Railways around Thirsk Prewar (1933-1939)

[Tom F]

Evening all!

I'm moving my research to South of the Station, and beyond the A61 Road Bridge. The track layout seems somewhat bizarre how the Thirsk Town Branch doesn't actually connect with the Thirsk-Melmerby Branch, and access required entering the sidings in the MPD.

Although I'm modelling 1938, I don't think the layout altered South of the Station. How did the freight working to the Town Branch work? In the 1950s it seems that Northallerton provided the motive power, although in my period, the WTT suggests it's a working from York.

[PinzaC55]

I have been modifying the built in version of Thirsk station in the Trainz 2012 rail simulator and the question of the connection at Thirsk Town junction perplexed me too. I cannot remember the details of when Thirsk Town Junction box closed - whether it was earlier or concurrent with Thirsk power box opening? If it was the latter it may have been simply to save on the cost of point motors and colour light signals at the junction, OR something to do with the working of the Town branch by single line staff.
Do you by any chance have a decent plan of the track layout from before 1959 ?
I have searched and searched but came up with nothing.

[Tom F]

Hope this helps Pinza.
This is the 1934 track plan, kindly on loan from an ex Thirsk signalman. This is what I'm thinking of using as part of my planned layout.

It seems anything wishing to use the Thirsk Town Branch, must get itself into the sidings running parallel to the Melmerby Branch off the ECML, reverse up the gradient into the headshunt at the end of the Thirsk Town Branch, before heading east over the ECML to Thirsk Town.

[PinzaC55]

Thanks Tom, that will be very useful.
I decided to have a go at the north end of the Up Yard tonight so with the help of a couple of cans of Stella I had to figure out how to do it with only the photos of the plan you posted and no dimensions! Using Google Earth I found that the distance from the exit from the Down Yard to the cattle bridge was 928 feet; using Adobe Photoshop I merged the two photos of the plan then measured this distance on my laptop screen and divided it (309mm) into 928 which gave 3.0001 - so 1mm on the screen represented 3 feet. I then measured all the pointwork and multiplied by 3 with the result you seee below. Time for bed now I think!
1st photo

trainz 2014-04-29 21-18-12-46 par PinzaC55, on ipernity
2nd (the bridge is hideous and I will redo it tomorrow!)

trainz 2014-04-29 21-32-45-78 par PinzaC55, on ipernity
Finished. Just needs more veggie, lamp posts and huts plus some rolling stock!

trainz 2014-04-29 22-43-57-41 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

[Tom F]

That last photo looks particularly good!

The one above with the road bridge, is that the bridge at the far north of the track plan?? I think it is a dyke rather than a road that the ECML crosses.

[PinzaC55]

The bridge and field crossing are sorted now

trainz 2014-04-30 22-44-29-47 par PinzaC55, on ipernity
A G5 is cleared to cross from the main to the Down Slow at the north end of the station

trainz 2014-04-30 22-42-18-15 par PinzaC55, on ipernity
An A2 looks tiny in the acres of track of the Up yard

trainz 2014-04-30 22-43-26-46 par PinzaC55, on ipernity

[Tom F]

Great work Pinza, but looking at that mass of yard lines, I'm now glad I'm considering doing South of the Station!

[PinzaC55]

It makes you wonder how important the station must have been in days gone past to warrant such an epic amount of track? And there were no less than 3 water tanks.
One of the reasons I only took three photos of the actual station was that in the 70's it had a terrible train service - there was something like a 2 or more hour gap between trains so if you missed one you were up the creek. I remember there used to be an infrequent bus service to Helmsley before Thatcher did away with such things and I had a very pleasant ride on it about 1978.

[Tom F]

Apparently, the large marshalling yards north of the station, were originally commissioned during the 1st World War, but slipped into disuse between the wars and were pretty much abandoned. With the outbreak hostilities in 1939 the yards were recommissioned and continued to be used into the 1950s.

[twa_dogs]

BTW you know that sections of the pit wall for the turntable are still in the undergrowth?
THe rubble pile to the south appeared to contain the dressed stone from the arches for the shed too.

[PinzaC55]

In my railwayana collecting days I heard a story (don't know if it was true or not) that many years ago they (BR) had to excavate a hole in an area of the former sidings at Thirsk and they found that it had been used to dump redundant orange enamel signs from the area and that a few "totem" signs were found in there. I would tend to believe it as I heard many similar stories since BR were notorious fly tippers.

[Tom F]

BTW you know that sections of the pit wall for the turntable are still in the undergrowth?
THe rubble pile to the south appeared to contain the dressed stone from the arches for the shed too.

Think it might be worth a look around there. Does anyone know the make of the 60ft turntable.

[Tom F]

I've also seen a photo, that shows that the Thirsk Town Branch was gated, directly after it crossed the ECML. What was the reason for gating of the Branch?

[Bryan]

BTW you know that sections of the pit wall for the turntable are still in the undergrowth?
THe rubble pile to the south appeared to contain the dressed stone from the arches for the shed too.

Think it might be worth a look around there. Does anyone know the make of the 60ft turntable.

According to the NERA book on Servicing NE Loco's
Thirsk T/T was a Cowans Sheldon. in the Loco yard.
Uncovered.
Number 2733, built 1907, design load 120 tons 60ft, cost £569.
Outriggers fitted in 1933
Cup and pintle bearing.

[Tom F]

BTW you know that sections of the pit wall for the turntable are still in the undergrowth?
THe rubble pile to the south appeared to contain the dressed stone from the arches for the shed too.

Think it might be worth a look around there. Does anyone know the make of the 60ft turntable.

According to the NERA book on Servicing NE Loco's
Thirsk T/T was a Cowans Sheldon. in the Loco yard.
Uncovered.
Number 2733, built 1907, design load 120 tons 60ft, cost £569.
Outriggers fitted in 1933
Cup and pintle bearing.

Many Thanks Bryan.

Looks like I will be approaching these guys nearer the time.

http://metalsmith.co.uk/4mm_scale_00_EM_P4.htm

I notice you posted outriggers fitted in 1933, what are outriggers?