West Riding Terminus- Halifax Powell Street

[BurscoughCurves]

Hi folks,

 

So I've finally made a start on my layout located in a spare room (I have a very understanding partner!) and i'm quite pleased with my progress so far. This is my first real layout after returning to the hobby since being a young teenager. I decided on a theme, and built an engine shed as a starting project before moving into my recently purchased house:

 

 

 

The layout is a secondary mainline urban terminus in a fictitious West Riding location, think Bradford area with LNWR and GNR origins, set during the mid 1950's. The layout is OO gauge, and the trackplan is as follows;

 

 

 

There are three passenger platform faces, and a parcels platform (the shortest, which will be without a catch point) and also acts as a headshunt for an off-scene goods yard. There are two sidings for coaching stock at the top of the plan. The back-drop of the layout will be the backs of commercial buildings and factories above quite large retaining walls; the station and MPD located in a cutting.

 

I can't decide on a name! Haigmoor, Bramley, Crossley, Garsford, Garsfield, Drewton, Horton... Which sounds most appropriately West Riding?! Help please!

 

As for the actual build; I decided on making 'T' sections out of 2" x 1" timber, pinned and glued for strength and rigidity, and 9mm ply for the tops;

 

 

 

I'm certainly no joiner but it is all level and a little over-engineered so it won't collapse! I have covered the entire baseboard with 3mm cork as i am using wire-in-tube in conjunction with SPDT switches for polarity changing on pointwork. The trackwork and points are all Peco code 75, but I will be spacing the sleepers out as I think it really does improve the overall look. I'm not quite ready to build track and point-work yet.

 

I have installed the point control in the small fiddle yard area and tested it, and it thankfully works well. The layout is DCC, something which I had read an awful lot about but until very recently had not used. I purchased a NCE Powercab and have one loco with a decoder to play with, a lovely Fairburn tank from the late and great Dave Shakespeare. The area works well as I have just connected the track droppers and frogs and finally got something running! I located the fiddle yard switches into a small plate which I milled out and screwed into a cutout in the fiddle yard baseboard;

 

Fiddle yard early on:

 

 

Fiddle yard points:

 

 

 

Another topic I had read a great deal about and have recently experimented with is the use of Kadee couplers. I will never use tension locks again! It is a common theme but why can't Hornby or Bachmann get their NEM pockets consistent!? I will be spending some time re-adjusting stock coupling heights;

 

 

 

The Bachmann MkI's seem to require quite a bit of filing and fettling to 'free-up' the close couple mechanism- anyone had much joy with this? The NEM pocket also seems to sag, it seems a shame as they are such a quality product. Is this the case with the majority of UK manufacturers? 

 

Underside of the fiddleyard pannel;

 

 

Messy already...

 

I'm really pleased to have made a start, and just hope I can find the time outside of work and life to crack on!

 

 

Edited February 2, 2015 by BurscoughCurves

[coachmann]

I can't decide on a name! Haigmoor, Bramley, Crossley, Garsford, Garsfield, Drewton, Horton... Which sounds most appropriately West Riding?! Help please!

 

Combining two of your choices produces Bramley Moor which has a Yorkshire ring about it. Good luck with this layout.

[russ p]

How about haligate, skipford, huddesford,harriford , bradgate, bradersgate, skipgate, hotley, ilksford,skelmasfield, harrofax... I could go on!

[Ray M]

Names: Esholt.

But i do quite like: Clekhudersfax or Clekekmondsedge.

[Classsix T]

I had to scrutinise the shed interior shot quite hard. If the rest is up to that standard this one's a winner, whatever you call it!

 

C6T.

[Phill Dyson (onslaught832)]

I'm West Riding born & bred I like the names Bramley or Bramley Moor ........love those pics inside the shed   

 

Phill

[rodshaw]

Could be a mini version of the old Bradford Exchange - especially if you can fit in a hint of Bridge Street Goods depot, but that would mean getting rid of or relocating the turntable.

