Croft Spa

[Les1952]

Nearly rodded-

 

The fiddly bits of stool across the top of the rodding measure for the three rods 3mm by 0.5mm by 0.2mm, for the two rod lengths 2mm by 0.5mm by 0.2mm.  They are secured by paint and a few of them have gone AWOL when applied.

 

 

 

The white ones have been applied more recently and haven't been painted yet.  From a reasonable distance they look all right.  I'm going to give a dry wash with a grey once all of the bits are assembled.

 

To finish- another pre-rodding pic.

 

 

Bittern heads North on the Tees-Tyne Pullman, complete with headboard.

 

Les

Edited April 4, 2022 by Les1952
reinstated pics as new

[Les1952]

Almost finished the point rodding.

 

Minor panic on Thursday when we both got pinged by the Covid App for "Wednesday".  Having worked out that when we went shopping neither of us visited the same shops (gets us home quicker) and finding out that Leigh next door has tested positive we worked out that since our settee and his settee are back-to-back either side of the dividing wall between the two semis his phone had pinged us while we were watching telly and he was flaked out on the other side of the wall.  Being fully jabbed meant the app just said to take daily tests for a five days and book a PCR if one of them is positive, no isolation unless a positive happens.  Five negative tests later.... just as well the local test and trace are giving out packs of 20.....

 

All of the rodding and stools are now the same colour and I've got the protective boards over the point mechanisms and where the exposed rodding runs under running rail - a prototype pic shows this at Croft Spa even if it wasn't common practice elsewhere.

 

 

A couple of random bits of vegetation on the track needing vacuuming before a train runs...   The next step is to put in the ends of the tubing carrying signal wires under the track and a few truncated posts.  I'm not sure whether these should be painted as wood, rusty iron or concrete. The photos of Croft Spa are black and white.

 

 

Testing continues.  Seven Thompsons (6 B1s and an O1 hiding as the middle one of the wrong-line three).  Look carefully to see its GCR tender and Westinghouse brakes.  BONGO at the very front hasn't made the cut for the next show, and the one next to it hasn't either despite being set up to run tender first as spare for the V2 on the troop train- another fiddly job to do, this one has broken loco to tender wires.  Bongo needs a service and new traction tyres.  Another in the queue for DCC Supplies.  That leaves four B1s in the box as a loco and spare for the gunpowder train (following a prototype photo), one as spare to the D20 for the all-stations passenger and the other as spare to the V2.  The O1 will work the Northbound limestone empties with a J39 or Type 2 spare as none of my WDs is strong enough.

 

 

 

Just for a change, back gardens on Belgrave Terrace.  Not much happening here, though I've some grates and manhole covers for the road.  If they are thin enough I'll just stick them in place and repaint the road round them.  If they aren't on view at Doncaster they are too thick and the punters won't see them before Spalding in November as the layout won't be erected between Doncaster and South Notts, to give Mr Simon a window to get Gresby up in the workshop if he can get leave.

 

To finish with a different picture of one of Darlington's two mongrel units, this time Richmond bound for a change.

 

 

Class 108 power car leading Class 101 trailer.    I've still not found out why Darlington diesel depot had two mongrels.  Best guess is major engine or similar repairs on one of the power cars and accident damage to the trailer of the other set meaning "stick the two good halves together to make one unit" then forget that they are different classes when their other halves are ready for service again.  Either way they seemed to run like that for some time, and even appear twice in Marsden Rail videos....

 

More testing tomorrow, and putting a new layer of stones etc in the cess to hide the excess plastic around the rodding.

 

Les

 

Thinks- looking at the platform in the last pic I'd better vacuum the layout.

[Les1952]

testing, testing

 

 

Remaining 9Fs following the sale of Evening Star as inappropriate.

 

The heavily lime-scaled one is 92050 which was a notorious leaker based at Newton Heath.  This is one of the earliest Dapol 9Fs and was the one pictured in the N Gauge Society Journal when the Dapol 9F first came out.  Fred Hempsall borrowed it for a review.  The two with double chimneys are the normal performers, 92226 and 92231, both reallocated from Eastleigh to York, normally to work Southwards.  92231 for some reason isn't happy turning left, so most 9F trains are Southbound. 92052 lurking in the back is waiting its turn to go to DCC Supplies, having been dropped breaking the soldered loco to tender wire on one side.

