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UK's last mixed standard and narrow gauge? Welshpool cattle docks.


Andy Y
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In a freak outbreak of sunshine as I recently drove through Welshpool I stopped to have a nosey round the Welshpool and Llanfair and GW transhipment cattle dock which had surrounding undergrowth cleared a while back. I had noticed it a couple of months ago stopping for fuel but it was somewhat wet that day.

 

I've been thinking since; is this the last surviving original mixed narrow and standard gauge in the country?

 

attachicon.gifDock_1.jpg

 

attachicon.gifDock_2.jpg

 

attachicon.gifDock_3.jpg

 

attachicon.gifDock_4.jpg

 

It's all surprisingly intact and easy to access for anyone so interested.

Very nice photos. Is it the last cattle dock in the country? Not many appear to have survived! The surface is very interesting feature.

 

Paul

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Very nice photos. Is it the last cattle dock in the country? Not many appear to have survived! The surface is very interesting feature.

 

Paul

 

Certainly super photos

 

There is of course another cattle dock - but not mixed gauge - at Highley on the Severn Valley Railway

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidedwards/8494968459

 

Phil

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Is that actually a mixed gauge siding?

I didn't realise we had any in this country

Trackplan of Welshpool in Cartwright and Russell's book on the Welshpool and Llanfair shows a mixed gauge siding on the eastern side of the triangle.  Ran along Welshpool Corporations Smithfield siding to the Cambrian's yard. There was a bill to permit it in 1913.  Apparently used for exchange of timber traffic.  I had no idea part of it was still present, assumed it had all long gone. A great find, Andy!

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In a freak outbreak of sunshine as I recently drove through Welshpool I stopped to have a nosey round the Welshpool and Llanfair and GW transhipment cattle dock which had surrounding undergrowth cleared a while back. I had noticed it a couple of months ago stopping for fuel but it was somewhat wet that day.

 

I've been thinking since; is this the last surviving original mixed narrow and standard gauge in the country?

 

attachicon.gifDock_1.jpg

 

attachicon.gifDock_2.jpg

 

attachicon.gifDock_3.jpg

 

attachicon.gifDock_4.jpg

 

It's all surprisingly intact and easy to access for anyone so interested.

 

 

The outside rail (which I presume is standard gauge) is much lower than the narrow gauge track, is there another rail buried in the track bed ? I would assume the loading gauge heights and widths would vary greatly between the two gauges

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Very nice photos. Is it the last cattle dock in the country? Not many appear to have survived! The surface is very interesting feature.

 

Paul

 

 

That's what I thought; the other side has a more conventional pattern parallel to the wagons.

 

attachicon.gifDock_5.jpg

 

That presumably is the difference between narrow gauge and standard gauge cattle?

 

Mike.

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Very nice photos. Is it the last cattle dock in the country? Not many appear to have survived! The surface is very interesting feature.

 

Paul

There is a cattle dock at Christow in the Teign Valley, which I assume is original, (though the adjacent narrow gauge is not).

post-7081-0-28264600-1519722815_thumb.jpg

 

post-7081-0-56046500-1519722836_thumb.jpg

Christow Station 14/10/2011

 

cheers

Edited by Rivercider
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That’s weird, when I walked to the Tesco in Welshpool from the station the other week I was going to photograph the old cattle dock and ask the question as to whether it was dual gauge as it was the first thing I noticed about it

 

Regards the different arrangement on the top, maybe one was for welsh sheep and the other for English?

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Interesting photos Andy . I drive by there a lot and saw the cattle dock appear from the undergrowth . I think it was to allow a better view of the Tescos sign for passing trade . However I never managed to stop as I am in a lorry and parking isn't good around there .

 

Towards the main road there is still at least one original building to photograph . Grab it incase it gets lost .

 

Thanks for sharing and I am now more determined to visit .

 

Mike b

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That's what I thought; the other side has a more conventional pattern parallel to the wagons.

 

attachicon.gifDock_5.jpg

According to the old OS maps, that was the original bit of the cattle dock (pre 1885).  The part by the mixed gauge line came later, after 1902, though as the OS never did a detailed survey of this part of Welshpool between 1902 and 1967 (and missed the W&L) not sure quite when. Also appears to have been some modifications to the old part when the cattle dock was widened.

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A friend who is involved as a volunteer on the W&LLR has provided me with this photo from the 1960s (he says 1960s but it was out of use by then so must be 1950s):

post-13650-0-85080100-1519920057.png

There seems to be a project to incorporate it into something more than just the dock itself.

https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/welshpool-mixed-gauge-and-cattle-dock.531934/

Also see http://www.cpat.org.uk/ycom/wpool/85212.htm

Jonathan

Edited by corneliuslundie
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Welshpool Yard ng side was still accessible by train in preservation days. I had a weekend there transhipping ballast from sg to ng wagons in  1962.

Indeed so - according to Cartwright and Russell it was August 1963 when the track through Welshpool was ripped up on the orders of the town corporation.  There is a photo of the ballast transhipping in their book - maybe one of the hard working figures is you!

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Tesco’s is on the site of the old Smithfield Market which was moved to an out of town site at Buttington Cross. I believe the restoration of the cattle dock as well as the W&L bridge over the canal was part of the deal.

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looking at photos of W&LLR cattle wagons, it's clear floor level was rather lower than either the dock surface or the floor of a standard gauge wagon - both about 4' above rail level? Cattle must have had to walk uphill out of the narrow gauge wagon. Looking at the tall drop flap door, I started wondering if the narrow gauge wagons actually used the standard gauge rail furthest from the dock but it's clear that the nearer pair of rails are the ones to 2'6" gauge. 

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Narrow gauge cattle vans weren't unloaded there; the dual gauge track was so the narrow gauge could access the sawmill farther down next to the standard gauge lines.  The goods and cattle were unloaded from the narrow gauge in a different part of the yard.  I've never seen a picture of a narrow gauge vehicle on the dual gauge track, but I'd be very interested if anybody has seen one!

 

Rick

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On 26/02/2018 at 17:04, Andy Y said:

In a freak outbreak of sunshine as I recently drove through Welshpool I stopped to have a nosey round the Welshpool and Llanfair and GW transhipment cattle dock which had surrounding undergrowth cleared a while back. I had noticed it a couple of months ago stopping for fuel but it was somewhat wet that day.

 

I've been thinking since; is this the last surviving original mixed narrow and standard gauge in the country?

 

 

 

It took this picture at Kilmarnock in 2007, but I don't know if the track is still there

9200524971_efa5440231_c.jpgFormer Andrew Barclay works, Kilmarnock, January 16 2007 by Andy Kirkham, on Flickr

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  • 1 year later...

Hello people

I am researching the possibility of a railway transfer dock at Shrewbury station, the cattle market was near by from 1850 till 1959, and it was a very large market. i have heard of a ramp from the road to the station for cattle, but the person only heard of it from another, known to them but no photos or drawing. Does anyone here have any info or know where i might best look for it?

on the map i have added some shapes, the brown one is the station building and CP, the red one the signal box, the green one as some building now but maybe,  And the blue i wonder if a possible but it as a high wall along here, 

Also over the other side oppersite the green shape there used to be siding and i wonder if that may have been a option. I am making this up as i go and clearly need help from those of you who have more idea them me!! 

 

1212378718_Screenshot2021-03-04at19_30_31.png.d2dc0b9710bfca957515e0b3184546f5.png 

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