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So here is my latest project. I seem to have turned into a serial micro layout builder and have got hooked on building them. I only have one other micro layout on the go at the moment and that is waiting for me to work out what static grass I should use on it. In the meantime I've gone all industrial again but with more of a focus that with Pastry Lane whish was my previous micro layout. This time I'm turning my attention to the collieries which fueled the north. They've always appealed to me due to their resilience to dieselise so there was the odd steam loco working in the 80s (I do believe so but I could be wrong) . For Christmas this year I got a DJ models j94 and a sentinel - 2 industrial shunters that could have found themselves on a colliery railway (j94s definitely did!) and I've already got a few other locos that would fit in with the colliery theme. I dont have much room or time (most of my time is spent revising for my exams in the summer) or money as I'm saving up to start a new home layout. This said I've decided to model a small loco shed and servicing facility of a fictitious colliery set in the north of England, not too far from the Scottish border. To add more operational and viewer interest I have come up with 2 plans. The first one is to allow locos that would be seen in an exchange siding into the loco sheds for coaling and watering. This would massively increase the amount of stock that could be seen on the layout. My second plan is to build a working coaling tower that loads empty loco tenders and a moving water crane so the turns to fill the locos up with water (not gonna try and use real water though. :) ) I hope this sounds interesting and I will be back tomorrow to show you a proper drawn out plan and some progress on the baseboards. Thanks for looking and all comments welcome. :)

Edited by luke the train spotter
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Not sure why this didn't post yesterday.

Try Amazon for "Castleford Colliery Railways" by the late Ron Rockett.

Try u tube for "Wheldale Colliery". There are home movies made by miners during the final weeks of their pit.

I have a couple of similar projects on the back burner in 7mm

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Ah!!

Because I posted it in your other topic.

My best advice would be to get the geography and history right. The best freelance layouts are those that are believable. Find a coalfield that used the locos you have at the same time and invent a colliery in the same vicinity. Ask questions. People will smile if you sort of get it right, they come hunting if you get it wrong. Given that it costs just as much to build a wrong layout as a right one you might as well be correct.

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Thanks John, I'm studying geography, history and French on top of my core subjects.

In this case, you might find this site, about the rail network of one group of collieries in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, of interest: http://cefnord.free.fr/maj/index.htm  Like their UK counterparts, they were adept at modifying stock for a particular job; I particularly like the side-tipper, which had doors along one side. It was tipped using a hoist on an adjacent track, which simply lifted the opposite side- the hoists were semi-permanently attached to 0-8-0 tanks.

A useful site for photos of pit surface buildings and stock is here:

For stock:- http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/industrialinternalwagons

For other aspects:- http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/paulbartlettsotherrailwayphotographs

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Thanks everyone for your help and links, they have been very useful and have given me lots of inspiration. Last night I got all the track laid on the baseboard and removed the sleepers where I want the inspection pit to go. The track works a bit rough but its modeling a neglected colliery shed so I don't think it really matters. I have been searching for a prototype to base my model on and I've struck gold! (well... Black gold :) ) I have found out about the Wills Branch , a dedicated industrial branch line off the Liverpool to Manchester Line. On the wills branch there were a few collieries, a gas works, pottery works and a lamp works. Before the branch becomes the Wills branch it splits in 2. One line becoming a steel branch, the other becoming the wills branch. There were 2 collieries on the Wills branch, Halsnead and Cronton. I dont know as much about Halsnead at the moment but my focus is on Cronton. Here they had a filthy green j94 with a giesel injector. It worked the colliery up until its closing days I believe. A class 25 would go up the single track, ungated Wills branch to pick up full wagons and drop off empties. I love class 25s and any excuse to run them must be taken. By pure luck the class 25 in the pictures I have seen is the exact livery and condition as the one I already have. The number is only 2 digits off as well! Since Cronton Colliery is only small I won't have to worry about having a large fleet and facilitating a large amount of stock. My proposed shed will be based on the border between the end of the wills branch and the start of the colliery tracks. The idea of this would be to relieve stress on the single track branch by giving the main line loco a stabling point. Since the shed would be very close to the exchange sidings it would make sense for the locos shunting the exchange sidings to go there as it would be closer and no different to the other shed. There was a shed actually in Cronton colliery but it is right in the centre and quite small so wouldn't be able to cope with much stock. I'll put a map down below of the railway system there and of the wills branch. The map isn't mine so I will put a link down to my sources in a post further down.post-32204-0-85635100-1522914003.jpg

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The coaling of BR Locos at pit is an interesting concept, the only example I know of was the Gresley Garratt which went to a colliery something in the back of my mind says Silkstone colliery which was only about 2 miles from its Worsboro' bank stomping ground.

