Cholsey & Moulsford (Change for Wallingford)

[The Stationmaster]

And back to Cholsey.  firstly apologies for theh poor quality but it was the wrong time of year and the film type and camera didn't help plus my processor managed to get some dust on the small prints he used to do to keep my pocket money costs down.  So here we are at Cholsey in late 1964 with two versions of each view  because I have also lightened them as much as I dare to try to show detail under the canopy and that of course washes out other detail.

 

So first the Down Main Line platform building.   Nice telegraph pole - note the cable running from it to the location cupboard a bit further along the platform.  as the cupboard is, roughly, opposite the signal box there was presumably an underground cable from it to the 'box.

 

 

 

Now the building on the Up Relief Line platform .  Note the position of the two vans standing in the bay (probably in view of the date on which the photo was taken they were carrying S&T Dept tools and stores as resignalling work was well underway by then).

 

 

 

 

And a vicious enlargement of the bay end part of the building plus the two vans and you v can just make out the short length of unclimbable ('spear' ) fence at the end of the bay.

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2023 by The Stationmaster

[RJS1977]

1964 - passenger trains on the branch would have ceased, but the goods yard at Wallingford was still open, which presumably is why the two vans have been shunted over to the bay.

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, RJS1977 said:

1964 - passenger trains on the branch would have ceased, but the goods yard at Wallingford was still open, which presumably is why the two vans have been shunted over to the bay.

But as there was S&T work going on I think thats what they were there for.  I can't quite see why they would have been left on the blocks in the bay at Cholsey at the weekend  if they were being worked either to or from Wallingford at a time when it was served by its own through freight trip from, probably still at that time, Didcot although by then the trip might have been Reading based as it was only a few years later when I travelled on it one day.

 

As the S&T Dept were at that time - on weekdays - installing stuff just off the Didcot end of that platform it seems to me to have been the best place to keep a couple of vans with materials and maybe some tools.

[St Enodoc]

10 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

All later additions =definitely post 1960s and probably '70s'80s as well.  Although in some cases they replaced 'wrap around' screens, of varying sizes,  behind the stop blocks.

 

While Platform 2 retains the original stop block Platform 3 at Reading had the original stop block removed when it was extended to take Voyagers and a new friction type stop block was installed to replace it - some of it can be seen in a couple of the photos.

That blows my plan out of the water. Thanks!

[Nick Gough]

14 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

And back to Cholsey.  firstly apologies for theh poor quality but it was the wrong time of year and the film type and camera didn't help plus my processor managed to get some dust on the small prints he used to do to keep my pocket money costs down.  So here we are at Cholsey in late 1964 with two versions of each view  because I have also lightened them as much as I dare to try to show detail under the canopy and that of course washes out other detail.

 

So first the Down Main Line platform building.   Nice telegraph pole - note the cable running from it to the location cupboard a bit further along the platform.  as the cupboard is, roughly, opposite the signal box there was presumably an underground cable from it to the 'box.

 

 

 

Now the building on the Up Relief Line platform .  Note the position of the two vans standing in the bay (probably in view of the date on which the photo was taken they were carrying S&T Dept tools and stores as resignalling work was well underway by then).

 

 

 

 

And a vicious enlargement of the bay end part of the building plus the two vans and you v can just make out the short length of unclimbable ('spear' ) fence at the end of the bay.

 

 

 

Thanks very much for posting these Mike.

Despite your views on their quality, that's the best and most useful photo, I have seen, of the Down Main building in its original condition. It clearly shews the section that's now removed.

 

I guess that the small black object, about half way up the side of the right hand van, in the other photo, must be the lamp attached to the end of the fence? To me that definitely indicates that the stop block was nearer the building then.

 

I don't suppose you have any more Cholsey photos?

 

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by Nick Gough

[Neal Ball]

1 hour ago, Nick Gough said:

Thanks very much for posting these Mike.

…..

 

I don't suppose you have any more Cholsey photos?

 

 

We all like Mikes aka @The Stationmaster photos - a few years ago, Mike shewed some Henley photos and just like your Chelsey images, are a fascinating record.

 

We need a thread dedicated just to Mikes photos and stories 😎

[Nick Gough]

Just to confuse everything - I've just taken this taken this screenshot from a Youtube video of the last day in 1959:

[The Stationmaster]

5 hours ago, Nick Gough said:

Thanks very much for posting these Mike.

