Peterborough North

[great northern]

Top Shed's other roller bearing A1 now appears. Great Central has the 3.10pm Newcastle.

 

 

That is not a very impressive or convincing power station chimney. The next shot is better though.

 

 

More starlings though. Thanks to Jonathan, I am now trying to rid myself of a mental image of Clive in speedos.

[great northern]

OK, so I finally painted some Modelu drivers and firemen that I have had for ages. I used matt paint, it says so on the tin. Then I took a photo of the J6 into which I have fitted a crew. The camera has decided that the paint is gloss. I am not amused.

 

 

 

It was better behaved when taking this picture of 60156.

 

 

[Anthony]

Gilbert - as I tend to lurk rather than contribute, I am sure that I speak for many when I say "thank you" for all your pictures and general information about Peterborough North;  I am amazed you ever find time to run trains, but I do so enjoy my twice-daily visits.

 

I have had the same problem as you - I have just painted a chassis with Flat Black - I was not anticipating it would come up all shiny...........

[great northern]

Should one decide to take a picture through an arch, specifically to show up the crest on the nameplate of Great Central, it would be a good idea to make sure there was enough light to do so first.

 

 

It can be seen reasonably well on the next one though.

 

 

[great northern]

Yet again I shall not be visiting the swamp that used to be our golf course, as trolleys are banned at present, and my back, in common with those of all my mates, says it does not want to carry clubs, and threatens sanctions if I ignore it. However, for the first time in quite a while the sun has appeared, so I'll be up in the railway room later.

 

This morning we have photos taken on Monday during a downpour outside, so the only light was directly in front of the windows. Fortunately, the Harwich service was due at Platform 6.

 

 

and that was followed shortly after by the returning empties from Little Barford on the slow line.

 

 

[great northern]

As I have been a good boy, and done things, including running and photographing trains, we shall now have another of the dwindling stock of Scottish visitors. This one though may cause something other than excitement in some areas.

 

 

Here we have a J83, a class well known as being Waverley pilots for many years. The C12 and N5 are now wondering if this may be some form of surreptitious trial, and if so, if it might spell the end for them. There are now many emojis, but I cannot find a grim reaper.

[jwealleans]

Weren't J83s inside cylindered?

[jcredfer]

Apparently...

 

Regards

Julian

 

[great northern]

20 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

Weren't J83s inside cylindered?

 

13 minutes ago, jcredfer said:

Apparently...

 

Regards

Julian

 

Oh Lord, I've done it again. I even got an Ian Allan out to make sure I got it right, and then ....... I didn't. I was looking at the wrong page. It's a J88. Scrub all that cr*p about station pilots. I wonder what I did with the photo of the J83 though.

[great northern]

A statement from the Management. It turns out there is no picture of a J83. I must have imagined it. The reason for the confusion though has become clear, I captioned the picture of the J88 wrongly. That, plus

 

Moving quickly on, we next see how things looked a short while after the morning shots were taken. Kimbolton Castle has reached final journey's end, while the 01 will have a temporary wait at signals in a short while.

 

 

 

Next arrival is the afternoon express from Harrogate, with 60039 on its way back to London.

 

 

[great northern]

60039 has an easy task with the Harrogate, which loads to only eight cars, and does not have to stop as far down the platform for that reason.

 

 

Immediately after 60039 has left, the Northumbrian appears. That can't be right though as Gannet has a double chimney, so it must now be November at the earliest. I blame a warp in the space/time continuum.

 

 

[ikks]

Isn't this one the most superb layouts ever, apart from the missing steam and smoke,,,,,,,you would swear you were at the  lineside.....Mike

[great northern]

Oh look, another Ivatt. This one arrives with the last of the day to have come all the way from Yarmouth.

 

 

Then we saw 60117 with the West Riding.

 

 

The dirty Duke is waiting to take over the soon to arrive 9.30 Up Glasgow.

[great northern]

Our shabby Copley Hill A1 has got a little further towards home.

 

 

It is followed by the Scotch goods, which will have been relegated to the Slow to let the express pass. Wild Swan has the job today, and one of our men decided to try some new angles as it approached. Unfortunately, these two shots show vividly that the backscene does not work from all angles. They also proved impossible to photoshop. I don't like them, but as we know, you sometimes disagree, so here they are.

 

 

Finishing the job off would help, but my opinion at the moment is that they would work better without the backscene.

[JamieR4489]

I love the angle of the first photo of Wild Swan. Maybe if you photoshopped the back scene out and added a sky in and cropped the photo a bit, it might look better?

Something like this perhaps

 

HTH,

Jamie

Edited October 19, 2019 by JamieR4489

[great northern]

28 minutes ago, JamieR4489 said:

I love the angle of the first photo of Wild Swan. Maybe if you photoshopped the back scene out and added a sky in and cropped the photo a bit, it might look better?

