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Midland in Tewkesbury


Tricky
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22 minutes ago, 45609 said:

This excerpt from the 1928 Aerofilms image shows the original 1840 station Gothic frontage with the overall roof behind.  The loco shed is immediately behind that and Oldbury Road runs between the two.

 

This following are elevations and plans of the 1840 station taken from the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway's contract 15G for the construction of the Tewkesbury Depot.  I have a copy of the whole contract document that goes into details of the materials etc... to be used.  It is dated 1838.

 

 

Station design was still in its infancy in 1838! That's amazing material. Where are the original documents held?

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1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Station design was still in its infancy in 1838! That's amazing material. Where are the original documents held?

 

Yes, I agree. It was a very bold and ostentatious design. Perhaps it was to make up for the fact that built route of the main Birmingham to Gloucester line had bypassed Tewkesbury town centre by a good 2 miles.  I actually don't know the original source of the document. It was passed to me a number of years ago by a member of the Tewkesbury Historical Society.  Judging by the title on the top of each page it looks like it was published in a journal called "Railway Practice"

 

Here are a couple more excerpts. Stuff only pertaining to the actual construction specification.

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page057.jpg.42d6245c0f04e3c922e78bf86d7914ac.jpg

 

Morgan

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23 hours ago, Middlepeak said:

Hi Richard,

 

Totally by chance I was thumbing through a copy of the May 1965 Railway Magazine this morning and found the attached. It's credited to Gordon Biddle and dated May 1956. Track still visible in the setts, and I like the lamp fixed to the side of the building.

 

Hope it's useful. My apologies for the poor quality, but the original magazine print was not brilliant.

 

Regards,

 

Geraint

Scan.jpg

 

I think this is the same image, taken from the Pinterest board that I posted earlier:  https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/562527809699642721/

 

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1 hour ago, 45609 said:

Judging by the title on the top of each page it looks like it was published in a journal called "Railway Practice"

 

 

S.C. Brees, The Railway Practice of Great Britain (Second Series, 1840) pp. 37-52. The drawings are at pp. 158-9 and pp. 162-3. The design is attributed to Capt. R. Moorsom, Engineer, whilst the Birmingham & Gloucester contracts are under the name of Capt. W.S. Moorsom, Engineer. (Constantine) Richard Moorsom was Secretary and later a director of the Birmingham & Gloucester Railway; he was also a director of the London & Birmingham Railway. He left the latter in 1839 and the B&G on the amalgamation to form the Midland in 1844, but he returned to the LNWR, becoming Chairman by the time of his death in 1861, by which time he had risen to the rank of Admiral. His younger brother, William Scarth Moorsom, started his railway career as a surveyor on the London & Birmingham before becoming Engineer of the B&G. He it was who ordered the famous Norris engines for the Lickey incline. After the amalgamation of the B&G with the Midland, he went on to have an extensive career in railway surveying.

 

Both Moorsoms had had military careers, their father having been one of Nelson's captains at Trafalgar. William's training in surveying came from his Army career, wheras Richard's engineering training was from the Navy; as railway engineers, they were proteges of Robert Stephenson. 

 

Samuel Charles Brees was born in 1810. In 1842, he took the post of Principal Surveyor and Engineer to the New Zealand Company; on his return he published Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand

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3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

S.C. Brees, The Railway Practice of Great Britain (Second Series, 1840) pp. 37-52. The drawings are at pp. 158-9 and pp. 162-3. The design is attributed to Capt. R. Moorsom, Engineer, whilst the Birmingham & Gloucester contracts are under the name of Capt. W.S. Moorsom, Engineer. (Constantine) Richard Moorsom was Secretary and later a director of the Birmingham & Gloucester Railway; he was also a director of the London & Birmingham Railway. He left the latter in 1839 and the B&G on the amalgamation to form the Midland in 1844, but he returned to the LNWR, becoming Chairman by the time of his death in 1861, by which time he had risen to the rank of Admiral. His younger brother, William Scarth Moorsom, started his railway career as a surveyor on the London & Birmingham before becoming Engineer of the B&G. He it was who ordered the famous Norris engines for the Lickey incline. After the amalgamation of the B&G with the Midland, he went on to have an extensive career in railway surveying.

