Ross on Wye Station and area

[Mallard60022]

Every time I go to Ross I get another little piece of the 'jigsaw' of the old railway and station site almost in place. However, there are huge gaps.

I have seen some info in the lovely local museum and I have some pics from an old issue of Steam Days. I've also looked at some info on the web.

What I'd really like is to get a flavour of the area in the late 50s/early 60s.

Many thanks,

P @ 36E

[jonas]

The station building at Kiddeminster  on the SVR is based on Ross, I believe.

[Nick Holliday]

E T Rawlins built a model of Ross-on-Wye in OO in the sixties, and wrote a series of articles in the Model Railway Constructor.  I have found parts 4, 5 and 6 in January - March 1963, but a failure of my shelving means that the earlier ones are in a pile of loose magazines and I have little chance of finding them this year, or next!  Part 4 shows how he built the goods shed, with plans, 5 is about rolling stock, so a bit out of date when the only decent wagons were Hornby Dublo - how things have changed.  Part 6 is about the layout itself, with his version of the track plan to fit a 12' x 11' space.  I cannot find any more parts in the months following, but I seem to recall there was a bit of feedback and correspondence later in the year.

[Tim V]

Have a look at http://www.old-maps.co.uk/index.html or have a look at the Gloucester Record Office site.

[Mallard60022]

Thanks chaps.

P

['CHARD]

This whole area is steeped in railway legend and mystery for me.  A network of hundreds of miles of single track, or so it seems.  Monmouth's the railway hub I always struggle with. I know instinctively what went where, but it's the obliteration of the tunnel by the Highways Yard that I can't get to grips with.

 

Time to fire-up Old Maps again!

[jonas]

This book may be of use too (if you haven't already seen it) - http://www.mremag.com/news/article/branch-lines-around-ross-on-wye/10947

[MartinWales]

One of the early MRJ's also contained infromation too.

 

Pretty sure that BRJ has also featured an article albeit in the 1980's

[Bulldog]

Two articles in The Great western journal

•  
  • Ross-on-Wye

    William Smith

    Issue 2 (1992) 

    p.47

    The history and development of the station at Ross-on-Wye with details of the trains and train service and locomotive allocations.

    Tags: branch lines, locomotive allocations, railway operation, South Wales, stations, timetables / timetabling

  • Ross-on-Wye in 1939

    F Poole

    Issue 50 (2004) 

    p.111

    Life as a newly appointed Clerk at Ross

    Tags: Herefordshire, personal reminiscences, photos, railway operation, stations

[F-UnitMad]

AFAIK, the old Engine Shed is still in existence at Ross, as part of a Garden Centre, and at the other end of the Industrial Estate that occupies the station area now, the old Goods Shed is still in use, too.

[andyrush]

The MRJ article referred to above was in the first issue, No.0 of 1985

Model Railway News for August 1969 has a piece about the loco shed

The Signalling Record Society list an undated signalling diagram under reference P146

The BR/OPC collection of large scale plans housed at the NRM has a number, under references: 16693 (2), 17375, 24219 and 24321. All are undated

[clarkea1]

AFAIK, the old Engine Shed is still in existence at Ross, as part of a Garden Centre, and at the other end of the Industrial Estate that occupies the station area now, the old Goods Shed is still in use, too.

 

F-Unit - yes both are still in existance (or were when I was at the in-laws in Ross over Christmas!).  The old Goods Shed is (I believe) now part of a garage.  Also, towards the bottom of Ledbury Road you can still see what I assume were some form of bridge piers.

 

I'm not sure if you've seen, but the following pages are of interest:

 

http://www.ross-on-wye.com/index.php?page=ross_541-Old_pictures_and_photos_from_Ross&pg=1

 

If you dig around on that website there's a mass of information on the railway and what remains in Ross.

 

Hope this helps

 

Alastair

[Mallard60022]

Thanks for that last link Alastair. I'd not discovered those before. I stayed in the rather 'interesting' B & B in Ryefield Road just before Christmas; very comfortable and pleasant but a little bizarre! The host had mentioned the yard entrance gates.

It is quite hard to visualise the whole yard between the well preserved shed and the Goods Shed but I still feel it would make a superb little layout project.

The piers at the bottom of Ledbury Road have some 'interpretation' boards there describing the old bridges and what's what. Worth a quick look.

Thanks also chaps for the MR & GWR Journal info. I'll maybe try to investigate at some time

Have I mentioned that in the Market Hall there is a project file written (I think) by a student? It has some interesting little snippets in it including some personal recollections from locals.

It is Herefordshire Records Office by the way Nick.

P

[Tim V]

Couple of pictures from my only visit to the station 12/06/76. The main buildings had already gone.

[Tim V]

Further pics

Pictures taken on a Praktica LTL which suffered from a lens with poor contrast. Mind you the last picture was taken into the sun.

 

Later the same day I called into the Dean Forest, then located at Parkend, on the siding behind the platform.

[Mallard60022]

Thanks Tim. These pics have really put things into place for me despite the desolation.

Have you been back to Ross at all in recent years?

Having purchased the book Branchlines around Ross on Wye, all I need now is a track plan for around 1960 just to be sure and then I'd be seriously tempted to start a layout.

Phil

[Tim V]

Never went to the station again. It was getting to the end of the period I would make visits to derelict stations. I then started to look at what was rapidly disappearing from the working railway. So many signal boxes were being swept away.

 

I went to that model shop once that was there.

 

I have an OS plan of the station, but it will only be the same as on Oldmaps, so no extra use to you.

[trainingcone]

Couple of pictures from my only visit to the station 12/06/76. The main buildings had already gone.

