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North East Colliery prototype photos & plans


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Hi All

 

First post, so be kind to me :)  I'm getting back into railway modelling after a gap of nearly 40 years.  Although I've got quite a big space in mind, I'm going to start off small and try my hand at a micro-layout based on a North East colliery.  So, I'm looking for photos and plans of any of the smaller collieries.  I'm particularly interested in the South East corner of Northumberland - as it was then - maybe Backworth, Holywell, Delaval area.  I'm not looking to recreate an individual colliery necessarily, just to get a sense of the layouts, buildings, and track plans, and to give me something that'll be fun to research, build, and operate while thinking about the much bigger layout.  The side-by-side mapping stuff is ideal for potential track plans.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Richard

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1 hour ago, Fat Controller said:

Have a look around Paul Bartlett's site:- https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/industrialinternalwagons has groups of photos taken at many sites around the NE,

Ernie Brack's site also has a lot of stuff:- https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/albums

Thanks, Brian.  Those fellahs sure like their rolling stock!

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7 hours ago, Gordon A said:

National Library of Scotland has the large scale OS maps of the UK available on line.

 

Gordon A

 

I spend hours on the NLS site, here's Backworth

 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=55.0418&lon=-1.5256&layers=193&b=1

 

on the 1:10000 for post war, and 

 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=55.0418&lon=-1.5256&layers=168&b=1

 

on the 1:2500 1897 map.

 

I also recommend the Industrial Railway Locomotive Shed books and joining the IRS:

 

https://irsshop.co.uk/sheds

 

Good luck with the project, I have similar plans/ideas!

 

all the best,

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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There was a book produced, Backworth, An illustrated history of the mines and railways by Chilton Iron Works which has everything you need. Superb volume, loads of maps, plans and photographs. My grandad and a couple of my uncles worked at Eccles pit, and my dad was born at the terrace of houses at C pit.

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On 27/05/2019 at 23:44, Gordon A said:

National Library of Scotland has the large scale OS maps of the UK available on line.

 

Gordon A

 

Perhaps of secondary interest they also show old maps alongside current day satellite views.  

Be careful it can be addictive.

 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=15.7037643169945&lat=55.0423&lon=-1.5281&layers=10&right=BingHyb

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1 hour ago, br2975 said:

Seconded !

.

excellent album, especially for those interested in the NCB in the North East.

.

don't bother asking......mine is not for sale.

 

Mine neither! :derisive: It's full of cracking shots across the North East in the late '60s and early '70s. Fantastic book. 

 

On 28/05/2019 at 11:50, 5050 said:

The latest Gordon Edgar book is on the Industrial Railways of the North East.  Plenty of atmospheric colliery shots in it.

 

Has anyone acquired a copy of this yet and, if so, is it recommended? It is just that I've been a little disappointed by the quality of some Amberley publications in the past, but hoping this is a good one. I must admit I haven't seen any of the other volumes in the series.

 

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22 minutes ago, south_tyne said:

 

Mine neither! :derisive: It's full of cracking shots across the North East in the late '60s and early '70s. Fantastic book. 

 

 

Has anyone acquired a copy of this yet and, if so, is it recommended? It is just that I've been a little disappointed by the quality of some Amberley publications in the past, but hoping this is a good one. I must admit I haven't seen any of the other volumes in the series.

 

 

My copy of Edgar's 'Industrial Locomotives and Railways in the North East', the latest in the series, arrived on Saturday.

 

Like the others it's a quality product, image resolution on the whole is excellent, just a couple are more grainy, but many many delightful shots of industrial railways (not just locos) at work in the NE mainly in the 1960s and 1970s, good range of industries covered too.

 

I'd definitely recommend it!

 

all the best,

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

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8 minutes ago, tractionman said:

 

My copy of Edgar's 'Industrial Locomotives and Railways in the North East', the latest in the series, arrived on Saturday.

 

Like the others it's a quality product, image resolution on the whole is excellent, just a couple are more grainy, but many many delightful shots of industrial railways (not just locos) at work in the NE mainly in the 1960s and 1970s, good range of industries covered too.

 

I'd definitely recommend it!

 

all the best,

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Keith, that endorsement is really useful. It fits perfectly with the timeframe I am interested in and I'm pleased that it covers a range of different operations, not just the NCB, as this gives a bit more variety. I think I might treat myself to a copy when I can afford it!

 

Cheers,

David 

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The May and current June editions of Bylines have a 2 part article on Seaton Delaval Colliery Steam under the title of Not Such a 'Terrible Place' which includes some very good photos of some of the motive power and a brief history of the line.

 

Regards,

Ian.

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On 03/06/2019 at 09:16, south_tyne said:

 

Has anyone acquired a copy of this yet and, if so, is it recommended? It is just that I've been a little disappointed by the quality of some Amberley publications in the past, but hoping this is a good one. I must admit I haven't seen any of the other volumes in the series.

 

Just come home from a week's holiday, so thanks to all for your replies.  Gordon Edgar's book was waiting for me and it is good.  A lot of history in the text accompanying each photo, with great photographs, probably as many in colour as b&w.

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On 28/05/2019 at 10:34, smiths park said:

There was a book produced, Backworth, An illustrated history of the mines and railways by Chilton Iron Works which has everything you need. Superb volume, loads of maps, plans and photographs. My grandad and a couple of my uncles worked at Eccles pit, and my dad was born at the terrace of houses at C pit.

 

Thoroughly recommend this one, but if you're looking for it Chilton Iron Works is the name of the publisher, with the authors credited as John Elliot and Derek Charlton. Publication date is given as 1994, but I bought my [new] copy at Railex NE last year, so I don't know whether its been reprinted or whether a hidden stash was discovered. Either way its absolutely essential - large format too.

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18 hours ago, Caledonian said:

 

Thoroughly recommend this one, but if you're looking for it Chilton Iron Works is the name of the publisher, with the authors credited as John Elliot and Derek Charlton. Publication date is given as 1994, but I bought my [new] copy at Railex NE last year, so I don't know whether its been reprinted or whether a hidden stash was discovered. Either way its absolutely essential - large format too.

Found it online - thanks for the pointer.  (£35+ on Amazon, half that elsewhere!)

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On 10/06/2019 at 11:05, Geordie Exile said:

Just come home from a week's holiday, so thanks to all for your replies.  Gordon Edgar's book was waiting for me and it is good.  A lot of history in the text accompanying each photo, with great photographs, probably as many in colour as b&w.

 

Thanks for another endorsement Mr Exile! I'll order a copy as soon as I'm able to......

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Back in the day I was a draughtsman with the OS; for accurate layouts stick with the 1:2500 for rural areas and 1:1250 for urban areas. These are plans produced at the time in limited numbers. The 1:10000 (or the old 6 inch equivalent) move things according to a set of rules; eg roads that are named have to be a minimum width to fit the name in, a building less than a certain distance from a road will be shown touching it and so on. I did write a few things about it elsewhere here (under real life locations, I think it was), feel free to ask anything and I’ll attempt to drag it out of my memory!

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