Despite your views on their quality, that's the best and most useful photo, I have seen, of the Down Main building in its original condition. It clearly shews the section that's now removed.

 

I guess that the small black object, about half way up the side of the right hand van, in the other photo, must be the lamp attached to the end of the fence? To me that definitely indicates that the stop block was nearer the building then.

 

I don't suppose you have any more Cholsey photos?

 

 

I reckon that it must be the lamp as it looks wrong for the top of the post.  There will be more when I get round to scanning them in - several signals, both sides of the signal box (including its west end but not the other end).  The lamp hut just across the board crossing from the Reading end of the island platform and sundry other bits and pieces such as the new ground frame (for the branch conection and Relief Lines trailing crossover) partially installed in preparation for resignalling.   Plus a couple which show glimpses of the building in the (very wide) 10 foot beyond the west end of the island platform 

 

Main reason d for going there was to get the signal box and (some) signals before they went but I got in one or two other things as well.  As i said the quality is far from ideal but they are a record of part of what was there before the 1965 changes.

 

4 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

We all like Mikes aka @The Stationmaster photos - a few years ago, Mike shewed some Henley photos and just like your Chelsey images, are a fascinating record.

 

We need a thread dedicated just to Mikes photos and stories 😎

Apart from the sheer scale of the scanning task I do wonder if the quality of many of the photos is anything like good enough to be really useful although some of them are of real historic interest such as theh very first train to pass through Slough under the control of the newly commissioned panel signal box.  Plus of course my hundred of 1990s signal and signalling equipment photos taken in places as far apart as St Erth and Perth or Shrewsbury and Wateringbury plus various places in between and elsewhere

[RJS1977]

A club colleague of mine has built a replica of (the top of) Wateringbury 'box in his back garden. and I think was also building a model of Wateringbury to go in it.

[Nick Gough]

5 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

I reckon that it must be the lamp as it looks wrong for the top of the post.  There will be more when I get round to scanning them in - several signals, both sides of the signal box (including its west end but not the other end).  The lamp hut just across the board crossing from the Reading end of the island platform and sundry other bits and pieces such as the new ground frame (for the branch conection and Relief Lines trailing crossover) partially installed in preparation for resignalling.   Plus a couple which show glimpses of the building in the (very wide) 10 foot beyond the west end of the island platform 

 

Main reason d for going there was to get the signal box and (some) signals before they went but I got in one or two other things as well.  As i said the quality is far from ideal but they are a record of part of what was there before the 1965 changes.

 

Those sound very useful.

 

I would be very interested to see them please, if it's not too much trouble.

[St Enodoc]

23 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

That blows my plan out of the water. Thanks!

 

12 hours ago, Nick Gough said:

Just to confuse everything - I've just taken this taken this screenshot from a Youtube video of the last day in 1959:

I think that photo gives me a reason to resurrect my plan - or am I just seeing what I want to see?

[The Stationmaster]

On 24/07/2023 at 04:41, St Enodoc said:

 

I think that photo gives me a reason to resurrect my plan - or am I just seeing what I want to see?

St E what exactly are you after?  There were variations in platform line stop blocks and son me changed over the years - usually after something had hit them!

 

And don't worry Nick more photos will follow as I get a chance to scan them - what would you like next?

[Nick Gough]

3 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

St E what exactly are you after?  There were variations in platform line stop blocks and son me changed over the years - usually after something had hit them!

 

And don't worry Nick more photos will follow as I get a chance to scan them - what would you like next?

The signal box please.

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

St E what exactly are you after?  There were variations in platform line stop blocks and son me changed over the years - usually after something had hit them!

 

And don't worry Nick more photos will follow as I get a chance to scan them - what would you like next?

Mike, the stop blocks themselves will be LM&S (Dave Franks) short GWR versions. There'll be a fence behind them perpendicular to the two tracks. The moot point is whether there would be a short fence parallel to the tracks as well. When you said that such things were a product of later times, I abandoned that idea but looking at the screenshot from the 1959 video has made me think again. The answer is still "probably not" but I'll mock it up in due course to see.

