Leeds Sovereign Street & Clarence Dock - a UK based layout

In real life Leeds Sovereign Street was a tram depot… The area was dark and dismal in daytime. The street lights were last cleaned before WW2. It was almost depressing. Nighttime was almost a no-go area, but I (age 8, 9, 10) and others walked the area to travel elsewhere. I loved the area.

Today Sovereign Street is the area to be seen. Cafes, restaurants. boutique shops.

I just go back in time when before WW1 trains ran from Dewsbury to Leeds Sovereign Street. Then on to Wetherby. Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway wanted their own route to York, but the Great War intervened. The route then became a ‘backwater’; a secondary route, but lives on in my railway dream.

David

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I am going to Google it.

Rich

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Robert Kennedy was paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw:

“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’” From Shaw’s play, Back to Methuselah in 1921.

Great quote! Thanks!

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You mean Ted Kennedy who was eulogizing his brother Robert F. Kennedy. Perhaps, one of the finest eulogies ever given.

And, yes, it was taken from George Bernard Shaw. Well stated!

Rich

A silly few minutes.
A double headed train. The front loco is a clockwork one. The one behind is ‘Zephyrus’, formally ‘Percy’ from the Thomas the Tank range.

A train departing Leeds Sovereign Street Station bound for Dewsbury Market Place Station.

David

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Freelance or prototype?

Prototype to Leeds. Never completed to York because of WW1, so that section is part freelance.

David

That is interesting. Your layout looks fantasy, and I mean that as a compliment. I would not have thought that was prototypical. Well done!

Rich

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Thanks, Rich. Even Clarence Dock was real. I say was because it was renamed Leeds Dock and is another place ‘to be seen’.

Clarence Dock

Another part of my layout is called Crown Point Goods Yard. The real goods yard was called Hunslet/Midland Goods Yard. To model anywhere near like it would take too much room. On closure it became Crown Point Retail Park.

Hence Crown Point Goods Yard on my layout. Part of it shown here.

David

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David,

Some day I hope my layout looks as good as yours does now!

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Mark. I thank you for your kind words.
One thing. If your layout does look like mine prepare yourself for so many errors.

Three times in my life I have been told I did not have long to live. (One day they will be right lol) Anyway, because of what doctors have said I have tended to rush getting jobs done. Model railroading is one.

Now I am trying to correct the errors (and there are many). As they say ‘A Model railroad is never finished’.

David

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Truer words were never spoken!

Rich

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I’m certainly good at the errors!

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Now I know that is not right. :smiley:

David

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As a member of Canal Boats and Canals Society I have to have a canal and boats.

‘Clarice’

‘Kingfisher’

At Clarence Dock is ‘Ada’ a coal barge about to depart.

David

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We would expect nothing less.

Rich

David, is it just me but does Clarice seem like she’s stuck without a canal?

In Trouble. Mary Smith is in trouble for being late back. Mary had gone to play with the kids in the back streets and forgot the time. Her mother (Jenny) is ‘having words with her.’

David

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Not sure if I have posted this picture before, but granddaughter wanted passengers on the train.

The Industrial corner of the layout. When I planned the layout all in the scene had to be included.

The crew of locomotive ‘Vivienne’ hard at work. The locomotive has no coal bunker or tender. Coal is in sacks. I hope there is enough to get to Leeds?

David

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Your granddaughter is just trying to model a real life train:

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