80's Parcel traffic & York old Station

[LNERJP]

Hi all

 

I'm thinking up idea's for a O gauge small shunting layout and I especially like parcels vans, therefore I am woundering if there are any prototype locations where short parcels trains used to run, rather than to big mainline stations, I was thinking of perhaps to a catalogue wharehouse or a parcel force deport. Thanks for taking the time to read and any advice welcome.

 

J.P.

[rob D2]

i think you would have to go back in time a bit further than those.

 

there were plenty of small stations that have parcel traffic e.g aylesbury, barnstable. Even something like a class 25 and one guv or some CCTs

[DavidB-AU]

There were certainly short parcels trains in the 1980s and later.

 

http://neilharvey4789.fotopic.net/p55538891.html

http://neilharvey4789.fotopic.net/p38762836.html

http://neilharvey4789.fotopic.net/p58830613.html

http://www.railbrit.org.uk/images/24000/24898.jpg

 

I'm pretty sure the old York station (the one inside the city walls) was used for parcels traffic before the platforms were removed. Something based on this could make an interesting parcels/newspaper/mail depot.

 

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/2163/oldyork.jpg

 

This is what it looks like today: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1211638

 

Cheers

David

[griffgriff]

Hi all

 

I'm thinking up idea's for a O gauge small shunting layout and I especially like parcels vans, therefore I am woundering if there are any prototype locations where short parcels trains used to run, rather than to big mainline stations, I was thinking of perhaps to a catalogue wharehouse or a parcel force deport. Thanks for taking the time to read and any advice welcome.

 

J.P.

 

Early 80's would be OK... North Manchester Springs to mind... Oldham... Bolton... Bury etc. Lots of old satanic mill like buildings used as storage for the catalogue chains.

 

I think Bolton was the stand out location...lots of 25's and 40's pushing rakes of blue stock around... I think it was set as a layout idea in BRM??? a few years back and I know that both Traction and RE have had 'photo stories' on the subject... might be something to do with the 25's and 40's.

[DavidB-AU]

Found a few more.

 

http://freepages.nostalgia.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cyberheritage/bank45.jpg

http://sulzerpower.com/archivephotos/147489642dawlish280691_neilwalkling.jpg

http://jules-merlin27.fotopic.net/p31351756.html

http://jules-merlin27.fotopic.net/p31351757.html

http://alastair-blackwood.fotopic.net/p26532055.html

 

Don't forget the class 128 Diesel Parcels Units worked up until about 1990.

 

 

Cheers

David

[LNERJP]

Thanks for the replies chaps.

 

I certainly knew that short parcels trains did exist, I remember as a young spotter always heading over to Carisle on a Wednesday (If I remember correctly) night for a short parcels train that used to run South, carn't remeber where to, Warrington? but it was usually class 26 hauled which was always a cop for me.

 

York old station sounds like a excellent idea, I'll spend some time today doing some research, though I'll have to cut it down a bit, as it would take up some space in O gauge. But it's just the concept that I'm looking for and it's North Eastern

 

J.P.

[DavidB-AU]

Something that might suit you for a generic NE location, in the 1980s there were four 101s in Red Star parcels traffic based at Neville Hill.

 

Cheers

David

[Karhedron]

York old station sounds like a excellent idea, I'll spend some time today doing some research, though I'll have to cut it down a bit, as it would take up some space in O gauge.

Agreed.

 

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/2163/oldyork.jpg

 

If you take the section on the left of that photo with the trainshed roof and tapered platform, that should fit fairly well.

[LNERJP]

I'm Begining to like this idea a lot, in the alternative reality world of model railways I could pretend that BR used the old station for Red Star Parcels, just had a look at a satalite image of the area and it's about 600ft by 200ft from the york wall which is about 13'9" by 4"6' in O gauge, perfect length but a bit wide so I might have to lose a few sidings.

 

I first remeber seeing the old station about 1985 as a ten year old, and I don't remember any track being there, when was it lifted?

 

Thanks for the plan David and any further information, pictures welcome.

 

J.P.

[DaveF]

HI,

 

Photo of York old station from the road in 1965.

 

 

David

['CHARD]

David, that's an outstanding pic. I'd forgotten all about the old station within the city wall, despite the fact that I walked past that spot twice every working day for the best part of two years, from the station to the Works. I often wondered what it must have looked like, in those pre-internet days (1991-92)! Thanks for posting it.

[BSG75]

What about Manchester Mayfield ? After lying disused for about 10 years, I think it was reurrected purely for parcels traffic for a while.

