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Broadway Station building design

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Prairie_5542

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There has been much discussion on the Broadway Station Blog about the design for the new station building- should it be GWR style or another design. The man who was in charge of the Broadway group rebuilding has just resigned over this, see:

http://broadwaygwsr.blogspot.co.uk/

Any thoughts? The signal box there has been built to a wonderful GWR design. Would be a shame if the station building wasn't to match.

Bill, please get back to writing the blogs again! :|
 
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jimm

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That depends on what you mean by GWR style - the issue seems to be entirely about the design of the roof. A purist faction seems to want an exact replica of the roof and canopy design that was there prior to demolition of the original station, with a roof style used on GWR stations built in the late 1900s, as seen at Toddington - which is the only original station left on the GWSR. And it's not as if the design has been swept from the face of the earth, with Bicester North and several of the stations between Stratford and Birmingham of the same type surviving to this day.

If I am to believe a post I have read elsewhere, some of the purists were at one point opposing the use of insulation in the new signal box's roof, because the original would not have had it. Which is just plain silly, if true. Unless, of course, they want anyone working that box on a Santa specials weekend to authentically freeze as well, or waste lots of energy trying to keep warm...

All those getting het up about this roof seem to have forgotten that it is not all that long ago that the plan was to take down the unusual 1930s GWR Cotswold stone station building at Bourton-on-the-Water and rebuild it at Broadway. However, lack of funds to carry out the dismantling of that building when Gloucestershire County Council closed its highways depot on part of the old station site and concerns about whether it would be big enough to meet the GWSR's needs put paid to that idea and the building was demolished.

A sad loss, I would say, as its smaller cousin at Stow-on-the-Wold, the only other station built in this style, has been heavily altered over the years to adapt it for its current use as a house. And saving Bourton would have been entirely in keeping with what has happened on the GWSR in the past, with Monmouth Troy station being dismantled stone by stone and moved to Winchcombe. It looks as though it has always been there.
 
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fgwrich

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That depends on what you mean by GWR style - the issue seems to be entirely about the design of the roof. A purist faction seems to want an exact replica of the roof and canopy design that was there prior to demolition of the original station, with a roof style used on GWR stations built in the late 1900s, as seen at Toddington - which is the only original station left on the GWSR. And it's not as if the design has been swept from the face of the earth, with Bicester North and several of the stations between Stratford and Birmingham of the same type surviving to this day.

If I am to believe a post I have read elsewhere, some of the purists were at one point opposing the use of insulation in the new signal box's roof, because the original would not have had it. Which is just plain silly, if true. Unless, of course, they want anyone working that box on a Santa specials weekend to authentically freeze as well, or waste lots of energy trying to keep warm...

All those getting het up about this roof seem to have forgotten that it is not all that long ago that the plan was to take down the unusual 1930s GWR Cotswold stone station building at Bourton-on-the-Water and rebuild it at Broadway. However, lack of funds to carry out the dismantling of that building when Gloucestershire County Council closed its highways depot on part of the old station site and concerns about whether it would be big enough to meet the GWSR's needs put paid to that idea and the building was demolished.

The debate and problem surrounding the Signal box was nothing to do with Insulation but the potential use of UPVC windows on the box. Which, when building a period station would have stuck out like a spot on a perfect models face. It was down to whether a suitable hardwood that would require some maintenance over time could be found versus a virtually maintenance free UPVC window. The box itself does have insulation in the roof, but internally would look the same as a GWR box of the similar type.

The issues surrounding the station building however does largely stem from the roof. The original plans were to see an enlarged original GWR Brick type Station building with authentic GWR Canopy as per Toddington et all. However, this is now not what the GWSR board seem to want and are instead costing up something much cheaper made from Steel Box Girders as per the awful structures at Cheltenham Racecourse, thus loosing any authenticity of the station in the process. Where the fall out has been created is in the apparent attitude of the board who led people to believe they were helping to fund both the Bridges to Broadway & the rebuilding of Broadway station to rebuild a GWR type station - not another Cheltenham type effort, now seem to have told the Broadway group that a Cheltenham type effort is what the board wants, because they would rather be seen getting to Broadway first than delaying the extension while an authentic station building is built. Why they cannot allow the extension to go ahead while an authentic building is constructed, with the building being finished over time than rushing it to meet the extension is beyond me and many other supporters of the project too. The board also say that 90% of visitors don't look up - Maybe so, but quoting a comment made on the closure of the blog it is one of many that I really do feel is summing up the direction the GWSR Board are dragging the line into. It's also very surprising given that both the Swanage Railway at Corfe Castle and Severn Valley Railway at Kidderminster have visitors who quite clearly do look up and do see award winning authentic style station buildings - The signal box for Corfe and the Canopy at Kidderminster. Even Chiltern Railways have proven how it can be done at Birmingham Moor Street.

Getting back to basics what is a Heritage Railway. What is it about them that people like.

In a nutshell it is 20th Century steam engines pulling 20th Century carriages past Victorian structures, signal boxes stations etc.

Eliminate one element and you dont have a Heritage Railway, you have steam train rides for tourists. Something really second rate.

Broadway as envisaged and designed by Mr Bielby in 2013, and now revealed to us at BAGS AGM in 2015, will be super sized CRC, box girders every 6 feet poking through a blank brick wall.

