Hills of the North - The Last Great Project

[John Tomlinson]

Delighted to have seen this in action today at Peterborough, and had a chat with some of the operators.

 

A real victory for British tradition that the layout is worked on DC to a considerable extent with a pair of H & M Duettes, something I hadn't realised, and very well they do!

 

I was also struck by how convincing the layout is in portraying the section of line involved, despite the inevitable compression. Having been up there a few weeks back, albeit to photograph the current scene, it really is all there.

 

John.

[5 C]

Have to echo the above post. Throughly enjoyed Shap today at Peterborough, returning several times to witness the variety of trains slog up and down the gradient. Even the F*ll managed to behave in prototypical fashion.

 

Good to chat with @Barry O @LMS29 and Paul and with @AY Mod who was grabbing some lineside footage.

 

Having just watched the Strictly semi-final, all I can say now is "Keeeep banking!"

[St Enodoc]

41 minutes ago, 5 C said:

Even the F*ll managed to behave in prototypical fashion.

[rockershovel]

Saw this layout today at Peterborough. Definitely captures the atmosphere of the location. 

[JamieR4489]

Really enjoyed myself being a Shap signalman today.

My mum managed to get a couple of snaps.

I even got to meet some TV stars!

Now, I wonder where the big red button with ‘do not push’ is...

 

Jamie

 

Edited December 8, 2019 by JamieR4489

[LMS29]

9 hours ago, JamieR4489 said:

Really enjoyed myself being a Shap signalman today.

My mum managed to get a couple of snaps.

I even got to meet some TV stars!

Now, I wonder where the big red button with ‘do not push’ is...

 

Jamie

 

 

Jamie,

 

Glad you enjoyed working Shap and we enjoyed having your help. Thanks to your mum for taking the photos.

 

Tom

[Chris M]

A truly iconic layout. Great work chaps.

[Dragonboy]

It was great to see SoS yesterday and stand and watch the banking operation which was very slick.  There was a little boy standing next to me with his father who was explaining what was happening and why and the little lad soon took over and was explaining to his dad what was going to happen next. The future is in safe hands. 
 

Also great to see was Barry during a lull in proceedings doing a little jig. It was a bit Tai Chi meets Riverdance and sadly Andy York had moved on at that point ...........

[thegreenhowards]

Agreed. Easily my favourite layout at the show. I stayed for a full sequence.... and then a bit longer for a second view of the full Mark 1 kitchen car which looked great. I have one of those in my roundtuit pile! I loved the idea of showing three time periods.

[Clive Mortimore]

1 hour ago, thegreenhowards said:

Agreed. Easily my favourite layout at the show. I stayed for a full sequence.... and then a bit longer for a second view of the full Mark 1 kitchen car which looked great. I have one of those in my roundtuit pile! I loved the idea of showing three time periods.

Hi Andy

 

I also enjoyed seeing it, once I found it amongst all the box shifters.

[AY Mod]

5 hours ago, Dragonboy said:

Also great to see was Barry during a lull in proceedings doing a little jig.

 

Layout owners do have to have eyes in the back of their heads to see what their operators are up to when they're doing other important stuff.

 

[AY Mod]

Breakdown crane request.

Marvellous; between two of us we only managed to get one driving axle on the rails.

[AY Mod]

 

That's better; normal service resumed.

[Barry O]

Very good Andy puts my photos to shame...

 

The Fell was fine on Sunday after a few threats(!).. A Judith Edge Kit built and painted by Nichtoix

 

 

and then DP1 appeared.. (Dapol/Lima by me(!))

 

 

and, on the way home we stopped for an American Burger so LNER4479 celebrated the weekend as Elvis

 

q

 

Baz

[apbolton]

Just now, AY Mod said:

 

That's better; normal service resumed.

Wow that's superb thanks for posting it AY. As with a lot of the formations on Shap, this is based on a real photograph, it is titled Maiden Lane perishable goods. A particular favourite of mine since the majority of stock is mine. 

[woodenhead]

17 minutes ago, apbolton said:

Wow that's superb thanks for posting it AY. As with a lot of the formations on Shap, this is based on a real photograph, it is titled Maiden Lane perishable goods. A particular favourite of mine since the majority of stock is mine. 

But such a sad sight of a superb engine reduced to hauling freight.

