Gresley Junction

[thegreenhowards]

I’ve had a frustrating morning working on the footbridge. Cyano proved useless with bits of plastic slipping all over the place. In the end I found that Plastic weld did the job, strengthened by epoxy in one or two places. There’s still some work to do, but I should be able to post a photo in the next couple of days.

 

This evening’s train is the 2221 King’s Cross Baldock headed by Hitchin’s 61027, Madoqua.

 

 

Here is the video.

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

Tonight I feature the 1758 New Clee to King’s Cross fish train, the second of the two daily trains. This is headed by EE Type 3 (Class 37) D6801. 37s and 47s replaced 9Fs on the New Clee fish trains in the early ‘60s. I think it was mainly 47s on the London run with 37s doing the cross country trains. However, I regard 47s as the spawn of the devil and no 47 will ever tarnish Gresley Jn’s metals. So tonight’s train involves a 37 substituting for the more normal 47.

 

 

Here is the video. This one is sound fitted.

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

No new train tonight as I have spent the last couple of days trying to sort out the footbridge which Tony identified as too high. It was certainly more than a 'five minute job with the Xurons', mainly because Hornby seem to have built it out of a plastic which is resistant to all known glue! In the end it was a combination of plastic weld, evostick and strengthening with epoxy. Then it needed some filler and touching up. And I then decided to weather it which has been on my list for a while. Anyway, I think it looks better now. I have tried retaking the shot of the N2 and quad arts.

 

 

I tried using my Nikon SLR on F22 for this shot to get a better depth of field. It's marginally better than the iPhone photo, but there's still plenty of room for improvement. These low angle shots are particularly difficult. 

 

It does seem to have highlighted just how wonky the Superquick island platform building is. But this is due for replacement fairly soon, so will stay for now.

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

No new train tonight as I have spent the last couple of days trying to sort out the footbridge which Tony identified as too high. It was certainly more than a 'five minute job with the Xurons', mainly because Hornby seem to have built it out of a plastic which is resistant to all known glue! In the end it was a combination of plastic weld, evostick and strengthening with epoxy. Then it needed some filler and touching up. And I then decided to weather it which has been on my list for a while. Anyway, I think it looks better now. I have tried retaking the shot of the N2 and quad arts.

 

 

I tried using my Nikon SLR on F22 for this shot to get a better depth of field. It's marginally better than the iPhone photo, but there's still plenty of room for improvement. These low angle shots are particularly difficult. 

 

It does seem to have highlighted just how wonky the Superquick island platform building is. But this is due for replacement fairly soon, so will stay for now.

For "soft" plastics I use something called Selleys All Plastic Fix. The UK equivalent seems to be Loctite Plastics Bonding System. Usual disclaimer.

[thegreenhowards]

We’re getting right to the end of the day now. This is the 2245 from King’s Cross to Leeds/ Bradford/ Hull and Doncaster which seemed to be a parcels train with some passenger accommodation included. There a couple of passenger coaches for Leeds and Bradford with the back six going to Doncaster only. Hull just got a BG. 

 

 

The train took a bit of putting together as I had to raid my parcels trains to find enough BGs, and then realised that some of the roofs were still in ‘Bachby plastic’, so the roof dirt paint came out yesterday! The formation is the 1960 one, but it didn’t seem to change much over the years. As it’s 14 coaches long not many of my engines will haul it. I decided this was a likely role for a V2, and only one was up to the job - my namesake 60835, The Green Howard (although it’s the Deltic which attracted me to the name). This is a Nucast kit stuffed with lead and fitted with a mashima. I acquired it from Tony Wright who was disposing of it for someone else - ex Gamston Bank  I think.

 

Here is the video.

 

 

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

Today I feature a full on parcels train (class C rather than class A like the 2245). This is the 2310 from King’s Cross which the carriage workings suggest was a hotch potch of different B’s, BZ,s, BG’s and vanfits for destinations as varied as Skegness, Durham, Manchester and Bradford - seemingly one van per destination. I imagine that, in practice, it would have varied on a daily basis depending on the traffic on offer. Therefore I haven’t tried to match it directly, but just put out my ‘mixed’ parcels train.

 

 

I thought this was another V2 type of train, so here is double chimneyed 60862. This is a Bachmann body on a Comet chassis with Mashima motor. I bought it off eBay c.6 months ago but it needed valve gear and pickups sorting out and a ‘curly six’ front number plate all of which I did on Friday - the benefits of ‘lockdown’! I hoped to use it on the 14 coach train yesterday, but despite being packed with lead, the wheels just span, so I resorted to 60835 for that. 

 

I’ve worked out how to reduce my image sizes. When I upload the photos RMWeb prompts me for ‘image size’ and one can choose small, medium or large.  I don’t remember seeing that before. Anyway, I’ve chosen ‘medium’. Let me know if the resolution is too poor. 

 

Here is the video.

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

And now the final move of the sequence. This is definitely a case of last but not least as The Night Scotsman is one of my favourite rakes and here it is headed by A1, 60154, Bon Accord. This time is now 23:59 so very much the end of the day.

