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Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:50 am
by horace
The other book that had a picture of Mangotsfield but i must admit was more train than station was the book called Bristol to Bath green park, if i remember correctly. I am afraid my copy of that book was left in a house on the edge of the Gobi desert in 2000, seriously.
is this the garage
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:39 am
by Blandford1969
I came across this one showing 45614 leaving, in the foreground just inside a wall is a garge.
http://semaphore.avonvalleyrailway.org/ ... field.html , which i presume is the station masters.
Going back to the first link, i suddenly noticed that lightening the photo shows the door to the gents (thanks for the info Robin, I can clearly now see in the areial photo where they were. Is the ornamental wall on the line of the rear of the gents?) On that areial photo the outline of the next room can just be seen, and on the first link is a door which says Booking Hall and waiting rooms. I take it this means there was a door from at least two sides (and maybe one from the Bath platforms)
In the first link again (from my previous post), in front of that door again by lightening it you can just see the clock and below it the water fountain.
Kind regards
Duncan
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:29 pm
by Robin Summerhill
One thing that is becoming ever more apparent in the posts on this thread is that there is a wealth of photographic records out there that are not easily accessed at a central point. We have a lot on this site, but they are also all over the place on photography websites, Google Earth, Avon Valley Railway etc etc.
Its a pity we can't centralise them somewhere
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:31 pm
by horace
Yes that's it, the yard area that is in front of the garage was separate from the the station access road and was entered through the gate immediately to the side and in front of the garage.
What does no show in a lot of photographs is the fact that to the side of the station was a very steep slope that in many places was bare rock. Along the bottom of this slope was a concrete fence/ barrier to stop falling rocks landing on the tracks/ trains.
There is still probably more
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 1:10 pm
by Blandford1969
I agree with that. Do you think they would be willing for their images to be used on this web site?.
Does anyone know what this book "Disused Railway Stations in Bristol, Bath and South Gloucestershire: Bath Green Park Railway Station, Mangotsfield Railway Station " has in terms of photos or drawings?
This one is rather nice showing the detail of the buildings once the canopies had been destroyed. Now if this one were blown up it would really show pleanty of the detail for a drawing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10163027@N05/3480962022
look forward to all the other useful leads

Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:37 pm
by horace
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:05 pm
by horace
Duncan you need to persuade emmdee on Flickr to add you as a friend that way you can download the photo at its full resolution which is 1960 x 1360 pixels, its quite big.
Withe respect to the disused stations book, are you referring to one published by the now defunct Avon County council back in the 80's, if so i would try the Bristol central library if you are in that area sometime. If you are not referring to the book i mentioned there is another lead.
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:45 pm
by horace
Now to my memories of the station, as far as i can remember the bay window was for the waiting room and it had a fireplace. the booking hall was behind this.
There was then an arch on both platforms that led to a large area between the platforms where the porters kept trolleys etc., if i remember correctly there was also a pair of scales. I am sure it was from this area that the access to the stationmasters house was gained, i cannot remember a access through the high wall that ran along side the footpath that ran between the platforms on the north end. As i see more photographs more comes back to me, i will write it up as it comes, but we are talking nearly 50 years ago!!
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:27 pm
by Robin Summerhill
horace wrote:
What does no show in a lot of photographs is the fact that to the side of the station was a very steep slope that in many places was bare rock.
Many happy days spent sitting on a shelf of that rock, train spotting

Totally agree
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:32 pm
by Blandford1969
Yes, that photo is probably one of the best as you can zoom in on the detail. What is now becoming clear is that the architecture is very simple.
Both platforms on either side of the main building are the same width, with all the columns on all the platforms being a consistent distance from the edge of the platform.
The window heights are consistent, although I think the doors might be slightly different.
I have emailed Emmdee to ask about her photo and offered to let her post some of mine, which I will get posted here as well. I have e mailed four photos for inclusion on this site and have uploaded them to Flickr here. They do need some work.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29644579@N07/4838263070/
Its usefull now knowing the waiting room was at the front of the building which adds up based on the photographic evidence. I have found that book on sale and e mailed a seller to ask them what is in it. You never know it might give up some usefull details.
This station and its details are really coming to life, what else is out there?
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:10 pm
by horace
I have photographs of the windows etc that you should be able to get a size from as there is a person standing by them,. i will post them on Flickr as soon as i can. I took them in Aug 2004 for a potential model of Mangotsfield.
Thanks
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:18 pm
by Blandford1969
Cheers for that, any photos would be good.
I have found some drawings of MR canopies from which I can scale and work out the width of the platforms and all of the canopies.
As I do drawings (I am going to try to use CAD) i will post them. Being my first it may take me some time.
Hope you liked my shots of Mangotsfield, I don' t think i've got any more but I am still going through all my station negs
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:24 pm
by horace
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:32 pm
by horace
A wonderful station for cad. I would suggest making a block of the windows and if you can find the spacing you have it a complete wall. The columns will be at right angles to the piers all at standard centres. I wish you well with what you are doing and would love to see the result.
Got to learn CAD !
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:42 pm
by Blandford1969
Agree totally, the Midland were good at repeating patterns, I've just got to learn how to use it.
Then its just trying to figure out what the rear wall of the BO looked like, the covered way and the buildings inside the walls.
I've e mailed English Heritage to ask if they have any aerial photos, we will see