Mosslanda: Denton Road - Urban grit in N…

Let me introduce you to Denton Road, the epitome of ‘urban grit’. A run down northern town, the railway weaving its way through industrial buildings and decay, over roads and canals towards a rationalised station long past its glory days…

It feels as if Denton Road may be a three dimensional poem. Fuelled by my emotions and excitement, the love of the railway and energy of change, new / old / abandoned / repurposed. The mock-up is very much a realisation of the ‘Urban Grit’ scheme, born through the kind loan of this humble blue DMU (thanks Paul). A home for the model, but itself a conduit, a vehicle for the idea. One nothing without the other.

Fashioned quickly from tactile materials, white cardboard itself recycled blended with the flexible brown tape and hard plastic mouldings to bring the form to life, to confirm the composition - the process an evolving and flexible way to paint, to write, to create the story - but rather than canvas or page on a shelf, in a box, on the wall.

 

Whilst just 55cm x 10cm it contains the sort of urban vignettes I’ve experienced first hand. The railway above casts shadows over the dirty abandoned canal and road. A blend of period architecture lines the railway whilst the viaduct remains separate, a gap between them and us for whilst the town regenerates the light railway revolution has yet to be felt at Denton Road. 

In fact abandoned and rationalised are the order of the day. The former branch lifted and the main singled, nature and technology making use of the space for cable ducting and shrubbery and the trains keep running. The station still has both platforms, but the stub end of the former main ends in buffers just beyond the toe of the ramp. Services now terminate from destinations off stage, a familiar story re-told in my own hand.

Welcome to Denton Road. Anywhere, nowhere and yet somewhere - we’ve travelled this way, guided by steel through our northern towns, seen this picture a thousand times. A different place, a different space to become lost and remember. Until next time, more soon…

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