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Now with Videos! Stranraer ‘themed’ loft layout 1959-64


danstercivicman
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On 09/12/2020 at 20:09, 26power said:

At least you din't use "rooves"!

 

Black doesn't seem appropriate, better with various shades of grey.  Same  for goods vans.  I think you can get tins/jars of "roof grey" but that is maybe for new or overhauled stock. 

 

Maybe best looking at colour albums or on Flickr.  Some examples I have saved on the latter (coincidental that some are Port Road!):

Newton Stewart early 1960's img731

Newton Stewart

 

Crossmichael T108 38 Crossmichael 44677 on 1340 Stranraer Harbour to Dumfries train 7061965

Crossmichael (there is also a shot of this train approaching, if anyone interested in the self weighing tender!)

 

Kirkcudbright branch 80023 15Apr63 img362

Kirkcudbright branch

 

A few more goods orientated ones:

126 Kyle of Lochalsh station 11-05-63 (John Boyes) 131

Kyle of Lochalsh

 

1966-06 Elliot Junction img389

Elliot junction.

 

Hope this helps gets you started down this particular rabbit hole!

 

 

I like the Post Office van on the platform pic- is that a Comer type van? 

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28 minutes ago, danstercivicman said:

The Class 126 stands ready in platform 2 to depart with the 13:30...

 

Hmm must build it!!

4FAC3793-5969-407E-8B86-7635C3A7DDDB.jpeg

Wow . Never realised they made one . Did you get it direct from Silver Fox?  I’ve previously trawled their website and found no mention of it . 
 

Just bought a periodical  Heavy Freight Diesel and Electric, there is a picture of a Class 45 D65 Grenadier Guardsman on a vehicle train for Northern Ireland . I never realised Peaks made it to Stranraer . The picture is at Pinmore . Is that the line in from Girvan rather than the Port route? 

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10 minutes ago, Legend said:

Wow . Never realised they made one . Did you get it direct from Silver Fox? 

 

Yup.  I Just need to build it now!!!  My wife’s getting me the dremel type thing for Christmas and I’ve got the Replica DPC and three Replica coach bodies to cut into.  The kit has resin ends and overlays.  

 

I will then run it on Replica modified mk.1 bogies and next year or 2022 I’ll need to build a further three car set (unpowered)..

 

I build a lot of resin tanks and some planes but the building of a train is something I’ve never attempted.  Unlike a tank you can just cover mistakes up with dirt/battle damage...

Edited by danstercivicman
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4 minutes ago, danstercivicman said:

 

Yup.  I Just need to build it now!!!  My wife’s getting me the dremel type thing for Christmas and I’ve got the Replica DPC and three Replica coach bodies to cut into.  The kit has resin ends and overlays.  

 

I will then run it on Replica modified mk.1 bogies and next year or 2022 I’ll need to build a further three car set (unpowered)..

 

I build a lot of resin tanks and some planes but the building of a train is something I’ve never attempted.  Unlike a tank you can just cover mistakes up with dirt/battle damage...


I’ll give them a call after Christmas , assuming open in Pandemic . I’m going down the Trix route but the ends would be very handy . Yes like you I’ve never done anything more than paint a train before . So this big learning curve for me 

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8 hours ago, Legend said:


I’ll give them a call after Christmas , assuming open in Pandemic . I’m going down the Trix route but the ends would be very handy . Yes like you I’ve never done anything more than paint a train before . So this big learning curve for me 

 

Yes it’s quite scary having to build the kit!  

 

Like you painting is all I’ve really done- the Clan kit was almost fully complete.

 

Trains are abit more fiddly than tanks!!! 

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8 hours ago, Legend said:

Wow . Never realised they made one . Did you get it direct from Silver Fox?  I’ve previously trawled their website and found no mention of it . 
 

Just bought a periodical  Heavy Freight Diesel and Electric, there is a picture of a Class 45 D65 Grenadier Guardsman on a vehicle train for Northern Ireland . I never realised Peaks made it to Stranraer . The picture is at Pinmore . Is that the line in from Girvan rather than the Port route? 

 

Yes pinmore is the Ayr route so that is prob after the closure of the Port Road.  That route had higher weight tolerances I think so 7MT’s ran over it.  

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18 hours ago, Legend said:

Just bought a periodical  Heavy Freight Diesel and Electric, there is a picture of a Class 45 D65 Grenadier Guardsman on a vehicle train for Northern Ireland . I never realised Peaks made it to Stranraer . The picture is at Pinmore . Is that the line in from Girvan rather than the Port route? 

 

From Rootes at Linwood I think, there is a Derek Cross colour pic of a 40 on a similar working in 1966 in "On G&SW Lines" by David Cross. No evidence of car trains on the Port Road (so far !). 

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20 hours ago, Legend said:

Wow . Never realised they made one . Did you get it direct from Silver Fox?  I’ve previously trawled their website and found no mention of it . 
 

Just bought a periodical  Heavy Freight Diesel and Electric, there is a picture of a Class 45 D65 Grenadier Guardsman on a vehicle train for Northern Ireland . I never realised Peaks made it to Stranraer . The picture is at Pinmore . Is that the line in from Girvan rather than the Port route? 

