Review of primary source: drawing-sac-mr-generic-station-building-no-1-large-na-rail-491-629-3

The document takes the form of a single sheet with a slightly eroded left-hand edge and it appears to have been mounted onto art board or similar (perhaps as part of a conservation process).^[1] The sheet contains a partly colour-washed set of scale drawings that depict the brick version of the standard Midland Railway Company design for the 'Number 1' or 'Large' main station buildings (booking offices) on its Settle and Carlisle Railway.

Tip: To open a larger version of this image (4,000 x 2,476 pixels, 1.4Mb), click / tap on the thumbnail above.

The larger version will repay close examination and the following are especially worthy of note:

• The title on the drawing (top-centre) is "M.R. SETTLE TO CARLISLE DRAWING FOR STATION BUILDINGS No 1".
• A pencil annotation beside the title states "SETTLE K STEPHEN & GARSDALE.", but this has been crossed out (also in pencil).^[2]
• The drawing is undated, but it almost certainly formed part of the contract documentation and / or the working documentation associated with the construction of the Settle and Carlisle Railway between 1869 and 1876.
• The drawing does not include any mention of the engineer or architect.
• The scale is given as "6 Feet to 1 Inch" (indicated by original text) and it is clear that the original was drawn to scale.
• The sheet includes five separate but related drawings. They are labelled "ELEVATION NEXT PLATFORM", "ELEVATION NEXT APPROACH ROAD", "GROUND PLAN", "SECTION ON LINE A B" and "END ELEVATION".
• Although "LINE A B" is mentioned in the label for one of the drawings, there is no such line depicted on any of the other drawings on this sheet. However, it is clearly a transect through the platform edge, the "WAITING SHED" and the "WAITING HALL".
• With the exception of the "WAITING SHED" frontage, the elevation views do not indicate the nature of the materials to be used for the exterior walls. Stone sills and lintels are depicted, but wall angle quoins are not. The "WAITING SHED" is depicted with decorative columns, bracketry, glazing and timber pannelling.
• All elevation views depict the pitched roofs as being covered with slates and topped with ridge tiles. For the latter, both decorative (pierced) and plain versions are depicted in each section, suggesting that the specification allowed either version to be used.
• The elevation views depict pierced decorative timber bargeboards on all gable ends.
• Six fireplaces and four decorative chimney stacks are depicted, but chimney pots are not depicted.
• The plan view depicts the exterior walls as follows:
  • double-skinned for the main part of the building^[3] and
  • single-skinned for the utility block.
• The elevation views depict a trefoil oculus in each of the platform-facing upper gables and a vertical recess in the upper gable facing the approach road.
• The plan view shows the interior divided into thirteen rooms (fifteen if you count the W.C.s and their lobbies separately).
• The dimensions are given in feet & inches and the focus is placed firmly on the room interiors and the wall thicknesses.
• The key dimensions (indicated on the plan view by text and accompanying arrows) are as follows:
  • Main building:
    • "LAMP ROOM" (10' 11" wide) with a corner fireplace, a window facing the approach road and an external doorway to the left side.
    • "PORTERS ROOM" (10' 11" wide) with a corner fireplace, a window facing the platform and an external doorway to the left side.
    • "GENTLEMENS WAITING ROOM" (14' 0" wide x 15' 4" deep) with a central fireplace, two windows facing the platform (this is an error in the drawing as one of the 'windows' should be an external doorway leading to the platform) and an internal doorway leading to...
    • "LOBBY" (5' 6" wide) with wash basin and an internal doorway leading to "W.C." (8' 0" wide x 4' 3" deep), each with a window facing the approach road.
    • "LADIES WAITING ROOM" (14' 0" wide x 15' 8½" deep) with a central fireplace, a window facing the platform, an internal doorway leading to the waiting shed and an internal doorway leading to...
    • "LOBBY" (5' 6" wide) with wash basin and an internal doorway leading to "W.C." (8' 0" wide x 4' 3" deep), each with a window facing the approach road.
    • "WAITING SHED" (18' 3" wide x 11' 9" deep) with a pair of windows facing the platform either side of an external doorway to the platform and an internal doorway leading to...
    • "WAITING HALL" (18' 3" wide x 19' 2" deep) with a central fireplace, windows in two sides (facing the approach road and looking along rear) an external doorway to the right side and a ticket window (unlabelled) linking to...
    • "STATION MASTER OFFICE" (14' 0" wide x 20' 8½" deep) with a central fireplace, a window facing the approach road , a window facing the platform and an internal doorway leading to the "WAITING SHED".
  • Utility block:
    • "URINAL" (8' 9" wide) - without wash basin but with a window facing the approach road and an internal doorway leading to....
    • "W.C." (4' 0" wide) with a window facing the approach road.
    • "DUST" (5' 3" wide x 9' 0" deep) with a hatch to the right side (but no doorway, either internal or external).
    • "COALS" (14' 9" wide x 5' 3" deep) with a window facing the platform and an external door to the right side.
• The external walls of the main building are labelled as 14" thick in total.
• The external walls of the utility block are labelled as 9" thick.
• All internal walls are labelled as 9" thick.
• External dimensions are not provided, but they can be calculated by totalling-up the dimensions that are provided on the plan.
• The plan view shows bench seating along the three sides of the "WAITING HALL" and two sides of the "WAITING SHED".

Notes

[1]: This review was created from the digital image file supplied by the National Archives. The reviewer has not seen the original document, so cannot be certain of its physical nature.

[2]: The 'large' design of station building was in fact used at Settle, Kirkby Stephen and Appleby. Garsdale had a completely different design. However, it should be noted that Appleby is only the version to have been built in brick. (Settle and Kirkby Stephen where built in stone.)

[3]: A thick black line is depicted within the thickness of the external walls of the main building. This almost certainly indicates the specification of a ½" cavity between the outside and inside skins, to be filled with hot pitch (see the review of drawing-sac-mr-generic-station-building-no-2-medium-na-rail-491-629-5).

Acknowledgements

This drawing forms part of a large set of records of "the privately owned railway companies (and their predecessors) taken over by the British Transport Commission under the Transport Act 1947". This digitised version of the drawing was uploaded to the SCRCA Project database under licence, courtesy of The National Archives. (Catalogue Reference RAIL 491/629, Harbour Contract drawings: Station buildings on Settle - Carlisle line.) The license was purchased by - and is held by - Mark R. Harvey.

Review and text by Mark R. Harvey (© Mark R. Harvey, 2020).