RMweb Gold Nick C Posted May 8, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 8, 2017 Hi All, After lurking on here for quite a while, I thought it was about time I started a thread on my new layout - Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. Having been looking for a suitable station that would fit in the limited space I have without needing too much compression, and having been interested in the Island railways for a long time, Cowes easily fit the bill - and it has another personal connection as I used to live in the town... So far, I've built the main station baseboards, and am now starting on the trackwork - using SMP OO flexitrack and copperclad points. - photos to follow soon! Locos will be a mixture of Kernow and kitbuilt O2s, with an E1 or two and a couple of Dapol terriers making the odd appearance (period is fairly flexible as the station didn't change much, but predominately mid 50's, so the terriers will only appear when I'm having an "earlier period" running session...). Stock will be a mix of kit and scratch built - I'm trying to draw up CADs of the SECR stock with a view to getting a 'scratch-aid' style kit etched at some point. I've got plenty of photos of the station itself, but very little information on the area around it - can anyone help? Especially the buildings to the immediate south of the station (Cross Street and the Fountain Coaches yard) and along Terminus Road (particularly the pub and Ganges coal yard) Cheers! Nick 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bike2steam Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 Have a word with ChrisG ( Chris Garner) of 'this parish', I believe he once built a model of Cowes ( I could be wrong, the memories not what it used to be). http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/70357-isle-of-wight-railway-coaches/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nick C Posted May 8, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 8, 2017 (edited) Hi Paul - I know Chris well, he only lives a few miles from me, and we've been working together on plans and ideas for the coaching stock (though Chris' ones are a lot more advanced than mine at the moment!) Edited May 8, 2017 by Nick C 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 If you get in touch with the IOW Railway they might be able to help you about what was around Cowes ,I had a book of railways on the island and seem to remember one side of the station had houses.They backed onto the line and you could see walls (brick) separating small gardens and terraced properties all a bit run down and unkempt sorry I cant tell anymore but its an interesting station given the method of running round a train upon arrival.The loco would push the coaches out of the platform and then run onto across onto another track ,then the guard would allow the coaches to roll into the platform .Imagine doing that now! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bike2steam Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 (edited) Hi Paul - I know Chris well, he only lives a few miles from me, and we've been working together on plans and ideas for the coaching stock (though Chris' ones are a lot more advanced than mine at the moment!) Ah well, if you live in the Alton area you probably know Mark Pretious, he bought my old Bembridge layout. Edited May 8, 2017 by bike2steam 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nick C Posted May 9, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 9, 2017 Ah well, if you live in the Alton area you probably know Mark Pretious, he bought my old Bembridge layout. Yes, I know Mark - and I've operated Bembridge quite a few times! He's retired it from the exhibition circuit now though... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nick C Posted May 9, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 9, 2017 If you get in touch with the IOW Railway they might be able to help you about what was around Cowes ,I had a book of railways on the island and seem to remember one side of the station had houses.They backed onto the line and you could see walls (brick) separating small gardens and terraced properties all a bit run down and unkempt sorry I cant tell anymore but its an interesting station given the method of running round a train upon arrival.The loco would push the coaches out of the platform and then run onto across onto another track ,then the guard would allow the coaches to roll into the platform .Imagine doing that now! Thanks! I've got a few ideas as to how to simulate the 'gravity shunt', not sure what will work yet though... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bike2steam Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Thanks! I've got a few ideas as to how to simulate the 'gravity shunt', not sure what will work yet though... Quite a few years ago there was a model of Maiden Newton on the local exhibition circuit. Built by a late, much missed member of the Bridport club called John, but whose surname I can't remember. That had a gravity shunt for the Bridport train, that was held in place, at the top end of the shunt by a electro-magnet stop between the rails, against one of the coach axles. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWCR Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Hello I am building Cowes in N gauge to scale. (Station to Tunnel) I would have liked to do it in O but dont have the room, not even for the station building to road bridge I have done quite a bit of research including copying original planning application drawings for surrounding buildings from the IOW record office. I have a copy of the SR 40' to the inch plans. I am gradually preparing drawings of the relevant buildings. Most of the station area now done. Terminus road, no problem, all covered. Cross Street, not so good, to early for planning drawings and patchy photo coverage. Main omission is the old Methodist Chapel which had been converted into a builders store, I have only found this on aerial photos. The terraced stone cottages are reasonably covered and some still survive at the lower end of the street. Carvel :Lane also patchy with drawings for only three buildings. In