Les1952

Trying to see the leeks.... Five leeks planted today but i have a feeling there will be nowhere near the number of leeks in the allotments that there really ought to be. Reason- once I've added them I have great difficulty seeing them. The first two photos will show this- Looking across past Mr Makkem's allotment- Mr Green in the background down to his shirt sleeves and digging, but the leeks to the left of the sweet pea frame are almost impossible to see. They've now been painted Doncaster green so I'm not sure if that will make them better or worse. They're way too long but I think if the right length they'd become completely invisible..... Now spot the row of five leeks.... No leeks in this picture but a pit pony now out to pasture in the small field. Also shows that I've given up on a third strand of wire on the post-and-wire fence and painted the two I've got a mixture of black and rust. At a scale 3" thick plus paint they're overscale but don't look too bad. The posts have been trimmed to the same height relative to the top wire and touched up again. Some bushes installed in front of posts, and a lot more wilderness to go in down the bank. Two of eight lengths of post-and-wire fence made and one painted. Pic shows I've still got to put downpipes on the cottages. No courting couple in the bushes on the bank- the bonking banker is behind a semi-opaque window on Furtwangen Ost and can stay there. I'm still thinking about Doctor Who- now does anyone make Daleks in N? All the very best Les

Fencing continues... I've got the first two strands of the wire fence glued in from the underbridge up to the overbridge. Little chance of getting them exactly parallel as the cord wraps round each post as it passed, being glued to about every fourth one. One more strand above it I think then done and ready to colour. The fencing "wire" is 0.5mm knitting-in elastic, the same as the tramway overhead on Furtwangen Ost. Mr Green and his wheelbarrow have been added to his allotment but no more leeks today as all seven attempts were failures. I've ballasted a bit more of the colliery track, mostly around the shed and the exit to the screening house. Vacuuming on Sunday if the weather is fine- I'm unlikely to get in before then. On the loco front J27 LNER 2389 has been photographed for eBay. Trevor's visitor at the weekend bought "Parnhams" so I now have no need at all for LNER or LMS liveried stock. On the other hand I managed to drop the D11 I was about to photograph damaging its tender coping. It is now more-or-less straight with filler applied. If I can get it good enough it will be sold on after touching up. If notit will go into BR unlined black for Rise Park. All the very best Les

More details in cruel enlargement.. I'm still working inwards from both ends. The second batch of grass tufts has arrived, and I found some more bicycles in the Faller allotment kit. A trip down to Access Models has yielded some styrene strip in two different sizes of square section and some more ground cover. No excuse really to get on except for having to take a Mikado rehearsal on Saturday this week. Starting at the screens end, a bike rack installed in front of the upcast shaft- the foreman's bike is a Raleigh, the others cheap and nasty things made in the workshop. Some touching-up to do here and the fact that the ends of the pit props were hacked rather than sawn shows up- fortunately there are many more to go on the pile yet. Next we seem to have a few sh...hawks, sorry- seagulls around. This one is taking off from the cottage chimney- presumably it can see food on the bank just in front of it. Shows up the join in the Faller guttering I added to the Lilliput Lane cottages. "That nice young man in the end cottage, you know the one who is a telephone engineer" is walking his dog. Dog seems to find the corner of Mr Green's allotment a suitable place to raise its leg. Meanwhile in front the concrete posts for the railway boundary fence are in place, though the "wire" is still to be added. In the background Mr Makkem has three leeks so far growing, and has his bike propped up against the door. Is that a pigeon on Mr Green's roof? No- another sh..eagull. The leeks are single strands from 7-strand layout wire, cut to length and superglued into 0.35mm holes drilled into the surface. They'll be painted later (at least that is my story and I'm sticking to it). Each cut of the wire yields 7 potential leeks of which two (or occasionally three) survive to stand up correctly in the hole. So far nine leeks stuck but not yet painted... Plenty still to be going on with. Les

