Would you ever model your local station?

[LNWR lives on]

Not quite my local station as that would be Colwyn Bay, but Bangor just up the coast is well into the planning stage

[zarniwhoop]

Missed this thread until now. My local station is Portslade & West Hove : http://en.wikipedia....rtslade_station - I'm hoping to eventually model Southern Electrics for the West Coastway (on a roundy-round layout), so I would love to do this. Unfortunately, there are certain difficulties: to the East of the station, there is a brick overbridge which could reasonably be put on the first part of a gentle curve, and brought nearer to the station. But then there are the platforms: 'up' was extended to take a 12-coach EMU, so it needs about 12 feet in 'OO'. Followed by a level crossing, and then (in the years which interest me) a substation, signal box, goods yard with shed, and run-around loop(s). The land falls away beyond the level crossing, which means the track is on an embankment : very interesting, but even a condensed version is going to be more than 20ft of scenic length (in old money), and the next natural "scenic break" to the West is probably the road overbridge at East Worthing - something in the order of 9 miles!

 

So no, I might come up with a layout loosely based on this (e.g. assuming the station had been build in the 1860s, instead of the 1840s with a circa 1900 rebuild, and that the goods yard had been ripped out, e.g. on electrification in 1933, but the only thing that approached the prototype would be the train services. /me sighs : to get semi-realistic train services in the 1960s and 1970s requires six or more trains in each direction (mostly EMUs - they're like buses, the two-digit headcode shows the service, and by the late 1960s there ought to be a variety of types on some of the services - in the mid 60s everything was green, but there would be DEMUs to Horsham and a Brighton-Plymouth service to include).

 

Those who can model *a* real station in a way which lets you run the trains which interest you, please do so. Some of us have no hope of doing this and will need to concentrate on the operational things which interest up,e.g. assembling a large number of EMUs, with the correct headcodes,, and then sitting back and watching the trains go by Each to his/her own.

 

ĸen

[ullypug]

Yup and I did.

Weston-super-Mare WC&PR is the closest.

It was a very enjoyable exercise in research, given the station and line closed in 1940.

I've often thought the other Weston stations would make good models.

Weston General/Locking Road would be a bit on the large side though.

Weston's original Broad Gauge terminus would be doable though.

 

I must admit that I have a leaning to the local area for modelling prototypes. Clevedon's my present project, being only 9 miles up the coast and after that, well...

[tender]

Not quite my local station as that would be Colwyn Bay, but Bangor just up the coast is well into the planning stage

My local station is Bangor but worked out we would need a bigger house to get it in. Tunnel to tunnel is about 7m in 4mm scale.

[worzel]

Yes I'm modelling my local station Windsor & Eton Central in oo in my loft and I live about 300yards away however i am modelling it in the period 1958-63 when it still had 4 platforms & a large goods yard not the truncated siding it is today fortunatly all of the original station buildings exist ( it's now a shopping mall) so when i get that far creating them will be easier might be a while though as it's taken me nearly 3 years to build the baseboards and lay & wire the 18 road fiddle yard which lives underneath the station itself but after christmas I will finally be "above ground " when I've got something to show Ill start posting on here ( in the layouts part )

[flapland]

My local station is Gospel Oak on the North London Line. Would love to have the funds and space to model a 1km radius of the station around 1962. This would bring in the Barking line with its connection into the Midland Main line just east of the site of Haverstock Hill Station, Kentish Town Shed and Kentish Town West station on its brick viaduct.

 

Sadly I don't have either the funds, the space or the skills.

[alfsboy]

I was always interested in Fairlop station in LNER or even GER days .Its on an embankment so not easy to model .In LNER days my mother used to commute to london and the locomotive stopped on the road bridge and the driver could see if she and others were running for the train and would wait .I dont live there now .

[2A-Rail]

Whilst my local station (Rugby Midland) is far to big for me to model decently, I have looked into the Locomotive Testing Station. Would give me an excuse to have a layout which is essentially a rolling road, along with ex-works condition locomotives and generally a small layout in size.

 

Putting it like that actually, it sounds quite a good idea for an exhibition layout.

