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Dunnington, Derwent Valley Light Railway.


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3 hours ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Martyn,

 

Are you aware of this mapping website that has various scales of maps ? I found Dunnington on the scale I usually use but discovered that the railway hadn't yet been built, it is on the one I have linked though the scale is not as clear.

 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17&lat=53.9562&lon=-0.9726&layers=193&right=BingHyb

 

It may be useful for the positioning of buildings.

 

This is the scale I usually use, this link shews Preston, Lancashire along with a lot more railway track than it has now !

 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=15&lat=53.7525&lon=-2.7072&layers=168&right=BingHyb

 

Gibbo.

 

Thanks Gibbo, yes I often use the NLS site for research, the side by side and overlay mapping is a very useful tool. There are also detailed plans of Dunnington in the Stockwell book on the line.

 

As the layout is essentially a micro, some alteration of building relationships is unavoidable, particularly as further information has come to light as I have been progressing, but I hope to retain the look and feel of the real location.

 

Cheers,

Martyn.

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An interesting project, and a local one to me. 

 

On the diesel shunters, DVLR hired off BR such shunters before purchasing a pair. However, recently a photo of an BR green 08 on hire to DVLR appeared shunting at Layerthorpe station, which surprised me.

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8 hours ago, richierich said:

An interesting project, and a local one to me. 

 

On the diesel shunters, DVLR hired off BR such shunters before purchasing a pair. However, recently a photo of an BR green 08 on hire to DVLR appeared shunting at Layerthorpe station, which surprised me.

Thanks, yes I believe on the odd occasion when the 2 DVLR locos had both failed, a BR loco was hired in on an ad-hoc basis. Do you have a link to the photo?

 

The DVLR tried loco ownership in the 20s after trials of the first (iirc) Sentinel VBT loco - a development the LNER apparently watched with interest - and pair of 4w Railbuses which were later sold for use in Ireland, plus a small "Railtruck" - basically a small pickup truck built for rail use, and as much use as a chocolate fire guard. The Sentinel by all accounts was found insufficient for the traffic and the railway went back to hiring locos from the LNER but using their own loco crews. This continued into dieselisation when York class 03s were used; when the DVLR decided to buy their own locos again c.1969, the Class 04s were being phased out by BR so the Company were able to buy 2 cheaply, plus a third for spares it seems, without having to retrain their drivers (ever a thrifty Company!). The Company also purchased J72 "Joem" for use on Layerthorpe to Dunnington Passenger Steam Specials in the late 70s, but these did not generate a profit and the loco was sold back to the previous owner.

 

Layerthorpe did see quite a good variety of traction over the years, in addition to the regular types (such as N12, J21, Ivatt 2-6-0 etc), including at least one ex WD 2-8-0 on an Engineers train, class 20 diesels etc, though in the main they didn't go beyond Layerthorpe. After the grain service finished, the Line was truncated and the locos sold off, but the Company still made money through rents and access charges at Layerthorpe yard and land sales. In these final few years BR locos (mainly 08s it seems) worked the yard as part of the trip working from York, presumably with BR crews. At the end, seasonal storage of oil tank wagons was the only traffic left.

 

One of the ironies of the DVLR remaining a Light Railway until the end, thriving in WW2, surviving the Grouping AND Nationalisation, is that it otherwise would have closed much sooner had it not done so, a tribute to the proactive Management of the Company.

Edited by Signaller69
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The card platform subsurface has now been fitted (a further thin layer will go on top), along with a new piece of access road surface, which just needs a little plaster to cover a couple of small gaps. I took the end backscene board off to do this so took a couple of photos which aren't usually available from this viewpoint.

20190816_091235.jpg.a425b114711f8e2dcde93c5e1cc338eb.jpg20190816_091312.jpg.603461c6a7d26d9178ec21f4aa562c8d.jpg20190816_091256.jpg.2175066225ec558cb1ab998c92cf7365.jpg

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On 12/08/2019 at 23:20, richierich said:

An interesting project, and a local one to me. 

 

On the diesel shunters, DVLR hired off BR such shunters before purchasing a pair. However, recently a photo of an BR green 08 on hire to DVLR appeared shunting at Layerthorpe station, which surprised me.

