Rice's Deep Navigation Colliery?

[tomparryharry]

1 hour ago, doilum said:

Most of our local pits covered at least a quarter of a square mile. A more compact example would be Clayton West about ten miles south of Wakefield and now home to the Kirklees light railway. The colliery was featured in one of the modelling magazines as a manageable prototype. 

If you fancy some pre grouping modelling, it is much easier to find examples of small collieries working on a two or three road screen, and where gradients restricted trains to a dozen wagons.

 

 

 

Yes, quite right. Some smaller collieries didn't have screens, so the entire worked coal came up, to be washed & sorted in another and mostly local colliery. The Mountain Ash collieries had their own industrial complex to wash,sort, and blend coal. 

[Ralf]

On 29/07/2019 at 08:18, Michael Edge said:

I think you would need a minimum of three sidings for the exchange, remember one would usually be occupied by fulls and you have to get the brake van off before shunting anything into the pit.

 

On 28/07/2019 at 17:16, Gordon A said:

Try shunting your plan in your mind or with pieces of paper / card.

<SNIP>

How are you going to deal with guards van, removing it off the back of the empty train and putting it on the back of the loaded train? 

 

 

 

It strikes me that actually I could remove the BR line and 'simply' have the line to the exchange sidings without the LH rear exit which would save a fiddle yard / stick, brake van issues and those cumbersome BR locos... Then move the engine shed to the back left corner and provide two roads of accommodation, which means it's further justification to have locos sitting around to admire! 

 

Regarding shunting through the washery I plan to shove them through by hand or possibly hidden locomotive - either way it'll be an attempt at modelling gravity / rope / capston movement. Somehow my imagination doesn't allow gravity to be used through the washery, how were wagons stopped reasonably precisely - although I suppose you're only moving a wagon length at a time... 

 

I shall try playing around with bits of card as Gordon suggests and see how I get on.

 

 

On 29/07/2019 at 09:36, doilum said:

If you fancy some pre grouping modelling, it is much easier to find examples of small collieries working on a two or three road screen, and where gradients restricted trains to a dozen wagons.

 

I don't think I do, was firmly planning on mixed Steam & Diesel NCB - BUT I'm open to being tempted if you've any stunningly suitable prototypes please do share them here or by PM... OR I could create something suitable for pre-grouping prototypical operation and then I can always run NCB era stock - after all Rule 1* will apply...  (* it's my train set etc etc)

 

Many thanks for all the input folks...

 

Ralf

Edited July 30, 2019 by Ralf
Edited to include update thoughts on plan 

[hayfield]

On 27/07/2019 at 16:10, Regularity said:

It’s an Iain Rice plan. At best, it will have a degree of “artistic interpretation”, at worst it will be composed of equal admixtures of implausibility and wild optimism.

 

On 27/07/2019 at 16:13, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I find that a fairly extraordinary comment. Iain Rice's designs have been used by many modellers with great success.

 

There are other well-known creators of layout plans who would indeed deserve your remark but I don't think that IR is one of them.

 

I have transposed two of Iain's plans on to templot, they are on the artistic side so do not match up exactly when superimposing turnouts and crossings over them, on the other hand with a little tweaking they can be made to work and do look far better than using standard RTR track. 

[Michael Edge]

If your plan ends up with fairly sharp radius curves (less than about 36") use the short model switches in Templot - don't use REA switches. 

[doilum]

Many of the smaller collieries could only accommodate four coupled locos.

[Michael Edge]

Plenty of six coupled locos had flangeless tyres on the centre wheels.