Ross shed.jpg

ross crane.jpg

Ross6.jpg

Ross5.jpg

Ross3.jpg

Thanks for putting these pictures on this site to see.   I remember being taken down to Ross Station as a boy with my dad and these views that you have shown is how i remember how Ross Station looked. My dad drove down the track bed between the platforms and under the footbridge, there were men on the station roof pulling stuff off the roof, also my dad drove onto the platform and showed me the bay platform for the Ross and Monmouth Railway. Yes I remember the colours of the posts and footbridge, cream and a deep green colour. It was a lovely sunny day. For years I have been trying to remember the year and know thanks to you, you have pin pointed the year for me. I would have been around 8 years old when I visited the station. It was seeing Ross station in this state got me hooked on steam railways (GWR, Ross Station and the railways in the Forest of Dean). My parents and their families were from Ross and the Forest of Dean.

[Icknieldrobin]

For anyone who has not seen the book I can recommend Neil Parkhouse’s highly informative book entitled West Gloucestershire & Wye Valley Lines which is packed with colour photographs and detailed commentary for each image.  [iSBN 9781899889 76 1]  Lightmoor Publications There are at least 20 colour photos of Ross on Wye in the early ‘60’s I should point out have no connections with Lightmoor other than being a very satisfied customer.

 

Doug.

[Captain Kernow]

For anyone who has not seen the book I can recommend Neil Parkhouse’s highly informative book entitled West Gloucestershire & Wye Valley Lines which is packed with colour photographs and detailed commentary for each image.  [iSBN 9781899889 76 1]  Lightmoor Publications There are at least 20 colour photos of Ross on Wye in the early ‘60’s I should point out have no connections with Lightmoor other than being a very satisfied customer.

 

Doug.

Agreed - next volume covers Forest of Dean, understood to be coming out later this year.

 

Thread on the West Gloucestershire & Wye Valley Lines book here - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/76140-west-gloucestershire-wye-valley-lines-lightmoor-press/

[Graham Walters]

This site has some decent pics of the Station, and a couple of track diagrams, the latest being from the 1920's which may be of use to you,

 

http://www.ross-on-wye.com/index.php?page=ross_530The_Railway&pg=2

 

Ross station was quite spread out, and if a layout was built in 00 you would need a baseboard int he region of 25ft by 18ft to get it all on, and to scale. ! N gauge would halve those dimensions. The diagram contains lots of useful notes, but it is not to scale ! the goods shed was  further from the station than the diagram suggests.

 

The engine shed is a listed building, because when the railway was built it was broad guage, you can still see where the arch of the shed was bricked up, when the line was converted to standard  guage.

 

I can remember the station very well even though I was only six or seven when it closed, it was also a favourite place for my older brother, who got talking to drivers, and would often ride the footplate to Monmouth and back when he should have been coming home from school.

 

One of the clerks who worked there became a friend of the family, and could tell you lots of things about the station and it's running, all that is left of it is the replica on the SVR, and a few souveniers saved by my brother before it was demolished.

[Mallard60022]

Thanks Graham. That is a good site isn't it. Not just for railway stuff either.

I'd love to do a model of Ross but as you say....space.

Strange really when I chat to Ross folk that are not so old, many know nothing about the railway at all. They haven't even looked at the info by the old road bridge on the road out to the bypass east roundabout.

Thanks

Phil

[Graham Walters]

I think the schools in Ross as in other towns are too concerned with following the National Curriculum than teaching children about local history, I was brought up on the importance of Ross on Wye as a gateway to Wales, and the fact it had been that gateway for many years, the M50 motoway was built to help traffic get to Wales quicker from Birmingham, and the proper title for the Ross - Monmouth by-pass is the M50 extension.

 

When Beeching closed that branch he too no notice of the importance of it to frieght traffic, a smaller a less busy station at Ledbury survived because it was on the main Hereford to Worcester line, despite that now Ross is closed, getting to Hereford from the south or even Gloucester by rail is a nightmare !

 

As  a side note I can remember when my father worked for Taylor & Jones Agricultural engineers he used to pick up farm machinery from the station all the time, after it shut he had to travel all over the country to fetch it to Ross, I went on many of these journeys, and can remember instances of him having three tractors on the lorry, all at 90deg to the cab, and two manure spreaders one on top of the other, only just making it under motorway bridges, the bolster wagons would have carried them with ease.

[Phil Bullock]

For anyone who has not seen the book I can recommend Neil Parkhouse’s highly informative book entitled West Gloucestershire & Wye Valley Lines which is packed with colour photographs and detailed commentary for each image.  [iSBN 9781899889 76 1]  Lightmoor Publications There are at least 20 colour photos of Ross on Wye in the early ‘60’s I should point out have no connections with Lightmoor other than being a very satisfied customer.

 

Doug.

This is a cracking book but comes with a caption caveat. Certainly lurking amongst those from the later 60s relating to diesels are some which are eccentric to say the least! However I suspect the author's area of expertise is the 50s & 60s steam era and the book is a gem for the pictures and mine of information that it otherwise is.

 

Phil

[martinT]

A bit late perhaps but I've just seen this description of Wild Swan's 'GWR Goods Services Part 2B: Goods Depots & their Operation':

 

This, the third of a series of three, covers goods yards & their operation & is far & away the most pictorial of the series so far. It covers all of the Bristol, Birmingham, & Cardiff area depots in addition to Ross on Wye to represent one of the many smaller depots. etc,etc.

 

At £25.95 it's a bit expensive to buy on spec but it might be worth looking out for it if you just happen to be near a WSP stockist. I haven't got this book, but have got this from The Titfield Thunderbolt bookshop's site www.titfield.co.uk - they're in Bath of course.

 

Martin