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Eastburn - The Aire Valley in the 1955 - A valuable lesson in paying attention!


Aire Head
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Me and my partner moved into a new property at the beginning of the year. There is a spare bedroom for which I have been permission to build myself a model railway for the first time in around 15 years.

 

I have a space of 8'9" by 8' and an idea of what I wanted to achieve as a minimum.

 

1) Double track preferably a mainline on a continuous run.

2) Between 5/6 coaches or 15/20 wagons trains a possibility.

3) A Goods Yard for shunting.

 

In addition to this I wanted to be able to have of possible.

1) Bi-Directional fiddle yard to minimise the handling of rolling stock.

2) A Station

3) Refuge Siding(s)

 

For many years I have wanted to build a model of my local line around which I have grown up so a location on the Aire Valley Line was desired and given the space I had to work with and what I wanted to achieve it was to be between Shipley and Skipton. 

 

I narrowed it down to between Keighley and Skipton as this gave me a more rural area and smaller stations and the particular part of the line is perhaps my favourite and certainly the most Scenic.

 

The name for my plan came from the village located between Steeton and Crosshills both of which either have or had a Station on the line. 

 

My chosen period of the 1954/6 was made because of my desire to create varied goods trains and make maximum use of the kits that are available on the marketplace and for the simple reason that I love Blood and Custard!

 

The thread discussing the planning stages is linked below to those who are interested.

 

Work has now begin adding in the first stages. The layout will be placed on top of 5 recycled Kitchen cabinets which are to be made into a bench using timber. The boards will then rest stop this bench work.

 

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Shown below is the plan as it presently stands.

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Given constraints of time, money and personal life I am anticipating that this is going to be a slow moving project however I hope to be able to keep people sufficiently entertained as I bumble my way through!

Edited by Aire Head
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Looks like a decent plan! I've always liked the Aire Valley idea myself, but never had room, time, money, you know...

 

Is that a diamond or a slip in the station there where the slow line crosses over to the fast line?

 

I'd probably use a single slip if it was me.

 

Cheers,

Will

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6 hours ago, AireValley1962 said:

Looks like a decent plan! I've always liked the Aire Valley idea myself, but never had room, time, money, you know...

 

Is that a diamond or a slip in the station there where the slow line crosses over to the fast line?

 

I'd probably use a single slip if it was me.

 

Cheers,

Will

 

Where the UP line gains access to the goods yard by crossing the down line is a single slip as was typical of the exMR stations on the line.

 

Throughout the design phase a lot of effort was expended on ensuring the plan was prototypical or as close as practicable.

 

Personally I think the Aire Valley is a big neglected model wise. Probably because it's joined to the S&C.

Edited by Aire Head
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  • 2 weeks later...

PXL_20201010_154122201_MP.jpg.64538ced483ed11e4c88aa584a3b740d.jpg

 

Managed to get stuck into the room today and clear about the last bits.and organise the kitchen cabinets into their various positions.

 

Next stage will be to adjust them all to the same height and construct a bench work between them all.

 

Also included in in the image is my partner holding onto the other project we have been working on ;)

 

PXL_20201010_213249139.jpg.d4bc8633a6be219ae2442f864cece1fc.jpg

 

I also took the chance to do some modelling in the afternoon and had a bash at making Tarpaulins out of Chocolate bar wrappers and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the results so far!

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49 minutes ago, richard.h said:

Looks an interesting project I will follow with interest especially as I grew up in Saltaire.

 

Just one question though judging from the previous photo how long have you got a spare bedroom for?

 

We live in a 4 bedroom house and so far there is only me and my partner living there so quite a long time :D

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  • 1 month later...

Sadly no progress to report on layout construction due to the overwhelming focus on trying to be as prepared for a baby as possible!

 

However on my spare time I have been slowly pecking away at the kit pile during lockdown so here are my current efforts.

 

Firstup is a trio of early LMS vans made up from Cambrian kits.

