Kiwirail

Pete Yes - I am not sure I have ever seen stonework that uniform, but then I have probably never stared at it with the same intensity that I have done poring over loads of photos lately! Not quite sure how you'd go about modelling this. I agree none of the standard papers/mouldings appear to fit that pattern, but I'd be glad to be challenged on that point. In my 1970s scenario the shed's been demolished, so I may not have to deal with it at all. It depends how much I bend history! Cheers Andrew

Meant to reply a bit sooner than this. I've been mulling on the engine shed construction. There was a very similar structure (but much shorter) at Keighley. The end elevation is essentially identical - refer picture below. This is clearly built of stone, and this is backed up by its description in 'LMS Engine Sheds' - Vol 2 by Hawkins and Reeve. So - I think the appearance of the front elevation of the Ilkley shed in this picture is simply better attention to detail by the stonemasons - with the blocks being cut a bit more regularly and of an even thickness, making them look a bit like bricks. The view from the north side is a bit more unequivocal: Here you can see the different course thicknesses that you get with stone, but not generally with brick. This all ties in with the various memories of the real building, which is encouraging. So we should all be building our models with stone, not brick! Cheers Andrew

David Excellent photos, thanks very much. I'd be really keen to see any more that you have, especially 70s, which is 'my' era. Pete - good to see some progress! I have some more info on the engine shed. Coming shortly. Cheers Andrew

I meant that to read BR-era. Sorry guys. Been a long day. Having such a high post might have made the arm easier to see against the brewery building beyond as well - not sure if that'd be a reason or just a side-effect though! Cheers Andrew

Sorry - meant to attach this c. 1980 photo to illustrate the point: The LMS-era P4 starter is still tall, but not as tall as the Midland version: Cheers Andrew

Morning Chaps I've had a few days off and in the meantime yet another tide of useful information comes flooding in. Good pic of the bus in Springs Lane, thanks Ron. I agree that the footbridge alterations must have been earlier in the 20th C rather than later, as they wouldn't have bothered with the fancy altered stonework if it had been done post-war - the abutment would have just been concrete I'd have thought. I think you are also correct about the retaining wall above the goods yard possibly going in to allow the widening of Springs Lane. This certainly makes sense to me. I'd imagine that the station footbridge - which after all has almost nothing to do with the station itself, if you think about it - must have been a requirement of the original land acquisition and construction - maybe an historic right of way or something like that. I used to own the house directly opposite the north end of the footbridge where it pops out onto Railway Road, and it was handy for me to get to the supermarket! The observations relating to my earlier footbridge photo are interesting, especially the height of the P4 starter. This had not occurred to me, but thinking about it now, the extended post must have been to make that arm visible over the roof from beyond Brook Street. I am not sure that there is another reasonable explanation, because it would have required to crew to crick their necks when standing in the platform itself, waiting for release. It is interesting that when that signal was replaced by the LMS it did not get the same extended post treatment. David, if you have any photos of your own that are not on the web, I'd be really interested, as I am sure Pete will be, as the thread starter and with his own a special interest in the shed area. I've now amassed about 200 photos of the station area but inevitably most are of the immediate platform area and only a few show areas of real interest to non-station folk! If we can add anything to the archive that'd be great. Tom - you are correct about the lower steps leading down from the bridge abutment into the supermarket car park. These went in in 1983 when the original Hillards supermarket was built on the goods yard site. I have acquired a back copy and have now scanned the RM Dec 76 Ilkley article if anyone is interested. I must admit I was a little disappointed in the amount of modeller's licence that had been applied to this layout but it's quite a bit better than nothing! I've just had another look at it, and it may shed some light on some of the questions debated previously in this thread. Wakefield MRS has applied quite a savage curve through the station to accommodate a roundy-roundy track plan, and this has led to the water tank (stone base, cast top incidentally!) ending up behind the signal box down on Railway Road! Engine shed is stone built on the model. Assuming the club members had perhaps better access to archive material it may be reasonable to take these details at face value. Here's a taster: More of the same if anyone's keen. Please let me know. Cheers Andrew

Hi Chaps Managed to answer my own question. Sifting through endless photographs of the station I came across this interesting little gem: Now - if you look at the right hand (south) end, you see that the original configuration of the bridge had the steps going in a straight line down to the roadway, no right angle bend at all. This ties in nicely with the site plan that I posted a while back and here's a snippet again to jog memories. So comparing this with my later shot (albeit from the other direction) you can see that this end of the bridge must have been modified at some stage, and the change in paint might also indicate that this is the case: So we can conclude that the bridge was modified sometime between its original construction (around the turn of the century) and the late 1970s, before being demolished and replaced with the new one during electrification. Not sure if this is of interest to anyone, but I was chuffed to have solved the puzzle. Cheers Andrew

And after searching for a bit through the archives I found this - which proves that the memory is not as bad as all that! These were the gates locked to keep prying kids like me out. Circa 1983. Cheers Andrew

