Wolverhampton West Park - A run down city terminus

[turtlebah]

The warehouse bridge abutments are coming along.

 

A black 5 departs platform 1 with an all stations stopper to Chester.

 

[turtlebah]

The class 121 en route to Bridgenorth is waiting for a clear road out of West Park.  Unfortunately the passengers might be waiting a while as there appears to be an obstruction on the line holding up the retaining wall!

 

[Calidore]

Hi @turtlebah, I was just here to look again at something I'd remembered you featuring in a previous post. So while I'm at it, is there any news to report from West Park? I love the sense of scale in the photo above, by the way -- the huge starting signal looming over the platform, and the even bigger buildings rising behind it make for a wonderful scene.

 

Hope all is well.

 

Adam

[turtlebah]

On 04/07/2020 at 15:52, Calidore said:

Hi @turtlebah, I was just here to look again at something I'd remembered you featuring in a previous post. So while I'm at it, is there any news to report from West Park? I love the sense of scale in the photo above, by the way -- the huge starting signal looming over the platform, and the even bigger buildings rising behind it make for a wonderful scene.

 

Hope all is well.

 

Adam

 

Hi Adam,

 

Rest assured all is well and thank you for the message.  A hot summer does not lend itself to being stuck in an attic bedroom working with enamel paints, and so with that in mind I’ve taken a bit of a hiatus from West Park.  West Park is still up and operational and now autumn is fast approaching i hope to get back to it soon.

 

I’ve also been on shared parental leave from work so looking after a 10 month old full time leaves little mental space for modelling.  I’ve spend most of my summer free time on the River Lea trying to catch barbel 

 

I’ve just ordered one of the superb Bachmann Class 117 dmus, which although wouldn’t have been seen a West Park until around 10 years after closure, is just too lovely not to run.

 

Hopefully the next month or so will yield some modelling results.  Fingers crossed.

Edited September 4, 2020 by turtlebah

[turtlebah]

After a couple of months off work to look after my little daughter whilst my partner finished her maternity leave I’m nearing my own return date for work.  With the little one settling in at nursery I’ve got next week off to sort out the railway room, which will now have to double as a home office.  It’s unlikely that I’ll be commuting into central London on a regular basis anytime soon.

 

A few goodies turned up in the post curtesy of TMC this week.  I’ll be posting some videos sometime next week hopefully with a short running session.  I’ve not made any real progress on the layout and tried to have a running session this morning, but given that i haven’t touched the layout for 3 months it needs a bloody good clean up first (so much poor running).

 

I did manage to get this lovely shot of Abergavenny Castle on a short formation TPO portion for Oxford.

 

[danstercivicman]

Very good stuff  

 

when you add the retaining walls you’ll definitely have the Low Level look.

[danstercivicman]

I may have missed it but where are the retaining walls from? 

 

 

[turtlebah]

On 27/09/2020 at 14:08, danstercivicman said:

I may have missed it but where are the retaining walls from? 

 

 

Hi Dan, the retaining walls are laser cut from 2mm MDF by the lovely folks at York Model Making.  I sent them a scale drawing of what I was after and they turned up on the post 2 weeks later.

 

I thought getting them laser cut in MDF would be much sharper than me whittling away at some plasticard.

[turtlebah]

Finally got round to playing trains after a big tidy up.  It’s helped me find my modelling mojo again and after months of inactivity I’ve started to crack on with the retaining walls and station canopy (post this video).

 

As you’ll see on the video, although I’ve got the basic MDF shells for the warehouse above the bridge, I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to finish the design.  Any photos of GWR warehouses or Birmingham area warehouses would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

[danstercivicman]

2 hours ago, turtlebah said:

Hi Dan, the retaining walls are laser cut from 2mm MDF by the lovely folks at York Model Making.  I sent them a scale drawing of what I was after and they turned up on the post 2 weeks later.

 

I thought getting them laser cut in MDF would be much sharper than me whittling away at some plasticard.

 

Thank you!  I’ll look them up

[danstercivicman]

3 hours ago, turtlebah said:

Finally got round to playing trains after a big tidy up.  It’s helped me find my modelling mojo again and after months of inactivity I’ve started to crack on with the retaining walls and station canopy (post this video).

 

As you’ll see on the video, although I’ve got the basic MDF shells for the warehouse above the bridge, I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to finish the design.  Any photos of GWR warehouses or Birmingham area warehouses would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

Have a look at Birmingham New Street pre rebuild.  It has just the warehouse over rail-bridge you need! 

[danstercivicman]

I hope this helps:

 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/132504414009271109/

[turtlebah]

1 hour ago, danstercivicman said:

I hope this helps:

 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/132504414009271109/

Super. Thanks, Dan. I’ll have loads of fun looking through this and related photos!

[turtlebah]

A class 121 waits to depart with the 12.52pm local to Old Hill.  In the centre road the Paddington TPO short formation set are stored ready for departure later that evening.  The set would combine at Snow Hill.
 

[turtlebah]

A few more shots of yesterdays running session...

 

Another shot of the Bridgenorth service with the TPO stored in the centre road.
 

 

A 64xx prepares to shunt the TPO stock into Platform 2 ready for departure whilst the all stations stopper from Chester enters Platform 1.

 

[Melangoose]

My son has gone to Wolverhampton University last month, we had a weekend there to get him sorted and settled. We stayed at the Premier Inn which overlooks the old Lower Level station (it was nice to have a wander round during a quite moment on the Sunday).

 

I like what you are doing with your layout, I will look forward to following your progress.

