Traeth Mawr -Building Mr Price's house , (mostly)

[Nick Holliday]

Toilets at railway stations were much earlier than suggested above.  Drawings for Swindon from 1841, such as this one https://nr.printstoreonline.com/gwr-swindon-refreshment-rooms-drawing-no-1-8789125.html  (also in "Swindon - The Legacy of a Railway Town" from English Heritage) clearly show cubicles in the ladies' room, and urinals and cubicles for gentlemen. A contemporary plan of Leeds Victoria shows similar facilities.  Whether such luxuries filtered down away from major centres is a moot point.

[ChrisN]

29 minutes ago, richard i said:

That man must be mad to do that. Oh wait it is me. And to think I look at this thread to get inspiration. Flattered to think anything i do is good enough to show elsewhere. I just bumble along doing my thing. 
richard 

 

Richard,

I would not call your excellent work bumbling.

[corneliuslundie]

Until recently at Newtown the toilets were right at the right-hand end of the building off the small "waiting room" which led to the office used by Newtown Station Travel. Unfortunately Gareth gave up during lockdown so the station is unmanned, and I suspect that the toilets are therefore out of use. But I suspect that that was a late alteration when Ne2wtown Station Travel was formed. Previously I suspect that they would have been elsewhere, though not right at the other end as that was a parcels office (to deal with all the Pryce Jones traffic I suspect). The main booking hall was for a very short while a cafe only the manager quickly ran foul of Powys H&S. I notice that there is now a "To Let" sign outside, though it is several years since the cafe closed. But the size of that space leads me to suspect that earlier it might have been divided into a booking office and a waiting room, possibly with toilets off that.

And thanks to those who posted firm information about toilets at stations. Much earlier than I would have expected (except perhaps at Swindon which had a big restaurant and I think also at one time was effectively a hotel.

Jonathan

[Northroader]

On the question of detail, this frightened me right out of my pants the other night, by a gentleman called Dan15 on the Cercle du Zero:

https://www.leportailduzero.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=72615#p72615

 

[ChrisN]

1 hour ago, Northroader said:

On the question of detail, this frightened me right out of my pants the other night, by a gentleman called Dan15 on the Cercle du Zero:

https://www.leportailduzero.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=72615#p72615

 

 

Yes, that interior puts my poor efforts to shame.

[Mikkel]

Quite something. Even without the brasswork, those seats are impressive.

 

 

Why don't we have this one on RMweb? Emoji envy.

[Northroader]

If you go on the French sites, you’ll find they overdo the emojis, you’ll see one good post, and around five posts with nothing but emojis. 

[Mikkel]

French gesticulation anno 2021, perhaps.

 

I did some exploring on Circle de Zero site, some interesting stuff there. Clicking "Panier" was a disappointment though 

 

 Veering back on topic, Chris is this gentleman related to anyone we know?

 

https://www.gettyimages.dk/detail/news-photo/cambrian-railway-passenger-guard-c-1896-thomas-lewis-worked-news-photo/90748500?adppopup=true

[corneliuslundie]

What a wonderful photo. But not at that price. It is more than he would have earned in a year.

Jonathan

[ChrisN]

On 30/10/2021 at 16:44, Mikkel said:

French gesticulation anno 2021, perhaps.

 

I did some exploring on Circle de Zero site, some interesting stuff there. Clicking "Panier" was a disappointment though 

 

 Veering back on topic, Chris is this gentleman related to anyone we know?

 

https://www.gettyimages.dk/detail/news-photo/cambrian-railway-passenger-guard-c-1896-thomas-lewis-worked-news-photo/90748500?adppopup=true

 

Mikkel,

There are four Lewis families in Traeth Mawr.  The first is Robert Lewis the local Liberal MP for Traeth Mawr and the Naf Valley.  The second is Gwyn Lewis who is a Director of the Twll Du Railway.  The third is Margaret Lewis who owns the Ladies Dress Shop in the Market Square; her husband is not around at the moment, and I think he died which is why she went into business.  The last is Richard Lewis who is the Station Master of the Twll Du in Traeth Mawr.  The last two were born and bred in Traeth Mawr, and the other two were fairly local.  

