Fenwick Pit: a North East Colliery in 2mm

[Ian Morgan]

A tip: a glass fibre brush is very good for removing errant solder from an etched nickel-silver kit before painting.

 

I hate using it as I usually end up with bits in my fingers for days. I have found that working on a paper kitchen towel will catch most of the glass fibre bits, and it  can also be used to wipe the model after brushing, removing more bits of glass fibre. I now end up with less embedded in my fingers.

 

[Geordie Exile]

23 minutes ago, Ian Morgan said:

A tip: a glass fibre brush is very good for removing errant solder from an etched nickel-silver kit before painting.

 

I hate using it as I usually end up with bits in my fingers for days. I have found that working on a paper kitchen towel will catch most of the glass fibre bits, and it  can also be used to wipe the model after brushing, removing more bits of glass fibre. I now end up with less embedded in my fingers.

 

Thanks Ian.  I did this with the 21T hopper to good effect, but simply forgot with the Toad.  (Forgot?  Perhaps my subconscious was reminding me about all the bits that ended up in my fingers the last time I used it!)  I'm also seriously considering an ultrasonic cleaner as I'm not great at removing extra flux etc in between sessions, and I've a lot more wagons to do before the rake becomes a fleet.

[Geordie Exile]

Stumbled across this today (I love the internet!).  BEhind the metal hoppers is the chimney from the weighbridge building.  The winding house lurks in the mist far left.

 

As I'm currently working on the track plan, it's fascinating to see that one of the roads has been lifted.  I imagine that's how my first PCB sleeper attempt will look anyway, so now I've a prototype for it!  I do wonder if it's worth showing sleepers at all, given just how much crud there is between the tracks.

 

[Revolution Ben]

On 15/10/2020 at 15:03, Geordie Exile said:

So, depending on which side you look at it, wagon no 1897 is also wagon no 1096. As only Marty Feldman can see both sides at once, I've decided to live with it. He may also spot that I put one side of the same wagon on upside down, so it's proudly sporting a sole bar at the top. Let's keep that between ourselves. 

 

Hi there,

 

The wagons look great.  Lots of my wagons are different on each side intentionally.  For example I have a set of NGS kit built autoballasters that have Railtrack on one side and the blanked off blue panel on the other and a rake of RMC hoppers that are 1990s style fully branded on one side and 2000s style blacked off branding on the other.

 

I feel that it kind of gives two rakes for the price of one!

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Caley Jim]

1 hour ago, Geordie Exile said:

As I'm currently working on the track plan, it's fascinating to see that one of the roads has been lifted.  I imagine that's how my first PCB sleeper attempt will look anyway, so now I've a prototype for it!  I do wonder if it's worth showing sleepers at all, given just how much crud there is between the tracks.

Looks like all you need is sleepers at some of the turnouts and a few sleeper ends showing here and there.  Also a use for all those bits of rail you have cut a wee bit too short or distorted when you had to rip them out 'cause you made a mess of it!   (BT,DT,GTTS)*

 

JIm

 

*  Been There, etc. etc.

[Geordie Exile]

40 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

... a use for all those bits of rail you have cut a wee bit too short or distorted when you had to rip them out 'cause you made a mess of it!

Have you been watching?  Note to self: unplug the webcam after the FCAG Zoom call

[Caley Jim]

4 hours ago, Geordie Exile said:

Have you been watching?  

No, Just personal experience!

 

Jim

[Geordie Exile]

That's my first Easitrac turnout done. I guess 'Awkwardlifiddlitrac' didn't tick the marketing boxes.  And while hair-tearing and sweary-word-uttering featured throughout, it's clear that a great deal of thought has gone into the design of the kits, and I'm pleased with the result. I can't say I'm looking forward to trying my hand at PCB sleepers, but I won't know until I give it a go.

 

And am I missing something? I've added droppers where I think appropriate: the milled crossing, both rails at the toe, both inside rails at the heel, and both switch blades, giving a total of 7. As the Easitrac chairs probably have a lower melting point than solder, I've done this during the various stages of construction, which meant the milled base was mounted on a 1mm plasticard sheet, which then had to be mounted on a short length of 4x2 with holes drilled to allow the droppers to dangle.  How do other folk deal with this additional challenge?

[Geordie Exile]

And I think I said recently that I pride myself in keeping a tidy workbench. Ahem.

[Geordie Exile]

Ok, I'm much happier with my 2nd attempt at an Easitrac turnout kit. Rather than droppers dangling from the switch rails, I've attached them to their respective stock rails via a brass half-sleeper and a dot of solder. A full brass sleeper is at the toe, duly cut and Milliput-ed back together. I've put a slim shim of plasticard under the milled crossing as there was a slight height difference between it and the rails. And I've had to produce a replacement tie bar as I managed to mangle the one in the kit, and this one slides much more smoothly. 

 

My thanks to @Caley Jim and other members of the Forth & Clyde AG for their (surprisingly) gentle and (unsurprisingly) encouraging critique of my botched first attempt. I've filed significantly more off the blades than in the earlier version, which has made all the difference in how snugly they sit against the stock rails. 

