Unidentified location

[Blandford1969]

Hi all,

 

I have been trying to work out where the attached station is, i have not got a clue, has anyone got any ideas?

 

Many thanks in advance

 

Duncan

[eastwestdivide]

The clapboard is remeniscent of the south-east, and it looks like there were more tracks on the right. Not much to go on.

[Enterprisingwestern]

Scarborough to Whitby line?

[Guest stuartp]

The farm in the background certainly has something of that North Yorks Moors look. The buffer stops in the yard are quite distinctive too, I've seen similar on a thread on here but I'm not sure which one. NER design ?

[PhilJ W]

The crane in the goods yard is quite substantial and looks like a NE railway type.

[Southernman46]

The scenery and tree types suggest rolling chalk hills so darkest Kent / Sussex (Hawkhurst branch ??) or Hampshire / Wilts - plenty of single line branchs with extensive military sidings there.

 

The fencing in the foreground looks like SR cast concrete railings too

[Blandford1969]

Hi, thanks for the suggestions so far. A quick check shows its sadly not scarborough to Whitby, its interesting that it is falling into either North Eastern or South East.

 

I will check out the Hawkhurst Branch to see if any of the stations looked like that. Any other suggestions gladly taken.

 

Kind regards

 

Duncan

[Oldddudders]

Not the Hawkhurst Branch. All stations had a cladding and a platform awning missing here. Other candidates in that region are the K&ESR - but I can't think which station this would be; New Romney branch - no real info here; ditto the East Kent Light Railway.

 

Update : Rule out all my other suggestions. After quick checks here

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/sites.shtml which is Nick Catford's excellent closed stations site - no matches in style at all.

 

This leaves, in Kent, perhaps the Elham Valley line, which Nick C has yet to include, sadly.

[buffalo]

...

This leaves, in Kent, perhaps the Elham Valley line, which Nick C has yet to include, sadly.

 

A quick check through the Middleton Press 'Branch lines around Canterbury' volume drew a blank. All station buildings illustrated therein are at least a bit more substantial with gabled or hipped roofs.

 

Nick

[trisonic]

Sucking on my Holmesian pipe - the station looks East Anglian but the Farm doesn't. The trees in the far distance look bent over which suggests a coastal location (but then again it could be high moors).

Not much help.

 

Best, Pete.

[eastwestdivide]

From the original scan, can you post a better pic of this portion?

Is that a milepost in the right background? Could that give us a better clue to the company? And what's that on the platform half way down?

[Kenton]

To me, the notable feature not yet mentioned is the "light railway" appearance of the track with incomplete "no" ballast.

 

The building looks more Midland rather than southern (well to my eyes anyway).

 

The corrugated iron building at the far end of the platform is intriguing and the fact that access to the station may well have been unusual as the two siding tracks appear to run close to the back of the station.

 

Is the building to the right of the "farm" a goods shed?

 

I get the impression that the removed line was a passing loop with no platform could this be the end of the line rather than a through station. I think we are looking in the "up" direction.

 

... and no station name boards in sight ?

[Blandford1969]

Hi as requested ive scaned the smaller portion at 1200 dpi

 

Kind regards

 

Duncan

[jonny777]

To me, the notable feature not yet mentioned is the "light railway" appearance of the track with incomplete "no" ballast.

 

The building looks more Midland rather than southern (well to my eyes anyway).

 

The corrugated iron building at the far end of the platform is intriguing and the fact that access to the station may well have been unusual as the two siding tracks appear to run close to the back of the station.

 

Is the building to the right of the "farm" a goods shed?

 

I get the impression that the removed line was a passing loop with no platform could this be the end of the line rather than a through station. I think we are looking in the "up" direction.

 

... and no station name boards in sight ?

 

 

Yes, I was thinking that also, because it looks as though the telephone wires dont appear to go any further than the station. I know that it may just be that the detail of the scan is not good enough to pick them out, but I would have thought some evidence of them would have appeared on the extreme left of the photo.

[3 link]

Midhurst branch to Pulbrough one of the smaller Halts ?

[Oldddudders]

Midhurst branch to Pulbrough one of the smaller Halts ?

Don't think so. Have checked both the stations Petersfield to Midhurst, Rogate and Elsted, which had masonry structures, while wooden Petworth and Fittleworth (I have ancestors in the churchyard!) are/were respectively much more grand than this pic, and even Selham was a bit more ornate, plus the curved platform was concave, rather than convex, if you see what I mean. The stations Midhurst to Chichester were the gorgeous Myres country-house style a la the Bluebell.

