South Pelaw and Stella Gill EM

[johndon]

N9 69429 descends the steeply graded connection from the South Pelaw Colliery exchange sidings.  The wagons will go to Stella Gill yard for marshalling.

 

 

V3 67690 descends the bank with a passenger train from Consett heading towards Newcastle.  The passenger service on the line ended in May 1955 so the photo must date prior to that.  Q6 63459 starts the climb to Consett with an oil train from Jarrow, there will be another Q6 at the rear of the train to provide banking assistance.

 

[RichardClayton]

Here are some more gratuitous photos of wagons built for South Pelaw. First, one of the many 21T hoppers that adorn the layout. We are close to having enough to represent the sheer volume of full and empty traffic into and out of Stella Gill, and up and down the bank to Consett. This one is pure Parkside.

 

 

Apart from iron ore, the other main traffic was steel. Following on from the twin bolsters in my previous post, here are a quartet of single bolsters, all from Dave Bradwell kits. The first pair are 8’ wheelbase LNER designs.

 

 

The second pair are BR 10’ wheelbase versions, and are obviously incomplete; though one has at least reached the initial painting stage. As with all Dave Bradwell kits, they are an absolute joy to build because the kit is well designed, and the parts fit together beautifully.

 

[johndon]

Our photographer has wandered back up to Stella Gill and the first photo shows the NCB 'shed', once part of the larger Stella Gill Coke Works complex.  The line to Consett can be seen behind the shed and Stella Gill Flatts signal box is visible to the right.  This is a rather large building although, to fit it in to the space we had available, it is around 50% of the length and 90% of the  width of the real thing.

 

 

The building remained after the coke works was demolished in the 1960s and, until relatively recently, despite being half derelict, was in use by a fertilizer business.  Here is a photo of the same side of the building as it is today:

 

 

As it happens, the building, and the land next to it, are currently up for sale, yours for £280,000

 

Next to the building was a water tower and a turntable, one of two on the site at one time:

 

 

To give some context to the site, here is a 1946 map showing the turntable, shed and water tower.  You'll also see that, in order to get the layout back round to the fiddle yard, this end of the layout has, inevitably, strayed away from the real thing.  On the layout, the divergence of the six roads in to the sidings complex has been omitted and we have had to put the line to Consett right behind the building whereas, in reality, there were more tracks between the two.

 

Model photos by Tony Lambert

Edited February 15, 2021 by johndon

[johndon]

The NER certainly liked it's signals, so here are a selection from around the layout.  Scratchbuilt using MSE parts and various brass strips and angles, they are all faithful replicas of the real signals at South Pelaw and Stella Gill.  All the signals, including the ground signals are fully operational and are interlocked as per the prototype.  Control is via servos controlled using the MERG CBUS system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All photos by Tony Lambert.

[johndon]

After last week's look at some of the signal installations, this week we are firmly back in the territory of locos and rolling stock.

 

First up, work stained J27 65835 approaches the junction on the Washington Branch with a train of empty plate wagons and a trestrol heading for the Low Yard at Consett steelworks where they will be loaded for the return trip.  To the left, a crippled 21T wagon has been dumped in the sidings, a common practice at the location.

 

 

Next, 9F 92063 powers up the incline past Stella Gill shed with a motely train of coal wagons again, heading for Consett while a another J27, I think, is being turned on the Stella Gill yard turntable.  As I have mentioned before, in reality there was a substantial space between the main line and shed that contained part of Stella Gill coke works but it was a compromise that had to be made to get round to the fiddle yard.

 

 

And finally, for today, the new order has arrived at South Pelaw with Sulzer Type 2s D5107 and D5109, two of ten such locos modified with additional air equipment to operate the doors on the iron ore hopper wagons.  The locos have received the signal, lever 12 in the box, to cross the junction from the Washington Branch to the main lines to Consett with their loaded iron ore train.  In the foreground are 16T wagons in the South Pelaw Colliery exchange sidings and, in the background, one of the residents of Railway Cottages is tending to his rather well stocked allotment.

 

 

Photos from Tony Lambert.