[45661 Vernon]

I think Bramley is a good west riding name. It almost feels as if it fits around Batley & the outskirts of Leeds ; )

[Ray M]

I think Bramley is a good west riding name. It almost feels as if it fits around Batley & the outskirts of Leeds ; )

It is on the outskirts of  Leeds.

Its on the Bradford interchange line, about 4 miles outside Leeds, Just before you get to New Pudsey.

[clecklewyke]

JB Priestley gave me Clecklewyke, so I hope you don't duplicate that name!

 

He also used Bruddersford in "The Good Companions" and someone coined Haliford but I have to confess that I don't think these  two work too well, being obviously contrived.

 

I love the idea of your layout - it looks as though you have planned it very well and, as has been said elsewhere, that loco shed, especially the interior shot, looks as though you've set a high standard to follow. The plan is brilliant - the only quibble I would have is that it does not permit simultaneous passenger arrivals and departures, but to allow this would require more space and pointwork.

 

It looks as though it's a terminus for a city, so you could follow the route that I did, by choosing a railway company that did not reach a particular city but might have. I chose Bradford North Western, imagining that the LNWR had built a branch there and that its terminus was secondary to the pre-existing railway companies, in this case MR, GNR and L&Y.

 

So how about Halifax North Western, Halifax Midland, or Sheffield North Western? 

 

Better still, as part of their push to build a main line through Bradford, bypassing Leeds, the Midland did plan a branch with a large terminus at Huddersfield (but they only got as far as building a single track goods branch).

 

So there are plenty of options and I look forward to seeing what you choose.

 

Ian

 

P.S. I love the idea of the headshunt with the rest of the goods yard out of view. It's a really good way of allowing some goods traffic even when you are very pressed for space so can only build a "bitsa" what you'd really like. I'm sure Iain Rice, inventor of the bitsa concept, would approve and I hope you don't mind if I pinch it!

Edited January 19, 2015 by clecklewyke

[BurscoughCurves]

Thanks for all the comments people, I really appreciate it. There is so much skill on display on this site, it's very inspiring and intimidating!!

 

I really like Bramley- I could invent an alternative history and justify naming it something along the lines of 'Bramley Parr Street'...?

 

Clecklewyke- I absolutely adore your work. The atmosphere and feel of Clecklewyke is exactly what I am aiming for and if I can achieve a fraction of what you have I'll be happy. Sticking with JB Priestley; how about something using 'Gretley'? Does it sound West Riding?

 

Pete

[leopardml2341]

(something) Arkwright Street, - though there was one in Nottingham

..... Mill Street,

.....Clough,

.....Fold,

.....Royd

.....Brigg

 

I like Calder Royd as a pairing; the river Calder (West Riding) and Royd (meaning a clearing or settlement) - perhaps a town on a river?

 

Apologies if it's been done before, perhaps I have seen it somewhere in the dim and distant.......

[clecklewyke]

 Sticking with JB Priestley; how about something using 'Gretley'? 

 

Pete

Thank you for your kind words, Pete. If you want to see Clecklewyke it will be at Scaleforum in September,

 

Re "Bramley" -

 

for me that is too well known as a station on the Midland line out of Leeds and thus has too firm a geographical location to fictionalise. I cannot think of a scenario whereby the real Bramley would justify a three platform terminus.

 

Re "Gretley" -

 

It's a good Northern sounding name, with no real WR location to muddy the fictional water but I am pretty sure that it featured in the old O gauge layout "The Sherwood Section", as Gretley Colliery, so for me it has other, South Humber connotations, which puts it firmly outside  the West Riding. However, without that subjective context, yes, I suppose it might fit.

 

But no doubt other people will disagree and find Clecklewyke and Bradford North Western equally inappropriate for various reasons. You pays your money...

 

I found it interesting that when I googled Gretley it came up with an Australian coal mine, so at least it has some connection with the WR scene. I wonder whether the Sherwood Section group knew about that?