 

https://railphotoprints.uk/p968868046/h24EEB274#h24eeb274

Presumably the same train, just a few miles south beyond Barrhill.  It's a lovely photo.

 

2 hours ago, Wheatley said:

 

No evidence of car trains on the Port Road (so far !). 

:(

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On 20/12/2020 at 20:27, danstercivicman said:

The Class 126 stands ready in platform 2 to depart with the 13:30...

 

Hmm must build it!!

4FAC3793-5969-407E-8B86-7635C3A7DDDB.jpeg


Thankyou  for the information on this . I contacted Silver Fox and I’ve now got one on order . Chris explained that they have conversion kit for the Corridor Composite, that I’m interested in , but that they also have buffet version from original E&G sets I think .  They have the conversion kits for 2021 but hope to offer completed models in 2022 which is great news ( if I mess up my current build!) 

 

one question. What’s actually in the conversion kit? 

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1 hour ago, Legend said:


Thankyou  for the information on this . I contacted Silver Fox and I’ve now got one on order . Chris explained that they have conversion kit for the Corridor Composite, that I’m interested in , but that they also have buffet version from original E&G sets I think .  They have the conversion kits for 2021 but hope to offer completed models in 2022 which is great news ( if I mess up my current build!) 

 

one question. What’s actually in the conversion kit? 

 

Resin ends

side overlays

underneath technical bits

glazing bits

exhaust bits 

 

There are other bits but I don’t know what they am

 

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The bits you need are:

 

paint

glue

decals

bogies

power unit of choice (I’m using Replica dpc but you can use Hornby power bogies) 

coach bodies (I’ve gone Replica- you can use others) 

corridor gangways

coupling things

interior bits

wheel things

lid vent things for the coach roofs 

 

the bits I don’t have:

 

skill

patience :)  

Edited by danstercivicman
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31 minutes ago, danstercivicman said:

Happy Christmas everyone.  

 

Does anyone know how easy the ratio LMS signals are to build and get working?  

 

I was was looking at the Dapol motorised ones but they seem very rare and expensive!

 

Has anyone built the ratio ones and got them working easily? 

 

Best

 

dan 

@Barry O might be able to help.

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On 20/12/2020 at 20:31, danstercivicman said:

I’ve now fitted most of my coaching stock with gangway connectors :) 

32E3FA0D-778B-46E5-A14F-857732AF6B1C.jpeg

94F4A336-6340-45C9-999B-E46BE5A68AFF.jpeg

That small addiiton does make an enormous difference. Do the coaches so fitted have to operatein semin fixed rakes or are you able to couple and uncouple them?  (though I assume that in the case of Stranraer what comes down also goes up) 

 

On 20/12/2020 at 20:43, danstercivicman said:

I may be very naughty and switch some of the Town services to the Harbour... naughty and unprototypical but... more interesting!!! 

Why not if it makes operating the layout more interesting. Just assume that a cost benefit analysis by some whizkid in Glasgow found an earlier benefit in rationalising services to Stranraer Town after the Portpatrick line closed in 1950* and more services using the Harbour station could have been entirely prototypical.

 

*It's also Interesting to reflect on what might have happened had the Admiralty gone ahead with its plans to develop Portpatrick Harbour, the  Donaghadee and Portpatrick Short Sea Steam Packet Company had actually then been successful and boat trains to Portpatrick Harbour Station had developed as planned rather than the harbour branch being closed in 1868. Portpatrick station would then have been a reversing terminus for boat trains which provides a very interesting prototype and presumably, with naval actvity and ferries , Portpatrick itself woud have developed into more than a village.

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Portpatrick appears to have been chosen originally as it was the closest point to Ireland, something which appealled mightily to officials in the Post Office who knew nothing about the place other than where it was on a map. No amount of 19th century development would have got away from the fact that it was still a hole in a cliff, and you had to go past a perfectly adequate deep water port to get to it. 

 

Tripping the boat train down the 1 in 40 to the harbour four coaches at a time would make intetesting operation on a model though. 

 

You don't need to permanently close the Town station, just derail something large on the runround points for the day :-)

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1 hour ago, Wheatley said:

Portpatrick appears to have been chosen originally as it was the closest point to Ireland, something which appealled mightily to officials in the Post Office who knew nothing about the place other than where it was on a map. No amount of 19th century development would have got away from the fact that it was still a hole in a cliff, and you had to go past a perfectly adequate deep water port to get to it. 

 

Tripping the boat train down the 1 in 40 to the harbour four coaches at a time would make intetesting operation on a model though. 

 

You don't need to permanently close the Town station, just derail something large on the runround points for the day :-)

Hi Wheatley

You could equally describe Fokestone Harbour as being a hole in the cliff - the 1in 30  branch from the main  line would be completely unbelievable if we didn't know it had really existed.

Before the railway age Portpatrick was an important ferry port with a daily packet service and it was already used for mails. It was the end of one of the old Military Roads  in Scotland and formed part of a postal route to Ireland. 

