billy_anorak59

You must be a more skillful dolloper than me! 🙂 BTW: You got me thinking with your question whether the 'new' building at 8H was actually 'new', so I dug a bit more. It would seem that you are right - looking at the side of the building, you can quite clearly see that the main side wall is old, and they've raised the height, and must have built a new gable end at the same time: On this one, you can see the newly converted shed with the Hudswell diesels outside, but it also shows that steam engines must have got into at least the right hand bay, judging by the smoke stains on the new brickwork. Anyway, hope it helped, but I've taken things off topic enough - back to your thread!

I'm sure you'll be looking to reproduce that Paul! You've got a knack with that sort of thing, that I just can't get.

It think was purpose built for the Hudwell-Clarke shunters when they came to Birkenhead in c.1955. I've never seen any pictures with a steam engine in it anyway - it always had a couple of 40s in it in my time (sorry - not a good pic, taken by an 11 year old me):

Don't forget the 'new' diesel shed at Mollington St (8H) Paul!! Quite a steep pich on that one:

See what you did there...

When in ER Genreal Manager condition - October 1977, York. Sorry, instamatic quality.

FWIW (but totally off topic!) I took these in August 1978:

I stand corrected - thank you.

FWIW: A catch trap point at Birkenhead Woodside, on the centre road between platforms 4 and 5.

I did a similar trick, but came at it from a 'what a waste to scrap all those 10 year old Warships' point of view - cut them in half, and make a sort of HST MK1 at either end of a rake. Got as far as this, but couldn't resolve the body profile mis-match between a 42 and a Mk1....totally useless exercise of course!

Or the offset trapezoidal version on the Stadler/Vossloh locos (Class 68/88) Or the 'clipped' buffers found on ex-gas turbine E1000/E2001 - probably could have made do with ovals?

That's better - the 39 would have taken me to within 100 yds from home when I were a lad, from Birkenhead Woodside to Eastham. Nice picture - thanks!

That's a shame Roger - I was quite looking forward to following your journey with Woodside! I'm not suprised though, given your members' prediliction for GWR tender engines. Perhaps it will come to fruition eventually, who knows? It would certainly be an eycatcher. In the meantime, whatever you choose to go for, I wish you well.

It was fascinating - shame you missed it. Woodside was a great travel hub - the grand Woodside station itself (albeit with nothing going on much of the time), ocean-going ships in the dry dock right next to it, the ferries, and buses by dozen (all in the lovely Birkenhead Corpy livery). Add to that the very short walk to the electrics at Hamilton Square, and the area was a dream for this little eight year old. A backwater today - what a sad shadow of its former self. I've got that VHS Video too - I recall it's a good one, but it's so long since my video was plugged in, I'd forgotten about it. Thanks! Must play it again someday.

Hello Jonesy - many thanks for your reply, and sorry for my tardy response. I actually have that book, I think it was published 2-3 months after my post, and I found out about it just after publishing - I had to order a copy straight away, and yes, I was delighted to find that my assumptions about the ticket office proved correct! I thank you for taking the time to alert me to it's existence, plus all the details. It's really very good isn't it? Some rare views contained within. I'm Cambridgeshire way nowadays, but I thank you for the offer of allowing me to buy you a pint or two! 😀 If I'm ever in the Edinburgh area, I'll take you up on it. Cheers!

Thanks Roger - I quite enjoyed doing it as it helped me get my head around it too. It ends up looking quite 'Minories' in a way. My 'mini-Woodside' will be from the 'common' side, as that's what I knew and used. I can always have a large ocean going ship as a backdrop too (it always facinated me to see the ships dwarfing the station when I was small, and was always a disappointment when there was nothing in dock). Not many terminii like that! The dock expansion started in 1957 I believe and by 1959, all the servicing area had been swept away. I think the servicing was done at Mollington Street as you say - certainly the last day of Paddington workings had Clun Castle and 92203 serviced there - but the turntable removal meant that the big tanks were more firmly entrenched on the services, I guess. Hope the meeting goes well - I'd be interested to hear what's said. Cheers, Bill.

Does help somewhat, but nothing is shown beneath the train shed, which is solid shaded or hatched. Going back to this post, I thought it might be possible to take the hand-drawn sketches I have seen (which were not in proportion, or to any scale), and see if I could adjust the 25in OS map for 1937 to approximate better the Woodside track layout c1960 (and also show what is hidden on the OS maps). So by referencing the OS map, the three hand-drawn sketches I have seen (books and RMW), plus photographic evidence, this is what I have come up with. I don’t think I have seen a full track layout for Woodside drawn proportionately before – and it helps me too. I’m not saying it’s 100% accurate, but is close, I think. Best I can do, anyway. The major differences between this and the 1937 map are: The ‘Old’ Signal box on the down side approaching Platform 1 has gone – replaced by a new one on the up side at the end of Platform 5. ‘Rose Brae’ – the access road to the ‘proper entrance’ passing over the platforms just in front of the main train shed has been demolished. The locomotive servicing area has been removed, allowing the extension (length and width) of the “Grayson, Rollo & Clover” graving dock. The stub siding that accessed it now terminates under Church Street bridge. Hope it helps - and I'm open to any corrections!

