Midland Railway Awnings

[ISW]

And more specifically those awnings at the original 1883 Burton-on-Trent station. I managed to find the 2-chain trackplan for the station, which gives me a basis on which to start. The platform is 60' wide, and the building are centrally located and are 20' wide.

 

 

I also found an aerial photograph of the station from which I can count the number of awning panels:

 

Now based on a photo I have on the platform I can see that there are support columns at 3-awning centres. Each awning is supported on a 3-section 'X' braced truss, as below:

 

On a L&Y railway awning, the truss panels are 7'6" long and there are 2-sections for each awning. That meant each awning was 15' long. So I drew these awning dimensions onto the 2-chain trackplan, but the number and placement of the awnings simply didn't line up with the photos I have.

 

Then I decided to try an X-braced section length of 5'4", giving an awning width of 16'. And lo, it all seems to fall into place. The position and number of awnings do line up with the aerial photo and the other photos I have of the platform.

 

To finish this off I would appreciate any help with the following information:

* Am I correct that the X-brace sections are 5'4" long?

* How far back are the support columns from the platform edge? On an L&Y railway that would be 7'6", but that doesn't seem right at Burton

* The awning glass seems to be made of glass panes of 2 different widths. Would these be 1'6" and 2'0" wide?

 

[Nick Holliday]

15 hours ago, ISW said:

And more specifically those awnings at the original 1883 Burton-on-Trent station. I managed to find the 2-chain trackplan for the station, which gives me a basis on which to start. The platform is 60' wide, and the building are centrally located and are 20' wide.

 

Now based on a photo I have on the platform I can see that there are support columns at 3-awning centres. Each awning is supported on a 3-section 'X' braced truss, as below:

 

Then I decided to try an X-braced section length of 5'4", giving an awning width of 16'. And lo, it all seems to fall into place. The position and number of awnings do line up with the aerial photo and the other photos I have of the platform.

 

To finish this off I would appreciate any help with the following information:

* Am I correct that the X-brace sections are 5'4" long?

* How far back are the support columns from the platform edge? On an L&Y railway that would be 7'6", but that doesn't seem right at Burton

* The awning glass seems to be made of glass panes of 2 different widths. Would these be 1'6" and 2'0" wide?

 

I've had a look at the OS map on the NLS site, and using the pretty accurate measurement tool I came up with a length of around 370 feet for the central block, and I counted 21 roof panels, and a similar assessment of the overall length of the canopy came up with a panel length of around 17' 3" ±3", which suggests the cross bracing is slightly longer than your figure, at 5' 9".

As for the support columns, there is a good photo in Midland Railway Architecture, which I have manipulated to see if I cold determine the distance of the support columns from the platform edge.

Based on the track gauge and allowing, I hope reasonably accurately, for the difference in height between the platform and the rail head, I have come up with 6' 9" from the centre of the column to the platform edge. Because the photo didn't show enough track directly in the position of the nearest column, I had to interpolate along the line of columns, in red, to the intersection point, blue line. The yellow boxes are for scaling the track gauge, and allowing for the distance of the platform edge from the centre of the track. This photo also appears in Railway in Burton, by H N Twells, ISBN 0 948131 00 4, which has very good coverage of Burton station, if you haven't seen it already.

In LMS Architecture there is a clear view of the end of the canopy, which suggest to me that the columns are spaced at 15' 6" centres across the platform, which means that they are inside the walls of the station buildings.

[John-Miles]

Have you had a look at the Midland Railway Society's web site. There is a search engine there and it gives you access to their Study Centre which contains around 50000 items relating to the Midland.

[ISW]

2 hours ago, John-Miles said:

Have you had a look at the Midland Railway Society's web site. There is a search engine there and it gives you access to their Study Centre which contains around 50000 items relating to the Midland.

John,

 

Yeah, I have tried the Midland Railway Society and the NRM archives but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of 'drawings' of the 1883 Burton-on-Trent station. Unfortunately, of course, the Midland Railway covered quite a large geographical area and the Birmingham to Derby Line doesn't get much coverage in the literature. I even went as far as buying 'A Pictorial Record of LMS Architecture' (by Anderson & Fox) which, although very thorough, still didn't provide any useful details.

 

I have managed to glean quite a few photos of the station from the interweb though.

 

[ISW]

9 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

I've had a look at the OS map on the NLS site, and using the pretty accurate measurement tool I came up with a length of around 370 feet for the central block, and I counted 21 roof panels, and a similar assessment of the overall length of the canopy came up with a panel length of around 17' 3" ±3", which suggests the cross bracing is slightly longer than your figure, at 5' 9".

