Wakefield West

[trw1089]

Hi all

 

I have been an occasional poster on this forum but have been a little reticent to post anything on my layout, mostly because I am not sure my work is of the standard of many of the modellers on here which have frequently inspired me.  With Dave "Tetleys Mills" Shakespeare's recent passing, and encouragement received in the Heljan Garratt thread, I thought it was about time I should at least give you a look at what I am trying to do.  Dave was very kind to me when I first posted in Gilbert Barnatt's Peterborough North thread as he was born Wakefield and encouraged me along with a few PMs.  Needless to say, I am inspired by the work of Dave, Gilbert, Coachmann and many others on this forum, so I hope that what I am doing is at least being respectful to you all.  I live in Queensland, Australia, and while I have been fortunate to visit the UK on a number of occasions, it can be tricky trying to model an area that you can't go out and see regularly.  In that, I have been absolutely indebted to John Farline of the Wakefield RMS who has supplied me with many photographs and drawings, and whose book (along with co-author Peter Cookson) on the Railways around Wakefield and Pontefract, has been my modelling "bible", and excuse to buy certain items of rollingstock!

 

The layout is situated in one half of a converted two car garage, so is about 17' x 8' overall, to allow for an aisleway around the outside.  It is a walk-in folded dog-bone style layout, as I am interested in both operation and modelling.  Using Anyrail, here is a reasonably current version of my track plan:

 

 

As you can see, the upper right area will be a representation of Wakefield Westgate, not exactly the same as the real track layout, but hopefully consistent with the operational aspects of it, with bay platforms, carriage sidings etc.  There are two staging areas stacked on top of each other with capacity of 5 trains each (the track plan has been modified in that area a little), so the intention is that Leeds bound services can run in from one staging area (nominally Doncaster), detach Bradford portions, with the Leeds section continuing on to one side of staging, and the Bradford portion heading to the other.

 

The finished part of the layout is the goods yard and engine shed.  Given the goods yard at Wrenthorpe and the loco depot at Ardsley were both near Wakefield, I have combined the two names into Arnthorpe.  The goods yard is partially modelled on the goods yard at Westgate, with the loco depot layout coming out of my head but based on a couple of track plans in various books I have.  It is really there to service the locos for Bradford portions, but also for goods engines working pickup freights which I hope to run eventually (the sidings on the left hand side in the reversing loop are yet to be built, but are intended to be for either a colliery or a brewery.

 

Here is an overall pic of the layout prior to any scenery being undertaken:

 

 

That was in January this year, soon after I commenced doing the scenery around the Arnthorpe yard which today looks more like this:

 

 

and allows me to take pics like this:

 

 

While the Scot is not prototypical, it was the inspiration for modelling Westgate, as I rode behind 46115 Scots Guardsman on a Scarborough Spa Express in 2010, and the departure out of Westgate with 12 on was nothing short of spectacular, so I said I had to have me one of these (both the station and the loco!).

 

I am also interested in weathering, so a few examples of locos etc on the layout are below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

and finally, a repost of the image that spurred me on to post something in Layout topics (I hope you don't mind):

 

 

Well I hope my layout is worthy of this forum and happy to hear any comments you may have about it.  I know it is not of Gilbert's or Coachmann's standards, as I am nowhere near as historically accurate as they have been, but my aim is to recreate some BR (NE) region atmosphere that doffs its cap to the West Riding and Wakefield Westgate.  

 

Cheers

Tony

[scouser]

Tony, this is great! I especially like the pic with the Garret. Will be watching this layout with pleasure.

Paul L

[trw1089]

Thanks Paul, much appreciated.  

 

Cheers
Tony

[Guest bri.s]

Excellent modelling .

 

looking forward to your progress

 

 

Brian

[Wummyock]

Completely out of my choice of era and area but its bloody great! Can you work on taking over the rest of the garage at some point? What make is the turntable?

Edited August 26, 2014 by Wummyock

[Classsix T]

Wow! That really is some great work. I'm not being disparaging either when I say a great train-set, purely a fantastic layout to pull a chair up and watch continuously running trains trundle or thunder past. Great work.

 

C6T.

[Foulounoux]

That 3rd photo is fantastic. I had to check it was the model and not real

 

Colin

[trw1089]

Thanks everyone

 

Lest it be thought that I have got my localities confused with all the images of ex LMS locomotives, the flavour of Wakefield West is definitely North Eastern, but just occasionally I get tempted by the dark side.  In order to pay penance, here are some more BR (NE) shots:

 

 

and 

 

 

and one final one 

 

 

to prove where my heart really lies, I have to confess that my favourite locomotive is this one:

 

 

A better name for an express passenger locomotive has never been invented (IMHO...)