[Nick Gough]

I have glued a small piece of stripwood, vertically to the end of the branch bay line:

It is meant to represent the vertical brick column in the corner between the bay and the station building:

It needs to be clad with embossed brick and attached to a wing wall - please ignore the lump of blue tac!

 

I have glued another piece horizontally to the trackbed to represent the concrete at the end of the building:

I need to form some stone blocks to go on top.

 

I shaped the cut-out sections using the brick wall to determine the correct position. However, this is off centre and doesn't line up with with the centre line of the track:

[Nick Gough]

The old plan of Cholsey station shews that there appeared to be a large solid object behind the stop block at the end of the back siding (at the top of this extract):

I presume that, whatever it was, it was there to prevent anything running through the stop block, down the embankment and onto the adjacent road. During last week's visit I had a look to see whether there are any remains.

 

Part of the goods yard is now a car park. This is looking back to the entrance road, the station and the bridge over the road:

 

Slightly further to the right is the embankment down towards the road:

 

And then...

The parked car and the adjacent meeting point of the two guard rails is, where I reckon, the stop block was - I wonder what it was constructed from?

 

The rest of the goods yard, through a gated entrance, is still used as a coal yard by the (original) local coal merchant:

Though for how much longer?

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

10 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Mike, the stop blocks themselves will be LM&S (Dave Franks) short GWR versions. There'll be a fence behind them perpendicular to the two tracks. The moot point is whether there would be a short fence parallel to the tracks as well. When you said that such things were a product of later times, I abandoned that idea but looking at the screenshot from the 1959 video has made me think again. The answer is still "probably not" but I'll mock it up in due course to see.

Right sir - now with you.  The link below leads to a Flickr photo which might be (or not be) helpful as there's no fence/wrap round.  However the earlier screens at henley had a wrapround at the end but it was only a long as just over teh width of a standard departure poster.   But note Henley is (was) under an overall roof.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/28083135@N06/8434040088

 

 

Windsor had stop blocks which were not under an overall roof and early photos show no screens or fences but screens were there by later BR days - with, so it seems, no wraparound or short fence.  Newquay - as you probaly know, had screens - about a foot or so higher than a standard poster board judging by a poor photo but it is far from clear if there was anything extending from them along the platform edge.  Similarly Penzance had acquired screens by BR  days (no sign of them in early photos as at Windsor) but again nothing along the platform edge off the end of the screen

[The Stationmaster]

Right - it's scanning day (well somne of them).  This completes all my views od f the east end of the station - all that remains to scan are views off teh west end of the island platfom.

 

First the signal box starting with the Relief Line (north side)

 

And the Main Lines side

 

 

The Lamp Hut - first, again the Relief Lines side

 

 

 

Now the Main Lines side, also including the Up  Main Starting Signal

 

 

Now a poor contrast view of the Up Relief Starting Signal and a backround view of part of the goods yard

 

 

 

 

The goods yard area enlarged out of the above view

 

 

 

 

[Nick Gough]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Right - it's scanning day (well somne of them).  This completes all my views od f the east end of the station - all that remains to scan are views off teh west end of the island platfom.

 

First the signal box starting with the Relief Line (north side)

 

And the Main Lines side

 

 

The Lamp Hut - first, again the Relief Lines side

 

 

 

Now the Main Lines side, also including the Up  Main Starting Signal

 

 

Now a poor contrast view of the Up Relief Starting Signal and a backround view of part of the goods yard

 

 

 

 

The goods yard area enlarged out of the above view

 

 

 

 

Thank you very much for these, Mike. There's some very useful details in those.

 

In particular there is a view of the tiny weighbridge hut in the fourth photo - just above the '20' sign.

I haven't found a photo of the front of this before - It looks like there is a window in the middle - would it shew up any clearer with a higher res scan of this bit?

 

In the fifth photo I can see the ramp leading up to the end/side loading dock, left of the goods shed.

According to a Railway World article, "The goods/end loading dock possessed sleeper walls and a gravel/black grit surface."

Looking at your photo, the construction looks very much like the platform for the branch line halt at Didcot:

 

It's interesting that the lamp hut must have been turned round at some point. In 'The Wallingford Branch' (Wild Swan) there is a 1927 photo which shews it turned 90 degrees, with the door facing the end of the platform ramp.

 

Did you ever get to go inside the signal box, Mike?

