Broomielaw Station, County Durham.

[twa_dogs]

Afternoon all.

In the past I've asked for info on here and other places hoping to cobble together a might have been/greatest hits/feel of the NER central division model. However I think i can get a bit more specific and go for a protoype now. A little research on "t'nterweb" last week, and a site visit on saturday makes me think that Broomielaw, just east of Barnard Castle, may be what I'm looking for: small enough to not be off putting, large enough to be a challenge, simple enough for an idiot
Now I'm investigating an online source of 1:2500 mapping, but does anyone have any material pertaining to this site? A look at the remains of the frame (still in the box along with the block shelf - no instruments before anyone asks) would suggest either a lot of white levers or a comprehensive set-up here.
I feel a visit to the NRM and Kew and rejoining NERA along with more site visits coming on but I thought I'd ask if anyone on here had any useful info too.

Ta in advance.

PS - does anyone have a copy of Ken Hoole's book on the Stainmore route and can they confirm that my memory is playing trick with regards to it containing a signalling schematic before i spend a fortune on a copy of that book.

sectional appendix located - I now see the reason for the size of the frame. But any other info gratefully recieved.

[keithr]

I've quickly checked my copy of Ken Hoole's Stainmore Railway. There's no index to diagrams, but I couldn't see a layout for Broomielaw. There was a photo "general view of Broomielaw in 1959".

[twa_dogs]

Nice one thank you.
Having a rummage around the paperwork I was looking for revealed sketches of Barnard Castle, Stainmore and possibly Coal road taken from that book. The sectional appendix probably dates from the original NER layout since the indicated position of the down platform starter is not that shown in post war pictures.

Scary: down distant at 12m 61.17c to up distant at 13m 59.08c. Under a mile, but thats still a long way in p4. Some trimming beckons i guess.

Unless distants were fixed, it looks like 18 levers in work. which is odd since the pictures of the frame seem to hint at 16 levers. Can anyone confirm whether what looks like shunt ahead on the two posts (down home and up starter) east of the overbridge) in the NERA sectional appendix were around post war? Without them the frame tallies up with "a" and "b" points of x-overs worked from the one lever and only the single FPL on the "a" points heading onto the down from the single line section.

Keith, out of interest what is in the general view?

[twa_dogs]

Well having broken the sectional appendix down and using the miracle of microsoft (well its a miracle it runs on a mac at all) I've created a small spreadsheet using this information to calculate the exact scale distances for 4mm.

Through the platform and eastwards to Forcett junction was single track. From the western end of the platform is double track with a small "lie-by" siding off the tail of the down. There were also two sidings forming a small yard accessed from the down 1m29cm0.9mm to the west of the signal box, itself 74cm44mmfrom the western end of the platform.

Using the station's datum point as a reference reveals.......
linear distance to eastern end of the platform and former overbridge = 40.9cm
linear distance to western end of the platform = 40.9cm

so the datum is dead centre as it should be

Now the scary parts.

The down distant signal post should be 7m16cm4.9mm to the east and the up distant 11m38cm1mm to the west.

Next task is to stick together a shed load of a4 paper and draw out a straight line 4mm scale representation of the sectional appendix data to get a feel for the distances of the main section around the station. I somehow think I will never have to model the distants.

By 'eck the real world is a big place - even at a 76th of its real size its still chuffing huge :wow :wow :wow

Hmm and now we have a confusion. At some point (no pun intended) the layout was altered thereby increasing the length of the siding tailing off the down. What is unclear from either pictures or the SA is whether this was part of a greater remodelling that lost a crossover completely or if it was a simple rationalisation that reduced the number of points by one and traps by one and moved a crossover east to cover this. Photos seem to make this a possibility especially since the down staff gantry and boardwalks indicated on the SA appear to have gone on the pics. When this would be seems to be pre-BR at least since the down platform starter signal post appears to not be tubular and possibly NER lower quad (certainly the spec and arm look of a suitable size)

[Rambler]

Even if you don't model the distant signal in the physical sense, you could still model them in the form of indicators in the fiddle yards, which would allow for more realistic operation. Then when you win the lottery and build the extension boards.....

[geoffshumba]

Interestingly, after all these years you can still trace the line back to the triangle accessing North Road and Heighington on Google maps.

[keithr]

The photo is entitled "General view of Broomielaw in 1959". Not being an expert in the station, my description of the photo is that it's taken from the main line entering the station, about 50 yards away from the signal box. There's a siding in front of the box, and another to behind the platform, with the access to these sidings disappearing behind the photographer. The station itself is more distant but I can make out a bridge and a few other features.

[twa_dogs]

Keith,

thanks for the description. That area around the signal box is what i'm struggling with at the moment.

The NERA repro sectional appendix seems to indicate some alterations from the original scheme whereby the point work where the single line becomes double is moved west from the western end of the platform making the new trailing connection a lie by siding (which dissapears with one yard siding sometime between 1963 and 1965). The SA sketch places the new pointwork parallel to the yard access though no distances are noted for this and distant shapes in photos suggest further east near the stafff gantry.

Now what is currently puzzling me is the rodding and wire runs westwards from the box. Some complete pulley stakes are still extant so i can tot up the number of wires run out and thereby the signalling can be worked out, but the rodding has me at a loss. The logical place for it would be to run west along the cess inside of the wire run. This would give a clear and smooth route with a minimum of cranks to the yard access point/traps, and western trailing crossover. Oddly the only picture I have of the throat in front of the box shows only 4 rods running west between the up running line and the the coal drop siding.

Apologies for dragging this out but does the general view from 1959 show any detail of point rodding? Number of rods and position of the run? What material I have gathered so far from internet sources does not contain anything west of the box so at present i can only make best guestimates - though i am impressing myself with how much of this i have picked up over the last few years.

Further clarity is needed as to the yard exit - no signal on the diagram but i'll assume a shunt disc, and as to whether the up platform starter had a repeater or calling on arm (pre 1910 pic shows something) and whether the down home east of the bridge had a calling on arm as indicated by the SA and the distants were fixed.

Tis getting worse than a cross-word puzzle though how many of those are dependant upon the size of a lever frame?

thanks all for any help or observations offered.

Stop Press: I now have a signal diagram - a big thank you to Mick Nicholson for digging that out for me.