WW2 the entire Carvel Lane buildings to the south of the station, both sides of the road were destroyed by bombing, I have aerial photos of these both pre and post war, Fountains Coach garage partly survived. Best photo I have of this is during the station demolition when it was more visible. Denmark Road & St Marys Road largely covered or planning drawings identified. The pub was the "Royal Oak" and was quite a large structure which included the Unity Hall meeting rooms for the Oddfellows. Ganges coal yard had two buildings, their original tin hut adjoining the footbridge and the much larger building which had originally been built by the IWCR as a cart shed and stables. Drawings done. Granville Road drawings not started, Cross Street school not started, Denmark Road school done. Co-op done. First base board built (Granville Road Bridge to Carvel Lane), tracklaying started in N finescale including building pointwork from kits. If you want to PM me with specific wants I will be able to help on a case by case basis, not "Yes Please, send it all now" I have already accessed everything the steam railway has and incorporated the information though more still appears, last month a Cowes photo appeared which shows the Cattle Dock still existed during the 1920's and into the 30's, something I had not been certain of. Pete 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Reading the above mention of the air raid is a coincidence as a Polish navy warship is in Cowes in a commemoration of that air raid because a WW2 Polish ship helped fire at enemy that day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bike2steam Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Reading the above mention of the air raid is a coincidence as a Polish navy warship is in Cowes in a commemoration of that air raid because a WW2 Polish ship helped fire at enemy that day. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/25/a4609325.shtml Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nick C Posted May 9, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 9, 2017 Hello I am building Cowes in N gauge to scale. (Station to Tunnel) I would have liked to do it in O but dont have the room, not even for the station building to road bridge I have done quite a bit of research including copying original planning application drawings for surrounding buildings from the IOW record office. I have a copy of the SR 40' to the inch plans. I am gradually preparing drawings of the relevant buildings. Most of the station area now done. Terminus road, no problem, all covered. Cross Street, not so good, to early for planning drawings and patchy photo coverage. Main omission is the old Methodist Chapel which had been converted into a builders store, I have only found this on aerial photos. The terraced stone cottages are reasonably covered and some still survive at the lower end of the street. Carvel :Lane also patchy with drawings for only three buildings. In WW2 the entire Carvel Lane buildings to the south of the station, both sides of the road were destroyed by bombing, I have aerial photos of these both pre and post war, Fountains Coach garage partly survived. Best photo I have of this is during the station demolition when it was more visible. Denmark Road & St Marys Road largely covered or planning drawings identified. The pub was the "Royal Oak" and was quite a large structure which included the Unity Hall meeting rooms for the Oddfellows. Ganges coal yard had two buildings, their original tin hut adjoining the footbridge and the much larger building which had originally been built by the IWCR as a cart shed and stables. Drawings done. Granville Road drawings not started, Cross Street school not started, Denmark Road school done. Co-op done. First base board built (Granville Road Bridge to Carvel Lane), tracklaying started in N finescale including building pointwork from kits. If you want to PM me with specific wants I will be able to help on a case by case basis, not "Yes Please, send it all now" I have already accessed everything the steam railway has and incorporated the information though more still appears, last month a Cowes photo appeared which shows the Cattle Dock still existed during the 1920's and into the 30's, something I had not been certain of. Pete Thanks Pete, I will certainly be in touch! I'll also be contacting the IWSR museum & IOW record office. I'm intending to build it in mid-50s condition, so post-war, and the shape of the room I've got means that most of Carvel Lane will be off-stage - the station building itself will be jammed into the back corner (a shame, as it's a very interesting building, but it's the only way I could fit it all in), but Cross Street will be right at the front, along with the yard of Denmark Road school, and the patch of land between, which I believe was allotments? The backscene will then roughly follow the line of the far side of Terminus Road & Granville Road. Cheers, Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWCR Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Hello An enquiry to the IWSR museum would likely end up being passed to me. The three buildings along the boundary with the school I have drawn together with the adjoining co-op bakery and coal depot (which had its roof removed somewhen in the 50's). An SR concrete pway hut was on the railway side. No allotments as such but there was a chicken run and shed, fence wasnt very good as chickens often appear in photos all over the tracks. One feature of the station often missed is that there were arches under the concourse accessed from a path between the building and the coach garage, these would be visible in your model. Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nick C Posted May 10, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 10, 2017 Thanks Pete - I knew about the pway hut, but not about the arches. I got the chance last night to take a couple of photos of the progress so far... 