I'm pushing it with the Lodekka behind the cottages, and a Big Meet would close the screens for the day and, with it, the railway. I do have an Oxford RT in green which would pass for a Bee-Line with the fleetname painted out- I remember their RTs duplicating the Hartlepool CT journeys and being packed (including standing upstairs, all the way down the staircase and on the platform- not all that many fares got collected but it did keep the punters off the West Hartlepool PD2 a couple of minutes behind, and that is what counted. All the very best Les

Very many thanks once again for the compliments, gents. I do have a Get Carter hoarding but was persuaded not to use it as the film is about 10 years out of period. There is a Bridge Over The River Kwai one buried somewhere. The J26 was one of the last in service, going in 1962. It will be weathered almost to anonymity. The J27 appears in several pics in an album I have, so I'll try to weather it to suit. The expresses will be steam hauled- having forked out an arm and a leg for a sound-fitted A3 it would be a shame to use a diesel (though I do remember the 46s at Hartlepool. There are two Met-Camm sets, a 2-car and a 4-car, which has the brake in the right place. This is a Poole body with the two end cars on Chinese chassis. I've got hens and some dogs and seagulls to go on the layout, but still can't find anything that looks like a whippet..... I did think of repainting an RTL or a Leyland coach into black to look like a Lockeys- they also used to do works from Paton & Baldwins at Darlington. If I do, it will sit in the colliery yard somewhere. All the very best Les

A weekend working. What to do when the weather is wet and windy and there are no shows in the area? Spend the weekend in a nice warm shed with the rain persistently beating on the roof and the wind howling through the hen fence. Not that Hawthorn Dene is experiencing weather, it is only really raining flock powder and tiny black ballast..... First loco news. Two more NER types to go off to Wickness Models for chipping when the Paypal balance recovers enough- posed on the layout with the power off. These two are from my Parnhams stock- now redundant as Trevor is selling the layout. These two plus the J25 and K3 already done, plus another J27 still to do are the only ones being repainted into BR colours from LNER for this layout, though I may do a J50 and an Aspinall tank for Top Valley Goods. Of these 65817 is a J27 that spent most of its BR life as a Sunderland engine. It is one that had its centre wheels balanced- I knew those N-Brass wheel balance weights would be used eventually. I've also got to do 65860 some time. 65776 has no balance weights- and round windows, making it definitely a J26. It should have a forward-facing lion on the right-hand side of the tender, but the last two I had both fell apart while I was trying to do this loco- I may correct it at some time or just not bother..... If a big NER 0-6-0 had round cab front windows it was definitely a J26, if shaped windows and balance weights definitely a J27, if shaped windows and NO balance weights it could be either class..... Moving to the layout, the Pink Pigeon Co's loft has been sited underneath the workshop building, and I've moved the Blackpool hoarding to the right to give a clear sight line in for the birds. I'm toying with the idea of a second hoarding to the right of the Blackpool one (which is now fixed in). Plenty from the coalfield went to Blackpool for their holidays- Select Coaches ran Summer specials from Horden and Wilkinson's ran an express service from quite a large area of South Durham every Saturday and Sunday during the season. Lastly for now Mr Green has his fence around his cree and he and Mr Makkem have their allotments set out in the area with a little edging to do. Mr Whitehead's allotment is next to get its fence- I've had a fresh set of Faller allotments delivered so have more parts- even bicycles in this one- just as I'm nearing finishing the painting of another pack of P.D.Marsh ones.... As always, plenty to do. All the very best Les

And then we grumble about the quality of the new and say things like "it was better in the old days......" Just a thought. Les

Just a note from Mr Simon's dad- the ore wagons will be used on Top Valley & Rise Park as we've found evidence of a rake working on the GC North of Nottingham- they didn't get onto the Durham Coast line AFAIK so won't be used on Hawthorn Dene. When the A5 arrives up here (no hurry) it also will join the Top Valley stud, it isn't going DCC - Simon has done a photographic 3-page essay to go with the O1 to Digitrains when I take it for chipping later this month...... All the very best Les

