Bollington: a new era!

[steam for ever]

Oh and I might put the vid on railway forum.TV at some point.
This will be a while after it has been put on the website.
I am going to have a look at the station at bollington soon, and will go into more detail with this.
There are a few things to be looked at here.
Because of the nature of the proposed site, the station will not be massive anyway.
As a terminus, it will most likley have 2 platforms, but at an angle and the station will have a modest wating room and cafe.
This is the area which was the run up to the original station.
There is some space as it is a raised section, so we will put in a retainig wall to gain extra space.

[steam for ever]

I come to the point of Higher poynton.
Here the original platforms exist in perfect condition, but as a narrow gauge line they are far too high.
Would anyone object in raising the trackbed to work around this and bringing platform height to suit this?
This would involve lining the surface of the platform sides with clay and basically burying it up to a better hieght for us.

Should we do this and alter an original artifact?
We would put in steel struts into the original trackbed to support the extra weight and also put these steel posts along the platform wall for it to cope with it.

Is changing the the only surviving station be acceptable?
Note that the platforms would not be destroyed, but it will not be possible to see all of them, so it will look like purpose built platforms although original.

Should we do this, or would it be condemmed among people on the forum.
I would be very greatful for your help on this one.

[John H-T]

Raising the track bed could cause you all sorts of problems. Would it be possible to build the narrow gauge platform on the other side of the track and keep the standard gauge platform as a feature?

Best wishes,

John H-T.

[steam for ever]

Hmm.
Well I suppose that we could put flags down inbetween the platforms to create one plat form and let the standard gauge platforms stay as they are.
Anyway the full size ones would not change, but you would not be able to see all of them.
We do need a passing loop around here though.
Any suggestions.
This is one of the tough bits.

[John H-T]

If you have an island platform it solves the problem of the passing loop!

Best wishes,

John H-T.

[steam for ever]

OK, well it might be difficult to fit all this between two standard gauge platforms.
It might work except the station might look a bit strange and how wll the passengers get down?

In order to keep things simple, raising the trackbed seems to be an appealing option.
The only thing is that people may not go for this.

With limited space we are pretty much stuck.
Remember there is the path to think about here as well.
We plan to route that around the back of the platforms.
Oh and now the crest is completed.
It is only a prototype and is coloured with water colours so is a bit untidy around the edges.
I am going to fix this as soon as I can.
The saying on it is "Live the dream of many a year"
What do you think?

[steam for ever]

When it comes to the eventual buying of our own steam loco, we were thinking of a quarry class 0-4-0.
Hunslet make them new again, but they are a tad expensive for a small loco.
The west lancs line may be able to help us on this one and help us with the first services while we save up for one.
£130,000?
For that little thing?
They are nice but they are not exactly blessed by the pope are they?
Considering how much a G5 is costing.
We wont argue too much.
We realise that they need to make a living.
I am purchasing a manual of one of these soon to familiarise ourselves with the controls.
Being narrow gauge they are quite often obscure.

Something we will come to soon is drivers, but that is still to be discussed.

[John H-T]

As a matter of interest SFE how much track do you have laid? You may find you need Deisels in the early stages, at least for construction work!

Best wishes,

John H-T.

[steam for ever]

A few things for you.
As I have said the council are not saying no, but also not saying yes.
We have a bit of track in our possesion along with a bit of ballast to go with it.
Deisel would be nice I suppose, however if it is viable, we will try a bit of real steam shunting and track trains.
Track has not been laid to date but that could soon change.
Our phase one plan is complete.

Trains will start from a station on the old station approach.
Then trains will go about 300 yards to where the viaduct begins.
Trains will cross the viaduct and will go for a short distace of about 300- 400 yards along the line where there will be a temporary run round.
This track section is about a quarter of a mile.
Not bad we dont think.
There will also be a temp shed at this end.
Once completed the sheds will be at the Marple end.
We have some more track soon to be delivered.
After phase one we hope to fight our way along to poynton.
By fight I mean flattening the ground and laying track of course.
We will hold an event for the first loco on the rails and there will be a chance to join us at the first meetings.

Everything is taking shape now.
We are at the no going back stage, not that we would want to.
We are doing really well.

[steam for ever]

I am soon going to get in touch with the mational trust.
This is for the lyme park trips.
I have pretty much narrowed down the Higher Poynton station problem.
There are two options.
1. is to raise the trackbed with the method I have described.
2. is to use the old servicing steps part way down each platform and have a lower down set of platfroms inbetween the originals.
I realise that narrow gauge trains are narrower than standard gauge ones, so hopefull there will be enough room for this.
The proposed buildings here are going to be pretty much replicas of the originals as well as new canopies.