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Hills of the North - The Last Great Project


LNER4479
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12 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

It can always masquerade as an ancient pre-grouping wagon, lurking in a dark corner of the Carlisle scheme.

It can masquerade as just about anything except an ex-GNR 6T Fish Van.

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6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

It can masquerade as just about anything except an ex-GNR 6T Fish Van.

I guess you're right but - hey - rule 1 and all that. Most people don't look (too hard) at wagons, much to Mr Wealleans' chagrin.

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16 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Anyhow ... wagons aren't THAT interesting, are they? (!)

 

Everybody loves LOCOS!

 

1785291760_70054_01(TW).jpg.de71d27470f8f4b9d0fed93b5ea94c08.jpg

Sir Tony of Bytham fettled this Hornby Britannia for use on Shap in time for the Glasgow exhibition, complete with Portescap motor and etched smoke deflectors (was it originally a tender drive example, Tony?). Upon discovering that it just polished the rails when attempting to climb the bank on a modest eight coach train, it was hastily withdrawn and dispatched to the loco doctor's workstation and duly crammed even more full of lead than it already was. It then performed admirably all weekend.

 

A little while later, a conversation took place along the lines of 'of course, the loco is really more suited to your Carlisle scheme than the ECML through Little Bytham ...'.

 

Indeed so, as No. 70054 was one of the Scottish named last batch initially allocated to Polmadie and then enjoyed a few years working out of Holbeck over the S&C. A deal was struck and No.70054 is now permanently allocated to 'Hills of the North'.

 

Having already found a couple of photos of her at work on the S&C's 'crack' trains, I had a bit of fun earlier today, assembling an eight coach representative 'Waverley' rake and here she it, striding northwards through Garsdale:

 

DSC00307.JPG.0b25be54811a6e4137f92fd3721b9956.JPG

 

DSC00308.JPG.b357dfc4abbf41f38446d8e4ae1b9d7b.JPG

 

The latter shot shows some recent scenery filling-in work going on around the viaduct piers, which is already giving a more accurate representation of the height of the viaduct piers. Even the way the light is falling on my blue crumpled sheet backcloth has the look of an impending Pennine storm about it!

 

745550439_Garsdale026.jpg.70a3687e126430c4775327b495629bc9.jpg

 

A bit like this!

 

Memories of a lovely weekend (2012) when we stayed at No.4 Station Cottages, Garsdale and walked to the Moorcock Inn for our evening meal on a clear, star-lit evening. The above photo shows how much the weather had changed overnight!

My memory of the Scottish Brits is the Hogmanay specials that went north on the 30th and 31st, packed with rowdy revellers, many hanging out of the windows. They returned on the 1st or 2nd with a generally  comatose and silent passenger content who were definitely not visible.  The motive power was almost always the Scottish Brits.

 

Jamie

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Thanks to red leader I have a space to put shelves in to store wagons .. no way have I enough track space to every get all of my 350+ wagons onto my layout...

 

Baz

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2 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

where the Hawes branch crosses over on a flat crossing.

No wonder I couldn't get the numbers to work when you showed the clearances a few posts back.  Four levels in the space of three doesn't give enough, but three does.

Paul.

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I tried to avoid it but the gradients just got too silly. I even thought of a sort of swing bridge arrangement(!) but in the end I think its the best balance between simplicity and practicality. Grantham has one handbuilt crossing where the Peco geometry just didn't work and that has given no problems at all in use so quite confident I can do the same here.

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On 01/08/2020 at 16:11, LNER4479 said:

Anyhow ... wagons aren't THAT interesting, are they? (!)

 

Everybody loves LOCOS!

 

1785291760_70054_01(TW).jpg.de71d27470f8f4b9d0fed93b5ea94c08.jpg

Sir Tony of Bytham fettled this Hornby Britannia for use on Shap in time for the Glasgow exhibition, complete with Portescap motor and etched smoke deflectors (was it originally a tender drive example, Tony?). Upon discovering that it just polished the rails when attempting to climb the bank on a modest eight coach train, it was hastily withdrawn and dispatched to the loco doctor's workstation and duly crammed even more full of lead than it already was. It then performed admirably all weekend.

 

A little while later, a conversation took place along the lines of 'of course, the loco is really more suited to your Carlisle scheme than the ECML through Little Bytham ...'.

 

Indeed so, as No. 70054 was one of the Scottish named last batch initially allocated to Polmadie and then enjoyed a few years working out of Holbeck over the S&C. A deal was struck and No.70054 is now permanently allocated to 'Hills of the North'.

 

Having already found a couple of photos of her at work on the S&C's 'crack' trains, I had a bit of fun earlier today, assembling an eight coach representative 'Waverley' rake and here she it, striding northwards through Garsdale:

 

DSC00307.JPG.0b25be54811a6e4137f92fd3721b9956.JPG

 

DSC00308.JPG.b357dfc4abbf41f38446d8e4ae1b9d7b.JPG

 

The latter shot shows some recent scenery filling-in work going on around the viaduct piers, which is already giving a more accurate representation of the height of the viaduct piers. Even the way the light is falling on my blue crumpled sheet backcloth has the look of an impending Pennine storm about it!

 

745550439_Garsdale026.jpg.70a3687e126430c4775327b495629bc9.jpg

 

A bit like this!

 

Memories of a lovely weekend (2012) when we stayed at No.4 Station Cottages, Garsdale and walked to the Moorcock Inn for our evening meal on a clear, star-lit evening. The above photo shows how much the weather had changed overnight!

Good evening Graham,

 

I'm delighted that 70054 is now 'at home', though I did see the real thing on a fast goods at Retford in 1960. 

 

She was indeed a Hornby tender-drive Brit; 70046 ANZAC. One of the last in production before Hornby introduced the loco-drive versions. I just fitted new deflectors, renumbered/renamed it and weathered it. 

 

As you say, she's got a Portescap, driving the Markits wheels in a set of Comet frames. The valve gear is modified Hornby. I gave the tender-drive away, and the tender now runs on a Comet chassis. 

 

Regards. 

 

Tony. 

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@LNER4479 wrote "With fishplates slid across, the train can move forward ..."

 

The gate looks practical and well-constructed.  Is sliding fishplates back and forth reliable for alignment over time or do you expect to replace them periodically?

 

Alan

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52 minutes ago, Buhar said:

@LNER4479 wrote "With fishplates slid across, the train can move forward ..."

 

The gate looks practical and well-constructed.  Is sliding fishplates back and forth reliable for alignment over time or do you expect to replace them periodically?

 

Alan

...and how long will it be before someone opens the door without sliding the fishplates back first?

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I find them very reliable for alignment, especially in conjunction with use of foam underlay. I've replaced the odd one on Grantham over the years but it's the work of a moment. The key attribute of sliding joiners is that they guarantee alignment across such a moveable joint.

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2 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

...and how long will it be before someone opens the door without sliding the fishplates back first?

Aha - that IS a tricky question!

 

The discipline has to be that they are slid back (to allow the 'door' to open) unless we are actually operating. I could also add a simple sliding bolt as a reminder. We'll see ...

 

 

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