 

Both Moorsoms had had military careers, their father having been one of Nelson's captains at Trafalgar. William's training in surveying came from his Army career, wheras Richard's engineering training was from the Navy; as railway engineers, they were proteges of Robert Stephenson. 

 

Samuel Charles Brees was born in 1810. In 1842, he took the post of Principal Surveyor and Engineer to the New Zealand Company; on his return he published Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand

 

Amazing! Thanks for that. Some really interesting background history.

 

Morgan

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Thanks for all of the photos and drawings. It’s very useful in building an historical setting. Does anyone have - or know of - a timeline of events? I must confess to still being a bit baffled...if the terminus building frontage on the High St existed up until the 30s, when was the line extended beyond to Healings Mill? 

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AFAIK the line out of the front of the station and down to the quayside was there from the very start when the station was opened in 1840. If you look at the building plan I posted one track came through the right hand portico across The High street and down Quay Street. Healing’s Mill was opened in 1865 but the quayside at Tewkesbury was in use long before that. The River Severn was navigable for a very long way beyond Tewkesbury and the major artery for goods and trade hundreds of years before the railways came along.

 

I would recommend getting a copy of this Tewkesbury Historical Society publication.

 

https://tewkesburyhistory.org/Tewkesburys-Two-Railways

 

The lower picture on the front cover shows a photo from very early in the station’s life with a loco on the High Street.

 

Morgan

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14 minutes ago, 45609 said:

AFAIK the line out of the front of the station and down to the quayside was there from the very start when the station was opened in 1840. If you look at the building plan I posted one track came through the right hand portico across The High street and down Quay Street. Healing’s Mill was opened in 1865 but the quayside at Tewkesbury was in use long before that. The River Severn was navigable for a very long way beyond Tewkesbury and the major artery for goods and trade hundreds of years before the railways came along.

 

I would recommend getting a copy of this Tewkesbury Historical Society publication.

 

https://tewkesburyhistory.org/Tewkesburys-Two-Railways

 

The lower picture on the front cover shows a photo from very early in the station’s life with a loco on the High Street.

 

Morgan

I see, thanks for clarifying. I had looked at the elevation drawing and didn’t realise that the right hand doors then must have opened to allow rail traffic through...

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1 hour ago, Tricky said:

I see, thanks for clarifying. I had looked at the elevation drawing and didn’t realise that the right hand doors then must have opened to allow rail traffic through...

 

No problem, glad it’s of some use. Got a few more photos somewhere. I’ll have to find them. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how your interpretation turns out.

 

Morgan

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12 hours ago, 45609 said:

 

No problem, glad it’s of some use. Got a few more photos somewhere. I’ll have to find them. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how your interpretation turns out.

 

Morgan

So am I Morgan!

I’m away on holiday at the moment and all I’ve taken with me is a sketchbook so that I can contemplate some designs for the various structures needed. An awful lot of compromise will be used, ‘cutting and pasting’ if you like various aspects and views as found in the photos that you and others have kindly posted above. I hope the overall effect will be reminiscent rather than any real attempt at copying. But then, that was very much the case with Bristol. In some cases, the buildings and features I copied and placed next so each other are hundreds of yards apart in real life. I only ever set out to create a flavour rather than a slavish copy. At the moment my one regret (that’s too strong a word but I can’t think of a better one...) is that I can’t see how I can incorporate the view of the river bridge running into the mill. But I shall think on...

The idea of having the engine shed itself slap bang in the middle is interesting and not often seen I think. 

Also still trying to conjure up some convincing scenic breaks to the right hand end, whilst trying to add the wonderfully evocative notion of rail and road criss-crossing each other. 

So, as I sit and ponder all this, I’m still slightly dubious whether I can pull it off, or whether it will just be too much compromise to be at all convincing. Somehow Bristol seems bigger! I think by the end of the week I’ll know...

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I wonder if anyone has any historical information about the Blizard Colman Tewkesbury Brewery building? It clearly had the railway running in front of it with what appears to be a high level loading door, possibly at a convenient height for wagon loading...? If so, do we know the nature of the traffic and if so the type of wagons used? I have it in mind to model a version if this building but at the moment I can’t quite wangle it to have the line running right in front of it as it would have done. But a suggestion of the traffic that once would have been present would be great. Along with numerous barrels in front of it I presume? 

