Gresley Junction

[thegreenhowards]

Today I have been to the East Lancs Railway diesel gala which was very good. Star of the show was this beastie which may yet feature on Gresley Jn - so watch this space!

 

I’m now on the Pendolino back home and onto my second G&T courtesy of Avanti West Coast so I think it’s time to write up the next move on Gresley Jn before I’m incapable of typing! Today we feature the 1845 King’s Cross-Cleethorpes headed by B1, 61138. I’m afraid that you’ve seen this loco before, but while I have plenty of glamour locos (aka Pacifics!), I seem to be short of the more mundane types - is this a common problem?!

 

 

This train features my newly completed rebuilt D.16 RKB  which was patched together from bits of Kirk sides (see my Coulsdon Works thread for details) and is the first time I’ve been able to put together the formation accurately. Here is a close up.

 

...and here’s the video.

 

 

 

Andy

[thegreenhowards]

We’re now moving back to the early post nationalisation period with a couple of Cambridge - King’s Cross trains in close succession. These left Cambridge an hour apart but the first is a stopping service and only arrived at KX 5 minutes before the second. I don’t have details of the formations of suburban trains in this era, but from photos they seem to be a mixture of Gresley twin-arts and Thompson non corridor stock with the odd other coach thrown in. So here is my take on the stopping Cambridge service with three Hornby Thompsons and a Kirk twin-art.

 

 

I have seen several pictures of D16s on these trains up until the early ‘50s, although this one was a Yarmouth engine, so will need renumbering when I get roundtuit.

 

[thegreenhowards]

The second Cambridge train was a buffet car express (aka beer train). Again we go back to the immediate post nationalisation period, this time with an all teak rake of Gresleys. I know Hornby Gresleys attract a fair bit of criticism, but I rather like them - they are exceptionally well detailed and apart from the lack of tumblehome seem pretty accurate to me. This rake has been put together from the various issues of BR numbered teak coaches that Hornby have produced and matches quite well to some photos of these trains in the Late ‘40s. I have based this loosely on the formation shown in the frontispiece to ‘The Power of the B1s’ which shows an apple green B1 61333 on an all teak rake of mainly all door stock in 1949. In this case we have sister B1, 61334.

 

 

...and a slightly different angle for the video.

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

Today we have an up fitted freight headed by a V2. This is a Nucast model bought off eBay and fitted with a nice brass chassis and (quiet) Portescap. I’verenumbered it to King’s Cross stalwart, 60814. The freight is headed by four bogie brick wagons. I’ve never seen a picture of this, but I know they worked from Peterborough to London and while some went on the front of coal trains to provide extra brake force, I suspect others must have worked in fitted freights. If anyone knows any more info, please share.

 

I’ve tried a new viewpoint for the video. Any comments on whether it works are welcome.

 

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

Today we have an up engineer’s train. I’m fond of this train as it’s 100% kit built being formed of:

Sturgeon (Cambrian)

Dolphin (A1 model - tricky brass kit)

Several Grampus (Parkside)

Dogfish (Cambrian)

Shark brake van (Cambrian)

 

The J3 is an old K’s kit I built 40ish years ago but have finally made it work recently by putting it on a Bachmann Pannier chassis.

 

 

..and here’s the video.

 

 

[manna]

G'day Folks

 

I had the same problem with my K's J3, poor running/shorting, in the end I cut the loco in half (length ways)  and built a new top half for one and a new bottom half for the other, both running on H.D./Wrenn R1 chassis, so kinda got two for the price of one.

 

manna

[Tony Wright]

On 10/02/2020 at 11:47, thegreenhowards said:

Today we have an up fitted freight headed by a V2. This is a Nucast model bought off eBay and fitted with a nice brass chassis and (quiet) Portescap. I’verenumbered it to King’s Cross stalwart, 60814. The freight is headed by four bogie brick wagons. I’ve never seen a picture of this, but I know they worked from Peterborough to London and while some went on the front of coal trains to provide extra brake force, I suspect others must have worked in fitted freights. If anyone knows any more info, please share.

 

I’ve tried a new viewpoint for the video. Any comments on whether it works are welcome.

