North Bridge Station, Halifax

[West_riding]

I have now virtually finished my first micro layout since coming back into the hobby as an adult and I am looking at what to do next. I have been increasingly drawn to the idea of modelling a real location (The Manchester Central thread being a major factor!), but I have been looking for something compact and related to my local area.

 

After much hunting, I have come back to the idea of a model based on one of the secondary stations in my home town of Halifax, North Bridge. This station was used up until the 1950s but as it was so close to the main station in the town was never very successful. It was swept away twenty years before I was born. However from a modellers point of view there are some advantages:

 

 

As can be seen the railway is long and thin with North Bridge at one end and a tunnel at the other making effective scenic breaks. Using google earth I have guestimated the distance between these two at 800 ft making the layout a manageble length at around 10 feet in length. The track has plenty of operational interest as there is a double track suburban line through the station, a small yard and a linking industrial line, just off scene is the massive town goods yards whilst the layout would have multiple levels with a road at the front dropping below the level of the line, mills towering up and houses clinging to the hillside above:

 

 

I'd be interested in other prople's opinions on this one. Is there enough here to make an interesting model? I would like to move towards a more finescale approach and produce someting visually interesting, fun to run and with plenty of detail to keep my interest for several years. I like the atmosphere of the period phtographs and the gritty uban environment with dark satanic mills.

[Joseph_Pestell]

I have a few photos of the station in a book somewhere. Always seemed to me an ideal subject for a model and you have shown some more aspects that I was not aware of.

 

You won't ever get much more operating potential on a small layout than you will have with this. Do you plan to have it as part of a continuous run or hidden sidings to hidden sidings?

 

You have probably spotted the thread on here from a guy who does 3D printed N1's.

 

Edit: For those that do not like buses on bridges, is a tram acceptable?

Edit: Dewsbury GN is also compact and has suitable bridges as scenic breaks. But not so interesting visually as North Bridge with its high retaining walls.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Joseph_Pestell

[jamie92208]

It looks a fascinating prototype.   I never realised that there was that diveunder to the mills which will make for great operating potential.   What era are you going for becasue pre 1939 there would have been trams on North bridge as well.   I look forward to seeing how the laout progresses.  

 

As someone who is also modelling a real location I envy you for the fact that so much infrastructure still exists in the car park there.  One of our late members at wakefield remembered reversing an empty passenger train into the tunnel and derailing it.

 

Jamie

[Kenton]

I don't know the area at all but think you have picked a real gem there. In fact the left hand corner with the factory is spot on something I have been looking for for a while (small factory shunting yard). The whole scene with its very changing levels gives it great scenic appeal and there is sufficient track to add a variety of movement. It certainly deserves a fine scale approach but I would double check your measurements to err on the side of no compression as there is a lot going on.

[Legend]

Does look good. I like the different level approach to factory sidings on far left. A lot of civil engineering required , but looks very interesting

[West_riding]

Thanks all, looks like I'm onto a winner. First step then is to go into Halifax library and get some large scale maps of the period so I can draw out a plan of the layout in 4mm scale on paper and see how big exactly it will be...

 

I am probably going to go for the 1950s because the station was really getting down at heel at this stage and its the urban decay I really like, I haven't decided on the end to end versus roundy round design yet. I am building a new model shed this summer (weather, funds and new baby permitting) so once I know what space I have to play with I will make a final decision then. I think having it as a continuous run would be my preference, just so I can sit and watch the trains go by, but we'll see.

[westerner]

Nothing better than good urban grot!!!!!!!!!!!

[Corbs]

Am I correct in thinking that tunnel was next to Crossley's mill? I've passed that spot hundreds of times and never once realised there was a station there!

[APOLLO]

Very interesting area to model. Lots of info here 

 

http://www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co.uk/

 

http://www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co.uk/Queensbury%20Halifax.htm

 

You will need plenty of stone walling !!

 

Brit15

[Guest bri.s]

That looks a very characteristic place

It looks amazing especially the duck under

 

Look forward to updates

 

Brian

[Arthur]

 

That's a crackin' prototype for a model. Compact, interesting track layout, urban grot and the tunnel, bridge and sloping landscape provide a perfect 'framing'.

 

I've seen photographs of the tunnel before but had never realised quite what was behind the photographer.

 

I'll look forward to following your progress.

[Russ (mines a pint)]

I'd be interested in other prople's opinions on this one. Is there enough here to make an interesting model? I would like to move towards a more finescale approach and produce someting visually interesting, fun to run and with plenty of detail to keep my interest for several years.

 

This is a location that has always interested me - I have had 2or3 attempts already at building goods yard style layouts inspired by the location and soon intend to start with another.  I also have a good number of photos taken in the location and surrounds (see old forum thread http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=40458 this was the most complete version but eventually thwarted by a house move!) - feel free to borrow or ignore any of the pics in there ! 

 

However it was not a total exact rendition which would be much more interesting if you have the space, enjoyed looking at the trackplan and your old pics at the start of the thread - & will watch with interest! Good luck if you decide to go ahead! 

[moore43grm]

hi there, something like this ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

copy from map in library

 

 

Russ M

[Kenton]

 

hi there, something like this ?

 

Lovely detail, on the left around the factory - even more tempting. But even more pzzling with that dotted line leading (under ?) the factory round the Dean Clough Dye Works all the way to the goods yard. Some NG transshipment line? Or just a municipal boundary?

