GWR pagoda platform shelter

The archetypal Pagoda Platform Shelter was a distinctively-shaped corrugated iron structure used by passengers waiting at railway stations in Wales and southern England.

Pagoda shelter at Doniford Halt.
Inside the preserved example at Doniford Halt

Origins

In Britain Pagoda shelters are associated with the Great Western Railway (GWR) who introduced them in 1907 and erected a patchwork of them across their network. They were manufactured by an outside supplier and delivered in kit form.[1] They could therefore be assembled offsite, delivered on standard well wagons and craned into position,[2][3] or assembled onsite, according to circumstances.

The GWR opened its first "Haltes" on 12 October 1903, anglicising the name to "Halt" in 1905. They were prime candidates for Pagoda shelters, but the market was crowded: finance, tradition, knowledge, skills and materials to hand meant that some lines had pagodas aplenty, some one or two and others none at all. The Bala to Ffestiniog Line in upland Wales, for example, had six halts erected at remote, virgin sites between the World Wars, Teigl Halt and Llafar Halt had pagoda shelters, but Trawsfynydd Lake Halt, Bryn-Celynog Halt, Tyddyn Bridge Halt and Capel Celyn Halt had shelters with other designs.

Opening halts and standardising cheap to install and cheap to buy infrastructure in the face of competition firstly from trams, then buses and ultimately cars overlapped with other initiatives such as the railmotor.[4]

Spread

Pagoda shelters were generally associated with branch lines, but many were erected next to regional arteries and some were erected next to main lines; Challow being an example on what was and remains a high speed route out of Paddington.[5]

Specifications

Although they were renowned for their shape, their greatest virtues were their cost, simplicity and durability, coupled with the fact that the GWR "took them seriously". They were built to precise working drawings with materials to exact engineering specifications. The example installed at the remote Teigl Halt, for example, had a roof made of "No. 18 SWG Galvanised 3 inch Corrugated Sheeting [...] with a floor of specially prepared timber."[6][7][8][9]

Suitability

Many small halts used wooden platforms on a timber frame, rather than masonry or earth. The pagoda shelter could be used for these because of its light weight.[10][11]

Platform configurations

A pagoda shelter was typically provided for each platform, as, for example, at Truthall Halt.[12] As the halts where they were used were mostly on single-track lines, there was only one shelter, though Bilson Halt had only one platform with two pagoda shelters.[13] Stations such as Radipole and Ruislip Gardens with two platforms, had two, one on each platform,[14][15] as did Appleford.[16] Harlech[17][18][19][20] and Loudwater[21] had two platforms but a pagoda shelter opposite the masonry station building only. Perivale Halt had several on each platform.[22] Defiance Halt (later Defiance Platform) had one on each platform initially, but two more were added to the Up platform during the station's life.[23] Bala Junction had three platform faces with a pagoda shelter only on the most southerly.[24][25]

Variations

Most pagoda shelters were simple structures with one doorway leading into one room. At Kelmscott and Langford, however, the station building was a "Pagoda Building", with three doors and four windows facing the platform and rooms inside for different purposes.[26] Penhelig still has a pagoda shelter which used to incorporate a "lean-to" staff cabin at the Aberdyfi end.[27][28] The lean-to appears to have been incorporated into the overall building since it was de-staffed. The shelter differs from most pagodas in that it is either built of or clad with timber.[29]

Although the standard pagoda shelter measured 20 feet (6.1 m) by 8 feet (2.4 m),[30] they could be erected to different dimensions, occasionally at the same location, such as Dawlish Warren.[31]

Uses

The shelters were mainly used by passengers waiting for trains, but at least two - at Legacy[32] and Tetbury[33] - were "Pagoda lamp huts", whilst one at Witney was a shed.[34] Fairford[35][36] and Twyford each had a "Pagoda bike shed". Pagoda huts existed next to Weymouth Junction signalbox,[37] and in Hagley station goods yard,[38] neither was for passenger use. A Pagoda shelter was erected at right angles to the track next to the down platform at Festiniog, unsigned and painted black;[39][40] research continues into its purpose. It was still there in 1989, 28 years after the station closed and long after all other buildings had been demolished.[41][42][43]

