The Taddington branch of the LNWR

[Argos]

Hi John,

 

The 4w passenger coaches are from Meteor Models in 7mm, also available in Gauge 1 from Mercian Models and as LeBlanc advises London Road Models do the kits in 4mm.

 

The full brake is a kit from NMS.

 

I'll post URLs when I get in line tomorrow.

[Argos]

Interesting! Apparently Penlan in predictive text is LeBlanc!

[Penlan]

Interesting! Apparently Penlan in predictive text is LeBlanc!

LeBlanc?

'LeBlanc damages an enemy with a spell, she marks the target for 4 seconds.

After 1.5 seconds, LeBlanc's next spell shatters.....' 

.... and all I did was post a lead...

I can think of a Cider or two that would benefit from LeBlanc in the name....

Which eventually brings us round to that great non-vintage wine, 'Chateau De Minde'.

... and I've just posted to a friend some transfers for 'Mine D' Anthracite' PO wagons (Neath & Brecon Rly).

Perhaps I need to see a consultant.

 

.

To be honest, LeBlanc leaves me mentally blank - who is LeBlanc?

[Argos]

To be honest, LeBlanc leaves me mentally blank - who is LeBlanc?

 

Perhaps we'll never know......my HTC seems to think he exists though!

[Edwardian]

Apparently I'm going to some sort of cider festival on Sunday.

 

Now I am confused and worried.

 

Will LeBlanc be there?

[Penlan]

Apparently I'm going to some sort of cider festival on Sunday.  Now I am confused and worried. Will LeBlanc be there?

LeBlanc normally kicks in at the end or after the Cider Festival....

or when a Loved One asks about some rumour re. an attractive ----- ------ ----- ----  (fill in the blanks, Oh sorry, LeBlanc).

[Caley Jim]

LeBlanc normally kicks in at the end or after the Cider Festival....

or when a Loved One asks about some rumour re. an attractive ----- ------ ----- ----  (fill in the blanks, Oh sorry, LeBlanc).

If I remember my schoolboy French, that should be LesBlancs.  

 

Jim  (AKA Jacques)

[Coal Tank]

Hi any newse on this project

[Argos]

Hi Coal Tank, thanks for asking,

 

The short answer is "no", but there are developments.

 

The Taddington branch is located in the garage under our house.

When built, around 1902, the house was actually a series of holiday apartments with the bottom room (now garage) being one of the apartments.

Unfortunately it is not as watertight as it should be given its history. 

The front of the garage is under a balcony extending from the front room above. 

Although I've done a lot of work to try and seal this, lack of fall on the balcony combined with the roof drainage flowing onto the balcony from the front of the house has seen my work in vain.

This winter demonstrated this in unsettling fashion.

There is also a problem with condensation from the soffit of the balcony slab.

If I sealed the garage doors I could run a dehumidifier and some heating which would sort the condensation, but without a lot of work on the doors any attempts would be futile.

 

All this is a long way of saying that Taddington in its current form be cannot remain.

Even if I build it as currently planned I would need to remove what has been built to do the extensive building improvements required.

 

However, all is not lost.

The main portion of the garage is dry and usable but what to build?

 

I'm currently focused on getting RNAS Glencruitten ready for the Cameo Layouts competition next May and this is taking up my modelling time, however I am doodling plans.

 

Initially I'll shall probably separate out the original Three Shire Heads section of the layout and resurrect this as a stand alone. This will be relatively quick to do.

The section hasn't suffered much damage.

 

Thereafter I have a few ideas:-

     1 - Rework the Taddington terminus on the adjacent wall (on the dry side of the garage) running round a curve to terminate in a fiddle yard through a small station (Flagg) finishing short of the damp area. A plan based on Red Wharf Bay with an added exchange siding has been drawn up. 

     2 - Build a model of Chelmorton based on a CJ Freezer plan that I have already modelled once in 4mm (it would be a collapsed figure of 8 giving plenty of run and storage beneath)

     3 - Abandon the Taddington branch and build Leek North Western along the dry wall. A plan for this published earlier in this topic (Post 134).

 

I've produced draft plans for all of the above but have also been distracted by Macclesfield Hibel Road station.

 

 

 

I can just about squeeze this in, and what a project it would be!

Hibel road formed an end on junction between the NSR and the LNWR so on the cramped site there would be trains terminating and being turned (NSR from Uttoxeter) through London expresses, secondary services, goods traffic (with a nice compact goods yard to shunt).

 

However, I think I am in danger of slipping into the "too much" railway territory and need to focus on a less intensive proposal where I might just stand a chance of getting it completed with the required rolling stock built!