 

The 08 was probably at Layerthorpe collecting wagons to add to the train from Foss Islands-there also also photos of a Class 20 passing the DVLR locomotive shed and of one of the DVLR 04s on the BR line collecting a rake of wagons. After the closure of the line, the oil depot was still served by rail, with the stand pipes relocated to former "main line". which had become a single line siding of the Foss Islands branch. This siding was worked by an 08.

Use of tender locomotives was banned in 1914 after an accident at Layerthorpe with a loco running tender-first. an NER B1 (LNER Class N8) was trailed for 6 months, followed by a Class O (G5) . in 1928 a BTP (G6) was in use. In the 30s the ex H.B.R. N12 predominated, but N9s, an F8 and J21 were also noted, followed by a J24 until the early 1950s J25s then dominated until 1960. 2MT 2-6-0s substituted latterly when J25s were in short supply. A 3F "Jinty" was used c.1960 Class 04 diesels then replaced steam, followed by class 03s.

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Following a coat of Matt varnish, No.2 has had its glazing refitted temporarily until I can get hold of some Laserglaze.

20190821_234757.jpg.65c4ebdc17b84241ccb54ffa73c77808.jpg20190821_235136.jpg.8d8491490a9c7b04dfd16196e39a7560.jpg

 

There was a fairly recent quite basic sawmill (more a ramshackle open barn with a saw table fitted, and care worn plastic sheet for some weather protection hanging from further wooden battens) further along the loop, but the backscene prevents its inclusion in the correct location; however I am going to transpose it to the other side of the line to act as a partial view blocker at the entrance to the sector plate. So far the corner brick pillars, which supported wooden beams, have been produced using square wood section wrapped with ID Backscenes self adhesive brick paper.

20190822_130426.jpg.a3d545b952265e38d33215f9f5b3fa0b.jpg

 

These supported wooden cross beams with metal (I think) roof trusses atop and a corrugated tin roof. 

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Hi Martyn,

 

I quite like the grey livery used on your shunters, it would seem that most liveries are variations of black, green or blue with some diesels getting yellow. I'm part way through building a made up shunter form an extended Triang Dock shunter on an 0-6-0 chassis and was thinking of what colour instead of the usual black, green, blue or yellow, Grey is an option I may consider.

 

Gibbo.

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6 minutes ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Martyn,

 

I quite like the grey livery used on your shunters, it would seem that most liveries are variations of black, green or blue with some diesels getting yellow. I'm part way through building a made up shunter form an extended Triang Dock shunter on an 0-6-0 chassis and was thinking of what colour instead of the usual black, green, blue or yellow, Grey is an option I may consider.

 

Gibbo.

 

I find it quite an attractive colour. I chose the lightest grey I could find among the general auto aerosol sprays at a local car accessory shop (Holts HGREY01 for my own future reference!). Masking the wasp stripes was the most irritating job!

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After a few weeks away from the layout, work has restarted and the track has today been ballasted.20190925_154332.jpg.d4116acfb81c2f6342fa37b5205ca354.jpg20190925_154314.jpg.1a08d18d9232e937ddaee43952069eba.jpg

 

Ballast is from the "Green Scene" range, applied in the time honoured manner of brushing it into place, misting with IPA to reduce surface tension and applying diluted PVA using a syringe.

 

In terms of basic ground cover, this just leaves the grassy embankment to do (to the left in the first photo), before applying weeds, static grass etc.

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9 hours ago, Alister_G said:

Looks good Martyn, you always do nice ballasting.

 

Al.

Thanks Al, kind of you to say so. :yes:

I need to add some patches of smooth "ashes walked on for years by train crew" in places, probably using the Chris Nevard technique which I've not tried before, so it may yet go wrong.....:aggressive_mini:

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Looks great.  If I have one criticism; your trackwork is in a much better state than the prototype.  I will try and dig out my old photos of the 'greenway' that was the DVLR in the late 70s / early 80s.  Rotten sleepers, wobbly rails, ancient wooden keys and railheads covered in crushed foliage.  I don't remember ballast lol. 

 

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4 hours ago, coronach said:

Looks great.  If I have one criticism; your trackwork is in a much better state than the prototype.  I will try and dig out my old photos of the 'greenway' that was the DVLR in the late 70s / early 80s.  Rotten sleepers, wobbly rails, ancient wooden keys and railheads covered in crushed foliage.  I don't remember ballast lol. 