 

 

 

Most impressive,

 

But isn't 61814 a K3?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[thegreenhowards]

31 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Most impressive,

 

But isn't 61814 a K3?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Well what’s a cartezi truck and a large firebox between friends?!

 

Now I’ve got to work out how to change titles on YouTube which doesn’t seem to be easy.

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

43 minutes ago, manna said:

G'day Folks

 

I had the same problem with my K's J3, poor running/shorting, in the end I cut the loco in half (length ways)  and built a new top half for one and a new bottom half for the other, both running on H.D./Wrenn R1 chassis, so kinda got two for the price of one.

 

manna

I find the Bachmann Pannier chassis very good. I’ve used it under a J52 (for which it’s spot on in wheelbase and diameter), a J50 (for which the wheelbase is 3mm short, but otherwise spot on) and a J3 ( for which the wheelbase is correct but the wheels are marginally too small). And what better use for a GWR engine?!

 

Andy

[thegreenhowards]

Today we have a train which I haven’t attempted to run before, the 1640 Doncaster-King’s Cross. From the timetable this seems to be a relief for the White Rose, and on Mon-Thu was a fairly uninspiring rake of mainly Mark 1s with no catering. On Fridays, in 1958 at least, it was a string of (mainly open) Gresleys which formed a Skeggy service on summer Saturdays. But I don’t have that many open Gresleys, so I had to settle for the Mon-Thu formation. As a secondary service I added a couple of Thompsons instead of Mark 1s as well as the booked Gresley BSK.

 

To make up for the uninspiring rake, we have a new A3; appropriately enough for this train it’s 60048, Doncaster (a renumbered Hornby Minoru).

 

 

...and here’s the video.

 

 

 

 

[great northern]

56 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

Today we have a train which I haven’t attempted to run before, the 1640 Doncaster-King’s Cross. From the timetable this seems to be a relief for the White Rose, and on Mon-Thu was a fairly uninspiring rake of mainly Mark 1s with no catering. On Fridays, in 1958 at least, it was a string of (mainly open) Gresleys which formed a Skeggy service on summer Saturdays. But I don’t have that many open Gresleys, so I had to settle for the Mon-Thu formation. As a secondary service I added a couple of Thompsons instead of Mark 1s as well as the booked Gresley BSK.

 

To make up for the uninspiring rake, we have a new A3; appropriately enough for this train it’s 60048, Doncaster (a renumbered Hornby Minoru).

 

 

...and here’s the video.

 

 

 

 

Have you noticed how often we seem to be running the same trains lately, Andy?

[thegreenhowards]

44 minutes ago, great northern said:

Have you noticed how often we seem to be running the same trains lately, Andy?

Indeed! I don’t think we’ve had any ‘snap’ moments on the loco front yet though. 
 

As you seem to post twice a day and probably have less trains to run (having lost all the KX suburban/ Cambridge trains), I imagine you‘ll soon be well ahead of me.

[Tony Wright]

11 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

Today we have a train which I haven’t attempted to run before, the 1640 Doncaster-King’s Cross. From the timetable this seems to be a relief for the White Rose, and on Mon-Thu was a fairly uninspiring rake of mainly Mark 1s with no catering. On Fridays, in 1958 at least, it was a string of (mainly open) Gresleys which formed a Skeggy service on summer Saturdays. But I don’t have that many open Gresleys, so I had to settle for the Mon-Thu formation. As a secondary service I added a couple of Thompsons instead of Mark 1s as well as the booked Gresley BSK.

 

To make up for the uninspiring rake, we have a new A3; appropriately enough for this train it’s 60048, Doncaster (a renumbered Hornby Minoru).

 

 

...and here’s the video.

 

 

 

 

The running seems to be very good, Andy.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[thegreenhowards]

35 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

The running seems to be very good, Andy.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Many Thanks Tony, coming from you that means a lot.

