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Dunnington, Derwent Valley Light Railway.


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Where to start. I'm starting a new project based on the namesake location in 00 scale, set in the late 60s / early 1970s.

 

The Derwent Valley Railway became Britain's last Standard Gauge Pre Grouping independent light railway until closure in September 1981. It ran from a connection with the BR Foss Islands branch at York (Layerthorpe) to Cliff Common, on the Selby to Market Weighton line until that line closed in 1965. Dunnington became the terminus of the line in 1972. 

 

In a bid to be seen as a "proper" railway, the Company name of "Derwent Valley Light Railway" was changed to "Derwent Valley Railway" on 23rd March 1973, although their 2 Class 04 Shunters were lettered as such when purchased around 1969.

 

Yorkshire Grain Driers Ltd set up their Dunnington facility in 1955, sending grain to Distillers Co. at Bathgate (using the early BR standard grain hoppers and later the BRT "Whiskey Blues") and later to Moray Firth Maltings near Inverness (using Procor LWB air braked grain hoppers which were painted red and lettered for the DVR!) until closure of the line in 1981. Other principal commodities handled along the line were sugarbeet, cement, coal and oil. The lines motive power in the 1970s was 2 ex BR Class 04 Shunters, and YGD had their Fowler 0-4-0DM "Churchill" for Shunting the Grain plant.

 

For a few years in the later 1970s, regular steam hauled passenger services made a come back in the summer months, the Railway purchasing preserved J72 0-6-0T "Joem" for this.

 

Further information on this interesting line, including operation and later developments can be found on The Industrial Railway Society site here:

https://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/51/Derwent.htm

 

I also have this very useful work on this line, picked up on a visit to the reborn DVR at the Yorkshire Museum of Farming:

20190403_194143.jpg.a02707abab6b39af550f6edd12cc312b.jpg

 

On more practical matters, the layout (see below) will use a recycled ply topped  baseboard of 5'4" x 18", with a bolt on sector plate to access sidings hidden behind the backscene. Cork base for the Peco Bullhead track has been applied to what will be the scenic area; as can be judged the track plan is very simple and taken from the prototype, consisting of a main line running into the station platform (lower left), with a run round loop (top centre - extending onto the sector plate) and a short siding at the station end, plus the long YGD grain siding on the right, with low relief warehousing hiding storage sidings behind.

20190403_193627.jpg.a1006d49755e7e1bc570eada24812289.jpg

 

The layout will serve to test several techniques including scratch building all the buildings and re-sleepering a couple of Peco Code 75 points to suit the new Bullhead track as seen here in progress:

20190402_175748.jpg.b8ae0a783aa188b6a62a03c5f89db38f.jpg

 

Happily there are only 2 points on the scenic part proper. Work involves removing a couple of sleepers at a time and soldering copperclad replacements via shims of brass to give a little "chair height". And also some subterfuge! I am keeping the Peco centre spring mechanism however due to using SEEP point motors with frog switching. The short right hand point shown in progress is also having a slight Y shape induced.

 

That's about as far as I have got so far, more soon.

 

Thanks for looking,

Martyn.

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Martyn,

 

Great introduction to your project. I love the Derwent Valley Railway and have always had a longing to produce a layout based around the prototype. Looks like you have already made a good start so I will be following with interest. I have been looking out for a copy of that book for ages at shows and in bookshops but have never managed to track one down unfortunately. 

 

Thanks for sharing!

David

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7 minutes ago, south_tyne said:

Martyn,

 

Great introduction to your project. I love the Derwent Valley Railway and have always had a longing to produce a layout based around the prototype. Looks like you have already made a good start so I will be following with interest. I have been looking out for a copy of that book for ages at shows and in bookshops but have never managed to track one down unfortunately. 

 

Thanks for sharing!

