Minffordd

Does anyone happen to have a track layout of Minfford and it's associated yard? I am trying to design a standard gauge/narrow gauge interchange layout and Minfford seems like the best example I can come up with at the moment

Thanks

Chris

 

Dinas Junction would be more fun...

 

Have a look in the Quail track plan book. I think the FR is in the LM region (the red) one .

 

You could also try looking at Google Earth!

Rob

 

perhaps one of the J I C Boyd books or other FfR Guide Books / Histories have the info

 

Pontesbury interchange sidings on the Snailbeach were a good example too, with their different levels.

Richard

 

Hey Richard, you're not allowed to say that name... ;-)

Cheers
Anthony

 

Back to topic, I think there are reasonalby good plans for Minffordd in Boyd, and possibly the Tonks book on the Snailbeach for Pontesbury - I'l have a look tonight at home if I remember. The FR 150 gala in 1986 produced an excellent leaflet with the then current Minffordd plan in it, but I'm blowed if I know where my copy will be, sorry!

 

The FR 150 leaflet is indeed an excellent plan - I know exactly where mine is - but it's 300+ miles away from where I'm sitting!

 

There was a plan of the yard in a Steam Railway artical about the Slate Shunt a while ago. Also the FR guides in the old format before the map was simplified showed it very well, but all post lifting of the standard gauge portion, but imagination will help there.

 

Thanks for the heads up of where the plans are, just got to find all these resources now!

Thanks

 

Boyd has a cross-section which you might find useful. I'm pretty sure the x-section through the standard/narrow gauge is from Vignes.

I also have a copy of Vignes, but it is also 300+ miles away. I should be paying a visit in about a month to my country residence; if you've not had any luck by then remind me in mid-December and I'll try to get a copy for you.

 

Herewith a (very) rough sketch plan of the layout in Minffordd yard currently, though you'll have to imagine the scale, cos there isn't one, and the 2 Maenofferen sheds are almost at right angles to the main running line, and near on parrallel to the Network Rail line, which I haven't shown. I also haven't shown the miniature railway, since the chances of it surviving much longer are slim. This yard layout is basically correct for c. 1986 to now, though if you are after a period before around 2006, then lose the 2 sidings coming off the line that crosses back over the coal hole line just outside the goods shed, and prior to 1986, replace the 3 way point with a standard one, and omit the road that goes between the 2 maenofferen sheds. Prior to that is beyond my recollection, I'm afraid.

Hope that helps a bit,

John

 

Thank you!!!!!

This is very much making my mind ponder my design....

 

Edouard Vignes (1878) includes cross sections entitled "Profils de la gare de transbordement de Mynfford-Junction" showing three different methods of transhipment - one with n-g waggons on a raised track so that their bodies are on a level with the s-g ones for "ardoises" (slates), one with a crane moving "marchandises" (goods) between s-g and n-g inside a shed, and a third showing an s-g waggon being tilted to slide "charbons" (coal) down a chute into a n-g waggon.

Richard

 

I think you've got one too many loops there John. The "main line" along the length of the yard is double track, with sidings either side, giving a maximum of four tracks wide - not five.

Looking at the map in my FR General Appendix there is another very short siding alongside the three parallel with the main line. This heads roughly to the 11 o'clock position on your diagram and used to end at a small end-on loading bay.

There are also five roads in the Maenofferen Shed, not four, and the cross-over on the sunken roads is the other way around (bottom to top, not top to bottom).

 

Fair enough, Tony. Its a while since I last spent any length of time in the yard (2005, I'd guess). I never really payed much attention, to be honest, when I was there, and when you deal with it on a day in, day out basis, you tend to just "know", without actually realising it, and my memory's obviously gone a bit dicky. Hey ho.

In retrospect (and having had a look at a few pics) I'd agree with most of it, but I'd argue about the 5 roads in Maenofferen Mawr though, the sector plate is definitely only 4 way - see http://www.frheritage.org.uk/wiki/Image:FRMinffordd4-WayfacingB.jpg , and http://jjc.fotopic.net/p14634134.html shows the roads are numbered 4 to 7, where 1 and 2 are the roads in Maenofferen Bach, and 3 is the one down the gap between the two sheds, now roofed over.

Revised doodle attached:

John