Trainspotting at Little Benton Sidings, Newcastle.

[rowanj]

The last A4 I saw in service was 60002 at Chathill in, I think, 1964. It raced through the station heading north, but regrettably, I can't recall what service it was on.

Here is my loco further south at Little Benton on an Edinburgh relief, which is very possibly what I saw at Chathill.

 

I don't just run RTR coaches, so the last 2 in the rake are Bachmann with Comet overlays, with the roofs modified a la Tony Wright. One of these days I'll tackle the underframe fittings to make them more accurate.

 

If Avocette reads this, he will recall the excitement when the distants were pulled off in both directions, usually heralding a pair of expresses. In this case, the down train is an ex- Alnwick local, hauled by the last of the D20's. They had gone by the time I started spotting, and , once again, you need to forgive the "time machine" which sees mine  passing the A4, which is clearly in post 1959 condition. The leading pair on the local are Kirk kits, followed by standard, but superb, Hornby.

Edited July 13, 2019 by rowanj

[rowanj]

The only service Pullman north of Newcastle was the Queen of Scots. I must do something about my Pullmans - the consist of the train is all wrong, but at the moment it's all I have. So it heads for Edinburgh and Glasgow headed by 60052 Prince Palatine.  The loco body was a GBL Flying Scotsman, the tender body originally from a tender-drive Hornby, which I narrowed and fitted the lot on modern Hornby chassis in the days when you get these things at a reasonable price.

 

The Darlington build J77 then heads from the sidings with a Loco Coal train for Percy main. However, it didn't get very far before a crankpin came loose , so it needs to go into the shops.

 

[rowanj]

York's "Flamboyant" heads the Up train  to Newcastle, the on to Leeds and London. The A1 is one of the 5 roller-bearing locos. Peter  Coster's  "Book of the A1 and A2's" is a great read, in which he queries why a superior A1 was "wasted" at York, with its' limited mainline express work. The loco was extensively borrowed by other depots, and there are several sightings and photos of ir north of Newcastle. Here, I assume Gateshead used it on an Edinburgh turn, and Haymarket returned it to Tyneside, and probably beyond to York or Leeds.

 

The view is a typical one from the east side of Little Benton Farm Bridge, known better to the spotters as Scottie Bridge, for reasons lost in history.

 

John

[rowanj]

Heaton's 43126 heads for Tyneside with a loaded cattle train from Morpeth. The cattle wagons are an unprototypical mish-mash and I'll do something about it one day. The loco is simply a re-numbered Bachmann, and still awaits some weathering, but at least it is now a Tyneside loco.

 

The A8 running north is just out of works, having treatment for a de-railing leading bogie. Although better, it still isn't right, so needs another visit to Darlington- i.e the garage workshop.

[Avocette]

Clarifying my memory of my first visit to Scottie Bridge, some years before I started spotting there around 1960, I recall my father saying to me words to the effect of 'let's go to see the Talisman and the Golden Plover'. I didn't have a clue about the relationship between a train and an engine, the reasoning for naming an A4 Pacific after a bird nor the naming of the train after the Walter Scott novel, but I happily went along with him. I have the feeling that we arrived at Scottie Bridge just a bit too late to watch the Talisman go by, but my father, never held back by BR warning notices, then walked down the path from the bridge to the Little Benton South signal box and introduced himself to the signalman who showed us around the box between bells and phone calls and signal lever pulls.

I hesitate to guess how old (young) I was, but noting that The Talisman ran under steam power from 1956 until 1961, I feel it may have been not long after 1956 (when I was 6) and perhaps BR were publicising the new train in the Newcastle Journal and Evening Chronicle. That said, I have spotted a BR photo/postcard of The Talisman pulled by 60031 Golden Plover (Flickr/David Ward) which crystalises the link between train and engine.  

[rowanj]

Funnily enough, I've just sold my Hornby 60031 as I cut down on RTR stuff , of which, according to Mrs Rowanj, I have far too much. Little does she know. I concentrate now on kits, etc, This V2 is a Graeme King resin body on an original Bachmann chassis. As 60850 it is a New England loco, and highly unlikely to be seen at Little Benton. It was among the last to be given a General and turned out in lined-black livery, and among the first withdrawals. At some point it will be renumbered to a Heaton loco.