David

Thanks David, I picked the book up last Summer from the DVLR shop at Murton Lane Station, which is of course the Old Wheldrake station building, pleasingly relocated to the new site; their copies are also signed by the authors which was a nice touch. I can't find any link to their shop on the website: http://www.dvlr.org.uk/ butthe book is published by Holne Publishing, not a name familiar to me, but their website shows copies are still available: http://www.holnepublishing.co.uk/page12.html

There are 3mm scale elevation coloured drawings of a typical Station Building as built, and of a Goods Shed, as well as track plans for all locations and a wealth of stock information so it is a very worthwhile purchase if the line is of interest.

 

Hope this helps.

Martyn.

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56 minutes ago, Signaller69 said:

Thanks David, I picked the book up last Summer from the DVLR shop at Murton Lane Station, which is of course the Old Wheldrake station building, pleasingly relocated to the new site; their copies are also signed by the authors which was a nice touch. I can't find any link to their shop on the website: http://www.dvlr.org.uk/ butthe book is published by Holne Publishing, not a name familiar to me, but their website shows copies are still available: http://www.holnepublishing.co.uk/page12.html

There are 3mm scale elevation coloured drawings of a typical Station Building as built, and of a Goods Shed, as well as track plans for all locations and a wealth of stock information so it is a very worthwhile purchase if the line is of interest.

 

Hope this helps.

Martyn.

 

Hi Martyn, 

 

Thanks that is really useful, I will try to get one online. I've been intending the visit the DVLR set up for a long time now but have not got around to it yet. I noticed they are running a special event in the summer so I am hoping to et down over that weekend. 

 

I do find the prototype so fascinating, particularly the fact that it survived for so long as an independent concern. There was such an interesting variety of traffic flows and goods and I love the photos of the Drewry shunters busying around with wagons. I am too young to remember it in person, but those scenes from the '70s are wonderful for this of us who are fans of more eclectic railways and rural byways! 

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1 hour ago, south_tyne said:

 

Hi Martyn, 

 

Thanks that is really useful, I will try to get one online. I've been intending the visit the DVLR set up for a long time now but have not got around to it yet. I noticed they are running a special event in the summer so I am hoping to et down over that weekend. 

 

I do find the prototype so fascinating, particularly the fact that it survived for so long as an independent concern. There was such an interesting variety of traffic flows and goods and I love the photos of the Drewry shunters busying around with wagons. I am too young to remember it in person, but those scenes from the '70s are wonderful for this of us who are fans of more eclectic railways and rural byways! 

The current set up is only a short run of about half a mile but the method of working is interesting and there is a good collection of small industrial locos to be seen running and also some in need of restoration (including at least one 04 and Churchill, the YGD loco, which I have already modelled based on a Dapol Pug chassis). The ex Wheldrake station building is superbly restored and the site as it is now would, I think, make a great micro layout subject in itself as it exudes atmosphere. Some phone photos from my visit last year:

IMG_20180805_150658_1.jpg.02e6ff2509e45eebbaa4f972f1336cff.jpgIMG_20180805_140946.jpg.633f380e9d7b814ca03fa2441d1b6437.jpgIMG_20180805_120132.jpg.2bd996a0314de9eb200c163f5f3c5d04.jpgIMG_20180805_121241.jpg.a3c7883f575b7d102ad4403de4ea9d51.jpgIMG_20180805_115213_1.jpg.e755762f67e65d4d6d5b64a352d5646f.jpg20190301_171359.jpg.0d9c808d1d854e4b5367deaf7b359d6e.jpg

 

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In the early 1980's my Dad & I built a OO gauge model of Dunnington and took it to quite a few exhibitions in the Bucks, Beds and Herts area. These are the only 2 photos I have left...

 

D1.JPG.afb641ac7d6c3802e5ee73876326a221.JPGD2.JPG.aa97564d16405f02153468a09a1a082a.JPG

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3 hours ago, Ruston said:

That's not bad at all for a Dapol Pug. Of course you can get a proper one now with the High Level kit.

Thanks Ruston, perhaps something to look into later if mine expires!

3 hours ago, 08221 said:

In the early 1980's my Dad & I built a OO gauge model of Dunnington and took it to quite a few exhibitions in the Bucks, Beds and Herts area. These are the only 2 photos I have left...

