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Chris_z

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  1. I had to include the first of these. Frank Dyer is nearest with concentrates look. In the background, is his wife Margaret, sitting near the layout fielding questions from the public. This has now become known as "Margaret Duty".
  2. I know it's not Borchester Market, but I still think this is the best place for Hardwick Grange. So, here's my contribution. Many thanks to Rod Mackay (a member of CMES) for taking some extra photos and letting me post here. This may require more than one post, because there's quite a lot. Franks other layout......
  3. Some sort of Frank Dyer Memorial Trust? Sort of like a real preserved railway with a group of volunteers that look after it, maintain it and have it on permanent public display. Perhaps one of the real preserved railways might have a home for it. Since, it would already have visitors, the layout could provide an additional attraction. Bluebell Railway? NMRC already have connections with it. A preserved railway with a GNR / LNER / GCR theme? Just some thoughts.
  4. Very sorry to hear this news Charlie. Your group have put a lot of effort into maintaining and repairing Borchester Market. I really hope you can find a sympathetic and capable buyer to continue the good work. In hope....
  5. Having discussed the Stencil Route Indicator (SRI) with a signalling friend, I think the most likely indications are: PS Thanks for all the 'likes'.
  6. After many attempts I've think I've managed to extract as much information from your PDF of Scheme B.Attached are: 1. Franks drawing enhanced. 2. Redrawn. 3. Reversed. Observations: 1. Scheme B looks like a Borchester Town Mk.3 without a coal marshalling yard. I would assume it is located in the same place as BT2 and BT1. I can't work out the coal traffic. 2. Does anyone have Scheme A? 3. Where there more schemes? 4. If you reverse the track layout you can see how Borchester Market came out of it.
  7. I think I've finally finished the Borchester layout plans, at least those that were built. The knew stuff that follows is: 1. Borchester Town (BT) Mk.1 - only 1 photo and plan, so information not complete (anyone got any 1950s photos?) - showing limited view. 2. The best I can do for a Borchester Town reconstruction (1955). 3. Showing the expansion of the layout boards 1955-1959. 4. Overlaid tracks 1955 and 1959. 5. Borchester Town 1959. 6. Borchester Town 'control panel' - of sorts. The other published plan is so small and of poor resolution, that I can't add the information. (Anyone know of a larger, better version?)
  8. Someone mentioned on another thread that Borchester Market may have been inspired by Chesterfield Market Place. I don't know if there is any truth in that. Frank could have visited the station before it closed, so he might have kept some notes of the place. This is speculation, unless someone knows otherwise. It did get me looking at CMP and there are striking similarities. So, I decided to produce some plans illustrating them; in case anyone is interested. The plans show: 1. OS 25" plans (source: National Library of Scotland online maps): 1914 edition superimposed over the 1898 edition. Some changes are evident; presumably as a result of GCR absorption in 1907. 2. The 2 plans are overlaid (with the help of GIS rectification) by the 1930s plan from Neil Bridgewaters website (http://www.oldminer.co.uk/track-plans.html) with thanks. 3. Flipping the central part of the OS plan shows a lot of similarities to BM. 4. I've drawn a more BM-like plan. Conclusion: some interesting similarities and possibilities. Hope this is of interest.