 

Johnny

[Chris g]

As a youngster my local station was Flint, (Fflint in welsh), although for operations this would be a bit boring, I would love to model the station building and signal box.

 

The other station would be Chester as I was nearly home, (too big and too complex for me to model).

 

Finally, Bournemouth station where I spent many happy early morning hours, (not !!!), waiting for the train to Southamton or London, arriving back much later the same day.

 

 

Perhaps I'll transplant Bornemouth to North Wales or the other way around for better weather !!!

 

Sounds like a plan.

[Anglian]

I've always liked the idea of paying homage to your locality and of course being able to nip out a check details but growing up in the Cambridge area nothing appealed to me and now I'm back here I have to say I still don't find the ER gets me excited. I've looked at lots of possibles but none have done it for me. When I lived in Kent I moved about a bit and there were some more appealing local stations. 

 

An alternative history could have placed a second station in Cambridge that would have been an LNWR terminus but the University quickly stamped that idea out as it was too close to the city centre. That might make an interesting and attractive model.

[Gruffalo]

Whilst my local station (Rugby Midland) is far to big for me to model decently, I have looked into the Locomotive Testing Station. Would give me an excuse to have a layout which is essentially a rolling road, along with ex-works condition locomotives and generally a small layout in size.

 

Putting it like that actually, it sounds quite a good idea for an exhibition layout.

 

Johnny

That's my local too. In line with this thread, I would have to upsize to accommodate it and at my age, that is the wrong way to go!

[tomparryharry]

I used to live in Pontypridd....

 

7 platform faces, up & down relief lines, cattle docks, colliery trailing junction, Newport (PC&N) Junction, and Rhondda Junction. Not to mention 2 viaducts. 85% coal traffic....

 

I think I would be scared to do it justice.

 

Regards,

Ian

[Dick Turpin]

I’m glad that this thread has re-surfaced. I have considered the possibility of modelling my local, Northallerton from time to time. Interesting location, with the line from Ripon and Harrogate meeting up with the ECML, and branches to Wensleydale and Middlesbrough radiating off. There are interesting features like the staggered platforms and dive under enabling access to and from the Teesside route without having to cross the main line. It would make a lovely 1930s or transition era model before the Wensleydale line fell out of use past Redmire and the Harrogate line was closed (how short sighted was that!).

 

I haven’t found too many books with pictures, but Northallerton Ripon & Wensleydale by Stephen Chapman is very good. It would make a pretty large layout probably best suited to a club but with such operating possibilities. In BR days one even get away with running locos from other regions on running-in turns (like BR Standard 5s in green for example) fresh from Darlington works before their return home.

[Pete 75C]

Although a beautiful part of the world, if I modelled my local station, operating interest might be a little limited...

 

 

I'd be more tempted to model the NNR station across the road, but I've never been totally fascinated by it. Familiarity breeds comtempt, maybe?

[ForestPines]

My local station would make a good large GWR model: four tracks, a typical covered footbridge, and a fair amount of goods yard separated from the passenger station by a pair of viaducts, stone for the relief lines and girders for the mains. In the modern period it still gets a good variety of traffic: various combinations of 15x units,two HST liveries, and a few different freight flows from 3 or 4 operators, but the layout is much simpler andthe local freight has disappeared.

[7APT7]

Hi All

 

I would do Wolverhampton, it as a branch line at the one end, but i think it would be very lond 10-12M in length possibly a bit more... would make great station, and if you included The Old Low Level Station which is no longer there it to would make a great layout.

 

Jamie

['CHARD]

APOLLO's post I find very thought-provoking, not just in the context of 'would you model your local station,' but the whole issue of modelling the present day.

 

Why do I say this?  Because to do 2013 convincingly, and Sheringham reinforces it, you basically have to be a consummate modeller of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or tropical rainforest.  To capture the neglected urban grot so beloved of sections of our hobby, you need to portray rosebay willow herb and a host of other weeds convincingly, as they have colonised the railway side of the fence and in some cases the cess and four foot.  

