

Sorry didn't work but search should find.

Steve

[andrew_m]

Thanks, you have been most helpful and given me some more research directions to look into.

[rue_d_etropal]

Having recently got the excellent Southern Nouveau book by Irwell Press, I saw the pictures of the footbridge. As it is of a totally different design(and far more elagant) to other concrete footbridges, I would be very interested in locating some drawings(a 3D printed model is a possibility). A pity there seem to be no official drawings from LSWR days.

 

I found the reference to Modelling Railways Illustrated, and located the issue via the spreadsheet I found online which lists all articles in the magazine. It is December 1995, but suggests it is just photos(possibly same ones as in book).

 

Just wondering if there is a scale drawing somewhere, or at least some dimensions.

[Blandford1969]

Having recently got the excellent Southern Nouveau book by Irwell Press, I saw the pictures of the footbridge. As it is of a totally different design(and far more elagant) to other concrete footbridges, I would be very interested in locating some drawings(a 3D printed model is a possibility). A pity there seem to be no official drawings from LSWR days.

 

I found the reference to Modelling Railways Illustrated, and located the issue via the spreadsheet I found online which lists all articles in the magazine. It is December 1995, but suggests it is just photos(possibly same ones as in book).

 

Just wondering if there is a scale drawing somewhere, or at least some dimensions.

Pm sent with drawing of the footbridge

[Blandford1969]

As an aside has anyone ever seen a photo or elevation of the roadside of West Moors... It seems like the holly grail

[rue_d_etropal]

Thanks for the drawing, I knocked up a 3D design today, I had not appreciated where West Moors was,until I saw reference to Ferndown. My grandparents used to live just up the road, officially  think St Leonards, so I spent a few holidays in the area. Never realised there was a railway there at the time. Much of the trackbed is still visible on Google map/satelite.

 

Edited August 13, 2017 by rue_d_etropal

[Blandford1969]

So I have been doing a bit on this one. I have found a drawing of the waiting shelter, but it has errors so needs re-doing. I have found a drawing from 1962 of the crossing keepers cottage, again it needs checking. I've just about got views of most of the sides of the box and am following up on some leads on the back of the main building.

 

One question I am yet to establish the answer to is how people entered / left the station. An early shot shows a path going round the side of the footbridge, but all the shots of the platform looking towards the footbridge obscure if there is a path there.

[Blandford1969]

Hi all,

Well I've finally found a shot of the rear of West Moors to start doing a drawing of the building. Now I need to unlock the size from the evidence I have to turn into dimensions. Attached is a shot of part of the rear of the building, can anyone help to identify the length of the ridge tiles, which in turn will give the length of part of the building.

 

Can anyone help?

 

Thanks in advance, Duncan

[bécasse]

I can tell you that they came in 9", 12", 15" and 18" lengths (at least) but I suspect that that isn't much help. Just looking at them, I would plump for 15" - which would give you a building 10' long, which is certainly a possibility. It is a shame that the slates aren't just a touch more distinctive. Having played this particular game on many occasions, it is often the relationship between the slates (most likely 10" wide) and the ridge tiles which provides a definitive answer.

 

Apart from that my advice, again from long experience, is, as you draw them out, to keep a careful eye on how the proportions look and be prepared to revise your assumptions if the proportions start to look wrong. These days I always use a computer drawing package (Inkscape which is a freebie) which makes revisions easier - otherwise draw it out quickly without too much detail on 5mm squared paper.

 

One other word of advice, don't assume that the bricks build at 4 courses to the foot, they may do (it depends on their source) but 4 courses to 13½" was common in the Midlands and North (for example).

[Blandford1969]

Thanks for your reply, I had wondered about 18 inch, but only based on some tiles I had found on line. I have done numerous buildings on the Dorset Central of Cole, Stalbridge, Sturminster, Shillingstone, Blandford and Bailey Gate, so I know what you mean about the height of bricks.

 

I still prefer drawing by hand to me it is more satisfying, but I am aiming to learn to do them on the pc this year.

 

I will post the results

 

Thanks again

[Blandford1969]

A question, does anyone know if the non corridor LSWR coaches which Hornby does ever ran over the Salisbury and Dorset.?

[Blandford1969]

Thanks for the help so far, its really appreciated. Its now safe to say the slates are 12" based on evidence from Breamore and Verwood (waits to be shot down, lol)

 

Anyway the next challenge is the lack of a scale plan. The only one the NRM have is a much smaller scale from the late 19th C so missing elements and not easy to size. 

