Wadebridge Station (NCR)

[2ManySpams]

Evening all, here's something for you to ponder.

 

What if.....

 

The NCR never extended beyond Wadebridge to Padstow and Wadebridge remained a terminus. The planned upgrade of the line through Ruthern Bridge and on towards Newquay (can't currently place my hand on the reference I'm after) had gone ahead making the Wadebridge - Bodmin line more important. Wadebridge had outgrown it's location and a new station had been built to the west of the road bridge / level crossing on land beyond that occupied by warehouses.

 

What would the station plan, a junction terminus, have looked like?

 

Contemplated answers on a postcard please.

[Stubby47]

As there would presumably fish traffic (from Padstow fleet), plus holiday maker traffic (as the GWR were such big exponents, I'm sure the LSWR would have at least tried to copy that with their route to Newquay), not to mention the yearly Royal Cornwall Show, then the plan might have been similar to Bodmin General, but with maybe two platform lines, each with their own release cross-over, either side of a central platform, with further sidings on the River Camel side for fish and the other side for local traffic & a goods shed.

 

There would probably be some sort of loco facilities too, maybe not in the immediate area but perhaps in the V of the junction.

 

Stu

[2ManySpams]

Mmmm, I was thinking the shed could probably have stayed put in the 'real' location. I wonder if there would have been a greater call for carriage storage than at the prototype Wadebridge. Can you see where these thoughts are taking me?....something to put in a 17' x 13' space.....fiddle(s) to terminus style.

[2ManySpams]

Of course moving the station to the west of the road bridge means a better rail access to the more navigable side of the river.

[The Stationmaster]

...and the station buildings would have been rebuilt in the 1930s in the latest SR style along with some additional carriage sidings, a revised (enlarged) track layout and a new signalbox ...

(I'll get my hat and coat and retreat southwards after chucking that little lot in the pond)

[2ManySpams]

And would the station buildings have been the more typical NCR design (like Padstow, Tresmere etc) or like the less common single storey design (real Wadebridge and Launceston)??

[2ManySpams]

...and the station buildings would have been rebuilt in the 1930s in the latest SR style along with some additional carriage sidings, a revised (enlarged) track layout and a new signalbox ...

(I'll get my hat and coat and retreat southwards after chucking that little lot in the pond)

 

Crossed post but that could have been an option... a Seaton / Exmouth style concrete effort. No need for hat or coat on this occasion!

 

You'll probably guess I'm looking to do something new based on the NCR, 'different' from the normal, but still believable. "Trevanson Street"?

[Oldddudders]

If LSWR had been serious about going to Newquay, I do not think they'd have cheerfully saddled themselves with their own version of Bodmin General at Wadebridge! Bounceback stations add a lot of time to a journey, and the GWR would have been miles quicker to Newquay, so I think things might have been quite different, actually. Now don't let that stop you, Chris!

 

[Chris - Your PM on another subject may get an answer later if I can talk to Deb in hospital!]

[Gwiwer]

"What if" always gives us something of a blank canvas upon which to paint our imaginary scenes.

 

Had Wadebridge required a larger terminus it would have been a pretty sizeable affair. The station already had several platforms and direct access to the loco shed and sidings. If it was going to be larger and over the road (which is actually north of the site used rather than west) then perhaps it would have had four main platform faces and a couple of parcel / freight docks of which at least one would have had direct access to wharves on the Camel. With the volume of movements a station of this size would generate keeping the loco depot on the south side of the level crossing would have caused significant inconvenience so maybe that needs to be north of the road also and to the west side of the imagined station, with sufficient a headshunt for access and egress without requiring the crossing to be closed to road traffic.

 

What style of architecture would we be looking at? The NCR was quite modest so we need to consider at what time the station outgrew the original site. In SR days I suspect there would have been significant input from Exmouth Junction concrete works though perhaps with the majority of the platforms built from local stone along with the major buildings. There would have been plenty of cheap building stone at the time from local quarries and roofing slate would have come from Delabole and probably by rail.

 

For such a major station - which might even have approached Plymouth's Friary for size though not perhaps importance - the SR would no doubt have felt it necessary to incorporate some carriage sidings as well as the goods yard.

[Stubby47]

If LSWR had been serious about going to Newquay, I do not think they'd have cheerfully saddled themselves with their own version of Bodmin General at Wadebridge! Bounceback stations add a lot of time to a journey, and the GWR would have been miles quicker to Newquay, so I think things might have been quite different, actually. Now don't let that stop you, Chris!