Thanks for that Ron. It's a crap day when you don't learn something. I thought that a home signal was simply the one with the red arm that you couldn't pass at danger! Didn't know it had another meaning. Great link to the Flickr pages. Loads of good stuff there. I see from the Shoulder of Lune Railtour shot that the starter was still in place at 18 April 1981, for example! When I was a kid in the late 70s you could go through the subway and out through the hole in the wall onto Railway Road, but there was a locked gate at the top of the ramp at Platform 4. As I recall you could go up the ramp but not get out at the top onto P4. I see that they reused the handrails from the subway in the remodelling of the station in the 1990s. Cheers Andrew

Evening Gents I was wondering if anyone can cast a bit of light on the installation of the up starter home signal on Platform 1. This used to be a bracket signal with arms for the main line and the loop, but sometime later (after the first set of rationalisation that removed the centre road between Platforms 1 and 2) but before the installation of colour light signalling there was for a few years a home starter for Platform 1 situated in between the Platform 1 and Platform 2 roads, ie where the centre road would have formerly been. Has anyone got any information on: 1) when the track was initially rationalised? I'm picking about 1971 or 1972 from my photos. 2) whether the home starter was moved at the same time, or whether it was at some other date. Platforms 3 and 4 remained intact but trackless for some years before they got turned into a car park if I recall correctly. The subway ramp up to Platform 4 was always locked shut when I was a kid. I remember peering through the gates and wondering when the last passengers were there. Cheers Andrew

Yes - and dependent on the time of year as well. Much more green on the north (Railway Road) side in winter. And like you say Pete, it may well have had a clean since the days of steam! Good to compare with the colour shots on the Embsay site. Be good to see what you've been up to as well. Cheers Andrew

Guys Seems pretty clear from that photo. Thanks very much for all the various inputs. Weathering that stone wall is going to be a fair challenge! Cheers Andrew

Tom Thanks for that insight. Yes - I don't think that the 'curve' or 'narrowing' or whatever we want to call it amounts to very much, but it would be very interesting to confirm whether it is there at all. I agree that it does look like there might be a bit of a curve beyond the hole in the wall. What we need is somebody to buy an overpriced sandwich in M&S and have a quick peek along the inside. Mind you - it's free to take a walk down Railway Road and that should yield the same information! Ron - I will send you a copy of that plan when I am next at my desk. Cheers Andrew

KK Yes - if you could get a shot equivalent to the one you took looking west, then I can get my eye right down that wall. On my plan there looks to be at least 500 mm of offset by the end, (so the station roof would be 500 mm narrower at the Skipton end than at the Leeds end). This seems a daft way to build a structure like that, so a bit of clarity here would be good. For the plan watchers, I just checked and my TIF version is 2.5 MB, which is too big to post here. Here's a MUCH smaller version: This does show the oil delivery pipe in the siding next to the signal box! Probably the best bet for anyone who wants a decent copy is to email me: andrew(at)tfel.co.nz Remove the antispam measure and replace with the @ sign. I'll send it out to those interested. I note that mine is stamped 1911, so that could explain the discrepancy between what you guys remember and what was there at the turn of the century. Cheers Andrew

KK Thanks for the photos. It's great to be able to check details from the other side of the world! I agree that the view down Railway Rd shows a straight wall, but what really happens beyond the old subway entrance? We need a shot or two in the other direction This is the bit I'm interested in. I agree with the other posters who reckon there's a bit of a bend on this last bay. Certainly that's how it looks on the aerial photos and my ancient old plan. The problem with the Google car is that it drive in the middle of the road, not rather more helpfully along the footpath! If anyone else is after the plan I have (which is a work of art in itself, to be honest) I will set up a dropbox and post a link to it. I also have a version for AutoCAD if that'll help anybody. And - always conscious of hijacking your thread Pete, it includes the shed area too! Cheers Andrew

Tom et al You're right, it does look as though there is a bit of a curve there on Google. Need some eyes on the ground. It'll be interesting what Kingmoorkid comes up with! I'd be interested in any photos of the buildings around the top end of Brook St. My model will go up as far as the Grove, but not on the south side. I'm lacking information on the buildings on both sides of Brook St between the old railway bridge and the Grove. When I am next back in the UK I shall go on a fact finding mission, but until then, any shots of these buildings will help build a mental picture! Happy to fwd my email address if anyone wants to avoid cluttering this forum. Cheers Andrew

Hi again chaps I'm looking at my plan here and could do with something checking, if anyone is going to be in Ilkley at any stage soonish. What I am wondering (and I don't have a good photo of this to check) is if the wall on the north side of the station (above Railway Road) is dead straight or whether it is curved very slightly in plan. The drawings I do have indicate that the wall began to curve southwards at about the point where the subway went down through platform 4 and exited through the bottom of the wall and out onto the street. Now - given that this section is within the overall roof, it seems a bit unlikely that the designers would have put a curve in the wall, as it would have made the roof a bit narrower at the western end and obviously a bit more difficult to construct. If anyone has a good photo of the Railway Road frontage or maybe inside the supermarket or on the old Platform 4, this might clear up this query for me. I've had a good search through my archives and I've nothing that is unequivocal in this area. Cheers Andrew