 

The answer came from the RAF and their sorties. A visit to Swindon produced copies of 2 photos from, the mid 1950's with the centre points being on the platform and just by the junction. 

 

Careful re-sizing onto A4 sheets with the rails 18mm apart (apart from a few wobbles has now produced after 2 evenings of cutting and taping a plan. What is surprising is how narrow the whole site is and how short considering it is a junction.  On Wright writes there has been a discussion about flowing track-work and what is striking is the length of the turnouts and the junction. It helps prove rough dimensions of some of the buildings for which plans do not exist.

 

The platforms are only 290 and 237 feet long so fairly small.

 

The junction end with the fuel depot beyond probably makes a scenic break best before the main depot with the Verwood line disappearing into the trees.  Next some track templates and to play with the track to see what that does. Either that or do you think it would be possible to use the photo to build the turnouts from?

 

 

 

I suspect progress will be very slow as my modelling mojo is still very low, but I hope to make more progress, if only on the drawings of missing buildings on research such as the back of the signal box, or the cottages described as mid 19th century by the junction, possibly former stables and demolished by 1962. 

[Blandford1969]

The next stage to this project was getting the track laid out to work out any compression needed. Templot was downloaded and with a bit of very helpful guidance from Martin and about 8 hours work, learning and then building the attached plan. I should add this is totally to scale and the size of the turnouts in terms of lenght was gob smacking. The next job is to start doing some foreshortening as it is coming in about about 24 feet. 

 

The starting point will be beyond the junction at the Ringwood end with smaller points. Can anyone suggest what size of points is most commonly used when people build their own points for a scale layout.?  Its a shame because it looks amazing to look at a scale junction and the flow through it.

 

Edited September 11, 2018 by Blandford1969

[martin_wynne]

Hi Duncan,

 

The aerial photos are great, but 8 hours!

 

As I explained, Templot could have done all that for you in a few clicks. Now that you have mentioned the location, here you go:

 

 

That's the 25" map, which Templot captured from the NLS and rescaled to size in a few clicks -- all it needs is the location (background > maps menu item). To get accurate turnout sizes from the map it's best to set the gauge to P4 (before you start). Once you know what they are, you can recreate the plan in EM or 00.

 

A quick dabble with the F5 size function established the junction turnout as most likely a D-11, which is an entirely reasonable size for such a junction. I aligned the toe (blade tips) over the mark on the map, and increased the 6ft way to 7ft-6in to best match the map. Then tools > make ladder crossover > make curviform ladder gets the junction well under way:

 

 

It was all quite quick. If you ask again on the Templot Club forum I can explain in more detail and maybe finish the junction and produce a bit of screen video.

 

(Also posted in your other topic.)

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

Edited September 5, 2021 by martin_wynne
repair image links

[Blandford1969]

Hi Martin

 

A good deal of the time was taken in going through the various video's, learning how to use the system and then getting it wrong a good few times. 

 

I understand totally what you mean on the map which would have been easier, I decided for two reasons to use the aerial photos. The first was not being able to find a later map and the second and for me more useful was having imported the photos as my background I can then scale the buildings and compare with what I had thought they were. 

 

I will try to do a screen shot to upload here. 

 

Thanks again for all your help on this. I'm already thinking about baseboards. 

 

Duncan

[martin_wynne]

A good deal of the time was taken in going through the various video's, learning how to use the system and then getting it wrong a good few times

 

Hi Duncan,

 

Sorry, I thought you meant you spent 8 hours scanning and scaling the aerial photos.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

[Blandford1969]

Hi Duncan,

 

Sorry, I thought you meant you spent 8 hours scanning and scaling the aerial photos.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

Lol, no that was only about 15 minutes, just because it was the first attempt.

[colin.divall]

Duncan

 

Peter Russell probably knows more about West Moors station and its environs than most, having been brought up around there in the 1960s. He’s not a member of RMWeb though, so if you don’t know him PM me and I’ll put you in touch.

 

Colin

[Blandford1969]

Duncan

 

Peter Russell probably knows more about West Moors station and its environs than most, having been brought up around there in the 1960s. He’s not a member of RMWeb though, so if you don’t know him PM me and I’ll put you in touch.

 

Colin

Hi Colin, Is that Peter of the S&D Trust at Midsomer who lives in Worcester?