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Railway Head Offices - Inspiration required...


MarshLane
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Evening all,

I am looking to construct a model building that would act as the main offices for a railway company - not a large organisation like the GWR or LMS, but not a two-mile industrial line either - something in the middle.  I am looking for a building that would not look out of place in Wales (although equally the type of construction ie brick, slate, stone etc, can be changed to influence that) and in a town centre.  The kind of building where the railway's Director's and General Manager would be located.

 

Thoughts or examples, drawings or photos, even just general comments and ideas are welcomed.  I have been searching through Google Images but so far come up a blank on something that could form the basis.  Time period would be 1880s-1890s onwards for the buildings construction, although the model is set into mid-1920s.

 

Closest I have come so far is the former Cardiff Bay railway offices (Picture) which is potentially around a good size, but there is nothing that shouts railway and I am sure there must be better examples.

 

Can anyone offer any thoughts?

 

Rich

 

Edited by MarshLane
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6 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

Have you considered canal company offices?

 

Banks, town halls & police stations etc, look too much like what they are, so a canal office might look more suitable.

 

Thanks for that, no I had not even thought about Canal Companies .... right Google here I come :)

 

Rich

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I think many railway companies' HQs were attached to a major station, and since many large stations had suites of offices for various operating, engineering and accountancy functions, the HQ would not stand out.  

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The Cardiff Bay building was designed as the Taff Vale's head office, if not actually by then certainly under the auspices of the TVR's Civil Engineer, one Ismbard Kingdom Brunel, of whom you may have heard.  There is a Brunel designed bridge a short distance to the north of it that formerly carried the line over the 'Junction Canal' section of the Glamorganshire Canal that allowed barges access to the West Dock; it is now used by a footpath and cycle route.  I'd say any Brunel building is pretty 'railway', but I know what you mean.  It dates to 1838, 12 years before the South Wales Railway, and is in a Georgian style that predates 'typical' railway structures in the same way as Liverpool and Manchester buildings do.  

 

If Oswestry is too grandiose (it is associated with the Cambrian's workshops), you may need to look outside of Wales for an example, and to the suggestions already mentioned I'd have a look at whatever facilities the Highland, Great North of Scotland, North London, LT&S, M&GN Joint, and Somerset and Dorset Joint had; these are railways of about the size that I think you are thinking of.

 

 

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Thanks guys. Of course @Oldddudders hit the nail in the head, as most head offices were part of major stations, so didn’t stand out as separate buildings, because they weren’t!

 

There is a canal office in the Midlands that I found last night, and the Brecon & Merthyr offices were interesting in what I presume was Newport High Street, being located in Chamberd above five shops! Fascinating building but again not particularly railway orientated.

 

Interesting that the Cardiff Bay building was an IKB structure, didn’t know that. Rather makes one wonder how the railway style of architecture came about.

 

@Nick Holliday suggested Oswestry, which I had forgotten about. There is some potential there I think, with a bit of Modellers License. The M&SWJR offices at Swindon that @melmoth put forward set me thinking last night. Perhaps not quite what I was after, but I think there are other options there.

 

Certainly, there are some others to investigate, as @The Johnster suggested, but I also had a PM about Douglas on the Isle of Man. Bit of a different tangent, but some interesting options there. 
 

All in all, I have some thoughts on how things could come together, from the above which has been really useful, so thanks to all of you for your input. I’ll put some sketches up when I have moved it on a bit.

 

Rich

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An example from a rather smaller railway, but might be of use.  These are the The Jersey Railways & Tramways Limited offices at the eastern end of St Helier station (now a bus station). Completed 1901, it had offices, board room, booking office and refreshment room as well as space to let for shops on the ground floor. The Jersey Railways & Tramways were about 7miles long, of 3ft 6in gauge by the time the offices were built (originally 4ft 8.5in).

1705139852_StHelierStationP1130692.JPG.f984a361c40b5b908e25c690d2381448.JPG

 

Edited by eastglosmog
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1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

One thing to bear in mind is that The Directors probably only attended the offices for board meetings, and the board might only be a dozen or fewer, so the board room might be not much bigger than a large dining room.

Indeed. In the year before I retired I was attending monthly meetings in what I was told had been the GNR, maybe later the LNER, Boardroom at KX, with the CEO of GNER in the chair (next to mine). Nice enough, but lacked any sort of opulence. 

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11 hours ago, phil_sutters said:

A pretentious Welsh railway company might like to copy this deceptively compact Elizabethan building in Conwy.

1140265609_PlasMawrConwy500px.jpg.9b96f8859ab3231f07f95c37505733e3.jpg

 


The Midland & Great Northern had an actual Elizabethan railway station: they incorporated the Red House in Bourne, Lincs, into the station. It was reputedly the oldest station building in England. 
 

The M&GN had a (small) Board Room in a tower in its biggest station, the impressive Italianate building of Norwich City; but its HQ offices were in King’s Lynn. They were in Austin Fields, which was intended to be the M&GN’s new terminus station in Lynn; in the event they changed their minds, and by-passed Lynn instead (very sensible...). So the offices were left marooned, miles from the nearest bit of M&GN. 

 

Photos show a rambling collection of smallish brick buildings  Some at least were repurposed from earlier times. Most have now been destroyed though one of the oldest remains (and is a rather impressive private house). 
 

Not sure if any of that helps!

 

Paul

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Denbigh station was also that line's headquarters, with a nice building (if sparsely photographed):

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/d/denbigh/

 

Also Ellesmere is worth looking at. Not an HQ, I think, but a large building for the station's size, could well have been used as such:

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/e/ellesmere/

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The Highland railway Headquarters Inverness, they were quite a small company when this building was opened as their headquarters, only later did they reach 500 miles of track.

ignore the monstrosity BR built across the front of the station.

 

1J04I8B48JOFSTR8T1X6[1].jpg

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Thanks guys, I hoped the query might prompt a couple of responses but did not expect the number that it has generated.  I have a fair few ideas now (although the B&E House at Temple Meads - @burgundy) really does get the mind wandering :) 

 

I think I have a plan now, the railway offices may be a key building overlooking the station, with a separate station building for the common passenger - B&E House would look rather nice dominating the quayside .... hmm!

 

Thanks again guys.

 

On a separate note ... does anyone happen to have any measurements for a lattice type footbridge at all?

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