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Station-less Layout?


Ray Von
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Penrhiwceiber on the Pontypool Road to Neath line (not the one still open) had the station building at the side of the road, with a quite long sloping path and then some steps to the platforms. See photo 111 in the Pontypool Road to Mountain Ash volume in the Middleton Press series.

Jonathan

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On 11/09/2020 at 11:40, Ray Von said:

 

Am I right in thinking that it's up on stilts?? 

Brick ones,  Yes.

image.png.aba786f2ea181351c096f814057ad823.png

Edited by TheQ
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20 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Brick ones,  Yes.

image.png.aba786f2ea181351c096f814057ad823.png

 

I am finding your photos of the old Wolverton station building quite useful.

Are these publicly available? I have only the 1 in a book about the Wolverton - Newport Pagnell line.

I am modelling South Hampstead as it was c1940. Its station building & location (above the running lines) shares a lot of similarities, but I do not have many photos to work with.

I assume the building was replaced with the current rather uninspiring concrete box when the line was electrified in the 1960s.

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4 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

I am finding your photos of the old Wolverton station building quite useful.

Are these publicly available? I have only the 1 in a book about the Wolverton - Newport Pagnell line.

I am modelling South Hampstead as it was c1940. Its station building & location (above the running lines) shares a lot of similarities, but I do not have many photos to work with.

I assume the building was replaced with the current rather uninspiring concrete box when the line was electrified in the 1960s.

There are a good amount of pictures on the net,  remember to put the inverted commas around "Wolverton station " or you get all sorts of rubbish. 

 

The over bridge station was knocked down about 1990, not many knew it was going, there was a huge storm about it at the time after it happened.  It was not replaced till 2012.. They just had bus shelters on the platform and a temporary shed in the car park till then.  

 

Much of the Newport pagnell line was built on an old canal,  it's now an extension of the Milton Keynes redway footpath system.  We used to walk our dogs ( see avatar) along that footpath round a big loop of the grand union canal then back along that footpath from the other way to home.

 

The over bridge station Was The third station for Wolverton,  the two previous were conventional stations,  the second being demolished when the track was realigned to allow for the railway works expansion. 

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I may have come up with a solution to the problem, but I'm not sure if it detracts from the layout.

I've moved the layout around a bit, here's the original with room at the topmost left for station:

IMG_20200908_185951756.jpg.0671d738e644bfc3c94622309ed7762b.jpg

Below is the new configuration (not fixed) - the line is fed from the top line of a traverser and has no "on layout" interaction with the rest of the trackwork.  This option still has room for a station albeit in relief:IMG_20200912_135213265.jpg.6d0b59cc7383fc5200391662d9694025.jpg

Third, same running scenario as above (set of right hand points to be added) but returning to a no station format:IMG_20200912_135310981.jpg.373616e605cd625f6e56a77405637d02.jpg

Would love to hear people's views on which option is "best" especially from an operating point of view.

Cheers.

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57 minutes ago, Binky said:

The third option looks good to me. A track either side of the platform gives slightly more scope for passenger and perhaps parcels operation.

Interesting you should say that, I was toying with the idea of adding a low relief loading bay into the backdrop (narrow platform and roll up shutter) - maybe Red Star Parcels... 

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Given that you don't intend to connect this new platform and track to the lines at the front (and we can assume it was perhaps once a separate station), can you make the platform a bit longer and then make the rear face of the platform a short bay and the other face (adjacent to your stabling siding) the longest platform that you'll have in the station?  This would then allow you to have two platforms serving this second destination, but still model a station building in low relief down towards the back corner of the layout.

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42 minutes ago, Ray Von said:

Interesting you should say that, I was toying with the idea of adding a low relief loading bay into the backdrop (narrow platform and roll up shutter) - maybe Red Star Parcels... 

 

Nice idea, a Red Star sign and a few trolleys on the platform are all you'd need to give the impression that parcels are being handled there.

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3 hours ago, Dungrange said:

Given that you don't intend to connect this new platform and track to the lines at the front (and we can assume it was perhaps once a separate station), can you make the platform a bit longer and then make the rear face of the platform a short bay and the other face (adjacent to your stabling siding) the longest platform that you'll have in the station?  This would then allow you to have two platforms serving this second destination, but still model a station building in low relief down towards the back corner of the layout.

Hmmm, this idea is getting the old cogs moving! I might not lengthen the platform but I may move it down as you suggest, and modify a station kit to fit in the space - maybe an 'L' shape incorporating the Red Star Parcels depot... 

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It's quite usual to find ticket offices at above or below platform level but there will usually be waiting rooms and or shelters on the platform.  An over track building at the end of the platforms is a common stratagem which works as long as the upper level is street level.  It looks a bit daft having a station perched on a bridge 20 ft above street level when it could be at street level beyond the platform end.

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On 11/09/2020 at 19:28, Kris said:

Stations are over rated, particularly if you just like watching trains go by.

 

That's the thing, though, you have to just like watching trains go by and nothing else.

 

A station makes other things happen - that's why they are so popular.

 

I'm not advocating against landscape only scenes, they can be great! Just pointing out the huge member of the Elaphantidae family with the trunk sitting in the corner over there. :smile_mini:

 

Edited by Harlequin
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1 hour ago, DavidCBroad said:

It's quite usual to find ticket offices at above or below platform level but there will usually be waiting rooms and or shelters on the platform.  An over track building at the end of the platforms is a common stratagem which works as long as the upper level is street level.  It looks a bit daft having a station perched on a bridge 20 ft above street level when it could be at street level beyond the platform end.

