Modelling the M&CR's branch lines in EM gauge

[PenrithBeacon]

Me too and an M&C parcels waybill too. Both off eBay.

[Compound2632]

Cockermouth to Goole, via where? Leeds and L&Y.

[PenrithBeacon]

50 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Cockermouth to Goole, via where? Leeds and L&Y.

LYR ran freight to Carlisle from Manchester. Don't know about Leeds - Carlisle by LYR haven't looked at S&C WTT for ages, have it on CD somewhere.

Probably Cockermouth, Maryport, Carlisle, Leeds & Goole. Did you notice how much it cost? More than a month's wages for a skilled man.

[Northroader]

Think it reads “C’lisle, Mid”, fancy sending stuff by the Mid!

[PenrithBeacon]

11 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Cockermouth to Goole, via where? Leeds and L&Y.

 

23 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Think it reads “C’lisle, Mid”, fancy sending stuff by the Mid!

Yes, I think that's it. Just before I read your reply I WhatsApp'd a mate who comes from Workington (and who researches the M&C) asking for his interpretation. It'll be interesting what he comes up with.

[Compound2632]

52 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Think it reads “C’lisle, Mid”, fancy sending stuff by the Mid!

 

That makes a great deal more sense than Chesterfield, which was all I could make of it! Transfer to the L&Y at Methley Junction, presumably. The preference for the Midland at Carlisle is logical, giving the shorter mileage - LNWR and onto the L&Y at Preston, or North Eastern whether via Newcastle or via Penrith and Darlington, would be long ways round.

 

11 hours ago, PenrithBeacon said:

Did you notice how much it cost? More than a month's wages for a skilled man.

 

I read 6d for each item in the "Paid" column, what's written in the "Excess Luggage" column is just "No." prefixing the "tracking" number in the "Sender" column.

 

These old labels and forms are fascinating insights into the way the railway worked. One thing I've noticed is that they are rarely filled out in exactly the way their designer intended. You could do that with a pencil...

 

[PenrithBeacon]

My friend has replied and he thinks the route would be the M&C Derwent branch to Bullgill and then on to Carlisle, S&C etc. This would give the greatest mileage on the  M&C.

[PenrithBeacon]

Although the document specifically says Leeds (LYR) I'm by no means sure how this could be accomplished without cartage between stations.

As the packages were leaving Cockermouth on the 8.15 pm (passenger?) train it would mean several transhipments to Goole

Edited October 7, 2020 by PenrithBeacon

[Compound2632]

26 minutes ago, PenrithBeacon said:

Although the document specifically says Leeds (LYR) I'm by no means sure how this could be accomplished without cartage between stations.

As the packages were leaving Cockermouth on the 8.15 pm (passenger?) train it would mean several transhipments to Goole

 

Sorry, in my earlier post, I had been mistakenly thinking of a goods wagon in transit. I think what's written is "Leeds + L&Y". The Midland July August and September 1903 timetable (Ian Allan facsimile reprint, 1969) shows no evening M&C train connecting with the Midland later than 7/5 from Cockermouth. There was, however, an 8.15 (am) train from Cockermouth connecting with the 11.50 from Carlisle (9.30 Scotch Express from Edinburgh), arriving at Leeds at 2/8. Goole does not feature at all in this timetable book. That Up Scotch Express did not call at Normanton, so transfer between stations at Leeds does seem the most likely arrangement. The instruction means: "goes by Midland train to Leeds then is to be given to the L&Y to get it to Goole".

[CKPR]

I've got quite a few of these   M&C documents and can attest that most of them have been completed in the same semi-legible cursive handwriting using what looks like a blue chinagraph pencil. 

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, CKPR said:

the same semi-legible cursive handwriting using what looks like a blue chinagraph pencil. 

 

Possibly as taught in the local board schools and using company-issue implements, rather than necessarily the same person?

[PenrithBeacon]

We're issuing offices expected to keep copies? It might be that they're all from the same archive.

[CKPR]

Interestingly, I purchased the majority of my M&CR paperwork from a couple of antique shops in Cockermouth in the late 1980s-early 1990s, along with other similar documents from the FR, CK&PR and C&WJR and often wondered if there was a single local source for these artefacts.

[PenrithBeacon]

I wonder how many copies would be made? Top copy forwarded to HQ, one to go with the package and another to be held at originating office. The one I published earlier seems to be a top copy.

 

Perhaps the top copies survived in somebody's personal achive, but then again this might have been before carbon paper, so they were all top copies.