 

Cheers

Tony

[mightbe]

Some great work on the depot area! How's the station been coming?

[john flann]

Tony, happy to see you and your layout here. Welcome.

 

i look forward to following your thread.

 

All god wishes.

[trw1089]

Thanks John

 

I have taken a while to build up the courage to post here, hopefully I have something worthwhile to contribute.

 

Cheers

Tony

[trw1089]

For those interested in such things, while my layout is controlled by NCE DCC, the trackwork around the yard and loco depot is controlled by two lever frames, one interlocked and the other not so.  I went for the Modratec lever frames because the guy who owns it is a fellow member of the British Railway Modellers Association group that I am in and after using a friends layout which was controlled by Peco lever style switches, I thought it would be something that would add "play value" to the layout.  The finished frames look like this:

 

 

and it can sometimes provoke reactions like this:

 

 

That last one is my youngest lad trying to figure out how to assemble a goods train in the yard.

 

You can see it in operation here https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-diLK7kAjbo (warning, it is a bit of a long video, so make sure you get a cuppa before watching!)

 

and finally, if you are thinking about getting one of the lever frame kits, when I was building mine I did up a doc on some of the tips and tricks I found on assembly, which has since been put up on the Modratec site if you are thinking of one yourself (no relationship with Modratec, only a satisfied customer) http://modratec.com/download/pdf/Arnthorpe.pdf

 

Cheers

Tony

Edited August 27, 2014 by trw1089

[John B]

Tony, this is terrific stuff. I'll look forward to watching this develop!

[aplinewalker]

Outstanding job ,,,I am very impressed, I grew up in Wakefield , It was fabulous at Ing's Road school with the line passing right by  (and almost over) the school on the 99 arches viaduct, spotting at Westgate Kirkgate and out near Wakefield  Heath common near the shed,,,  

Perhaps you could consider the almost iconic outline and structure that dominated the sky line was Wakefield power station, it screamed Wakefield whether approaching by rail or road, just wondered whether it could be found a place in one of the back drops

 

Cheers Alan     

 

 

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2712/4355019124_0d8f1b5aab_z.jpg?zz=1

 

https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6190/6042780551_370ec7f87b_z.jpg

[skipepsi]

Nice to see the old home town ! I only left 25 years ago and it is unrecognisable to me now. I liked how you came up with 'Arnthorpe' Armthorpe is over by Doncaster so not too far away. you do have an excuse for LMS light engines about the place turning round before returning to Kirkgate.I like what your doing and will watch this. 

[trw1089]

Outstanding job ,,,I am very impressed, I grew up in Wakefield , It was fabulous at Ing's Road school with the line passing right by  (and almost over) the school on the 99 arches viaduct, spotting at Westgate Kirkgate and out near Wakefield  Heath common near the shed,,,  

Perhaps you could consider the almost iconic outline and structure that dominated the sky line was Wakefield power station, it screamed Wakefield whether approaching by rail or road, just wondered whether it could be found a place in one of the back drops

 

 

 

Thanks very much Alan. Hopefully your posted pics show as I modified the links slightly. I am trying to model the period of 1950-56, so haven't been sure of when the power station was constructed, as it is not seen in some of the photos I have of Wakefield Shed, but is in others. I will certainly think about it being in one of my backdrops, and have plans also for the winding wheel that was in near the carriage sidings which had the Welcome to Wakefield sign above it.

 

A friend of mine also took some pics of the city skyline on approach to Westgate from Ings Rd junction while riding the Scarborough Spa Express last month, so with some photoshoppery to backdate, I think I have enough to sort out the backdrop for that area.

 

I am just about finished with the Arnthorpe yard area and will post up some pics of my last bit of yard ballasting as I think you may have also commented on my YouTube video about it.

 

Cheers

Tony

[trw1089]

Nice to see the old home town ! I only left 25 years ago and it is unrecognisable to me now. I liked how you came up with 'Arnthorpe' Armthorpe is over by Doncaster so not too far away. you do have an excuse for LMS light engines about the place turning round before returning to Kirkgate.I like what your doing and will watch this.

 

Thanks Mick, it is amazing how much has changed in Wakefield as I do my research. Even though the track layout hasn't changed very much, it is nearly unrecognisable now with how much vegetation is next to the track and the lack of open space on the approach from Leeds. The more I research the station area though, the more I realise how important it will be to show what it was really like, rather than try and make some stylised model railway type version, I am hope to scratchbuild most of the important structures like the Orangery, the admin offices behind the station and the station itself (so looking forward to getting stuck into that).