As for the support columns, there is a good photo in Midland Railway Architecture, which I have manipulated to see if I cold determine the distance of the support columns from the platform edge.

Based on the track gauge and allowing, I hope reasonably accurately, for the difference in height between the platform and the rail head, I have come up with 6' 9" from the centre of the column to the platform edge. Because the photo didn't show enough track directly in the position of the nearest column, I had to interpolate along the line of columns, in red, to the intersection point, blue line. The yellow boxes are for scaling the track gauge, and allowing for the distance of the platform edge from the centre of the track. This photo also appears in Railway in Burton, by H N Twells, ISBN 0 948131 00 4, which has very good coverage of Burton station, if you haven't seen it already.

In LMS Architecture there is a clear view of the end of the canopy, which suggest to me that the columns are spaced at 15' 6" centres across the platform, which means that they are inside the walls of the station buildings.

Nick,

 

Thank you for taking the time to give such a researched reply. Based on my 2-chain trackplan (in the OP) that also scales a platform building length of ~370' as well. However, when I count up the number of canopies I get 23 not 21. If you look closely at the southern end of the building you'll notice a single chimney protruding through the canopy. Thus I count 2 more canopies. Also, the 2-chain trackplan shows the canopy outline (I'm assuming that's the extent of the shading) and there is only a short distance between the end of the building and the end of the bay platform. So 23x16' = 368'. Close enough? I am still a little concerned about this though.

 

I like your method of extracting dimensions from the photo, that's really useful. But you seem to have measured to the 'outside' of the column though. If you measure to the centreline of the column do you get 7'6"? I might also give your method a try if I can find a more 'square on' photo along the platform.

 

I have both the Railways in Burton, by H N Twells and LMS Architecture, plus I have The Leicester & Burton Branch Railway also by H.N.Twells, but I'm still struggling for information!

 

The view of the southern end of the canopy in LMS Architecture (Plate 155?) shows it where it has already 'narrowed'. The canopy is only 'full width' up the southern end of the building. You can see this on the 2-chain trackplan. I don't think there were actually any columns inside the building. In Railways of Burton there is the following photo of the partially demolished 1883 platform buildings, and there appear to be no such columns.

 

[Nick Holliday]

14 hours ago, ISW said:

Nick,

 

Thank you for taking the time to give such a researched reply. Based on my 2-chain trackplan (in the OP) that also scales a platform building length of ~370' as well. However, when I count up the number of canopies I get 23 not 21. If you look closely at the southern end of the building you'll notice a single chimney protruding through the canopy. Thus I count 2 more canopies. Also, the 2-chain trackplan shows the canopy outline (I'm assuming that's the extent of the shading) and there is only a short distance between the end of the building and the end of the bay platform. So 23x16' = 368'. Close enough? I am still a little concerned about this though.

 

I like your method of extracting dimensions from the photo, that's really useful. But you seem to have measured to the 'outside' of the column though. If you measure to the centreline of the column do you get 7'6"? I might also give your method a try if I can find a more 'square on' photo along the platform.

 

I have both the Railways in Burton, by H N Twells and LMS Architecture, plus I have The Leicester & Burton Branch Railway also by H.N.Twells, but I'm still struggling for information!

 

The view of the southern end of the canopy in LMS Architecture (Plate 155?) shows it where it has already 'narrowed'. The canopy is only 'full width' up the southern end of the building. You can see this on the 2-chain trackplan. I don't think there were actually any columns inside the building. In Railways of Burton there is the following photo of the partially demolished 1883 platform buildings, and there appear to be no such columns.

 

 

Ian

Glad to have provided a bit of grit to your oyster. 

That's a good point about the number of awning panels - I missed that last chimney pot, which threw my calculations out.

With regard to my estimation of the column position, I did attempt to measure to the centre line of the columns. As I tried to explain, the photo didn't show the track immediately in line with the nearest visible column, so I had to estimate where along the platform my cross section notionally was, which was about a quarter of the way towards the next column.  I couldn't go to the next column as the line of the building was that clear to confirm the 20' distance, so I drew a line along the centres of the column bases, and determined where the intersection point with the section occurred.  That photo of the half demolished buildings might just have enough info to be able to do a similar exercise, based on the remains of the columns just visible.

It is quite possible that there were no columns within the buildings, as the steel beams could be supported by the brickwork.  I had dismissed this at first because I couldn't see any substantial brickwork in the right places but the picture above certainly shows that would be structurally possible. It certainly looks as if there were cross walls within the building at most of the approx. 16' spacing required.

