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Wooferton


Richard E
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Not quite what I had originally planned, pure GWR was the idea. However the location has personal significance, it ran primarily with the GWR dominant and the prototype has scenic breaks in a very convenient position especially in N.

 

It is still very early days. The home for the layout is going to be sorted just after Christmas and the underpinnings are in hand. My carpentry is mediocre so I've gone down the route, like Gilbert Barnatt and others, of professionally supplied baseboards.

 

I've been acquiring stock but even that is still in it's early days. Don't expect much in the way of updates for a while but, once things are under way I'll trey to update when I can.

 

If anyone can help with any prototype information I shall be very grateful.

Edited by Richard E
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Right, things are moving on ...

 

Why Wooferton - well I was born in the area and it has an attractive, to me, and unusual track layout with the branch platform on the opposite side of the station to the branch. It is accessed via a pair of diamond crossings at quite a steep angle whilst a double junction is also formed using a more conventional diamond. A double slip might have been more compact but undoubtedly more expensive. Unfortunately I do not have the space, widthwise, to have a crack at my favourite station near my Bristol home, Yatton, and in any case that has been modelled several times already. I intend to use some modellers licence in order to run a more GWR bias though and probably on the station buildings too.

 

Wooferton also has the advantage that the station scales to 7' between the bridges on the mainline. Yes, I said bridges, a skew road overbridge to the south and an occupation overbridge to the north. The goods yard and engine shed area will be compressed slightly with the woodyard sidings not modelled. However timber in open wagons can still be a regular traffic either along the branch or onto/from the mainline.

 

On to the delays - firstly I broke my foot in January and that laid me up for about 8 weeks. So, just right and guess what? Broke the same foot again! So that took me to late May.

 

First job was to line and insulate my shed - been meaning to do that for far too long.

 

That was followed up with baseboard building. I used professionally built boards from Model Railway Solutions. Very pleased with them and I've got a sturdy base to work on, so much so that I am able to sit on the boards without any problems.

 

One board was modified to take a Nelevator. This is a vertical fiddle yard. By the time you cost it out it is much the same cost as laying down a 20 road fiddle yard (for that is what it is) and takes up much less room. This is 'Nellie' in her home:

 

Nellie

 
I am keen to use the latest developments that Allen Pearson and his crew are working on which is a signalling system (they call it 'traffic lights' as they show red, yellow and green aspects) that will stop trains if Nellie is moving and will stop Nellie if a train has stopped in one of the portals. It will be interesting to try and use the track relay outputs from this to drive semaphore signals in addition to controlling track power. As I'm not using the upper level tracks I may be able to use those relay outpits to drive the signals.
 
The track plan is such that it is difficult to reproduce the station throat at the north end using proprietary track. I've given it a go with two short crossings and one long crossing. I have a nasty feeling this might give me trouble and may need to be relaid at some point. I have to mention LNER4479 of this parish for giving me the confidence to hack at Peco track to produce what I required. This is the result, it looks a little scruffy still but will be a lot better once a bit of track colour goes down and the surplus ballast has been cleared:
 

Wooferton station throat.

 

This is a general view along the baseboard with the track, in the main, laid out roughly where it should be:

 

General view

 

Where the foam can be seen in the distance is where an overbridge will hide, with the help of trees, the curve to the right and where the camera is is where the skew road bridge is. Again there is, in real life, a row of trees alongside the line that will hide proceedings from the normal viewing angle.

 

Signals are a bit of a problem since the layout requires at least 3 bracket signals which are, as yet, not available commercially. I'm on to that though through a member on here - apologies to him for not being in touch.

 

Well ,that's where I've got to on the layout, stock is another matter.