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Right - it's scanning day (well somne of them).  This completes all my views od f the east end of the station - all that remains to scan are views off teh west end of the island platfom.

 

First the signal box starting with the Relief Line (north side)

 

And the Main Lines side

 

 

The Lamp Hut - first, again the Relief Lines side

 

 

 

Now the Main Lines side, also including the Up  Main Starting Signal

 

 

Now a poor contrast view of the Up Relief Starting Signal and a backround view of part of the goods yard

 

 

 

 

The goods yard area enlarged out of the above view

 

 

 

 

Form 1 for whoever left the barrow perpendicular to the tracks?

[The Stationmaster]

At the koent Nick this is about as bug as I can safely get enlarged out of the original scan.  I'm not sure if teh scanner can resolve any higher than 1200 dpi but I'll try to have a look tomorrow if n my chauffering duties although.

 

 

 

I do wonder whay the black hut was for by the Lamp Room and I wonder if it was for storing salt and/or sand for use on the platform ramps in icy weather?  Hence the presence of the incorrectly parked 4 wheeler barrowy.

 

The only 'boxes I visited in the Thames Valley were those at Reading - Main Line East, Main Line West, and West Junction officially plus West Goods unofficially.  I have got exterior photos - of varying quality - of all of them from Tilehurst to Moreton Cutting inclusive plus I think Didcot West End is in the edge of a signal photo I took there.  So, apart from some at Readng, no signal box interior photos in that part of the WR.

 

According to Vaughan's 'Heart of The Great Western' working Cholsey 'box was hard work as it involved a lot of walking the full length of the frame (there were running line signals at both ends of the frame, a 75 lever job).  Alas the frame predated, by many years, the application of work study techniques to signal box lever frame numbering on the WR.  But I do wonder if, as he often did, Vaughan was exaggerating as there were busier frames than Cholsey  which weren't much shorter laid out in exactly the same manner.

[Nick Gough]

Doesn't life get in the way sometimes?🤔

 

I haven't posted on this thread for a couple of months since various events have conspired to slow visible progress, on the layout, to a crawl.

 

Amongst these, back in July, I found out, from a blood test, that I have a high PSA level. This subsequently resulted in ten hospital visits (so far) for various tests, body scans, biopsy and consultations. I have been diagnosed with early prostate cancer, which doesn't appear to have spread. However, my PSA is quite high so I'm currently waiting a further scan, at Leicester, to confirm that there are no other problems.

 

It was unexpected but I'm not surprised since my father survived prostate cancer when he was in his 70s.

I've got no obvious symptoms and am carrying on my active lifestyle as normal. I can't say that I've been worried or upset at any point and feel positive.

 

I'm just looking forward to getting all the tests finished and a treatment plan set.

[Nick Gough]

Thanks for all the supportive responses to my last post.

 

On a lighter note - one thing I have been doing recently is attempting to recreate this bridge, on the Didcot side of the station:

 

Starting with a hole in the side of the trackbed:

I started by adding the lower, brick sections from embossed plasticard.

 

Then added the arch ring (Silhouette) and upper brick portion:

 

Wing walls, attached to 5mm ply sections:

 

The steel girder parapet is mounted outward from the brick face of the arch:

With the pilasters on and behind the wing walls.

 

The girder is made up from plastikard:

 

With webbing and 'stiffeners' added:

[Nick Gough]

Next the pilasters, from 3mm MDF:

 

Plastikard added:

 

And loosely in place:

 

On the real bridge the wing walls end in low, curved walls, opening out towards the junction with the adjacent road that runs alongside the railway:

 

I have tried to replicate these:

Though it was difficult to establish how curved these parts should be, since they don't shew up on the 25" OS maps or any drawings I have found.

 

I have used part of a common household item to support the curves:

 

From trackside the bridge looks like this:

(taken from the station platform)

 

Since I don't have a drawing of this side of the bridge (and it would be foolhardy/illegal  to climb all over it with a tape measure) I have estimated most of the dimensions from photos and counting bricks.

 

Still a bit to do and painting of course.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Nick Gough

[MrWolf]

I do like a bit of miniature civil engineering, especially when it's done with as much attention to detail as everything else. It very often gets skipped over and to me that stands out a mile. I've always taken an interest in such things, probably because by the time I came along, bits of architecture was all that was left in many places.