Matlock Bath Station in Midland Railway days.

[animotion]

I am thinking of modelling Matlock Bath in Midland Railway days and have gathered quite a bit of photographic material on the station. I am lacking photos of the goods yard. I have a copy of Through Limestone Hills by Bill Hudson which has drawing plans of the main station buildings but nothing else. If anyone can add to my enquiries I would be most grateful. I have added a track diagram with photo images linked to various areas of the station.

 

Tom

[apbolton]

There a couple of old photos of Matlock Bath in the book  Ambergate to Buxton fro. Middleton Press.

One shows a view of the goods yard and station taken from the quarry 

[Compound2632]

Looking at the Midland Railway Study Centre catalogue and searching on Matlock Bath, once you've waded through all the postcards and luggage labels there are some items of interest, though the only good view of the goods yard is the one you already have. If you request a high-res scan from David Postle at the Kidderminster Railway Museum (per the instructions on the MRSC website) you might be in luck and have better resolution than the reproduction in Hudson's book. But beware that he's short staffed and snowed under at the moment so patience will be needed.

 

My copy of Hudson's book has a drawing of the rather plain and functional goods shed on p. 53, along with a c. 1950s photo of the roadside elevation. The goods shed dates from 1883; could one infer something of its constructional details from the 1887 drawing for a lock-up shed at Hathern? MRSC Item 12368. Under J.H. Sandars and C. Trubshaw, the Midland's Architect's Department was into variations on standardised designs.

[Coal Tank]

Hi is there anything in any of Bob Essery's books he is a great sourse of info on the Midland. Very sadly Bob has been taken into a home 

John 

[Compound2632]

3 minutes ago, Coal Tank said:

Hi is there anything in any of Bob Essery's books he is a great sourse of info on the Midland. Very sadly Bob has been taken into a home 

John 

 

Essery's opus doesn't really cover specific locations or their infrastructure, as opposed to infrastructure items taken individualy. I've drawn a blank in Midland Record too. 

[Compound2632]

@animotion, you haven't said what date in "Midland days" you would be aiming for. With @Lecorbusier, whose interest is in Monsal Dale c. 1902, I've been trainspotting on the Manchester line. The high-level photo of the Matlock Bath goods yard is grist to this mill. The caption in Hudson says "turn of the century" which is about right. It can't be later than summer 1902 as the engine has the lamp iron on the smokebox door - these were removed following the adoption of RCH headcodes in February 1903. The first three carriages are a D530 31 ft 6-wheel brake, a D508 48 ft lavatory composite with luggage compartment, and a D509 48 ft lavatory composite. I think the fourth carriage is a D522 54 ft lavatory brake composite. This diagram covered twenty carriages built in 1896, the last main-line arc-roof carriage before the change to clerestory roofs. These carriages had two pairs of lavatories, the offset lamp-tops for which are a distinguishing feature. I don't think it's possible to identify the remaining carriages, all clerestory, except that the one next after the arc-roof carriage is one of the earliest clerestories, 13'3" tall to the top of the clerestory roof rather than the later 13'1", and with the lamp-tops on the clerestory roof centre-line rather than on the lower roof; also one can see from the lower step-boards that it's a bogie carriage. 

 

The down train disappearing out of sight seems to be made up of arc-roof carriages only.

[John-Miles]

Tom

 

I recommend a site visit when we are allowed out. The station is still there, albeit with a single line and west Derbyshire is beautiful. You could also have a look at Bakewell and Hassop where there are substantial remains. Hassop also has a good cafe.

[Crimson Rambler]

In Jack Braithewaite's book on Johnson locomotives there is a picture of a Class H 0-6-0 running through Matlock Bath taken pre-1903 (but not long!). Appearing is a part view of the goods shed taken from the opposite direction.

 

Crimson Rambler

[animotion]

On 26/02/2021 at 12:10, Compound2632 said:

@animotion, you haven't said what date in "Midland days" you would be aiming for. With @Lecorbusier, whose interest is in Monsal Dale c. 1902, I've been trainspotting on the Manchester line. The high-level photo of the Matlock Bath goods yard is grist to this mill. The caption in Hudson says "turn of the century" which is about right. It can't be later than summer 1902 as the engine has the lamp iron on the smokebox door - these were removed following the adoption of RCH headcodes in February 1903. The first three carriages are a D530 31 ft 6-wheel brake, a D508 48 ft lavatory composite with luggage compartment, and a D509 48 ft lavatory composite. I think the fourth carriage is a D522 54 ft lavatory brake composite. This diagram covered twenty carriages built in 1896, the last main-line arc-roof carriage before the change to clerestory roofs. These carriages had two pairs of lavatories, the offset lamp-tops for which are a distinguishing feature. I don't think it's possible to identify the remaining carriages, all clerestory, except that the one next after the arc-roof carriage is one of the earliest clerestories, 13'3" tall to the top of the clerestory roof rather than the later 13'1", and with the lamp-tops on the clerestory roof centre-line rather than on the lower roof; also one can see from the lower step-boards that it's a bogie carriage. 

 

The down train disappearing out of sight seems to be made up of arc-roof carriages only.

Thank you for your imput. The date to model will depend on whether or not I want fully lined stock or the simplified lining the Midland introduced in 1906. Maybe a mixture as I assume there would have been some fully lined stock running after 1906. I would be interested to know why the singles ran on the Peak line occasionally as they weren't normally rostered to run on that line.

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, animotion said:

I would be interested to know why the singles ran on the Peak line occasionally as they weren't normally rostered to run on that line.

 

Eh? The engine of the up express in the Matlock Bath goods yard photo is a 60 Class 4-4-0. 

 

On the other hand, there is a photo of a Kirtley 2-2-2 piloting what I think is a 4-4-0 on a down express at Matlock Bath [Midland Railway Study Centre Item 64415], said to be c. 1900. Although not of the best quality, it does show the signal box, part of the building labelled "Way & Works Office" on Hudson's plan, the northern end of the goods shed, and the loading gauge.

Edited February 27, 2021 by Compound2632