The View From London Road

[Doncaster Green]

This is an idea that has been long in the gestation, my powers of procrastination are such that I should be awarded doctorates and professorships in the subject.   Thus, when Simon Castens of the Titfield Thunderbolt and Wild Swan Books published Iain Rice’s book ‘Creating Cameo Layouts’ and announced this competition, I decided that the impetus of a competition could be the filip that is needed to get somewhere close to actually building something.

As a lad being brought up in a small town NE of Nottingham, shopping trips into the city, whether by bus or car, always took us along the London Road.  For those of a historical bent the buses were usually from the varied fleet of W Gash and Sons and the cars at this time were, at first, an Austin 12 4 door saloon and, later, an Austin A40 Countryman, Singer Gazelle Estate and Hillman Super Minx Estate.   As we crested the bridge over the old MR line just outside Nottingham Midland Station, heading towards Huntingdon Street Bus Station or the Canal Street car parks, we were ‘treated’ to this view:

 

 

(The copyright for this picture is, I believe, held by the authors, V Forster and W Taylor, of a book on Nottingham’s railways published by Foxline a few years ago and I apologise for using it but pictures from this angle are very rare and I include as it one of the few I’ve found that shows the ground level building reasonably clearly)

Centrally is the ex. GNR London Road High Level Station with, behind, the Island Street factory, warehouse and office complex of the Boots Pure Drug Co.   This photograph can be dated to no earlier than late 1956 / early 1957 as the office building to the right background was only completed in 1956.   The bridge over the Nottingham Canal in the foreground is interesting in that it is what I believe is called a ‘roving bridge’ that allows the horses drawing the barges to change from one towpath to another without being unhitched.   Another view, slightly to the east, is:

 

(Photo by John Ford with permission from David Ford)

 

and shows the bridge over the Nottingham Canal and the girder bridge over London Road.   To the left the line curves round to Weekday Cross Junction. and Nottingham Victoria.   The view has a sort of decayed urban grandeur about it.  The way the factory buildings loom over, and almost overpower, the railway, is to me the essence of the late 19^th c and early to mid 20^th c industrial landscape of the midlands.   No twee cottages and village greens here!

 

A quick diversion into history to explain why the line was here!   Without dwelling too much on the excesses of the Railway Mania of the 1840’s, there was a proposal to build a line from a junction with the North Midland Railway at Ambergate in Derbyshire, via Nottingham and Boston to the east Lincolnshire coast, the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway..   This upset one George Hudson, particularly as one of its backers was the London & York (later Great Northern Railway), and through his machinations it never did reach Ambergate but it did reach Boston from Nottingham via Grantham.   A corner of the original terminus in Nottingham, a lovely building now restored, can just be seen on the right of the first picture.   The line was worked from the outset by the GNR and was later absorbed by them.   Fast forward to the mid 1890’s and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (later Great Central Railway) proposed an extension to London via a grand new station in Nottingham.   An agreement was reached with the GNR over joint funding for this station, which became Nottingham Victoria, and the GNR diverted its line from Grantham into Victoria via a junction at Weekday Cross.   The original terminus, while still used for some passenger services as Nottingham London Road Low Level (Caledonian 123 was pictured there on a special in the 1950’s), became principally a parcels depot and a new through station, London Road High Level, opened on the viaduct carrying the diversion to Weekday Cross.  It was never a heavily used station but for many years the running in board carried the legend ‘Alight here for Football and Cricket Grounds’ as it was only about a 10 minute walk to Trent Bridge (Notts CC and Test Matches) and the City Ground (Nottingham Forest) and about five minutes to Meadow Lane (Notts County).

As a result of the political vandalism of the 1960’s and the closure of the GCR route (colours, mast, firmly nailed!) London Road High Level also closed as Grantham and Skegness services were diverted to Nottingham Midland.  The line lingered for a short period as a single line to allow trains from the MOD Stores Depot at Ruddington to operate.   The station building was occupied, at various periods, by an office supplies company, an antiques market and an American themed restaurant and survived until the early 2000’s.   In fact it is visible on the first rendition of Google Earth in 1999, which has enabled basic dimensions to be ascertained.

