photographs by David Ford & Mike Wild, Editor Hornby Magazine.

BASH STREET, Nether Thorpe
Thursday, 12th November 1959

So where is Bash Street, Nether Thorpe?

Just to the north of Chesterfield, which never grew beyond a small parish with a funny church, there is a complex of railway lines near Sheepbridge served by the Midland and Great Central railways, with routes going off all over the place. One in particular goes to the west towards Barlow Brook, which is straddled by my fictional Nether Thorpe.

This has been an industrial and coal mining area since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, initially making nails and early textile machinery. From the beginning of the 19th century when it became a borough, Nether Thorpe boasted several coal mines, iron foundries and boilermakers. It was reluctantly connected to the railway network in 1856 and has grown substantially into a large town. The line, still known as “The Joint” by the older members of the community, was built as single track, by the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire (later becoming the Great Central) and the Midland Railways. It was initially terminated at Bash Street, where a station was built. Some 20 years later the Midland expanded westwards with two lines to Beeley / Rowsley and Baslow, up the valley to Grindleford. Unfortunately their cash shortage, caused by the building of the Settle & Carlisle, restricted both to single tracks.

Bash Street, with its level crossing and Mission, is the busy main road between Derby and Sheffield (A61) and passes the west end of the station and goods yards.

Coal is mined from the “Alma” thick seam which runs north to south under the western edge of the town. Several pits were sunk by The Netherthorpe Colliery Co, now owned by the NCB, being the only one remaining. Coal still brought out via the No 1 shaft and passed to BR at the interchange yard and taken away via “The Joint”.

In the mid 1860's Frederick Bash founded, what was to eventually become the town’s largest employer, the "Bash Boiler, Wagon & Locomotive Works Limited". Situated on Barlow Road, “The Works” has had a chequered history of ownership. It was reluctantly bought in 1912 by the pre-grouping Railway Companies who had built “The Joint”. Subsequently it became British Railways “Nether Thorpe Carriage & Wagon Works”.

Much however has changed. Whilst the branch as far as Nether Thorpe looks like it had a secure future, the westward tracks had closed progressively from the early 1950s and finally in late 1958. The town is prospering, “The Works" is very busy repairing and making British Railways Coaches, including new Mk 1’’s. The National Coal Board has just invested some £450,000 in new coal cutting machines. The station signal box has been repainted and the line is supported by a vigorous pro public transport Labour Council. The town is served by the Midland and North Eastern regions, with passenger trains from around the East Midlands, South Yorkshire and beyond.

However, inevitably, the axe has fallen; a passenger closure notice has been issued with Sunday 26th March 1960, to be the day of the last train. In view of the productive nature of both the pit and “The Works”, Freight, Mineral, Parcels and some excursion traffic is expected to remain.

Numerous buses from Midland General, East Midlands and Trent, with the odd Mini and Anglia show the competition is rapidly gaining ground.

The Layout

It has been built in two distinct phases; To the Station and Bash Street itself, followed by the Coal Interchange yard.

Bash Street, started life in 1998, and was then successfully exhibited in late 1999 and subsequently attended several venues around the South East of England. However due work commitments I moved away from Buckingham to the Stafford area in 2003 and, as a result, all further work stopped. After considerable modification to the buildings, the Station, Goods Yard and “The Works” section was shown at Stafford Railway Circles’ exhibition in 2004. A small scenic board for Bash Street itself was added in 2005 with work starting in mid 2006 on Phase 2. After some very hectic sessions a coal interchange yard, designed with tracks on five levels was completed. The now 23’ (7.0m) long layout being first exhibited in October 2006.

Track

The Station area and fiddle yard has Peco Finescale Code 75 track, accepting the incorrect sleeper spacing, disguising the fact by quite heavy ballasting and weathering. The coal interchange yard uses Peco Code 100, as I had a good stock of track and points; again it is effectively disguised by ballasts and grime. The track was painted overall using dark brown emulsion, spraying “Track Grime” and wiping off the top surface. This gives it a well rusted look and darkens the ballast very effectively.

Electrics

On each of the 6 main baseboards the track is split into sections, with each one having a selector switch on two control panels. DCC was not easily available when we designed the layout so we used standard 0 – 12 volt DC for locomotive power.

On the station boards there are 6 sections on the 4 boards plus 7 isolated rails at the end of sidings etc. Each point (there are 11) has a sprung centre off switch set so that you move the point in the direction of the switch. The points are all electrofrog on these boards, with the “frog” switch mounted on Peco point motors. 4 x 25 way cables connect these boards to the Station panel.