 

 

 

 

 

I have spoken to Mr Lewis and he says he thinks Thomas Lewis is one of his cousins.  He says 'thinks' as he has a lot of cousins and he has not seen some of them for a while, and he is a second cousin.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by ChrisN

[NCB]

On 29/10/2021 at 16:39, Northroader said:

On the question of detail, this frightened me right out of my pants the other night, by a gentleman called Dan15 on the Cercle du Zero:

https://www.leportailduzero.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=72615#p72615

 

The trouble with pristine brass, or pristine anything, it's a shame to cover it up with paint or whatever. Pristine well-laid track can look wonderful, only to be ruined by paint and ballast.

[Mikkel]

16 hours ago, ChrisN said:

 

Mikkel,

There are four Lewis families in Traeth Mawr.  The first is Robert Lewis the local Liberal MP for Traeth Mawr and the Naf Valley.  The second is Gwyn Lewis who is a Director of the Twll Du Railway.  The third is Margaret Lewis who owns the Ladies Dress Shop in the Market Square; her husband is not around at the moment, and I think he died which is why she went into business.  The last is Richard Lewis who is the Station Master of the Twll Du in Traeth Mawr.  The last two were born and bred in Traeth Mawr, and the other two were fairly local.  

 

 

 

 

 

I have spoken to Mr Lewis and he says he thinks Thomas Lewis is one of his cousins.  He says 'thinks' as he has a lot of cousins and he has not seen some of them for a while, and he is a second cousin.

 

 

 

Wonderful, everything is clearly well document at Traeth Mawr! And yet, when you read more closely a certain fog of uncertainty creeps in:

 

16 hours ago, ChrisN said:

her husband is not around at the moment, and I think he died which is why she went into business

 

Hmmm, sounds suspicious!

 

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by Mikkel
Pressed send too soon

[Nick Holliday]

As a postscript to the toilets saga, Jack Simmons, in his book, "The Victorian Railway", notes

"The water closets and urinals that they (the railways) included in many of their stations soon attracted notice.  In 1846 the public parks committee of the Manchester Borough Council recommended the immediate provision of the requisite conveniences for persons frequenting the parks, which have been so judiciously provided by railway companies'."

[ChrisN]

4 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

Wonderful, everything is clearly well document at Traeth Mawr! And yet, when you read more closely a certain fog of uncertainty creeps in:

 

 

Hmmm, sounds suspicious!

 

 

 

Mikkel,

I wonder how many people know their second cousins?.  (Ok my children know some of them even though they are in Canada, but I hardly know my first cousins.)  Mr Lewis' grandfather moved into the Naf valley to work on a farm.  I think he lost touch a bit with his brothers as I am sure if you ask Thomas Lewis' family they will deny all knowledge of him.  He eventually became a tenant farmer, and his son, Mr Lewis' father took eventually over.  His grandad is now very old and spends most of his time trying to trap moles.  (Sheep can break their legs tripping over mole holes.)  Mr Lewis is the second son so would not take over the farm so became a porter on the Cambrian instead. 

 

As for Mrs Lewis and her absent husband, I will try and ask Mr Lewis if they are related and see if that leads anywhere.  If that does not work I will ask Mary Jones who works in the dress shop with her.  She knows everything about everybody in Traeth Mawr, and some of it is actually true. 

[ChrisN]

2 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

As a postscript to the toilets saga, Jack Simmons, in his book, "The Victorian Railway", notes

"The water closets and urinals that they (the railways) included in many of their stations soon attracted notice.  In 1846 the public parks committee of the Manchester Borough Council recommended the immediate provision of the requisite conveniences for persons frequenting the parks, which have been so judiciously provided by railway companies'."

 

Nigel,

Thank you,

That is very interesting and useful information.

[MikeOxon]

5 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

As a postscript to the toilets saga, Jack Simmons, in his book, "The Victorian Railway", notes

"The water closets and urinals that they (the railways) included in many of their stations soon attracted notice.  In 1846 the public parks committee of the Manchester Borough Council recommended the immediate provision of the requisite conveniences for persons frequenting the parks, which have been so judiciously provided by railway companies'."

Sadly, the modern-day successors are busily removing them all

[ChrisN]

On 14/10/2021 at 08:44, corneliuslundie said:

You are right about the observation cars. There were two. so one each way each day.

If possible the best way to design a layout is so that the gap between the carriages and the platform cannot be seen by observers. OK except that at exhibitions usually the operators are behind the layout and the viewers are in front so the operators see the "gap". But it works for a permanent layout -such as David Jenkinson's Garsdale Road,. His book "Modelling historic railways" is where I think I read the advice. And anyway, that doesn't work if the bay has a platform both sides.

Jonathan

 

Jonathan has mentioned that it is better if the gap between the carriages and the platform cannot be seen.  Well I think it is fairly clear on my layout.

