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Hills of the North - The Last Great Project


LNER4479
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2 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

And lastly - the branchline.

 

391121777_Carlisle_masterplan_LR_branch.jpg.39239d9f3d28dda83089a2c55fda4311.jpg

Branchline? Well, more of a cross country route if truth be told. By happy coincidence (ha!) both Garsdale and Riccarton were junction stations. So I've simply linked them up!

 

A few issues with that though. Main one being that Garsdale was a junction with NER (purists will argue that it was MR to Hawes whence it became NER, but you get my drift) whereas Riccarton was the NBR Border Counties route to Hexham. The thought is to have somewhere mid-way to have the chance for trains to either run round and return or at least change locos, probably where the return S&C lines cross the route (where is says '40'). I'm toying with the idea of making a feature of this; a rather cramped version of Reedsmouth Junction would fit.

 

The height difference with Riccarton junction is potentially solved by the use of a spiral (gotta have one somewhere!), hidden by the extensive fell scenery, which again allows for the correct orientation as the line approaches Riccarton.

 

IMG_7381_LR.jpg.31c0ee871dd09621108c5786af660e0c.jpg

One the left hand side ... that short length of double track? Why, a depiction of a rather spectacular viaduct that use to fill this gap. It's not on either of the respective lines ... but it's definitely in the 'Hills of the North'. And it's my railway. Rule 1 and all that.

 

Now - it appears I have some questions to answer.

 

Stainmore Viaduct by any chance?

 

Paul

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1 hour ago, Portchullin Tatty said:

 

Take a look at frog juicers; it will get around this issue without you needing to stop trains.

 

There are a number of providers; I use these.  You will need one per rail; so a pair for each line.

 

In actual fact, thinking about it a bit further, I'll actually need a double change of polarity to get trains off the S&C route and into Carlisle, ie reverse polarity to get through 'Grand Junction' then back again to get into Carlisle station. That smacks more of use of logic with the combination of points at 'Grand Junction', typical of the sort of thing we have done on Grantham with success.

I'm actually minded to stop the trains anyway to give a suitable passage of time between passing through Garsdale and arriving at Carlisle.

 

1 hour ago, Flying Fox 34F said:

 

Stainmore Viaduct by any chance?

 

Paul

'Tis on the Stainmore route for sure Paul; it actually went by the name of Belah viaduct, crossing as it did the river Belah, an impressive 196ft below. Famously designed by Thomas Booch, following the collapse of the Tay Bridge it was treated with some caution being of very similar design and latterly had weight and speed restrictions upon it; it was demolished within a year of closure.

 

belah(1961)2.jpg.36a0a07db4277652567c96fc4396e87a.jpg

Photo above from the disused stations website. O for a time machine!

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Well Graham, It was worth the wait and all the better for reading it with fresh eyes after a good night's sleep.

 

I am, as you know, a fan of "system" layouts and this is certainly going to be a grand example of one of those. I had an inkling of the scope from various earlier postings of yours but the whole thing is far more complex and, therefore, interesting - nay, exciting - than I had imagined.

 

Just one (serious) question. There will be a lot of ducking-under to get to the various bits of the layout. How are you planning for the increasing inconvenience (and, dare I say, potential impossibility) of this as the years advance? On the Mid-Cornwall Lines - nowhere near as big or complex of course - once you have entered the railway room via the lifting flap everything else is accessible by walking round. This will clearly be impossible on your opus but I wonder what you have in mind.

 

I look forward to following progress and, who knows, perhaps visiting the frozen North one fine day for a play.

 

Good luck and all the best.

Edited by St Enodoc
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All the best with this project. I'm sure building it will be a challenging and yet also fantastic experience. Looking forward to plenty of photos over the next 10-15 years!

 

I must confess that when I first saw the proposed layout I had to check that the date was January the first and not April the first.

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8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

 

Just one (serious) question. There will be a lot of ducking-under to get to the various bits of the layout. How are you planning for the increasing inconvenience (and, dare I say, potential impossibility) of this as the years advance? On the Mid-Cornwall Lines - nowhere near as big or complex of course - once you have entered the railway room via the lifting flap everything else is accessible by walking round. This will clearly be impossible on your opus but I wonder what you have in mind.

 

I look forward to following progress and, who knows, perhaps visiting the frozen North one fine day for a play.

 

Good luck and all the best.

Good question, John - one that I have given some thought to. The main way in to the layout will be at the Garsdale curve, bottom right, and that at least will be of the opening door design - there's a hell of a lot of scenery at that point so a lifting flap is quite out of the question. 

 

After that ... er ... um, it'll probably be a combination of lifting flaps and generously designed crawl under spaces, designed as I go along (well I did say I'd given it SOME thought)

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When designing Sheffield Exchange the ability to get around the layout was to me quite important, especially as I get older. So is the ability to get me out should I become suddenly seriously unwell, this comes from nursing people who had heart attacks etc and the ambulance crews struggled to get to them. Mrs M was impressed with my pre-planning should anything serious happen to me, the undertaker would be able to get me out before I made the house smell.

 

There are of course many modellers of a senior age who still can duck under the layout and drive their trains.

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12 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

the new boards now allow for storage of model railiway building 'stuff' underneath as part of the process of at least making an attempt at keeping all this neat and organised (ha!)

Graham, I store lots of stuff (not just railway stuff but general household stuff too - that was the justification for building the railway room (garage) very soon after we moved in) under the layout. The stuff is stored in cardboard boxes or on Ikea Kallax shelves, in either case mounted on boards with castors rather like a remover's dolly. That means I can move them out of the way when I need to work under a baseboard.

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1 hour ago, LNER4479 said:

For those not aware, Shap features in the March issue of BRM, the digital edition of which is out now (yes, I know it's only January - all to do with 13 issues per year), paper copy out Thursday.

 

I'm normally a traditional paper copy version myself; however I'll highlight the digital edition on this occasion as there's an 8 minute excerpt from my Dad's 1964 cine films of the route, available ONLY via the digital version (ie it's not on the DVD that comes with the mag). In my highly biased opinion, it's worth the purchase price alone for that.

 

https://pocketmags.com/british-railway-modelling-magazine

 

Enjoy!

BRM_DVD_Jacket_March.jpg.7f874c32994bcbbd92988adf50a97016.jpg

 

 

Excellent article with plenty of background info on train formations and how the banking sequence works plus the atmospheric cine film, really enjoyed it

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Thanks for that; glad you enjoyed it.

 

My sub. copy hit the mat today, so nice to see it all in print and photos reproduced in the mag.

 

Last missing piece of the jigsaw is the photo montage I put together on the construction details. Some of this was posted on the first few pages of this thread but you can get at it all in one place at:

https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/Techniques/hills-of-the-north-construction-diary

 

Meanwhile, just three-and-a-half weeks to go to Glasgow so, with Grantham safely back home, attention now turns to show preparations and some rolling stock work. Stay tuned.

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