Some more details done. A couple of pics round the colliery, and a couple of bits at the other end. The colliery ground level is being painted very dark grey and black scatter added before the paint dries. I've found a large number of Faller wood stacks that will be cut to make piles of pit props. There is some other stuff that will fill the area in front of the upcast fan. A view of the screening house roof- an old tank added with duck boarding and railings to allow access to the aerial flight exit when I get it added to the end. First of the stray grass that gets to the top of old buildings added. Still a goodly amount to do- the exit of the conveyor system has a decent frame and I've touched up some of the external framing over the brickwork. Still thinking about what to do with the roof edge- time to look at some high-angle pics to get some inspiration. The area under the elm in the allotment area has become a hen run. There will be another coop with a second run somewhere on the banking near the crees- this will be on the slope- hens don't care about ground not being level..... Lastly Mr Makkem's fence is fully done, with a gate at the back of the cree. The fencing for the green cree is being painted green- GWR-type fencing looks very fetching in Apple Green..... Still plenty to do. All the very best Les

Very many thanks for the votes of confidence- I'll try to deserve them. Not a lot happening at the Colliery end at the moment- a wall going along in front of the backscene and some roof duck boards and railings on the roof of the screening house. New Years Bits. Newark Toyfair only happens once a year on New Years Day, and since it is only just over a mile from home it is always worth a visit. The haul today was modest, a pack of P.D.Marsh ponies, men with wheelbarrows also Marsh, GW Station fencing by Ratio (too tall for most use but I can use a length somewhere), a small packet of coloured flock and an Oxford Diecast Lodekka in red (United welsh but that's the nearest to a United one). With the destination mostly painted out it has been stuck down on the road behind the cottages- from along the backscene you can just about make out the fleetname "United" but not the second word "Welsh", The GPO telephones van has been stuck down as well- the engineer must live in one of the cottages. A trip over to Trevor's yesterday was the reason I got little done- he had an electrical problem on Parnhams that wanted sorting before he shows it off on Saturday. I've scrounged some of the stuff he uses to make cabbages. The first row of them in the first allotment. Still a lot to do. Happy New Year. Les

Cruel Enlargements .... cropped very close to get below the image size limit- thinks, when using the newer camera must stand a little further away...... Some progress yesterday and today, mostly with enhancing small areas (very small in some cases. The allotments haven't had a close-up before. The tree is hiding a blemish (OK a good old-fashioned black paintbrush stripe caused by an unexpected flight out of my dodgy hand). The bushy foliage I thought would make a good cabbage is too big for that but makes nice hedgy-type plants, see later. Continuing anticlockwise round the layout, Ive railed the front edge of the little paddock using the rest of the Faller stuff I used between the houses and the pit railway. Some of the bushy clumps and some of the wild grass clumps hide the superglue holding the fence in place and cover the white patches missed by the paint- need a set of boards across the railway. Another paintbrush accident covered. Touching up the bridge I caught the card stonework round the arch leaving a brick-coloured smear. Lichens are a little too coarse for foliage but if painted with matt varnish after sticking in place they make a suitable foundation for some scatter. Looks less like a christmas tree in real life than in the pic, but needs a touch of brown on parts of the trunk. A few not-cabbages and clumps of tufty grass shoved in cover a multitude of sins- leaving a larger multitude elsewhere to go at.... White steps in place and a board crossing below them- the latter will be tried to see how well it derails trains tomorrow after the paint dries. More non-cabbages in the area at each side. Shows I need to touch up the sides of the board crossing. There were other close-ups but I couldn't crop them down. My next job is studying them to see what horrors they show up that need fixing. All the very best Les