  9. BORCHESTER MARKET: ALTERNATIVE SCENARIO LD&ECR (Source: The Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway; Oakwood Press - 1st Ed. 1966, reprinted 1984 & 1988) The 'father' of the Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway (LD&ECR) was William Arkwright; a direct descendent of Sir Richard Arkwright. He succeeded to the family estates at Sutton Scarsdale, east of Chesterfield. Not being content to lead the life of a country squire and wanted to develop the considerable coal seams under his land. During the 1880s, plans were prepared to sink collieries on his estates. To enable the widest possible market for his coal, he concluded that an independent railway was needed instead of the indifferent offerings of the Midland Railway and Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR - later to become the GCR). His initial railways were mineral lines, but in 1887 the preliminary prospectus of the Chesterfield & Lincoln Direct Railway was published. Part of the route would cross his estates. It was promoted quite independently of Arkwright. Although there was little local support, it's route was the same as the later LD&ECR. Arkwright' plans initial attempt at an east-west route involved the Newark & Ollerton Railway (N&OR), authorised in 1887. Although just a rural branch serving the hop-growing township of Ollerton, the promoters had similar ideas to Arkwright. It would have given them an outlet via the Great Northern Railway (GNR) at Newark. Arkwright suggested the GNR use the branch and extend it to Chesterfield, serving the developing coalfield. The GNR wasn't interested. Arkwright went on to develop the idea of an independent line linking the west coast (Warrington, on the Manchester Ship Canal) to already proposed extensive new docks on the east coast at Sutton-on-Sea. This involved a number of lines which would form the LD&ECR. By the autumn of 1890, the entire route had been surveyed. In November 1890, the plans were made public. An Act of Parliament received Royal Assent on 5 August 1891. Ultimately, the lack of sufficient investment forced the LD&ECR to accept an alliance with the Great Eastern Railway (GER). This resulted in only the central section ever being built; not including the N&OR. Eventually, the LD&ECR became part of the GCR as of 1 January 1907. SOME BACKGROUND ON FRANK DYER He was born around 1915-1916... "I well remember standing in a roadway in Bedford. The year must have been 1919. Quite suddenly there was the scream of a whistle, and a loud roar as an express train hurtled through the station which was just the other side of the fence; a brief flash of crimson carriages, and a drift of white steam. I was transfixed! The magic had captured me: a little boy of four." (Everyone should get the Spring 2001 Britain Railway Modelling Classic Layouts. This was Frank writing, aged 85. A gem of an article.). "I was a boy of 5, and the thrill of the railway was beginning to take hold. That would be about 1920". He became a 'train watcher', not a number collector. Frank seems to have travelled widely by train, absorbing everything about the subject. In his own words: "...I must have had a very enquiring sort of mind". He kept notebooks and diaries of his observations. I wonder what happened to them? His father was a draughtsman, whose hobby was making model boats and buildings ("most of which he never finished"). His father was a keen woodworker and introduced Frank to tools and wood-working methods. When Frank left school, he started work in an engineering works - cleaning machines. He then changed to electrical wiring: working in the electrical insulation industry and undertook night-classes in the subject. This enabled him to 'play' with electric switching and circuitry. His employment led to work in fine electrical testing at a big radio and telephone works in south-east London. It seems he must have been there through the war as an instructor in the assembly and testing of small electrical components - a vital part of the war-effort. I understand he worked at or near Woolwich and the work was related to radar components. It involved long commutes to / from his parents home in north London. Model Railway Club Frank and others formed a model railway club in Barnet towards the end of the war. About this time or shortly afterwards, Frank started building the nucleus of a terminal layout at home, which eventually turned into Borchester Town. The Steelworks In early 1949, Frank went to work for a firm of exhibition contractors (C. D. Productions Ltd), as a professional model-maker. They built a large model of a modern steelworks, as part of a massive campaign by the British Iron & Steel Federation, to publicise the iron and steel industry. It was taken on a publicity tour, starting in March 1949. Although not based on any particular prototype, much of the design and layout was based on Margam, Port Talbot, South Wales. As his first task, he was put in charge of a large model steelworks - 60' x 24' (18.288m x 7.315m). It was built to 1:72 scale with OO railways. There were 1600 wagons on the model! Everything worked on automatic sequences. The railway side of things didn't work at all well. It was up to Frank to make it work reliably. He was part of a small team maintaining it at exhibitions. Reliability was greatly improved, especially the railway side of the model. He described that after having worked on it for a year, he "...more about the mechanics of OO railways than I would have learned in a lifetime of modelling at home ". Critical He was definitely