Freight-only branches

[johnarcher]

I've always liked this sort of thing, ever since Iain Rice's Butley Mills. As I like minor railways that blend into the landscape rather than dominating it, I think the absence of platform, station building etc helps that effect, even in a limited space.

I mean really, firstly lines built as freight-only (rather than normal branches after passenger services withdrawn), and, secondly, those with general traffic rather than being essentially for a particular mineral or industrial use.

Has anyone any suggestions of  attractive prototype examples (on a small scale, we're talking micro to cameo here)? 

Ruthern Bridge springs first to my mind, if only there were a 4mm kit for a Beattie well-tank!

Edited April 16, 2019 by johnarcher

[Compound2632]

How about an urban goods station - large warehouses, cramped site, plenty of traffic - have a look on Warwickshire Railways for the Midland (Central, Lawley Street) and LNWR (Curxon Street, Windsor Goods) stations around Birmingham.

[The Johnster]

Well, somebody's gonna mention Wenford Bridge, so I'll get that out of the way.  

 

Freight branches come in many forms, but I guess you are talking about the minimalist railway Ian Rice type for modelling purposes.  In practice, and quoting from my own vicinity of South Wales, the East Usk and Cardiff Tidal branches are at the top of the tree, fully signalled even if permissively blocked double track and very busy.  At the other end of the scale, Ferry Road in Cardiff, a long siding operated one engine in steam occupying it shut in from a ground frame shunting it once a day.  Despite this, it was very interesting operationally, serving a variety of private sidings and an oil terminal at Ely Harbour.

 

I would say that the lack of need for passenger facilities is an advantage when you are building a minimum space layout.

 

Curzon Street is of course originally a passenger terminus, that of the London and Birmingham Railway and accessed through a duplicate of the Euston Arch.  A rural version of this would be Cowbridge in South Wales, where the original passenger terminus of the branch from Llantrisant was bypassed by the extension of the branch to Aberthaw, and became the goods depot.  Something similar happened when the Whitney Branch was extended to Fairford in the Cotswolds.  Merthyr Tydfil is another one, the Plymouth Street goods depot was the original Taff Vale passenger terminus and later High Street station that is still used today and was once the joint terminus of the Taff Vale, Rhymney, GW Vale of Neath, LNWR, and Brecon & Merthyr services was the original terminus of the Vale of Neath broad gauge route into the town.  

 

This offers scope for modelling very run down passenger stations used as goods depots, with boarded up waiting rooms and abandoned booking halls.

 

[south_tyne]

Up here in the North East we had a few fantastic examples of branchlines that were goods-only, if not from the outset then for the vast majority of the operating life. 

 

I have three particular favourites.... The two branches which left the Darlington to Barnard Castle line are lovely prototypes - the Barton railway and then the branch to Forcett goods further west. Also, the Haggerleases branch to Butterknowle goods in the Gaunless Valley is a wonderful little line. There are some cracking photos out there of all three.

 

Cheers, 

David

 

[eastglosmog]

Would the Cromford and High Peak east of Parsley Hay Junction count?

[porkie]

I know that it's in the process of being updated and modernised. 

But the old Bletchley to Oxford line line ended it's day's as mainly freight

[south_tyne]

Another couple of nice examples are the Gilesgate branch in Durham and the line to Thirsk goods. Again both NER prototypes, so they may not be up your street, but they are both very interesting. There are some cracking shots of Gilesgate goods station in the 1960s with first generation diesel locos. The buildings were very impressive, a legacy of a very early passenger station which was quickly replaced by the mainline station and Elvet terminus.

 

Finally the Beck Hole (Esk Valley) branch in North Yorkshire. Rather than repeat myself here is a link to an explantion of the prototype in another discussion: 

 

Edited April 17, 2019 by south_tyne
Added link

[Mike Storey]

The Angerstein Wharf branch was once very busy with multiple types of freight, if you are looking for a Southern example (someone mentioned Beattie well tanks, although they would not have appeared here!). Someone has modelled part of it in the past, and it gives the feel you might be looking for.

[Wickham Green]

What about the 'vinegar' branch in Worcester ? ...... you'd need Faller road system to give traffic to stop - by semaphore signal -  at the crossing !

[Nearholmer]

There were several on the Southern, ranging from the very substantial, namely Angerstein Wharf, which also linked to the absolutely enormous Greenwich Gas Works, to branches that were sort of extended sidings, like the Crumbles line at Eastbourne, and the Hassocks sand pit line, then there were the ones to wharves, which ran down public highways, Deptford Wharf being probably the "least unknown".

 

A very good one to consider would be the Rye Harbour Branch, which served a rather environmentally unfriendly tar distillery, and several industries that did more environmental damage by extracting sand and shingle and either shipping it out as graded aggregate or using it to make concrete blocks, concrete pipes, bricks, and other "patent stone" products. If you like a combination of hard-core industry and picturesque coastal setting, it would take some beating.

 

For an area that isn't now thought of as "industrial", the South of England actually had a vast amount of industry, and lots of "railway company", as well as privately-owned, railways to serve it.

 

What is rarer in the south is the rural "general goods and coal" goods-only branch ....... I'll dredge my mind for examples as I go about other things.