Meanwhile, more pics I've been putting an extra layer of scatter in one or two places today and ballasting a bit more of the colliery. Probable day off tomorrow so the vacuum can run over the layout on Sunday and we'll see what the damage is. Meanwhile pics of the hawthorn end of the layout. In the corner the ash tree makes the little paddock area look more like something. Post and wire fence along the railway side, and maybe a single nag grazing- if I can find a dilapidated pony rather than a carthorse. Moving on, still work to do between the paddock and the houses. Someone has left their bike carefully obscuring the Lilliput Lane sign. Full row of houses with a lot still to do, though the fencing behind them is advancing. Bushes along here later and still a goodly bit of colouring to finish. The big cree has found its final resting place- top of the bank of course- and been stuck down. Below it the cinder path is too dark but Mr Makkem's boundary fencing has started to appear. Allotments 1 and 2 have been marked out and shedded. Plants still to do. The ash tree in the allotment is hiding a bad blemish (self-inflicted) on the backscene. More allotments to make in the space to the right of the first pair and around each pigeon cree. Still a lot to do. Les

Hello again. The three TMS routes were- Horden Station - Peterlee - Acre Rigg - Horden Colliery - Easington Village, Horden Station -Peterlee - Dene House - Horden Stores - Easington Village. Horden Victoria Club - Acre Rigg - Dene House - Peterlee Manor Way. http://galleries.trimdon.net/photo-gallery-index-page/trimdon-motor-services/ Hopefully this link to a TMS ford bus on one of the services will work. The Manor Way service was claimed to be the first one-mam-operated bus in County Durham, but I can't vouch for how accurate that is. The routes were sold to Untited in mid 1961. Les PS it goes to the contact sheet- the Ford is the top left image.....

Very many thanks fior that- it does indeed help. I think the 83 would be an amalgam of the routes that Trimdon Moror Services ran in the Peterlee area until 1961, when they passed them to United. The three routes all started at Horden Stores and made their way by devious means to Easington Village, all passing through Acre Rigg at one point but different places in between. TMS bought six uncomfortable Ford buses in 1960 for the routes but had sold them all on by the end of 1962, replacing some with coaches on the longer routes. Mr Simon spends Boxing Day with friends so I've been in the workshop getting on with some details. First is the bridge- it now has its railings. The prototype has six sections but they run the whole length of the parapet. I decided that six plus a short one would look silly- it was easier to cut every other stanchion from the Faller railings and leave it a little short at both ends. Cruel enlargement shows I got some of the concrete colour on the brick- touching up needed here. The clump grass down the side of the embankment is an improvement, but I need an awful lot more. Another cruel enlargement. The screening house is getting a few embellishments- the duckboards over the roof with another section of Faller railing and some thin balsa, a ladder from a ratio chimney kit and the steps and platform from an old Pola colliery kit that is dying of plastic fatigue. Another stairway from this has been laid down the embankment below the coal drops and painted white. There isn't enough of a cutting to put steps up the other side. I've also been working the area at the back of the houses but that picture didn't come out. Better luck next time. Time to go and list some more on eBay to pay for all this..... Les edit- funny how you think you've improved your typing and find you haven't. I typed screening houes then used edit to change it to screening houese before having a third go ad getting it right (I hope.....)

I thought that was the baby Deltic! Either way a reason to buy a J94 to pull it..... Merry Christmas Les

Yes please if you can find the details for the transfers- though Fox appear to do transfers for NCB Hetton (I'm not sure if they cover South Hetton and will have to go back to my slides to look). I remember Northern's Routemasters well, trying to time journeys from Darlington to Durham to get a Routemaster on the 46 rather than a Lodekka. Similarly being in hope at Durham that the bus up to Gilesgate Moor on the 57 would be a blue PD3 rather than an Atlantean or a Lodekka- that was the 57 route. The 41 (241 by the time I was travelling from home in Hartlepool to my mate's in Durham) was a b-slow through route. I used to try to get the Trimdon if possible- more direct despite the grand tour of the Trimdons and much faster. All the very best for the Festive Season. Les