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by johndon

[Michael Edge]

As a special load, the Trestrol should be marshalled next to the loco or the brake van.

[johndon]

23 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

As a special load, the Trestrol should be marshalled next to the loco or the brake van.

 

Perhaps it should but I have photographic evidence that it wasn't always the case, at least not in a consist of empty wagons, on their way up to Consett.

Edited March 4, 2021 by johndon

[Michael Edge]

Fair enough - rules weren't always obeyed!

[johndon]

10 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

Fair enough - rules weren't always obeyed!

 

To be honest, I wasn't aware such a rule existed although I'm sure some of the team would be.  We've tried to model each train on the layout on a photo taken on the line.

[RichardClayton]

On 08/02/2021 at 22:48, RichardClayton said:

 

...

 

 

The second pair are BR 10’ wheelbase versions, and are obviously incomplete; though one has at least reached the initial painting stage. As with all Dave Bradwell kits, they are an absolute joy to build because the kit is well designed, and the parts fit together beautifully.

 

I have enjoyed a pleasant afternoon finishing off these single bolsters. When I bought all four single bolster kits at Scalefour North a few years ago (an exhibition, remember them?) Dave told me to make sure I actually built them. Well they are all done now, bar some Dullcote and chain.

Before anyone mentions it, I *know* the numbers are for diag 1/400 wagons with an 8’ wheelbase, and these wagons are diag 1/402. Mea culpa, and it does bother me slightly. My excuse is that I had a railtec transfer sheet with the earlier numbers, which are nearly right. In my experience, making up numbers one digit at a time, or by cut’n’shut can work, but there is also potential for significant frustration. So I went with inaccuracy ...

 

[johndon]

Looking down from the colliery exchange sidings, a rather worn looking Q7 63473 heads towards Ouston Junction with a loaded steel train from the works at Consett.  In the background one of the feline residents of Railway Cottages takes very little notice of the passing train.

 

 

Having just passed under Pelton Lane bridge, Q6 63429 is banking the oil tanks from Jarrow Oil Terminal.  Unlike the bankers for the iron ore trains which were usually attached at South Pelaw, the banker for the oil train was attached at Tyne Yard.  Both rows of railway cottages can be seen in the background.  They were gone by 1967 and all that remains today is the bridge albeit it has been substantially altered since the railway closed.

 

 

An unidentified K1 passes the NCB shed at Stella Gill with a mixed goods train heading for Consett.  The NCB Shed and the bridge in the background are still there today although the entire 'valley' that the empty 21T wagons are in has been completely filled in and the bridge is now at ground level.  It survives as it supports a gas main.

 

 

This is what the end of the NCB shed visible in the photo above looks like today, with most of the outside vent still in place.  The Led Zeppelin graffiti predates the closing of the railway.

 

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Not knowing anything about such engines obviously, but that Q7 looks, well, wrong, as though it's been kitbuilt from a chassis, footplate and boiler from 3 different kits!

 

Mike.

[Roger Sunderland]

This really is some of the most stunning modelling I’ve ever seen.

[johndon]

3 hours ago, Roger Sunderland said:

This really is some of the most stunning modelling I’ve ever seen.

Very kind of you to say so. 
 

John

[DLT]

On 14/03/2021 at 17:24, RichardClayton said:

Before anyone mentions it, I *know* the numbers are for diag 1/400 wagons with an 8’ wheelbase, and these wagons are diag 1/402. Mea culpa, and it does bother me slightly. My excuse is that I had a railtec transfer sheet with the earlier numbers, which are nearly right. In my experience, making up numbers one digit at a time, or by cut’n’shut can work, but there is also potential for significant frustration. So I went with inaccuracy ...

 

And nobody is going to read the numbers as the train runs past!

[RichardClayton]

19 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Not knowing anything about such engines obviously, but that Q7 looks, well, wrong, as though it's been kitbuilt from a chassis, footplate and boiler from 3 different kits!

 

Mike.

 

I agree, it does look odd. But to my eyes Q7s always tend to look a bit weird from some angles, like they have been stretched in a vertical direction. I think it is because the boiler sits quite high, and I presume this is to incorporate the inside compound cylinder.  The short coupling rods also give the outside cylinders quite a sharp rake.