 

 

Enough of the historical meanderings, the Plan!   The scenic section of the layout is 5ft 6ins x 1ft 9ins and is contained on a lightweight baseboard constructed from 5mm foamboard and 5mm balsa wood.   Is this strong enough and rigid enough to provide support without twisting or bowing?   Time will tell.   All I can say is that a similar board, slightly longer but also narrower, has been stood up in the garage for about five years and shows no distortion or deterioration.   It is intended that for display this will be carried in a supporting frame that includes the front arch, the backscene, the lighting pelmet and the ends from which the fiddle yards will be supported, the idea being that the scenic board can be removed for working on and the frame can be used for future layouts.   Fiddle yards will be approx. 2ft 9ins at each end although I am as yet undecided on cassettes or turntables.   A standard coach set on the Nottingham- Grantham service in the mid 50s (pre DMU) was five Gresley or Thompson Non-gangway coaches drawn by any of A5, J6, K2 or B1.   I’ve been told L1s also appeared but have seen no photographic proof of this.   Such a set scales out to approx. 2ft 6ins in 2mm.  Freight trains, mainly coal from the Nottinghamshire pits and iron ore going the other way from the opencast pits of Leicestershire and Rutland via High Dyke on the ECML, would be considerably longer but a representation is possible in 2ft 6ins.

 

The intention is for the left hand 3ft to depict London road, part of the Nottingham Canal, the station and the Boots complex, pretty much as per the photographs, starting at the London Road overbridge and continuing to the end of the Mid 50s office block.   This is a little compressed but, as the picture below shows, doesn’t unduly distort the scene.

 

 

 

 

In order to bring in an element of operation, as opposed to just watching the trains go by, the right hand end is planned to represent a much reduced but identifiable part of the old GNR/LNER grain, Goods and parcels depot.   This entails more than a little ‘adjustment’ to geography!   Eastcroft Gasworks, in reality right next to the viaduct and the High Level Station, ceases to exist and the Goods Warehouses move smartly North West to occupy its site!   The buildings will be inspired by:

 

(via Google Images, copyright unknown)

 

This was taken long after closure.   In fact the two sheds still exist although much ruinous after fires (some say deliberate in order to circumvent Grade II listings!).

There is probably not space for more than a couple of sidings, but the essence will be there.

 

 

 

 

In terms of the scenic area and fiddle yards, progress is good and completion by the due date is more than possible.   Most of the artwork for the, mainly card, buildings is ready and, as can be seen from the photographs, the main factory complex and ground level station building are both, apart from some detailing, largely complete.   Work remains for the platform buildings and canopy, the road and canal bridges and the goods sheds,  but with artwork done the difficult part is complete.

 

Rolling stock is the main issue.   For the steam era the only appropriate RTR N gauge stock available is the Farish or Dapol B1, both of which will require new chassis for conversion to 2MM, and Dapol Gresley corridor stock.   Mk1 coaches did appear on some of the ‘Skeggy’ summer specials but not many.  This means that kit or scratch build is required.   A J39 is under construction from a kit but A5, K2 or J6 have not been identified as kits.   There are suggestions A5 and J6 could be available as 3D printed bodies requiring scratch built chassis ( might get away with a J39 chassis for the J6?).    No Thompson or Gresley NG stock is available RTR, but sufficient kits for 4 or 5 representative rakes have been obtained using Masterclass kits and Worsley Works.   These need building and to date only one rake is partly complete.

 

For the Diesel/DMU era, late 50s on, Class 31 and Class 25 were regular performers on freight and the Farish examples are easily converted to 2mm using 2mmSA components.   Class 20s also appeared on Summer ‘Skeggys’ and again can be converted from Farish.   Class 114 and 120 DMUs carried the bulk of the passenger service.   Again, neither are available RTR for conversion but investigation has shown that the 114 can achieved using BH sides and ends, old style Farish Mk1 coaches and a butchered Farish 101 or 108 chassis.  The 120 would be similar although I have yet to procure the sides and ends.

Perhaps I like a challenge!

 

One possible saving grace is that, being plain track with no turnouts and gentle curves, the main line through the station could be operated using unconverted N gauge, giving me at least B1 and Farish J39.

