N Gauge Shelf Railway – Garwick

I came up with the idea of “Garwick”, a station on a mainly industrial line which still handles passenger traffic. The layout is based mainly on the long-closed Maudlands station in Preston, but with several additions which “just seemed like good ideas at the time”.

The Original Plan – it does not look like this anymore.

The time period is somewhat confused, being set in a fictional era where British Rail never ended, and bus deregulation never happened. Hence old-style DMUs and Ribble buses sit alongside late model Transit vans, Austin taxis, modern cars and a BR Blue liveried Class 66.

Version 2 of the layout. Still not finished

Garwick is actually two stations. Firstly there is the main station which handles commuter traffic and has a taxi rank and bus stop.

Garwick Bus Stop. A Ribble/Notional Express waits.
Garwick Taxi Rank. Some Austin FX/4s wait patiently.

This station was originally a two platform station, but one of the platforms was demolished to provide extra siding space for Shocks Mill. The underpass entrance on the platform now leads to a corridor and storage facilities.

The station sees frequent DMU trains which run to Pill End.

Since the closure of the second platform, the other through line has been mainly used for freight traffic to the nearby coal depot and bitumen processing plant.

There is also the secondary platform which is generally only used by the single car Class 121 service to the main town station . This was built on part of the former marshalling yard of Shocks Mill, which still stands above the site but has been converted in to a housing, and the former site of the original No 2 platform.

Unfinished version of Shocks Mill, overlooking some old coal wagons from another layout.
Unfinished Garwick Platform 2, with industrial estate behind, and a Class 101 former Express Parcels unit waiting.

To the west, after Farish Lane bridge, the lines split. A single track line runs on to Pill End, and a line runs to the industrial sites at Chain Lane and Caul Road.

66626 hauls Bitumen tanks under Farish Lane bridge as a Ribble Atlantean heads towards Oxford Lane.

To the East, one line runs through the short Victoria tunnel to the City Centre, passing the DMU maintenance depot, while the the main line runs though the double track Albert tunnel to the south to join the main line. Locally, the Albert and Victoria tunnels have been nicknamed “George and Mildred”.

Metcalfe Row and the “Ferret and Dartboard” on the corner of Hatton Street above the tunnels.

Obviously there is still a lot for work to do. The who track formation needs re-ballasting, the buildings need tidying up, and a lot of dead space needs to be filled. And that’s even before I start trying to hide the various point motors that are highly visible.

One thought on “N Gauge Shelf Railway – Garwick”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.