[CKPR]

Time for an update, but not about progress on the engines just yet as I'm back at home after a week in hospital following a mild heart attack last Tuesday.  I'm being treated with medication and rest for the next few weeks and already feel better, thanks entirely to the superb care from the NHS cardiology services at Hereford and Worcester hospitals. Not only that, but the pains in my hands and wrists have gone ! Turns out that these were cardiological, rather than arthritic, etc, which is a great relief. I'm hoping to crack on in the next few weeks with the engines and buildings for 'Mealsgate' and to make a start on 'Dearham', the passing station on the M&CR's other branchline - it's the same buildings as 'High Blaithwaite' so I've got a headstart here and might enter the current EMGS Chairman's Challenge for 2021. No modelling today though, as I'm already exhausted typing this out whilst sitting up in bed with a cuppa and my favourite year of 'Railway Modeller'  (1976).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by CKPR

[SteamAle]

Well, what can I say? Good news and bad! You're still with us. Pains have gone. All good. Then you have had a heart attack. Hopefully the cause of the attack can be sorted so that it does not happen again. I wish you well and a speedy recovery.

Now my memory is not what it used to be and in 1976 I was working in the West Cumberland Hospital, probably in the Cardiac Care Unit, when I was in charge on night shift. I had not even qualified at that time but in those days if you were short staffed then you made the best use of the staff and as I was regarded as being proficeint then I was asked to do it. Nowadays they would close the unit rather than leave an unqualified person in charge. Never killed anybody and did help save a few!

So I was not really doing much in the way of railway modelling at that time so what was so good about the Modeller in that year? 

[CKPR]

Where to start with RM's annus mirabilis of 1976 ? Here's my monthly highlights:

• Jan - Stamford (GN), Ashton & Cornbrook [really atmospheric MMRS 'O' gauge layout with nothing but nothing that is recognisably r-t-r or kitbuilt]
• Feb - scenery on David Jenkinson's 'Little Long Drag' S&C mega-layout [aka swan song for 'Garsdale  Road')
• March - Nigel Macmillan's 'O' gauge Scottish colliery system [remember when the March RM  was always Scottish themed ?]
• April - 'Heckmonwike' as Railway of the Month  ! 
• May -  Garve & Ullapool, a forgotten classic of pre-group (HR) modelling in 'OO' from the USA - again, almost entirely hand-built and both accurate and atmospheric [The author, the marvellously monickered Henry S.Orbach, also contributed a series on HR stations] . This month also saw the start of the 'layout on a bookcase' articles by Dave Howsam aka 'Howley Town'- not as good as his earlier 'Porthleven' but ingenious and featuring Ron Prattley's H&BR rolling stock [my parents both hail from Hull so I had heard of the H&BR but knew next to nothing about it - I think one of my great great uncles was a H&BR signalman].
• June - Tollesbury light railway in OO by Rathbone Holme, which is  one of my all time favourite model railways, up there with the 'Millport & Selfield'. Again, it's just railway-like in a way very few layouts of more recent vintage are. The article is also packed with DIY information on the electronic and electro-mechanical aspects of the line. The 'Junior Modeller' layout, 'Lanoch'  by D.W.Barclay is a really good ex-CR layout with some superb architectural and scenic modelling.
• July - Edgeworth (ex-LYR) in 'N' gauge, which was the first N /2mm layout I'd seen that didn't look toy-like and really captured the feel of the old L&YR.
• Aug - The traditional garden railway theme with a feature by Jack Wheldon on Archangel 16mm live steam - again, these pioneering garden railways seem so much more, well, railway-like and fun than today's G scale r-t-r, etc, possibly because they were built as railways rather than as model railways.
• Sept - Saughtree (NBR) by Ian Futers [which I saw at York in 1977] together with a potted history of the Border Counties Railways and then, Holy of Holies, C. P. Atkin's article and drawings of M&CR No's 29 & 30 [aka LNER (ex-H&BR) J28].
• Oct - Meh
• Nov - Rewley Road (LNWR)  [another York show highlight] and an article on the tape-synched operating of the 'Winton' layout.
• Dec - Ilkley (NER) and 'Trial by Exhibition' on operating Bob Ledger's 'Manchester Central' 'O' gauge layout [you may have noticed CKPR's enthusiasm for large multi-station  'old school' (pre-war LMC standard)  'O' gauge systems that are run by the book].

It goes without saying that almost every edition had an Allan Downes article, 'Wagon page' (how I miss 'Wagon page !), a monthly prototype station plan, 'Plan of the Month' , usually an electronic circuit or practical article and informative & interesting correspondence on prototype & technical matters, almost all of which is still relevant 44 years later. 

Edited October 17, 2020 by CKPR

[Regularity]

If asked, I would say at a push that the years 1974-1977, which were in hindsight CJF's "Swansong" were the best run of RMs: lost of useful articles, inspiring layouts and indeed from Cyril, his memorable "Proprietary to Scale" series, beginning in January 1975 issue where he actually came up with a decent definition of finescale (or "fine scale", as he put it). Not the sort of thing the Modeller would publish now, but if you look at the progress made in the quality of RTR in the past 45 years, that's not suprising.

