Holyrood 60152

Hi David, Wishing you and all members a happy and safe and BETTER 2021. . . . and thanks for all the fabulous photos of Haymarket and its locos - - - and as I don't have a time machine, any time I want to go back to the Haymarket I remember I just come here to view your forum thread!

Hi David, 31A (Steve?) refers to the modern tram line -- in the modern part of that interactive map the tram lines can be seen running across the north side of the sheds -- probably right through that phone box on your model! Jim.

To David and anyone else who is interested, here's a link to an interesting resource that will allow you to see how the Haymarket shed area has changed from the late 50s to the present day. I'll put the link at the bottom. When you click on the link it will open a page looking like this > When the above page appears, follow the instructions I have written (on the image above) and a map will appear looking like this > Clicking and sliding the blue button will almost magically change the face of the map from the 'map' into a Google map type of view as it is at the present day. The map on this website is fully 'zoomable' and there are several places in the U.K. that can be viewed like this - although it mainly concentrates on Scotland and London and its surrounding area. O.K. here's the link > https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=55.94261&lon=-3.23522&layers=170&b=1 Edited to say: After I posted this, I noticed that on this forum the link isn't a 'live' link -- I guess anyone wanting to use it will have to copy it and paste it in the url line of a webpage. RE-edited to say that the link IS live!

Hi David and Richard, While I can't say for sure if 60523 Sun Castle ever did visit 64B I can say for sure that 'she' was spotted from time to time on the ECML heading to and from Waverley station. I lived about a 6 minute walk from the ECML 6 miles east of Edinburgh in the late 50s/early 60s. Over a 3 - 4 year period there wouldn't have been many days when we weren't patiently congregated at the main line! Almost every weekend would find us at Haymarket (as well as Dalry Road [64C] and [64A] St Margaret's) and it's very possible that Sun Castle may have been there on some of our visits. I can only assume that if it made trips up to Waverley then it would most likely have carried on to 64B for preparation for its journeys back south. Knowing what I know now, it would have been smart if we had kept a diary of what we saw and where and when we saw it! Back then, we were really only interested in recording their numbers "on site" (whether just beside the railway, in a station or at a shed) and underlining our Ian Allan book(s) when we got home. Now, I wish I could read 'that diary' that I never kept!

Hi David, Your entire 'build log' is populated with so many fabulous photos and they keep taking me back there every time I visit here! There is one recent photo that is so real that I feel I'm actually standing right there! It's this one >>>

Hi David, A very realistic and atmospheric picture that is! From the angle of the light streaking across, it looks like 64B would have looked around mid-afternoon on a sunny mid-winter's day!

David ~ I think you have achieved your aim!!! That is a fabulous camera angle you have posted there - - - it reminds me so much of my views of the sheds as I walked up that cobbled road and into the shed area almost every weekend in the late 50s/early 60s.

​Hi David, ​Your Haymarket is looking superb . . . and evoking many memories of my weekly visits there in the mid/late 50s and very early 60s! In your previous post (#583) you wrote "the access road leading from Russell Road down to the main shed" ​-- just so that you are aware, the access road from Russell Road actually led UP towards the sheds. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the area from the steam days (didn't have a camera in the 50s!). ​I expect you've probably exhausted all photographic and cartographic sources, but in case you haven't seen this, I'll attempt to include it in this post. If I succeed in posting it, I have shown the access road in red >>> ​In case anyone reading this is interested, here is the url link that will take you directly to that map above. The map is fully 'zoomable' and it pretty much takes in the whole of the UK so you should probably be able to move the map around to find your own area and see what the map looked like umpteen years ago. There is also a blue button on the left-hand panel which can be slid left to right/right to left and it transforms the map into modern day Google image of the same area - - - ​ - - - here's the link >>> http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=55.9426&lon=-3.2344&layers=170&b=1 NOTE: You just have to click on the "X" in the top R/H corner of the white 'information' page which will at first appear in front of the map when the map opens on their website.

No David, back then I had neither a stills camera nor a cine camera. All I ever returned home with was a notebook with a few new numbers (quite often no new numbers) and smudged hands, face and clothes! Jim.

Yes David, isn't hindsight wonderful !!! Knowing what I know now, I'd love to be able to go back in time with my modern day camera/camcorder and have a full day at Haymarket . . . and St Margaret's . . . and Dalry Road . . . . . and I'd make it a Sunday coz the sheds were always chock full of locos on Sundays !!! Jim.

Hey chaps . . . if I may enter this discussion? Although I spent countless Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 64B in the late 50s/early 60s, I have to say I didn't pay much attention to the architecture! . . . so I'm not best qualified "to make a ruling" on whether or not there were different coloured bricks used. However, it would be my guess that there were indeed different bricks. Given that the shed was built in an era when even the most utilitarian of structures were endowed with some ornamental features (unlike today!) I would be of the opinion that Haymarket was constructed using different coloured bricks. Although minimal, there is evidence of some decoration in the featured brickwork around the window arches as well as in the circular vents above. As an aside ~ my faded memory was slightly resurrected by your picture above, David. Although my Ian Allan ABC books are long since lost, I'm pretty certain that 68470 would have been just one of the countless un-named locos that I saw in my spotting days. Looking at the picture and seeing the red-backed smoke box number plate jogged my memory . . . I had forgotten that some locos back then had that feature. Thanks for that photo !!! BTW ~ I liked your 'steamy' pic as well as your 'pristine' one! Jim.

That's brilliant David ~~~ makes me feel like I'm back at Haymarket after about 55 years . . . even if it's a lot tidier here than I remember it !!! Jim.

Hi David, Just a suggestion . . . but have you considered posting some of your questions on the LNER forum? I rummage around that forum quite a lot and there seems to be a fair few members there who appear to have been railwaymen in the days of steam. Their collective information could be quite helpful and invaluable. There are several sub sections including a 'Model Railways' section and another one I visit regularly -- "LNER Locomotives and Rolling Stock". Here's the link: http://www.lner.info/forums/index.php?sid=f048957f37d4efc2fa70a3315c5dc55f Regards, Jim.

That looks fantastic David! Especially, as Auldreekie said, it really looks the business with that wagon posed on the lift! How long have you had 'Pearl Diver'? Jim.,

Peter ~ I felt like I was standing down at track level in that photo above! David ~ I'm trying to decide if your statement "that's the best photo of the coaling tower I have seen so far" means that you hadn't seen it before I posted it ??? (Enquiring mind has to know ! ) Regards, Jim.