 

[Chris - Your PM on another subject may get an answer later if I can talk to Deb in hospital!]

 

Maybe not - but there might have been a triangle outside the station (as there was at Newquay itself), which would allow trains a direct line to Newquay, plus removing the need for a turntable.

[The Stationmaster]

Maybe not - but there might have been a triangle outside the station (as there was at Newquay itself), which would allow trains a direct line to Newquay, plus removing the need for a turntable.

 

Well if Chris (2Manyspams) and his mates get round to building it they will probably all have started calling it a 'wye' instead of a triangle by then but at least they'll have sussed the wiring

[Oldddudders]

For DCC users, wiring a triangle/wye/balloon loop is easy - just use an autoreverse module, which reverses the polarity in the blink of an eye automatically.

[RedgateModels]

Mmmm, I was thinking the shed could probably have stayed put in the 'real' location. I wonder if there would have been a greater call for carriage storage than at the prototype Wadebridge. Can you see where these thoughts are taking me?....something to put in a 17' x 13' space.....fiddle(s) to terminus style.

 

Oh, I thought you were just designing what the B&W will be doing soon ......

[2ManySpams]

If LSWR had been serious about going to Newquay, I do not think they'd have cheerfully saddled themselves with their own version of Bodmin General at Wadebridge! Bounceback stations add a lot of time to a journey, and the GWR would have been miles quicker to Newquay, so I think things might have been quite different, actually. Now don't let that stop you, Chris!

 

[Chris - Your PM on another subject may get an answer later if I can talk to Deb in hospital!]

 

Spoil sport! Mind you since when has historical growth of infrastructure over time been well thought out or logical?

[Kris]

Maybe not - but there might have been a triangle outside the station

 

If the were going to build a triangle they might have relocated the station to be on the main running lines to Newquay possibly abandoning the town station except for freight, and possible a limited branch service.

 

 

 

[2ManySpams]

out of interest has anyone ever stumbled on the proposed route of the Wadebridge to Newquay line?

[Kris]

out of interest has anyone ever stumbled on the proposed route of the Wadebridge to Newquay line?

 

I remember seeing a broad outline map of it somewhere, but off the top of my head I could not tell you where I saw it.

[2ManySpams]

mmmm, that's the problem i have. Seen it somewhere but can't remember where....

[TheSignalEngineer]

mmmm, that's the problem i have. Seen it somewhere but can't remember where....

I was researching this for a possible Joint Line project myself, possibly based on an interchange at Indian Queens or a double terminus at Truro Newham.

I have a couple of references at home which give some route descriptions as included in various Acts, but not maps. I will post extracts later.

 

 

[2ManySpams]

I was researching this for a possible Joint Line project myself, possibly based on an interchange at Indian Queens or a double terminus at Truro Newham.

I have a couple of references at home which give some route descriptions as included in various Acts, but not maps. I will post extracts later.

 

Fantastic. Thank you. i thought I remembered Indian Queens as being on the route.

[2ManySpams]

"What if" always gives us something of a blank canvas upon which to paint our imaginary scenes.

 

Had Wadebridge required a larger terminus it would have been a pretty sizeable affair. The station already had several platforms and direct access to the loco shed and sidings. If it was going to be larger and over the road (which is actually north of the site used rather than west) then perhaps it would have had four main platform faces and a couple of parcel / freight docks of which at least one would have had direct access to wharves on the Camel. With the volume of movements a station of this size would generate keeping the loco depot on the south side of the level crossing would have caused significant inconvenience so maybe that needs to be north of the road also and to the west side of the imagined station, with sufficient a headshunt for access and egress without requiring the crossing to be closed to road traffic.

 

What style of architecture would we be looking at? The NCR was quite modest so we need to consider at what time the station outgrew the original site. In SR days I suspect there would have been significant input from Exmouth Junction concrete works though perhaps with the majority of the platforms built from local stone along with the major buildings. There would have been plenty of cheap building stone at the time from local quarries and roofing slate would have come from Delabole and probably by rail.

 

For such a major station - which might even have approached Plymouth's Friary for size though not perhaps importance - the SR would no doubt have felt it necessary to incorporate some carriage sidings as well as the goods yard.

 

Food for thought there. Funny in my mind's eye I have the river in Wadebridge going East-West but, having looked again at a proper map, as you say it has more than a strong hint of North - South in this location.

