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Trainspotting at Little Benton Sidings, Newcastle.


rowanj
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9 hours ago, manna said:

G'Day Folks

 

Is that a young Rowan J, hanging around the fence ???

 

manna

Well, a Bachmann version. It looks from the posture that we may have been sharing a can of Fosters  ..

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Things got a bit more exciting for the lads after the J27 passed, presumably why the lad in the centre is back on his heels, but I doubt if any of these were cops. D5180 on a Down Parcels was new at Gateshead in 1963. I renumbered a Bachmann model, but no doubt should really do more - for example, I think this loco was built without a boiler. D345 was a 64B loco, and is on my rake of kitbuit TPO coaches. A Heaton V3 shunts the sidiings, ready to add the pair of grain wagons to the rake on the adjacent track ready to be tripped to Tyne Yard.

In reality, the sidings were mainly used at this point to store condemned open wagons, and only occasionally as reliefs. by 1965, they were lifted and Little Benton North Box closed, and the 3rd rail lifted. Even the bridges were altered.

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Edited by rowanj
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Hope everyone had a good Christmas. A Little Engines T1 kit awaits, but there are a couple of existing builds needing tweaks. The Dave Alexander J27 has an etched boiler, and the whitemetal tender is heavy, so it struggled to manage the rake of hopper wagons on the Down line, which has a slight (accidental) incline as it enters the scenic section. So 65813 has had additional lead in the boiler. Although the tender was free-running, I reduced some weight by replacing the dummy whitemetal chassis with a plasticard one using Evergreen rodding. Here, the loco proves its' worth, now handling the hoppers without difficulty, and running tender-first, as was very usual at Little Benton.

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To round off 2019, here is the other loco I put back into service - in this case after a gearbox came out of mesh, and I just couldn't fix it. It runs nicely now, but as soon as I picked it up, it stopped running, luckily only because the soldered joint to the chassis from the motor had failed. Phew- an easy fix to the K3 , a GBL body on an SEF etched chassis.

 

Though K3's were frequently seen at Little Benton, I certainly never saw one on a passenger train. Based normally at either 64A or 52B, Class A freights were more usual. I'm not sure about St.Margaret's but Heaton had sufficient 6P or 7P power for its trips north, and I suspect Haymarket had the majority of Up workings to Tyneside. Anyway, I haven't even seen a photo of a K3 on passenger work around Tyneside. My only piece of logic to justify tis one is that 61869 is ex-works, so has been used to get back home on an Berwick-Newcastle stopper.

 

Is that me on the bridge? Not with that blazer. 

 

Happy New Year and Happy Modelling.

 

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

You know that you have too many locos when you discover there are 2 with the same number. Heaton only needs one of 61869, so the other is now St. Margaret's 61885. How long it would have stayed looking ex-works is a good question, as both photos I have of it on Edinburgh-Tyneside freights show it looking pretty grubby.

 

Anyway, here it is in the headshunt at Little Benton North, either waiting a path back home or waiting to take a freight out of the sidings. Passing it is Haymarket's Hornets Beauty, just back in service after being fitted with an SEF chassis,. The loco is a DJH kit, which I made a mess of several years ago. Regrettably, DJH wont sell their chassis as spares, at least not to the likes of me.

 

Talking of A2's, I am about a third of the way through modifying another SEF chassis to fit under A2/3 Ocean Swell. This is a GBL body with Graeme King resin castings, and was fitted to a modified Hornby Brit chassis. I did 3 of them and all 3 chassis have failed with the motor coming out of mesh.

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Good afternoon John

 

your aware from our pms that the sudden loss of gear meshing has happened to me. In my case it was a Royal Scot. I recall that some modellers reported it was a problem with Hornby China made chassis built at certain period. My worry is I have a number of Hornby models from that time ....circa 2007 to 2010 I think the problem is the plate on top of the gear stack working loose. If anyone can point me to any thread or other advice concerning the problem and potential cute it would be appreciated. In respect of the Scot you may recall my attempt to fix made the whole chassis U/S and led to comet replacement

 

just had a look on net in new modellers forum a poster reports the same problem with the Hornby royal Scot.....the screw holding the worm gear clamp in place.....cured in his case with evostick....states the problem sorted out when the " new" Brittania chassis introduced......