 

Ian 

[coachmann]

Sticking with JB Priestley; how about something using 'Gretley'? Does it sound West Riding?

To me using Gretley is like using Bulleidwyke, Cleckfowler or Colletfield...they're patriotically twee. Bellendroyd has a ring about it though...

Edited January 19, 2015 by coachmann

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

One way of doing it is to look at the earliest Ordnance Survey map, and pick a location where your GN/LNWR terminus might have gone.  For example there's an East Brook quite near the city centre; 'Eastbrook Joint/Victoria/Lane' all sound credible. Alternatively you could pick a more outlying settlement and decide that the road the station lies on is named for this route; I'd fancy 'Toftshaw Road' for West Riding flavour, under BR now 'Bradford Toftshaw'.

[Phill Dyson (onslaught832)]

Contrived names where two place names are combined together tend to sound........ erm contrived to me   

 

Phill   

Edited January 19, 2015 by Phill Dyson (onslaught832)

[28XX]

Utterley

 

Just my twopenn'orth

[APOLLO]

Maybe this site will be of help

 

http://www.daelnet.co.uk/placenames/index.cfm

 

Brit15

Edited January 19, 2015 by APOLLO

[Sasquatch]

Judging by the stanier tank in your wonderful engine shed you have a liking for LMR so how about "Halifax Fowler street". The ex midland terminus that never was.

Am interested to observe your progress.

 

Regards Shaun.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Pete,

Love your engine shed.

 

Is the approach to the station single or double track?

For a station this size/era, everything seems to revolve around the double slip, which precludes any simultaneous arrivals or departures.

[4630]

 

The layout is a secondary mainline urban terminus in a fictitious West Riding location, think Bradford area with LNWR and GNR origins, set during the mid 1950's.

 

 

I can't decide on a name! Haigmoor, Bramley, Crossley, Garsford, Garsfield, Drewton, Horton... Which sounds most appropriately West Riding?! Help please!

 

Have you considered using some of the names of actual localities in the area?

 

Oakenshaw, Bierley, Wyke, Wibsey and Bowling are all in the Bradford district.

 

Scholes, Lightcliffe, Rastrick and Hartshead might be suitable if you want something further south towards Brighouse and the Calder Valley.

 

Bank Top, Siddall, Wheatley, Midgley and Bradshaw if you go further west towards Halifax.

 

HTH

[jwealleans]

Are those Lego bases to the pillars in the engine shed?

[BurscoughCurves]

Hi people, thanks so much for all the input I should have a short list of name later today for your approval!

 

The upper of the 3 tracks that enter the fiddle yard is the departure line, the middle is for arrivals and the lower is to the off scene goods yard. I realise that I have limited operational scope because both the arrival and departure merge under the scenic break but as I will be the sole operator and it gives access to all storage sidings I will live with it. I struggled to fit a more complicated point layout in the limited space.

 

The pillars in the engine shed are 2 diameters of plastic tubing. I inetended on turning small tapered columns on a lathe in work and managed to make 1 but I couldn't hold the machine up to do the rest so had to compromise!! Such a shame when work gets in the way of modelling!

 

Pete

[leopardml2341]

If you want real names, try 'Idle' (a suburb of Bradford) and of course home to the "Idle Workingman's Club" - a good humour opportunity for a cameo scene.

 

For some reason can't paste a link, but do a google/Wikipedia search and you'll find it.

Rgds,

[great northern]

Hi Pete,

 

 Great to see another of Dave's locos about to come back into service. It looks very much at home in that shed. As to the name problem, that was something Dave and I discussed at great length when he was trying to christen Tetleys Mills 3. I personally can't get on with made up names - which is one reason for modelling a prototype this time- and Dave was reluctant to make something up this time too, so we were discussing "might have beens" in the West Riding area. How about picking a real place where the arrival of the railway might have caused the population to take off, as happened all over the country?  It doesn't matter that much what the geography was either, judging by some of the schemes that did go ahead in the region.