 

I've got a number of locomotives already and I'm going to use DCC to drive them. In that respect I've already chipped a Union Mills Dean Goods using a CT Elektronics DCX77z - it was surprisingly easy without any modification to the loco or tender bodies (the chip is in the tender with the motor). It is a powerful little beast and pulls a silly amount of stock for what it is. I've got a couple of 14xx/42xx tanks and they are going to be easy to do with a Gaugemaster DC22 chip. A DC23 chip fits in the Dapol 28xx nicely but not in the Hall that I have, it is a fraction too thick for the tender top to clip into place. Oddly the biggest problem seems to be with chipping Panniers, there is precious little space in them. The Farish GWR railcar needs some surgery to the chassis to fit a chip. The loco stock will include a couple of locos that are out of place and will have a definite GWR bias despite the prototype being a joint line.

 

So, apologies for not updating things, I'll try not to leave it so long next time.

Edited by Richard E
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Hi Richard

 

Somehow must have missed this first time round!  

 

My station being modelled is Berrington & Eye which was the next one down south out of "Woofferton"

 

This was a joint GWR/LNWR/LMS line up to BR days.

 

What period are you modelling?

 

Peter

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     Great to see you are forging ahead. I'm modelling Woofferton, Easton Court and Tenbury in 4mm. I've been collecting gear - I only returned to this hobby about 18 months ago so literally had nothing whatsoever - and planning. I have yet to convert and extend the outbuilding to house my layout, so sadly nothing to really show as yet...

Edited by Methuselah
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     Great to see you are forging ahead. I'm modelling Wooferton, Easton Court and Tenbury in 4mm. I've been collecting gear - I only returned to this hobby about 18 months ago so literally had nothing whatsoever - and planning. I have yet to convert and extend the outbuilding to house my layout, so sadly nothing to really show as yet...

     It started as a plan to model only Tenbury in P4, ..... then I realised I'd never have many locos in P4 - so I added Wooferton in OO. Thus my take on Wooferton in 4mm will have mixed P4 & OO gauges - but it's all 4mm scale of course. It may seem a bit odd, but it squares the circle for me, and the unusual layout at Wooferton with the separate bay for the branch lends itself to this rather odd solution. The P4 will be end to end, but the OO will be a 'roundy-roundy'....

 

And the local trains that started from Leominster or Ludlow on the main line and ran down the branch all day plus the goods that did similar; are they going to be P4 or OO?

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Interesting prototype, with a good biodiversity of locos and stock.  You can justify almost any GW except the likes of Kings, 47xx, and 1361/1366, but some types of panniers would have been rare.  Certainly the bulk of tender locos though.  LMS would contribute most post grouping tender types short of Pacifics, working through as far as Pontypool Road, along with a smattering of LNW.  

 

Don't forget 72xx on the daily Radyr-Shrewsbury coal train.

Edited by The Johnster
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Looking at tween wars as the starting point but I'll be mixing liveries up a bit so it won't be 100% correct on period.

 

I've managed to get hold of some timetable info which could prove useful.

 

My biggest issue so far is getting some decent info on the buildings and, as such, I'll probably put more of a Western slant on it than an authentic model would, at least at the start. I've got some photos of what little remains of the buildings taken last year though. Given the connection to the Severn Valley via Bewdley it 'could' be postulated that the architectural style would have been similar had it not been a joint line. Still a joint line would be nice to run some LMS and even LNWR motive power as a break to lots of green stuff, it's a good excuse for an 8F or 3 ...

 

There are some fairly useful well known pictures of steam and a railcar on the main line there but they don't really show much else.

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Looking at tween wars as the starting point but I'll be mixing liveries up a bit so it won't be 100% correct on period.

 

I've managed to get hold of some timetable info which could prove useful.

 

My biggest issue so far is getting some decent info on the buildings and, as such, I'll probably put more of a Western slant on it than an authentic model would, at least at the start. I've got some photos of what little remains of the buildings taken last year though. Given the connection to the Severn Valley via Bewdley it 'could' be postulated that the architectural style would have been similar had it not been a joint line. Still a joint line would be nice to run some LMS and even LNWR motive power as a break to lots of green stuff, it's a good excuse for an 8F or 3 ...