 

best wishes Brian

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I managed to get the SEF A2 chassis adapted to take the GBL/ GKing A2/3 "Ocean Swell" I am not a fan of the cylinder block, and if I ever do another one, I'll try to adapt a Comet/Wizard arrangement. The chassis itself, however, is a dream to assemble. I suspect it was designed to replace the Triang Brit chassis which originally  went under the Wills A2, and the wheelbase is consequently a bit too short to allow the easy fitment of brakes.

 

Here is the loco on test, running light back to its' home at Heaton. It has an original Thompson boiler Dia 117 with the round dome, which differentiates it from my other pair of A2/3 with the Dia 118. It is typically Tyneside scruffy, though Heaton tended to keep its' Pacifics cleaner than the friends across the Tyne.

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This could be North Road Scrapyard, or a site I visited at Choppington ( appropriate name) where I saw a J27 being cut up in 1967. In fact, it is an LRM N8/9 kit being slowly assembled to represent one of the last N8's withdrawn from Tyne Dock in late 1956, and which was on test on the layout. The chassis is complete, and the main superstructure well on the way, but there is still a lot of detail to fit. This loco also got full mixed traffic lining at its' last general in 1953. I did consider just doing one in unlined black, but thought this would make a change. Loco will be 69390

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Edited by rowanj
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Heaton's N8 69377 has been sent up to collect a few hoppers, and is seen leaving the sidings for the short run to Heaton Yard. The sidings are busier than usual. York's B16/3 and Alnmouth's D20 have been parked up, as the Heart of Midlothian is due- it must be running late. 

 

The fish empties for Aberdeen are passing on the Down line - a mix of Hornby RTR and Parkside kits, the loco is Heaton's "Ocean Swell", which I fitted onto an amended SEF A2 chassis, It runs well, but suffers, amongst other things, from a problem with the GBL plastic which reacted to the rattle-can paint.  all 3 GBL A2's did the same, though none of their other loco or tender bodies had this problem. C'est la vie.

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The latest work in progress is a Little Engines T1. It's an "old fashioned" kit, and a much better one is available from 52F Models, but hopefully this will meet my needs. It is seen here while I tested it on my curves, though the real proof of the pudding will come when the cylinders are fitted.

 

I normally find ex-NER locos to be attractive things, but this heavy shunter is an ugly brute, The kit is pretty basic - there is next to no cab detail, for example, and photos are a bit thin on the ground. Once the main superstructure is complete, and the chassis running, I'll see what detail can be fitted just to round things off a touch. The boiler and cab roof are not yet fixed in place.

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N8 takes a short ECS from Killingworth Racecourse station to Central, ready to be added to another 3-coach rake for a race-day meeting. The loco needs a crew, but otherwise is complete. The LRM kit is a nice build, and I will get another in due course to build an N9 with smaller tanks, as a few of this class managed to carry on until the mid 50's too.

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D249 was among the first Class 40's to be allocated to Gateshead, and was often seen at Little Benton. It seems to be on a Kings X- Edinburgh relief, I smile when I read that folk "need" a particular class of loco, but an early 40 without headcode boxes does fill a gap in my roster.

Passing it is a Heaton V3 runs bunker-first on an ECS back to Heaton Sidings, having finished its' runs on Manors North -Newbiggin turns.

 

I confess that, though I love building kits, many of those I have built disappeared during the mid to late 50's, and these photos much more accurately reflect what I saw when I began serious spotting in 1960/1 or so.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Railway Memories Volume on Tyneside has some useful information on freight traffic, including details on the Aberdeen-London fish and meat traffic - The Scotch beef. these trains had priority over everything but passenger trains, It gave timings, etc ,but also gave details of a relief service, from Tweedmouth to Newcastle, which I knew nothing about. It looks as though this train had both fish and meat vans in the consist.

 

So here, the train has been put into the sidings to allow passage of the Talisman, and begins the last few miles to Heaton Yard, The K3 is a GBL body on a modified Bachmann V1 chassis, and the wagons are all Parkside kits. I have a couple more to build to flesh out the rake.