[Guest stuartp]

I think the track at York was finally lifted in the late (?) 60s when Hudson House was built on the station throat. The sack warehouse just inside the walls went when the Jarvis Gin Palace (now Stephenson House) was built a few years ago.

 

I worked in West Offices (the old station) from 1994-2000 and still have to go back occasionally, and I often thought it would make a good blue era 'what if', although I would have left the platforms in and had some of it in use for passenger services. I'd have had the city walls running along the front of the layout to give viewers the 'view from the walls' that you get in real life.

 

West Offices is earmarked for the new City of York Council offices; assuming they don't cock it up again or run out of money they're going to refurbish the buildings (as in gut them but keep the facades) and I believe a lot of the 1940s-60s extentions will go. The county archaeologist was digging holes in the car park last year, the buffers for the former Scarborough bay (behind the war memorial on the left hand side of that 1950s pic) are still there about 4 feet down ! Didn't get organised enough to get any pics before they filled the holes in unfortunately. They also found a lot of less interesting Roman and medieval stuff.

 

The farthest hut in David Ford's photo is still there.

 

It was a fantastic place to work - no heating in winter, cooking in summer, sloping floors, windows which wouldn't open then needed drop-kicking to get them to close, far more character than my current concrete box. We were also all superfit thanks to GT Andrews' stairs fetish - to get from any room in the building to any other room, even one on the same corridor, usually requires going up some stairs and down some stairs.

[DVLR Dave]

The tracks to York old station were lifted c1966/7. The two tracks on the left of the photo were used latterly for loading cars for Motorail or its predecessor-this function was transferred to the new station where Queen Street car park now is when the rails were removed from the old station.

[The Stationmaster]

And you could perhaps roll the clock back even further and extend the sidings on the city wall side of the station back towards Lendal Bridge as they once were B)

[Wizard of the Moor]

There was an article and track plan for a suggested small layout based on the parcels depot at the old York station in Railway Modeller. I don't know the exact issue, but sometime in the late 80s or early 90s.

 

James

[DavidB-AU]

English Heritage has photos of the old station in its Railway Stations collection. I'm not sure how you obtain copies.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/railway_stations.pdf

 

Cheers

David

[LNERJP]

Hi all

 

I did a site visit last week and managed to take quite a few pictures, the area has certainly changed but there is still enough features left to give a good impression of how it would have looked. I would be very gratefull if somebody could tell me the issue of Railway Modeller with the article on old York inside, I've been trying to search the web but not having much look.

 

J.P.

[298]

Thanks for the replies chaps.

 

I certainly knew that short parcels trains did exist, I remember as a young spotter always heading over to Carisle on a Wednesday (If I remember correctly) night for a short parcels train that used to run South, carn't remeber where to, Warrington? but it was usually class 26 hauled which was always a cop for me.

 

 

The 26's ran to Preston on the WO parcels.

 

Does this rate as the most overpowered train...? An 87 and one BG:

 

 

From memory, a 2-coach BG/GUV combo was quite popular on the west coast. It wasn't until the Res era that fixed rakes came into use, 3 GUV's with a BG at each end, later reduced to BG-GUV-GUV-BG.

[Del]

There was an article and track plan for a suggested small layout based on the parcels depot at the old York station in Railway Modeller. I don't know the exact issue, but sometime in the late 80s or early 90s.

 

James

 

There was, and I'm almost certain that it was one of the Neils of this parish (either Ripley or Rushby) that produced it.

[Wizard of the Moor]

There was, and I'm almost certain that it was one of the Neils of this parish (either Ripley or Rushby) that produced it.

 

A couple of days off work with tonsillitis gave me the chance to rummage through some old magazines and the article is in

 

Railway Modeller, November 1992, pp514-517

'Planning Considerations' by Neil Rushby

 

It includes one rather nice view of the whole station area with plenty of stock visible, various pics of the site after track lifting, a trackplan based on part of the parcels depot, and a 2mm:1ft scale drawing of the main parcels warehouse

 

HTH,

 

James

[LNERJP]

Thanks James, I've bought a copy off e-bay and the article contains some good info, shame the drawings are of the goods wharehouse and not the station though.

 

By the way are you a fellow NYMR volunteer, I somehow have it in my mind that you are.

 

J.P.

[LNERJP]

Thanks James, I've bought a copy off e-bay and the article contains some good info, shame the drawings are of the goods wharehouse and not the station though.

 

By the way are you a fellow NYMR volunteer, I somehow have it in my mind that you are.

 

J.P.

[Wizard of the Moor]

Hi J.P.

 

No, I'm not a volunteer at the NYMR, I'm sorry to say. I do try and visit a couple of times a year and spend some money though.

 

Cheers,

 

James