Woody100

Hi all, As (real) modelling is on hold pending a house move, I'm currently concentrating on researching the consists of workings through Selby in May-Oct 79. The WTT's throw up a few interesting workings from the period and it's fascinating to see the railway divided almost into two types: the day railway of restricted pathways of expresses interspersed with locals and the night railway of sleepers, van trains and fast freights. As an example the first HST didn't pass through Selby until 0809 as 1A05 0650 ex Newcastle to KX; the last HST passed through at 2200 as 1N10 1955 ex KX to Newcastle. I have the BR carriage workings (passenger) for the period and the consists of class 1 and 2 trains are pretty much complete. I need the traction booked onto various loco hauled workings. I assume most (even all) would be designated for type 4 or Deltic traction. There are some heavy trains. As an example 1S70, the 2215 KX to Aberdeen, has a booked consist of GUV x3, BG, SLSTP x2, SLF, SLSTP, SLF, SLSTP, SLF, SLSTP, BG - a total of 13 vehicles loaded to D560. I assume such a train would be booked a 47 or at least a 45? Any help on the consists of class 3 NPCCS would be gratefully received too! Thanks and regards

Hi all, I'm also well advanced in the construction of the original Station Master's house and booking office from the original terminus station. The building is distinctive one with the high level bay window on the upside at the York end of the station. From images, the building has been repeatedly extended and altered over the years. In 1979, some railway facing windows were boarded up and the frames were painted a shade of emerald green. The building shows the 'scars' of previous alterations in the varied brickwork shades and I've tried to replicate these on the model. This is the view from across the river showing the frontage of the building. This aspect shows the view normally seen from the down platform. The track level is around the level of just below the bay window. The gable end rendering was created by tearing a lamination layer from mounting card for the texture. Soft pencil was used for weathering. Here's the image I worked from dated 1970: Photographer/image owner unknown. Regards

Hi Ian, The tidal swing and strength of current in the Ouse through Selby has always been 'impressive' (apart from when the high tide meets a heavy outflow of course!). I've given the mud banks some thought and will probably model around mid-tide with plenty of exposed mud and reeds. I thought of possibly using modelling clay and gloss varnish with a poured in epoxy resin for the river. Kathy Millatt has some excellent instructional videos on You Tube that covers an wide variety of landscaping techniques. I hope the clay is safe with the resin. Regards

Thanks Ian. Tidal flow would be very good. I would imagine it would be fairly straightforward using real water and something like a peristaltic pump. But water doesn't scale well or mix well with N gauge (apparently). Here's another couple of views of the bridge. I've considered making it swing open but decided it wouldn't be worth the faff. The timetable I want to mirror is pretty intense and it makes you wonder when it actually opened without causing delays during that period! There's a Network Rail video online showing the operation of the bridge from the control room. It moves so slowly I would imagine at least 20 minutes would be needed between trains for a swing. The summer 79 timings show only 3 windows of more than 20 minutes all between 0200 and 0600. The third image shows the hydraulic actuating tower beyond the bridge. This has been finished and has been placed in its approximate location. The tower is a simple box from plastic sheet with overlaid brick paper and added detail from plastic strip. The whole thing is weather/coloured with acrylic shades. To give some idea of scale in 2mm the bridge is 480mm long and the support base will be the lowest contour level on the layout. A DMU is shown 'trundling' over on its way to York. I drew the bridge up onto paper based on plans available online and then used various thicknesses of plastic sheet and card to build up the structure. The curves of the two sections are have variable radii and were the trickiest to get right. I opted for measuring the height of the curve at multiple, equidistant points to form an accurate arc. The rail is Peco code 60 that has dropper wires soldered up and sits upon copper clad strip placed long ways. I made the mistake of soldering the whole length of the rail onto the copperclad. I quickly realised the differing expansion rates of copper and nickel-silver cause a curling of the rail (the classic bi-metallic strip thermostat switch). The whole was redone with just 4 solder points. Regards

Hi everyone, Following on from my successful building of Selby swingbridge in 2mm scale as here: I've decided to embark upon a long term project to recreate Selby on the ECML as it stood in the summer of 1979. Research suggests the real location infrastructure and landscape has changed almost year on year in one place or another and so I've plumped for the concept of capturing just a few brief weeks in a long history. Penmanshiel tunnel collapsed in the March of that year and ECML services were disrupted until late August. However, Selby timings appeared largely unaffected. My plan is to run, as near as I can, the exact timetable along with correct consists. The period holds particular interest with a full blown HST timetable with York - KX class 55 aircon trains alongside the 'night-time' economy of news, mail, sleeper and Motor Rail trains with an immense variety of stock still extant. Trans-Pennine routes were run with Class 124/123 DMU's and enough freight was allowed through the bottleneck to allow almost a constant flow of trains. Actually, I've counted about 180 odd timetabled/conditional over the 24 hour period Tuesday to Friday. The plan as per below (minus the little used up station yard shown) has been drawn up on AnyRail and will be housed in a 5m X 3.6m out-building. The actual size of the layout is 4.6m long by 2.5m wide. The 'theatrical' section will be modelled from Bawtry Road Bridge to the West/South to Barlby level crossing box to the North/East. This incorporates Selby station, swingbridge, Barlby loops and the crossing. I'm just short by about 2m to model the ECML/Hull lines junction and just cannot fit in the Selby West triangle without severe compromises on station length and track direction. This is the biggest loss as the WTT shows a regular (about a dozen) flow of oil trains from the Humber and Lindsey refineries to Leeds ShellMex in Hunslet. The curves to the top are an off-scene access to 20 x 3.3m long storage roads (in 1979, Freightliners ran through Selby conveying 20 vehicles). At the opposite end is the scenic cut-off at Bawtry Road. The lines simply curve around to storage roads from this point giving an operating well around 1.2 to 1.5 m wide. The storage lines will be on a large draw slider. Regards (edited for grammar!)

Michael, When I built my MMP 08 the axles were supplied by MMP. Although it was around 5 years ago now, I do remember Slater's axles were supplied with the wheels but slightly different one were needed. Hope this helps?

There's a Network Rail video somewhere on the 'net that demonstrates the opening procedure. I'll check to see where the detonators were when the through lines were extant. Thanks for the images.

Thanks LNERGE. And thanks for that image. The detail there is very useful indeed! I've done some fairly extensive research into the station and its immediate environs and service patterns around 1977 to 1980. It was a period of significant change that would be great to capture in a model. Regards Stu

Here's a few more images with the, to offer its proper title, hydraulic actuating tower in an approximated correct place. I think it makes everything look more lifelike due to the myriad of images around taken from the country end of the down platform. The first image captures the complex radii on the swing span that were a pain to work out without engineering drawings and the representation of the rotating mechanism. De-tyred Lego wheels have been used here. The others show a class 31 trundling over with a short van train to help with scale. Regards Stu

They're from 16mm balsa dowel rod. The information I found stated a diameter of 8 feet each so the dowels should be the correct size scaled up.