Layers of history…
Today’s commuters don’t blink as the rationalised railway passes the old Inkerman Street line on the approach to Denton Road from the west…
The connection crossed the canal on its own alignment and the bridge and track bed are still in place, overgrown and strewn with the litter and detritus of urban life.
The former Lancashire and Yorkshire railway terminus didn’t survive long after the Second World War and was an early casualty of the various routes and stations in Manchester as British Railways wrestled to make sense of its tangled inheritance.
Despite this I enjoy spotting the former junction and imagining the old L&Y 2-4-2s busily shuffling their trains through Denton Road and beyond whilst the Cummins engines of my 80s Pacer take turns in idling and hard load as wheels squeal and we enjoy the temporary rest bite of welded rail on my approach on the train from Chester.
Denton Road is probably my favourite and most successful, at least visually, Mosslanda concept. Just 55cm long it depicts a northern town with railway arriving in an urban setting of transition. Read more about the project here, and until next time, more soon…
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Wonderfully written James!
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of the success with this, and what it makes it different to your other cameos, is the height from the road to the top of the buildings with the track running through the middle of them.
I think I've forgotten to say this previously but the light under the bridge is superb. It's not too bright but adds so much to the overall scene.
Thanks Ian. It’s one of those things that just worked out so well. The setting suits the restricted site of a cameo box too, more so than a sylvan countryside scene.
DeleteReminds me of when I was at Manchester Poly in the early 90s - in then before it got built up there was a clear view from the top floors of the buildings on Oxford Road across to Oxford Road Station - could be quite interesting at times with 1st Gen DMUs and 47s on the Trans-Pennines passing through.
ReplyDeleteYes before I was travelling frequently but I can imagine… somehow the variety of loco and DMU seems greater than today but I suspect if you look at the number of classes and paint schemes not much has changed in that regard, just basically nothing loco hauled anymore…
DeleteI really like Denton Road. Captures North West or North England well in the 1990s. I just wish the Dapol 142 was a better model. I wonder if something similar would work in 4mm.
ReplyDeleteAlthough to be fair I’m impressed with the Hornby TT:120 Class 37 and the TTA tanks. It might be the happy compromise between 2mm and 4mm. Although the lack of rolling stock is an issue. Should Class 14x and Class 15x models with good accuracy ever become available in TT:120 that would be good.
Plus TT:120 isn’t gauge compromised like OO.
DeleteI’m not sure… I think N works because of its size… but I’d be keen to see if it would scale up. I’ve plans for a Pacer inspired cameo when the Accurascale one turns up!
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