 

D1.JPG.afb641ac7d6c3802e5ee73876326a221.JPGD2.JPG.aa97564d16405f02153468a09a1a082a.JPG

Very interesting, I was guessing Dunnington must have been modelled before, thanks for sharing your photos.

Martyn.

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I managed to complete the re-sleepering of the first point this afternoon, just need to gap the copperclad sleepers and add some filler to hide same, and trim the sleeper ends to a more uniform appearance along with final tidying. "Half" sleepers are used either side of the vee to save a lot of cutting of plastic and possibly upsetting the alignment (hence the subterfuge mentioned earlier). Electrically it will be split into 3 conventional areas, ie left running rail & stock rail, right running rail & stock rail, and the switchable electrofrog Vee, hence the retained plastic sleeper for insulation (the bonded links under this were snipped away).

20190404_170414.jpg.d4a0b86801056dfe2bce24c7656cbccc.jpg

Any imperfections will be hidden by paint, ballast/dirt and weeds!

Next up is a long right hand point, for the same treatment.

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Good choice of Derwent Valley Light Railway.

 

I used it as the inspiration for my 'Coney Hill' in 7mm scale which I built in 2011-12 and there is a thread on here somewhere. The highlight was exhibiting it at the DVLR Centenary Gala in 2013 which was so much fun with the book being published, reminiscences from the Nelson family who grew up on the line, visiting  J72 loco & Ford railcar and much more. They are a very friendly line. Alphagraphix does a 7mm scale station building and might be persuaded to print it in 4mm scale, you could do a double-fronted station like Dunnington from 2 kits.

 

Link here to the DVLR Centenary Gala thread:

 

Dava

 

 

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1 hour ago, Dava said:

Good choice of Derwent Valley Light Railway.

 

I used it as the inspiration for my 'Coney Hill' in 7mm scale which I built in 2011-12 and there is a thread on here somewhere. The highlight was exhibiting it at the DVLR Centenary Gala in 2013 which was so much fun with the book being published, reminiscences from the Nelson family who grew up on the line, visiting  J72 loco & Ford railcar and much more. They are a very friendly line. Alphagraphix does a 7mm scale station building and might be persuaded to print it in 4mm scale, you could do a double-fronted station like Dunnington from 2 kits.

 

Link here to the DVLR Centenary Gala thread:

 

Dava

 

 

Thanks Dava, just been having a look through your Coney Hill layout thread, linked from the above thread; what a smashing layout! The station building looks superb and it was nice to see your model of the DVLR Sentinel loco too. How nice that you were able to display it at the DVLR Centenary.

 

Cheers,

Martyn.

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12 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

 

The current set up is only a short run of about half a mile but the method of working is interesting and there is a good collection of small industrial locos to be seen running and also some in need of restoration (including at least one 04 and Churchill, the YGD loco, which I have already modelled based on a Dapol Pug chassis). The ex Wheldrake station building is superbly restored and the site as it is now would, I think, make a great micro layout subject in itself as it exudes atmosphere. Some phone photos from my visit last year:

IMG_20180805_150658_1.jpg.02e6ff2509e45eebbaa4f972f1336cff.jpgIMG_20180805_140946.jpg.633f380e9d7b814ca03fa2441d1b6437.jpgIMG_20180805_120132.jpg.2bd996a0314de9eb200c163f5f3c5d04.jpgIMG_20180805_121241.jpg.a3c7883f575b7d102ad4403de4ea9d51.jpgIMG_20180805_115213_1.jpg.e755762f67e65d4d6d5b64a352d5646f.jpg20190301_171359.jpg.0d9c808d1d854e4b5367deaf7b359d6e.jpg

 

 

Thanks again Martyn, some wonderful photos there, very inspirational. Ticks all the boxes for me with the class 04, Ruston diesel and the Fowler! 

 

I model in 0 gauge and have been very tempted to have a go at a micro layout based upon a scene in the DVR. 

 

I am hoping to get down for the event in the summer.

