61658

The service you are talking about is the Clacton interval service which ran each our from Liverpool st usually at 36min past the hour. I asked a similar question on the LNER forum a few years back and got this response for winter 1954 Likely locos would have been B17s or Thompson B2s with an N7 running the Walton portion from Thorpe-le-soken, prior to 1953 B12s and F5s from Thorpe would be more likely. here is the formation for the 10.36 am from Liverpool Street in Winter 1954-5: Clacton: BTK - 4 compartments TK - Thompson TTO - Mark I FK - Thompson RB TK - 8 compartments (not Saturdays) Walton: 2 TK - Thompson BFK - 5 compartments The 3.36 pm was listed as: Clacton: BTK 4 compartments TK 7 compartments TK Thompson FK Thompson RB Walton: CK Thompson TK 7 compartments BCK 2 first 3 third compartments I am basing my layout on the line between Colchester and Clacton in the early 1950s, From the photos I have seen prior to WWII D13s, Clauds and B12s were the order of the day. There is some footage I have seen of children (including my Grandmother) being evacuated from Clacton by train in early WWII I will see if I can find it. I think traffic on the line was more limited in the 30s compared to the 50s as part of it was only doubled during the war. In regard to the N7s they are a great R-T-R addition for this line because as well as the trains from Thorpe-le-soken to Walton they worked local trains from Clacton and Walton to Colchester (prior to the 1950s these used F5s). The pictures I have seen tend to be three coach sets CL-LT-BT made up of a mixture of Thompson and Gresley non-vestibuled stock including Gresley steel sided d.265s etc. Tilbury tanks were also used from the mid 50s. The Brightlingsea trains used F5s (1930s) then J15s and Ivatt 2Mts in the 1950s. Prior to the war ex-NER clerestory stock was also used along with the Gresleys. There is a nice photo in one of the J.D. Mann books of a local service (I belive at Thorpe-le-soken) being double headed by a J15 and N7 coupled nose to nose.

Thanks for that PaulG all of the other pictures I have seen are of 68226 the last one looks like it might be 68222 from the arrangement of the side plates as in other photos of that loco around 1953. Cheers

I to can sympathise with this situation, after a number of years and a change of scale trying to get the layout I had dreamed of. I recently chose to dismantle everything and start from scratch with something more simple and more realistic for the space I have. I hate making baseboards so this was a painful decision but they came apart much easier than they went together and now I am starting to make visible progress and enjoy my hobby rather than be disheartened by it. Sometimes you have to take a couple of steps backwards before you can move forwards again.

I think there must have been a requirement for skirts and a cowcatcher at some point as the Y5 that worked Colchester Hythe up until 1931 had skirts etc. I am not sure if they went over to J70s from then on or sentinels then J70s. Anyway it is 68226 (without skirts as in many available photos) that I have ordered, as it is a station on the Colchester-Clacton line I am basing my model on. I would be interested to see photos of the other trams at Colchester particularly in the 50s, I believe 68222 and 68225 were there for a short while shorty before withdrawal.

On having a look through the relevant Yeadons (vol 27) it would seem that N7s started to be moved away from Stratford in 1948-49 to locations such as Colchester, Parkeston, Ipswich, Norwich, Hornsey and Neasden amongst others. Although this was only in small numbers of 4-6 to each location and they were frequently swapped back to Stratford and replaced by other N7s. By 1951 a few had spread further to Annesley, Colwick and Bradford. Larger quantities of N7s began to be moved from Stratford permanently from 1956/57 and by 1959 the Stratford allocation was down to 61 from over 100 in 1950. In LNER days the bulk the of changes to allocations seem to be between Stratford, Hatfield and Kings Cross, with a few going to Neasden for a short time in 1925/26 and Cambridge in 1933. During the war a few were allocated to Bradford. This is of course a very broad summary have a look at Yeadons if you can plus this site http://www.stciers.me.uk/home/sheds/index_sheds.html is really useful for East Anglian allocations. Cheers

Anybody fancy a W class tram for 550 pounds (delivery not included!) http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-15/iconic-melbourne-trams-for-sale-for-thousand-dollars/9759268

If you type "Tallowood st Dorrigo NSW" into google street view you can get a good look at the 2 RODs they are at the very end of the long line of steam locos quite close to the road. I don't know how to imbed steetview into a post here otherwise I would.