 

The loco is a DJH kit bought second hand and converted to one of the roller bearing examples. The two Gateshead roller bearing A1s monopolised the Night Scotsman through much of the 1950s working south one night and returning north the following night. I'm assuming that continued into 1958 although I'm not sure exactly when the working finished. 

 

My eventual aim is to model the 1958/9 winter SX service which was formed BG, SLSTP, SLSP, SLSP, SLF, SLF (twin), SLF (twin), SLF, SLF, BG. However this requires another twin SLF (which is on my workbench) and the Thompson 'interlocking' berth SLSPs for which no kit or brass sides is available and will need scratchbuilding.

 

So for now I've modelled the Summer 1958 SO service which had three seated Mark 1s at the front and then SLF(twin), SLF, SLF, SLSTP, SLSTP, SLSTP, BG. I'm short of one SLSTP, but otherwise the formation is correct. The six sleepers are all scratch/ kit built and have featured on my workbench thread over the last year or so. Here are some pictures of the sleepers.

 

And here is the video.

 

Andy

[thegreenhowards]

As a summary of the sequence, I think I ran 87 trains over about three months and featured 77 different locos which is the vast majority of my fleet. The main locos which didn't get used were trip freight/ ECS engines such as J50s, J52s, Class 16 diesels etc. I need to find some additional moves to keep them busy. A spotter at Gresley Jn would have seen the locos below (although admittedly s/he would have needed a time machine to do so given the range of years covered). 

 

I'm not planning to run through the sequence again any time soon as I found it took a lot of my modelling time. Instead I will concentrate on making some progress with the layout and will post updates as and when there's something significant to show.  I will also run a few of my pre war LNER trains.

 

Now I have to decide whether to start on ballasting, track laying (connecting the third tunnel mouth), building the station building or signal construction.

 

 

 

[Tony Teague]

All these choices!

[thegreenhowards]

9 minutes ago, Tony Teague said:

All these choices!

Indeed, and all I’ve done today is play around with valve gear and tender pick ups - I’m easily distracted onto rolling stock!

[thegreenhowards]

I’ve prepared a summary of the highlights from running through the sequence here. If you don’t like ‘Musak’ then you’d better turn the volume down!

 

 

 

It provided another way to put off doing any work on the layout - tomorrow I will start.

 

Andy

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

I’ve been quiet on here for a while, but things have been progressing. Now that the sequence is finished I have taken an ‘engineering possession’ of the station area and I’m implementing my plan for a fifth line through the tunnel mouths at the South end of Gresley Jn. I discussed this briefly on my 2nd December post on page 3. The tunnel mouths were modelled on the Gasworks exit from King’s Cross but I never had a need for the third tunnel mouth. I’ve filled it with a single track as below.

 

Hopefully you can see the new track (on cork) curving out through the tunnel. This will lead to a branch line with a connection onto the down slow the other side of the tunnels to allow up goods trains to exit that way. I’ve got to the stage of wiring and electrical testing and it all works but the point motors are not yet wired.

 

I’ve also decided that the northern approaches to platform 6 need remodelling. This is to create a long enough goods loop having lost some length with the southern changes and to avoid having a point alongside the platform which I never thought was very prototypical. Here is the before picture as a reminder.

 

This end is still in chaos, but you can see the track bed is in position.

 

 

Andy

 

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by thegreenhowards
Typo

[thegreenhowards]

Following on from the discussion on here about A5 kits a couple of weeks ago, I took the plunge and ordered a 52F A5. I arrived yesterday and first impressions are very favourable. The packaging is superb.

 

The contents look beautifully etched and it has comprehensive instructions.

 

 

I intend to make it my ‘lockdown project’ after I’ve finished the track work and will write up progress on my Coulsdon Works thread.

 

Andy

 

[Clive Mortimore]

48 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

I’ve been quiet on here for a while, but things have been progressing. Now that the sequence is finished I have taken an ‘engineering possession’ of the station area and I’m implementing my plan for a fifth line through the tunnel mouths at the South end of Gresley Jn. I discussed this briefly on my 2nd December post on page 3. The tunnel mouths were modelled on the Gasworks exit from King’s Cross but I never had a need for the third tunnel mouth. I’ve filled it with a single track as below.

 

Hopefully you can see the new track (on cork) curving out through the tunnel. This will lead to a branch line with a connection onto the down slow the other side of the tunnels to allow up goods trains to exit that way. I’ve got to the stage of wiring and electrical testing and it all works but the point motors are not yet wired.

 

I’ve also decided that the northern approaches to platform 6 need remodelling. This is to create a long enough goods loop having lost some length with the southern changes and to avoid having a point alongside the platform which I never thought was very prototypical. Here is the before picture as a reminder.

 

This end is still in chaos, but you can see the track bed is in position.

 

 

Andy

 

 

Nice seeing your layout looking like mine with all that gubbins on it.

 

One thing of note, why is the really useful, it will fix every thing tool laying on the floor?

[Bogie]

Mr Mortimer you are such a tease!