 

In my personal opinion, this has occurred to the absolute detriment of the railway's appearance.  Instead of an inviolable system imbued with almost militaristic overtones of sharpness and cleanliness, the railway is now subsumed into one giant 0rgy of organic greenery.  Not forgetting the crowning glory - embellishment of a pallisade fence.

 

Yes, I realise weedkiller is a no-no, that tidiness has a cost of sorts, and steam's cinders kept embankments down with stubble burning.  But I don't find the end product aesthetically rewarding, to me it's unkempt.  Sorry for being OT a bit - couldn't sleep!

[SM42]

Hmmm

It would be nice to model my local or locals if you can include all the places I've lived or worked. Mind you I would also like to have the space and more importantly the time too.

The list would be (all in 4mm of course) :

 

Kidderminster: (current local ) Late 70s / early 80s with the goods yard. Need about 72' in 4mm. Could just do the shed on the Bewdley branch though, but would still need a lot of room

Stoke on Trent: (My student days) Late 80s / 1991 at the latest. Not too sure about this one. Nice station roof, too much OLE knitting for my liking but would be a challenge. Does have the attraction of 20s on MGR workings

Stone; (My first job and brief place of residence)  Early 90s, This would be a nice one to do. A nice sadly missed signalbox and North Staffs style station building. Mind you still got the knitting to contend with .

Hartlebury: (2nd job and still quite local) Mid - late 70s with yard and junction for Stourport branch. Again would need a rather large space. Nice signalboxes, simple station building plus level crossing and footbridge

Blakedown: (Also 2nd job and localish) Early - Mid 90s:  bit boring this one but could be a nice watch trains go by layout and fairly simple scenery wise; nice signabox, level crossing, some old railway houses and bus shelters

Birmingham New St or Moor St: (current job) Can't see why anyone would try to model  these. Oh hang on, someone has

 

So to answer the question. Yes I would model my (current)  local but I fear that I should have started 20 years ago and been a professional footballer to be able to afford somwhere to keep it.

Maybe the smaller places could have merit though. Certainly food for thought.

 

Andy

[Geoff Endacott]

Going back to my student days for my local station would prove something of a modelling challenege - it was Euston!

 

Geoff Endacott

[Karhedron]

Going back to my student days for my local station would prove something of a modelling challenege - it was Euston!

A UCL lad?

[Geoff Endacott]

A UCL lad?

 

How did you guess?

 

Geoff Endacott

[Karhedron]

A UCL lad?

How did you guess?

It takes one to know one.

[SM42]

Perhaps you could just do a little bit of Euston.

 

Kings Cross Thameslink could be a possible too, a lot simpler!

 

Andy

[Hector Lawn]

Well, first let me state that I am currently living in rural New South Wales, Australia but I have no interest in the Australian railway system and I am only fascinated by the UK rail system and its history. Therefore, for the purposes of this exercise I will term ‘local’ to mean my last place of residence in the UK which was South of Northampton.

 

Historically, my immediate local station would have been one located in the middle of Salcey Forest on the SMJR. This was a single line station with one small goods siding. However, traffic was very light, especially passenger traffic where there were only four trains per day, and this service only lasted for 4 months. If I model this station it would be so quiet that it would be more of a diorama most of the time than a working model railway!

 

Looking further afield, I could model any of the three stations that existed in Northampton itself, with either Northampton Bridge Street or Northampton Castle looking attractive operationally, especially Northampton Castle if I were to model it assuming the line to Market Harborough was still open. Or, if I want to go back in history a bit further, Northampton St John’s, a terminus of the Bedford to Northampton line that existed between 1872 and 1939 could also be modelled.

 

Recently though my attention has been focused on Blisworth, a former station on the West Coast Main Line and a terminus of the SMJR, as a future project. With a link also to Northampton and the Peterborough line, this looks a very promising proposition and I already have a full map and some images of the station on which to base a future model! As it is, I am already in the throes of modelling Charwelton, my most local GCR station if that counts. So yes, I would definitely model my local station (or station(s))!

 

Hector

[gwrman]

Hi last year I built a small terminus local to me to show in the Hayle Show, after I found out the branch line is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2013 with a steam special go down it.

Nigel 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/63931-falmouth-docks-station/?hl=%2Bfalmouth+%2Bdock