Dealing with Data

One of the joys of modelling the CVLR is the sheer amount of data available, the difficulty is how to collate all of that information so its easy to find what you want. I've been pondering over it for a while, looking for a simple solution to all of the multimedia sources available. In the end, I started from the perspective of what I was trying to achieve, what I needed to do that, and how I wanted to see the data that enabled me to make the right decision.
The key objective is to be able to work across the whole spectrum of the railway - changes to the line, types of traffic, rolling stock, engine types and infrastructure and to do so in a concurrent fashion. Part of choosing what to model is down to the versatility I can get from each diorama - some subjects are going to be able to represent a wide timescale and be suitable for a selection of locos, some others will not, and that is going to impose extra restrictions. It doesn't help that I have chosen the late 1962 onward period as that is where there was a lot of change in infrastructure - keeping tabs on what is suitable for what period, in what state of dereliction / abandonment is the tricky bit.

In the end, I have chosen to use MS Excel because it offers the flexibility and functionality I want. The primary sheet is shown below - its very much a work in progress so you'll have to forgive any spelling mistakes or format errors you observe.

The idea behind it is to document the line in terms of distance from Tiverton Junction towards Hemyock in rows, noting all the features of the line.  Heading from left to right are columns relating to years in order to capture the various changes.

There is a long way to go yet, the starting point has been to read through the description of the line chapter in The CVLR Book by Colin Maggs which has given me the basics in a chronological order (I have got as far as Hemyock, but I figured a sample of the sheet was enough, its almost illegible as it is). The next task is Appendix 1 from the same book where all the bridge numbers are listed, together with a distance from Tiverton and a brief description. Lots of the desired information is captured in the photograph captions, so that will be the following turn of duty, before starting all over again with the Messenger / Twelveheads Press book! Its going to be a pretty long task, but lets be fair - I'm reading about the thing I want to model so its not exactly testing :-)

Once the line features have been noted down, locomotives, rolling stock (passenger and goods) and finally goods traffic will be added to the bottom of the sheet. My theory is that one picks a subject from the line list, scrolls across to the right to see the changes over that objects life, picks a year of interest and then scrolls down to get an idea of the traffic, engines etc that would have been observed passing past, through etc.

Excel works nicely in that extra columns or rows can be added as a when new information becomes available, extra sheets can also be added to contain copies of photos or interesting features. There is a danger that collating the information becomes the hobby, but over the long term I need some way to help drive decisions and choices. Will it work, well there is only one way to find out...

Research Materials

As far as railways and research goes, the CVLR ranks fairly well in terms of the amount of material and data available. Books, magazines, a video, a DVD and countless photographs on the internet all serve to conjure up wonderful images of this little railway and its environs. It is entirely possible to work backwards from the departure of that very last train from Hemyock on the Blackdown Archives site all the way back to 1882 on John Spellers web pages without ever having to move from the PC.

 It has to be said though, I find studying a photo in a magazine or book a much more pleasant activity than spending yet more time in front of a computer. The two main books on the branch, both titled The Culm Valley Light Railway, one by Michael Messenger / Twelveheads Press and the other by Colin Maggs / The Oakwood Press are well worth the cost for anybody interested in the history and development of the line.

Both the video and the DVD contain archive footage shot on 8mm film, the latter contains footage from a Mr Arthur Harris, shot in colour from1962 and shows tantalising snippets of various parts of the line as he travelled along it. I'd like to be able to watch the video again as I recall  it containing different information to the DVD, alas, it has been sometime since I owned a video player! I keep a copy in the hope that I will bump into someone who hasn't upgraded to DVD like the rest of us.

Magazine wise, they can be split into the contemporary scene as it was (ie up to the 1975 line closure) and the reminiscent (ie post closure).

In contemporary terms, all I have so far is:

The Railway Magazine, February 1936. 5 present day photos and a short description of the history of the line. There is a part two to this article that I haven't been able to source yet.
The Railway World, February 1953. 2 page short history with a photo of No1300 at Uffculme 1882.
Railway World, November 1962. 6 photos and a description of the line.
The Culm Valley Light Railway pamphlet, 1964.

Reminiscent:

Railway World, March 1976. A memoir of the line with 5 photos.
*Railway Magazine, March 1987. Boyhood recollection of the line and some of its characters, 4 photos and utterly wonderful.
*Steam Days, April-June 1990. Ride the Culm Valley Mixed Train - 18 photos, heading  out and back, with a wealth of detail. A wonderful colour shot of 1421 and an Ex_ER coach at Culmstock to finish off.
*Great Western Railway Journal, No 5 Winter 1993. Two lovely double page spreads of Hemyock station in the early 1930's plus a half page shot of the dairy c1900-1910.
Steam Days July 1993. A trip through the history of the line, 18 photos (two colour) plus a cover shot. Photos cover from the 1900's to the 1960's
Steam World, No 75 September 1993. A brief mention of the CVLR in an article about a camping coach holiday, supported with 6 photos of the line (3 in colour).
*Steam World, No 82 April 94. A double page spread with five colour photos of the line in the 1960-63 period.
Steam World, No96 June 1995. Three page article on the Barry Coaches on the line, 6 photos (3 colour).
*Backtrack, Vol 16 No1 Jan 2002. Three pages with 7 colour photos of the line, again from the early 60's.
*Railway Bylines, Vol 8 No7 June 2003. Peter Barnfield describes a wet day out on the Hemyock branch, supported with 12 quite wonderful b&w photos.

As expected, some of the photos have been shared between books and articles meaning there will be a chance of repeats with any purchase. Its not a bad thing though, sometimes you notice something different on a second (or indeed third or fourth) look...and the CVLR is difficult to tire of in my opinion. If I was collecting again, I'd just plumb for those magazines noted with a *, the colour shots and stories are the most applicable to my interest and cover a good selection of the available pool of photos.

Other books feature photos and notes about the line, Great Western Branch Lines by Soggee & Welch has four pages with colour photos whilst Great Western Branch Termini (Vol2 or combined edition) has 24 pages of photos and text describing Hemyock station through the ages.

Drawings for the station building and goods shed at Hemyock can be found in British Railway Journals No 1 and No3 in articles titled Common Light Railway Architecture by Paul Karau.

Internet wise, well I'm just gong to suggest typing in Culm Valley Light Railway and having a surf - just put the kettle on first...