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South Pelaw and Stella Gill EM


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Having seen it at Railex I really wanted a repeat visit but the lurgee put paid to that. Do you have any more exhibitions planned or in the pipeline?

Paul.

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The famous 9Fs had long gone by the time we arrived in NW Durham in the mid 1970s though Consett steelworks could still put on a good show in the night sky at this time of the year.

I stood watching S Pelaw proceedings for a good 30 mins talking with an elderly man alongside who remembered and explained all the action very vividly.

 

What I wondered was

  • Why, when the NER had electrified Shildon and the Quayside (and Merz & McClellan had also electrified Harton), was all the complicated Tynedock - Consett working not electrified ? 
    My more informed man opined that imported ore was not required by Consett until after the post war LNER Woodhead and Shenfield 1.5Kv schemes were being regretted by BR (and the 9F Standards were being built as belated Kriegsloks).  How had Consett been supplied before then - via the Stainmore from the Furness District - or from Clevelandworked electrically via Shildon ?
     
  • That the ECML seemed relatively quiet, compared to the action on the ore train workings, .
    MMIM pointed out that it was the banking of the ore trains that we had all come to watch!  Fair enough.

Very impressive (and the 'Hand of God' was less evident than in Lime Street's cuttings)

dh

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The famous 9Fs had long gone by the time we arrived in NW Durham in the mid 1970s though Consett steelworks could still put on a good show in the night sky at this time of the year.

I stood watching S Pelaw proceedings for a good 30 mins talking with an elderly man alongside who remembered and explained all the action very vividly.

 

What I wondered was

  • Why, when the NER had electrified Shildon and the Quayside (and Merz & McClellan had also electrified Harton), was all the complicated Tynedock - Consett working not electrified ? 

    My more informed man opined that imported ore was not required by Consett until after the post war LNER Woodhead and Shenfield 1.5Kv schemes were being regretted by BR (and the 9F Standards were being built as belated Kriegsloks).  How had Consett been supplied before then - via the Stainmore from the Furness District - or from Clevelandworked electrically via Shildon ?

     

  • That the ECML seemed relatively quiet, compared to the action on the ore train workings, .

    MMIM pointed out that it was the banking of the ore trains that we had all come to watch!  Fair enough.

Very impressive (and the 'Hand of God' was less evident than in Lime Street's cuttings)

dh

 

The steelworks was where it was due to local ironstone deposits and the other main components of iron & steel making - coal & limestone were also available locally. The ironstone was quickly mined out and from the early 1850's ore was brought in from the Cleveland Hills. This source provided the supply for about twenty years, by the 1870's iron ore was being imported through Sunderland and later Tyne Dock, from a number of overseas locations including Spain & Sweden.

 

As for electrification, even after the iron ore shipments all started coming through Tyne Dock, the route taken by the trains wasn't always the same.  On weekends for example, rather than coming via Washington, the ore trains would come via Gateshead, the ECML and Ouston Junction.  They, occasionally, also came via Lanchester, particularly for a short period in December 1964 after a fatal accident at Beamish closed the line for a week so I guess electrification wouldn't have been as simple as just going from Tyne Dock - Washington - South Pelaw - Consett.

 

With regards to the ECML, I'm not sure what you mean, the ECML isn't represented on the layout although we do run a lot of trains via the lines to Ouston Junction.

 

John

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The steelworks was where it was due to local ironstone deposits and the other main components of iron & steel making - coal & limestone were also available locally. The ironstone was quickly mined out and from the early 1850's ore was brought in from the Cleveland Hills. This source provided the supply for about twenty years, by the 1870's iron ore was being imported through Sunderland and later Tyne Dock, from a number of overseas locations including Spain & Sweden.

 

As for electrification, even after the iron ore shipments all started coming through Tyne Dock, the route taken by the trains wasn't always the same.  On weekends for example, rather than coming via Washington, the ore trains would come via Gateshead, the ECML and Ouston Junction.  They, occasionally, also came via Lanchester, particularly for a short period in December 1964 after a fatal accident at Beamish closed the line for a week so I guess electrification wouldn't have been as simple as just going from Tyne Dock - Washington - South Pelaw - Consett.