 

Definitely take your point about the frequent disturbance to road users of the Molesworth Street level Xing. That area is one of my favourite cameos of the real Wadebridge, what with the footbridge, signal box, parallel running road and railway line (now Eddystone Rd) and the fish shop on the corner. Another issue is that the station being further North North-West is that the approach over the crossing and along what is now Eddystone Rd would probably have to be double track. This would do away with the parallel running road. I'll have to look at period plans with my highway/civil engineer's head on and see what sort of solution might have been come up with had the problem been faced for real.

 

Mind you, it's becoming an interesting 'what if' the more you at the pretend detail!

[TheSignalEngineer]

Fantastic. Thank you. i thought I remembered Indian Queens as being on the route.

Not sure of the source, as it is a photocopy of a book page, but the route is listed as Ruthern Bridge, passing north of Withiel and St Wenn, a station half a mile NE of St Columb, passing under the Newquay line at Halewoon - I think this would be at St Columb Road (Halloon Farm, by A 392 roundabout?) - with a connection to the Newquay line there. It then passes west of Indian Queens, south of St Enoder, north of St Michael, and down the Kenwyn Valley through Idless and under Kenwyn by St Mary's burial ground then across the valley to Truro Station.

 

This document, Abortive Railway Projects, also makes reference to various aborted lines including the Central Cornwall Railway, which is the one you are after, the CMR/B&W from Ruthern Bridge to Roche, and the B&W Wenford Bridge to Delabole Quarry line.

[Gwiwer]

Halewoon

 

Halewoon (which translated from Cornish means "The level marsh" and is suitably apt for the location) is pronounced and sometimes written "Halloon" and is rendered as such on the modern road signs at "Halloon" roundabout as you say. Place names in Cornwall seldom have standardised spellings going back more than 100 years or so since the Cornish language from which many evolved was almost never written. When "Saxonage" (English) filtered into the Duchy the place names heard from locals were transliterated phonetically into that language resulting in some curious spellings and variations to this day.

 

As another example "Marghas Yow" (meaning Thursday market) became what we now know as "Marazion" and the main street of Penzance which leads towards it is "Market Jew Street" from the same origin.

 

Any line from Ruthern Bridge towards Newquay would need to negotiate a substantial ridge of high land upon which Withiel and St. Wenn sit. The topography would be quite challenging to engineer a railway through but given the feats in other parts of Cornwall very far from impossible.

[Peter Bedding]

Evening all, here's something for you to ponder.

 

What if.....

 

The NCR never extended beyond Wadebridge to Padstow and Wadebridge remained a terminus. The planned upgrade of the line through Ruthern Bridge and on towards Newquay (can't currently place my hand on the reference I'm after) had gone ahead making the Wadebridge - Bodmin line more important. Wadebridge had outgrown it's location and a new station had been built to the west of the road bridge / level crossing on land beyond that occupied by warehouses.

 

What would the station plan, a junction terminus, have looked like?

 

Contemplated answers on a postcard please.

 

An interesting might-have-been. As already indicated, the date of this "improvement" would very much influence the station design. I would suggest that the best precedents would be post-grouping, and that the Southern would select Art Deco architecture in preference to anything pre-grouping or vernacular. Which in turn would lead me to either Seaton or Exmouth stations for inspiraton. Exmouth, with its two separate single track routes opening up to four platform roads should satisfy the most ambitious, and there's the added bonus of the harbour freight line. Also, of course, both Ilfracombe and Okehampton station buildings were Southern to the very core.

 

But if a pre-grouping setting is considered essential, then Bude might tick a few boxes.

 

One more point; it all helps further develop the strong market for 4mm ex-LSW infrastructure and rolling stock. Perhaps some 4mm panelled coaches?

 

PB

[2ManySpams]

Not sure of the source, as it is a photocopy of a book page, but the route is listed as Ruthern Bridge, passing north of Withiel and St Wenn, a station half a mile NE of St Columb, passing under the Newquay line at Halewoon - I think this would be at St Columb Road (Halloon Farm, by A 392 roundabout?) - with a connection to the Newquay line there. It then passes west of Indian Queens, south of St Enoder, north of St Michael, and down the Kenwyn Valley through Idless and under Kenwyn by St Mary's burial ground then across the valley to Truro Station.

 

This document, Abortive Railway Projects, also makes reference to various aborted lines including the Central Cornwall Railway, which is the one you are after, the CMR/B&W from Ruthern Bridge to Roche, and the B&W Wenford Bridge to Delabole Quarry line.

 

Good grief that's a substantial doc! I'm sure many others would be interested in the contents. Worth a thread in its own right? Looking forward to reading the Cornish bits with interest. Many thanks.