[BoD]

27 minutes ago, apbolton said:

Wow that's superb thanks for posting it AY. As with a lot of the formations on Shap, this is based on a real photograph, it is titled Maiden Lane perishable goods. A particular favourite of mine since the majority of stock is mine. 

 

But wasn't the second shock van in that particular train an ex LMS one?  

[LNER4479]

Well, layout back home safely after an overnight stop somewhere in the Leeds area...

 

Thanks for the various kind comments, etc. Responding to some of them

On ‎07‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 17:45, John Tomlinson said:

Delighted to have seen this in action today at Peterborough, and had a chat with some of the operators.

 

A real victory for British tradition that the layout is worked on DC to a considerable extent with a pair of H & M Duettes, something I hadn't realised, and very well they do!

Traditional DC - Duette Control! Mainly for fiddle yard shuffling where finesse is not the priority, just simple dependability.

 

8 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

I stayed for a full sequence.... and then a bit longer for a second view of the full Mark 1 kitchen car which looked great. I have one of those in my roundtuit pile! I loved the idea of showing three time periods.

Ah, nice that someone appreciated the effort expended on the MkI Kit - probably lost on most! And glad the rolling time period worked for you.

 

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

on the way home we stopped for an American Burger so LNER4479 celebrated the weekend as Elvis

 

Baz

Just in case I get recognised as some sort of TV personality or something...

 

Here are some of mine from the weekend:

 

Here we are during Friday set up (or was it first thing Saturday morning?). Main feature to highlight is the revised wording of the pelmet. 'Britain's last great steam show' is now a thing of the past; the 'Hills of the North' designation will be my permanent tag line for all Carlisle-associated projects henceforth.

 

A view of the fiddle yard operator's domain, roughly playing the part of Tebay. We must be near the end of the schedule as the two trains waiting to head up the hill are the 1967 steam-hauled railtour, with the 1967 Royal Scot waiting to follow, as the Tebay pick-up goods trundles past with an Ivatt 2-6-0 4MT in charge. In between is the reception road for the returning bankers. Andrew's electrical and electronic wizardy is designed to 'catch' a banker  (provided the Shap signalman presses his green button!), automatically resetting the road once the banker is safely berthed.

 

In a blink of an eye, the railtour train has departed. One of the legendary(?) Duettes can be seen, as can five-sixth of the banker fleet - it can be seen (I think?) how they all gradually shuffle along from right to left before dropping onto the back of their designated banked train (bottom left) once drawn forward into the departure road.

 

Looking the other way, 4498 has returned into the yard with the railtour and the last banked freight of the sequence has now run and its place taken by the car train. In the Up roads, the 'Maiden Lane' train is nearest the camera. The 1967 Royal Scot must be either out or next on scene as its return space awaits behind the 1967 Birmingham-Glasgow (mixed maroon & blue/grey rake) hauled by an ex-Stoke summit Brush Type 4.

 

There it goes, up the bank, meeting the blue and grey DMU on its way down. Jamie and Paul are keeping commendable eyes on what's going on; Harvey is not so impressed.

 

More in a moment.

[LNER4479]

4 hours ago, AY Mod said:

 

That's better; normal service resumed.

Lovely photo, Andy - that sky is certainly more Shap-like than my clear blue sky. I think it was worth staying lineside just a little longer to capture this train.

 

3 hours ago, woodenhead said:

But such a sad sight of a superb engine reduced to hauling freight.

Indeed, but an essential part of the post-war LMR story. The moving time period allows us to run a variety of 'Big Lizzies' on prime trains (1950's Royal Scot, 1957 'Caledonian' etc) so only fair to show how they were used at the end of their lives. It might appear a menial duty but note the 'Class C' headcode. This is a prime, time-sensitive fully-fitted express freight duty, on which the 'Duchesses' did much valuable work in their dying days. In truth, such a service probably contributed more to BR's coffers than many a glamourous express train.

 

And now a bit of fun with photters

Here is Barry-O of this parish capturing his shot posted above.

 

Here's mine of DP1, just about coping with its four coach load (ha!)

 

And here is the webmeister himself at work. Note to self - must get myself a bag of rice (in a bag that doesn't leak).

 

We were subject to both photographic and video shoots during the weekend (hope it didn't spoil anybody's viewing too much?). If all goes well, stand by for the layout being in BRM early in 2020 with accompanying DVD. Time for me to get scribbling...