Thanks for that- it will be a red Lodekka hiding behind the cottages, then. West Hartlepool depot had quite a collection of them. I suspect the 16 tonners on coal were standard 16 ton minerals- there is a rake of assorted 16-tonners (wood and steel) on the layout, and I'll load a mix of hoppers and 16-tonners through the screens. Ore wagons were 24-tonners with no doors specially for ore traffic. They were unloaded by tipping them upside down (or at least beyond sideways). They were common in the East Midlands, so will be used on Rise Park. No animals in front of the railway, then. I would have had to buy some. A bare field isn't quite right there- I'll need to think about it again. Still, this area is likely to be the last one done to save me breaking it by leaning over to do the back. All the very best Les

A couple of questions... 1. Did Durham District's double-deckers get through Easington Colliery, or would the only ealy Lodekkas be United ones on (I think) the 40? I'm going to put a Lodekka (I can't get anything suitable for NGT) behind the cottages, positioned so you can't see that the destination, fleetname and rear open platform are all wrong, but I'm not sure whether to get a red one or a green one.... 2. Were the fields between the railway and the coast arable or was there any livestock kept there? I'm looking at the flat area at the front and the edge of a field is a possibility.. All the very best Les

Mr Simon home for Christmas ... with ore wagons. Not prototypical for this layout but will go a treat on Rise Park. Standard Farish wagons but weathered individually. Here they are on a Northbound working behind J39/3 64840. Shows up that the loco needs weathering..... Second video showing Type 2 D5013 with half-finished brake tender on s Southbound Limestone train meeting the J39 travelling North again. Note the route of the cinder path in front of the allotments has been painted in and thet the two elm trees have arrived. Despite the prototype's lack of many trees I've decided to use both of them- but that is probably all. Mr Simon seemed to pick up the operating system very quickly but will no doubt add caustic comments later if that isn't the case. Merry Christmas to one and all- I can't see anything new happening now before the weekend. All the very best Les

I've been thinking... Dangerous way to start a post but true all the same- and it has to happen sometime... When Jim came round on Thursday we had a play with the layout to see how he got on with the proposed way of running it. Overall not too bad in principle, but he had difficulty with numbers and addresses (only to be expected as I set them up and can remember them). Overnight thought brought to mind that I had a set of self-adhesive strip magnets bought from Bookseller at 99p for four earlier in the year. Strip cut to length and stuck to backscene to represent the five sidings at the departure end -the other five at the other end of the layout.. For each loco a shorter strip with card stuck to it and the address and a short desrciption e.g- J27 65860 or 4-car DMU 41 Picture gives the impression. This is the departure end of the Northbound fiddle sidings. Much easier to read than the numbers on the sides of the engines. Next is to see how Mr Simon finds working the layout next week.... All the very best Les

Many thanks yet again for the nice words... A frustrating day Jim and I went to Digitrains this morning. First cock-up was Jim leaving the locos he had taken for chipping behind and having to go back for them- second was me forgetting the blown Bachmann decoder I want exchanging. We then missed the turn off the A17, followed by missing the turn back on to it after turning round..... Purchases- one patch panel to finish the four along the back of the layout- got home and found it was the wrong type.... one lead to daisychain said patch panel, it fits where I was going to use it but the lead I've displaced with it won't reach the last baseboard hole.... one Zimo chip (but I've forgotten which loco I bought it for) one holder for the second Powercab to fit to the back of the layout- fitted and holds the cab - I suppose one out of four can't be bad. Also arrived today a set of Medcalfe tunnel mouths bought cheaply for parts. The arch from one of them has provided a new set of keystones for the underbridge- dirtied slightly with chalk before fittig. A type 3 grumbles over the improved underbridge heading South with brakevan in tow (wheelchair punter's view). Plenty still to do- starting with trying to remember which loco I bought the decoder for.... Les

