AndrewG

Thanks for this Mal. I've got the Railway Memories No.29 book which you recommend, which is certainly useful. But any extra information I can glean will certainly help. Yep, 00 gauge layout, focusing on the station area rather than Blyth as a whole. Thanks again.

Thanks for this David, really useful information, which seems to stack up with the limited information I had already gathered. Yeah, I've also come across a few photos of an N gauge recreation of Blyth. I have limited space so my plan is to focus on the actual station itself rather than trying to fit in the Shed or Harbour Lines etc. Once I get cracking I will create a Layout Topic!

Apologies if this has already been discussed elsewhere, but I couldn't find anything in the search function.... I'm looking to recreate Blyth Station (Blyth and Tyne) in 1/76. Modeled in the late 50's, early 60's era approaching closure of the station. G5's / DMU's etc. Can anyone point me in the direction of specific locomotives (likely to be G5's?) or Class of DMU that operated at Blyth Station in this era? The photographs I've uncovered so far have generic captions mentioning DMU but don't mention whether these would be Class 101, 104 etc and what livery they would be carrying? I'm a novice to the world of DMU's but I'm hoping that something from the RTR market lines up with the prototype, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Evening All. Thought I'd share an update of progress since I last posted an update. The styrene strip fencing has now been painted (two thinly applied coats of Humbrol 173 Track) and weathered using powders (white, yellow and a muddy green colours). I'm reasonably happy with how its turned out, although on reflection I could have used slightly finer styrene - its possibly slightly over scale. Anyway, all in all, the fencing took about 10 hours, attacked in 30 minute bursts to stop me from losing the will.... Siding gates have been added to the fencing, based on photographs of the prototype gates. A combination of ratio spear fencing and styrene strip doing the trick. And finally, the road surface is just about finished, save for a few minor pothole repairs that I've noticed this evening. I'm sure other people on here could have achieved the same surface finish in a much easier fashion, but my convoluted approach was as follows.....Initial road surface of 2mm grey card glued on top of the extruded foam, grey card painted with gloss black and sprinkled with sieved chinchilla dust whilst still wet (technique borrowed from Gordon Gravett). Once dry, and the excess removed, the messy process of using dust from artists pastels (grey, black, brown, white) to achieve the desired colour. The road is probably a touch too wide, but the grass verge will eat in to the width when it comes to that time. After all that, a quick running session was enjoyed. A J15 trundling through, a long way from home.... Finally, thanks again for all the encouraging comments!

Thanks for all the kind comments everyone. Yeah I'm pretty pleased with how the baseboard design has worked out, the challenge now is to do it justice with some half-decent modelling..... Big plans for this weekend......painting and weathering about 5 feet of fencing....

Absolutely Alcanman, I've been waiting patiently for a release date for the J27! Anyway, a couple more shots to show the experimental fiddle yard setup....(The lid/fascia are a work in progress)

Finally plucked up the courage to share progress on a small diorama I've been working on since the Autumn, intended as a way of reintroducing myself to the hobby. So here goes.... The Prototype Broomhope Siding was located near Reedsmouth, Northumberland, on the Morpeth to Bellingham "Wanney" line. The siding supplied an armaments testing facility in the Broomhope valley below. The siding didn't see regular traffic, and main line locomotives ( J27's, J25's, J21's) would usually disappear down the siding and return with a solitary box van before heading on to Reedsmouth with a goods pickup. The operators of the site Vickers Armstrong had small shunting engines down in the valley but as far as I am aware, no records have been found as to what locomotives these were. The Diorama I have chosen to model a small section of single track, somewhere between the mainline junction and the actual testing facility down in the valley bottom. Artistic licence has been applied (a soon to be modified Dapol water tower to act as a view blocker and the relocation of the siding gates a few hundred metres towards the valley) but the scene is based around an ungated road crossing which did exist on the approach to the facility. I have also recreated the gradient, with a gradient of about 1 in 55 (15mm over about 2ft 6" ish) rising from right to left as you view the scene. I don't have a vast collection of locomotives or rolling stock to call upon, so part of the appeal of this location was that I could run prototypically short trains and as such, the fiddle yards are only 330mm long, which will give me just enough scope to run a larger locomotive plus one /van wagon, or a shunter plus two vans/wagons. Construction The idea behind this Diorama was partly to test my skills in layout building on something small, rather than biting off more than I can chew, and also partly the result of living in a very small house! The cabinetry is all home made, with a 3" x 1" base frame and 6mm MDF sides, ends, and fascia. The total footprint of the unit is 3ft 8" x 1ft 5", with a scenic run of around 2ft 11". Fiddle yards are a bit of an experiment, and are built in to the unit on hinges so that they fold down and cantilever on hooks/chain. The landscape is extruded foam, shaped as required and then covered in paper mache. If there is anything I have missed, or you'd like to know, then please just ask. Cheers.

Thanks to all those that have replied, its much appreciated. I've got a few decent leads to look in to it would appear. Thanks.

Evening All, Looking for a bit of advice or pointing in the right direction. Hopefully I've posted this in the right section of the site? Relative newcomer here, been watching silently for a while, waiting for the inspiration to get back in to the hobby again..... From what I understand, within the 40's/50's a decent amount of incoming banana/fruit goods came from abroad via boat to the UK, and was then moved onwards from docks via rail. I'm considering the merits of modelling a small diorama/cameo of the dock/loading scene. Google hasn't really turned up much by the way of information about this process, the buildings/facilities involved or locomotives that would be present. For what its worth, I'm more of a builder than an operator, so its more the buildings/infrastructure that I'm looking for advice on. Thanks in advance. Cheers.