cheshepe Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Hello folks. This new code 55 layout in N will be my first based on a real location to be modelled alone. Those that know me will know my micro layouts Seavert Road (modern DRS) and Hartley (preserved anything goes) that we run with the N Gauge Society northern mini stand. I was happy with my scenic work on Hartley but feel that it is time to start a more challenging layout. I have tended the gardens on Green Road for over 30 years and was awarded an MBE for my services to the railway in 2010. I have longed to model Green Road with its goods yard and sidings for a long time. I have my good friend Philip Tuer from the Cumbrian Railways Association for giving me the "kick up the pants" that I needed to get me started on some serious modelling by providing me with much research material at this weekends Millom Model Railway Exhibition. I shall start this thread by adding some of the results of our research then follow up with the base board design and construction. My great pal and colleague on the mini stand, John Bennett, will assist with the joinery aspects because I am bloody useless at it! Green Road still exists today and is situated on the picturesque Cumbrian Coast Line between Barrow in Furness and our home town Millom. These days it is simply a double track main line with Northern Rail class 156 and 153 services between Barrow and Carlisle. Philip's photographs show that Green Road had a Goods Shed, weigh bridge & goods office, cattle dock and crane along with three sidings and a head shunt. There was a small signal box, level crossing and brick buildings on each platform. A stationmaster's house was situated on the down line near to the crossing. All of the buildings apart from the 1946 built new station are sand stone and built by the Whitehaven and Furness Junction Railway prior to handing over to the Furness Railway then the LMS at grouping. An unusual feature was a gas making plant in the goods yard which gave Green Road gas lighting before many main line UK stations. Its rural location however meant that it was one of the last to receive electricity! I intend to model Green Road in the late fifties / early sixties so that steam along with early diesels and multiple units can be run. My main interest is the building and scenic side. However I have also been offered copies of the working appendix at the show last weekend meaning that we will be able to run a realistic time table for both main line and the goods depot. It all sounds very good but I will start out with some trepidation as I have never built a real location before. I will not start work until I have all of the relevant information and have planned the boards, means of lighting, scenic breaks at each end etc, so please bare with me whilst I get started. Constructive criticism will be welcome especially from those with vast modelling experience such as Grahame Hedges, Ray Slack etc. Serious illness may mean that I cannot update or model as often as I / you would like, so please allow for this. Permission will also have to be sought prior to posting research materials and photos. Thanks for reading. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheshepe Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 Mickey thanks for reply, most of the folks around here do not know that such facilities existed at Green Road. These days it is just a small rural halt, but at least we still have the 1946 station buildings and a nice garden, of course. I knew that the station had a yard crane and once had a gas making plant along with a station master's house but no one has ever mentioned a goods shed. The photographs only came to light last week and now I have also been advised of all the planning documents etc which are in the local records office. I will be picking copies of these documents up next Monday, then I shall start posting further details and begin baseboard design. Really looking forward to building a real location at last. I just hope that I can do it justice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwinewt Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 I am going to be very interested to see this - might be a good base for a fictional one as well... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 Hello, I have just seen your 2012 post on Green Road (!).As it happens, I am aiming to model Green Road in EM but in Furness days, as part of a larger layout centred around Foxfield.Your post told me lots of things I did not know, such as the gas plant.Is there any chance of seeing any of the photos you have? The only ones I have seen are in the late Alan Atkinson's book "Millom" and the few photos the CRA have.Further, I was unaware of the existence of any plans and would love to have site of them;my interest is in the pre-brick buildings.Meanwhile, I wish you every success with your project, Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 I mean "sight" of course , not "site"! What a howler! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheshepe Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 Paul, sorry for not replying sooner. I have been rather involved trying to keep our club at Millom going, as we are losing our clubrooms. Thankfully it looks as though we have a potential new home! I have also been busy with our local hospital radio installing a new studio and presenting two shows a week. Phil Tuer has given me your details and I will send you copies of all the photos of Green Road that I have to date. I have not yet followed up on the list of documents but will be working on that this winter. My aim is to build an N Gauge model of Green Road and to write a book on the subjects, both the modelling and history of the station, for the CRA as they have been extremely helpful. I also bought Alan's book on Millom and thought that it was very good. It's so sad that he has gone as he planned a follow up. I understand from the planning documents that the 'new' brick buildings were not built until around 1948 but I will ensure that this is correct later this year. My photos show the goods shed from a distance along with the cattle dock but it is very distant and grainy. I do have a couple of good shots of the original wooden building which was built by the Whitehaven & Furness Junction Railway not the Furness but of course ownership changed hands when the Furness took over the line. It is wonderful that you plan to model the earlier period and we would dearly love to show it at the Millom show, held every even year, once it is ready for exhibiting. Once I get have enough research material and get building I will post updated shots on this site. Good Luck and very best regards, Pete Chesher MBE Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 Pete, I have been away and have only just seen your post.I would be most grateful for any material that you have.In fact I went to Green Road station last wek on a wet and windy day. The signal box and stationmaster's house have both gone.I found the remains of the loading bay under some undergrowth and part of the crane as well.Goods shed and weighbridge, with its cabin, have also been swept away.The Hexham Courant had an appeal for information on Green Road station (I found it by chance) and a man replied who had been brought up in the old station master's house and whose father had been a signalman there. He stated that the brick buildings on the platforms had been built in 1945, Best wishes, Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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