 

Decisions.......decisions.....decisions

Edited May 13, 2018 by Argos

[runs as required]

Wishing you the very best (during this short window of May/June weather)

I was under the impression you were preparing to move house down there last year in Leek; I hadn't realised holiday apartments had been built in Edwardian times - is this near Rudyard Lake?.

 

Good thing those wonderful brass models are less susceptible to damp than card or styrene.

dh

[Argos]

Hi Run as Required,

 

Thankfully the threatened house move has been rethought.

You are right we are in Rudyard, on the road down to the lake.

I was quite suprised to find out the history of house but holiday apartments there were. 

They apear to have been run (but not owned I am presuming) by a family called Groves who also ran a gift stall by the lake.

Quite a little enterprise all told.

 

I think I discovered the remains of the washhouse in the back garden will digging down to form a new veg plot.

I'll pulled out a lot of cermaic faced brick, some with a curved face. I've not managed to find trace of the structure on any old maps though.

 

Rudyard was developed and marketed as a holiday resort in Edwardian (and prior Victorian) times with two hotels (one is now apartments), a large tea house and garden (3 houses now built on the site) the 2 blocks of holiday apartments (4x5 apartment, I think) plus various attraction down by the lake. The NSR also built a golf course at the far end of the lake and a small station to serve this (now reverted to farm land).

 

Famously some of the visitors inlcuded Mr & Mrs Kippling who met while on seperate works trips to the lake and named their first son after the place.

 

The station would make an interesting model, the secondary mainline services being supplimented at weekends and holidays by excusion traffic bringing in carriages from the LNWR, MR and MS&L (Great Central) as far as I can tell. 

The Goods yard in Leek was used as carriage sidings.

 

 

 

I'm probably making the garage sound worse than it is, it is damp and in heavy weather the odd drip comes through.

The trouble is one drip on your model is one drip to many!

Edited May 13, 2018 by Argos

[Argos]

 

I meant to add this to the previous post but didn't click add to post.........

[Northroader]

And you’ve got the little railway there, as well.

[runs as required]

Hi Run as Required,

 

Thankfully the threatened house move has been rethought.

You are right we are in Rudyard, on the road down to the lake.

I was quite suprised to find out the history of house but holiday apartments there were. 

They apear to have been run (but not owned I am presuming) by a family called Groves who also ran a gift stall by the lake.

Quite a little enterprise all told.

 

I think I discovered the remains of the washhouse in the back garden will digging down to form a new veg plot.

I'll pulled out a lot of cermaic faced brick, some with a curved face. I've not managed to find trace of the structure on any old maps though.

 

Rudyard was developed and marketed as a holiday resort in Edwardian (and prior Victorian) times with two hotels (one is now apartments), a large tea house and garden (3 houses now built on the site) the 2 blocks of holiday apartments (4x5 apartment, I think) plus various attraction down by the lake. The NSR also built a golf course at the far end of the lake and a small station to serve this (now reverted to farm land).

 

Famously some of the visitors inlcuded Mr & Mrs Kippling who met while on seperate works trips to the lake and named their first son after the place.

 

The station would make an interesting model, the secondary mainline services being supplimented at weekends and holidays by excusion traffic bringing in carriages from the LNWR, MR and MS&L (Great Central) as far as I can tell. 

The Goods yard in Leek was used as carriage sidings.

Thank you.

A most interesting reply about the types of speculative inland resort accommodation being built in 1902.

I recall years ago an interesting series in a newspaper being run on (largely failed) attempts at developing British Spas over the years.

Up here in the north-east unlikely spots like Shotley Bridge, Haydon Bridge and Gilsland - all served by the NER -  had brief hopes of making it as genteel spa resorts.

[Edwardian]

Hi Coal Tank, thanks for asking,

 

The short answer is "no", but there are developments.

 

The Taddington branch is located in the garage under our house.

When built, around 1902, the house was actually a series of holiday apartments with the bottom room (now garage) being one of the apartments.

Unfortunately it is not as watertight as it should be given its history. 

The front of the garage is under a balcony extending from the front room above. 

Although I've done a lot of work to try and seal this, lack of fall on the balcony combined with the roof drainage flowing onto the balcony from the front of the house has seen my work in vain.

This winter demonstrated this in unsettling fashion.

There is also a problem with condensation from the soffit of the balcony slab.

If I sealed the garage doors I could run a dehumidifier and some heating which would sort the condensation, but without a lot of work on the doors any attempts would be futile.

 

All this is a long way of saying that Taddington in its current form be cannot remain.

Even if I build it as currently planned I would need to remove what has been built to do the extensive building improvements required.

