Burton-on-Trent Station Building

[ISW]

Having grown up in Burton-on-Trent it was only natural that I'd chose it as my inspiration for a model railway. Specifically, my layout covers the station itself and south through the Leicester Line Junction to the MPD. The layout is built on 2-Levels; and Upper Scenic Level and a Lower Storage Sidings Level. The 2-Levels are connected by a pair of Ramps, one a 2-Track Ramp and the other a 3-Track Ramp. I sight the layout  'Crewisle' as inspiration for the levels/ramps concept.

 

With the baseboards, track, electrics, and ballasting completed I commenced on constructing some buildings. The first two were signalboxes using the Ratio / Peco Midland Signalbox kit, with the latter being a double-sized version using two complete kits. I then moved onto an MPD refuelling building (standard BR 2-Track type) scratch built from cardboard and paper.

 

It was the next building that is the subject of this Posting, Burton-on-Trent station, the old 1883 Midland Railway version demolished in 1971. After a lot of internet searching and purchase of a number of books (many by H.N.Twells, to whom I'm really thankful and @Din who provided a number of very useful photos) I was able to get a 'reasonable' idea of the station Plan and design. For those of you who have never seen the 1883 station, here is the only colour photo I could find:

 

It really was a magnificent building and it's a real pity it was not saved. Totally unsuited to the BR of the 1970s and way oversized for the traffic back then. The overall size can be appreciated from above:

 

It is this station building I'm attempting to build for my layout. Obviously, I had to make some compromises as it is way too long to fit in the railway room. I therefore 'compressed' the Platform Building from 23-canopies long to just 9-canopies. However, for the Overbridge Building (and Booking Hall) I have space to include the full size with the exception of reducing the Gallery (at the rear of the Booking Hall) to 1-Panel from 2-Panels.

 

After a lot of studying old photos and examination of the 2-Chain Plan Drawing I was able to draw up 'my' design drawing of the station I plan to use on my layout.

 

Platform Building:

 

Overbridge Building:

 

My main 'construction materials' are cereal packet cardboard (mostly Morrisons Mighty Malties ...), paper and clear PVA glue. The 'major equipment' on site comprises an inkjet printer (Epson ET-3850) and a Cricut cutter (Cricut Explore Air), with the 'small tools' of craft knife and steel ruler.

 

To date the contractor (me) has completed the Platform Building, although the doors are still missing:

 

Work is currently progressing on the Overbridge Building, where the walls are being built one-by-one.

 

You can see more photos of the actual construction starting at: 

 

 

Ian

[ISW]

[deleted]

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by ISW
posted in error

[Din]

You've done a stunning job, and certainly able to find more photos than my own current slow project. I only had a few photographs of the station building at Woodville Goods Yard, and my friend and I had to be very speculative with some window placements and a few other things!

[ISW]

4 hours ago, Din said:

and my friend and I had to be very speculative with some window placements and a few other things!

 

Same here. My design of the Gallery Wall is part photo, part 'interpretation' due to an absence of photos. I tried really hard with the Booking Hall, despite only having 3 photos, 1 of which was part of the roof ...

 

In such circumstances, all we can do is model in the 'spirit' of the available information and ensure that, as a whole, it follows what would be expected of such a building.

 

Ian