Eastwood: P4 masterpiece
Eastwood was a small station - almost a halt - on the Calder Valley Main Line east of Todmorden.
Its facilities were limited to a set of coal drops, a siding for receiving goods, and - in 1904 - a single loop on the Up (to Manchester) side which was accessed at Dover Bridge.
The site is dominated at its western end by a faithful model of Cockden Mill. Today the mill, the house down on the main road and all the ancillary railway infrastructure has gone, leaving just the two main tracks passing through the site.
The layout has been built by Ray Hodson and fellow modellers of the South Hants Model Railway Club in Portsmouth. The final section, featuring the Mill, was only completed earlier in 2022, and the Wigan Show held 1 and 2 October was one the first occasions to see the layout in its final form.
The photos follow the layout from west to east (or if viewing the layout, from left to right).
The first photo shows the tracks curving towards Hall Royd Junction and Todmorden. Note the signal on the far left with its home and distant arms on the Up main. At Hall Royd Junction, at the entrance to Millwood Tunnel in the Down direction, is a similarly configured signal. The reason for this is that the section between Hall Royd and Eastwood has an intermediate block signal, so allowing two trains to occupy the line between the two signal boxes. The Home comes off when the section immediately ahead is clear, and the distant clears when both sections through to Hall Royd are clear. A small technical point but the curved wall marking the top of the stairs from the foot underpass at the end of the platform should be right-angled, and not curved as modelled. The mill was demolished some years ago, and the rubble bulldozed flat to allow modern bungalows to be built. Remarkably, the underpass and steps up to rail level still exist and are still accessible, but at the top of the steps where the path and a further flight of steps turned right up the hillside, the path now ends in a rough wall of rubble.
The entire area where the cottages stood has been totally cleared, and generously-sized bus lay-by now occupies the site.
Tim Brearley claims credit for briefing Powsides about the James Mitchell of Todmorden wagon. However, Tim notes that the original wisdom was that the background colour was a liught blue, as reproduced by Powsides. However, further research by the Cumbrian Society now suggests that it was a more likely dark or navy blue. But a lovely model nonetheless, and great to see the Mitchell name recorded.
The walls of the coal drops still exist, although to see them requires a winter visit when the greenery has died down. I am grateful to Google Earth for the early 2000 seasonal view of the drops.
Inset image courtesy of Google Earth
Photo of the 8F and freight heading westwards taken by the late Eric Bentley, and is a copyrighted image.
And below is another comparison image taken by Eric Bentley, with the copyright held by JK Wallace.
Copyright J K Wallace, t/a 'Hall Royd Junction' 2013-2023 email: Hall Royd Junction
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