 

Having the Middleton Press books really helps, so I've also checked the Horsham - Guildford route, and of course the Horsham - Shoreham route was double track and much more mainline than this looks ever to have been. I've also ruled out the Gravesend West St branch, Grain/Allhallows branch, but can't find much on the Sheppey light railway.

[LSWR]

My first impression on looking at the picture was Scottish Borders on some obscure NER or NBR branch line after the withdrawal of passenger services. I don't see anything remotely "Southern" about the place, FWIW.

[Anglian]

I don't know myself but in looking for clues I know different companies used different patterns of chairs for their rail – could somebody at least identify the chair type given they are large enough in the foreground to see properly and identify the company/region that way?

[DonB]

The track looks to be Bull-head rail in Rail-chairs with single bolt fixing inside and outside of the rail.

Does that help to narrow down the Rail Company / Region? The suggestion that the style of the buffer stops may be a help has not been taken up.

[R A Watson]

The first thing I looked at was the chairs to see if they were two or three bolt as two bolt would indicate G W practice but these appear to be standard three bolt S1 type, you can see the screw head on the outside of the nearest chair indicating chair screws being used these would not normally fit in G W two bolt chairs.

 

As a pointer to the non track experienced readers out there, the G W two bolt chairs were fixed by bolts pointing up through the sleeper with a nut screwed down on to the chair leaving a length of thread and the nut visible, this allowed the assembly to be periodically tightened for maintainance.

 

Continuing the possible G W point the construction of the building is similar; but on a smaller scale, to the "standard" G W wooden buildings, St Austell was one such which comes to mind. As some one else has pointed out the trees in the distance are wind influenced but the ones adjacent to the buildings are vertical and more substantial. Perhaps there is a ridge or hill top on the sky line and the line is in a depression?

 

The platform is certainly of low cost construction and the loop has been removed so I think this is not the terminal point on the line.The hand crane is reminiscent of the one that used to be at Buckfastleigh indicating that reasonably heavy loads were handled here but there is no sign of an end loading facility you would expect to find at an agricultural area goods yard.

 

Is this possibly in the higher parts of Gloucestershire or over the water in Wales?

 

Wally

[Andy Kirkham]

My first impression on looking at the picture was Scottish Borders on some obscure NER or NBR branch line after the withdrawal of passenger services. I don't see anything remotely "Southern" about the place, FWIW.

 

Absolutely. To me the last place this could be is the Southern (or the Western either). My first gut reaction was that it is ex-LNWR, perhaps somewhere connected with the Cromford & High Peak, although I haven't a shred of evidence.

 

Somewhere on the NER in Northumbria also seems plausible to me, but I'm really no expert in the North country.

 

Andy

[Nick Holliday]

Don't think so. Have checked both the stations Petersfield to Midhurst, Rogate and Elsted, which had masonry structures, while wooden Petworth and Fittleworth (I have ancestors in the churchyard!) are/were respectively much more grand than this pic, and even Selham was a bit more ornate, plus the curved platform was concave, rather than convex, if you see what I mean. The stations Midhurst to Chichester were the gorgeous Myres country-house style a la the Bluebell.

 

Having the Middleton Press books really helps, so I've also checked the Horsham - Guildford route, and of course the Horsham - Shoreham route was double track and much more mainline than this looks ever to have been. I've also ruled out the Gravesend West St branch, Grain/Allhallows branch, but can't find much on the Sheppey light railway.

Having built a model of Fittleworth I can confirm that this is nowhere on the Midhurst branch, and is definitely nowhere else on the LBSCR system. Neither is it on the Sheppey Light Railway, and I am pretty sure that it is not in the south at all.

I agree with LSWR and Andy that I believe it is somewhere in the Scottish borders, probably NBR, although I have little on which to base this. But I recall a number of NBR stations had timber buildings; the industrial-strength bufferstops look a bit like those at Cowlairs works; at least one double track branch (North Berwick) was singled in the 1920/30's and the trackbed looked similar; several stations had large structures at the end of the platform, signal boxs or goods lock-ups, and something similar is visible here, more noticeable in the enlargement.

Perhaps someone from the Caledonian area can come up with the answer.

[barrowroad]

Hi all,

 

I have been trying to work out where the attached station is, i have not got a clue, has anyone got any ideas?

 

Many thanks in advance

 

Duncan

 

Just a thought - Alsop-on-the -Dale on the Ashbourne to Parsley Hay Line.

[Leander]

Alsop... had a passing loop and wasn't on such a sharp curve. The roof is wrong for the style of wooden building used by the LNWR too.

[AberdeenBill]

Hi as requested ive scaned the smaller portion at 1200 dpi

 

Kind regards

 

Duncan

 

 

Hi Duncan,

 

Please could you provide a "blow up" of the farmhouse, too.

 

Thanks,

Bill