 

[turtlebah]

11 hours ago, Melangoose said:

My son has gone to Wolverhampton University last month, we had a weekend there to get him sorted and settled. We stayed at the Premier Inn which overlooks the old Lower Level station (it was nice to have a wander round during a quite moment on the Sunday).

 

I like what you are doing with your layout, I will look forward to following your progress.

 

 

Thanks Melangoose.  Spent a lovely couple of hours on your thread the other week.  A super little layout you’ve got yourself there.  Just the wrong era unfortunately 

 

Thanks for posting the aerial shot of Low Level.  Really helpful in sorting out some of the architecture on the roof.

 

Hope your son’s getting on ok at uni.  There’s been some bleak stories regarding university lockdowns...

 

 

[turtlebah]

I continued work on the rarely used warehouse siding / headshunt this evening.  I like doing tiny patches of grass at a time as it creates a really muddled effect, which I think looks more like the real thing.  Still got a bit of blending-in to do.

 

[danstercivicman]

On 12/10/2020 at 08:24, Melangoose said:

My son has gone to Wolverhampton University last month, we had a weekend there to get him sorted and settled. We stayed at the Premier Inn which overlooks the old Lower Level station (it was nice to have a wander round during a quite moment on the Sunday).

 

I like what you are doing with your layout, I will look forward to following your progress.

 

 

This is where I was due to fight in a charity/white collar boxing match.  It was a good job I didn’t as a few weeks before I had a scan which revealed a bleed on the brain from sparring!

 

The old station is now a banqueting venue.  It’s quite big inside and they have kept quite a lot of the old canopy/roof. 

 

It is is a lovely location and high level is just behind it.  

 

Theres is a great deal of old railway infrastructure still left in Wolverhampton.  Worth a visit when it’s out of lock down level high...

 

Sorry for the massive diversion!  Hope you don’t mind. 

 

Great work on the layout  

 

Edited October 15, 2020 by danstercivicman

[turtlebah]

2 hours ago, danstercivicman said:

 

This is where I was due to fight in a charity/white collar boxing match.  It was a good job I didn’t as a few weeks before I had a scan which revealed a bleed on the brain from sparring!

 

The old station is now a banqueting venue.  It’s quite big inside and they have kept quite a lot of the old canopy/roof. 

 

It is is a lovely location and high level is just behind it.  

 

Theres is a great deal of old railway infrastructure still left in Wolverhampton.  Worth a visit when it’s out of lock down level high...

 

Sorry for the massive diversion!  Hope you don’t mind. 

 

Great work on the layout  

 

 

Sounds like you dodged a "bullet" there.

 

It's nice that they've worked with the original Low Level station architecture to create the new development.  One day I'll hopefully have the space to start work on a replica version, but until then West Park will have to do.

Edited October 15, 2020 by turtlebah

[danstercivicman]

3 hours ago, turtlebah said:

 

Sounds like you dodged a "bullet" there.

 

It's nice that they've worked with the original Low Level station architecture to create the new development.  One day I'll hopefully have the space to start work on a replica version, but until then West Park will have to do.

 

Yes very very very lucky not to be dead  2mm more and I’d have been gone... 

 

Yeah I’ve been tempted by Low Level many times.  It needs a lot of space and the pointwork is very complex at the southern end.  

 

There are are some great old former factory branches, good sheds and routes dotted around Wolves  

 

 

 

[turtlebah]

12 minutes ago, danstercivicman said:

 

Yes very very very lucky not to be dead  2mm more and I’d have been gone... 

 

Yeah I’ve been tempted by Low Level many times.  It needs a lot of space and the pointwork is very complex at the southern end.  

 

There are are some great old former factory branches, good sheds and routes dotted around Wolves  

 

 

 

 

I had enough trouble learning how to build C&L points for my simple West Park track plan - the thought of all those double and single slips makes me (and my wallet) very nervous.

Edited October 15, 2020 by turtlebah

[danstercivicman]

2 hours ago, turtlebah said:

 

I had enough trouble learning how to build C&L points for my simple West Park track plan - the thought of all those double and single slips makes me (and my wallet) very nervous.

 

There is a thread on rmweb of Glasgow  queen street being built using Peco in a very clever manner.  Low level is way more complex due to the diverging junctions.  I like what you have done on west park it gets the same effect without the point work  

[turtlebah]

8 minutes ago, danstercivicman said:

 

There is a thread on rmweb of Glasgow  queen street being built using Peco in a very clever manner.  Low level is way more complex due to the diverging junctions.  I like what you have done on west park it gets the same effect without the point work  

 

Being space restricted I didn't want to try and squeeze in a station throat making look unrealistic.  I also wanted to get the illusion of a bigger station than the modelled reality by filling the entire board with platform, but running shorter formation trains (max of 3 coaches).  It kinda works combined with the run down back story where the station is only really used for local stopping and semi fast services (with a bit of imagination).  One day I'd love the space for prototypically running.

 

I've spent a fair bit of time on that Queen Street thread - looks great and super keen to see how the project evolves.  If I wasn't such a die-hard western region fan Queen Street would have been very appealing as an inspiration.

[Melangoose]

On 14/10/2020 at 23:07, turtlebah said:

I continued work on the rarely used warehouse siding / headshunt this evening.  I like doing tiny patches of grass at a time as it creates a really muddled effect, which I think looks more like the real thing.  Still got a bit of blending-in to do.

 

Your grass work looks very effective, a nice choice of subtle shades you have used. 

Spent a nice half hour looking through all your video’s, which are fantastic. You have some really nice stock and the weathering is spot on.