There are a lot of interesting aerial views of the station on the Britain From Above website, which give a clearer view of the awnings, such as this fifties view.

[ISW]

3 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

Ian

Glad to have provided a bit of grit to your oyster. 

That's a good point about the number of awning panels - I missed that last chimney pot, which threw my calculations out.

With regard to my estimation of the column position, I did attempt to measure to the centre line of the columns. As I tried to explain, the photo didn't show the track immediately in line with the nearest visible column, so I had to estimate where along the platform my cross section notionally was, which was about a quarter of the way towards the next column.  I couldn't go to the next column as the line of the building was that clear to confirm the 20' distance, so I drew a line along the centres of the column bases, and determined where the intersection point with the section occurred.  That photo of the half demolished buildings might just have enough info to be able to do a similar exercise, based on the remains of the columns just visible.

It is quite possible that there were no columns within the buildings, as the steel beams could be supported by the brickwork.  I had dismissed this at first because I couldn't see any substantial brickwork in the right places but the picture above certainly shows that would be structurally possible. It certainly looks as if there were cross walls within the building at most of the approx. 16' spacing required.

There are a lot of interesting aerial views of the station on the Britain From Above website, which give a clearer view of the awnings, such as this fifties view.

Nick,

 

Don't know about you, but my oyster is itching ... So, to try and get the 'grit' out I've taken the best 'square on ' photo I've found of Burton station platform and applied your magic drawing method. Here's the result:

 

As you can see, if we assume the platform to be 20' wide (as determined by the 2-chain trackplan) then the columns are 6'0" back from the edge of the platform. Sadly, you can't quite see both rails to use that as the reference.

 

The 14' seems to tie in to the canopy glass panes. There are 9-panes up to the column, so 14'/9 = 1.555... , which I take to be 1'6" plus a bit for the steel framework. The overhang of the canopy is 5-panes, so 5x1.555... = 7'9" meaning the canopy is 1'9" overhanging the platform edge, which does seem a little on the shy side, although the edging might push it to 2'0".

 

That aerial photo you included is not one I've seen before, although I do have some 'very' similar. I'll have to go back to their website and take another look.

 

What is really annoying is that I can't find any documents / books / drawings to corroborate the above calculations. Hopefully, someone will have that 'key' information and let me know!

 

[Nick Holliday]

4 hours ago, ISW said:

Nick,

 

Don't know about you, but my oyster is itching ... So, to try and get the 'grit' out I've taken the best 'square on ' photo I've found of Burton station platform and applied your magic drawing method. Here's the result:

As you can see, if we assume the platform to be 20' wide (as determined by the 2-chain trackplan) then the columns are 6'0" back from the edge of the platform. Sadly, you can't quite see both rails to use that as the reference.

 

The 14' seems to tie in to the canopy glass panes. There are 9-panes up to the column, so 14'/9 = 1.555... , which I take to be 1'6" plus a bit for the steel framework. The overhang of the canopy is 5-panes, so 5x1.555... = 7'9" meaning the canopy is 1'9" overhanging the platform edge, which does seem a little on the shy side, although the edging might push it to 2'0".

 

Glad I got you trying my method. What I would say is that you need to be careful to measure to the correct points, as the perspective can distort thing badly. In this case the columns align with the protruding brickwork, identifiable here by the down pipe. However, the overall impact is minor, just 3". But it does mean that the columns conform with the "regulatory" 6' clearance from any platform structure to the edge of the platform, although whether the station was built when such regulations might have been in force I cannot say.

I wouldn't get to constrained by the glass sizes, as I'm not sure standard panes would be delivered, with a lot of on-site cutting expected, and whilst you have allowed for the glazing bars, they are actually bearing upon the transverse beams, which seem to extend beyond the top of the wall to which we are measuring. Those transverse beams look suspiciously like others used on the Midland, for which there are drawings in the architecture book and that might give a clue as to the sizes, although there is no reason to assume that everything would be standardised.

What does puzzle me slightly is the way the column we are measuring to doesn't seem to line up with the nearest one, and it is of a different kind.  This might be down to the platform taper starting at this point, although the platform edge seems straight. Another worry is that I thought I might try using the loco buffer centres as a useful scaling device, since it did seem that the buffers were close in line to the column position, but when I tried that everything else failed to fit, and they somehow seem to scale out at around 5'3" centres, when they should be 5'8".