Edited December 9, 2019 by LNER4479

[apbolton]

7 hours ago, BoD said:

 

But wasn't the second shock van in that particular train an ex LMS one?  

 

yes you are correct and one day I will get round to building one as a replacement.

[LNER4479]

Inevitably, there's a post-Peterborough; pre-Glasgow list of things to be getting on with.

 

High on my list is to 'sort' the 1950s Royal Scot set. 'But what's wrong with it?', I hear you ask ... (anybody?) Well, I'll tell you - none of the designated RTR Duchesses will drag it up the hill! Unfortunately, my blue, sloping smokebox 46224 has turned out to be a bit of a 'dud'. As if to highlight the vagaries of RTR mechanism, my red 46248 makes a much better fist of it ... but that's in 1964 condition so completely out of era.

 

HOWEVER ... help is at hand.

 

Not what you expected? At Peterborough, Barry-O spotted these powered coach chassis on the Replica Railways stand - so I nipped round and picked one up for myself. The BG is the last vehicle in the train heading up the hill so it'll effectively be acting as a banker. Bit of a cheat but 'needs must' (quicker than the more elegant solution of kit building a DJH equivalent). The BG is here already having had irretrievable alterations made to its undersides.

 

With a bit more filing of the Replica diecast chassis, the Bachmann underframe is made to fit. Side frames purloined from a redundant Lima MkI have been prepared ready for fitment.

 

And there we are. Subterfuge complete. Have to wait till Glasgow to try it out mind.

 

Meanwhile, deep in the darkest recesses of the chapel, something is stirring...

 

Looks like bit of a big job broke out? With a new decade just around the corner, standby for a landmark posting on 1st Jan. I'll keep you in suspenders until then

Edited December 24, 2019 by LNER4479

[Clive Mortimore]

Hi Grahame

 

The Replica powered chassis are very good, I have them under quite a few EMUs. One problem I find with multiple units where I have two or even three powered coaches if the lead one stalls the rear one can try to concertina the coaches in between them and I am then having to rerail stuff. This doesn't happen very often but is annoying if it does. The closer the motor coaches are the more likely the rear one will give the front one a shove not scatter coaches all over the place.

 

With my experience of multiple powered trains and had I known your intention of buy a Replica chassis when I saw you at Peterborough I would have suggested a long underframe one under the leading coach.   Hopefully the BG at the back will aid the loco hauling the train not try and push it and the train up the hill.

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Inevitably, there's a post-Peterborough; pre-Glasgow list of things to be getting on with.

 

High on my list is to 'sort' the 1950s Royal Scot set. 'But what's wrong with it?', I hear you ask ... (anybody?) Well, I'll tell you - none of the designated RTR Duchesses will drag it up the hill! Unfortunately, my blue, sloping smokebox 46224 has turned out to be a bit of a 'dud'. As if to highlight the vagaries of RTR mechanism, my red 46248 makes a much better fist of it ... but that's in 1964 condition so completely out of era.

 

HOWEVER ... help is at hand.

 

Not what you expected? At Peterborough, Barry-O spotted these powered coach chassis on the Replica Railways stand - so I nipped round and picked one up for myself. The BG is the last vehicle in the train heading up the hill so it'll effectively be acting as a banker. Bit of a cheat but 'needs must' (quicker than the more elegant solution of kit building a DJH equivalent). The BG is here already having had irretrievable alterations made to its undersides.

 

With a bit more filing of the Replica diecast chassis, the Bachmann underframe is made to fit. Side frames purloined from a redundant Lima MkI have been prepared ready for fitment.

 

And there we are. Subterfuge complete. Have to wait till Glasgow to try it out mind.

 

Meanwhile, deep in the darkest recesses of the chapel, something is stirring...

 

Looks like bit of a big job broke out? With a new decade just around the corner, standby for a landmark posting on 1st Jan. I'll keep you in suspenders until then

Come on, let's see a video of the train moving with no loco attached...

 

Merry Christmas Graham and all the best to all the Grantham/Shap mob.

[Barry O]

It will be fine..the two I bought can move my modern shrapnel kit Trans Pennine unit up the bank on Barnbow....

 

The one on Shap will provide the oomph to get the train up the hill no problemo!

Baz

[PenrithBeacon]

My experience of being a passenger in a first generation dmu on Shap was that they went up very slowly and were mostly in first gear!

Cheers