Recent news at Carrog

Diary of a volunteer week at Carrog Station.

Arrived at Carrog Station Sunday afternoon and relieved stationmaster at 1500hrs.

Did last 3 trains and usual station duties, cleaning loos, emptying bins, mopping floors, cleaning out and remaking fires, locking up etc.

Monday.

Started 0815, lit fires, got tools out of tin shed and commenced gardening flowerbeds on Platform 1. Discovered no station staff, so did the station duties as well. Trains ran late all day due to an injured sheep on the track-side. 30 mins late finishing. By car with Jeanette to wholesalers for tea-room provisions and B&Q for daffodil bulbs. Carted rubbish bags out to road for bin-men to pick up Tuesday morning.

Tuesday.

Gardening again, no staff so did station duties and PR with Welsh TV film crew in middle of more gardening. Made safe a lidless manhole that had mysteriously appeared in the station car park by means of a spare platform-edging slab. (Note, this could be our future surface water drain.)

Wednesday.

Day off from digging, official station duty day! Therefore white shirt clean hands and no gardening. Film crew here from Clwydfro. More PR! Went to Llangollen for paraffin for stop block lamp and meths for tilley lamps and garden centre at Chirk for plants. Picked up milk for the tea room on the way.

Thursday.

Shearings coach visit, finished planting flower borders platform 1, strimmed bank swept platforms, spread soil on verges of resurfaced station approach road and station duties.

Friday.

Lit fires, pruned shrubs on station entrance and rear garden, assisted with toddler group who came at 1010 for the 1145 train and with no-one on duty. (Stations do not run themselves. Readers please note: Station staff are needed at Carrog). Engineering train arrived 1030. Took token back to Glyn. by car. Strimmed bank on platform 2 and cleared footpath ready for miniature railway at Thomas weekend, swept platform 2, assisted loco crews by operating ground frame, replanted flower bed at car park sign at end of drive. Thank goodness that’s the gardening finished ’til next spring!

Saturday

Official duty day, 08.15 hrs., lit fires, cleaned platform 2 gateway and drain, put lamp on stop block, worked ground frame for train crew and used my new Bardic lamp. Having drawn the short straw this would be a late finish as ghost train running that evening!

Sunday

Lit fires, cleaned loos, readied the station for station staff arriving with first train. Not bad for a weeks holiday. I had a ride on the train and returned home for work and a rest. Back in November to do Lapland Station lights, electrics etc, then help with the Santas!

Another year gone and Carrog station’s restoration list gets longer. Good progress on Signal box and wood post signals however, and a renewed ‘Carrog’ flower bed - but that’s another story!

Phil Coles for Friends of Carrog.

NB.The above unedited article will be included in the next Llangollen Railway Trust Magazine 'Steam at Llangollen'.

 

Carrog Station Report October 1999

'Appeal and  Masterplan'

The response to our appeal for contributions towards the £1000 of match funding for the Euro/WDA grant has so far resulted in £310. Despite this disappointing and perhaps revealing result we have decided to go ahead with the resurfacing of the station approach road as this will be a factor in the success of the Railway's forthcoming coach tour venture, due to commence this Autumn. We are still hoping for further contributions that will enable more of the grant aided works to be progressed.

For the benefit of new members we thought it timely to reproduce the Friends of Carrog masterplan for the restored station. See overview entitled 'Carrog Resurrection'. This formed part of the presentation to the then Llangollen Railway Board, which paved the way for the newly formed Friends of Carrog group to take over the restoration of Carrog Station. It was produced by Sam Denley in 1993 and was based on the 1924 GWR report. Considering the early date it is remarkable how intuitive the fine detail is, even down to the false roof over Martin's car garage, found necessary years later. The only significant deviations made from the original plan are the enlarged car park and the choice of brick instead of wood for construction of the toilet block. The coal staithes and weighbridge hut will be held in abeyance until Carrog ceases to be a terminus. Apart from items in our ongoing work list, it is immediately apparent that several very visible items on the plan have yet to appear on the ground'. Broadly these are:


Wood post signals
Coal staithes
Weigh bridge and hut
Tree screen
Loading gauge
Telegraph poles and wires
Sleeper crossings

The above will have a key influence on the final appearance and 'feel' of the station and without them the station restoration cannot be considered completed.

Items present at the time of writing, but not part of the plan include the crane, future Corwen (ex Weston Rhyn) signal box and platform copings, S+T materials, p. way hut extension, etc.

Carrog Station is expected to share the burden of stock storage. The demonstration goods train, suburban coaches and a period camping coach are foreseen as very appropriate items to take their place in the sidings.

Colour Schemes

Readers may be interested to know something of the paint colours that we are using at Carrog and elsewhere. As many will know, the Railway remained in its BR(W) brown and cream paint after closure under BR, and Carrog Station was no exception when purchased by Martin in 1989. Much of this paint survives in very good condition, especially on the rear elevation of the station buildings where shielded from the effects of direct sunlight.
This original paint has been used as colour reference by other parties engaged in period restorations. The same original paint is also understood to exist in good condition underneath the pedestrian bridge at Llangollen Station. After much experimentation we found an accurate match of the original paint in a 50/50 mix of Dulux weathershield 'conker' and 'olde worlde'. The original cream is accurately reproduced by Dulux weathershield 'county cream'. The result is visually excellent and more closely matched to the BR(W) colours than the straight conker (or bitter chocolate) and magnolia shades sometimes used. 

May 1999 update