 

Do I now attempt a PCB sleeper version yet? I dunno. There's another building which forms part of the colliery and which dominates every photo, so I think I'll turn to that next, and come back to track in the new year.

Edited December 18, 2020 by Geordie Exile
Typos.

[Geordie Exile]

From zoomed in on a piece of model track, to zoomed all the way out: the real Fenwick Pit on a snowy March morning, exactly 50 years ago.  And there's that building I mentioned.  I think of it as the "coal processing plant" as in spite of much conversation with several folk who knew the pit, there's no real consensus on what it actually is.  (No, it's not a second, more modern heapstead - like most of the other buildings it sits on 'stilts' and has tracks running under it.)

(source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/105225401@N02/11205463956/in/album-72157638347641634/)

 

Pretty, ain't it?

 

Richard

 

[MinerChris]

On 18/12/2020 at 20:59, Geordie Exile said:

 And there's that building I mentioned. 

 

Hi Richard,

 

I'm not sure exactly which building that you mean, the tall concrete frame with brick/window infill building? It looks pretty empty in this view https://www.aditnow.co.uk/Photo/Historic-Photographs-Of-Fenwick_103247/ 

 

Best Regards,

 

Chris

[Geordie Exile]

2 hours ago, MinerChris said:

Hi Richard,

 

I'm not sure exactly which building that you mean, the tall concrete frame with brick/window infill building? It looks pretty empty in this view https://www.aditnow.co.uk/Photo/Historic-Photographs-Of-Fenwick_103247/ 

 

Best Regards,

 

Chris

That's the one, Chris.  Looks like an office block at first glance, but fulfilled some purpose or other somewhere in the production process.  This is the only view I've found of the building from the north:

(source https://www.flickr.com/photos/105225401@N02/11205463396/in/album-72157638347641634/)

As you can see, it straddles at least one track.  Although there was a second (well, actually, it was the first) shaft in the vicinity, it was probably 100 yds away towards the picking belts and capped long before this building went up.  Goodness knows what function the circular concrete annexe-on-stilts served: windows ought to be a clue, but not to me.  The building appears to be lit internally, suggesting floors corresponding with the horizontal lintels (?), plus lighting.  Most photos (including the one for which you provided a link) show something within it, so my plan is to bung more somethings into it and make the windows more translucent than transparent.  And it's just occurred to me that it doesn't appear to have any stairs, internally or externally.  I am flummoxed; but I guess ultimately I can still make a reasonable facsimile of the exterior and just deal with my bafflement by hitting the Christmas beer supply  

 

Edited December 21, 2020 by Geordie Exile
To include source of photo

[MinerChris]

My first thought was that it was an upcast shaft, but checking the BGS borehole logs told me about the two shafts of 1838 and 1876. Was the upcast in Fenwick C pit to the North?

 

Feel free to ignore the following waffling's and rambling's in preference to someone who knows better.

 

If I were to hazard a guess here, you are probably right in your assumption that the assemblage of buildings was probably something to do with the CPP. My guess is that for some reason, such as the mine moving to mechanical cutting or skip hoisting; that a CPP was required to separate out coal from shale, rather than grading the coal lump size using screens. This might explain why you have tracks going beneath this building to load the coal out from a bunker. If this is the case, it's entirely possible that the old screens building was still used to separate out the largest lump coal and to transfer the undersize over to the new plant. Looking at the photo's I wonder if around the same time as this was commissioned, the onsite tip stopped being used, as there seems to be a silo and a couple of other sidings to the east to potentially load out spoil to somewhere else.

 

I'm sure that someone will turn around now and say it was the office block or something! My memory serves that the CPP tended to be a dark and mysterious place covered in black dust all the time, and nothing like the clean, window adorned, building that you have here.

 

Best Regards,

 

Chris,  

[Steven B]

An upcast shaft or washery would be my guess. I've seen similarly build structures at other pits but can't remember what they are.

 

This document:

https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-1124-1/dissemination/pdf/preconst1-31759_1.pdf

Puts a "Weight cabin" in the vicinity of the building in 1938.

 

Steven B

[Caley Jim]

A winding house was my guess and this photo of Bedlay Colliery, Scanned from 'Lanarkshire's Mining Legacy' might support that.  The caption explains.

 

 

I was familiar with Bedlay as my father was the headmaster in the local village from the late '50's -mid '60's.  It was also the last place where steam operation could be seen every day up until its closure on 11th December 1981.

 

Jim

[Geordie Exile]

The upcast shaft was about half a mile west at the old Backworth B Pit.  When the C Pit (one mile north west of Fenwick) was closed, that became the spoil heap for the surviving Backworth mines (Eccles, Maude & Fenwick) so yes, the heap at Fenwick stopped growing in, I think, the fifties or earlier.  The plan below shows a 2012 survey (the coloured bits) with the approximate positions of the other (by then demolished) buildings added in black by me.  The green circle within the heapstead was the working shaft, with the earlier, capped Clennel shaft shown NNE of it. 