 

I do try to eliminate problems as they occur in the way that you advocate, but still more seem to pop out every time I have a visitor! There are a couple of places where my woodwork means that I have a slight ‘summit’ at the baseboard join which occasionally causes derailments and I don’t know how to fix that without major surgery. As for smooth running, that is easy with modern RTR and tender pick ups. I have some issues on an insulfrog diamond crossing (the one above with 60048 on it) with shorter wheelbase locos and particularly kits without tender pick ups. I tend to solve this by adding tender pick ups if possible, or a DCC stay alive unit if not. I know you don’t approve of such black magic, but it does the trick in this case. 

 

Andy

[Clive Mortimore]

10 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

Indeed! I don’t think we’ve had any ‘snap’ moments on the loco front yet though. 
 

As you seem to post twice a day and probably have less trains to run (having lost all the KX suburban/ Cambridge trains), I imagine you‘ll soon be well ahead of me.

Hi Andy

 

Gilbert has the problem of all those Anglo-Scottish expresses getting in the way of the important Midland services that are on their way to the other Peterborough station and local trains to places I never knew existed until Mrs M moved us to Lincolnshire.

[great northern]

28 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hi Andy

 

Gilbert has the problem of all those Anglo-Scottish expresses getting in the way of the important Midland services that are on their way to the other Peterborough station and local trains to places I never knew existed until Mrs M moved us to Lincolnshire.

I am sure Clive that you are very grateful to Mrs M for broadening your horizons so well. Few of us have the privilege of seeing Mablethorpe in February.

[great northern]

10 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

Indeed! I don’t think we’ve had any ‘snap’ moments on the loco front yet though. 
 

As you seem to post twice a day and probably have less trains to run (having lost all the KX suburban/ Cambridge trains), I imagine you‘ll soon be well ahead of me.

When you add in the M&GN, the Midland, the E.Lincs and sundry trip workings, there is plenty of non main line traffic to keep me occupied, so we may stay closer than you think.

[thegreenhowards]

I’ve mentioned before that, in running through this sequence, I’ve discovered that I’m short of the more mundane locos and B1s in particular. So I spent this morning chipping a split chassis B1 which I’ve had in its box since I bought it thinking it had the more modern chassis. This is the first split chassis loco that I’ve converted to DCC and I was expecting it to be difficult, but it was actually very easy. So here we have 61008, Kudu on the 1849 King’s Cross Royston.

 

According to the carriage workings, this is a standard outer suburban corridor six set with a Thompson BS(5), S(8) added for peak strengthening. Kudu was a King’s Cross engine briefly in 1956, but I think I’ll be renaming her in due course - probably to Hitchin regular 61027, Madoqua.

 

You will see my new station building behind Kudu. I’ve had to put it the wrong way round for now as the tower and cupola foul the sloping ceiling. I’m debating what to do with it, but I’m currently thinking I’ll have to move it to the right taking up some of the bay platform and lose the cupola (which is a shame having struggled to build it - serves me right for not measuring properly! Does anyone have any other ideas for me?

 

Kudu is pretty smooth for a split chassis engine as I hope this video shows.

 

 

[great northern]

12 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

I’ve mentioned before that, in running through this sequence, I’ve discovered that I’m short of the more mundane locos and B1s in particular. So I spent this morning chipping a split chassis B1 which I’ve had in its box since I bought it thinking it had the more modern chassis. This is the first split chassis loco that I’ve converted to DCC and I was expecting it to be difficult, but it was actually very easy. So here we have 61008, Kudu on the 1849 King’s Cross Royston.

 

According to the carriage workings, this is a standard outer suburban corridor six set with a Thompson BS(5), S(8) added for peak strengthening. Kudu was a King’s Cross engine briefly in 1956, but I think I’ll be renaming her in due course - probably to Hitchin regular 61027, Madoqua.

 

You will see my new station building behind Kudu. I’ve had to put it the wrong way round for now as the tower and cupola foul the sloping ceiling. I’m debating what to do with it, but I’m currently thinking I’ll have to move it to the right taking up some of the bay platform and lose the cupola (which is a shame having struggled to build it - serves me right for not measuring properly! Does anyone have any other ideas for me?

 

Kudu is pretty smooth for a split chassis engine as I hope this video shows.