 

 

 

This is the view from the front.  Note that I have not put my carriages in there with my patented footbaords.  The gap on the platform on this side is for the Down Shelter which will go there once I have put up a protective screen.  (Yes it is on the list and progressing slowly- how else?)

 

 

 

 

This is a view from the other side, with very large gaps.  I have extended the platform to where the building starts.  I have realised that I cannot really complete the platform until the building is ready, as I do not wish the hole in the platform to be too big.  It is of course quite possible that I extend it further along the front, as long as it did not reach the end of the building.  The platform on the left has the random stone covering, the one on the right does not as I want to wait until the whole platform is built and I can cover it all and maybe get rid of some of the joins.  The gap is where the board join is and as this is cardboard and not ply I want to keep the two sides apart.  I will have to think of a cunning plan to cover the join.

 

This is how the platform s put together.

 

 

 

It is not as clear as I had hoped, but you can see the ply supports on the cardboard top, glued on with PVA.  These are close enough to the edge to support cardboard sides that are glued to the bottom of the cardboard at its edge.  The random stone sheet is glued to this and the side of the top sheet.  There is a piece of cardboard connecting the level part to the ramp.  Both the supports stick out into the ramp, and here the ramp has been rubbed thinner with a knife.  The random stone sides which were glued to the ramp were an extension of the pieces on the level platform, and so were not shaped to the slope.  Once it had all dried I cut it off with a scalpel by laying it on its side and scoring gently.

 

Note also the Metcalfe bottle for PVA, which was something I found out about from Phil's video on building card kits.  This lead me to find out that Metcalfe do cardboard flagstones.  I am not going to buy those but make my own once it is all finished.  I have intended to stick the platform down permanently but it will not be as strong as I first expected, but I shall probably do this.

 

You may be wondering what I am doing about the station windows, and how I shall make them, well, I am looking into this.  (Sorry.)

 

If you have been, thanks for looking.

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by ChrisN

[Nick Gough]

Coming along nicely Chris.

 

Can you put your footbridge over the join?

Edited November 4, 2021 by Nick Gough

[corneliuslundie]

The recent discussion on bookstalls has got me thinking.

We need seated passengers who area reading newspapers or books. Does anyone know of any? I am certainly in the market.

Jonathan

[Edwardian]

13 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

The recent discussion on bookstalls has got me thinking.

We need seated passengers who area reading newspapers or books. Does anyone know of any? I am certainly in the market.

Jonathan

 

May need a bit of back-dating

 

Monty Man

 

[Simond]

Speak to Alan Buttler @ Modelu

[ChrisN]

5 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

The recent discussion on bookstalls has got me thinking.

We need seated passengers who area reading newspapers or books. Does anyone know of any? I am certainly in the market.

Jonathan

 

Jonathan,

Prieser have at least one figure who is standing reading a paper, but he is H0 and has a hat very like a trilby, even though he is dated 1900.  I assume they wore trilbies earlier in Germany than here.

 

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

May need a bit of back-dating

 

Monty Man

 

 

I think this man has a shirt over a jumper, so first thing would be a tie.  I am not sure about the cut of his jacket but I think i would be more likely to be buttoned which would be a little bit of a problem.  He might look better if he had a bowler.  Flat caps were common but somehow this one does not look right.

[ChrisN]

On 04/11/2021 at 08:00, Nick Gough said:

Coming along nicely Chris.

 

Can you put your footbridge over the join?

 

Nick,

 

 

 

The footbridge will go between the red arrows.  The support for the footbridge on this side will be near the end of the ramp with the steps to the flat part of the platform.  I realise that I should have put the arrow further away from the track because that is why the platform continues straight, so as to make room for the footbridge.

 

There will be a signal box just behind it, which I am hoping means that they will still have a clear view of the station, but I am not sure where else to put it.

Edited March 5, 2023 by ChrisN

[NCB]

6 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

The recent discussion on bookstalls has got me thinking.

We need seated passengers who area reading newspapers or books. Does anyone know of any? I am certainly in the market.

Jonathan

https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product/0184/

https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product/0179/

https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product/0174/

 

Nigel

[corneliuslundie]

Thanks Nigel. I could use the lady for the 1930s Sarn layout if there was a passenger station, but the men look a bit modern even for that. Like Chris, I need figures from the late Victorian era, assuming that fashions changed rather slowly in the valleys.

I do have two ModelU train crerws. In fact I am just painting one.

Jonathan