 

 

Next the Gresley freight engines, four J39s and a K3.  61906 is a Foxhunter K3 kit on a Farish China chassis, solder-assembled by David Temple and originally in LNER LIvery for use on Trevor Webster's Parnhams layout.  When Trevor sold Parnhams on I repainted it and lined it (which took what seemed forever) and it ran on the club layout Rise Park until I had it DCC fitted.  There weren't a lot of Foxhunter K3s made, and with two liveries and a history of analogure and DCC operation this one must be unique.  64910 has gone temporarily out of use as while servicing it I noticed there wasn't any power from the loco to the tender (driven) and managed to break the drawbar trying to sort out the connections.  Bachmann don't list any spares at all for the Farish J39 or B1 so I've ordered a WD drawbar and a 4MT drawbar on the grounds that one of them should fit.

 

64754 is TMC weathered but is running with the wrong tender, it should be a raved-out 3500 gallon tender.  64840 at the front was one of only four with raved-out 4200 gallon tenders in BR days and the only one that definitely ran with a late crest. This one has been renumbered from the Farish original which was scrapped with the early crest.....

 

 

Another scenic one- time for refreshments in the Cricket Club car park.

 

 

Lastly another train, testing 64960 on a short freight.  This one is normally kept as a general spare.

 

Almost time for the Repair Shop.  

 

Les

 

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by Les1952

[Les1952]

Gratings and TV aerials...

 

Adding the next layer of details

 

 

I've not been able to source TV aerials suitable for the layout.  Fortunately the only aerials I remember while growing up in Darlington were the big horizontal H-shaped one, aligned towards Pontop.  Attempt number 2, made from a piece of Ratio ladder left over from a kit with the bracket from .69mm Evergreen rod, left over from the point rodding.  I'm not convinced they are actual scale size but they look about right, especially if they all point the same way and there aren't too many of them.   We were the sixth on our street to get a telly, and that was 1959. 

 

 

Cruel enlargement of attempt number three.  I've done four so far and I think another three or four should do it- or as many can be cut from the remaining bit of ladder.

 

No pics of the road gratings and manhole covers yet.

 

 

To finish with a pic on the bit of the railway that doesn't often get photographed- one of the Class 27s on test but showing the telegraph poles have finally arrived......

 

Les

[5BarVT]

Initial reaction to the aerials was that they’re aligned the wrong way.  Nope!  A quick check of Pontop Pike and ITV Chanel 8 (Tyne Tees) shows that they were horizontal polarisation.

Well done!

Paul.

(Been down south or further north for too long!)

[Les1952]

6 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

Initial reaction to the aerials was that they’re aligned the wrong way.  Nope!  A quick check of Pontop Pike and ITV Chanel 8 (Tyne Tees) shows that they were horizontal polarisation.

Well done!

Paul.

(Been down south or further north for too long!)

 

I do remember them as horizontal from the one on the top of our house....

 

I still think they are a little too small but Ratio ladder only comes in one size, and I didn't fancy trying to make the H from three separate pieces of Evergreem, though my no.1 offspring Mr Simon would have been that masochistic.....

 

two new pics for today

 

 

Manhole cover in the middle of Belgrave Terrace, and rainwater grate.  The road needs repainting and then a tiny touch-up of the grate to get rid of the shiny brass.   Then the moggie minor on the bridge and the red van on the corner can be stuck back down.

 

More testing

 

 

A Clayton seems to have been let loose on a train on the main line.  Someone must be optimistic it will reach Eryholme Junction before it breaks down, or perhaps it is still new enough for them not to have found out how reliable it isn't....

 

Les

 

[Les1952]

The remaining bit of Ratio ladder only did two more aerials, leaving about five or six houses that would have been amongst the first to receive them still to do.

 

Loco testing prior to Doncaster is now done.  The team that is going is Geoff Warren and Tony Forward, who have both operated the layout before, Gerry Ward who hasn't but has coped very well with Bregenbach, plus me.  Hopefully a strong team.  After doing timing runs the faster trains have been slowed a bit to try to take about 13 seconds Northbound and 15 to 16 seconds southbound (apart from the Tees Tyne Pullman at 13 seconds) from one bridge to the other for expresses with fast goods at 15 seconds Northbound and 16 seconds southbound.  We'll see if we can keep it up.....

 

 

 

Last pic of testing showing the NER locos being run.  65817 wouldn't play consistently so has been left in the naughty box at home.  On the other hand 62395 ran better than it has for a while so it might actually get in a full day's work...

 

The Ivatt in the background is in the box as spare for the G5 with the BR 3MTT acting as a parcels spare.   Only one Deltic going as D9007 has a badly split gear and will need to visit Lee Palmer's repair shop.

