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Midland Railway - Worcester Loco Shed


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When I worked in Worcester City Council Offices in the early 1970's, they had 1:500 OS maps of the City area.  I traced the track layout of the Midland Loco Depot and tucked it far away...
However it's about time it had an airing (again, I think I may have posted this on an earlier RMWeb Forum).  It's between Wyld's Lane and the bridge over the main line to Perrywood.

If this reference works on Old Maps, then you will see where > https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/385522/255503/12/100380 

With this link you may / will end up with a blue square in the middle of the screen, if so,

use the - zoom button to come out a couple of notches and all should become clear.

In fact having a look at the Old Maps site further, I see they have the 1:500 1886 OS Edition... :no:

post-6979-0-11686500-1427456028.jpg

post-6979-0-14796400-1427456040.jpg

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There is a photograph of this shed in the Hawkins and Reeves book on Midland Railway engine sheds. From memory, it was built of timber, which has always struck me as an odd choice of material for an engine shed. Health and Safety would have a fit if they were around then,

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An typical smaller Midland Shed in that it's a straight shed rather than a roundhouse but otherwise most of the standrd features inluding the sheerlegs.  The little siding at an acute angle just beyond the sheerlegs is no doubt to put one wheelset whilst nother one is wheeled in from the headshunt.  I doubt whether anythong other than a wheelset could go round a corner that sharp.  There also seems to be a siding for ash agons in between the coal road and the loco road.

 

The Midland had quite a few timber sheds, Skipton and Ingleton come to minds.

 

If you need to model the sheerlegs there is one surviving inside the Barrow Hill Roundhouse.

 

Jamie

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Thank you Jamie, one of the reasons I posted this was because I saw elsewhere on RMWeb a layout based on Midland practise with a loco depot which I thought would benefit from some guidance on the layout of a similar shed, but without adding it to their blog - I have sent a PM pointing them at this thread - They appreciated my comments and hopefully they will see yours too.
As you may be aware, I'm died in the wool LNWR, but sometimes there's information available that might as well be shared rather than the family dump it before probate...  :nono:

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Thank you Jamie, one of the reasons I posted this was because I saw elsewhere on RMWeb a layout based on Midland practise with a loco depot which I thought would benefit from some guidance on the layout of a similar shed, but without adding it to their blog - I have sent a PM pointing them at this thread - They appreciated my comments and hopefully they will see yours too.

As you may be aware, I'm died in the wool LNWR, but sometimes there's information available that might as well be shared rather than the family dump it before probate...  :nono:

Have a look at my Lancaster Green Ayre Thread which shows various shed features.  The shed is a straight one but has the standard coaling stage which features in several of the pictures.  The water tank is part done and I've still to do the Sheerlegs.  Feel free to ask for further help.

 

Jamie

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If this reference works on Old Maps, then you will see where > https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/385522/255503/12/100380

In fact having a look at the Old Maps site further, I see they have the 1:500 1886 OS Edition... :no:

 

Hi Sandy,

 

If you don't have a zooming subscription to the old-maps web site (£10 per month), you can get a closer view on the NLS web site:

 

http://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=17&lat=52.1883&lon=-2.2056&layers=14&point=-2.2051,52.1871

 

In the drop-down at the top of the map, select "Background map OS 1900s".

 

The MR shed site is now a row of industrial units. When I was trading as 85A Models, all my packaging materials came from the unit which occupies the site of the turntable. smile.gif

 

post-1103-0-62286000-1427568757.png

 

Martin.

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it was built of timber, which has always struck me as an odd choice of material for an engine shed.

Far from it. Over 300 of the sheds in Britain were timber built. It is a cheap and actually very resilient material. The cost saving is important and partly to do with speed of build and local material availability. If a shed did burn down (and quite a few did) it was easy to repair and rebuild.

 

It has to also be noted that some brick and even stone built shed suffered from fire damage as it was not unknown to have wooden trusses and gables often supporting a heavy tiled roof.

 

In the case of Worcester MR it was originally a 3track timber shed (believed to be) (b.1870) It was replaced by another 3 track timber structure in 1894. The original being closed and demolished. (no record of fire damage)

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Martin, many thanks.   I will try the NLS site.

 

Everything is so much easier these days, no photocopiers when I traced the loco shed, newsletters were printed off from Gestetner waxed paper masters, etc., etc., 
Mind you there plenty of card bricks for facing 4mm buildings from computer punch cards, I still have some herringbone paving on the layout made from those bits.

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newsletters were printed off from Gestetner waxed paper masters, etc., etc.,

 

Hi Sandy,

 

Saying that is a coincidence. Remember I used that messy process for the turnout kit instructions? Only yesterday I found 5 unused boxes of coloured foolscap duplicator paper. No use for it now, it is too absorbent for computer printing or photocopiers. But the 13" x 8" size of foolscap made it ideal for track templates. And reminds me of school exams.