very critical of the way people ran their model railways with a complete lack of realism. Before the war, he seems to have been very impressed by an O gauge layout - 'Maybank' - built by Bill Branwell. In Franks words: "It was being worked as a railway should be." Frank considered realistic operation to be equally as important as model making and just as difficult. Borchester Town In 1954, a small attic-room became available as a model room. His first model railway layout included the station he'd previously built. This became Borchester Town. It was a small single track terminus with a 4 road marshalling yard and a link to a colliery. It was set about 2 years after nationalisation (1950). In the late 1950s Borchester Town was built, set in 1957. This layout was dismantled in 1968, because of a house move. In 1975, Frank (started?) building Borchester Market, reusing material from the old layout. It was finished in 1978. FRANK DYERS SCENARIO THOUGHTS ON BORCHESTER MARKETTime Period Frank chose 1958 for Borchester Market, because he made extensive records of what he actually saw in my chosen area. Having said that, Frank kept his layouts up-to-date for their time. Borchester Town was 1957. In one article, Frank even refers to Borchester Market as 1959. The extra year might allow more diesels. Motivation "My whole motivation goes back to those early years of train-watching; as a child, a teenager and later as a keen student of the subject: 'the railway'". Everything must conform to what can be seen 'looking-over-the-fence ' - the 'train-watcher'. Operators were drivers and a good one was 'a bit of an actor '. RailwayThe word 'Railway' always meant the Great Northern to Frank. It was later part of the LNER, the line of his childhood. Later, he acquired a pleasant association with the lines of what was once the Great Central...". History and Location He thought one of the first steps was to "...give the line a history and a location on the railway map." History: - Provides the principal traffic and subsequent development. Location: - Indicates traffic flows and destinations. - Suggests typical services and connections. In terms of location, Frank needed to find a district where these two lines interacted. Joint lines, and places where both lines overlapped could be found between Merseyside and Lincolnshire. To Frank, it seemed the area to the North of Nottingham offered the best possibilities. It included remnants of the old Sherwood Forest; green, wooded country with hills of red sandstone, a mixture of agriculture, parkland, and coal-mining. There was a lot of railway in this area. So, he invented a place which would be connected to existing lines, especially if a service joined the LNER main line and onto Kings Cross could be justified.Borchester Market was supposed to be situated approximately where the real village of Kneesall is marked on the Ordnance Map. This is about 10 miles (16km) northwest of Newark-on-Trent. In a 1959 article, Frank refers to the proposed Newark & Ollerton Railway that was never built. He seems to have been under the impression it was proposed by the GNR. In reality, the GNR never proposed the line. For the purposes of the scenario, it is reasonable to consider the GNR supported its construction. That would provide the 'GNR origin' he wanted. Frank imagined:- "a hefty coal mine near Borchester"- ..."a double-track branch built by the GNR to a terminus in the town"- ..."a single-track branch extending beyond it to the pit-head." This would have provided a southward exit for Borchester's coal, and make a direct train service possible between the town and London or East Anglia via Newark and the Kings Cross main line.Also: - a further extension of the Newark to Borchester line being made to Ollerton (see his sketch map) on the old LDECR, later part of the GCR - owing to the terrain, he imagined this extension avoiding Borchester - local demand would later result in a spur being built by the GNR, connecting Borchester Market to the north, thus forming a triangle of junctions at Wellow - services could run from Borchester, via this connection, to LDECR* or MSLR stations at Nottingham Mansfield, Chesterfield and Sheffield - after these companies became part of the GCR at the turn of the 20th century, through-services would begin between Sheffield and London, with a reversal at Borchester - the 'main' line to Newark (with a definite ex-GN flavour) allowing 'fasts' to London or Cambridge, and locals to Newark or Grantham, Sleaford and Boston - the heavy haul of coal to Peterborough for London and the south - traffic on the other line (the 'loop') would be of a more local nature: 'fast' trains (reduced in length) would go only as far as Sheffield - there would be much local traffic, both freight and passenger (tending towards a GCR inclination, especially locomotives) - through traffic from the GCR lines to Newark, using the third side of the 'Wellow' triangle ('off' the model). Questions Frank posed the question: - 'Why all this historical and topographical background stuff? Is it necessary? Isn't the whole idea of building a layout to have fun?' Responses Fun and Necessities: - "...we do have fun in plenty" - "...the serious effort to get the right atmosphere, historically, scenically, topographically..." - "...the continued effort to...perform as near...to the real thing...the greatest satisfaction is achieved. The old Borchester Town layout was a through station, and initially, he wanted the new layout to be an elaborated double-track version. The proposal was abandoned in