I have a shot of 9F 92203 at the platform 1 buffers 5 March 1967 - so it did make it all the way in! Photo was taken by a friend, but don't have his permission to publish right now.

Does help somewhat, but nothing is shown beneath the train shed, which is solid shaded or hatched.

Roger - Firstly, apologies regarding the working timetable; I fear I may have raised your hopes – I had a good look , but it wasn’t where I thought it was. I’ll keep on looking, but I suspect it is boxed up somewhere. I was also going to recommend two of the books mentioned above, but I see I have been beaten to it by Tom D and robertcwp. There is some information in them that might be of use: For example the 'The Birkenhead Railway' (T.B. Maund) states: “There were five wide but short platforms with a roadway between Platforms 1 and 2 which were 537 and 534ft long respectively. The limitations of the site restricted the length of trains and, as carriages became longer in the twentieth century, the problems became greater, trains being restricted to seven or eight carriages, and 73ft vehicles were prohibited from some tracks” The ‘Birkenhead Railways – a Photographic History’ book has only recently been published, and there are one or two photographs that show what you are after – there is a nice photo on page 52 showing 41XX 2-6-2T No 4115 on a down train of 6 or 7 Stanier period 3 coaches, and on page 73 a photograph of 4-6-0 No 6844 ‘Penhydd Grange’ facing the tunnel mouth at Woodside itself – so the GWR tender engines did get to the terminus – just not as commonly as the Prairies. Both books are to be recommended, and have a few other useful snippets in them which might help with more of your questions. It might be worth noting that there was a short further discussion on Birkenhead – Chester workings here on RMWeb - back in 2014 - https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/87670-birkenhead-chester/ There is some mention of the locomotive types used on the line, and Tony Wright's comments seem accurate. Personally, I don't recall the GWR types - they had gone by my time. Everything was Stanier or Fairburn 4MT hauled, with a smattering of 'Horwich/Stanier Crab' and 'Black5'. Plus the DMUs of course. Finally, you mentioned the static model that MMRS did for the Wirral Museum earlier – have you seen the articles in the “Modelllers’ Backtrack” from 1992 which describe how they approached the research and building of said model? Very interesting, and in part two ‘Getting it Right’, five tables are shown: The first two show arrivals and departures, the third shows platform allocations, the fourth seems to be joint stores/vans on passenger trains, and the fifth is a working timetable. The downside for you is that they date to 1925 – 1934, but did BR workings in the late 50s differ so much? Also of benefit is a track plan sketch (noted as being 'Courtesy of Keith Spencer' - “flyingsignalman” of this parish) and taken from a signalman inspectors notebook. Only a sketch, so not to scale. If you have not seen the Modellers Backtrack articles they are Vol2 No4 Oct-Nov1992 for Part One, and Vol2 No5 Dec1992-Jan1993 for Part two. If you’re struggling to source them, I could scan the relevant bits if you want? Let me know.

Roger - some information in the topic here: Birkenhead Woodside - UK Prototype Questions Unfortunately, in the RMWeb hosting transition, some of the images have been (up to now) lost, but you might get someting out of it. I'm currently building an 'inspired by' mini-Woodside (I'm working on the station building at the moment), so I would be interested in seeing if your project is viable, and how you get on with it. I 'may' a have a working timetable somewhere, but with house upheavals, it could take a while for me to find it.

Found a couple of mine from the 80s: 08 069 at Chester: c.1982 08 913 at Crewe: c.1986 Finally, an unidentified 08 at Birkenhead Cavendish Sidings: c.1984

😛 Nice thought, but I'm not in it for the money - just keep watching the skies, the truth is out there! I have a natural talent for things like that when taking photos - not just the extra terrestrials; also note the perfectly framed brick wall and the beautifully off-centre and sloping composition of the locomotive itself...

Might narrow things down a bit further - still only semi-custard in Sept 1977 - 002 at Crewe works 24/09/77:

Ah, the 'Bellini'! Great film - my all time favourite. The Bellini was actually a very nice Aston Martin DB3S which I'm sure you knew, and apparently still exists: https://www.bonhams.com/press_release/21588/