 

John

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Tyne Dock's last T1 (on test) runs light back to its' home. There is a short on the leading bogie wheel which I hope will be cured by a smear of Araldite on the chassis, but otherwise all seems well. It passes the DJH D20 which waits to take empty stock to Central, and then off to Alnwick.

 

Tyne Dock was an easy shed to "bunk", but I was too young to see their T1's , the last of which was withdrawn in 1961. But it was a great visit from 1963 or so, as lots of V2's and A1's were stored there after withdrawal..

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Something a little different. My Suburbans are largely excellent but bog-standard RTR and I have always fancied some legitimate ex-NER stock. So here is the first on road-test, a D & S Dia 51 Brake 3rd..

The kits are out of production and, amazingly, I haven't found any descriptions of previous builds, Moreover, details of the prototype are also thin on the ground, so any help gratefully received.

I'm also going to resuscitate 3 Kirk ex-Lner kits to make an appropriate rake for Little Benton.

The loco is a short-bunkered J72 modified from a couple of Mainline bodies on a Mainly Trains chassis.

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Much to the disgust of local trainspotters, re-numbering has resulted in a G5 becoming 67341 of South Blyth, and a B1 is now "common as muck" 61014 ORIBI from Heaton or Tweedmouth.  The T1 from Tyne Dock may well be a "cop" but the chances of it ever having been to Little Benton in real life is improbable, to say the least. Plausible excuse? Gateshead Works had it for a casual repair, and sent it to Heaton Yard, who then used it to take an empty rake of cattle wagons to  Little Benton Sidings.  what rubbish...

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This is a "work in progress" on what may become a short rake of ex NER and Ex-LNER Suburbans. I have a couple of Composites to build to match the Brake 3rd, which is now almost complete. By the %0's they had all been downgraded to 3rd Class.

 

The leading coach is a Kirk kit built longer ago than I care to remember, and has lain unloved in a box with 2 others for years. Flushed with "success", I'm going to have a go at renovating them, and have built ABS bogies for another wreck. I'll rebuild the underframe with MJT parts and see what happens.

 

There are often comments elsewhere about renumbering RTR locos, and I do this regularly. 42085 looks odd on this train, but it was on Tyneside in the 1950's, and actually worked Manors- Newbiggin trains, and I have a photo to prove it. Some of the 49ft coaches, of which the Brake 3rd is one, finished their lives on these trains, and so any renumbering of the loco, in this case, would be pointless. 

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DJH D20, amended to represent a loco at the end of it's life, emerges from under Little Benton Farm Bridge with the D&S Brake 3rd. I've also enclosed a prototype photo of D20 at the same spot, though taken from the West, which I cant replicate.

The B1 and Hornby Non-Corridors, by contrast, are all RTR, though the B1 has been re-named/numbered. In due course, I hope to be able to mix-and-match these to make more interesting rakes.

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The loft may be amongst the safest place in Britain at the moment, so I played trains this afternoon. 60020 is in typically scruffy condition, as it passes LB South on an Edinburgh-Newcastle parcels. The J39 has been shunted into the sidings to let it pass, Both locos are GBL bodies on RTR chassis. I must do something with the Parcels stock- other than a Parkside CCT and an ancient, but much loved Wrenn van, re-painted 40 years or more ago, the rest is all RTR out of the box, I would like something more authentic and will try to source some appropriate kit to occupy the next 12 weeks..

 

Progress can also be seen on the next ex-NER coach to be built. It is attached to a Kirk Gresley, which I'm trying to upgrade using MJT parts, but it will never be a silk purse.

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I built a few Kirk Suburbans years ago, but was never happy with them. When Hornby introduced their excellent coaches, most of the kits were consigned to a drawer. I intend to replace the gubbins on a few of the better -built coaches with MJT parts and this is the test-running of the first one, All new underframe fittings and bogies, new aluminium roof and vents, new buffers, and a modest touch-up of the paintwork on the body. This  model had no interior, so I've made a representation of the basic compartment and seating arrangement. There is an 1st Class on the next-to-do list, which will be changed to represent the downgrade which BR implemented to either 2nd or Composite in the 50's.

The loco is an early version of a Dave Alexander J21, one of the first kits I built after returning to the hobby 30 or so years ago. It is supposedly taking an ECL back to Newcastle, the stock having been used on a Morpeth stopper in the evening rush hour.

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