Until the Bachmann re-issue appears, Graeme's body on a modern Bachmann chassis is the best way to get a V2, in my view,

[michaelp]

Good Afternoon John,

I have only just come across this and just finished going through the previous three pages, the work on your layout is fantastic and it is great that you have shared your knowledge of the workings in the area.

Thank you for posting 

 

Regards

Michael

[rowanj]

I did add a couple of cattle wagons to the rake, but to get an authentic set is difficult. This lot has a couple of Coopercraft kits of GWR origin, some Parkside LNER types with too short a wheelbase for the period, and some Bachmann which also have an incorrect chassis/wheelbase. But I got another couple of kits running since the Down train in the earlier photo, so the J39, re-numbered Bachmann, heads for Morpeth and the various marts with. empty stock. It passes the PDK B16/3 on a Parcels from Berwick to Newcastle Central.

Though I saw the odd rebuilt B16 at Newcastle, the spotters would have been thrilled to see one at Little Benton. Yeadon does have a photo of one returning light engine from Edinburgh, and another of a loco in service in Fife, no doubt having been purloined by Haymarket. The B16/1's were common in the 50's when based at Heaton, before the class congregated in Yorkshire.

 

Edited August 6, 2019 by rowanj

[rowanj]

It must be early morning or evening at Little Benton, as a couple of locals, soon to be displaced by Class 101, 108  or Derby Lightweight DMU's are spotted. The DJH A8 has just been released from Gateshead Works after attention to its' leading bogie, and is running in on an Alnwick commuter. The J39 is 63701, a 52A loco, and is bringing a Morpeth extra to Newcastle. This loco was converted from the, at least by me, late-lamented GBL models which sadly ended prematurely. It is on a Bachmann chassis. The tender was cut down from the one supplied to represent the shorter 3500 gallon one which this loco had in real life.

Edited August 9, 2019 by rowanj

[rowanj]

Though I'm far from an expert at it. kit-building is my main interest these days, and it allows me to produce authentic scenes like this, The Alexander Models North Tyneside Parcels passes a LRM J25 on the Loco Coal headed north to who knows where - Blyth, perhaps -, while the North Eastern Kits J77 rests in the sidings before picking up a trip to Heaton, Everything here is kit- built. Even the brake van is Airfix/Dapol backdated to the LNER version.

 

I don't recall ever seeing one, although they were still around when I started spotting, but was there a prettier 0-6-0 than the J25?

Edited August 14, 2019 by rowanj

[rowanj]

Dave Alexander Models N10 69109 is the latest addition to the fleet, and here it is on its' maiden run with a local trip work to Ponteland. I built this alongside an ongoing construction of the more modern and detailed North Eastern models etch kit. As a result, I was able to add details to the basic kit. There is a link below to my loco construction for dummies thread.

 

The N10 was a Gateshead loco for almost all its' life , as was the A4 ",Sparrow Hawk", taking the Pullman to Newcastle.. It seems to have been photographed irregularly, and was apparently a poor steamer prior to the fitting of the Kylchap double chimney. My version was modified from the much maligned GBL magazine series, running on a Hornby super-detailed chassis. Mallard was the first in series, cost £2.99, and was cloned from the latest Hornby version. I bought several. 

 

I don't have a memory of many Hornby A4's at Little Benton, though that may be a flaw. It was more often a Haymarket loco that we saw. Gateshead seemed to prefer A1's on the Edinburgh expresses, and Heaton had, mainly, A3's when I was spotting.  I may be wrong, but I think a lot of Gateshead main-line turns were to and from the south, with Haymarket, and its' love of its' A4's, having more of the work north of Newcastle on trains such as The Talisman. Of course, there are plenty of photos of Gateshead A4's going to and coming from Scotland, just to disprove the theory.