 

I'm fairly certain I've identified the Heapstead, Picking Belts and Washery correctly.  The other buildings labelled in purple are: A - Office; B - Sheds; C - Generator/Turbine House; D - Warehouse (extended significantly to the footprint shown after the closure of the pit); E - Baths & Canteen; F - Winder House.

 

I've gone into this much detail because it helps organise my thoughts, and to show that it's not a winder house, nor an upcast shaft, nor a washery - although I'm grateful to all for the suggestions, honest!

 

R

 

[Geordie Exile]

18 hours ago, Steven B said:

An upcast shaft or washery would be my guess. I've seen similarly build structures at other pits but can't remember what they are.

 

This document:

https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-1124-1/dissemination/pdf/preconst1-31759_1.pdf

Puts a "Weight cabin" in the vicinity of the building in 1938.

 

Steven B

Thanks for this link, Steven.  I came across it about a year ago then failed to bookmark it and have been looking for it on and off ever since!  I do wonder if the East Holywell Veterans Club members were playing with the researchers though.  The map on p33 that you're referring to seems to have a few errors on it.  Number 13 labelled "Weigh Cabin" is definitely the new washery, built in 1926, and one of the few buildings on the map that were in existence in 1973 when the colliery closed.  A plan drawn at the time of construction shows a weigh cabin to the north.  Number 12 ("Fewick [sic] Pit Winding House") is the Heapstead - the shaft is correctly marked on the map, whereas the Winding House was the building immediately to the left.  At the time of the map the Winding House was of stone, and was rebuilt in brick in 1946.

 

The aerial photo on P34 is really useful - the demolition doesn't appear to have started, and the tracks may have been lifted but their positions are still relatively clear.

 

Richard

[Steven B]

Have you checked with the local planning department or the National Coal Mining Museum to see if either have any records of what was where?

 

Steven B.

[Geordie Exile]

3 hours ago, Steven B said:

Have you checked with the local planning department or the National Coal Mining Museum to see if either have any records of what was where?

 

Steven B.

I've been waiting for Woodhead Colliery Museum to re-open, as they have pretty extensive archives for the Northumberland pits.  Ultimately it's a nice-to-know rather than a game-changer.  Haven't tried NCM so thanks for the pointer.

[sir douglas]

there is a lot of colliery material in the John Goodchild collection in Wakefield archive, now the "history centre", mostly Yorkshire and the Dales though, i dont know about North East

[Geordie Exile]

There is so much to think about!

 

As part of my practice-run at turnout-building and tracklaying I'm putting together a shunting plank, using a piece of leftover laminate floor. With one eye on the future, and another on my bank account, I'm hoping to incorporate it into the layout as the exchange sidings, if everything is good enough. To this end, having drilled holes for the droppers (I only just remembered to drill one for the TOU!) it's occurred to me that i need to consider whether I want to isolate each siding, which seems to make sense as I'll build for DC rather than DCC. And should I put down a raised trackbed so I can put in a proper cess? Will I actually have track laid by the end of the year as I promised myself? The clock's ticking... 

[Caley Jim]

Each siding will effectively be isolated when the turnout is set against it as both rails will then have the same polarity.  Providing, of course, that they are dead ends and not loops, in which case the turnouts at both ends need to be set against it.

 

As to raising the trackbed, whatever you use make sure it is firm and not 'squashable', something we learned from Sauchenford, which was laid on thick balsa.  Any pressure on it and it deformed permanently resulting in a dip in the track.

 

Jim

[Geordie Exile]

1 hour ago, Caley Jim said:

Each siding will effectively be isolated when the turnout is set against it as both rails will then have the same polarity.  Providing, of course, that they are dead ends and not loops, in which case the turnouts at both ends need to be set against it.

 

As to raising the trackbed, whatever you use make sure it is firm and not 'squashable', something we learned from Sauchenford, which was laid on thick balsa.  Any pressure on it and it deformed permanently resulting in a dip in the track.

 

Jim

Thanks for the advice Jim. I hadn't thought about the risk of bending the rails, and had been considering some leftover underlay from the leftover flooring, so I'm glad I mentioned it. 

 

R

[Geordie Exile]

I've been playing with actual scenics. To be fair, it's a scrap of wood about 14cm long and 8cm deep, but I want to get a feel for ballasting.  None of the commercially available ballast that I've found is fine enough in my opinion, in particular with the shallow sleepers of Easitrac compared with Peco's offering for N. 

 

I've an inexhaustible supply of coffee grounds, so I've tried that, with the traditional dilute PVA approach. The first attempt wasn't great, but while the glue was not quite dry I tamped it down, then a spray of black, then a gentle overspray of metallic black, especially between the sleepers, and it's not too shabby.

 

Whaddya think?

 

 

 

 

(The really obvious spots of unpainted coffee aren't obvious at all to the naked eye.  I think I'll add a quick coat of matt varnish to everywhere bar between the tracks, which look good and oily with the metallic paint.)

Edited December 27, 2020 by Geordie Exile
Saw the photo on the big screen!