Stop three · Loading bay 2

The Yard

In front of Middleton’s platform is the yard, where the trains were put on the track: long rakes of Yeoman stone wagons, coal hoppers and mineral wagons, the diesels that work them, and an engine shed.

Tucked in beside the running lines is a coal merchant’s yard. The sign on the fence says Scott’s; the name over the office door says Ivor Lump.

Gold markers point out small details. Select one to read about it.

Rows of grey coal wagons and wagons of white stone on yard tracks, with wooden coal bins, sacks, workmen and a dark blue lorry in front and a station platform behind. — Grey mineral wagons and hoppers, loaded with coal, line up in the yard beside rakes of stone wagons, with Middleton station beyond. In the foreground, men work the coal merchant’s bunkers beside a blue NCB lorry.19:47

A model coal yard with black timber bunkers, sacks and small figures in front, a blue tipper lorry by an iron gate, and sidings with diesels and white wagons beyond. — In Scott’s coal yard, men shovel coal in dark timber bunkers beside a lorry stacked with sacks, while Yeoman wagons and diesels fill the tracks beyond.17:06

A model coal yard with a dark blue NCB lorry loaded with sacks, men in wooden coal bins, a small brick office with a green door signed Ivor Lump, and grey coal wagons behind a fence. — A lower view of the coal yard, where a National Coal Board lorry waits piled with sacks. Beyond it, a small brick office carries the name Ivor Lump over its green doors.19:48

The coal merchant’s

Coalmen fill sacks from the dark timber bunkers and stack them on a National Coal Board lorry, while a man in a red neckerchief waves from the yard gate.

Look closer

He gave the coal merchant a name to smile at. Say it out loud.

A blue diesel with a yellow front in the arched doorway of a brick engine shed, a grey diesel beside it, model workmen on the tracks and figures in the foreground. — A BR blue Class 31 stands in the mouth of the brick engine shed while a gang works on the track and onlookers stand at the lineside. Middleton station is across the yard.19:48

Top-down view of a blue diesel locomotive’s roof and cab beside open wagons of coal and of white stone, one coal load tipped up, with the number 37 038 on the cab side. — Looking down over the roof of a BR blue Class 37 at the wagons on the next track: two 16-ton mineral wagons and a 21-ton hopper full of coal, one load lifted and tilted.19:46

A dark blue shunting engine and a green one on yard tracks, with a blue hut, green oil drums, figures on a pavement, parked lorries and a dark car on the road. — Blue shunter 4169 waits beside a railed yard, where two men carry a crate past green drums. On the street alongside, lorries are parked and two women stop to chat.19:49

A small dark blue shunting locomotive with black and yellow striped ends in front of white wagons full of stone, with a larger blue diesel and houses behind. — A BR blue shunter with black and yellow wasp stripes waits in front of Yeoman wagons loaded with white stone, with terraced houses beyond.19:43

A road on the left with a yellow tipper lorry of gravel, a cream Beetle, a white van and a green van beside a fan of railway points, with brick terraced houses on the right. — Looking down the road beside the yard throat, where a BOUTS TRUNK SERVICE lorry, a tipper and a Volkswagen Beetle stand. Across the tracks, a man cleans a window and another carries a ladder.19:52

Close view of model coalmen with a pick and shovels in black timber bunkers, beside a dark blue lorry lettered National Coal Board and loaded with sacks of coal. — A National Coal Board lorry stacked with sacks stands by Scott’s coal bunkers as men shovel coal, with Yeoman wagons and diesels beyond the fence.17:07

Ground-level view along model sidings: a blurred hut roof in front, a long blue diesel on the right, a small shunter and blue and grey coaches, and a bridge far off. — Looking along the yard sidings past a buffer stop and coal bin: a long BR blue diesel stands beside blue and grey coaches, and a small yellow shunter waits under the far bridge.17:13

Low view across empty model sidings and points to brick terraced houses with blue-green doors, with a grey stone hut, wooden steps and a small figure on the left. — Empty sidings stretch away from a grey stone hut with wooden steps, towards a row of brick terraced houses behind a black fence.19:43