Edited August 18, 2019 by rowanj

[rowanj]

This is the 2nd. N10, from North Eastern Kits. I don't remember ever seeing one , though I would be only 11 when the last ones from Gateshead and Tyne Dock were scrapped. They would have been very rare birds indeed at Little Benton, but are pretty essential for a NE based layout, and I'm not that much of a purist.

 

I'll try to get some better shots outside once 69092 gets numbered, an early and 3-link coupling fitted and coal added. I fitted the vacuum pipe along the RH bunker using wire designed, I think, for flower arranging. The loco had a standpipe, but no train heating apparatus. It was one of 2 which retained the vacuum brakes when the rest of the class had it removed. However a further 3 had it restored and were used at Hull and Newcastle as station pilots, and these locos did get train heating.

 

The prototype picture which I found via Google shows my 2 locos at Bowes Bridge, where they were used on the Tanfield Branch, Both were long-term Gateshead locos.

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2019 by rowanj

[rowanj]

9F 92063 takes a break from it's usual trips to Consett and head north on a fitted freight, probably no further than Berwick. The loco was a GBL Evening Star. I cant recall where the tender body came from, and it runs on a loco - drive Hornby Railroad chassis, I need to re-wire it as it runs "backwards". A Dave Alexander conversion kit was used to represent a Tyne Dock loco. The cab numerals look over-large, but I took them from a photo of the loco in Darlington MPD yard. I think Darlington just used whatever they fancied when locos went through Works towards the end - there is a splendid photo of a Jinty withcrest and umber on the tank sides a la J72's. Goodness knows what the LMS guys said when it returned to, I think, Runcorn.

 

I also thought I'd try one shot in black and white, just as an experiment/for a change.

 

Edit ..The tender top was also GBL from the 76xxx loco.

 

Edited August 22, 2019 by rowanj

[rowanj]

Much as I love building N10's, D20's and the like, I actually remember the DMU's rather than steam-hauled  commuter trains. Derby Lightweight heads north, while a Metro-Cammell 101 has an ex- Morpeth stopper to Newcastle. Type 2 (Class 24)  re-numbered as a Gateshead loco, is held in the sidings with a pick-up goods,( including 4 wagons from Airfix/Dapol kits headed to the Blue Circle yard at Heaton). The loco was originally in 2-tone green with half-size yellow waring panels, and needed a repaint to get it to an appropriate state for Gateshead. The DMU's are "out the box"

Edited August 23, 2019 by rowanj

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

Many of the classes of loco I model, dissapeared many years before I was born..........

 

manna

[rowanj]

16 hours ago, manna said:

 G'Day Folks

 

Many of the classes of loco I model, dissapeared many years before I was born..........

 

manna

Good to hear from you, Manna. 

I started spotting at Little Benton in 1960, so missed the A8,A5 and D20,. Even J21 and J25 were rare breeds by then.  Those locos which did survive seemed to operate in a pretty restricted locality,

 

As Little Benton is a couple of miles north of Heaton, ECML passenger haulage was almost all handled by 52A,, 52B,and 64A. So although 34A locos, as well as New England,York and Leeds stock,got to Newcastle,they rarely went north. Heaton shed with empty stock or for servicing was the limit. Long distance freight was usually Heaton,  Gateshead, St Margarets or Tweedmouth.

 

On the other hand, I now can legitimately run my A2/1, and single- chimney A2's from Haymarket. 

 

So I'm afraid I'm not entirely honest with the stock I run, much of which would be pretty rare at Little Benton. This is partly because I had it from a time when anything ER would do, and because I now prefer loco building, so the timescale has slipped back into the 1950,s to accommodate the D20, etc. I also allow locos  from York Tyne Dock or Blaydon to slip further north than usual, and the occasional Darlington General overhaul gets a running in turn which wouldn't have happened in real life. So we see a K2 or O2 to delight the spotters, and the timescale becomes 1957 to 1963.

 

I suppose we all have a few loco s which don't even fit this stretch of imagination. In my case, this is a BEC J17, the first kit I built nearly 50 years ago, and W1, which I always wanted to see.