 

Thanks for the tick about the LMS engines too, I need every excuse possible, as locoholism is rife! But looking at the pics, Black 5s, Stanier and Fairburn tanks and even 4Fs graced the Bradford Portions, plus there are pics of Jubilees and even a Patriot on Summer Saturday specials through Dewsbury and Osset.

 

Cheers

Tony

[aplinewalker]

Thanks very much Alan. Hopefully your posted pics show as I modified the links slightly. I am trying to model the period of 1950-56, so haven't been sure of when the power station was constructed, as it is not seen in some of the photos I have of Wakefield Shed, but is in others. I will certainly think about it being in one of my backdrops, and have plans also for the winding wheel that was in near the carriage sidings which had the Welcome to Wakefield sign above it.

 

A friend of mine also took some pics of the city skyline on approach to Westgate from Ings Rd junction while riding the Scarborough Spa Express last month, so with some photoshoppery to backdate, I think I have enough to sort out the backdrop for that area.

 

I am just about finished with the Arnthorpe yard area and will post up some pics of my last bit of yard ballasting as I think you may have also commented on my YouTube video about it.

 

Cheers

Tony

Hi there sorry Tony how stupid of not to consider the time period before opening my mouth,,, just that to me Wakefiled is not Wakefield without the power station, although thats an over personalized  view point that only relates to my growing up years really,,, as for the photos I only joined last week and was not sure about all the copyright warnings your told about hence why I just pasted the links so they could be viewed on flicker,,, Looked at your videos as well ,,, very very good, I hope I can get half as close to the realism you create. Cheers Alan         

[aplinewalker]

Nice to see the old home town ! I only left 25 years ago and it is unrecognisable to me now. I liked how you came up with 'Arnthorpe' Armthorpe is over by Doncaster so not too far away. you do have an excuse for LMS light engines about the place turning round before returning to Kirkgate.I like what your doing and will watch this. 

I left a similar time ago ,,, and went back a couple of years back and as you say parts unrecognizable, all the old Stanley Royd mental hospital that I lived opposite to,, completely wiped away ,,,  and some parts a real dump.      

[sub39h]

Excellent work mate! Your layout looks great!

[trw1089]

I have been working on the other end of Arnthorpe, as there is a siding that is to serve a coal merchant, with a few coal staithes there.  On the yard area, I used a technique to get the ground level at the same level as the sleepers.  I used a photo of Patricroft shed area as a guide and used a product called Agnew's Water Putty (basically a hard setting plaster).  At the time I didn't take any photos, so for the siding to the coal merchant I repeated it and took some pics.

 

This is what the area looked like before I started:

 

I basically force the plaster into the gaps between the rails with my fingers then smooth it around the edges, like in the pic below:

 

 

Using a scrap piece of timber I then level it off to the height of the sleepers, both on the inside and outside of the rails:

 

I then use a brush dipped in water to smooth off the plaster, and to clean it off the inside of the rails:

 

It is also easier to use a plastic spatula to clean out the inside of the rails along with the brush:

 

This is what it looks like when finished the plastering:

 

Once it is dry, I paint over it with acrylics, using a mixture of burnt umber, raw sienna and a bit of burnt red for the terrain, and then just burnt umber and black roughly mixed to give a bit of variety:

 

When this is dry, I then use a mixture of Woodland Scenics Cinder Ballast, some ash from a coal fire (taken from the ashpan of an 0-6-2T narrow gauge loco actually), and some coal dust and lumps (again from the narrow gauge loco):

 

 

When this is then fixed in place using a 50:50 mix of PVA and water (with some wetting agent), this is the end result:

 

 

and

 

Finally, looking towards the coal staithes:

 

I still have to go over the area with weathering powders, but will wait until I bed in the buildings and put in some pavement and roads.  

 

Hope that this is of interest!

 

Cheers

Tony

[aplinewalker]

Love how you plaster the track and burry  the sleepers,,,, extremely effective. many thanks for the instructions ,,, great stuff,    

[trw1089]

Hi all

 

Further on from the previous pics, here is the area as it is now, pretty much done, but a few minor things to still tidy up:

 

 

 

From a couple of different angles:

 

 

 

 

finally, my favourite:

 

 

 

A few more bits and pieces may yet get added, but I have another area to finish first so may do that and come back to this.

 

Cheers

Tony

[Brian D]

I've only just stumbled across your layout thread.  The layout is really impressive and I envy the amount of space you have.  Keep up the good work.

Regards,

Brian.

[trw1089]

Thanks Brian

 

I tried to negotiate more space, but am happy with what I have so far.

 

Cheers

Tony