Unidentified GWR station

[lazonbytunnel]

I’m sure someone can quickly identify it, thanks in advance!

 

[Snow1964]

Dual (Broad and standard gauge single through track), standard gauge sidings, think it might be in Mendips, but not sure where

 

[Gloster]

As it looks like dual gauge that makes it more likely Devon, Cornwall or possibly west Somerset, as that was the last bastion of dual gauge off the main lines. Much of the rest had gone by the mid-1870s.

 

[Ashley Hill]

The barge boards look B&E. Staggered platform,Dunball Halt?
To me that doesn’t look like duel gauge. The thing in the middle looks like a kind of trough (not a loco one obviously).

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The poster boards on the platform mention 'Channel Islands' , 'Bristol' and something (maps?) about 'West of England'. There is also some sort of pylon above the cutting - aerial ropeway to a quarry perhaps?

 

[30907]

The poster boards on the platform mention 'Channel Islands' , 'Bristol' and something (maps?) about 'West of England'. There is also some sort of pylon above the cutting - aerial ropeway to a quarry perhaps?

The Bristol one is Football Matches and I think the WoE one is a timetable broadsheet.

I agree there's no broad gauge and that Mendips (so the Radstock route) is plausible.

 

[Rescars]

Surely most mixed gauge track was laid on baulk road rather than conventional transverse sleepers. So no broad gauge here I think.

Does the signal tell us anything? What is it protecting? Is there a level crossing behind the photographer perhaps?

 

[Ashley Hill]

Does the signal tell us anything? What is it protecting? Is there a level crossing behind the photographer perhaps?

Only a thought, if it is Dunball Halt there is a flat rail crossing. Later pictures show a bracket signal there.

 

[Devonian]

There's a rather fuzzy photo of Dunball on this Facebook page that shows a similar layout of signal post, poster boards and building from a dfifferent angle in the foreground: https://www.facebook.com/ExeterStaf...in-the-foreground-the-/1970940332969462/?_rdr

While this map shows a layout that, if the original picture is looking north, matches the cutting, signal post (SP), shelter in the foreground and lavatory in the distance, a circular thing on a mound to the north (the 'pylon' or a chimney?) and with a road bridge across the tracks in the far distance to the north.

Georeferenced Maps viewer - Map images - National Library of Scotland

 

[Ashley Hill]

Just dug out my Middleton Press book for the area. From the attached photo I think Dunball is the winner unless anyone knows better. Newer signal,barge boards replaced,but hut and telegraph pole in background still present. Copyrights as shown.

 

[WesternLancer]

Just dug out my Middleton Press book for the area. From the attached photo I think Dunball is the winner unless anyone knows better. Copyrights as shown.
View attachment 176200

Def some similarities of layout but the brick built chimney stack seen behind the nearer building seems to be in a different location ref that timber building in the latter pic

barge boards are of a much simpler design in 1962 but could have been changed

In the earlier pic what is the tow that can be seen behind the platform building further away, that is not visible in 1961 (could have been demolished by 1961 of course).

Very interesting original picture (and an interesting 1962 picture too)

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Looks like Dunball to me - the chimney on the waiting room has lost its pot in the '62 shot - now a 'Halt' so no longer lit! The tower / chimney in the left background is part of the cement works which was on both sides of the line.

 

[lazonbytunnel]

Many thanks for all the replies, very interesting and informative as ever.

 

[WesternLancer]

Looks like Dunball to me - the chimney on the waiting room has lost its pot in the '62 shot - now a 'Halt' so no longer lit! The tower / chimney in the left background is part of the cement works which was on both sides of the line.

Thanks for addressing my points.

 

[stuving]

One difference that struck me between the two pictures (assuming it is Dunball) is that there is no sign of the ramp in the older one. Man and dog would have been on the slope if the profile was the same, and they don't seem to show that. But then platforms have got quite a bit higher since the 1870s, and I think that was what led to ramps becoming almost universal.