 

I'm pretty sure this model is a Dave Alexander kit on a Pete Stanger chassis, a combination that produces a more dimensionally accurate model than the DJH offering, so it should be pretty much spot on.

[DLT]

1 hour ago, RichardClayton said:

 

I agree, it does look odd. But to my eyes Q7s always tend to look a bit weird from some angles, like they have been stretched in a vertical direction. I think it is because the boiler sits quite high, and I presume this is to incorporate the inside compound cylinder.  The short coupling rods also give the outside cylinders quite a sharp rake.

 

Also so that the firebox can be sited above a driving axle, rather than between or behind them

[9C85]

On 04/03/2021 at 19:58, johndon said:

 

Perhaps it should but I have photographic evidence that it wasn't always the case, at least not in a consist of empty wagons, on their way up to Consett.

 

You're probably right.  I would assume that it was only a special load when it was actually laden.

[9C85]

I never visited the North East until a few years ago but I have always been fascinated by heavy industry. 

I grew up in South Wales and I thought there were a lot of industrial railways down there but when I start to look at old maps and photos of the North East it really is something else.

I stumbled across a set of photos of Blyth Staithes and Cambois sheds in their final days (by Ernie Brack IIRC ?) and I became almost obsessed with it. I think it was the combination of relatively new Class 56 locos, hauling 4 wheeled hopper wagons, to be gravity-shunted on massively over-engineered wooden piers that captivated me.

The pictures of your layout have exactly the same effect on me - they make me wish that I was born 20 years earlier 

...and 300 miles further North 

[New Haven Neil]

5 hours ago, RichardClayton said:

 

I agree, it does look odd. But to my eyes Q7s always tend to look a bit weird from some angles, like they have been stretched in a vertical direction. I think it is because the boiler sits quite high, and I presume this is to incorporate the inside compound cylinder.  The short coupling rods also give the outside cylinders quite a sharp rake.

 

I'm pretty sure this model is a Dave Alexander kit on a Pete Stanger chassis, a combination that produces a more dimensionally accurate model than the DJH offering, so it should be pretty much spot on.

 

Q7's weren't compounds, they were 3 cylinder simples.  And yes, they look....funny.....

[RichardClayton]

Your'e absolutely right -- I'm not sure why I thought Q7s were compounds, but its not the first time I have been mistaken...and I'm sure it won't be the last 

[Sugar Palm 60526]

It is very crowded between the frames of a Q7. As well as a con rod for the inside cylinder there are three sets of Stephenson valve gear each with two eccentrics. To fit these in between the frames meant that the eccentrics were narrower than for the Q6 and therefore more prone to wear. Maintenance was a recurring problem. As if that wasn't enough, there is a steam reverser in there as well. Oiling round must have been a nightmare. 

The cab front is set back about 6 inches into the cab and the firebox protrudes a similar distance further inside giving little space for the fireman to swing the shovel. Indeed short handled shovels were available.

They were unnecessarily powerful locos for their time, that were unchallenged until the ore trains came along. But they weren't popular with the crews because they were difficult to prepare and work.  The preserved loco is in the Head of Steam museum in Darlington. It was restored in the 90s and ran for 10 years on the NYMR. The information above came from experiences and reminiscences passed on at that time.

 

 

[richard.h]

Just found this site, superb modelling and those signals are first class especially when you consider that they are working models.

[Porcy Mane]

1 hour ago, Sugar Palm 60526 said:

It is very crowded between the frames of a Q7. As well as a con rod for the inside cylinder there are three sets of Stephenson valve gear each with two eccentrics

 

Plenty o room for cigarette paper.

 

 

The cab had some unusual fittings...

 

 

Sunday 3rd Sept. 1995.  (Were you driving her M?)

 

 

P

(Hoping it's not to long before the next visit.  Just had the Jab [Oxford] at 9 o clock).

[johndon]

14 minutes ago, Porcy Mane said:

(Hoping it's not to long before the next visit.  Just had the Jab [Oxford] at 9 o clock).

 

Be good to see you all again, I've got my first one this afternoon...