[NWJ]

 Lovely detail, on the left around the factory - even more tempting. But even more pzzling with that dotted line leading (under ?) the factory round the Dean Clough Dye Works all the way to the goods yard. Some NG transshipment line? Or just a municipal boundary?

 

Looking at the map extract, the dotted line is marked "Ward Boundary" just to the west of North Street Goods Station.

The concept looks like a cracking idea! Echoing what others have said, there is plenty of scope for interest derived from this (comparatively) simple plan. 

Good Luck!

Neil

 

 

[edcayton]

...and would appear to follow the "Hebble Brook".

 

Ed

[edcayton]

The last photo shows a catch point sign, which suggests that the main line goes up hill away from the camera. I take it that the siding goes down at the same time to achieve clearance in such a short distance?

 

Ed

[locotracteur351]

How intriguing! I started to build a model of north bridge a few years ago, it was on three boards 3000mm by 500mm and is currently in storage waiting for a rainy day! I have loads of maps etc, and the library is a great place to go for research, they helped me! I took a lot of photos (a little grainy) a few years ago before it got overgrown as it is now. I was going to use one span of north bridge as the scenic break at one end and the tunnel (of course) at the other. it was planned as an end to end layout with two fiddle yards, but I was restricted by time and space, one day it will be revived! 

 

I shall watch this with eagerness!!

 

Jagger

[Joseph_Pestell]

I am surprised to see on that OS map that the line is described as GN/L&Y Joint. I thought it was just GN. Where was the boundary towards Queensbury with GN? I have the RCH Junction Diagrams book at Dad's and will have to take a look later. L&Y as well opens up so many more possibilities with locos.

 

On the topography, the "main" line clearly rises steeply towards the tunnel (there is a catch (trap) point to stop runaways. But I presume that the private branch to the mills was also on quite a gradient to reach that dive-under. I suspect that the mill's own loco was not only very short wheelbase but had a cut-down cab (although the dive-under would need to clear vans presumably).

On the model, it would need some sort of mechanism to hold wagons on the gradient while the mill loco uncouples and a BR loco hooks up.

 

Very suitable for an end-to-end set-up along a garage wall, the Queensbury fiddleyard could be quite short with a longer one at the Halifax end for goods into the yard.

 

PS: Did Bryan Harrap design the trackwork in the mill?

Edited February 7, 2015 by Joseph_Pestell

[West_riding]

Thanks everyone for the comments and the map. I am going to try and build this to the best of my ability, and one thing I want to try is building my own track. There are a couple of three way points so set track was never going to be an option...but I. Might start with some straight bits first! As the space to house the layout isn't available yet, I am going to concentrate on research and making some of the buildings in the first instance, I like the idea of the tall mills in front of part of the layout so you have to look through the urban landscape to see the track and locomotives.

[t-b-g]

I have been intrigued by the railways there aver since I went to the Halifax model railway exhibition in the leisure centre (just about where the big goods shed is to the right of North Bridge on the plan).

 

The whole area reeks of railway atmosphere even now, with cobbled roads and paths and retaining walls, as well as the tunnel and the footbridge still being there.

 

It really is an area that has been neglected modelling wise (apart from Steve Hall's Halifax King Cross based on the area) and I am delighted that somebody is having a go.

 

I really wish this project well!

 

Tony 

[jamie92208]

...and would appear to follow the "Hebble Brook".

 

Ed

Water courses were very often used for local authority and ward boundary's.

 

Jamie

[L&Y]

Missed this until now. Was considering something similar but since I've now moved to 7mm I don't have the space to do it justice. There is more information about the local area & the lines into Dean Clough complex in Banksfield museum which I found more helpful than the central library. These were used to supply coal to the mills below. The wagons being worked down by gravity & horses used to pull the empties back up again.  Some of the lines were only used for the movement of machinery. Theirs a picture of the Great Northern hotel in Halifax pubs Vol 2 which you can access via Google. ( it lets you search the book.) There are a few more photographs on the web but I won't publish them here for fear of infringing copyright. Martin Bairstows "Leeds/Bradford Rail centers by Stephan R Batty" has a good history of the line though no photographs of North Bridge. It was built by the L&Y and they kept running rights over the line though had little interest in operating it. The whole area is fascinating & I had now idea there was a dead railway yards from my front door when I moved here! 
he area behind the station was redeveloped as it had some of the worst housing in Halifax. It now has some tower blocks which are a dubious replacement. If you walk up old lane away from Halifax there's a z shaped foot bridge off to the left that used to go between two mills & shows the site of the viaduct at the far end of Woodside tunnel. The portal is still there though it's buried & I love the old pub under the flyover. All the best with the project.

Edited July 4, 2015 by L&Y

[Simon Moore]

This is a layout I am pondering myself at the minute. We are building a model based on st paus at the club & I want a off shot to run my stock on at home. I think it would make a decent model with adaptation bringing the goods shed forward as a scenic break instead of the bridge. This would also make shunting the yard more interesting. The overall size from the crossing bridge on the left to north bridge on the right is around 6ft in 4mm scale which with a fiddle yard each end would bring the size to around 12ft. I would make mine a terminus with a nice fiddle yard 1 end & a stub on the right off scene so I could have trains run around.

 

Simon

[westerner]

Are there any updates on the layout?