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Belfast Great Victoria Street Station and Adelaide-lookalike tribute


Hunslet 102
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If the UTA planners had got their way there wouldn't be any railways apart from the Belfast-Dublin line in Northern Ireland. They wanted to close the whole lot down and rely on buses. They almost managed it as well.

 

I should have said before, I do think your model looks excellent, very reminiscent of Belfast as I knew it as a boy visiting relatives, and as much if it still looks, I was there last week. The DMU reminds me of the stock that was used on the only surviving remnant of the B&CDR line out to Bangor, but it was in green livery in the '50s if I remember it correctly. Would it have been the same stock?

 

GoingUnderground-Many thanks for your comments on the layout.

 

The railcars that ran on the Bangor line-Multi Engined Diesels (MED's) in the 50s would be the same stock.These railcars entered service in the 50s and lasted until 1977 before withdrawal.The livery from the 50s in the UTA era up to around 1968 would have been green,with the colour scheme changing to maroon and cream/light grey when NIR took over the running of the railways.There were also MED railcars on the York Road to Larne line and some of these ended up working out of Great Victoria Street in the early 70s,hence the reason one can be found on my layout.As they are my favourite railcar of all the various types that ran on NIR,one would have been included anyway!

 

The UTA certainly favoured bus and road haulage,which they were also responsible for,over the railways and under them the railways of Northern Ireland had their own 'Beeching',or in our case 'Benson',which decimated the network in the 60s, but not before the UTA had already closed all of the BCDR apart from the branch to Bangor in the early 50s,not long after gaining control.

 

Andy

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  • 1 month later...

Not much work done on the layout over the summer,but now that autumn is here that will change.Anyway,here are a few more photos from the layout.

 

Below can be seen a view across the yard with cement bubbles and vent vans in view.A B141,number B165 is shunting fertilizer wagons in the headshunt while the NIR Enterprise headed by driving trailer 812 heads towards Belfast.Just visible behind the Enterprise is the tail end of BUT 122 heading with a local to Lisburn.

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Below a view of the same scene from the lineside on the opposite side of the yard

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The above photo is the same scene wfrom a head-on view.gallery_1918_2005_35878.jpg

 

A general view of the above scenes.All 4 photos are the same scene but from different angles.

 

Andy

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Well done Andy - good to see you back on the model again.

Photos are looking great.

 

I went down to the Ayr show with John today - Falkirk show next.

Do you fancy another night at my Blue with Yellow Faces some time soon?

 

Stuart

 

Good to see you back Stu and thanks for your comments on the photo's.Hopefully you will get Blue with Yellow faces photo's back up on your own thread soon.Did'nt realise the Ayr show was the September weekend!Falkirk is certainly on the calander,always a great show.Hope you and John enjoyed the Ayr show.

 

It would be good to have a railway night some time soon,will speak to you about arrangements soon.

 

Andy

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have found this topic fascinating and wish all the modellers concerned the best with their efforts. I would like to add my own contribution, based on studying GNR(I) architecture. The trainshed in Great Victoria Street was a carbon copy of that in Dublin Connolly so to build the former the latter is worth studying. This applies with the columns and beams. The columns supporting the canopies at the end of the trainshed are the same as those in Malahide and Lisburn (Up platform),so these stations canopies are worth studying. These stations also have the GNR(I) polychrome brick architecture of W H Mills. The signal cabin is a stretched version of the standard GNR(I) design.

 

If anybody has any further questions, I would be glad to help.

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I have found this topic fascinating and wish all the modellers concerned the best with their efforts. I would like to add my own contribution, based on studying GNR(I) architecture. The trainshed in Great Victoria Street was a carbon copy of that in Dublin Connolly so to build the former the latter is worth studying. This applies with the columns and beams. The columns supporting the canopies at the end of the trainshed are the same as those in Malahide and Lisburn (Up platform),so these stations canopies are worth studying. These stations also have the GNR(I) polychrome brick architecture of W H Mills. The signal cabin is a stretched version of the standard GNR(I) design.

 

If anybody has any further questions, I would be glad to help.

 

Thanks for your comments Dart_8124,glad you find the thread interesting.The layout is my own static home layout based in the loft,so all the work is my own,as and when time and resources permit.

 

Thanks for the info on the column supports at Lisburn,my mother still lives there,I am now based in Glasgow,so next time I am home I will make a point of studying the station more closely.

 

Thanks also for your offer of further help if needed,I may well seek your advice as things progress.

 

Andy

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  • RMweb Gold

Hi

Here is one picture of Lisburn canopy details. I have more somewhere and if i can find them I'll post them too.

 

 

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Here are two of the bus station wall of Great Victoria Street station shed.

 

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Hope these are helpful.

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Colin-Many thanks for the attached photo's,the last 3 in particular long since disappeared into history.The room that I have means I can only model the 4 platforms,the metal fence at platform 4 being at the baseboard edge,so thus I don't have the room to model the bus station section and wall.Some great roof detail on the final photo which will be very useful,I have quite a few photo's of the platforms with just some details of the roof,but your photo helps plug some gaps.What year is the photo from?,with the roof intact I would assume it was pre 1972.

 

The photo at Lisburn looks good with great detail for the supports for the canopy's,so again thanks for posting it up and also again to Dart_8124 for highlighting the link.The station looks to be in great shape and well maintained.