 

Oh, yes, an initial, although not very rural one: Reading Central Goods, which I think was called the Coley Branch.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Nearholmer

[Nearholmer]

PS: What about Wantage Lower Yard ..... that was pretty bucolic!

 

PPS: Newhaven had two, the East Quay Tramway, which was effectively a load of track panels plonked down in a vast desert of shingle, and the West Quay Tramway, which was very picturesque, real "Rice Territory" ....... I can even remember wagons (never saw a loco on it) left standing on a siding outside a pub overlooking the West Breakwater.

 

PPPS: Plymouth ...... too many to list! Ditto Southampton, and to a slightly lesser degree Portsmouth. And, all those branches in Hampshire that served mainly army camps.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Nearholmer

[Nearholmer]

The entire Canterbury and Whitstable Railway.

[Fat Controller]

The various bits and pieces on the Hoo Peninsula, many of which are still in place.

The industrial system at Ridham Dock, between Sheerness and Sittingbourne , in use until fairly recently.

The goods depot at Newcastle under Lyme, served by the remains of the Market Drayton- Stoke line of the NSR.

[Gordon A]

Ludlow to Clee Hill in Shropshire.

 

Gordon A

 

[Edwardian]

The Darlington and Barnard Castle Railway had three goods branches running southward from its mainline.

 

From east to west:

 

- The Merrybent & Darlington Railway, running from Merrybent to Barton Goods

 

- The Forcett Railway, running from Gainford to Forcett Goods

 

- Barnard Castle old station, forming a goods dépôt at the end of a short spur from the later station

 

The first two are covered in a recent North eastern railway Association publication, Lesser Railways Around Darlington

 

[johnarcher]

Thanks for all suggestions, I'll have a closer look at some, especially the more rural/bucolic ones. 

As I said I'm looking at things on a small scale, I'm not actually that interested in operation so something very simple that doesn't dominate the scene, even in a small area, is the sort of thing, and what Nearholmer called "general goods and coal" lines.

Wantage lower yard is interesting.

Wenford Bridge IIRC is mainly clay? (Which is why I thought of Ruthern).

Others I'm less familiar with, I must do some googling.

Thanks again everybody.

 

[Nearholmer]

East Anglia is pretty fertile territory for root crops and goods-only branches, but a lot of the inspiriting ones in that area have already been used as the bases for layouts, not least by Mr Rice himself.  Not sure whether it actually counts as East Anglia, or not, but a line that had interesting sprigs was the Axholme Joint: there was a proper goods-only branch to Hatfield Moor, the branch to Fockerby was exceedingly minimalistic, even when it carried passengers, and there were two peat-works branches.

['CHARD]

If you're looking for a very short colliery sprig (less substantial than a real branch) then the branch to Canonbie colliery, off the Riddings - Langholm branch off the Waverley route, provides a very self-contained prototype.  Old Maps or similar sites will show the kind of scale of the operation.

[eastglosmog]

If you want to use 00 gauge in a more accurate setting, you could try the 4ft Redruth and Chasewater Railway.

[The Johnster]

Cowbridge (Glamorgan) is a very good general goods example, and pretty bucolic. 

[Classsix T]

Kevin has mentioned East Anglia and my go-to for operational prototype has been the Hadleigh branch. Pax was binned off in 1930frozentodeath but clung on as a rural byway 'til around 1965.

 

The now Mid Norfolk Railway has a similar history, lasting as a freight branch into the Eighties. 

 

C6T 

[south_tyne]

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

The Darlington and Barnard Castle Railway had three goods branches running southward from its mainline.

 

From east to west:

 

- The Merrybent & Darlington Railway, running from Merrybent to Barton Goods

 

- The Forcett Railway, running from Gainford to Forcett Goods

 

- Barnard Castle old station, forming a goods dépôt at the end of a short spur from the later station

 

The first two are covered in a recent North eastern railway Association publication, Lesser Railways Around Darlington

 

 

As I have already said, so sorry for banging on(!!), but I love the Barton and Forcett branches. They're so full of atmosphere and character. 

 

I'm a similar vein to Barney, the old terminus station at Stanhope was similarly utilised as the goods station after the line was extended up Weardale and a new through station was built. 

[south_tyne]

Sorry, duplicate post... 

 

Edited April 17, 2019 by south_tyne
Duplicate post

[south_tyne]

4 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

East Anglia is pretty fertile territory for root crops and goods-only branches, but a lot of the inspiriting ones in that area have already been used as the bases for layouts, not least by Mr Rice himself.  Not sure whether it actually counts as East Anglia, or not, but a line that had interesting sprigs was the Axholme Joint: there was a proper goods-only branch to Hatfield Moor, the branch to Fockerby was exceedingly minimalistic, even when it carried passengers, and there were two peat-works branches.

 

The branch to Snape Maltings in East Suffolk would be another nice example from East Anglia. 

 

[Edwardian]

6 minutes ago, south_tyne said:

 

As I have already said, so sorry for banging on(!!), but I love the Barton and Forcett branches. They're so full of atmosphere and character. 

 

I'm a similar vein to Barney, the old terminus station at Stanhope was similarly utilised as the goods station after the line was extended up Weardale and a new through station was built. 

 

Sorry, South Tyne, I had not seen your earlier post.

 

Forcett Railway abutments and engine shed ...