 

With regards to the ECML, I'm not sure what you mean, the ECML isn't represented on the layout although we do run a lot of trains via the lines to Ouston Junction.

 

John

Hello John,

Good information and I wonder if you or anyone else can expand on one of the routes you mentioned.

When ore trains ran via Lanchester, how did they get to Relly Mill Junction? Was it via the main line or did they use the Leamside line as far as Belmont and then over the Sunderland and Bishop Auckland via Newton Hall Junction?

I am modelling Newton Hall Junction so both routes would mean I could run ore trains on my layout, but from which direction?

I have photographs of ore trains at Relly Mill Junction but they are on a computer with a virus problem. I suppose I should try to recover them. 

Regards,

Bob 

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At first I thought it really was Cartman, then realised it was only Joe.

 

Layout looked good and seemed to be running well.

 

I couldn't resist the Cartman t-shirt with 'respect my authority' on it!  We had a great weekend, although we are still learning and improving so I hope it was worth watching.  Johndon has now passed out as a signalman which is great for me because it means I can be let loose driving trains!

 

A gent came to see the layout who had been a booking lad in South Pelaw signalbox and he said that at the end of his shift he often went home with his sandwiches untouched because it had been so busy.  We probably only capture a fraction of that but even so it was good to be relieved by John and sent for a meal break!

 

Joe

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Good information and I wonder if you or anyone else can expand on one of the routes you mentioned.

When ore trains ran via Lanchester, how did they get to Relly Mill Junction? Was it via the main line or did they use the Leamside line as far as Belmont and then over the Sunderland and Bishop Auckland via Newton Hall Junction?

 

 

Thanks for that Bob, I'm not sure how they were routed, I'm guessing Porcy would know...

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With regards to the ECML, I'm not sure what you mean, the ECML isn't represented on the layout although we do run a lot of trains via the lines to Ouston Junction.

John

I do apologise about that comment about a quiet day on the ECML; in my head I was standing watching the wrong junction

Thats the trouble with Essex man flaunting his mojo in the NE after a mere 45 years - and I've also biked down that bit of the Sustrans C2C route as well!

 

Does the montage below explain what I thought I was looking at during the exhibition ?

post-21705-0-23761600-1542059039.jpg

The NLoS extract from the 6" map overlaid on a modern satellite image actually has the sequence of junctions labelled, but I decided Ouston junction was just the link to Ouston colliery rather than the whole blue outline complex I assumed was S Pelaw (the red outline bottom left)..

Very sorry

 

However

In view of Consett depending upon imported ore since the 1870s, wouldn't it still have made better economic sense for the imported ore traffic to have been hauled electrically up from S. Pelaw after an engine change from Q6 or Q7 haulage from Tynedock or Sunderland along a variety of routes? :no: 

dh

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I do apologise about that comment about a quiet day on the ECML; in my head I was standing watching the wrong junction

Thats the trouble with Essex man flaunting his mojo in the NE after a mere 45 years - and I've also biked down that bit of the Sustrans C2C route as well!

 

Does the montage below explain what I thought I was looking at during the exhibition ?

attachicon.gifwrong junction.jpg

The NLoS extract from the 6" map overlaid on a modern satellite image actually has the sequence of junctions labelled, but I decided Ouston junction was just the link to Ouston colliery rather than the whole blue outline complex I assumed was S Pelaw (the red outline bottom left)..

Very sorry

 

However

In view of Consett depending upon imported ore since the 1870s, wouldn't it still have made better economic sense for the imported ore traffic to have been hauled electrically up from S. Pelaw after an engine change from Q6 or Q7 haulage from Tynedock or Sunderland along a variety of routes? :no: 

dh

Give ower man. 

Quiet day on Pelton Lane.

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I do apologise about that comment about a quiet day on the ECML; in my head I was standing watching the wrong junction

Thats the trouble with Essex man flaunting his mojo in the NE after a mere 45 years - and I've also biked down that bit of the Sustrans C2C route as well!