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vectispete Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 Hello An enquiry to the IWSR museum would likely end up being passed to me. The three buildings along the boundary with the school I have drawn together with the adjoining co-op bakery and coal depot (which had its roof removed somewhen in the 50's). An SR concrete pway hut was on the railway side. No allotments as such but there was a chicken run and shed, fence wasnt very good as chickens often appear in photos all over the tracks. One feature of the station often missed is that there were arches under the concourse accessed from a path between the building and the coach garage, these would be visible in your model. Pete I never realised that there were arches along the 'alleyway' between the station building and Fountain garage's building. None of the photos I have show an angle makes this visible. Where did they lead to? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nick C Posted May 10, 2017 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 10, 2017 I've now found three 1949 photos online that clearly show the arches, along with the ruins of Carvel Lane - which I presume were cleared at some point in the 50's, as the 1966 map I've got shows the area south of Fountains as a car park. http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw025038 http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw025039 http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw025040 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vectispete Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 I've now found three 1949 photos online that clearly show the arches, along with the ruins of Carvel Lane - which I presume were cleared at some point in the 50's, as the 1966 map I've got shows the area south of Fountains as a car park. http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw025038 http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw025039 http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw025040 Hi Nick Thank you for uploading the photos - unfortunately I cannot see the arches! I have saved the photos and enlarged them but it all becomes distorted. Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWCR Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 Hello A very useful album on flickr (Not mine) contains a good view of the arches and also a view up Terminus Road showing this side of the pub building along with the outside of the railway parcel store. https://www.flickr.com/photos/31890193@N08/sets/72157647305890101 Pete 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vectispete Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 Hello A very useful album on flickr (Not mine) contains a good view of the arches and also a view up Terminus Road showing this side of the pub building along with the outside of the railway parcel store. https://www.flickr.com/photos/31890193@N08/sets/72157647305890101 Pete i have seen most of these pictures before except for the view up the side of the station building. It is interesting to see the door under the bridge open-not seen that before. There was a shop over the bridge (still Cross St I believe) on the corner of Terminus Rd Royal Oak occupied the adjacent corner and The Wheatsheaf public house was over the road (building still exists). Any idea of the shop name/what it sold? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWCR Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 I have a note of the shop name somewhere, I will try and find it. It was a family run shop, prewar it was a grocers, mid 50's it sold /repaired motor bikes but the window facing the Royal Oak was marked "Cowes Model Shop" and displayed models (balsa aircraft etc), presumably a son had taken over. When I was at school in Cowes it was still there (railway gone) and traded as a craft shop. Further up Terminus Road was another building at the corner with Granville Road, this was built as a mineral water store for a local firm (Shergolds?), later it was a small garage. In the early 80's it also was a motorcycle shop (Allan Brothers) Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 As a fan of the Isle of Wight railways I will follow this project with interest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vectispete Posted May 11, 2017 Share Posted May 11, 2017 I have a note of the shop name somewhere, I will try and find it. It was a family run shop, prewar it was a grocers, mid 50's it sold /repaired motor bikes but the window facing the Royal Oak was marked "Cowes Model Shop" and displayed models (balsa aircraft etc), presumably a son had taken over. When I was at school in Cowes it was still there (railway gone) and traded as a craft shop. Further up Terminus Road was another building at the corner with Granville Road, this was built as a mineral water store for a local firm (Shergolds?), later it was a small garage. In the early 80's it also was a motorcycle shop (Allan Brothers) Pete Any help with that building will be most appreciated Pete. I am modelling Cowes c1950 in EM gauge. Coaches and locos already built. Signal box done and Fountain Hotel too.. I am modelling Granville road bridge to Cowes high street.. Pete 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Chris116 Posted May 11, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 11, 2017 (edited) I too will be watching this with great interest. I love the IOW railways and the footbridge over Cowes station (it connected a footpath not the platforms) is now at Medstead & Four Marks on the Mid Hants Railway which I volunteer on. It will be very interesting to see the bridge in the original setting. Edited May 11, 2017 by Chris116 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold phil_sutters Posted May 11, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 11, 2017 The only one of Dad's photos to show any of Cowes is this one, but it is train not town! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/77664-sr-iow-0-4-4t-30-shorwell-cowes-18-5-1963/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebell Model Railway Posted May 11, 2017 Share Posted May 11, 2017 Living on he island I have visited many of the former sites of stations and lines, so look forward to seeing it develop Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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