 

 

Thanks again,

David 

 

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10 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

I managed to complete the re-sleepering of the first point this afternoon, just need to gap the copperclad sleepers and add some filler to hide same, and trim the sleeper ends to a more uniform appearance along with final tidying. "Half" sleepers are used either side of the vee to save a lot of cutting of plastic and possibly upsetting the alignment (hence the subterfuge mentioned earlier). Electrically it will be split into 3 conventional areas, ie left running rail & stock rail, right running rail & stock rail, and the switchable electrofrog Vee, hence the retained plastic sleeper for insulation (the bonded links under this were snipped away).

20190404_170414.jpg.d4a0b86801056dfe2bce24c7656cbccc.jpg

Any imperfections will be hidden by paint, ballast/dirt and weeds!

Next up is a long right hand point, for the same treatment.

I like that idea and may have to try it sometime as it doesn't appear that we're going to get the smallest size of Peco points in bullhead. One thing I have done on my points after snipping the wires underneath is to solder a wire to the folded parts of the moving point that form the hinge. That way you're not relying on the friction of either end of the point for conductivity.

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4 hours ago, Ruston said:

I like that idea and may have to try it sometime as it doesn't appear that we're going to get the smallest size of Peco points in bullhead. One thing I have done on my points after snipping the wires underneath is to solder a wire to the folded parts of the moving point that form the hinge. That way you're not relying on the friction of either end of the point for conductivity.

I might give that a try, as it does seem the weakest link with a very small contact area. I did think of removing the whole hinge and replace with fishplates but it means dismantling the weakest (ie moving) parts and some fairly precise trimming for no real gain as it still relies on a tight friction fit.

 

Thanks.

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25 minutes ago, Ruston said:

 

Thanks for the link, I have been following Calder Vale periodically, it really is superb and your loco building skills are first class - I've just caught up to date, how did you get on with making switches to fit to the SEEP solenoids? I use the same ones and have not had any issues with the polarity switch, except some older ones years ago where the small spring was steel and failed due to corrosion; I think modern ones use phosphor bronze (or similar) springs, and get a squirt of WD40 now and again which has kept them working so far.

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Looking forward to this. had a trip down the line and back behind Joem in 1979 on our honeymoon (I know how to show a girl a good time). I have a copy of the Stockwell & Drummond book, an excellent source of info. 4mm plans for one of the stations were in the MRN on a fold out in the early 60's, can't remember the exact copy, someone out there will know!

Cheers

 

Ian B

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2 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

 how did you get on with making switches to fit to the SEEP solenoids? 

I didn't.  In the end I used only two solenoids and the other points are all operated using mandraulic/digital power. The two that are solenoid-operated just use the built-in switches.

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2 hours ago, Ian Blenk said:

Looking forward to this. had a trip down the line and back behind Joem in 1979 on our honeymoon (I know how to show a girl a good time). I have a copy of the Stockwell & Drummond book, an excellent source of info. 4mm plans for one of the stations were in the MRN on a fold out in the early 60's, can't remember the exact copy, someone out there will know!

Cheers

 

Ian B

Thanks Ian, great memories then! I will be modelling the station building as it was in the early 70s with the various extensive modifications and the extension/lean-to on the platform side (which itself changed a couple of times before being completely removed in the later 70s) and have done a few guesstimate sketches worked out from the approx 3mm plan in the book, which gives a building around 12" long in total in 4mm scale - this seems in proportion to the platform length (itself a little less than the scale 200' prior to shortening back). But if anyone knows the actual building length in said form that would be very useful! The top 2 images on this page show the condition I am going for:

http://www.geoffspages.co.uk/specials/dvlr.htm

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On 05/04/2019 at 22:27, Signaller69 said:

The top 2 images on this page show the condition I am going for:

http://www.geoffspages.co.uk/specials/dvlr.htm

 

Some cracking photos there, so thanks for sharing! Love the shots of the Drewry in particular. Looking back, it's such a shame that more of the line did not manage to survive through a more comprehensive preservation scheme, particularly with it hanging on so late as an independent concern. 