The coal interchange yard is based upon the same principle, with 7 sections plus 7 isolated rails all wired back to another small control panel. The points (here are 10) operate in the same manner as the station boards, but the frog polarity is changed by the point blades. 2 x 25 way cables connect these boards to their panel.

There is, however, a connection between the two control panels, so that one controller on the station panel can work on all the sections on all the 7 boards. This allows trains to go across the whole layout without having to change controllers. This allows three trains/locomotives to move at the same time.

For safety, the mains supply is kept off the boards and out of the control panels. A fully protected power box with all the necessary transformers, CDU and Relco units sits on the floor. We use hand held feedback controllers and have had no trouble with any locomotive motors. Therefore the only power on the boards is the 12 volt DC, the Relco outputs when switched on, and the point impulse.

Scenics

If you can remember back to an Industrial England, you will recall that in 1959 it wasn’t very clean. So the buildings around the Works, Station and Bash Street show the grime and many need tender loving care. The Coal Interchange Yard is, not surprisingly, deep in coal, with some ash and lots of grass covered ballast and even the occasional dead tree!

Buildings

This is a real mixture with “Townstreet”, for the station buildings and the builder’s yard; Ratio for the Goods Shed and one Signal Box; an Airfix Engine Shed; “Skaledale” for the second Box; and some 12 cast resin cottages, a pub and shops with a mysterious past. The works and bridge are scratch built using both Balsa and MDF, all covered with brick and stone paper. The roads are cobbled and tarmac with correct period road signs.

Rolling Stock

About 20 locomotives are used for the sequence, plus some spares as a “just in case” situation, are taken to exhibitions. They are all from the period, with a few interesting end of life types, including a Midland Compound and 2P (4-4-0).The rest are the usual variety, ranging from a “Caley Pug” as the works shunter, through Black Fives, B1s, J39, J94, with various tank engines and some Standard 4 & 5 to Class 8 & 9Fs and WDs. All are weathered and modified RTR, with some kits.  In 1959 not many diesels get to Nether Thorpe, but the ones that do include 20, 24, 31 and possibly a 44, with shunters all in a nice dirty green colour.   

Passenger Coaches – 90% in Red plus a couple of Blood & Custards and one of the last Push-Pull sets in the country. BR MK1 corridor or suburban, Stanier and Gresley and some Thompson’s.

Diesel Multiple Units – a Derby Light Weight single car (on trial; ex Buckingham), 101 (2 & 3 Car), 104, & 108.

Freight – Take your pick from 1930’s to 1959, but all in BR livery.

Couplings – all Bachmann, Airfix or narrow Hornby with the retention hooks removed to make easy uncoupling. This allows for easy uncoupling without the need to touch any other part of the wagon.

Weathering – Most of the Locos are quite heavily weathered as that is what my memory and photographs tell me. Coaches vary, as do wagons.

Motor traffic is busy for the period with buses, East Midlands, Midland General, Sheffield United, Trent and heavy Lorries clogging up the town roads. This is especially so on Barlow Road Bridge with its several bus stops. All are correct for the period. Private cars are from before the 1939/45 war until Nov 59 – (my old Frog Eyed Sprite registered 3/11/59).

Operation

We use a sequence of some 44 moves, originally designed to be completed in 90 minutes. However, and as we are there to have fun, we usually start at 10.00 and finish it about 15.00, taking our time for each move, doing the things that would have happened in the steam era.

The viewers are kept informed of the next move by a flip card with the train to or from time and its type. For example, “Arrival; 13.00 Passenger train from Sheffield Midland”. The reverse of the card has specific instructions to the operators on how to achieve the move and prepare the train for its next one.

The service is run with realistic trains with the correct loco type, (there are often arguments about this) and they move at realistic speeds. If possible, we try to always have something moving, as this is what the customers pay to come and see. They will not stay to look at your layout if nothing happens!

Transportation

The whole layout and stock goes in a small people carrier with the driver and one operator. Others of the team use another vehicle as we usually have four and sometimes five operators for full weekend exhibitions.

The layout is owned by David Ford, who is a member of Stafford Railway Circle, and can be contacted via the web site www.staffordrailwaycircle.org.uk or directly on bashstreet@staffordrailwaycircle.org.uk.

Exhibition History
Over the last few years the layout has been at ; Potters Bar; Princes Risboro open day (x2); East Grinstead; Ashlyns; Tring open day (x3)Tad Rail; Stafford;  Derby; Belper open day;  Wingfield (Bakewell); Rainhill; Crewe (ARA); TAD Rail; Sutton Coldfield; Warrington; Merseyside.

Where can you see Bash Street – just look at the top of the web page for confirmed venues.