Other railways' pagoda shelters

The GWR did not have a complete monopoly of pagoda shelters; Grogley Halt, Nanstallon Halt and Dunmere Halt[44] on the former LSWR branch near Bodmin in Cornwall had one each,[45] and the Highland Railway had at least one, at the remote Borrobol on its main line to Wick.[46] In the USA Pagoda shelters were adopted on a grand scale by at least one railroad.[47]

The present

By 2015

  • a few, such as Denham Golf Club, survived in ordinary use
  • some survived on preserved railways
  • some have been erected as new builds on such lines[48][49]
  • at least one has been rescued from a derelict site and installed on a preserved railway[50] and
  • the shelter and other platform furniture at Llanerch-Ayron Halt have been preserved, but not the railway.

Most, however, have been demolished

Fairford, 1950
Bowbridge Crossing Halt railway station in 1961

References
  1. Reade 1983, Section: In praise of halts.
  2. "Installing Northwood Halt's pagoda shelter". SVR.
  3. "Northwood Halt's pagoda shelter". Bewdley Station.
  4. "Railmotors and halts with pagoda shelters". Bygone transport.
  5. Robertson 2004, p. 4.
  6. Southern 1995, pp. 77–9.
  7. Mitchell & Smith 2010, Photo 38.
  8. Coleford 2010b, p. 583.
  9. Green 1996, p. 38.
  10. "Pagoda shelter at Rodmarton Platform". Bygone Transport.
  11. Leigh 1984, pp. 70–71.
  12. Butt 1995, p. 235.
  13. "Pagoda shelters at Bilson Halt". Archive images.
  14. "Pagoda shelters at Radipole Halt". Disused Stations.
  15. Wells 2016, p. 378.
  16. Mitchell & Smith 2003, Photos 15 & 17.
  17. "Harlech's pagoda shelter". Britain from Above (free login needed to zoom).
  18. "Pagoda Shelter at Harlech". BBC.
  19. Mitchell & Smith 2009, Photos 34 and 37.
  20. Rear & Williams 1988, Photos 100, 102 & 103.
  21. Saunders 1962, p. 105.
  22. "Perivale Halt" (PDF). lurs.
  23. "Defiance Halt". Bruce Hunt. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  24. Mitchell & Smith 2010, Plate 2.
  25. Clemens 2003, 10 mins from start.
  26. "Pagoda building at Kelmscott and Langford station". The Fairford Branch.
  27. "Pagoda building and lean-to at Penhelig". RCTS. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  28. Rear & Williams 1988, Photos 15-17.
  29. "Pagoda building and lean-to at Penhelig". Geograph.
  30. Vaughan 1977.
  31. "Pagoda shelters at Dawlish Warren". Francis Frith.
  32. Christiansen 1976, p. 35.
  33. Karau 1977, p. 77.
  34. "Pagoda shed at Witney station". The Fairford Branch.
  35. Leigh 1995, p. 205.
  36. Karau 1977, p. 35.
  37. "Pagoda hut at Weymouth". Disused Stations.
  38. "Pagoda hut at Hagley". Disused Stations.
  39. Coleford 2010b, p. 582.
  40. Mitchell & Smith 2010, Photos 35-37.
  41. "Blaenau to Maentwrog Rd by DMU in 1989, Part 4". YouTube at 1min 44 sec.
  42. "Pagoda building on Festiniog station". Archive images.
  43. "Pagoda platform building at Festiniog station after closure". RM Web.
  44. McCormack & Jenkins 2016, p. 8.
  45. Hawkins 1999, pp. 209–212.
  46. Fenwick 2021, p. 365.
  47. "Pagoda depots in Delaware". My large scale. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  48. "Pagoda shelter at Glyndyfrdwy". Honda Wanderer.
  49. "Pagoda shelter at Lawley Village". Telford Steam Railway. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  50. "Pagoda shelter at Doniford Halt". Yahoo.
  51. Reade 1983, Section: Back to Nature.

