North Eastern

As the saying goes - 'It's the Weekend😀' & we see a couple of surprise visitors in the sidings - 25236 & 25239 from KD (Kingmoor TMD). How they ended up at Hirst Sidings started with a conversation on Friday between Sid the Cambois Depot Manager & Geordie the Gateshead Depot Manager. Sid asked Geordie if he could spare a couple of locos for Monday's roster and to send something different if he could. Expecting possibly a Class 20 or 31 from Thornaby, the last thing he expected was two Class 25's. The next conversation between Sid & Geordie went like this - Sid - Bloody ell Man what am I supposed to do with those two knackers, they'll never manage to pull the skin off a rice pudding never mind a coal train!!! Geordie - Lots of raucous laughter🤣🤣🤣 That was the last Sid heard before Geordie slammed the phone down. Not wanting to incur the wrath of the drivers on Monday morning Sid shunted them off to Hirst Sidings sidings with 37008 to return them to Gateshead Depot on Monday morning. Other locos stabled for the weekend include 08575, 08886, 08888, 56119 & 56124. Also in the sidings is the remnants of an engineers train from a PW re-ballasting job on the branch on Friday night. There is still plenty of work for the wagon repair gang when they return on Monday morning with some new variety of wagons in the sidings.

47363 Billingham Enterprise has departed with Gateshead's breakdown crane after re-railing the errant 37015 & four bitumen tanks. 31322 brings into the yard the four re-railed bitumen tanks and shunts them into the wagon repair sidings ready for the wagon repair gang to check them over. 08512 is now on hire to the colliery after 08886 has returned to Cambois Depot. 08512 is seen shunting a rake of empty HEA's & HBA's down the branch to the colliery. Its later seen taking a break between shunting duties in the exchange sidings whilst 31322 waits to leave the sidings after dropping off the bitumen tanks. 37008 also waits to leave the sidings with 37015 to take it to Cambois Depot for examination after coming off the road in the bitumen plant. Happy Hump day everyone😁

It was scratchbuilt by Danny Little and the coaches built from Easybuild kits.

Thanks to a recent NEBOSH course and exam, activity on Hirst Sidings has had to take a back seat. Though a recent reorder of the garage has allowed me to access to my stock boxes so we will see more variety of locos & rolling stock through Hirst Sidings. It has also allowed me to create some space so I can put up the two fiddle yards. Hopefully this weekend will see the fiddle yard representing Hirst Colliery in position, and we'll be able to run trains to the colliery. An added bonus of the recent tidy up in the garage has meant I've found the box containing the 16v transformer and wires for the points resulting in all but three of the points working, further investigation will be needed for those points. Recent activity sees 47363 Billingham Enterprise on Gateshead's Breakdown Train arrive in the sidings enroute to the bitumen plant down the branch to re-rail 37015 and its train of bitumen tanks that have come off the road. 08886 is still on hire to the colliery and is waiting in the exchange sidings head shunt for the next train load of empty wagons to arrive. The repair sidings are looking busy so there's plenty of work for the lads in the wagon repair gang. Thanks for reading my ramblings

Thank you, much appreciated.

Apologies for the lack of posts a dirty 4 letter word has got in the way 'Work' Normal service has resumed since the Easter break at Hirst Sidings and we see 08886 on hire to the colliery resting in between duties on one of the colliery exchange sidings. 56116 is waiting to leave the sidings for Cambois depot with the repaired cripple wagons. 20172 Redmire & 20173 Wensleydale arrive in the sidings after depositing their bitumen tanks at the bitumen plant, before returning to Teesside.

It's Easter Sunday and Hirst Sidings is just about full of locos stabled from Cambois Depot during the Easter break. The full list of locos stabled are - 08008, 08085, 08512, 08575, 08747, 08872, 08886, 08888, 37008, 37015, 37078 Teesside Steelmaster, 56076 Blyth Power, 56077, 56116, 56119, 56124 Blue Circle Cement, 56126, 56132 Fina Energy & 56135 Port of Tyne Authority. The only visitor to the sidings is 37078 from Thornaby so the local spotters won't be getting too excited with the line up😁

Very nice Andy. I'm hoping to get some LL 37's when Heljan release their new batch of 'Skirtless' 37's this year.

Some of the superbly detailed/weathered road vehicles which will appear on the layout, supplied by Andrew Proctor

Apologies I thought I'd posted them, it mustn't have saved😁 The biggest surprise today is 50035 Ark Royal & 50037 Illustrious which are double heading the Branch Line Society railtour to Cambois & North Blyth. The crew at Hirst Sidings asked the depot foreman at Cambois if he'd send the locos down the branch so they could see them. The local spotters will be over the moon at these two cops.

It's the Saturday during Easter weekend and the last few trip workings are in full swing before the two day Easter break. 08085 is propelling some empty HBA/HEAs down the colliery branch. The NCB PW gang are clearing away some spent ballast & debris from some recent track maintenance. Thornaby's 20028 is a surprise visitor on the repaired cripples trip. The local spotters will be delighted with this cop 40118 is in the head shunt waiting to go to Cambois after dropping off its train load at the steel fabrication yard. The biggest surprise today is 50035 Ark Royal & 50037 Illustrious which are double heading the Branch Line Society railtour to Cambois & North Blyth. The crew at Hirst Sidings asked the depot foreman at Cambois if he'd send the locos down the branch so they could see them. The local spotters will be over the moon at these two cops.

47363 is waiting to leave the sidings after depositing its train of bitumen tanks at the bitumen plant. The sidings are looking busier and long may it continue

08085 has arrived in the sidings to take over from 08886 as the colliery still has a motive power shortage.

