KeithMacdonald Posted June 2, 2021 Share Posted June 2, 2021 Anyone interested? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hodgson Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 Neigh ! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted June 3, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 3, 2021 See this topic, from this post onwards: 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clachnaharry Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 10 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said: Anyone interested? Sure. It's a much more interesting line than the Farringdon branch from a modellers perspective. Slightly unusual track layouts, not restricted to one engine in steam, signalling, military traffic, railcars - with and without tail traffic. What's not to like? 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon A Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 Looking at actual lines is always worth while as a reference as to the real railway. Gordon A Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted June 3, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 3, 2021 21 minutes ago, clachnaharry said: Sure. It's a much more interesting line than the Farringdon branch from a modellers perspective. Slightly unusual track layouts, not restricted to one engine in steam, signalling, military traffic, railcars - with and without tail traffic. What's not to like? Indeed. I saw two versions side by side at the 2019 Uckfield exhibition, in P4 and 2 mm finescale. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted June 3, 2021 Author Share Posted June 3, 2021 (edited) Here we go then ... Starting from Newbury, the order of the stations: Newbury Newbury Westfields Speen Stockcross & Bagnor Boxford Welford Park (with the sidings and spur for RAF Welford) Great Shefford East Garston Eastbury Halt Bockhampton Level Crossing Lambourn Edited October 16, 2022 by KeithMacdonald RMWeb image disaster recovery 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted June 3, 2021 Author Share Posted June 3, 2021 For each station in turn, I'll provide a link to the relevant page of the excellent Lambourn Valley Railway website. My contribution is on prototypically features of interest to us as modellers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted June 3, 2021 Author Share Posted June 3, 2021 (edited) Newbury https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/newbury.html Some great pics of the station in its prime, like this: https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/editor/newbury-038.jpg?1591200540 Most of the sidings at Newbury station were on the western side of the station buildings. 1900s version 1938 version All gone now, and replaced by ticketed car parking. It's about 20 years ago now, but there was a tiny bit of free car parking still to be had, around about the "S" of Station on the map, by the down platform entrance. Mind you, you had to be there before 06:00 to get one of the spaces, before getting the earliest train to beat the rush-hour into Paddington. On the eastern side, the one bay platform that still exists, for the DMU to Reading. Further east, a load of goods sidings and a large coal yard ... it must have been a big goods shed? 1900's version 1938 version Even further east, we get to the Gas Works and the junction for the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton line. Edited October 28, 2022 by KeithMacdonald RMWeb image disaster recovery 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted June 4, 2021 Author Share Posted June 4, 2021 This pic from the LVR website ... https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/newbury-003_orig.jpg ... shows what looks like three horseboxes in the Lambourn bay siding. Can anyone make out what kind of horseboxes they are? From a distance, they only appear to have one window each. Unlike the ones here .. http://www.gwr.org.uk/liverieswagonsiphon.html .. that all have two windows each. (Diagrams N8, N10, N12 and N16) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted June 4, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2021 4 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said: Can anyone make out what kind of horseboxes they are? From a distance, they only appear to have one window each. The two nearer ones are an antique Great Western design with a shelf for fodder where other companies would put a tack locker. The further one is a slightly more modern design, possibly not Great Western? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted June 4, 2021 Author Share Posted June 4, 2021 (edited) An Oxford Rail Dene Goods would be useful for modelling traffic from Newbury. Like the one shown here, https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/newbury-022_orig.jpg is it pulling the usual two-coach Suburban B-Set? Or here https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/newbury-023_orig.jpg Wagons full of straw is an unusual sight. Which one would be best? http://www.oxfordrail.com/76/OR76DG Release Notes.htm Edited June 4, 2021 by KeithMacdonald Added Oxford Rail link Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted June 4, 2021 Author Share Posted June 4, 2021 The last pic on the LVR website for Newbury shows the junction where the branch line starts to diverge from the main line. https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/edited/newbury-025.jpg?1591204153 On the right of the picture is what looks like extensions to the neighbouring back gardens. Is that Brussel Sprout plants we can see? I've never seen those modelled in OO gauge before. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Prism Posted June 4, 2021 Share Posted June 4, 2021 The horsebox furthest from the camera does seem to have two windows, the first being very grubby (typical for a horsebox), and is possibly an N4. Quote https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/newbury-022_orig.jpg is it pulling the usual two-coach Suburban B-Set? Not a 'B-set' in the official sense, since they were corridor coaches, which was the norm on the Lambourn line until late days. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted June 4, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2021 28 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said: Wagons full of straw is an unusual sight. Not at all. Could also be hay. It would normally be piled up to the limit of the loading gauge have a wagon sheet over it but I guess standards had slipped by the time they were reduced to using 16 T mineral wagons for this traffic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted June 4, 2021 Author Share Posted June 4, 2021 Newbury Westfields Halt Such a small station that it didn't even get named on the OS map, poor thing. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15&lat=51.40177&lon=-1.33789&layers=11&b=1 But it does have an example of the classic GWR Pagoda station shelter. Does anyone still make a Pagoda kit? Quote A work study carried out at the station for the week ending 11th October 1952 revealed that just 33 passengers had used the halt that week, 16 boarding the train and 17 leaving it. Looking at it logically, it would be fairly safe to assume these were the same people going to work in the morning and returning home in the evening. Total receipts from West Fields for the whole of 1952 amounted to £17. 5s. 7d (approx £17.28). The halt's estimated maintenance costs during a 12 month period was £30 so, in a effort to save revenue, it was suggested the station be kept open but given no maintenance until the shelter became due for renewal. https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/westfields.html That page has a nice pic of the iron girder bridge that crossed the River Kennet. https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/published/girderbridge.jpg?1591188206 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted June 4, 2021 Author Share Posted June 4, 2021 Just now, Compound2632 said: Not at all. Could also be hay Good point, especially in the context of the Lambourn Valley, with lots of expensive race horses on the best of equine diets! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted June 4, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 4, 2021 Just now, KeithMacdonald said: Good point, especially in the context of the Lambourn Valley, with lots of expensive race horses on the best of equine diets! And bedding etc. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted June 4, 2021 Author Share Posted June 4, 2021 (edited) Speen Station I have to confess I was rather disappointed by this station. No sidings, no nothing much at all, unless we include the allotment gardens? What was it good for? Quote The line ran through a prime agricultural area, a high percentage of which was used for livestock farming, so it's no surprise that the surrounding farms provided a quite sizable volume of milk traffic. This situation continued until the general decline of milk carriage by rail.https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/speen.html This picture shows a slip coach being used on the branch line https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/published/speen7.jpg?1591180809 Quote The summer of 1951 (above), and a typically average day sees a solitary passenger boarding the train to Lambourn. Most people now used the local bus company to travel up and down the valley. The Speen porter was usually kept fairly busy, for in addition to his parcel deliveries the station had to be kept clean and tidy, as did West Fields and Stockcross, all three being his responsibility. Note the re-purposed slip coach in the right-most image above. Was that common after the GWR stopped using slip coaches on the main lines? Are there any OO gauge Slip Coaches? Not to be confused with an Auto Trailer of course, like the GWR Hawksworth. https://www.Bachmann.co.uk/product/category/154/gwr-hawksworth-auto-trailer-br-maroon/39-579 Edited October 28, 2022 by KeithMacdonald RMWeb image disaster recovery Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hodgson Posted June 4, 2021 Share Posted June 4, 2021 3 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said: Speen Station This picture shows a slip coach being used on the branch line https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/published/speen7.jpg?1591180809 I don't think they saved a lot of time by slipping at Speen! I used to have signalling diagrams for the Newbury boxes, but sold them on Ebay a few months ago. I was on a railtour in the early 1970s not long before the branch was closed completely, I seem to recall the the DMU couldn't go all the way because the track wasn't considered good enough, if indeed it was still there - I think Welford Park was the limit. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mike_Walker Posted June 5, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 5, 2021 (edited) On 05/06/2021 at 00:47, Michael Hodgson said: I don't think they saved a lot of time by slipping at Speen! I used to have signalling diagrams for the Newbury boxes, but sold them on Ebay a few months ago. I was on a railtour in the early 1970s not long before the branch was closed completely, I seem to recall the the DMU couldn't go all the way because the track wasn't considered good enough, if indeed it was still there - I think Welford Park was the limit. That would be the "last train" spe4cials run by the WR on 3 November 1973. It did indeed only go as far as Welford Park. Edited April 11, 2022 by Mike_Walker 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hodgson Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 That could well be the train I was on ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted June 5, 2021 Author Share Posted June 5, 2021 (edited) Stockcross & Bagnor https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18&lat=51.42068&lon=-1.36597&layers=168&b=1 What can one say - another triumph of hope & opportunity? Quote Even in Victorian times it was difficult to see the purpose of the station. Stockcross is about a mile away up a hill accessed by a narrow lane, while Bagnor is also about a mile away across the valley of the River Lambourn in the opposite direction and accessed only by a footpath, otherwise about two miles by road. Woodspeen is and was only a hamlet with a dozen or so residences. https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/stockcross.html But it is another great location for Pagoda and horse box enthusiasts. Quote Interestingly, this tiny isolated station would, on occasions, play host to race horse traffic from nearby Marsh Benham stud. A horse-box would be ordered by Lambourn for attachment to the appropriate train. On arrival at the station, the horses were held on the cinder pathway until the train had stopped, before being led up to the horse box and loaded accordingly. https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/stockcross.html Edited October 28, 2022 by KeithMacdonald RMWeb image disaster recovery Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 (edited) Boxford https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/boxford.html Just like Stockcross, yet another GWR Pagoda station shelter, but with the addition of a station "office". https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/boxford001_orig.jpg We're going to need a bigger box of Pagoda kits. To make Boxford a bit more interesting... Quote Boxford station was the first stop to be equipped with a small goods siding. This siding took the form of a passing loop, i.e, connected at both ends .. The siding length was increased to accommodate up to nineteen wagons. Much traffic? Quote Initially, senders of goods had to deliver all outgoing items to the station themselves. The goods in question would have been in the form of quite sizable quantities of corn, barley, hay, straw, timber, milk and eggs. In later years a local carrier, probably one of the coal merchants, took on the contract for collecting this type of produce direct from the farms. As a result of the introduction of the GWR Country Lorry Service from Newbury however, the contract was short lived. Given the rural nature of this small station, the amount of traffic handled was impressive and accounted for a high percentage of the receipts for the branch. Edited October 28, 2022 by KeithMacdonald RMWeb image disaster recovery Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 (edited) Welford Park For modelling, one of the most interesting stops on the line. https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/background-images/585355140.jpg Quote The station itself was unique, being home to the only crossing place for trains on the line. Consequently, it was the only station on the line that required both an up and a down platform. Despite its operational importance, it was one of the quieter stations from a traffic volume perspective, although traffic did increase after the airbase spur was opened in 1954. https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/welfordpark.html Yet another Pagoda shelter! https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/welford-park002a_orig.jpg Modelling the station c.1955 would allow more "Rule 1" activity, with a mix of steam and diesel perhaps? https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/welford-park007_orig.jpg I've always been curious about the four air horns on the front of the railcar. https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/railcar-welford-park_orig.jpg Did the drivers get special training on the best tunes you could make with just four notes? https://www.lambournvalleyrailway.info/uploads/1/3/2/2/132230311/welford-park027_orig.jpg Quote The image above shows the exchange sidings used for the military traffic associated with the Welford Airbase. Traffic left here would be picked up by a diesel locomotive from the base. From that image (above), we can tell that the exchange sidings were on the opposite siding to the passing loop. That is, on the north side of the platform. Can anyone shed any light on how the exchange sidings connected to the "main" branch line? For the layout below, I've assumed they connected to the west of the station, with the extra elongated passing loop. But please do tell me in what way it's incorrect. Edited October 28, 2022 by KeithMacdonald RMWeb image disaster recovery Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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