 

Colliery loco depots are great subjects for micro models, large numbers of Austerity 0-6-0s were bought /built under the NCB but some older locos survived, I think some North Stafford 0-6-2s and an ex LBSC E1 apart from the ex south wales 0-6-2 Lambton Colliery used now preserved on the NYMR.  Basically anything the mainline railways disposed of could appear at a colliery, they often had sales lists of redundant locos with a bit of life left, Swindon sold quite a few as did the LBSC (E1 Terriers) and the LSWR, however a GNR Stirling singe might be pushing your luck.  Even more fun is kitbashing and RTR bashing to make freelance locos as in the pug bashing thread

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The coaling of BR Locos at pit is an interesting concept, the only example I know of was the Gresley Garratt which went to a colliery something in the back of my mind says Silkstone colliery which was only about 2 miles from its Worsboro' bank stomping ground.

 

Colliery loco depots are great subjects for micro models, large numbers of Austerity 0-6-0s were bought /built under the NCB but some older locos survived, I think some North Stafford 0-6-2s and an ex LBSC E1 apart from the ex south wales 0-6-2 Lambton Colliery used now preserved on the NYMR. Basically anything the mainline railways disposed of could appear at a colliery, they often had sales lists of redundant locos with a bit of life left, Swindon sold quite a few as did the LBSC (E1 Terriers) and the LSWR, however a GNR Stirling singe might be pushing your luck. Even more fun is kitbashing and RTR bashing to make freelance locos as in the pug bashing thread

I dont plan to coal many main line steam locos (I dont have any yet) but I will probably do so. At the moment I will just stable diesels there I think. I have detailed a Hornby pug and would love to build a lambton colliery engine.

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The coaling of BR Locos at pit is an interesting concept, the only example I know of was the Gresley Garratt which went to a colliery something in the back of my mind says Silkstone colliery which was only about 2 miles from its Worsboro' bank stomping ground.

 

Colliery loco depots are great subjects for micro models, large numbers of Austerity 0-6-0s were bought /built under the NCB but some older locos survived, I think some North Stafford 0-6-2s and an ex LBSC E1 apart from the ex south wales 0-6-2 Lambton Colliery used now preserved on the NYMR.  Basically anything the mainline railways disposed of could appear at a colliery, they often had sales lists of redundant locos with a bit of life left, Swindon sold quite a few as did the LBSC (E1 Terriers) and the LSWR, however a GNR Stirling singe might be pushing your luck.  Even more fun is kitbashing and RTR bashing to make freelance locos as in the pug bashing thread

 

Wentworth Silkstone colliery, locally know as "Levy"; there was a coaling road on the outside of the screens for the Worsbrough banking locos. The pit was at the end of the branch from Wentworth Junction which was the start of the 1 in 40 gradient. Curiously the pit never had any locos of its own, the wagons were gravity worked through the screens and moved to the junction by main line locos. Wentworth Junction is the subject of my next layout, construction should be starting this summer.

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Wentworth Silkstone colliery, locally know as "Levy"; there was a coaling road on the outside of the screens for the Worsbrough banking locos. The pit was at the end of the branch from Wentworth Junction which was the start of the 1 in 40 gradient. Curiously the pit never had any locos of its own, the wagons were gravity worked through the screens and moved to the junction by main line locos. Wentworth Junction is the subject of my next layout, construction should be starting this summer.

Sounds like a very interesting railway and how unusual for it not to have its own locos! Are you going to model a working gravity system or have hidden motors in a few wagons?
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Thanks everyone for your help and links, they have been very useful and have given me lots of inspiration. Last night I got all the track laid on the baseboard and removed the sleepers where I want the inspection pit to go. The track works a bit rough but its modeling a neglected colliery shed so I don't think it really matters. I have been searching for a prototype to base my model on and I've struck gold! (well... Black gold :) ) I have found out about the Wills Branch , a dedicated industrial branch line off the Liverpool to Manchester Line. On the wills branch there were a few collieries, a gas works, pottery works and a lamp works. Before the branch becomes the Wills branch it splits in 2. One line becoming a steel branch, the other becoming the wills branch. There were 2 collieries on the Wills branch, Halsnead and Cronton. I dont know as much about Halsnead at the moment but my focus is on Cronton. Here they had a filthy green j94 with a giesel injector. It worked the colliery up until its closing days I believe. A class 25 would go up the single track, ungated Wills branch to pick up full wagons and drop off empties. I love class 25s and any excuse to run them must be taken. By pure luck the class 25 in the pictures I have seen is the exact livery and condition as the one I already have. The number is only 2 digits off as well! Since Cronton Colliery is only small I won't have to worry about having a large fleet and facilitating a large amount of stock. My proposed shed will be based on the border between the end of the wills branch and the start of the colliery tracks. The idea of this would be to relieve stress on the single track branch by giving the main line loco a stabling point. Since the shed would be very close to the exchange sidings it would make sense for the locos shunting the exchange sidings to go there as it would be closer and no different to the other shed. There was a shed actually in Cronton colliery but it is right in the centre and quite small so wouldn't be able to cope with much stock. I'll put a map down below of the railway system there and of the wills branch. The map isn't mine so I will put a link down to my sources in a post further down.attachicon.gifC__Data_Users_DefApps_AppData_INTERNETEXPLORER_Temp_Saved Images_Cronton_20Colliery_20route_20map_20sized.jpg