 

There are some fairly useful well known pictures of steam and a railcar on the main line there but they don't really show much else.

 

     The buildings at Wooferton never really changed in any significant way. Nor did they on the Tenbury Branch. If you look at early photos and late photos - the only real differences relate to signalling - and then mainly in style. Early period seems to have been LNWR at Wooferton, then over to GWR - probably between the wars. Platforms and footbridge aside - all the main building remain pretty-much intact today - the signal cabin, main station building and goods shed, as well as most of the bridge-structures. The engine shed was basically derelict and just used for water from around 1900 onwards. The footbridge remaining at Ludlow is quite similar to Woofertons - and worth a look.

     I some ways the main line gets more interesting the further back in time one travels. Pre-Grouping there'd be lot's of LNWR - and they serviced the branch until the GW took over the running completely. The LNWR/LMS retained running-rights as far as Tenbury, but it's not clear as to whether they exercised that right very often - if at all.

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And the local trains that started from Leominster or Ludlow on the main line and ran down the branch all day plus the goods that did similar; are they going to be P4 or OO?

 

 Clearly not..... It's a simple fudge to allow two separate models to run side by side as they are at the same 4mm scale from the same area. The OO will run into the garden too - and P4 in the garden is a non-starter, even if I could afford a fleet of mainline P4 locos - which I cannot. Branchline P4 is as much as I can manage. The west bay platform was much used and the LNWR had their own little engine shed at Wooferton, so the bay and it's loop will be P4 and the P4 will run across the OO main-line etc. Later the west bay was removed, but I'm modelling it pre-war anyway. Most of the rest of the sidings will be OO, so in theory N-S pick-up goods can still work. I'm not bothered about Ludlow & Leominster - they aren't within my scope. I'm not running a timetable. I'm not shunting. It's a historic tableau in which trains run - it's model you see - it's not real. On the plus side, there will be no compression or distortion - all the  dimensions, lengths, curves will be exactly 1:76. It'll run from Station Road to the old A49 overbridge north of the junction, to include the relief loops and most of the Ballast Hole Sidings.  :senile:

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     A few self-explanatory Wooferton-related shots. The loco, as the board attests, was the last official train from Wooferton down the Tenbury Branch, as they all closed to passengers at the same time, although some goods services lingered-on for a while.

     The wagon weigh-bridge is worth noting, as is the associated hut. Early maps show a wagon turntable near this location - but no images of this seem to have survived and it's likely it was removed in the 1800's. There are some references to a loco turntable at Wooferton, but these are erroneous. The old small turntable from Bewdley was relocated to Wooferton after the Tenbury - Bewdley section was completed.

     By the time of the last shot, all the signalling had been changed for GWR long ago.

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Edited by Methuselah
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Thanks for sharing these pics.  I recently built a weigh bridge and office for Berrington and Eye based on guesswork and a pic of one on the Knighton branch.  I got the size right but made it of brick.  Never occurred that it could be of wood on an engineering brick base!

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I'm having some difficulty attaching sets of .jpegs.

 

Here is a nice shot of the station staff at Wooferton - and a great straight-on shot of the stations name-board.

 

Also a shot of a typical branch pick-up goods in post-war days, running along beside the River Rea - probably little different to fifty or more years earlier.

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The railwaymen's cottages and refreshment-rooms/pub in the station yard.

 

The same view as posted by Brassy - but in original configuration. The notice-boards are for both the GWR & LNWR.

The last photo is rich in period station detail. Note all the wood and ironwork is painted either chocolate or black. No buff or stone 1 or 2 here. These could be in the LNWR livery but it is rumoured that the GWR had a brief period of painting the buildings in chocolate. Responsibility for the buildings transferred between the two companies of the joint line over time. In 1907 the GWR took over responsibilities for the track and signalling so I guess that they relinquished their responsibility for the buildings to the LNWR at the same time. Milk churns are interesting too.

 

Peter

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Three early-period images for Brassy's delectation.