Yeah - sorry. TP is definitely telegraph pole. There are lots of them on the remaining part of the plan that I didn't post! I am not sure how old this plan is. I have a couple of versions, one of which is stamped LNER, but the original survey could have been pre-grouping. Cheers Andrew

OK Guys. Thanks Pete for the hints on uploading photos. I'm sure there is a 'help' file somewhere but your pointers were better! Here are some photos taken OF the old footbridge, including one taken while standing ON it. These date from about 1984-5 from memory. The cars in the car park appear to bear this out. Plats 3 and 4 were devoid of track by this stage but the supermarket had not yet been built under the main part of the station roof. In a couple of shots you can see that the southern end of the bridge is painted silver. I wondered if this was indicative of this end having been altered, but on reflection I don't think it is. If you look at the cropped site plan, you will see that the bridge is shown as running straight off Station Rd at right angles, but the bridge is straight. This is not how I remember it at all, which is well illustrated in the photograph taken from below in the car park. The stonework behind the shopping trolley was added when the supermarket was built on the goods yard site, but the main dirtier section of stonework and the first little flight of steps up is as I remember original. If anyone else can cast light on this that'd be great. The bridge appears to scale at 5' 6" wide. Cheers Andrew

Can anyone explain how to upload photos? Sorry - that this query probably belongs elsewhere but I'm struggling. I copied a JPG, adjusted its size in the image editor and then pasted it in a Reply panel. When I went to 'Post' it, I got an error message saying that I could not use these image extensions on this forum. If you cannot post a JPG, what can you do? I must be doing something wrong. How do you post your photos Pete? Thanks Andrew

Pete Stepper motor every time. I was talking this very problem through with a mate of mine who's got a few clues with electronics etc and he said that there are ways of adulterating the motor drive electronically to further divide the step into some fraction, ie half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth etc. When I next see him I'll see if he can elaborate. You want to definitely avoid punched cards whizzing around like John Logie Baird's analogue television...... When I figure out how to include a photo or two I shall do so Ron, to let you relive your memories of the burning bridge. I have a couple of shots of the bridge, from on the bridge, so to speak. Cheers Andrew

Hi Guys Been out of the country again but now back for a bit, so able to log in and have a catch up. Thanks to Tom & Ron for their recollections about the coal drops. I agree this could be a great little scene, with a bit of action as well perhaps. I've also wondered how to do the footbridge, and also, if the south end of the footbridge was altered at some stage in its life. My site plan from the 1930s shows the bridge ending on Bolling Road with a straight-on connection and some steps down to footpath level. My own photos of the bridge from about 1985 show a small stone abutment (which is still there) and a right angle connection to the bridge deck. That end of the bridge is also a different colour from the rest. I wonder if anyone can remember when this was changed? Hey Pete that turntable looks superb. You might want to try scribing the circular brickwork with a decent pair of dividers. Plenty of moss and coal dust will probably hide a multitude of sins down there as well. I wouldn't fancy having to scribe them all by hand. Cheers Andrew

Hello chaps. Just back in NZ after a rather wet trip back to Blighty for Christmas. While I was over there I was rather hoping to sneak up to Ilkley for a fact-finding mission, but alas - there was not enough time once we had ticked off everything else everybody wanted to do. Was wondering if anyone could shed any light on the operation of the coal drops on Railway Road? I have several photos of them in their trackless state in about 1980, but don't know what the arrangement was for supporting the track across the stone piers. Likewise I'm not sure what happened regarding the coal once it had been unloaded, as there is next to no clearance between the bins and the edge of the road. Wouldn't the coal spill out everywhere, or were there timbers placed across the mouths of each compartment? How did the coal merchant then load up his wagons? Presumably by hand, in which case at least one lane of the public road would have been more or less blocked while the loading was going on. If anyone has any recollections of the process here I'd be grateful. There was a siding leading back from the coal drops which served the signal box (lamp oil?). This was apparently worked by pulling a wagon with a rope from the adjacent running line, as the coal drop siding would not have been rated to carry a locomotive. I read about this somewhere but cannot recall in which book. Great to see more progress Pete, and welcome to the thread Tom. Got myself a copy of the LMS sheds book. Fascinating and thanks for the lead. Cheers Andrew

Yes - those were the two different lamp types that I had identified - probably from the same two photographs if I am honest! Interesting brickwork on the shed. It looks to me as though the bricks were very shallow, not more than maybe 40-50 mm high, certainly shallower than your average housebrick. It looks like the sand drying chimney was brick as well - is that correct? The concept of having a swim in the top of a water tower in Yorkshire gives me goose pimples. Cheers Andrew

Yes - let's try and keep things Ilkley-related all in one place. I've just looked through my 145 photos of Ilkley station and there is not one that shows the water tank behind the turntable! The photo of Ron's Dad is about the best of this area that I have, but the tank would have been just out of shot on the left. From my measurements on the plan I have, the tank footprint is about 16' x 13' but I cannot help beyond that, I'm sorry. I shall obviously be having the same problem when I get to this section of the layout, so I'll be glad to hear/see what you do here Pete. Oh BTW, I notice that the yard lamps were of two very different patterns. I can probably post a couple of photos if you want. Cheers Andrew