Yes, the station yard was about 10-12ft vertically below the Wetherby Road level by the weighbridge and those steps led up to the road. So the road into the yard was on a slope, as was the leg down to what I called the Goods Yard - actually just an expanse of level ground, unsurfaced.
Hi Warwick - thanks for the further update - just so I'm clear then, the yard where the coal booths were would actually have been in a valley between the track embankment and the road cut into the side of the hill?
And also, the current levels of the cul-de-sac and bungalows is little help at the Southern end of the station as I guess it is very much filled in? I've some re-work to do on the station in my game as I think I've got it too near Mill lane - there's no room for the allotments, but when I've shifted (or shortened) the station, I'll post a screenshot up and you can see whether I've got any sort of likeness!
By the way, don't suppose you've got a similar drawing of Thorner have you - I'd had to do loads of guessing there too!
At the coal booth end of the yard, facing south, the land sloped down from Wetherby Road to the yard at about 45 degrees. At the coal booth side, there was a vertical brick wall at the back of the booths of a similar height, which became the back wall of the platform, I think. I'm guessing, but I'd say that the platform level was slightly below that of Wetherby Road.
I think you can get a good idea from the 1920's photo of the station on p53 of Bairstow vol 3. of how things looked on the south side of the station, although this does not extend back to Mill Lane. From memory, I think the distance between station and lane was about 75 yards - but it won't have moved if you live in the area to go and check! I'm in NSW, so rather a long way away.
Those allotments, which don't show in the photo, belonged to the station master and did not extend for any great distance. Also, the embankment wasn't very high on the east side of the line, between Mill Lane and the station, which may have been due to in-fill when the line was constructed, or just a natural feature of the land. Conversely, the west side embankment at this point was quite high.
Thanks again Warwick - looking again at the photo on the 3rd edition, it looks like the end of the siding at the south end of the station was up on the embankment (higher than the telegraph poles in the photo), levelling off with the road by the time you get to the run round on the coal siding and then the road is above the base of the station. The yard seems to be hidden by trees and bushes, but it looks like it was fairly narrow at the coal booth end.
I work in Scarcroft, so went for another look today, and I can find the remnants of the bridge over Mill Lane, and then track the embankment round, but the road and the houses really put me off, though I think I found what could have been the entrance ramp off Wetherby Road - it looked to flat to be natural, but I'll need to look further.
And yes, NSW is a fair trek to come back - lovely part of the world, I visited in 2006 as part of a 6 week trip - before the kids came along and ate up all my time and disposable income!!
No worries on Thorner, I've pieced most of it together, but half the fun is finding new bits of info!
You are correct re the siding - it was about level with Wetherby Road at the run-around end. Not much space for a loco at that end-shunt, unless it was a small tank engine. The yard wasn't very wide along its length, but in fact widened out, facing south, to where the coal booths were.
If you look at Google Earth, you can see the entrance road to the old yard as a break in the trees, where they widen out into a kind of traingular shape, on the curve before Bank Top. The old porter's house, can be seen nearby, at right angles to the other houses. It was not demolished, like the other station buildings.
The entrance to the Mill was exactly opposite the bottom of Mill Lane.
Warwick - thanks for the update - I can see the gap in the trees and the porters cottage - I think these references have help solve my problem, in that "my" station in the game is in the wrong position, too far towards Mill Lane, hence me running out of room at that end. "My" entrance is further along the road, more like where the first house on Grange Close is now. Can I assume that the tall wooded area shown on your map are the same trees that now seperate Grange Close from the A58?
Plenty of re-work to do tonight if I get chance - will get a revised screenshot posted at some point in the near future.
By the way, how was Linden Close related to the site? Or was it as it is today, an access road to some houses ending in the porter's house?
Also by the way, if you follow the flikr link I posted on page three, I have uncovered some old photos of Bardsey, one of which shows the station with a glass canopy!