 

A couple of other details that would help me with the layout,would be more detailed photo's of the supports on the platforms for the Boyne bridge,I only have an old b/w steam era one for reference and also any close-up detail photo's of Murray's tobacco factory as again most photo's of this are background shots to the trains.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Andy

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  • RMweb Gold

I don’t have an exact date for the photographs but I believe they were taken shortly after platform 5 was removed and the north side of the shed was devoted to the bus service. That would set the photographs sometime in the 1960s.

 

Regarding Murray’s tobacco factory and the supports for the Boyne Bridge, these are visible in the Wikipedia page about GVS

 

http://en.wikipedia....Victoria_Street

 

The page also contains a 1976 internal picture showing good detail of the roof supports.

 

I will be in Belfast in mid November, so I’ll visit the station and see if I can get any more detailed pictures of the Boyne bridge that might be helpful for your model.

 

I know I also have an official Ulster Transport Authority photograph of the interior of the shed, which I’ll try to find and scan for you.

 

Colin

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I don’t have an exact date for the photographs but I believe they were taken shortly after platform 5 was removed and the north side of the shed was devoted to the bus service. That would set the photographs sometime in the 1960s.

 

Regarding Murray’s tobacco factory and the supports for the Boyne Bridge, these are visible in the Wikipedia page about GVS

 

http://en.wikipedia....Victoria_Street

 

The page also contains a 1976 internal picture showing good detail of the roof supports.

 

I will be in Belfast in mid November, so I’ll visit the station and see if I can get any more detailed pictures of the Boyne bridge that might be helpful for your model.

 

I know I also have an official Ulster Transport Authority photograph of the interior of the shed, which I’ll try to find and scan for you.

 

Colin

 

Thanks again Colin-that would be most appreciated if you got a good pic of the Boyne bridge supports and it would be good to see an official UTA photo of the interior.Thanks for your help and links from above,I must admit the project has been an enjoyable one to research and hopefully the model will do the old station justice.

 

Andy

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  • 1 month later...
  • RMweb Gold

Here is a series of photographs taken at Belfast Great Victoria Street on Friday 9th November 2012 showing the Boyne Bridge as it appears currently. I suspect the cylindrical features where the pillars meet the platforms are a more recent addition. There is a lot of detail that is original and I hope it is helpful. Must look up those UTA pictures and upload those also.

 

Colin

 

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Colin-many thanks for posting up such a variety of photos of the Boyne bridge supports at Great Victoria Street.The photos will certainly help me when I come to model the bridge,I really like the detail from the arch supports on platform 2,it is an angle of them that I did not have from the old photos I have been working from from the old GVSt.The column supports on platform 3 are well detailed also and are still the original supports as they are the same as a photo I have from the 60s,apart from the cylinders as you rightly pointed out.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to take the photos and for posting them up,they will be well referred too.

 

Hope you enjoyed the model show at Cultra,it sounds like it was a good show.

 

Andy

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  • 1 month later...

What about a Christmas update Hunslet for all your followers, I'm dying to see your station developing?

 

Hi Kirley-thanks for your continued interest in the layout progress.At the moment I cant promise what work will be done on the layout over the Christmas period as at the moment I am working on 2 more Hunslets and an A class and hopefully adding westhy Sulzer to that list also.The Hunslets have been in their boxes for over 2 years,so are long overdue to be completed!I will try to get some work done and get some posts up again.

BTW,enjoying your own layout progress on IRM,it is looking good and look forward to more progress updates from yourself.

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Jawfin-thanks for your comments on the layout,glad you like it.

 

Nice clear photo of the A class,thanks for sharing.I am rebuilding a Q kits A class at the moment,having tossed it from the loft hatch a couple of years ago,one of those butterfinger moments that takes a bit of time to get over!

 

Hopefully I will be able to get some more photos of the layout posted shortly.

 

Andy

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Hello Kirley!

 

I just popped over from IRM to cast an eye over your layout. You've captured well, the everyday life of Belfast with all it's facets. The use of the Metcalfe kits to create the terraces, to recreate their patterned sameness, but picking out the details that brought individuality. I grew up in houses just like that, no more than a hundred yards from the railway. I just love the pic of the yard with the fertiliser wagons, the Ford D series, and the cement bubbles...

 

Thanks for posting it all,

 

-Rob

Edited by Robert Davies
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Hi Rob

 

Thanks for your comments on the layout.The Metcalfe terrace houses are very close to the type that I also grew up in in Belfast,close to Adelaide station.I model the layout from the 70s period as I have fond memories growing up around the railway at this time and most things,apart from the terrace houses,have long since disappeared.

 

PS I am Hunslet 102,not Kirley,but Kirley's layout looks good too!

 

Andy

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Not much modelling done to GVSt recently as any modelling time has been devoted to building 2 more Hunslets to give me the full set of 3 that ran on NIR and also upgrading my A class.I did however manage to fit in a bit of train running time and a few pics of what was happening on the layout are included below.gallery_1918_2005_231735.jpg

The above photo and the photo below show the PW gang at work repairing the up line,while a CIE 141 class passes on the down line with a Guinness train for Grosvenor Road goods yard.A long distant memory of how things were done on the railway before tampers etc and not a high viz vest in sight.

gallery_1918_2005_130533.jpg

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