 

Thanks,Manna, for prompting this explanation of the loco stock seen on my version of Little Benton Sidings.

Edited August 24, 2019 by rowanj

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

My loco's are spread over many years, the Ivatt single being the earliest ( withdrawn 1917) right up to Diesels, most of them have now departed. I only have a couple to go.

 

manna

[rowanj]

The North Eastern Kits N10, 69092, heads for Tyneside with the Loco Coal. This is the kit to which I added the vacuum brake. 

These are really magnificent kits, A skilled builder can produce a truly outstanding model, and even an average modeller like me ends up with a perfectly fine "layout" loco. The kits contain lots of small details, and challenge the fingertips when soldering, but I tried to add as much as possible. How much is visible from normal viewing distance is a moot point. Arthur was always willing to help with any small issues I had, and I cant recommend his kits too highly.

 

As an aside, the Loco Coal is out because I have just obtained a couple of Ian Kirk LNER planked Loco Coal Wagons to augment the rake. These are basic kits but are suitable for my purposes. I assume Colin Ashby who took over this part of the Kirk range, has managed to produce a run of some of the kits.

[rowanj]

That J94 has been hanging around and getting in the photographer's way for too long, so it's time it took the short rake of ventilated meat from a local mart, probably Morpeth, to Heaton Yard or New Bridge Goods where it will be added to stock from the Tyne Valley and taken South , probably B1 hauled.

 

Why did Heaton have a single J94? All its' yard work was handled by J72's. with the short trip stuff in the hands of N10's. J71/2/7's. Still. it allows me to legitimately have one. I certainly never "spotted" it in real life, despite hundreds of trips between Wallsend and Central on the North Tyneside electrics. 

Edited August 27, 2019 by rowanj

[rowanj]

Something a bit different. I have more stock from previous layouts than Little Benton can accommodate, including this 6-coach rake of Southern Pride MK1 TPO's. I need to design and get built some cassettes on the lines that Gilbert Barnett uses on Peterborough North. In the meantime, they have been taken from the storage boxes to see how they go. The second one, incidentally, and easily the best constructed , was a gift from a good RM Web friend. 

Class 46 D163 heads the train, en-route to shops where it will be re-numbered as a Gateshead loco, lose its' name, and be weathered as demonstrated by Tom Wright on a Right Lines DVD, using powders.

[46256]

John you can't beat a peak as far as diesels go.. Saw all the class,  not unusual, given their predominance on  my location on the NE SW route. To be fair though Gateshead allocated ones were rare and only copped one of them by visiting Kings Cross in 1970. On that day travelled to London behind west coast electric...then to the cross, London to Peterboro via Finsbury Park, Hornsey sheds....then across to March...back to Peterboro then behind a Deltic to the X .....all the time wishing it was an A3 or 4.  Finished the day by travelling back to Brum from Paddington on what had become the downgraded western region mainline....sadly Snow Hill no longer had mainline status so our train terminated at New Street. Best wishes Brian

[rowanj]

Hornets Beauty running light to Tyneside. I then tested it on a 5-coach Edinburgh- Newcastle stopper and it ran well. It's still a bit "silk purse from sow's ear" but it will be an authentic addition to the stud.

 

I can't remember now why I picked Hornets Beauty- unless I happened to get the nameplate with the kit. One odd thing I found with this particular loco, was , when I came to fit the draincocks, I noticed that at some point they had been shortened , as with the A2/3's and A3's. It seems to be the only one in the class where this occurred.

 

Peter Coster remarks that this name was among the odder ones. I don't think it's too bad, bud wouldn't have thought so when one stung me twice at Norden Park and Ride on the Swanage Railway.....

 

This kit was "rescued" from the box I chucked it in years ago when I couldn't get the chassis to run. How I cobbled it together from various bits in the spares/scrap box is shown on my build thread, which is now going into retirement. Most kits build in much the same way, so it was beginning to repeat as often as "Midsomer Murders".