Vistors will never realise that true experience of airy Victorian era design, that is the true experience of Broadway Station. Pictures of which were used to entice shareholders to refurbish the five bridges.

To deny them this experience, to refuse to recreate history for the enjoyment of future generations, is to insult them.

Since the station was designed with a box girder roof back in 2013, no proper costing exercise has ever been carried out as to how much a GWR lattice roof would cost. Since it was never an option.

So a figure of 100,000 + is just hogwash designed to cow the troops into submission.

So, GWSR is at a crossroads. Does it join the front rank of preserved railways, or become a steam ride past cheapo buildings.

All very sad, especially given the time and effort put into the searching of the many thousands of Blue Bricks for the platforms, time and effort in constructing the signal box, and saving and about to start restoration of the former Henley in Arden station footbridge. I for one were one of the many who donated money and bricks to the BAG to see a GWR type station built - A crowning glory for both the line and for the town, and in part feel both let down and disappointed by the apparent attitudes of this is our vision and this is how it will be done of the board.

This thread on Nat Pres is also covering the situation.
http://railways.national-preservati...tion-gwr-roof-fund.486269/page-4#post-1155402
 

jimm

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The debate and problem surrounding the Signal box was nothing to do with Insulation but the potential use of UPVC windows on the box. Which, when building a period station would have stuck out like a spot on a perfect models face. It was down to whether a suitable hardwood that would require some maintenance over time could be found versus a virtually maintenance free UPVC window. The box itself does have insulation in the roof, but internally would look the same as a GWR box of the similar type.

The issues surrounding the station building however does largely stem from the roof. The original plans were to see an enlarged original GWR Brick type Station building with authentic GWR Canopy as per Toddington et all. However, this is now not what the GWSR board seem to want and are instead costing up something much cheaper made from Steel Box Girders as per the awful structures at Cheltenham Racecourse, thus loosing any authenticity of the station in the process. Where the fall out has been created is in the apparent attitude of the board who led people to believe they were helping to fund both the Bridges to Broadway & the rebuilding of Broadway station to rebuild a GWR type station - not another Cheltenham type effort, now seem to have told the Broadway group that a Cheltenham type effort is what the board wants, because they would rather be seen getting to Broadway first than delaying the extension while an authentic station building is built. Why they cannot allow the extension to go ahead while an authentic building is constructed, with the building being finished over time than rushing it to meet the extension is beyond me and many other supporters of the project too. The board also say that 90% of visitors don't look up - Maybe so, but quoting a comment made on the closure of the blog it is one of many that I really do feel is summing up the direction the GWSR Board are dragging the line into. It's also very surprising given that both the Swanage Railway at Corfe Castle and Severn Valley Railway at Kidderminster have visitors who quite clearly do look up and do see award winning authentic style station buildings - The signal box for Corfe and the Canopy at Kidderminster. Even Chiltern Railways have proven how it can be done at Birmingham Moor Street.



All very sad, especially given the time and effort put into the searching of the many thousands of Blue Bricks for the platforms, time and effort in constructing the signal box, and saving and about to start restoration of the former Henley in Arden station footbridge. I for one were one of the many who donated money and bricks to the BAG to see a GWR type station built - A crowning glory for both the line and for the town, and in part feel both let down and disappointed by the apparent attitudes of this is our vision and this is how it will be done of the board.

This thread on Nat Pres is also covering the situation.
http://railways.national-preservati...tion-gwr-roof-fund.486269/page-4#post-1155402

As I said in my original post, that depends entirely on what is meant by a GWR station.

The type of roof structure that used to be in place at Broadway was one used by the GWR for a brief period up to about 1910 (ie Edwardian, not Victorian) on newly-built/heavily modernised routes such as Birmingham-Stratford-Cheltenham and the Bicester cut-off - many of which, as I said, survive in railway use to this day, so it's not like Broadway would be recreating some vanished feature from the past.

Go a few miles in either direction from Broadway to Moreton-in-Marsh or Evesham and you will see authentic, original GWR station designs from the late 1880s, which have quite different roof and canopy designs.

No one seemed to get too het up about Winchcombe not being reconstructed down to every last detail just the way it used to look when the building from Monmouth was brought in instead and why people are making all this fuss now beats me when the Broadway plans were drawn up two years ago and the structure of the roof design could be seen plain as day in the application made to Wychavon District Council (Case No W/13/01373/PN at the council website if anyone wants to look).

It is clear from the approved plans and the artist's impression that the station will pretty much recreate the look of the original. How many visitors will actually spend their time gazing up at the roof trusses anyway? And if they need to feast their eyes on the genuine article, then Toddington is just down the line.

If more money had been available back in 2009 then the building from Bourton -on-the-Water might have been acquired and all this hoo-hah would have been entirely academic. I, for one, would have been very happy to see that one-off piece of Cotswold and railway architecture given a new lease of life at Broadway, where it would have fitted in very well, whereas I struggle to care too much about recreating every last detail of a standard 1900s GWR station design that was put up with little regard to its surroundings (in stark contrast to what the GWR then did in 1938 at Bourton and Stow) and of which there are numerous surviving examples anyway.
 

pdeaves

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(Broadway)... should it be GWR style or another design.

Something about to disappear, maybe it already has, that surely is deserving of preservation/replication somewhere is the 1970s BR concrete CLASP building. Ugly it may be (well, is...), but it's representative of an era and may just have saved certain stations from becoming unstaffed. :D
 
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