 

Unless of course, the line was intended to (or used to) go further on or has carriage sidings beyond it.

 

Ealing Broadway (District) is an example of the former, Morden (Northern Line) an example of the latter.

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1 hour ago, Harlequin said:

That's the thing, though, you have to just like watching trains go by and nothing else.

 

A station makes other things happen - that's why they are so popular.

 

The layout I'm building won't have a station, but equally wont just be a watching the trains go by layout. 

 

My plan has a down passing loop that provides the means to shunt a set of oil sidings that kick back from the down line, but also providing the turn back facilities necessary to shunt the rail distribution facility accessed from the up line.

 

I guess the importance of a station depends on the period that you model, since in today's unit operated railway, a passenger station doesn't actually have that much activity.  Yes, I could add station platforms and multiple units could stop at the station, but sometimes a station can be a little overrated.

 

However, this thread isn't actually about whether or not there should be a station, but whether or not the station building actually has to be modelled.

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1 hour ago, Harlequin said:

 

That's the thing, though, you have to just like watching trains go by and nothing else.

 

A station makes other things happen - that's why they are so popular.

 

I'm not advocating against landscape only scenes, they can be great! Just pointing out the huge member of the Elaphantidae family with the trunk sitting in the corner over there. :smile_mini:

 

Lots of things happen away from stations too. How many junctions are not at stations? How many industries had/have sidings that are away from stations? There were even a few goods yards serving towns that were a significant distance from the station serving that town.  You can have all the shunting and movement you want and you don't need a station to accomplish this (unless you want to let the passengers get on and off:D ). 

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7 hours ago, Harlequin said:

 

That's the thing, though, you have to just like watching trains go by and nothing else.

 

A station makes other things happen - that's why they are so popular.

 

I'm not advocating against landscape only scenes, they can be great! Just pointing out the huge member of the Elaphantidae family with the trunk sitting in the corner over there. :smile_mini:

 

 

What goes on at a station though? Very little.

 

Unless it was a major terminus the only things that happened at stations is a train occasionally stops. Most stations had about four or five trains stopping a day each way. Even at a largish station most trains would just pass through.

 

Goods facilities? Most stations didn't have any, particularly in major towns and cities. They were kept separate.

 

If you want what a typical station was like this sums it up.

 

spacer.png

 

 

 

Jason

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13 hours ago, Harlequin said:

 

That's the thing, though, you have to just like watching trains go by and nothing else.

 

A station makes other things happen - that's why they are so popular.

 

I'm not advocating against landscape only scenes, they can be great! Just pointing out the huge member of the Elaphantidae family with the trunk sitting in the corner over there. :smile_mini:

 

 

If anyone really disliked stations they could always model the carriage sidings. 

 

12 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

 

Unless of course, the line was intended to (or used to) go further on or has carriage sidings beyond it.

 

Ealing Broadway (District) is an example of the former, Morden (Northern Line) an example of the latter.

I think the terminal platforms at Ealing Broadway do have their  building at street level.

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14 hours ago, Harlequin said:

 

That's the thing, though, you have to just like watching trains go by and nothing else.

 

A station makes other things happen - that's why they are so popular.

 

I'm not advocating against landscape only scenes, they can be great! Just pointing out the huge member of the Elaphantidae family with the trunk sitting in the corner over there. :smile_mini:

 

Actually I think there are three key reasons why everyone models stations.

  1. Most layouts are end-to-end and most passenger railways end at a station.
  2. Most enthusiasts did their spotting at stations*, either because they lived locally or they had caught a train there.  It's the environment they know.
  3. Most model railways that I see at exhibitions or in magazines seem to be copies of other layouts (how many small diesel depots have you seen where they are surrounded by retaining walls and accessed through a tunnel?).  Most layouts have a station so it's a self-perpetuating scenario.

*I didn't but then I grew up in rural Wales where stations were at least five miles apart and half the trains didn't stop at our local one anyway.

 

Edit: The outstanding "Wibdenshaw" (and its replacement, "Hornsey Broadway") includes only part of the station, with Wibdenshaw's overall roof hiding the curves at the end of the layout.

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8 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

 

 

Goods facilities? Most stations didn't have any, particularly in major towns and cities. They were kept separate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason

 

I'd disagree with this statement, the majority of stations were small ones on the way to somewhere, they'd have one maybe two sidings, sometimes a  goods shed. The signalman porter could be quite busy, with small goods deliveries, The local farmers would be bringing in cattle and sheep or collecting. the coal merchant would come and collect his coal, even if the majority didn't have an on site coal staithe. There would be milk collected and empty churns returned.

Every station of dozen or so on the 62 mile line I'm modelling a little bit of, had at least a siding for local goods being delivered. 

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9 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

What goes on at a station though? Very little.

 

Unless it was a major terminus the only things that happened at stations is a train occasionally stops. Most stations had about four or five trains stopping a day each way. Even at a largish station most trains would just pass through.

 

Goods facilities? Most stations didn't have any, particularly in major towns and cities. They were kept separate.

 

If you want what a typical station was like this sums it up.

 

spacer.png

 

 

 

Jason

 

Not sure what you refer to Jason. Even Adlestrop had a good siding and goods shed: https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/423434/226491/12/100636 

Roy

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