PXL_20201122_090118109.jpg.a982a2ed2f3fefc29e6befeb0303f159.jpg

 

Next is a LMS D2039 Plywood sided van kit bashed from a Parkside Fruit Van and a Ratio Vent Van with a little bit of plasticard for good measure.

 

PXL_20201122_090321533.jpg.5b2941f23553300a7790bf2f2b6c1626.jpg

 

Last but not least is a pair of D1666 opens also from Cambrian.

 

PXL_20201122_090251505.jpg.c9685c49c53487352a934551db4331d7.jpg

 

All are awaiting couplings and the opens are waiting for the addition of tarpaulins.

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  • 3 weeks later...

It might not look like much but this is a big deal to me! The bench work which the boards will sit on is now largely done.

 

The baseboard will be an open framework with a plywood trackbed, this will sit on top of the framework pictured.

 

Before I can do any more I need to give the room a proper sort out so that I can begin construction on the boards.

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  • 1 month later...

Today I started building a baseboard!

 

Well it's more of a trial to see if there was any potential issue with the method of construction I am wanting to use.

 

Hopefully the images are clear and show the method I'm using. Any thoughts, advice and criticism would be greatly appreciated :)

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14 minutes ago, Ian Smeeton said:

Great progress.

 

You might find that some longitudinal bracing under the ply for the trackbed may be necessary.

 

But, looking good so far.

 

Regards

 

Ian

 

Yes I had considered that and was thinking of running some laths under the trackbed.

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While I've been quiet on here it's been fair from quiet at this end!

 

Say hello to Lily! Born at 00:24 on Thursday morning after a lengthy induction and labour process starting at 16:00 on Tuesday!PXL_20210121_025453137.jpg.d42cc3b288912e0ac4d3c9fe72f2ee01.jpg

Both mum and baby are doing well and we hope to have everyone home soon.

 

In the meantime I took the opportunity to have a go at my first ever model with brass using Comet sides to create a D1778 full brake.

 

PXL_20210123_200552110.jpg.537a8e84aa1a2aceec710570133cee23.jpg

 

Edited by Aire Head
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Congratulations to you both on the birth of your daughter.  I wish you all well.

My layouts location is Airedale, but I chose the head of the dale at Kirkby Malham and in an earlier time, 1908 to be precise, and in Midland Railway days.

So, all the best with your version of a very beautiful part of Yorkshire.

Derek

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2 minutes ago, Mrkirtley800 said:

Congratulations to you both on the birth of your daughter.  I wish you all well.

My layouts location is Airedale, but I chose the head of the dale at Kirkby Malham and in an earlier time, 1908 to be precise, and in Midland Railway days.

So, all the best with your version of a very beautiful part of Yorkshire.

Derek

 

Thank you very much, do you have a topic page for that as I'd very much like to check it out :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hasn't been much going on here for mainly baby reasons however I have managed to have a look at the station end of the scenic area.PXL_20210216_215644192.jpg.93f019e93869f574e7fa913578d13dc6.jpg

 

The steel ruler is roughly where the footbridge will be and the joiners pencil roughly where the signal box will be.

 

The white shapes are templates for the goods shed and cattle dock to aid with positioning.

 

I found this image below of a location which isnt obvious to me but it's certainly a Midland ststion.

 

This is uncannily close to the design of the visible end of my station. I particularly like the signal on the gantry which is something I may well look to recreate.

 

footbridge-and-level-crossing-believed-to-be-on-settle-to-carlisle-showing-signal-box-and-semaphore-signals-of-midland-railway-origin-c-1962-P67FXB.jpg.a614df3341512f06c11da6e1e6dae493.jpg

 

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  • 1 month later...

The project is still currently slowed however I have been able to start some small amounts of modelling up again.