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On 05/04/2019 at 22:27, Signaller69 said:

Thanks Ian, great memories then! I will be modelling the station building as it was in the early 70s with the various extensive modifications and the extension/lean-to on the platform side (which itself changed a couple of times before being completely removed in the later 70s) and have done a few guesstimate sketches worked out from the approx 3mm plan in the book, which gives a building around 12" long in total in 4mm scale - this seems in proportion to the platform length (itself a little less than the scale 200' prior to shortening back). But if anyone knows the actual building length in said form that would be very useful! The top 2 images on this page show the condition I am going for:

http://www.geoffspages.co.uk/specials/dvlr.htm

MRN May 1961, there's one on ebay £6.99

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43 minutes ago, Ian Blenk said:

MRN May 1961, there's one on ebay £6.99

Thanks for that Ian, very handy to know which issue so will have a look, although it is quite possible we have a copy in our library (Rhyl & District MRC).

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10 hours ago, south_tyne said:

 

Some cracking photos there, so thanks for sharing! Love the shots of the Drewry in particular. Looking back, it's such a shame that more of the line did not manage to survive through a more comprehensive preservation scheme, particularly with it hanging on so late as an independent concern. 

Agreed. The photos show the platform had been cut back and the small store removed by Dec 1973 which is earlier than I thought (hard to tell but they appear to have been still in situ in 1972 photos in the book), and appear to show the short siding and sugarbeet loading bank had gone by the time the steam service was running (1977-79), which is mentioned in the book. The station building itself changed in substantial detail at least 3 times between 1960s and 1980. As the short siding and loading bank are features I ideally wish to include (but not yet 100% sure), along with the grain plant, I suspect it will date the layout to around 1965-72 condition (in 1965 the station buildings were also painted in a more attractive green and white scheme), although I have every intention of running both slightly earlier and later rolling stock (possibly including an alternative up to date preservation "might have been" scenario) as there is so much variety to choose from.

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The first point has had the sleepers trimmed and insulation gaps cut, followed by filling them in again with a little Milliput, simply for the reason I don't like to see the cuts in finished points. Where the rail ends will butt onto new Peco Bullhead track, the lower web has been filed back to allow Bullhead fishplates to join the two together (hopefully).

20190407_165821.jpg.098f715a27915c43644f84234280b7e3.jpg20190407_170020.jpg.01b9e2c88e54865238ecf40274f69727.jpg

In the second photo the Nickel Silver strip I used to space the sleepers from the rail can be seen to the right of the Peco spring mechanism. In hindsight I should have treated all the sleepers under the blades to these "slides" to support the hinge end; I could retro-fit them but it may be tricky so I might add some black plasticard ones instead.

 

Martyn.

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20 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

Agreed. The photos show the platform had been cut back and the small store removed by Dec 1973 which is earlier than I thought (hard to tell but they appear to have been still in situ in 1972 photos in the book), and appear to show the short siding and sugarbeet loading bank had gone by the time the steam service was running (1977-79), which is mentioned in the book. The station building itself changed in substantial detail at least 3 times between 1960s and 1980. As the short siding and loading bank are features I ideally wish to include (but not yet 100% sure), along with the grain plant, I suspect it will date the layout to around 1965-72 condition (in 1965 the station buildings were also painted in a more attractive green and white scheme), although I have every intention of running both slightly earlier and later rolling stock (possibly including an alternative up to date preservation "might have been" scenario) as there is so much variety to choose from.

 

That's really interesting. Do you know when the sugarbeet traffic ran until? Did it last into the '70s? I know it was very seasonable in nature, with incredibly intensive operation for very short spells during the year.

 

I have always been very interested in the Wissington railway in Norfolk too and have always found sugarbeet to be a fascinating  traffic flow. I know when the season was in full swing there, they used to scramble wagons from far and wife to handle the intensive requirements, with there being some wonderful photos of an eclectic mix of wagons, 16t minerals, wooden bodies opens and other hoppers, all trailing behind an industrial loco... right up my street It's one which you very rarely see modelled too, although geography plays a part in that too. 

 

Anyway, sorry for waffling and digressing. I'll let you get back to important matters rather than my rambling! Keep the updates coming. 

 

David

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