A busy day Lots and lots of small bits- starting with vacuuming the whole layout again to get rid of bits that aren't stuck down. I've had some wargamers' long grass clumps arrive in the post this morning so I've stuck some of these on the layout. They look good, but I think I'm going to need far more than the 120 in the pack.... Some gorse bushes and some clump grass applied round the bridge. Starting to look as if it might be half decent when it is finished.... Moving a little further I've stuck the houses down and laid the first layer of plaster to raise the ground a little behind them. There will be a mud or mud-and-cinder path behind them from the lane to the allotments. I've also got some of the hedge done round the allotment area- this should separate the allotments from the end of the colliery yard. Trevor had done the second try at the old screening/washing house. It now looks a little flat- I may use part of the first one to deepen one end of it. Weathering still to do- the prototype at Backworth was dirty grey in colour and well overgrown- the bricks were a lot darker also. Continuing along the layout the current screens have been stuck down. I've tried to make it look like an old building partially modernised. There is still stuff to do to the walls and roof but the shell isn't going to improve shape-wise if I leave it unstuck. Lastly the conveyor is installed- still a lot of dirt and bits to add in this area. Off to Digitrains tomorrow with the next pair of Farish locos, this time a pair of V2s, the double-chimneyed one and the one with outside steam pipes. The G5 will go to Wickness Models in the New Year. Plenty to do- first of all a trip into the loft to find a pair of V2 boxes..... Les

Getting Plastered... Yes- the last meeting before Christmas and the gang are getting plastered. No alcohol, though as Jim officially retired today there was a selection of cream cakes to make our waistlines even more worthy of adverse comment from the better halves..... Trevor had a session on Thursday last week, club night for the rest of Bingham MRC. He tried out the chicken wire former on the first section of the backscene, and looked at how to make the Top Valley Town board sit on the end. The first section of plaster bandage being applied. Trevor's method involves using a lot less water on the bandage than I am used to, only having a very shallow dish to dip the bandage into, and adding a small amount of PVA to the water. No wonder his plaster dries out within a couple of hours while mine takes a couple of days in warm weather. The first section has now had its first layer- the roadway board having been glued down first. Whether there are any pictures of the whole row next week depends whether Mr Simon wants a look at the clubroom on Christmas Eve. All the very best Les

I think the conveyor must have replaced the 'flight', probably at the time that Merry-go-round trains replaced the colliery shunters (early seventies). Would make sense adding it at that point as the screens would mostly be redundant at that time. I need a conveyor to hide the railway exits at that end, so this old pit had both..... I'm glad you said the flight was rusty black- I've just got the first mast painted. There will be elderberries in amongst the fencing above the main line- I assume the present post and wire is quite ancient- it is easier to do that than all-wood. I spent a long time on eBay tonight looking at 'signature' trees, and the odd tree will be an elm, a bit more widespread than oaks (at least around Darlington, which isn't that much further South), and a recognisable species tree- at least I can recognise one........ I've also found a supply of suitable allotment plants, and a way of representing leeks. Maybe not getting my hands dirty tonight, but at least still moving. And so to bed. Les

Yes, I'd got the impression that there were very few trees- there are the two lines of what is actually OO-gauge privet trees (which will be doctored a bit to look more like hawthorn) , and I need just the one more tree- every other backscene problem will have a building or a tower or a chimney parked in front of it. Looking on Google Satellite there seem to be one or two odd trees on the part of Holmhill Lane that Streetview doesn't cover, and quite a few in back gardens round The Crescent- so an odd tree in the allotments to the right of the houses wouldn't be so far out of character. Due to space the layout has to be an impression rather than an actuality. I've also looked at the conveyor and the aerial ropeway that took away beach spoil. Would I be right in thinking the conveyor was much more recent than the ropeway, and that it was cladded in grey? I also get the impression that the ropeway towers were black (or more likely rusty black...) I'm going for an older version of the conveyor, the Marsh one is definitely an earlier prototype. Rusty black seems the most appropriate for its age. On the positive side I think I've better edging for the underbridge bridge arch on its way- even if the replacement isn't as prototypical- the individual vertical bricks just don't show up as such. I've also got a source for some railings for the bridge parapet- better ones that I could make from scratch. Still plenty to do and think about. Les