favour of a terminus, because of problems in accommodating the fiddle-yards. Topography: According to Frank, a range of red sandstone hills runs from east to west about a mile (~1600m) south of the town. These provide a reason for tunnelling through into the fiddle-yards. He modelled the area of railway to the north of these hills. The line leaves Borchester running southward over a short embankment. As it approaches the hills, it divides at Wellow East Junction. Just beyond this junction, the original line to Newark disappears into a tunnel. The 'loop-line' to Wellow West Junction turns along the face of the hills, passing the small station of Wellow Park which serves a mining estate; before entering another tunnel on its way to Ollerton and the GCR. Each of these tunnels leads into its own fiddle yard, quite self-contained, each usually being worked by a separate operator. The 'half-mile' (~800m) between the junction and Borchester has been reduced for model purposes. Borchester Approach: At Borchester's home signals (advanced home and home) the down (arrival) line divides: - the left fork being a non-passenger connection which leads to the colliery branch - at this point the small loco yard is passed with a full sized turntable, but no shed: it is merely a stabling-point - it could be argued that with a triangle of running-junctions nearby makes the turntable unnecessary, but Borchester is a rather busy place which justifies it railway-wise - on the north side, opposite the loco yard, is the small town Goods Yard (quite small for a town of this size): -- the little town yard handles mostly building materials -- there is a small loading-shed which has road-access -- the yard also deals with some wagonloads transferred from Newark area (GN) to the Langwith Jc area (GC) and vice versa - in mining districts the local railway yards do not handle domestic coal, which is ~70% of yard-space in the south - local coal comes direct by road from the pit - most of Borchester's factories are on a trading-estate served by a connection from the colliery branch with its own freight services (off model). Borchester Market Station: Forward from the home signals, the main lines leads into the station: - there are 4 platform-faces, consisting of 2 islands connected at the terminal end by a covered concourse: -- Platform 4 - alongside the goods yard headshunt - is shortened into a bay, to provide space for some buildings on P3, which is -- Platform 3 - the principal platform -- between P3 and P2 is a 'centre-road' provided with loco-release crossovers from the two adjacent lines -- Platform 2 -- Platform 1 - longer than P2 - often used for long-distance arrivals. Simultaneous arrivals and departures can be made between any pair of platforms, except between 1 & 2. Taking the left divergence at the home-signals, connection is made to the only carriage-siding. This lies alongside platform 1. As most of the long-distance trains simply reverse at Borchester and proceed on their way, extensive carriage-storage is not needed. Connection to the Loco-Yard and Colliery Branch: The connection with the loco-yard is also made at this point. The line goes forward over trap-points to become the colliery branch, which curve away from the station over an arched brick viaduct. It passes between buildings of the industrial estate (with imaginary siding connections), crosses under a main road and supposedly enters a cutting on its journey to the pit head sidings. In fact, it disappears from view at the road bridge, and enters the main line fiddle-yard at the opposite end. The 'Colliery' is just painted on the scenic backcloth. ISSUES WITH THIS SCENARIO 1. No coal mines were ever sunk east of those shown on the map (Bilsthorpe, Ollerton and Thoresby): the map also shows oilfields.2. The bore holes to locate coal seams were sunk during and just after World War I; whilst mine shafts were not sunk until the 1920s.3. Fitting Franks Borchester Market into the topography has proven difficult without the benefit of his thinking. Knowing the location of Borchester Town has helped improve the 'fit'.4. The GNR didn't promote the N&OR, nor were they interested in supporting / running it. This would need to be reversed in Franks history.5. Kneesall (BM) is too close to Newark-on-Trent to be a (major) market Town or just a small town. Expansion would only come with coal mining.6. Building the line before coal mining means a quiet rural line whose biggest traffic would be hops. 7. Coal traffic derived from the LD&ECR (GCR) would bypass Borchester Market and the model. RECONCILING FRANKS SCENARIO WITH THE ISSUES Solution 1: 1. Research into the extent of underground workings has shown they extended a long way east of the mine shafts. With the benefit of knowing the location of Borchester Town, it improves the possibility of a fourth mine shaft in the area. This would 'steal' part of the Bilsthorpe workings. 2. Bilsthorpe, Ollerton and Thoresby coal mines sunk in the 1920s (see map showing dates of bore holes, shaft sinking and first production). The Borchester Town scenario is the easiest to envisage a fourth mine. Borchester Market is further away and more problematic. 3. Have the GNR support and run the railway, as Frank imagined. 4. Build it within the 5 years normally allowed by Acts of Parliament for railways and to a modified route; much like that for Borchester Town. 5. Assume completion of the 'main' line in 1889. This could reach Edwinstowe (furtherest west permitted under the 1887 Act of Parliament). 