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Shillingstone 1923-1940 - Tarmac or Gravel


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Hi everyone,  working on a layout of Shillingstone which I'm planning to set between 1923 and 1940. I'm trying to decide how best to do the platforms and the road running up to the station and the yard. Anyone any idea of when the platforms and yards would have been laid with tarmac? I'm thinking of using a sand coloured mix for gravel but want to see if anyone knows anything definitive before making the decision?.  

 

I've now finished the wiring up and although need to fully test and check the wiring  im hoping that once thats done I can start ballasting and modifying the scenery. 

 

 

Thanks Gavin...

 

 

 

 

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Nothing as grand, in standalone mode I'll have buffers on the north and south end to reflect the sidings that existed, I read somewhere that there was potentially room for at least 12 coaches there. if it's being used as part of the rm modular setup then depending on the adjacent modules it can be either 1 or 2 roads. the reality is that from the crossover points on the Southern end to the end of the module is only 3 feet so only 3 mk1's or so anyway.

 

Gavin.......

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We raised this question of the oddly accessed layby earlier in the main layout thread. Rule 1 applies, particularly so it can work within the modular system.

 

Given that the S&D was photographed so much, there must surely be pics somewhere that show the platform surfacing at the period in question.

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Regarding photos of the platform surface at Shillingstone, page 71 of Mitchell and Smiths - Bournemouth to Evercreech Junction (Middleton Press) shows the surface  in "about 1898" whilst in Judge and Potts An Historical Survey of the Somerset and Dorset Railway" (Oxford Publishing Co) a c1910 photo of Shillingstone also shows the surface. The latter suggests tarmac running into gravel/sand towards the end ramp (there seems to be a slight ridge on the junction of the surfaces) and the former could show either but perhaps favours tarmac. I think Alan Hammond's books may also show some early Shillingstone pictures as well. Nothing definitive I'm afraid but these photos may help you. If you type in Shillingstone Station Photos into a search engine you will get some up including the c1910 photo mentioned above.

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Tarmacadam is a very unlikely surface pre-Great War.

 

Careful study of a very large number of datable postcards has shown that prior to the Great War the most usual surface material was Macadam (carefully graded stones, rolled flat with the finest stones at the top), with setts or tarred wood blocks fairly common in town centres. 

 

Surfaces which had to take a lot of wear would typically been hard finished with flagstones, setts or engineering bricks.

 

I suspect that Shillingstone had engineering bricks close to the buildings and in areas where milk churns might be moved and macadam elsewhere plus, of course, flags along the platform edge.

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Thanks guys, the pictures on the Shillingstone site certainly look like some sort of loose surface rather than a hard core surface which was why I asked the question. I am assuming that this extends onto the up platform up the flagstones on the platform edge. It's clear from pictures in the 50's and 60's that the platform surfaces had been tarmac'd by then. assuming Macadam was the material of choice and what sort of colours would they have been, Purbeck stone or something greyer?

 

Thanks

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Bit far away from the Purbeck stone quarries (Purbeck, West Dorset, some in Wiltshire) but there is a Corallian limestone outcrop in Blackmoor Vale. Ham stone from Yeovil way may be a possibility. The answer is -  I don't really know. Gravel could have been extracted from the Stour Valley - a possibility. Sand from near Bailey Gate? There were chalk quarries near Shillingstone. Could the surface have been crushed chalk? Even crushed Carboniferous Limestone from the S&D quarries in the Mendips? Need some sort of inference of the colour. Best of luck. It is an interesting question.

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