 

Also in 1975, Model Railways ran a series of articles called, "For Scratchbuilding, Begin Here", under the pseudonym "B. Fesank" (apparently for tax reasons!) I do know who the author was, and he died a couple of years ago, but he didn't write the articles for the glory, nor the payment, just for helping people learn how to use the basic tools. Nowadays the sections of building the chassis - rigid, and with a cutout for the X04, are a bit dated but everything else is still relevant. It followed on nicely from John Harrison's series on building 4405 in the previous year.

 

IIRS, it was this sort of article in MR, and MRN before it, and the lack of them in the model press after CJF left MR (and MAP - owners of Model Railways - decided to drop things like "The Bringewood Tales") that led to the creation of MRJ, which has become the world standard for specialist hobby magazines, not just for Model Railways.

[CKPR]

Yes, MRN/MR was on a roll in the 1970s and I followed CJF from RM over to MR, where after a couple of rather thin issues in 1978, he really found his stride - MR for 1980 & 1981 sits next to RM 1976 for easy reference [almost everything else including MRN going back to 1949 (!) and the complete run of MRJ  is stored inaccessibly in the eaves of our house - Mrs CKPR-to-be has very strong views on such matters].

Edited October 19, 2020 by CKPR

[ChrisN]

Sorry to hear about your heart attack, at least it was mild.  As has been said I hope they find the cause, although sometimes there is not a long term issue before these things.  I assume you are on asprin, and all the other stuff.  Rest when they say, then light exercise.  

 

So glad to hear that you have have not got arthritis, at least you can carry on with your modelling.

 

All the best.

[CKPR]

At last, an update with some actual pre-grouping modelling as I got the soldering iron out this afternoon and completed the basic cabs as occupational therapy. They went together without too much difficulty and fit reasonably well. I need to tidy them up,  get them properly aligned and then add the spectacle plates, handrails and beading before fixing everything in place. I think I'll make a start on the tenders next and get these up to a similar state before returning to detailing the engines. I still need to work out how to motorise No.20 and might get those old articles by Ross Pochin and Sid Stubbs out with a view to mounting the motor in the tender and running a drive shaft to a gearbox on No. 20's middle axle.

 

PS they do look rather better in real life compared to these photos - I obviously need to have a session cleaning  off all of the surplus solder, filler & glue and to generally straighten everything up. There is also a degree of distortion inherent in these quickly taken phone camera pictures that makes it appear that the smokebox and chimney of No.20 are not vertical, which I can assure you is not the case.

 

Edited November 19, 2020 by CKPR

[CKPR]

Betwixt bouts of fettling both engines, I had a look in the stores for some means to power No.20 [No. 7 already has a  Mashima 1420 & Branchlines 80:1 gearbox] and lo and behold, what should I find but an unused Mashima 1220 and a kosher Mike Sharman 40:1 gearbox. And a  new and unused NWSL 38:1 gearbox. And an unassembled High Level gearbox. And some neoprene tubing and other assorted gubbins from Exactoscale that might be useful when it comes to actually mating motor and gearing... 

[CKPR]

Filling in the back of the cab splashers on No.20 (i.e. styrene bodgery = not proper modelling) and come to the conclusion that the cab roof should be flatter. For some unfathomable reason, the cab of  No.7 looks fine but No20's will have to be redone - hopefully, this should be a straightforward  unsoldering, filing and re-soldering operation. I've been building wagons (L&YR opens, BR iron ore tipplers and a Ma & Pa caboose) of late, so will put these to one side and get the soldering iron out tomorrow.

Edited November 26, 2020 by CKPR

[CKPR]

Progress report after a bout of unsoldering, filing, soldering, more filing, scraping, polishing and cleaning. Yes, it is the same tender chassis in all three photos - the chassis of a second 6 wheel tender has already  been made and fabricating the chassis and side-frames of a 4 wheel tender for No.20 is the next metal working project.

 

As is rather obvious, work on 0-4-2 No.4*has stalled given that  even a cursory perusal of the footplate induces a cold sweat and bout of going 'wibble wibble wibble' a la Roger Irrelevant.

 

*now to be completed as No. 3 after re-reading the M&CR chapter in Ahrons, who records that No. 3 was specifically built for the Derwent Branch and had a slightly smaller boiler. 

Edited November 29, 2020 by CKPR

[CKPR]

Getting ready for a new project, making Mealsgate station building and the adjacent road bridge. Scenic modelling is not really my forte and I've never settled on a formula for making buildings despite 45 years of visiting Pendon and reading Dave Rowe, Stephen Williams, Iain Rice, etc  - about the only 'rule' I follow is not using styrene to represent stone. My previous attempts at modelling the M&C's red sandstone buildings used scribed mounting board and Faller embossed card but given the larger size and more complex stonework of the structures at Mealsgate, I'm going to try using Das on plywood walls. As usual, the plans come from the CRA (Thanks Phil  @SteamAle  !)

Edited November 26, 2020 by CKPR