 

I'll still build kits, and stick a few photos on the layout thread from time to time. I'm about to cut up a Bachmann J72 to produce the early short-bunker version on a mainly trains chassis, and have a Dave Alexander "Tyne Dock" kit to fit to an O1. 

 

Does anyone have the instructions for an SEF K3 chassis kit which they could copy for me? I "won" the kit, but the instructions are missing. I would be very appreciative.

 

John

[rowanj]

Hornets Beauty heads home on an all-stations Newcastle- Edinburgh. I have to say I am impressed with the 1227 motor which is fast enough and smooth. It wouldn't go into anything much smaller than a B1,(though I'll try one in a K3), and it's a pity the screw holes mean it sits askew, but is great value, in my opinion.

 

I also completed the first of a pair of Kirk LNER wooden -planked Loco Coal wagons - not that they take much completing, as they are very basic. No doubt the underframe and buffer detail could be added. However, on test it ran nicely through the pointwork, pushed and pulled, and looks OK in the rake, The kits are sold as a pair, and at £7 each are also good value. The train is in the hands of ArthurK's N10, 

[rowanj]

A fairly easy, old-fashioned modelling conversion is to backdate the ancient Palitoy/Mainline/Bachmann J72 to the original short-bunker version, which is what I'm doing here. I'm using the Mainly trains chassis, though a better and much more detailed version is available from High Level. I believe Comet/Wizard also do a chassis kit. Or one could wait for the Bachman re-issue which will include the 2 LNER as well as the later BR builds. For a detailed modern kit, ArthurK produced both versions of the J72, as well as a J71.

 

The bunker needs cutting back  by 1.5mm. I had a batch of 4 damaged bodies , so used 2, plus a load of Miliput, to re-shape the bunker and coal rails. Added details are lampirons, sandbox filler rods and a Ramsbottom -style trumpet over the Ross Pop valves. This loco will be 68682, which was at Heaton before moving to Tweedmouth in 1954. I don't have a photo, but will fit NER buffers , rather than the  later LNER pattern until evidence shows differently. This loco wont be vacuum fitted, in order to make it different to my Bachmann version.

 

The chassis kit contains some basis etched to fill the cab, and I've added a brake standard, reversing lever and locker. I'll also try to fit a firebox, but the motor rear is very close to entering the cab.

 

this is very much a "layout" loco for viewing from normal distance. I have posed it with a Bachmann I upgraded earlier, on its original chassis, and a J71 modified much the same as this on a Mainly Trains chassis.

 

As this seems to have turned out OK, and as I still have 2 bodies left, a future possibility is the fully lined short bunker loco which operated as pilot for years at Central Station. I'll think about it.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2019 by rowanj

[rowanj]

),One of the nice things about modelling an actual location, especially one with a host of happy childhood memories, is the research and generally pleasurable reading that goes into it. as a bunch of 10-14 year olds we didn't know ( and if we had, probably wouldn't have cared. was that 5 miles up the line at Killingworth was a set of platforms called Killingworth Race Track Sidings. These were fairly extensive, and, as the name suggests, served race meetings at nearby Gosforth Park. They remained open after the main station closed in 1958, and I have a picture showing 3 trains with a couple of V3's and a J39 at the head. I assume most came from Central, but so far haven't tracked down any information.

 

Therefore, in my world, it seems perfectly feasible for trains to travel up from Darlington/Co Durham and Teesside for the big meetings, such as the Plate. Darlington repaired the GC A5/1's and Saltburn actually had the loco in the picture for a short spell, though, strictly speaking, I should be running A5/2's in the NE. However, in this case it is the A5/1 which takes the race-goers from Middlesbrough on a July Saturday to see the "Pitman's Derby".

 

The latest addition to the stock is the short-bunker J72. I need to fit a smokebox dart  and coal. The wagon behind is one of the pair of Ian Kirk Loco Coal wagons. I was a bit unsure if they were still around when the Parkside Steel version was being used, but found a picture of the coal drop at Alston Shed, clearly showing the two types coupled together. So they are off to the paint shop.

Edited September 6, 2019 by rowanj