 

 

Thanks, I agree, as seen above it was too tidy. However the ballast is just the key to further treatments, this is the current state of play, with DAS clay to give a more smoothed, heavily walked on worn ash/dirt/mud effect, will need a blast with paint of course......

20190930_131208.jpg.b00e5d99cf66eb30762ae30ccd2484d3.jpg

This is my first go at this technique, so I'm hoping it turns out ok. Much weed growth will follow after painting too.

Edited by Signaller69
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On ‎04‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 10:07, 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

 

Bob Pearman books were at the Bury show at the weekend and they had a copy. Might be worth a call...

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Looking much better after some weathering. But not having any suitable sleeper grime aerosol, the clay areas had some Humbrol 98 brown brushed over, then Chris Nevard's approach of using car aerosols was used, with passes of matt black, undercoat red and undercoat grey to blend everything together.

20191001_153202.jpg.3975fc203c1825b9b0ae609585acef04.jpg

More greenery next!

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17 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

The slight bank at the front of the layout has had its basic grassy ground cover applied, along with touch ups elsewhere; this will be overlaid with static grass later.

20191001_170647.jpg.81d5976f196ccebddf385fe18ad0168c.jpg

The green isn't quite as lurid as it appears!

Hi Martyn,

 

That platform looks a raised bed gone wrong, also the track work looks as though there may be quite a few rotten sleepers hiding in the gunge that used to be ballast.

 

Gibbo.

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3 minutes ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Martyn,

 

That platform looks a raised bed gone wrong, also the track work looks as though there may be quite a few rotten sleepers hiding in the gunge that used to be ballast.

 

Gibbo.

The platform in the photos above is the one used for sugar beet loading which ended up a muddy, weedy affair. The DVLR did maintain the track sometimes and photos from a not very great time span show anything from areas of fresh ballast to not being able to see the track for the weeds, back to very few weeds a short time later! But the mostly weedy appearance is what I am aiming for overall.

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Whilst my car was being serviced in Warrington I borrowed a courtesy car to pop over to Hattons in Widnes and came away with the new Hornby Ruston & Hornsby 48DS. It is surprisingly heavy for its (lack of) size due to the cast metal body.

20191003_141841.jpg.6b605dcc33a6e6ae22d004d9d91f833f.jpg20191003_141815.jpg.ce8938a8b5c664a44dbd468453fa3f12.jpg

Whilst the original DVLR didn't feature a 48DS, ironically the livery is very close to how they probably would have painted one, if they did; their Fowler "Claude Thompson", and later the class 04 No.1 were both painted lined apple green.

However, Modellers licence in hand, this loco is assumed to have been purchased by Yorkshire Grain Dryers to shunt their siding if the Fowler "Churchill" is out of commission....

The current DVLR set up at Murton Park does have a 48ds under renovation however:

20191003_144315.jpg.5f75b516e3d2ba90ced4671b97913a6b.jpg

I think this one is "Jim", works no. 417892 of 1959, but I'm not sure. A couple of larger versions are also based there, the bonnet of one is seen here. The black cab of "Churchill" is also visible.

 

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Several photos around 1970 and later show various access (scaffolding type) towers around the Grain plant and Highlight Engineering, probably for use in the grain industry. 

 

I picked up an incomplete Preiser Scaffolding set for a couple of quid a while back with this in mind and knocked these up:

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The shelf unit on the left was made of left overs and will go in the Highlight shed at the front of the layout. The other 3 will stand awaiting their next use in suitable locations, once details are fitted.

The pile of sleepers is a Harburn Hamlet casting, which needs painting to make it look more "wood like" .

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Whilst in the mood to do a fiddly job, the unusual and somewhat basic DVLR style, single lever "ground frame" for the points has been assembled from scraps of plasticard, plus the lever and Annetts key (cut down Signal tensioner) from a Springside Signal Box interior kit.

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The cut down Sleeper base and Wills point rodding (which should be round rather than square section, but I can live with it, given the size!) are set to match the height of the rodding already in situ. The crank for the "Main Line" point can also be seen. I based this on an excellent photo of the one at Elvington, a little further down the line: https://hmrs.org.uk/photographs/elvington-ground-frame-dvlr-1954-shows-mounting-and-rodding.html

 

It will be located by the Highlight Engineering shed when fitted into place.

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