Looks like you have made a great choice. The geisel chimney locomotives were fairly rare and can be linked to specific pits. Look for other specific details, steps, handrails and buffer heads. It is quite easy to take a RTR and turn it into a one off model of a particular loco.

Most, but not all Yorkshire Hunslets had the LD Porta chimney and 22" buffers. Handrails were often modified to an individual colliery managers take on health and safety.

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As a student in Liverpool in the early 90s, I used to sometimes spend my weekend evenings (while most of my fellow students were out getting bladdered - again) cycling out that way and remember looking through the fence at the colliery site.  It seemed funny how somewhere so rural could be just a few miles from the city centre.

 

I seem to remember Cronton had been one of more solidly militant pits during the 84-85 strike.  Being on Merseyside that's perhaps not so surprising.

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Sounds like a very interesting railway and how unusual for it not to have its own locos! Are you going to model a working gravity system or have hidden motors in a few wagons?

 

The pit will be off scene in the fiddle yard, the junction is the main part of the layout - and the hill. As a native of Prescot I find Cronton very interesting though. The Kylpor chimneys were much more common in Yorkshire - nearer to Hunslet in Leeds.

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The pit will be off scene in the fiddle yard, the junction is the main part of the layout - and the hill. As a native of Prescot I find Cronton very interesting though. The Kylpor chimneys were much more common in Yorkshire - nearer to Hunslet in Leeds.

After relooking at the photos and information, it appears that Cronton did not have a giesel exhaust but the other austeritys did and and they were called Monty and Robin Hood which was with drawn in 1971. I cant find as much information on Monty though so I cant really identify it in many of the photos.
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Looks like you have made a great choice. The geisel chimney locomotives were fairly rare and can be linked to specific pits. Look for other specific details, steps, handrails and buffer heads. It is quite easy to take a RTR and turn it into a one off model of a particular loco.

Most, but not all Yorkshire Hunslets had the LD Porta chimney and 22" buffers. Handrails were often modified to an individual colliery managers take on health and safety.

I have got a DJ models j94 which will run on the layout. Unfortunately it isn't really appropriate for the layout as its in early br black with British railways written on the side. If I was going to do a conversion I would probably convert it to 'Cronton' as it only requires a re-paint, heavy weathering and some name plates. I'm not sure how keen I would be doing that as the DJ models j94 is quite something to take apart and I would be afraid of ruining it.
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As a student in Liverpool in the early 90s, I used to sometimes spend my weekend evenings (while most of my fellow students were out getting bladdered - again) cycling out that way and remember looking through the fence at the colliery site. It seemed funny how somewhere so rural could be just a few miles from the city centre.

 

I seem to remember Cronton had been one of more solidly militant pits during the 84-85 strike. Being on Merseyside that's perhaps not so surprising.

I hope I make a kind of recognizable model then! :) (well to the extent that the actual design will be mostly freelance) Apparently it shut in 1984 due to financial problems, the miners strike and the fact that they had been making a loss for quite son time. Interestingly, the miners were transferred to different mines so they got to keep their jobs despite loosing their pit.
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Finally a picture of the layout as it is at the moment. The track plan is simply 2 tracks that go onto a sector plate in the fiddle yard. The rear track will be for coaling and holding the odd colliery wagon. The other track will have an inspection pit, half a loco shed (the rest will be imaginary as it merges into the backscene) and a water crane.post-32204-0-95211400-1523000263_thumb.jpg The back board for the scenics section hasn't been glued and screwed yet because I still need to work out where the chute for the working coaling tower will go so once I work that out (probably a job for this evening) I can cut the hole and glue and screw the last back scene. For the back scenes I plan to stick white card onto them then paint a water colour backscene on that. I've never painted a backscene before so this will be a lesson for me.

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