A new Station Building - part 1

When Hallatrow was exhibited at the final of the 18.83 Challenge I did not have a station building, however Tim Venton of Clutton fame had previously made a model and has loaned to me ever since. So I thought it was about time I made a start on a model of my own.

The engineer for the Bristol & North Somerset Railway was William Clarke, who was the engineer to a number of local independent companies whose lines were to connect their local community to a main line. In a number of instances these companies were initially worked by the Great Western and were later taken over by them.

As a result his distinctive architectural style can be found around the Great Western system. The station building all followed the same basic design, only increasing in size with the importance of the station. An article in 'British Railway Journal' No. 8 on William Clarke's 'Standard' Buildings gives further details. This article and the Wild Swan book on the Abbotsbury Railway have copies of the original plan of Portesham station. A re-scaling of these plans and that of the GW official survey, plus photos confirmed that the station building at Hallatrow and Portesham were to the same basic design and size. Thus the Portesham plan was used as the basis for Hallatrow's station building.

A site visit in 2003 confirmed that the building still existed, although it has been altered when it was converted into a private dwelling.

After looking at the various types of plastic stone, Wills' Course Stone was a good match and Evergreen strip for the cornices etc. And so finally we have.

The component parts before assembly

The platform side

The rear view from the entrance road

Now that the basic structure is finished all that is left are the windows, doors, canopy, roof and chimney.