The Sailors strike has finished (Yippee) and traffic is returning to normal. The yard has lost its allocation of 56's back to Cambois . 37008 is currently running round four defective HAA's and will return to Cambois Depot for its next job after moving the HAA's into the sidings. 08085 has arrived in the sidings to take over from 08886 as the colliery still has a motive power shortage. 47363 is waiting to leave the sidings after depositing its train of bitumen tanks at the bitumen plant. The sidings are looking busier and long may it continue

08886 has been hired to the colliery as both the Class 14's require repairs and the Austerity is undergoing a boiler wash out. The sidings are also looking empty, hopefully work will pick up soon😀

The National Union of Seamen have called a nation wide strike and as a result there are no coal shipments from the West Staiths at Blyth or on the Tyne as around the country. As a result Cambois & Gateshead Depots are struggling to stable the locos used on the coal traffic. Cambois has sent four of its Class 56's (56076,56077, 56116 & 56135) to Hirst Sidings to ease the pressure at the depot. Today also sees an unusual loco on the daily 'Cripple Wagon' turn (Maybe due to amount of locos stabled at Gateshead it was the easiest to get to?) 47007 brings into the sidings a defective HBA & a Alumnia Hopper. 08886 has been hired to the colliery as both the Class 14's require repairs and the Austerity is undergoing a boiler wash out. The sidings are also looking empty, hopefully work will pick up soon😀

Hi Andy, Glad your following it. When you had the layout it was one of my favourites to watch. I couldn't resist it when Peter put it up for sale. I might need to pick your brains reference the electrics for the points as Peter wasn't sure which wires were which. Unfortunately I don't have space at the other side of my garage for another layout, it would have been nice to. Regards Chris

Hi Jim, There will be a few subtle changes at first - 1) The platform & signal box will go to allow a road access & bothy for the wagon repair crew to operate from. 2) Also remove some of the buildings in the middle and either replace them with more NE based buildings or not - Not decided yet. 3) Also remove the crossing gates as most NCB crossings in the NE were ungated, Long term - 1) Look at installing semaphore signals and repositioned signal box. 2) Replace road bridge with a concrete based bridge similar to one near where the layout is supposed to be based. 3) Longer fiddle yards if space permits.

These photos show a Saturday scene with various locos stabled in the sidings as an overflow from Cambois Depot as well as various wagons waiting repair and empty coal hoppers waiting for a trip down the NCB branch to Hirst Colliery.

Hirst Sidings is located on the Blyth & Tyne Railway between Winning Junction & Cambois Depot. Set in the 1980's when BR Blue & Large Logo liveries reined supreme and we thought it would never end. Lots of Class 08's, 37's & 56's will feature as well as plenty of visiting locos. It's home to a BR wagon repair yard, overflow storage area for Cambois Depot and run round facility for the nearby Bitumen Plant & Steel Fabrication Yard. The other half of the sidings belong to Hirst Colliery exchange sidings and the spur leading to the colliery. Ex-BR Class 14 locos are still in service with the NCB as well as a solitary ex-austerity steam loco which is on its last legs. Hirst Sidings was previously Seven Mills created by Andy Peters who then sold it onto Peter Cheshire and a change of location to N Wales before finding its way to the North East. It's only took 39 years since I last had a layout up in the house, but at last Hirst Sidings main boards are erected in the garage. Work will now commence on making a frame work for the two fiddle yard traversers. In the meantime I couldn't resist in having a little play Photos show 56116 coming in to the yard to run round it's train of bitumen tanks prior to taking them to bitumen plant back down the branch. Other photos show a Saturday scene with various locos stabled in the sidings as an overflow from Cambois Depot as well as various wagons waiting repair and empty coal hoppers waiting for a trip down the NCB branch to Hirst Colliery. Haven't quite figured out the wiring for points control panel yet but I'll figure it out unless I blow it up🤣

Hi Paul, It will be as well sign posted as last year. Also the back of the poster has a map of the Nissan area as well as the 'What Three Words' location. Regards Chris

As Paul has already mentioned there is an alternative O Gauge show in the North East - NEOG (North East O Gauge). Located at the Nissan Sports & Social Club on the 28th & 29th September 2024. Layouts 1) Ladeside Diesel Depot – BR(SC) 1960s 2) Templegate Wagon Works – BR 1970s 3) Ulverton – BR(SC) 1970/80’s 4) Bankgate Sidings – LNER 1940s 5) Falcon Road – BR(E) 1960s 6) High Grange – BR(NE) 1950/60s 7) Selby Bridge – LNER 1920/30’s 8) Aston – GWR 9) Invermire – BR(SC) 1980s 10) Falstone – LNER 1920’s 11) Donegal – Irish Narrow Gauge 12) Dalnottar Riverside – BR(SC) 1970/80s 13) Test Track Demonstrations 1) Dave Dunn - Railway Photographic Slide Show 2) Garry Lane – Wagon Building 3) Andrew Proctor - Weathering 4) Lee Edmondson – DCC fitting 5) Paul Moore – Painting & Lining 6) Gauge O Guild & Soldering Demo Traders 1) Northumbrian Painting Services 2) Squires Tools 3) Durham trains of Stanley 4) Connoisseur Models 5) GM Transport Books 6) Durham Locomotive Preservation Group 7) Skytrex 8) Greenwood & Duncan Models 9) White Rose Baseboards 10) 1039 Models 11) PRMRP 12) Trainsporters 13) Ian Kirk

It's official we are organising the 3rd NEOG show. Full details will appear later.

That's a wrap folks. Thank you to everyone who contributed & visited the 2nd NEOG - North East O Gauge Show . Keep tuned for future announcements😀