 

Does the montage below explain what I thought I was looking at during the exhibition ?

attachicon.gifwrong junction.jpg

The NLoS extract from the 6" map overlaid on a modern satellite image actually has the sequence of junctions labelled, but I decided Ouston junction was just the link to Ouston colliery rather than the whole blue outline complex I assumed was S Pelaw (the red outline bottom left)..

Very sorry

 

However

In view of Consett depending upon imported ore since the 1870s, wouldn't it still have made better economic sense for the imported ore traffic to have been hauled electrically up from S. Pelaw after an engine change from Q6 or Q7 haulage from Tynedock or Sunderland along a variety of routes? :no: 

dh

 

Modelling Ouston Junction would be nice but I reckon the layout is big enough as it stands :)

 

As for the electrification, as far as I know, it was never considered, I guess the gradients might have had something to do with it, I don't know if the early electrics of the time could have coped with them...

 

John

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Modelling Ouston Junction would be nice but I reckon the layout is big enough as it stands :)

 

As for the electrification, as far as I know, it was never considered, I guess the gradients might have had something to do with it, I don't know if the early electrics of the time could have coped with them...

 

John

 

We'll, the quayside branch was 1 in 25 I think, although of course the locomotives were not under power for long periods. In defence of the NER, the Shildon electrification was the first heavy freight line in the UK to be electrified. Perhaps if WW1 had not intervened then not just the ECML but more freight lines might have been given wiring. That's a nice 'might-have-been' for my railway!

 

I've long wanted to build one of the Shildon electric locomotives. (I think there is a Judith Edge kit).

 

In Ken Hoole's 'Electric Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway' there is an extract from Sir Vincent Raven's paper of 1921, with a diagram of an articulated 0-6-0 + 0-6-0 capable of hauling 1,000 tons up a gradient of 1 in 100 at 30 mph.

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We'll, the quayside branch was 1 in 25 I think, although of course the locomotives were not under power for long periods. In defence of the NER, the Shildon electrification was the first heavy freight line in the UK to be electrified. Perhaps if WW1 had not intervened then not just the ECML but more freight lines might have been given wiring. That's a nice 'might-have-been' for my railway!

 

I've long wanted to build one of the Shildon electric locomotives. (I think there is a Judith Edge kit).

 

In Ken Hoole's 'Electric Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway' there is an extract from Sir Vincent Raven's paper of 1921, with a diagram of an articulated 0-6-0 + 0-6-0 capable of hauling 1,000 tons up a gradient of 1 in 100 at 30 mph.

 

We do indeed have a kit for the NER Bo+Bo (EF1)

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We'll, the quayside branch was 1 in 25 I think, although of course the locomotives were not under power for long periods. In defence of the NER, the Shildon electrification was the first heavy freight line in the UK to be electrified. Perhaps if WW1 had not intervened then not just the ECML but more freight lines might have been given wiring. That's a nice 'might-have-been' for my railway!

 

I've long wanted to build one of the Shildon electric locomotives. (I think there is a Judith Edge kit).

 

In Ken Hoole's 'Electric Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway' there is an extract from Sir Vincent Raven's paper of 1921, with a diagram of an articulated 0-6-0 + 0-6-0 capable of hauling 1,000 tons up a gradient of 1 in 100 at 30 mph.

 

Loads on the Quayside branch were a lot lighter of course, the iron ore trains weighed well over 600 tons and gradients were as steep as 1 in 35 up to Consett.

 

John

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As you may have discovered by all my various "likes", I have just been made aware of this thread.  What a superb and inspirational model of the railway in County Durham before the decimation of the coal and steel industries.  I am now following this thread but am off to your website to read and learn more.

Great stuff, right up my street.

Regards,

Brian.

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South Pelaw (as featured in the current MRJ 271) is appearing at the Middlesbrough Model Railway Club show this weekend:

 

Settlement Community Centre, Union Street, Middlesbrough, Cleveland TS1 5NQ 

10am - 4pm Saturday and Sunday

 

IMG_1524.jpeg

Edited by johndon
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1 hour ago, Dave Holt said:

Great article in the new MRJ. The layout looks terrific.

Dave.

 

Looks even better in the flesh. . .I seem to find something new everytime I see it...

Don't know if I'll get down to the 'Boro, though.

 

John

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