Sources
  • Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
  • Christiansen, Rex (1976). Forgotten Railways: North and Mid Wales. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-7059-9.
  • Clemens, Jim (2003) [1959]. North Wales Steam Lines (DVD). The Jim Clemens Collection No.6. Uffington, Shropshire: B&R Video Productions. Vol 79.
  • Coleford, I. C. (October 2010a). Smith, Martin (ed.). "By GWR to Blaenau Ffestiniog (Part One)". Railway Bylines. Radstock: Irwell Press Limited. 15 (11). ISSN 1360-2098.
  • Coleford, I. C. (November 2010b). Smith, Martin (ed.). "By GWR to Blaenau Ffestiniog (Part Two)". Railway Bylines. Radstock: Irwell Press Limited. 15 (12). ISSN 1360-2098.
  • Fenwick, Keith (February 2021). Peascod, Michael (ed.). "Carlisle in August 1905". Cumbrian Railways. Pinner: Cumbrian Railways Association. 13 (9). ISSN 1466-6812.
  • Green, C.C. (1996) [1983]. North Wales Branch Line Album. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-1252-3.
  • Hawkins, Mac (1999). LSWR West Country Lines: Then and Now. Rochester: Grange Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84013-322-6.
  • Karau, Paul (1977). Great Western Branch Line Termini: v. 1. Worthing: Littlehampton Book Services Ltd. ISBN 978-0-902888-89-0.
  • Leigh, Chris (1995). A Railway Modeller's Picture Library. Book Club Associates. ISBN 978-0-7110-2392-5. CN 3218.
  • Leigh, Chris (1984). GWR Country Stations:2. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-1438-1.
  • McCormack, Kevin; Jenkins, Martin (2016). Britain's Declining Secondary Railways Through the 1960s. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-47386-0-292.
  • Mitchell, Victor E.; Smith, Keith (2010). Bala to Llandudno: Featuring Blaenau Ffestiniog. Country Railway Routes. Midhurst: Middleton Press (MD). ISBN 978-1-906008-87-1.
  • Mitchell, Victor E.; Smith, Keith (2009). Barmouth to Pwllheli. Western Main Lines. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 978-1-906008-53-6.
  • Mitchell, Victor E.; Smith, Keith (2003). Didcot to Banbury. Western Main Lines. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 978-1-904474-02-9.
  • Reade, Lewis (1983). Branch Line Memories Vol 1. Redruth: Atlantic Transport & Historical Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-06-9.
  • Rear, W.G.; Williams, M.F. (1988). The Cambrian Coast Railway. Abergavenny: Foxline Publishing. ISBN 978-1-870119-03-0. Scenes from the Past: 4.
  • Robertson, Kevin (2004) [1999]. Odd Corners of the GWR: From the Days of Steam. Stroud: Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7509-3458-9.
  • Saunders, F.J. (February 1962). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "Western Branch Trains". The Railway Magazine. London: Tothill Press Limited. 108 (730). ISSN 0033-8923.
  • Southern, D. W. (1995). Bala Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog. Scenes from the Past, Railways of North Wales. Stockport: Foxline Publishing. ISBN 978-1-870119-34-4. No. 25.
  • Vaughan, Adrian (1977). A Pictorial Record of Great Western Architecture. OPC Railprint. ISBN 978-0-902888-22-7.
  • Wells, Jeffrey (June 2016). Blakemore, Michael (ed.). "The Opening of Railway Halts 1930-1935". Back Track. Easingwold: Pendragon Publishing. 30 (6).

Further material
  • Clarke, R. H., ed. (1986). An Historical Survey of Selected Great Western Stations: Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford Publishing. ISBN 978-0-86093-015-0.
  • Norris, John; Beale, Gerry; Lewis, John (1987). Edwardian Enterprise. Nottingham: Wild Swan Publications Ltd. ISBN 978-0-906867-39-6.
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