The Welshpool Narrows re-born on the WGLR.

Congratulations, a fantastic build, with a fantastic result. I cannot find a station building that suits my need so I may have a stab at using these techniques. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers Garry
 
yb281 said:
Many thanks for posting that photo. I've been wanting to post something similar to show people who don't know about Welshpool what I've been prattling on about, but the only photos I have are copyrighted.
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I personally missed the Narrows by a few months; when I arrived in Welshpool to photograph them, the cottages had just been demolished following a flood a couple of months beforehand. Have to confess my photo comes from a 54 year old publication, the title now long out of print.

These are the pictures I took on that occasion

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This one is almost exactly the same as the earlier one I found in an ancient copy of MRN.

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This shows what had been the street side of Armada Cottages

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Just beyond was a wide road junction that was a stopping place called Seven Stars, after the nearby pub. This was often the site of the unofficial "re-parking" of cars blocking the progress of train in later years. Ballard's garage (then a reepair workshop) on the right.

These and more pictures of the line from the same visit are in a Welshpool & Llanfair thread in the Full Sized Railways section of the Forum.
 
garrymartin said:
Congratulations, a fantastic build, with a fantastic result. I cannot find a station building that suits my need so I may have a stab at using these techniques. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers Garry
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That's a very good point Gerry. Finding a method of building the cottages from scratch has given me the confidence to have a go at modelling any building I fancy now. I'm already having a look at some of my existing buildings and thinking about replacing them, plus I have quite a few photos of buildings that I've fancied building, but could never make my mind up about the best way of doing it.


In the short term I'm thinking of replacing most of my stone walls, building a lychgate for the church and replacing the Tuxcraft factory with a cattle market.
 
Stainzmeister said:
Great modelling and great pics. :bigsmile:

Perhaps its time for you to buy a digital system Mel so you can get some smoking loco pics in the narrows ?....and add street lights for night pics too ! (Ideal for day and night pics).
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Cheers Paul. I must admit, I think it's pretty unlikely that I'll make much of an investment in track power in the future. I'm really pretty well sold on battery power now.
 
I love the old pictures, and the fact Mel has resurected something lost. Wonder if any residents of the cottages are still alive, be fantastic to show them.
 
CoggesRailway said:
I love the old pictures, and the fact Mel has resurected something lost. Wonder if any residents of the cottages are still alive, be fantastic to show them.
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Funnily enough Ian, I emailed the local archaeological trust last night to see if they had any further info on this part of Welshpool last night (like where the name Armada Cottages came from). So you never know? Failing that, maybe a letter in the local paper might come up with something? I'll let you know if I have any success.
 
yb281 said:
CoggesRailway said:
I love the old pictures, and the fact Mel has resurected something lost. Wonder if any residents of the cottages are still alive, be fantastic to show them.
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Funnily enough Ian, I emailed the local archaeological trust last night to see if they had any further info on this part of Welshpool last night (like where the name Armada Cottages came from). So you never know? Failing that, maybe a letter in the local paper might come up with something? I'll let you know if I have any success.
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Spooky!! By the way I didn't go for any of those flat cars and Phil hasn't pm'd me yet.
 
CoggesRailway said:
yb281 said:
CoggesRailway said:
I love the old pictures, and the fact Mel has resurected something lost. Wonder if any residents of the cottages are still alive, be fantastic to show them.
Click to expand...


Funnily enough Ian, I emailed the local archaeological trust last night to see if they had any further info on this part of Welshpool last night (like where the name Armada Cottages came from). So you never know? Failing that, maybe a letter in the local paper might come up with something? I'll let you know if I have any success.
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Spooky!! By the way I didn't go for any of those flat cars and Phil hasn't pm'd me yet.
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Cheers mate :thumbup:.
 
yb281 said:
Those photos are excellent Giles, but quite sad at the same time. What year were they taken? Many thanks again for posting them.
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Yes, they are rather melancholy; I did wonder whether to post them here at all, or to start another thread! Edit - they are now on a new thread in Full Sized Railways. I think the pictures date from 1971 or thereabouts when the W&L was only open as far as Castle Caereinion. By then the town section had been lifted - it certainly had in the Narrows and up through the estate, though there might still have been some track in the BR goods yard. At Raven Square there was a buffer stop beyong the roundabout and very overgrown track heading off into the undergrowth.

If I can find confirmation of the date I'lll alter this post later.

Luckily my next visit was much cheerier, as it coincided with the official re-opening to Raven Square.
 
Mel you've had me hooked for the last few hours re reading this post, Trying to trace the old track on Google Earth and searching the web. It seems a shame there is very little to be found on the net in fact your brillent efforts appear more than any other information, one thing did hit me though is how important the preservation of historical buildings is as the present Welshpool from Google earth street view is a boring new town wasteland compared to the few old photos ive seen and that your trying to recreate,
i take it the shops where the track came out of have gone, were they just down from the church ?
And i know we are all busy but have you thought about posting your information and photos on Earth it would be great to be able to see where things were
Great work top man
Tony
 
Thanks Tony. One side of the shops on Church Street are still there. The other side were demolished to make way for the new road junction seen in the photo. The red line shows where the railway used to run.

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As for the info about how the railway fitted in with what Welshpool looks like now, I'm beginning to think that Giles' idea of a completely new thread might be a good idea? It seems that many of us have got plenty of pics and info that might be useful for people visiting the town and/or the modern W&L so that they can trace the railway's former route?
 
yb281 said:
As for the info about how the railway fitted in with what Welshpool looks like now, I'm beginning to think that Giles' idea of a completely new thread might be a good idea? It seems that many of us have got plenty of pics and info that might be useful for people visiting the town and/or the modern W&L so that they can trace the railway's former route?
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I agree, Mel; I think it would be a good idea to detach the historical pictures from your thread. I've sorted out some more of my early 1970s era snaps and will scan them into the pc as soon as I can and will then start a new thread. OK if I remove the three posted earlier to the new site once I get it up?
 
C&S said:
yb281 said:
As for the info about how the railway fitted in with what Welshpool looks like now, I'm beginning to think that Giles' idea of a completely new thread might be a good idea? It seems that many of us have got plenty of pics and info that might be useful for people visiting the town and/or the modern W&L so that they can trace the railway's former route?
Click to expand...

I agree, Mel; I think it would be a good idea to detach the historical pictures from your thread. I've sorted out some more of my early 1970s era snaps and will scan them into the pc as soon as I can and will then start a new thread. OK if I remove the three posted earlier to the new site once I get it up?
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How about leaving them here so that all the responses still makes sense, but also posting them in the new thread Giles? Really looking forward to the rest of your pics.
 
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