Well my memory isn't as smart as I thought. That entrance road to the yard I referred to on Google Earth is not the right position, it should be a little further south, but at the same angle. One of the old concrete gateposts and a remnant of the gate was there for many years, but maybe that has now gone. The trees on my plan are the same, however. I also erred about the porter's house - it must have been demolished, as that one at the end of Linden Close is not the same - it appears to be a new building there and the end of Linden Close was about 50 yards away from the site of that house.
May I suggest you look at, or purchase an old map from 1963 which gives all the positioning detail you will need:
This map also shows that there was a second siding parallel to the first, but stopping short of the livestock unloading platform, on the north side of the station. I can now recall this and the crane was adjacent to it.
I don't recall the station awning - maybe it got rotten and was dismantled before I started using the station in the early 1950's. I do recall that all the stations on the line got a paint job about 1955 and that that was the first in 17 years. In places the woodwork was bare!
Cheers
Warwick
Hi Warwick - no problem, I think it's pretty remarkable you can remember what you can - since our little lad arrived 3 months ago, I can hardly remember what day it is or where I've put my keys!
Thanks for the link - I found the map for 1965/66 the best for clarity - it's odd as it seems to show the track partially removed, which seems very precise for a map!
I've seen reference to that second siding, but never had room for it - should be able to fit it in now.
Yes, the pictures I had found looked to be from around the early 20th century, so I guess there was plenty of time for it to fall over - seems odd that it would be left to deteriorate while in service - I'd always got the impressions that these stations were well looked after and kept in good condition.
There are some interesting photos, taken at locations on this line, contained in a recently released book in the 'Railway Memories' series entitled 'Harrogate and Wetherby' by Stephen Chapman. (Bellcode Books ISBN 9781871233247).
Sorry for the fairly major topic bump, I can't believe it's over 8 years since I first posted and asked questions.
My project waned on and off, as my time was limited with work and 2 young kids, but as I've got a bit more time back these days, I picked up the route editor in TS2019 and started tidying my project up.
Here is the Flickr album https://flic.kr/s/aHsjxrZKAn of some of the screenshots I've taken - there's still a lot of WIP in the scenery, but it's getting better. I haven't come across any real new reference material in the past few years, so if anyone has any, or any observations on what might be wrong, I'm happy to amend it as much as the game allows.
I think the album goes in chronological order - the first few are frankly embarrassing, but are a useful reference for how much it has come on over the years.
in reference to bardsey station i noticed some remains of it a while back, being a cyclist and needing to wee, i was in bardsey intending to ride through to wetherby via collingham and wetherby 2nd station, the only bit of cover were the bushes between main road and cul de sac in bardsey former station area, so i shot in there with bike and coming out again got the shock of my life in a good way, now ive ridden past this spot umpteen times as i love researching old lines, any way as i came back out of the bushes i realised the concrete gate post was still there and most of the kissing gate area including white painted wood but no gates, they are heavily ivy laden but still there after what, 60 years? incredible, also the slope from the main road, that is a grass bank down to the cul de sac is not one level but 3, suggesting the road to station is still under it?, love to dig down and check,
also station masters house collingham bridge still exists with plaques commemorating those who worked line and died in war i think, modern house opposite has something railway number about it i think, and his car reg ends in RLY, co-incidence?
wetherby 2nd station now has BR eastern coloured signage in railway theme with old road signs and platform numbers on lamp posts in car park thats now its use, also a stone tower with ceramic tile pictures of station in heyday, worth a look and big shout to powers that be for having a soul
Sorry to contradict you w41tzer but the station house at Collingham Bridge station was demolished after the station closed in the 60's. The 1st house on the right in Dewar Close (named after the last station master) is approximately where the station and attached station house were. The only remaining building is 1 and 2 Station Cottages which were converted into one dwelling and have been rendered and painted white/cream - the 1st house on Beck Lane. The last occupants of No.1 Station Cottages were the Birdsall family, not sure of the occupants of No.2. The plaques commemorate the men who served/died in WW1 and are part of a Heritage Trail project identifying the people who lived in the village during the WW1