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I see there is an RTR Tewkesbury Brewery wagon available: green body, white shaded black writing. Also an S  Healing Flour Mill brown van. Any ideas when these might have been in use, and indeed the authenticity? Turn of the century I hope but the van model certainly looks a bit modern to me...

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Having just been on a brewery tour today I can tell you that the principal traffic would have been malted barley, hops and yeast - likely all in sacks or bags and therefore probably in covered vans. Outbound would be beer in barrels or bottles. Both would result in empties inward too. Open wagons would be suitable for barrel traffic. Also maybe an odd wagon of coal for heating and perhaps the occasional load of used hops and barley outbound for cattle or pig feed. I would guess that the barley and hops inward would use the upper floor door to failitate adding into the brewing vessels. Beer would exit at ground floor level.

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13 minutes ago, colin penfold said:

Having just been on a brewery tour today I can tell you that the principal traffic would have been malted barley, hops and yeast - likely all in sacks or bags and therefore probably in covered vans. Outbound would be beer in barrels or bottles. Both would result in empties inward too. Open wagons would be suitable for barrel traffic. Also maybe an odd wagon of coal for heating and perhaps the occasional load of used hops and barley outbound for cattle or pig feed. I would guess that the barley and hops inward would use the upper floor door to failitate adding into the brewing vessels. Beer would exit at ground floor level.

 

All this traffic, except the coal*, would be in railway company wagons. In the early 20th century, when covered goods wagons were a much smaller fraction of the wagon fleet than in later years, flour etc. in sacks would just as likely be transported in sheeted opens. Here's one, awaiting sheeting:

 

1293552797_DY10824LoadofGrainMRwagon119497.jpg.b781dbd450f914f30421f68e784ad28b.jpg

 

NRM DY 10824, released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) licence by the National Railway Museum.

 

*Coal in railway company wagons, colliery or coal factors wagons, or just possibly the end users own wagons (purchased or hired) - as we've seen in the case of the Borough Flour Mills. 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tricky can I go back to track work for a minute.

 

I published drawings of Midland track work, Switches crossings and the dreaded three way switch in the topic Midland Railway Company. All info there except the radii of the turnout stock rails.

Hope this helps

Tony

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9 hours ago, technohand said:

Tricky can I go back to track work for a minute.

 

I published drawings of Midland track work, Switches crossings and the dreaded three way switch in the topic Midland Railway Company. All info there except the radii of the turnout stock rails.

Hope this helps

Tony

Cheers Tony, roughly when did you post the drawings as I can’t  immediately find it.

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Drawing of 15 ft point etc.

 

Drawing of 3-way point.

 

General drawing of crossings and points.

 

To link to a specific post, click on the triangly icon to the right of "Report post". A box comes up with the address of the post, which can then be embedded in your post using the "Link" icon in the editing toolbar.

 

@technohand, these are low resolution images. Would you be willing to provide high res images under the usual terms for Study Centre material, i.e. personal use only?

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Hi Steve, I tried printing out on A4 sheets and the pictures are OK. If better resolution is required they will print out full size in Pictures.

Tricky if you are reading this as well section 6 (page6?) on the Midland Railway Company Post will give it to you.

Regards

Tony

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  • 1 month later...

What else to do on a very wet, rainy Saturday afternoon but timber-up a turnout template! I’ve gone for an amalgamation of prototype Midland information and so as usual the result will not be one for the PW purists! But at least it’s not straight off the C&L drawing so sufficient a departure from the norm for me and hopefully the vast majority of viewers! 

4434571F-B3AD-4765-B2EF-8E31638D68C0.jpeg.948b44d60034b07fa1729dbd00f5a5c2.jpeg

I suspect, however, having got this far that some of the timbers aren’t wide enough to fit two chairs side by side so they may get lifted and replaced with wider ones which I can cut from 3mm ply. 

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Very nice Tricky mate. From the pics I have of Tewksbury shed you can't see much of the timbers most of it is buried up to the rails in all sorts of surfaces including inset in sets, you could take all sorts of liberties with the track and no one would have been any the wiser. If you can't see it cheat like crazy I say LOL

Regards Lez.

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