 

1. General view of Wooferton Station. Some nice period details. If it's a southbound pick-up goods, then it's headed for his station.... In LNWR days, there was quite a complicated set of south-facing shunt signals by the footbridge on the south-side for trains reversing into the sidings or crossing. Later, the GWR installed a simpler set-up with a route-indicator. Oil lamps seem to have been fitted to ordinary gas-light standards in anticipation of a supply becoming available - which did happen later.

     It may be a trick of the light - but the points in the bay loops seem to lack any check-rails whatsoever...

 

2. I know where, approximately when - but not wot....! This was taken in Victorian times of a Wooferton bound train on the viaduct in Bewdley. I'm guessing 1880's - '90's. What is the odd 2-4-0 loco...? Dean 3201 Stella Class....? Answers on a postcard...! PS;- Yes - that's a rope-walk on the left....

 

3. An old grounded four or six-wheeled coach. It was either at Wooferton or Tenbury. No idea if it's GWR or LNER, but it must be a pre 1900 coach anyway.

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Edited by Methuselah
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I’m currently at Liverpool Street Station on a mobile so will have a better look on my Mac at home. I have the first image. Interestingly The handrails on the footbridge are white in this one not dark. Also the train has no break van so that could be off shunting with the loco somewhere.

 

In the 1912 working timetable there was only one GW local goods a day in either direction. This train could have come off the branch of course.

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Last one today.

 

Date;- General Strike;- 3rd May 1926 to 12th May 1926.

GWR staff driving what appears to be a 0-6-0 Dean Goods, pauses at Tenbury facing tender-first on the westbound platform. Number sadly obscured, but starts 2***.

 

Do you have the Wild Swan book "The Tenbury & Bewdley Railway"? Some of these pictures are in there with captions.

 

General Strike pic: 'Civilian' driver Lampitt, guard Riley and clerk Bailey

 

Loco on Wribbenhall Viaduct, Bewdley: 2-4-0 No. 180 (ex-WMR) (West Midland Railway)

 

Here are another couple of rather poor shots I took of the Station Master's House in January 2011; now a private residence that is fenced off from the old Booking Hall.  They might help in modelling the building

 

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The design of this and booking hall is similar to those at both Berrington & Eye and Church Stretton both of which are in stone rather than brick

 

PS: on double-checking, the 1926 strike pic in the book is similar but not identical to yours with fewer people (4).  The other guy on the footplate is not identified

Edited by Brassey
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Do you have the Wild Swan book "The Tenbury & Bewdley Railway"? Some of these pictures are in there with captions.

 

General Strike pic: 'Civilian' driver Lampitt, guard Riley and clerk Bailey

 

Loco on Wribbenhall Viaduct, Bewdley: 2-4-0 No. 180 (ex-WMR) (West Midland Railway)

 

Here are another couple of rather poor shots I took of the Station Master's House in January 2011; now a private residence that is fenced off from the old Booking Hall.  They might help in modelling the building

 

attachicon.gifwoofferon_station_masters_house.jpg

 

attachicon.gifWoofferton_station_house2.jpg

 

The design of this and booking hall is similar to those at both Berrington & Eye and Church Stretton both of which are in stone rather than brick

 

PS: on double-checking, the 1926 strike pic in the book is similar but not identical to yours with fewer people (4).  The other guy on the footplate is not identified

 

     I may have the book - but all my books have been in storage for ages pending a house move, so I'm not sure. The photos I'm posting are some that I happened to have on my laptop. Not all, but most of them are snaps of originals.

     The shots of the house are useful thanks. Thankfully there aren't too many buildings to model at Woofferton - and they aren't too fancy.

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This morning I remembered I'd taken this.  It's a photo of a photo held at the LNWR Study Centre in Kenilworth:

 

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From this I think that the Station Master's Building was always fenced off from the Booking Hall as was probably the case at Berrington & Eye too.

 

PS: looking at the window now, I think this is still in GWR colours in 1968 - shame it's only black and white

Edited by Brassey
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