 

Martin.

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Martin, I remember them, I think I have an instruction or two still to hand.

 

I have also had the downside of Foolscap info being printed off onto A4, We have a 'Right of Way', was on Foolscap, Land Registry have an A4 Copy, it's obvious the bottom of the print is missing, BUT they insists it's not and we have lost, or don't have, the last 8' of access to a road on our RoW.....(the other 140' is OK)
Of course some people don't understand the change, or can't see when something obvious is missing. Accountability, urrgh !!!

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When I worked in Worcester City Council Offices in the early 1970's, they had 1:500 OS maps of the City area.  I traced the track layout of the Midland Loco Depot and tucked it far away...

However it's about time it had an airing (again, I think I may have posted this on an earlier RMWeb Forum).  It's between Wyld's Lane and the bridge over the main line to Perrywood.

If this reference works on Old Maps, then you will see where > https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/385522/255503/12/100380

With this link you may / will end up with a blue square in the middle of the screen, if so,

use the - zoom button to come out a couple of notches and all should become clear.

 

In fact having a look at the Old Maps site further, I see they have the 1:500 1886 OS Edition... :no:

Hello Penlan.I was most impressed with the maps of the Midland Loco Depot.This is just the sort of information I intended should go on the Midland Railway Forum.

There is a photo of the Shed in LMS Sheds Vol.2 and a sketch of the diagram but this info does the business.

Regards Tony

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  • 1 year later...
Guest Midland Mole

I know this thread has not been active for a while, but this is great! I'm really embarrassed to say (as both a Midland fan and a native of Worcestershire) I did not even know the shed existed until yesterday.... :blush:

 

This has made me completely change my layout plans. :D

- Alex

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I know this thread has not been active for a while, but this is great! I'm really embarrassed to say (as both a Midland fan and a native of Worcestershire) I did not even know the shed existed until yesterday.... :blush:

 

This has made me completely change my layout plans. :D

 

I read this thread with great interest when it was first active, which was before I became a member here. I think at that time the NLS site only had the 6" sheets for Worcestershire, now they have the 25" sheets - the earliest for the area around this shed is dated 1928, revised 1926. This shows more detail of the track plan - in general the OS surveyors seem to have been at least broadly accurate when it comes to railway detail. The wagon road through the coaling stage seems to be on the level - a pity as the Midland raised stages from the 1890s are distinctive (and at a first pass can be represented by the Metcalfe kit, as can typical Midland ancillary shed buildings) - and also leaves the problem of working out what it actually looked like!

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Guest Midland Mole

I read this thread with great interest when it was first active, which was before I became a member here. I think at that time the NLS site only had the 6" sheets for Worcestershire, now they have the 25" sheets - the earliest for the area around this shed is dated 1928, revised 1926. This shows more detail of the track plan - in general the OS surveyors seem to have been at least broadly accurate when it comes to railway detail. The wagon road through the coaling stage seems to be on the level - a pity as the Midland raised stages from the 1890s are distinctive (and at a first pass can be represented by the Metcalfe kit, as can typical Midland ancillary shed buildings) - and also leaves the problem of working out what it actually looked like!

 

The level of detail on that map is great for doing a track plan. I have ordered a book that apparently has a photo of the shed, but have yet to receive it so I don't know how useful it will be... :D

 

For my layout I will be doing it as a "roughly based on" type design due to the space I have available. The number of lines and the position of the turntable will have to be jiggled around a bit for me to fit it all in. Plus the shed model I have is not strictly of classic Midland design, I just a layout that gets the look and atmosphere right rather being totally accurate. :)

- Alex

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Plus the shed model I have is not strictly of classic Midland design, I just a layout that gets the look and atmosphere right rather being totally accurate. :)

 

The Metcalfe engine shed is also basically Midland - OK it's only two roads, and brick not timber like Worcester, but it could either be a starting point or be the basis for a bit of kit-bashing.

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Guest Midland Mole

The book I mentioned has come today, and I cannot recommend it enough! It is a fantastic book for fans of the Midland Railway or just railways in the Midlands/Worcestershire in general. It has so many wonderful pictures from MR days, through LMS and into the BR era.

 

Birmingham-Bristol, Portrait of a Famous Midland Route: Pt.1: Birmingham to Cheltenham by Stephen Mourton & Bob Pixton  Find it here

 

Anyway, Worcester shed.....

MR%20Worcester%20shed.jpg

 

Also in the book was a nice shot of the coaling stage at Bournville shed in LMS days.

Bournville%20coaling%20stage.jpg

- Alex

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