 

However, all is not lost.

The main portion of the garage is dry and usable but what to build?

 

I'm currently focused on getting RNAS Glencruitten ready for the Cameo Layouts competition next May and this is taking up my modelling time, however I am doodling plans.

 

Initially I'll shall probably separate out the original Three Shire Heads section of the layout and resurrect this as a stand alone. This will be relatively quick to do.

The section hasn't suffered much damage.

 

Thereafter I have a few ideas:-

     1 - Rework the Taddington terminus on the adjacent wall (on the dry side of the garage) running round a curve to terminate in a fiddle yard through a small station (Flagg) finishing short of the damp area. A plan based on Red Wharf Bay with an added exchange siding has been drawn up. 

     2 - Build a model of Chelmorton based on a CJ Freezer plan that I have already modelled once in 4mm (it would be a collapsed figure of 8 giving plenty of run and storage beneath)

     3 - Abandon the Taddington branch and build Leek North Western along the dry wall. A plan for this published earlier in this topic (Post 134).

 

I've produced draft plans for all of the above but have also been distracted by Macclesfield Hibel Road station.

 

 

macclesfield_msl_ns_1871_map.gif

 

I can just about squeeze this in, and what a project it would be!

Hibel road formed an end on junction between the NSR and the LNWR so on the cramped site there would be trains terminating and being turned (NSR from Uttoxeter) through London expresses, secondary services, goods traffic (with a nice compact goods yard to shunt).

 

However, I think I am in danger of slipping into the "too much" railway territory and need to focus on a less intensive proposal where I might just stand a chance of getting it completed with the required rolling stock built!

 

Decisions.......decisions.....decisions

 

I am sorry to hear of the accommodation situation.  I am glad that you still have scope for a manageable project.

 

Which is the most quickly achievable and for which your stock is best suited?

 

The Rudyard/your house history sounds fascinating.

[Argos]

And you’ve got the little railway there, as well.

 

Indeed we do, it's quite pleasent to hear the whistle at weekends and holidays athough catching a steam engine up whilst on a run it not a great experiance for the lungs.

 

They have a quite a varied collection of engines down there.

They are always on the look out for volunteers but I've enough commitments at present, still it would nice to play with some real trains!

Edited May 13, 2018 by Argos

[Argos]

Thank you.

A most interesting reply about the types of speculative inland resort accommodation being built in 1902.

I recall years ago an interesting series in a newspaper being run on (largely failed) attempts at developing British Spas over the years.

Up here in the north-east unlikely spots like Shotley Bridge, Haydon Bridge and Gilsland - all served by the NER -  had brief hopes of making it as genteel spa resorts.

 

I think Rudyard was more happenstance than planning.

The lake (actually a resevoir) was built at the end of the 1700 as a feeder to the newly constructed Trent and Mearsey Canal.

The NSR Curnet Valley line from Macclesfield to Uttoxiter was built alongside the lake as this was the line of least resistance.

So an outdoor facility got transport access not far from a major industrial centre.

 

The NSR merely capitalised on what was there.

[Coal Tank]

I must say that the plan looks good

John

[Argos]

Hi John,
 
If I recall the gap between the tunnel at Beech Bridge and Hibel Road Bridge equates to 22' in 7mm scale so easily model-able (just over 12' in 4mm), helped by the fact that half of the station platform extended under the bridge.
 
There have in fact been 5 stations in Macclesfield, not bad for the size of town:-
   1- Beech Road - the original terminus of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway opened in 1845 and converted into sidings when the Beech Road tunnel was completed in 1849
   2- Hibel Road - the joint LNWR/NSR station built the other side of the Beech Road tunnel in 1849.
   3- The MS&L terminus below Hibel Road (seen on the map above) used whilst various disputes were settled to build the Joint MS&L/NSR station on the Manchester-Stoke Mainline. (edit opened in 1869 with the completion of the Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway and closed in 1873 when the Central Station was finally built)
   4- Macclesfield Central the MS&L(GCR)/NSR station at Waters Green. The platforms finished a couple of hundred feet before those at Hibel Road began. some NSR services stopped at both stations!
   5- The current Macclesfield Station built virtually on the site of the old central station replacing both that and Hibel Road when the line was electrified.
 
If you are interested in Hibel Road there are quite a lot of photos around the web of it (http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/m/macclesfield_hibel_road/index.shtml is a good starting point).
The Macclesfield Model Railway Group are also building a N Gauge model of the stations - https://www.macclesfieldmrg.org.uk/club-layouts/macclesfield-central/
 
I'd really like to find a plan of the early Beech Road Station as the site is very compact and I reckon would make an excellent early railway model. 
There doesn't appear to much literature about regarding the M&BR and plans from that date are hard to come by.