But if that did happen, what would be done to the station buildings? Raising the floor isn't too hard, but were more major works such as raising door lintels or even roofs at all common? Comparing the pictures of the nearer building, the height from the ground to the window was similar to the window's height, and later it was noticeably less.

The boarding on the walls has also been replaced, using narrower boards, and some of the other changes could be part of this ground-raising process. On the other hand, the window has got appreciably narrower, which seems unlikely.

 

[Rescars]

One difference that struck me between the two pictures (assuming it is Dunball) is that there is no sign of the ramp in the older one. Man and dog would have been on the slope if the profile was the same, and they don't seem to show that. But then platforms have got quite a bit higher since the 1870s, and I think that was what led to ramps becoming almost universal.

But if that did happen, what would be done to the station buildings? Raising the floor isn't too hard, but were more major works such as raising door lintels or even roofs at all common? Comparing the pictures of the nearer building, the height from the ground to the window was similar to the window's height, and later it was noticeably less.

The boarding on the walls has also been replaced, using narrower boards, and some of the other changes could be part of this ground-raising process. On the other hand, the window has got appreciably narrower, which seems unlikely.

There are challenges in resolving some of the details in the original photo. Is the way the gap apparently widens between the platform edge and the track in the foreground indicative of a ramp? It's tricky to be certain of the window's dimensions, seeing how part of it is obscured by the signal post.

 

[stuu]

One difference that struck me between the two pictures (assuming it is Dunball) is that there is no sign of the ramp in the older one. Man and dog would have been on the slope if the profile was the same, and they don't seem to show that. But then platforms have got quite a bit higher since the 1870s, and I think that was what led to ramps becoming almost universal.

The old photo looks like it was taken from the bottom of the ramp - there's a slight in the platform edge near the dog, and also the legs of the noticeboard get longer towards the camera

 

[Rescars]

As an aside, how often do station staff bring their pets to work these days, let alone play with them on the platform?

 

[WesternLancer]

Bolts friend Buddy (cats at Huddersfield) is I believe owned by a staff member and makes regular visits to the station to see Bolt.

 

[Pigeon]

One difference that struck me between the two pictures (assuming it is Dunball) is that there is no sign of the ramp in the older one. Man and dog would have been on the slope if the profile was the same, and they don't seem to show that. But then platforms have got quite a bit higher since the 1870s, and I think that was what led to ramps becoming almost universal.

There is, and they are: the slope starts at the line running across the platform just behind them. However the platform has almost certainly been raised by the time of the second picture.

I don't think it's the 1870s; I think it's the early part of the 20th century, from the look of the bloke and his uniform and the design of the GWR posters, though I am a bit hazy about such things.

But if that did happen, what would be done to the station buildings? Raising the floor isn't too hard, but were more major works such as raising door lintels or even roofs at all common? Comparing the pictures of the nearer building, the height from the ground to the window was similar to the window's height, and later it was noticeably less.

The boarding on the walls has also been replaced, using narrower boards, and some of the other changes could be part of this ground-raising process. On the other hand, the window has got appreciably narrower, which seems unlikely.

The building nearer the camera seems to have had pretty well all the wooden parts replaced (on the cheap, too; GWR in the 30s?), but I don't find that particularly surprising; platform raised or not, it would be pretty unusual for the original timber to have lasted all the way up to the time of the second picture. It wants to be a tree again so it gradually turns back into carbon dioxide and water in the hope of getting re-photosynthesised. The window has been changed from one with 6 square-ish panes to 3 definitely rectangular ones, but I don't think it's much if any narrower, not that there's any particular reason why it should stay the exact same width of its own accord with all the replacement that's gone on around it.

 

[norbitonflyer]

In the earlier pic what is the tow that can be seen behind the platform building further away, that is not visible in 1961 (could have been demolished by 1961 of course).

I don't think that's a tower behind the further building. It looks to me like a lamp, (possibly gas?) and probably bracketted out from the further corner of the nearer building