 

The lower level yard can be operated using the Farish Jinty, converted using 2mmSA components as Midland region took over its operation in the Mid 50s.   Diesel era would require Class 03 (Farish body and 2mm replacement chassis) or Class 08 (similar or 2mmSA kit)

I am confident that the scenic elements will be completed well before the due date, progress is good and most of the issues overcome, at least on paper!   The presentational elements have also been tested and only require to be built, although this could be a challenge as I am by training an accountant, not a chippy!   I have put up shelves in the past but would not trust them with much weight!

 

One thought that crossed my mind was, in the interests of one man operation, to create the lower yard as a non-operational representation, but this leads to the question of Cameo or Diorama!   Visually there would be little difference and, with a varied stream of passenger and freight along the main line, would still be operationally interesting.   I can think of a number of exhibition layouts that employ the same philosophy, ‘Sidney Gardens’ and ‘Chilcompton’ both readily spring to mind.   I would welcome thoughts on this.

 

As a first post, this has been rather long and meandering (and probably exceedingly boring) but it sets the scene and introduces the plan.   Progress reports (hopefully shorter and to the point!) will be posted as and when there is any!  For now, I throw myself on your mercy and await your comments.

 

John Fryer

Edited May 23, 2018 by Doncaster Green

[2mmMark]

I like this very much. It's reminiscent of Inkerman Street, the MRJ 7mm project layout. 

 

N gauge stock will be fine on 2mm Easitrac.  Tom Everitt's Ropley uses it.

 

I would make the lower yard operational as it'll be a good contrast to the main line.  What you could do is automate it using a shuttle unit to move some stock from time to time when operating single handed. Revert to full operation when operators are available. You could run it from the front.

 

Mark

[Doncaster Green]

I followed the Inkerman St story in MRJ at the time and seem to remember seeing it at an IMREX show in the late 80's/early 90's (?).   I certainly studied it with great interest when it was dusted off for Warley in 2011 (I think it was).   If I can come anywhere near that standard for gritty urban modelling I shall be well pleased!

 

It is certainly the intention to make the yard operational in some form with operation from the front.  I intend to do all operating from the front, although that will make whatever fiddle yard design I plump for (and I'm tending towards turntables - I have two IKEA Lazy Susans that are itching to be used) very visible and will need to be considered cosmetically as well as operationally.

 

John

[Captain Kernow]

I really like the concept.

 

You seem to have made a good start with those lovely buildings.

[Doncaster Green]

​Thank you for that CK.   There is still some tidying up and detailing to do on those, but I am easily distracted and am currently playing with templates to see how to fit in the lower yard.   The two sheds will have to be compressed, its a question of how much without losing the character.

 

​I am also intrigued by the signalling and block arrangements.   There was, until certainly the mid 30's, a small signal cabin perched on the side of the viaduct between the station building and the canal bridge, but I can't find what it controlled and when it was actually dismantled.   The trailing crossovers either side of the station were so close to the junctions (Weekday Cross and Trent Lane) that use would foul the junction and so would have to be under the control of the junction boxes.   So, apart from the platform starters and, possibly, an intermediate block post I can't see what need there was for it.   I say this as I am toying with the idea of including it, it's out of time but an interesting talking point.

 

John

[westerner]

Like Tim (CK) I do like Industrial urban layouts, I was wondering how this is developing?

[Doncaster Green]

Progress to date has been slow with little achieved physically.   The design of one of the Goods sheds/Grain stores is more or less complete and construction will start shortly and design for the second, a cut down low relief version, is underway.   Unfortunately, a combination of domestic requirements (making room in the garage for the delivery of the new kitchen before installation starts - a mammoth job as it has been a dumping ground for about 20 years) and the weather has meant that the modelling 'get up and go' appears to have got up and gone!

 

However, in order to kick start the mojo, I plan to visit Mr Warleggan's banking establishment next weekend where it seems an inspiring fix of 2mm modelling is to be had, plus the attendance of one or two specialist traders who will probably be successful in separating me from some cash.   Mustn't spend too much though as the TV appears to have decided enough's enough and refuses to provide the pictures it is designed to give!

 

Will keep you posted.

 

John