 

 

 

Trying to get some different angles largely as the camera finds defects I otherwise miss.  Looking along the back gardens of Belgrave Terrace. This angle shows how much I had to shorten them when doing the scenery in order to get both sides of Belgrave terrace in the modelled area.  In reality the gardens are more than twice as long.  Slightly wonky telegraph pole in the top left, but at least it is there.....

 

Just the running boards now to do, and a couple of foliage repairs then I can vacuum the layout.  Mr Simon is coming up on Saturday for his mum's birthday so I'll get him to help me pack the layout ready for Doncaster the following weekend.

 

Les

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Les1952

[Barry O]

Nice to see the layout again. Congratulations on the additions made.. the point rodding in particular must have been trying but the results are very good. 

 

Baz

[Les1952]

On 30/01/2022 at 20:50, Les1952 said:

 

 

 

Last pic of testing showing the NER locos being run.  65817 wouldn't play consistently so has been left in the naughty box at home.  On the other hand 62395 ran better than it has for a while so it might actually get in a full day's work...

 

Les

 

 

 

 

The two running trains in the picture plus the G5 flew the NER flag for the weekend at Doncaster, all three performing impeccably.

 

Casualties?   I fumbled getting 60005 out of the box popping its drive shaft, then lost it inside the loco trying to put it back.  60022 went on go slow and the Tyne Dock O1 decided to stop altogether after a short circuit.  I hadn't got the programming track with me (thinks- remember it for Cotgrave) so couldn't reprogram it- I  think its chip has lost the plot.  

 

I swapped a trio of locos over for Sunday- three A4s and only one A3 running seemed odd so I swapped one over.  Similarly with the North Eastern Region only having three Pappercorn A2s allocated it seemed a little OTT to have all three running so one was changed over to give a second B1 an outing.  The third change was to take the "spare" Class 24 off the train it had taken over (the O1's) and substitute a J39.

 

 The layout is now on end in the shed, needing no maintenance beyond track cleaning before Cotgrave at the beginning of April.  I need to get some work done on the shed lights which are easier to reach with no layout set up.  then there are a couple of things to do on NO PLACE, which is next out.

 

Les

[barney121e]

@Les1952

 

Can i ask a couple of  silly questions. What do you use the crossover for in the station? Do you ever use it? And what do you do with the siding?

[Les1952]

On 11/03/2022 at 21:11, barney121e said:

@Les1952

 

Can i ask a couple of  silly questions. What do you use the crossover for in the station? Do you ever use it? And what do you do with the siding?

 

The crossover can be used to shunt or sideline a Southbound train.  In practice it never is as it would disrupt the sequence too much.  On the prototype it was only ever used during single line working at times of engineering possession- the colour signals for the main line (beyond the bridge in each direction) being semi-automatic after the thirties.  This meant the crossover was worked from a ground frame just beyond the bridge which was only unlocked with permission from Darlington South and Eryholme boxes.  The tall signalbox at Croft was demolished some time around 1919, but is too nice a building not to include in the model.

 

The siding we generally use for shunting the parcels train, dropping a van off on one pass and picking it up again when the parcels reappears nine trains later.  On Saturday we tried it once and found the droppers of the Easi-shunt couplers on the parcels vans were fouling the planking over the point rodding at the entrance to the siding which had lifted slightly since Doncaster show. The offending piece was glued firmly down on Saturday night and the siding used on Sunday for parcels at odd times or as a lay-by for Hunslet shunters on delivery from Leeds to NCB Springwell at others.

 

Les

[Les1952]

Croft Spa is now sold and has retired from the exhibition circuit.

 

I took it to Spalding show with a "For Sale" sign on it, and despite there being at least two other layouts with similar notices it had a buyer within two hours of the show opening.  A deposit was duly paid, and at the end of the show the items included in the sale were separated out from those not included.  Back at home on Sunday night the items not included in the sale were removed from the car, and on Monday the layout was taken to its new owner and cash and layout exchanged hands.  New owner is converting a railway room to house it and will change the wiring slightly to suit his own DCC system, I didn't include controllers though one was available as an extra purchase if wanted.

 

Interestingly the new owner lives only two villages away from the late Trevor Webster, who built the station, so in a way it could be said to have gone home.  As an aside John Cotton also sold his Western Region OO layout Tremawn.  I don't know if the other one sold.

 

Some final pictures

 

 

 

There may be a couple more pics but "Thats All, Folks"

 

All I've got to do now is to sell a lot of the stock to fund the new TT gauge venture....

 

Les

 

[5BarVT]

Interesting.  I look forward to watching your progress in the larger scale!

Paul.