 

I catch the train from Macclesfield most mornings so have chance and cause to ponder......

Edited May 15, 2018 by Argos

[Poggy1165]

I seem to recall Hibel Road had a rather cool engine shed, inhabited mainly by rather cool NSR locos, most, if not all, of which would need to be scratch built. My granddad knew the area well and used to speak of walking from Bollington to a certain footbridge to watch the NSR locos go by. Funnily enough, he never mentioned the LNWR at all, although it was their line. (He himself eventually migrated to Gorton and signed on for the Great Central.)

[runs as required]

I seem to recall Hibel Road had a rather cool engine shed, inhabited mainly by rather cool NSR locos, most, if not all, of which would need to be scratch built. My granddad knew the area well and used to speak of walking from Bollington to a certain footbridge to watch the NSR locos go by. Funnily enough, he never mentioned the LNWR at all, although it was their line. (He himself eventually migrated to Gorton and signed on for the Great Central.)

Hibel Road I recall as a sooty semi-subterranean gloomy LNW station, begat during the minimalist years of the Capt. Mark Huish/Richard Moon Euston Autocracy.

 

It was a painful business entraing my arthritic grandmother onto the London express thrice a year - that is until my father met a very helpful North Western Road Car Company inspector who dispatched a much jollier 'chara' down to London each morning via Stratford on Avon and Oxford from from just the other side of Macc's Central station. Grandma thereafter regarded her trips 'north' as a party to look forward to.

dh

Edited May 22, 2018 by runs as required

[Coal Tank]

I'm glad I asked is anything happening on this thread now lots of talk and it's great to see your ideas

John

[Argos]

Thanks Coaltank,

 

following a brief discussion with Run as Required I've been examining the best way of making a habitable room out of the garage.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to write off the section under the protruding balcony.

I can erect a stud wall under the beam that supports the house front, perhaps with some high level windows to provide some daylight and a sealed, exterior door.

This would leave 4' or so of "garage space" and then a "habitable space" about 12'9" by 10'6" with  additional 2' long by 3'4" wide sections leading off the 10'6" length (either side of the fireplace).

 

I can build the stud wall myself and the ceiling is already boarded out with ply so would be simple to cover with plasterboard.

Then the whole room could be plastered giving a clean finish.

 

But what to build in the space?

 

Having measure up what is currently built I believe I can just about squeeze this in, a fresh start is quite tempting though.

I've currently got four arrangements in my head (one retains the current layout), and no doubt more will follow. 

Once I've pondered a bit more I'll post some plans.

[Argos]

This weekend will see the Beeching axe fall on the Taddington Branch as built so far. 

In part I think due to shrinkage arising from the hot weather in early summer, the leaks in the garage have got worse.

 

Despite some protection the baseboards have started to go moldy!

Never a good sign for a model railway layout. 

 

I am hopefully the original Three Shires Head section will be salvageable and can be put back to a stand alone layout whilst I build the new wall as mentioned in the post above and figure out what to do in the space created.

 

Whilst I still like the premise of the Taddington branch with a couple of stations and a decent run between I just cannot fit this into the space in a satisfying manner anymore.

Thoughts are currently to divide the room in two (I need a walkway through anyway) with one half dedicated to a 2mm Caledonian Layout the other half given over to the 7mm layout, possible with a fiddle yard below the 2mm layout.

 

This space is suited to the Leek North Western option I was pondering a few years ago.

 

I'm sure getting the original Three Shires Head up and running combined with a trip to Telford next weekend will get the 7mm thoughts going.

[Argos]

Well, just in case anyone thought I was exaggerating here's what I was confronted with this afternoon after a heavy shower:-

 

 

Not what anyone want's to see!

 

After dismantling it was obvious that all the ply was on the point of collapse, I could fold it with no effort ready for disposal.

Fortunately the Three Shires Head element of the layout was set back from the front edge so had escaped the worst of the deluge.

 

 

There is a section of the MDF board that is wet and swollen but this in a scenic section so shouldn't cause a problem.

The wet section under the trackwork seems dimensionally stable at the moment.

 

The only other damage (apart from slightly moldy grass that I was going to redo anyway) is the DAS cobbles:-

 

 

 

This damage should be repairable with a fresh covering of clay on the affected are followed up with some remedial scribing.

 

All in all I'm feeling quite positive having recovered the core module.

I always enjoyed this part of the layout and I am looking forward to get it up and running again.

 

This does pose a question though - is it Three Shires Head or Taddington Exchange Sidings?