Location Quiz

[Gary]

Maybe someone should splash out on this?

[Robin Summerhill]

But thanks Chris for coming over from the Southern Email Group to have a look....

Well, somebody mentioned the word 'Wells'

I still can't work out the apparent relationship of railway, crossing, road, and distant buildings. Can anyway post up a quick sketch of their impression of the overall layout, that might help to jog the memory further?

Repost from page 2. Have a look at the Old Maps website in the way I describe, and its better if you use the enhanced zoom facility

I've looked again on the Old Maps site http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html

Enter Wells in the search box, select Wells Somerset when prompted, move the pointer to the roundabout at the juinction of Priory Road/ Glastonbury Road/ Strawberry Way, then look at the 1903 pre WWII option on the right hand side. Then zoom in on the crossing itself.

Before the remodelling, there was actually only a single track that crossed the road, and there appears to be a roadway/ area of tarmac on the north east side that gave access to the goods shed/ gas works.

Initially the angles stack up, in that if you stood on the small area of land between Priory Road station and the crossing, you could (in those days before the Tincknells building went up) get an angle on the workhouse in the back ground exactly as it appears in the photograph.

The trouble is, when you then examine such things as the shadows cast by the subjects, and the relative position of a building or a gateway just the other side of the crossing, Wells ceases to stack up. Either that or we're not reading the clues correctly.

I could bung a spanner in the works and mention the fact that OS maps are sometimes not 100% correct (I've come across a few examples in my work over the years), but that would be plumbing new depths of trying to make the facts fit the theory in this case

But all that said, Wells is the best fit we've come up with so far and nowehere else that I've looked at comes remotely close to it. I don't know if other members are ferreting about in the archives as well, but if they are they're not putting forward any alternative suggestions and they're generally keeping quiet about their research!

[AndyK]

My first impression when I saw the picture was that something about it reminded me of the WC&PR, but I have no idea yet whereabouts on there it might be - but maybe some other 'minor' railway?

One of the first possibilities that struck me was WC&P, but on reflection I felt that the level crossing gate seemed rather too heavy duty for a minor railway such as that. Indeed I think the WC&P had notoriously poor protection at its crossings, resulting in a number of nasty accidents during its career.

One thought that crossed my mind just now was the Barnstaple area - either the Bideford or the Ilfracombe line running on low-lying land alongside the Taw estuary with plenty of scope for level crossings - although I've also just recalled that the Ilfracombe branch was double track, so may may be ruled out. Has anyone investigated that possibility?

[Robin Summerhill]

My first impression when I saw the picture was that something about it reminded me of the WC&PR, but I have no idea yet whereabouts on there it might be - but maybe some other 'minor' railway?

One of the first possibilities that struck me was WC&P, but on reflection I felt that the level crossing gate seemed rather too heavy duty for a minor railway such as that. Indeed I think the WC&P had notoriously poor protection at its crossings, resulting in a number of nasty accidents during its career.

One thought that crossed my mind just now was the Barnstaple area - either the Bideford or the Ilfracombe line running on low-lying land alongside the Taw estuary with plenty of scope for level crossings - although I've also just recalled that the Ilfracombe branch was double track, so may may be ruled out. Has anyone investigated that possibility?

The various websites on the WCP do mention that most crossings were ungated, but also that a few were installed in its later years. In truth, the WCP would be a very good contender because of its oblique crossing in front of Clevedon GWR station and also an oblique crossing over the Walton Road. The trouble is the Old Maps website doesn't show any buildings in the background that would be likely to match "ours." "Clevedon Labour Exchange" is quite close to the WCP but, if it were to be that, there would be an image of the GWR Goods shed in the shot as well.

And yes, I did look at Barnstaple, including the L&B leaving the town, but once again our building wasn't there.

I should have mentioned this in last night's post about where I've been looking, but I've got to the stage where I've done so much research I'm forgetting what I have done

[AndyK]

I wonder if this might be a useful resource for checking out possible locations http://www.francisfrith.com/england/

[BristleGWR]

After spending many hours looking through this workhouses web site I've come across this...

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html ... rest.shtml

... it needs looking at a bit more closely but at the moment I think this is the location.

[madhattie]

Cracked it! Amazing. Well done

[sideways]

I knew the location all along but I thought I would see how long it would take you lot to find out(tongue in cheek)!

[jules]

After spending many hours looking through this workhouses web site I've come across this...

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html ... rest.shtml

... it needs looking at a bit more closely but at the moment I think this is the location.

I do believe you have! The road is at the right angle, the church is in the correct place, the buildings look correct, the siding (and buffer stop) appear correct from the map and I believe if the church was to the north, the sun angles from the south would make it lunchtime/early afternoon?

Even the trees match that seaside / New Forest look ...

Amazing work!! I await Robin's comments with interest - this must be the only location in the whole SW of England he missed!

[Robin Summerhill]

I knew the location all along but I thought I would see how long it would take you lot to find out(tongue in cheek)!

Why does Captain Mainwaring spring to mind?

I think Ian has cracked it. The building is the right shape, there is indeed a church next to it and in the right position, and during the time period we are talking about there was a level crossing at Lyndhurst Road. The Old Maps web site shows that a bridge had relaced the level crossing by 1930. I have posed the question on SEmG (Southern e-mail group) whether anybody knows exactly when the bridge was installed, but I haven't had any suggestions yet.

I was looking "straight through" this location in my research because the maps I was looking at (dating from after WW2) show the bridge, of course, and not the level crossing.

A close examination of the correct period OS map also shows that there was a siding on the south-east side of the line at the time, so we can even explain those stop blocks.

My only concern remaining is that, if I say that the location is definitely Lyndhurst Road, does that make it automatically wrong?

[Robin Summerhill]

Amazing work!! I await Robin's comments with interest - this must be the only location in the whole SW of England he missed!

A post "crossed in the post" there

[jules]

I was looking "straight through" this location in my research because the maps I was looking at (dating from after WW2) show the bridge, of course, and not the level crossing.

We should be kicking ourselves! None of us thought of a bridge replacement, especially when bridge replacements for LCs was a priority in some places during 30's & onwards as road traffic levels rose ...

I'm thinking we can put this one to bed now I'll tell shipscompass ...

[jules]

Message from shipscompass:

This may be of little use but the other photos from the set include the following motorcycles and sidecars from the same era. Again not of much help but the chap in uniform has been identified as serving with the Royal Artillery. For what its worth I do not think that the photo was taken outside of the UK as no others in the complete collection are. Please thank the forum members for their efforts in trying to identify the location; I await with interest any further deliberations.

Reg: Y 2918 m/c and Sidecar
Reg: YA 1198 m/c and sidecar
Reg; AE 6880 Indian m/c

The set is here:
www.flickr.com/photos/glosters/sets/721 ... 427944124/

I've had the pleasure of telling him BristoleGWR and BRA found his location

[railwest]

According to RA Cooke, the level-crossing at Lyndhurst Road was replaced by a bridge in Aug 1932.

In all our previous discussions we seem to have been agreed on the fact that crossing was over a single-track railway, although I did wonder about this on occasions. But Lyndhurst Road was double track from the 1860s onwards.

I've had a look, but been unable to find any suitable photographs of the location or comparison - in fact, LR seems very scarce in railway books, only 2 pix found!

[jules]

In all our previous discussions we seem to have been agreed on the fact that crossing was over a single-track railway, although I did wonder about this on occasions.

Please don't bring it into doubt now - I don't think I could stand another round!

I think, from the picture, it is not easy to see if it is single or double track ... I've not found a detailed enough map of Lyndhurst Road that shows the track layout in that era clearly enough ...