 

 

I've found some Bachmann split chassis to be very good....... for a while. As it happens, Madoqua was my best, but it is now succumbing to the well known problems. Mind you, it took 20 years to do it!

 

As to the station building, it is very ornate for the GN in the early days, which is when it would have been built. Hatfield didn't get that treatment did it, even with a stately home just up  the road?  I think in practical terms the cupola should go so that you can turn the building round. I appreciate you don't want to lose the effort you've put into building it, so if encroaching on the bay a bit isn't going to hurt operationally, that seems to be the best way to go.

[Anthony]

Perhaps worth a quick mention that when the time comes, as it inevitably will, the new B1 chassis is an exact fit into the old bodies, so no re-naming or weathering is wasted.

 

Anthony

Edited February 14, 2020 by Anthony
Failure to read through!

[John Tomlinson]

Moving your station to the right  seems the only plan as I don't think it works having the main building on the other side of the tracks with an overbridge or underpass - or does it?

 

Interesting what you say about the split chassis B1. I have two of these, and a split chassis "Modified" Hall, they all have repaired/ replaced wheelsets but run well and having been detailed and renumbered I wouldn't want to not have them. Just a bit noisier I find than more modern lococs. Anthony's comment is helpful for when the day finally comes.

 

John.

[thegreenhowards]

40 minutes ago, Anthony said:

Perhaps worth a quick mention that when the time comes, as it inevitably will, the new B1 chassis is an exact fit into the old bodies, so no re-naming or weathering is wasted.

 

Anthony

Thanks, I hope this one will last a while as it seems to be unused. I bought it second hand about a year ago. The detailing pack was still sealed (although sadly that is not unusual!) and the wheels show no sign of use.

 

As you can see from the video it’s pretty smooth and quiet. The slight slowing down and speeding up again was caused by operator error. I.e. me trying to operate the video and loco at the same time.

[thegreenhowards]

50 minutes ago, great northern said:

I've found some Bachmann split chassis to be very good....... for a while. As it happens, Madoqua was my best, but it is now succumbing to the well known problems. Mind you, it took 20 years to do it!

 

As to the station building, it is very ornate for the GN in the early days, which is when it would have been built. Hatfield didn't get that treatment did it, even with a stately home just up  the road?  I think in practical terms the cupola should go so that you can turn the building round. I appreciate you don't want to lose the effort you've put into building it, so if encroaching on the bay a bit isn't going to hurt operationally, that seems to be the best way to go.

Thanks for the comments on the station building. I agree that it’s rather ornate but I envisage Gresley Jn being a cut above Hatfield despite sharing the timetable. But yes the cupola can go and the bay is plenty long enough. I intend to experiment with an overall roof as well - just to see if I can do it. If you’re allowed one at Peterborough.....

[thegreenhowards]

I’m sitting on an Azuma on my way to Dundee supposedly for a weekend’s hill walking but Storm Denis might put paid to that. I’ve got some MSE components for Gresley Jns signals in my bag in case we’re hotel bound!

 

I managed to take some photos amidst packing yesterday, so today we have the up Queen of Scots pullman headed by 60130, Kestrel. This rake is not quite as developed as my Yorkshire Pullman rake as it has been living in a cardboard box for a couple of years. It’s the correct 10 car formation, but still needs roof painting, some back dating of Pullman emblems, corridor connectors and roof boards and a couple of cars need renaming to common ECML versions. 

The back three cars are older style Hornby QoS ones with precision labels names and repainted roofs and scrub up ok I think. I did manage to fit the head and tail boards yesterday, and have pannned the video to show this off.

 

[thegreenhowards]

I’m sitting in my room at The Glen Clova Hotel watching the rain stream down, so no hill walking today. I’ve made some progress with some MSE signals this morning and will post more when they’re looking respectable. But in the meantime, we have the 1233 Grimsby Town to King’s Cross which was formed of a standard steel 5 set with a BG for flowers from Spalding and a BZ for loco spares from Peterborough. As you may remember my steel set is only half built so one of the artics has been replaced by a pair of Gresley teaks.

 

Please excuse the ‘dead’ person on the platform. As I’m away, I can’t go and retake the photo! 

 

Here is the video.