 

Dan, I hope this isn't imposing too far on your topic but I've just spent a fascinating couple of hours investigating the  Portpatrick Railway including the correspondence between the railway company, the Admiraly and the Board of Trade etc.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uwkTAAAAYAAJ&q=portpatrick&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=portpatrick&f=false

I think the Admiralty's involvement was from Portpatrick being a harbour of refuge for Royal Naval ships and they had workshops there. According to the railway company the twenty odd mile crossing from Portpatrick to Donaghadee would take about one and a half hours even with the ships available in 1862,  and for a mail route that time saving would have been an important factor.

 

What makes this interesting is that while most might-have-been railways didn't get beyond Parliamentary approval - if even that- or possibly a few initial earthworks, this one was actually built. Had the Admiralty, having insisted on the railway and harbour branch being built on schedule, completed the planned dredging and improvement to the harbour at Portpatrick, the boat trains with their mail vans would have run and the mail ships would have sailed to Donaghadee.

 

There clearly was a firm  intention to complete the scheme, the Admiralty was even arguing with the railway about the width of the quay between the line of rails and the harbour wall. The railway wanted to reduce it from 50 ft to 40ft to give a better line from its approach but the Admiralty were demanding the full 50ft on the grounds that they expected the service to become very busy. 

Unfortunately the harbour branch's actual existence fell between detailed Ordnance Survery surveys. An 1848 6 inch map shows a short but interesting looking  "tram road" from a quarry south of the harbour running past the harbour with a branch  but no other railways. By 1894's 25inch map the tram road has gone with some of its route a three hundred yard rifle range. Portpatrick is there with all its trackwork but of the harbour branch only its trackbed from the buffer end end of the station to the north quay with a bridge under Holm Street and a level crossing of Blair Steet remains. I've not been able to find out just what the railway did build on the quayside as a harbour station but the legal papers do make mention of a booking office being built.    

 

If anyone know more I'd love to know just what was built and what was intended to be built at Portpatrick and also at Donaghadee.

 

Edited by Pacific231G
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It wasn’t a good Harbour.  Ships couldn’t leave during bad weather (common) therefore Stranraer became the main Harbour and Cairnryan was developed as a the secondary/emergency docks for WW2... it wasn’t needed and after WW2 was used for dumping ammunition into the sea (via small boats) then scrapping navy ships!

 

I could happily divert trains to the Harbour but the Town station served as the run round for backing empty coaches into the coaching sidings :)  

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37 minutes ago, danstercivicman said:

It wasn’t a good Harbour.  Ships couldn’t leave during bad weather (common) therefore Stranraer became the main Harbour and Cairnryan was developed as a the secondary/emergency docks for WW2... it wasn’t needed and after WW2 was used for dumping ammunition into the sea (via small boats) then scrapping navy ships!

 

I could happily divert trains to the Harbour but the Town station served as the run round for backing empty coaches into the coaching sidings :)  

Interesting to know why they went down that road then changed their mind. The railway seems to have been persuaded to go to Portpatrick and maybe would have, if left to its own devices,  focussed on Stranraer earlier. There must have been a balance between the relative qualities  of the two harbours and the voyage time. I think the work the Admiralty was supposed to be doing on the harbour was partly to extend the piers and so make it more of a bad weather port. At some point they clearly changed their mind but left the railway holding the baby.

 

Sounds like some fun to be had with the WTT to see what can and can't be diverted to make Stranraer more interesting. Could the Town station be closed to passengers but still used operationally?  I was at College in Plymouth for a couple of years from 1967 and though the Millbay terminus had closed for passengers in 1941 it was still intact and the line to it was was being quite heavily used to handle ECS from North Road and rather less heavily for goods traffic in and out of Millbay Docks.

Edited by Pacific231G
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3 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

Interesting to know why they went down that road then changed their mind. The railway seems to have been persuaded to go to Portpatrick and maybe would have, if left to its own devices,  focussed on Stranraer earlier. There must have been a balance between the relative qualities  of the two harbours and the voyage time. I think the work the Admiralty was supposed to be doing on the harbour was partly to extend the piers and so make it more of a bad weather port. At some point they clearly changed their mind but left the railway holding the baby.

 

Sounds like some fun to be had with the WTT to see what can and can't be diverted to make Stranraer more interesting. Could the Town station be closed to passengers but still used operationally?  I was at College in Plymouth for a couple of years from 1967 and though the Millbay terminus had closed for passengers in 1941 it was still intact and the line to it was was being quite heavily used to handle ECS from North Road and rather less heavily for goods traffic in and out of Millbay Docks.

 

Yes, from the reading I’ve done on Port Patrick the PPR intended to use it and lots of plans were made, the Admiralty pulled out and the CR preferred Stranraer... it was therefore not a success in part due to a number of ships running aground and problems with weather related/sea related dangers! 

 

Yes I could definitely move services to Stranraer Harbour and have Stranraer Town just being used as the run round and goods yard.  It would certainly make operations easier but displease some local passengers I expect :) 

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