[Tony Teague]

On 07/04/2020 at 11:39, thegreenhowards said:

Following on from the discussion on here about A5 kits a couple of weeks ago, I took the plunge and ordered a 52F A5. I arrived yesterday and first impressions are very favourable. The packaging is superb.

 

The contents look beautifully etched and it has comprehensive instructions.

 

 

I intend to make it my ‘lockdown project’ after I’ve finished the track work and will write up progress on my Coulsdon Works thread.

 

Andy

 

 

Was that a sneaky "un-boxing" post without it being declared as such?

[thegreenhowards]

58 minutes ago, Tony Teague said:

 

Was that a sneaky "un-boxing" post without it being declared as such?

Certainly not! If it was such a thing, it would be a long video with 5 minutes of self promoting waffle being getting to any substance. 

 

Seriously, it made quite an impression on me as being more beautifully presented than any kit I’ve dealt with before. I made some progress yesterday and will post again once there’s something worth seeing.

[Tony Teague]

Aha! My mistake.

 

Yes looks a nice kit and I hope it goes together well.

 

Tony

[Big And]

Hi Andy,

It has been most enjoyable to see such a comprehensive sequence of trains and noting each with their prototypical formations. Thanks for sharing as it is appreciated that it will have taken quite some time to compile. 

 

Good luck with the multitude of modelling projects, rolling and otherwise - looking forward to seeing the results.

 

[thegreenhowards]

25 minutes ago, Big And said:

Hi Andy,

It has been most enjoyable to see such a comprehensive sequence of trains and noting each with their prototypical formations. Thanks for sharing as it is appreciated that it will have taken quite some time to compile. 

 

Good luck with the multitude of modelling projects, rolling and otherwise - looking forward to seeing the results.

 

Hi Andy,

 

Good to hear from you. I don’t get round to operating the layout very often except when I have visitors, so it was good to have an excuse to run the trains. I particularly enjoyed trying to recreate all the formations as accurately as possible, some of which I’d never done before.

 

I never did too long at a single session, but it took lots of time overall. Each train could take anything between 20 mins to an hour depending on how long it took to put together and whether it needed any retakes. These were more common than they should be, either because of derailments (thankfully quite rare) or more likely because of operator error (signals normally!) or photographer error. It was all good fun, and I’ll probably do it again some time, but I’m enjoying a break at the moment.

 

How about doing something similar for ‘Two Bridges Up Sidings’ given that we’re not likely to have an exhibition any time soon.

 

Andy

 

[thegreenhowards]

The main track laying and wiring for my modification is now complete. There was a pause because I ran out of Gaugemaster  DCC Autofrogs, but Hattons came to the rescue pretty quickly, so all the points are now wired with motors.

 

 

The only work remaining is to relay the goods yard which now has a gap on the entrance.

 

 

Hopefully this will be quick as its not used very often so the points are manually operated. I’ve lost some space, so it will probably become 4 sidings rather than the five at present.

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

The goods yard relaying is now complete. 

 

 

...and I’ve made the changes to my control panel in what I might call ‘Tony Teague’ style. By that I mean that my mimic diagram is on paper and I can make changes to it easily with sticky labels and felt tips. When I feel that, even I, can meddle with the track plan no more, then I will produce a more professional looking laminated version and try to fit it to the same footprint so that the studs still line up with the holes. Thankfully mine has less than 10% as much ‘spaghetti’ behind as Tony’s!

 

 

I have ‘replonked’ the scenery for the time being and will test run it a little before doing anything more permanent scenery wise. 

 

In that vain, here is one train which I didn’t run during the sequence, the branch shuttle from Dunstable. The geography has got confused as this enters Gresley Jn from the SE instead of the NW as it did at Hatfield, but it’s reflective of the sort of train which would have run. For those who haven’t seen if before, the stock is a Gresley D.210 CL-BS twin artic. These were declassified to second only and used on the Dunstable branch in the late ‘50s (possibly earlier, but I don’t have any earlier carriage working notices).  Firstly a video of it arriving with N7, 69637.

 

Then the N7 running round.

 

 

And finally waiting to depart back to Dunstable.

 

 

 

[manna]

G'Day Folks.

 

Don't you love the way a railway evolves.

 

manna

[Tony Teague]

3 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

...and I’ve made the changes to my control panel in what I might call ‘Tony Teague’ style. By that I mean that my mimic diagram is on paper and I can make changes to it easily with sticky labels and felt tips. When I feel that, even I, can meddle with the track plan no more, then I will produce a more professional looking laminated version and try to fit it to the same footprint so that the studs still line up with the holes. Thankfully mine has less than 10% as much ‘spaghetti’ behind as Tony’s!

 

 

 

 

Steady on old boy!

You'll get me a reputation for having a paper Control Panel - and just at the point when I've put that sort of thing behind me!

Tony

 

[thegreenhowards]

2 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

 

Steady on old boy!

You'll get me a reputation for having a paper Control Panel - and just at the point when I've put that sort of thing behind me!

Tony

 

I look forward to the day I can put it behind me! Your finished control panel is inspiring.....until you showed us the inside when it became very scary