6. In the Borchester Market scenario, the 'by-pass' line would come first. Initially, hops would be the most important traffic; after opening of the LD&ECR, coal traffic would be 'tapped' from the west. 7. Only with the sinking of a new coal mine would the Borchester Market branch be built and the 'loop' to form a triangle. Assuming Borchester Main Colliery was one of the first; this would place construction around 1923-25. The urban area would then expand rapidly for awhile. Solution 2:1. Move the location of Borchester Market to New Ollerton.2. Rename the railway: Newark & Borchester Market Railway to reflect these changes.3. The 'colliery branch' would initially serve Malt Houses and possibly a Brewery.4. Branches to Edwinstowe (furtherest west permitted under the 1887 Act of Parliament) and Eakring.5. Borchester Market replaces New Ollerton and eventually incorporates Ollerton and Boughton as suburbs. 6. Borchester Market Station would be built on the real site of the Ollerton Colliery. 7. Ollerton Colliery would either not be built or moved a short distance eastwards. 8. Thoresby Colliery would mine the coal measures accessed by Ollerton Colliery. In reality, the underground workings eventually joined up. 9. The Joint Mid-Notts Railway would not be built. The southern end would be an LMS branch to Bilsthorpe Colliery. 10. The Borchester Market 'colliery branch' would extend to Thoresby Colliery. 11. The initial Edwinstowe branch station would be demolished to make way for the Thoresby Colliery branch line from the former LD&ECR (GCR) main line. 12. The Ollerton halt on the Edwinstowe branch would be closed after Grouping. 13. The Eakring branch would gain a connection to the Bilsthorpe Colliery branch when production started in 1928. 14. The original Eakring branch terminus would be extended to a new crude oil loading terminal in 1939. This would be expanded during the World War II. CONSEQUENCES FOR THE MODEL Solution 1: 1. Wellow Park station should be renamed. It is too far away from its namesake, even by railway standards. Perhaps, just Park station. There is a Park Farm nearby. 2. The whole platform facing really ought to concrete for a 1920s LNER construction. Solution 2: 1. The viaduct would need to be removed. It would be replaced with a flat area of ground. The branch would remain. 2. A short section of 'cosmetic' LD&ECR (GCR) main line would need to be modelled going under the N&BMR main line, where the lifting flap used to be, on the approach to the station. 3. The back scene would need replacing or modifying to reflect the changed location. 4. The topographic scenery , currently showing red sandstone rocks, may need to be modified to reflect the changed location. 5. The back scene would need to be modified to provide greater separation between the 'loop' and 'colliery' branch.
  10. Thanks very much. I haven't finished yet:- still got the suggested re-location to finish - drawings of BT 1959 and 1955 to produce - redraw location diagram of BT - I think I can create a control panel style diagram for BT now that I've found one of Franks layout section plans in an article - similarly a signals 'layout' - redraw the Borchester Market Frank would have preferred if he'd had room for the fiddle yards - redraw a couple of other layouts he designed. Quite a lot really. I'm not a member of any club / society, so I don't know when BM or HG will be on tour again. Do happen to know if any of Franks notes, notebooks, diaries, hand drawn plans, sketches, etc survive (apart from the 3 posted much earlier on this thread)? Have you read the article he wrote at the age of 85 about his modelling life? British Railway Modelling Classic Layouts 2001. It's a real 'gem' of an article.
  11. As previously mentioned, I have found information showing the extent of underground workings in the area. The workings - as I understand it (could be wrong) - are called 'panels'. Not being familiar with mining, I was surprised how far they went. Not only that, but how far east they went! I've also found material on Borchester Town, including a location diagram that I will eventually redraw. In the meantime, I plotted the relevant part and was surprised about the degree of 'link up' with Borchester Market. With some adjustment, it helped me refine previous attempts at fitting BM into the landscape. The following map shows: - light blue refers to BT route - location of Borchester Market and Colliery - underground mining - the extent of sidings that would be needed by the BT / BM mines - not mentioned in Franks writings - possible extent of BT & BM urban areas after mines well established - some main road changes that might have been necessary - the possibility of an extra mine in the area - i.e. at Borchester Main - or instead of Ollerton Colliery - the more unlikely possibility of a mine at BM. NB: The panels running north-south from Kirton towards Kneesall / Borchester Market were only just started when Thoresby Colliery (Edwinstowe) closed. The majority of those panels are only proposed workings. It had previously taken over some the Ollerton Colliery workings when it was closed. The workings from the south are Bilsthorpe Colliery. All of this does NOT change the gap between the situation in the 1880s / 1890s v WWI onwards, concerning the start of coal mining in this area.
  12. This is an attempt to show the variety of signal types on Borchester Market. The drawings are generalised and not accurate representations.
  13. I don't have the BBCode button. Using iPad Pro with Safari. Can you please help?
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