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Heaton Lodge Junction


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Simon,

 

I see you have a few cars facing backwards, and the rest facing forwards.  

 

That raised a question in my mind, I had imagined that all cars faced forwards, or at least all the same way.  I did try to Google it, and found one image with them all facing backwards (this seems like a good way of getting water in places where it don’t belong, given that 60’s cars were not quite the same standards as those of today) but the others did indeed face the same way as the train appeared to be going.  
 

And of course that’s what they do on Eurotunnel and the Alpine tunnels too.


Do you have any info about the operation?

 

cheers

Simon

 

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57 minutes ago, HeatonLodge40 said:

A very quick vid of the Motorail train starting from signals on its way to Manchester via Hebden Bridge.

The two Heljan 31’s just managed ok 

 

 

 

Looks fantastic,  I bet that is bloody heavy,  vanguards aren't light.  Shame they don't do BL 80s stuff as they would have been quite prolific at that time 

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44 minutes ago, russ p said:

 

Looks fantastic,  I bet that is bloody heavy,  vanguards aren't light.  Shame they don't do BL 80s stuff as they would have been quite prolific at that time 

I’ve a Princess on there and of course the Minis! Look out for the 1976 Lotus Esprit S1 too. 
It is a very heavy train, not sure if two 31’s in real life would pull it.

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53 minutes ago, Simond said:

Simon,

 

I see you have a few cars facing backwards, and the rest facing forwards.  

 

That raised a question in my mind, I had imagined that all cars faced forwards, or at least all the same way.  I did try to Google it, and found one image with them all facing backwards (this seems like a good way of getting water in places where it don’t belong, given that 60’s cars were not quite the same standards as those of today) but the others did indeed face the same way as the train appeared to be going.  
 

And of course that’s what they do on Eurotunnel and the Alpine tunnels too.


Do you have any info about the operation?

 

cheers

Simon

 

You’re right Simon the cars all should be facing the same way as apparently the flats were all loaded from one end.

I just need to swap a few of the flats around as the cars are all facing the same way on each flat (if you know what I mean).

 

There is a great group on Facebook called British Railways The lost Motorail services which has some great photos 

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37 minutes ago, HeatonLodge40 said:

I’ve a Princess on there and of course the Minis! Look out for the 1976 Lotus Esprit S1 too. 
It is a very heavy train, not sure if two 31’s in real life would pull it.

 

I saw the lotus , unfortunately the vanguard minis aren't quite too good except for the clubman . If it's early 80s there would be a fair few metros but other than the 6R4 there isn't a 1/43 model

Two 31s in real life would have no trouble at all ,cars aren't heavy especially back then .

31s are gutsy things with a decent tractive effort. 

They were originally on the coil trains to corby and a pair used to lift good loads out of Boulby

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3 minutes ago, russ p said:

 

I saw the lotus , unfortunately the vanguard minis aren't quite too good except for the clubman . If it's early 80s there would be a fair few metros but other than the 6R4 there isn't a 1/43 model

Two 31s in real life would have no trouble at all ,cars aren't heavy especially back then .

31s are gutsy things with a decent tractive effort. 

They were originally on the coil trains to corby and a pair used to lift good loads out of Boulby

You must be the first railwayman I’ve seen, who didn’t think the 31s were gutless rubbish !

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I remember seeing trains of carflats passing Mirfield in the 70s, mostly empty, but occasionally loaded, usually Land Rovers. 

 

Would a Motorail train surely have passenger coaches too? 

 

Not criticising, just curious! 

 

On a previous matter, can't wait to see the TP set in action. Has it got sound? The exhaust used  to hit resonance in third gear under acceleration and give a real rattly bellow! 

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35 minutes ago, ferret1956 said:

I remember seeing trains of carflats passing Mirfield in the 70s, mostly empty, but occasionally loaded, usually Land Rovers. 

 

Would a Motorail train surely have passenger coaches too? 

 

Not criticising, just curious! 

 

On a previous matter, can't wait to see the TP set in action. Has it got sound? The exhaust used  to hit resonance in third gear under acceleration and give a real rattly bellow! 

Towards the very end of Motorail services, there were some routes where the passengers travelled by scheduled passenger services.

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9 hours ago, rob D2 said:

You must be the first railwayman I’ve seen, who didn’t think the 31s were gutless rubbish !

 

They aren't bad at all ,not the most powerful but the ride nice , have a decent cab and quiet inside.  Much better working environment than a 66

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11 hours ago, ferret1956 said:

I remember seeing trains of carflats passing Mirfield in the 70s, mostly empty, but occasionally loaded, usually Land Rovers. 

 

Would a Motorail train surely have passenger coaches too? 

 

Not criticising, just curious! 

 

On a previous matter, can't wait to see the TP set in action. Has it got sound? The exhaust used  to hit resonance in third gear under acceleration and give a real rattly bellow! 

You are right as most Motorail trains had passenger coaches attached too.

However I’m told on popular busy routes passengers often went first with a dedicated Motorail train with the cars following behind.

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1 hour ago, HeatonLodge40 said:

You are right as most Motorail trains had passenger coaches attached too.

However I’m told on popular busy routes passengers often went first with a dedicated Motorail train with the cars following behind.

Reminds me of the much abused Concorde adverts. 

 

Breakfast in London

Dinner in Aberdeen

Car in Lowestoft

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14 hours ago, rob D2 said:

You must be the first railwayman I’ve seen, who didn’t think the 31s were gutless rubbish !

I don't think they were gutless, just 0-60 in 10 minutes unless light engine or going downhill. Oh, and in later years very good at vibro-massage on the backside. I did over 40 miles at up to 60mph checking signal sighting and AWS, etc using 'Sister Dora' from the Bescot Engineers Pool in 1993. Could hardly stand when got out onto the platform at Rugby. Had to sit on a bench for a few minutes to recover before I could walk back to the Power Box to sign the job in.

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2 hours ago, HeatonLodge40 said:

You are right as most Motorail trains had passenger coaches attached too.

However I’m told on popular busy routes passengers often went first with a dedicated Motorail train with the cars following behind.

That looks like a perfect opportunity for a spectacular "lost luggage" episode!

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BR introduced blue foam windscreen protectors at some stage--presumably fitted with straps passing through the front doors. Best to ignore this to save your great work on the wiper marks!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Apologies if everyone else in the World bar me has seen this, but I found this on YouTube. 

The full layout in real life, plus a diversion to the Bradley flyunder including the (apparently now doomed footbridge)! 

The whole 3 hour thing is a tad overkill, but fast forward to 3:05:10 to "leave the fiddle yard". 

 

 

 

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10 hours ago, ferret1956 said:

Apologies if everyone else in the World bar me has seen this, but I found this on YouTube. 

The full layout in real life, plus a diversion to the Bradley flyunder including the (apparently now doomed footbridge)! 

The whole 3 hour thing is a tad overkill, but fast forward to 3:05:10 to "leave the fiddle yard". 

 

 

 

 

Not bad modelling, but not a patch on Simons!

 

Mike.

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Thanks for the video (and the comment Mike!)

I am currently still working on the very last of the automation with the software chaps.
A couple of weeks should see it all running on its own.

Next month is a practise dismantling and setting up. Then it’s two months of testing trains for any track issues etc

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