 

Currently I have been working on coaching stock, a Replica D1915 is currently in the workshop being repainted into crimson and cream and will be receiving a few detailing upgrades, this is serving as a test bed for the addition of further rolling stock to my collection.196FDF97-07BC-4239-8C1E-F39220EA0677.jpeg.a7b50ec6b4eb63e056895e71340a656c.jpeg6BB7CB25-9C1A-4D18-9BEE-B46CF4696216.jpeg.70729dc56203575e2626abdf38bcbf27.jpeg

 

I have used railmatch paints on this particular model and as can be seen the colours are bright in comparison to RTR stock.

 

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Further components have been acquired as well to modify some existing stock to different diagrams.

 

The main passenger trains that will be depicted will be the Leeds/Bradford to Morecambe/Heysham/Carnforth trains. During my time period these were formed from 3 coach sets composed as TK,BTK,CK. These would be formed from exLMS stock, additional stock such as parcels vans/horseboxes/CCTs or similar were then added as required.

 

These sets were then formed into different rakes as required, for example a train from Bradford could be composed of 2 sets, the first set could be for Carnforth and the Second for Heysham. The train would be split at Wennington with the different sets dispatched to the appropriate destination.

 

My plan is to build several of these sets l, they will be composed of various different coach diagrams to create the jumbled look of the exLMS sets of this time period where the only rule seems to be that you couldn’t have more than 2 coaches of the same age coupled together.

 

The other passenger trains to be shown frequently will be the Bradford to Skipton local trains which were formed of non-corridor stock and these will form the basis of later projects, these seem to have formed as either two or three coach sets which even included some exMidlad stock into at least as far as 1956.

 

Further research needs to be done on the Bradford to Carlisle stopping services as I have been unable to determine a formation for this working. It also appears to have been used for a lot of parcels working and images often show a collection of NPCCS and fitted vans attached to these trains.

 

Likewise Anglo Scottish Expresses were also a feature of the line and the formations for these were easy to determine however since I lack the space to convincingly run 10/11 coach trains and as there was only 3 of these a day in each direction during the daytime these are not a major focus at the present time.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Coach works has been progressing albeit slowly at present.

 

The D1915 Open Third has had lining and numbering applied.D2A18436-39E6-4854-BDFC-30B69CAAD22A.jpeg.811b0b9178e43f541abd0823a1309153.jpeg

 

However when I came to varnish it disaster!

 

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A large part of the lining creased up meaning that it will need to be removed and reapplied at a future date. Fortunately this was a “spare coach” which was to be used as a strengthener on the fixed rakes so while frustrating it is not a complete disaster and serves as a useful learning experience.

 

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On the bench presently is a D1730 Brake Third and a D1695 Third Corridor, I realised after I had painted them that it would have been sensible to add the ducket to the brake third first!

 

F3150213-DFB0-445E-8925-DC6B5305DABF.jpeg.2edf929cbeb7a5da16a46257e74244b7.jpeg
 

The D1730 has had lining added now and as can be seen this has been liberally coated with Decalfix in order to ensure there is not a repeat of the D1915! 


Once transfers have been completed I will add handles, handrails and glazing.

 

Donor bodies from Dapol and Mainline coaches have been suitably butchered and will be detailed up appropriately soon. Once the sides are complete they will be married up to the bodies.

 

As the rakes will be fixed I will be fitting an internal coupling mechanism and gangways to these sets however I haven’t decided which yet and would appreciate any recommendations that people can make.

 

In addition to all of this I have purchased more timber and managed to source a jigsaw and other tools necessary to continue with construction of the baseboard so watch this space!

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  • Aire Head changed the title to Eastburn - The Aire Valley in the 1955 - Coaches, Baseboards and a Varnish disaster!

More progress today with the last scenic baseboard.

 

CA47B645-9582-49C2-AD17-D61AEE986D15.jpeg.0d1b7cc26a06621a694dbb530fa33f05.jpeg 
 

Sadly my jigsaw requires new brushes so I haven’t been able to cut the curves hence the weird shape of the track bed on this board so far.

 

Once this board is finished it will be onto the fiddle yard area next.

 

This will be slightly more complex as part of the plan is to make the fiddle yard over the top of some drawers for the storage of stock.

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