Holt Junction

[Wiltshiresaint]

After a little deliberation I've finally decided on which station I'm going to base my first ever layout, and I've selected Holt Junction.

Holt Junction - like so many, lost in the Beeching cuts - was on GWR's London to Westbury main line, and was the northern end of the Devizes branch line. It had reasonable passenger and freight movements, some nice buildings, and seems about the right size for my first attempt at railway modelling. I live in Devizes and know the villages on the line well, including Holt.

My next step is to obtain a detailed track plan during my selected era (just prior to WWI) from the GWR archive at Didcot. Once I have that it should be apparent if I have sufficient space to fit another station on the layout, Bromham & Rowde Halt, which was just three stations down the branch line from Holt.

If anyone can advise of any other potential sources for actual GWR track layouts where I may find Holt Junction I'd really appreciate it. I have the Millstream Publication 'GWR to Devizes' but the scale OS maps in the book just aren't quite large enough to see sufficient detail.

[m.levin]

Hi

My layout is modelled on a station that was closed as part of beachings axe, but reopened in 1983.
The station was completely flattened and replaced by a wooden platform, bus shelter type. Far from the original station, with many stone buildings, sidings and goods sheds.
Like many old stations, removed by beaching, photos are limited.
I perchased ordnance survey maps, from eBay for about £5, of the area.
I then googled the station.
I also searched EBay for the station and found a number of photos of the station, for sale.
Research takes time and does seem to be a bit of a waiting game, as new photos will come and go, so regular searching is advised.

Good luck and hope this helps

[Ex-Pat]

If anyone can advise of any other potential sources for actual GWR track layouts where I may find Holt Junction I'd really appreciate it. I have the Millstream Publication 'GWR to Devizes' but the scale OS maps in the book just aren't quite large enough to see sufficient detail.

Is this of any use?

http://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/gwb/S389.htm

(Looks a very interesting track plan!)

[Wiltshiresaint]

If anyone can advise of any other potential sources for actual GWR track layouts where I may find Holt Junction I'd really appreciate it. I have the Millstream Publication 'GWR to Devizes' but the scale OS maps in the book just aren't quite large enough to see sufficient detail.

Is this of any use?

http://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/gwb/S389.htm

(Looks a very interesting track plan!)

Thanks Ex-Pat, that's really useful. I'll see if I can find a detailed plan elsewhere, but for £20-odd quid I now know I can get a pretty detailed plan and signalling information. Not sure what year that's from though, will need to do a bit of digging. The station track layout is certainly interesting enough to give me quite a lot of interesting goods movements, as well as the main line and branch line passenger traffic.

Interesting tips m.levin, thanks for those although I'm gradually making my way down the same research route. Found some nice old photos on eBay which are helpful for modelling the station buildings.

[Bufferstop]

Check if either the OS 1:500 or 1:1250 plans cover your planned area. They aren't cheap so the next step is to find out about local archives, your county or district council may have an archive of past editions of these plans at the reference library or with a local historical charity. I found large scale plans for the whole of our village in the 1930s in the library of the Shakespeare study centre. They showed the track plan of the station in better detail than most layout plans and they will usually copy as much or as little of them as you need, for a lot less than buying the whole thing.

[End2end]

I have an excellent Oxfam shop in my local town which is roughly 60-70% books. I was in there today in fact.
I'm not sure how old they were but they had many old os maps. I wonder if a chairty shop would be a good resource for older maps for you?
Hope it helps
Thanks
End2end

[Ex-Pat]

Not sure what year that's from though, will need to do a bit of digging.

I think that may be the date in the bottom right hand corner, which possibly reads "GWR 16 - 2 - 36" ??

The Signalling Records Society always attend the Warley Exhibition in November (may attend others as well of course) but there's no harm in asking them what date applies to their plan?

[luckymucklebackit]

Have a look here http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by- ... ht=BingHyb

also try the old-maps.co.uk website for later years.

Jim

[Wiltshiresaint]

Have a look here http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by- ... ht=BingHyb

also try the old-maps.co.uk website for later years.

Jim

Brilliant! Thanks for the link, really useful and love the 'before and now' aspect.

[Wiltshiresaint]

Not sure what year that's from though, will need to do a bit of digging.

I think that may be the date in the bottom right hand corner, which possibly reads "GWR 16 - 2 - 36" ??

The Signalling Records Society always attend the Warley Exhibition in November (may attend others as well of course) but there's no harm in asking them what date applies to their plan?

Thanks Ex-Pat, very eagle eyed!