Something like this perhaps

 

HTH,

Jamie

You and I have been thinking along the same lines, actually!  I did experiment with tighter crops, but I found I then lost some of the better features of the original. The one thing we both seem to have given up on is shopping the backscene, as it merges so successfully into the side of the A4. Thanks for taking the time to do this though, it is always helpful to get alternative suggestions.

[Jamiel]

A quick question, have you ever posted a stock list?

 

I would be particularly interested to know which locos are kits, which are RTR (makes and if and how they have been modified).

 

I am sure that the carriages would also make for a very interesting read.

 

I quite understand if you prefer not to post something like this for security reasons, also if such a list doesn’t exist, I would quite understand it being a pain to sit down and type it all out.

 

My apologies of I have missed this in a past post.

 

Thank you posting so many updates and photographs, seeing a layout like yours is such an inspiration.

 

Jamie

[great northern]

19 minutes ago, Jamiel said:

A quick question, have you ever posted a stock list?

 

I would be particularly interested to know which locos are kits, which are RTR (makes and if and how they have been modified).

 

I am sure that the carriages would also make for a very interesting read.

 

I quite understand if you prefer not to post something like this for security reasons, also if such a list doesn’t exist, I would quite understand it being a pain to sit down and type it all out.

 

My apologies of I have missed this in a past post.

 

Thank you posting so many updates and photographs, seeing a layout like yours is such an inspiration.

 

Jamie

Hi Jamie,

 

Good questions!  I have some lists, but they aren't very up to date, and as you say, I wouldn't really want to publish them on here, or anywhere else for that matter.

 

I'll do my best to give you an idea though. At last count there were 158 locos, of which 25 are kit or scratch built, so around 80% RTR, mainly Hornby or Bachmann. I take the view that most modern RTR is now so good that where it is available, I will go down that route. My kit building days are long gone, through a combination of failing faculties, and lack of physical dexterity, and cost certainly comes into the equation as well.

 

Many locos have been weathered, mainly by Tim Easter. Again, he is much better at that than I could ever be. We do aim for individuality, and, as far as possible, fidelity to prototype. I have over half the class of A4s now. Hornby's model is very good, and the cost of buidling them from kits, even if I could do it myself, would be prohibitive. The same applies to most other classes of loco.

 

Carriages?  That spreadsheet is well out of date, but the same principles apply. I must have well over 200 MK1s, but I'm not going to try to count them all. The vast majority are Bachmann, though as Hornby have improved some of theirs have appeared too. Again, who would want to build that number?

 

Gresley stock is increasing gradually, most of that being kit built, and there are Thompsons in some numbers, mainly kit built again. My recent efforts with cassettes and loose stock are designed to make the stock do plenty of work to justify its cost, and that seems to be working well.

 

Goods stock is almost all RTR. I didn't mind individually weathering 42 empty minerals for one train, but I could not have raised the energy to build them, and why should I anyway? My weathering philosophy, by the way, is that the cheaper it it, the more likely I am to tackle it. The less expensive mistakes may be, the less stress for me, which matters.

 

That's it, really. As you know, I do photograph complete formations now and then, and that's probably the best way to see exactly what there is.

[landscapes]

3 hours ago, JamieR4489 said:

I love the angle of the first photo of Wild Swan. Maybe if you photoshopped the back scene out and added a sky in and cropped the photo a bit, it might look better?

Something like this perhaps

 

HTH,

Jamie

Hi

Great photo, lovely angle and the crop only improves it as well.

 

Regards

 

David

[Oldddudders]

The occasional 'warts and all' photo of the layout, as in the backscene photos, is good for reminding us that even the best models are only that. It also makes it clear just how skilled is the general level of photography on this thread. We are visually conned by carefully selected views and photoshopping - and long may it continue. 

[Jamiel]

2 hours ago, great northern said:

Hi Jamie,

 

Good questions!  I have some lists, but they aren't very up to date, and as you say, I wouldn't really want to publish them on here, or anywhere else for that matter.

 

I'll do my best to give you an idea though. At last count there were 158 locos, of which 25 are kit or scratch built, so around 80% RTR, mainly Hornby or Bachmann. I take the view that most modern RTR is now so good that where it is available, I will go down that route. My kit building days are long gone, through a combination of failing faculties, and lack of physical dexterity, and cost certainly comes into the equation as well.

 

Many locos have been weathered, mainly by Tim Easter. Again, he is much better at that than I could ever be. We do aim for individuality, and, as far as possible, fidelity to prototype. I have over half the class of A4s now. Hornby's model is very good, and the cost of buidling them from kits, even if I could do it myself, would be prohibitive. The same applies to most other classes of loco.

 

Carriages?  That spreadsheet is well out of date, but the same principles apply. I must have well over 200 MK1s, but I'm not going to try to count them all. The vast majority are Bachmann, though as Hornby have improved some of theirs have appeared too. Again, who would want to build that number?

 

Gresley stock is increasing gradually, most of that being kit built, and there are Thompsons in some numbers, mainly kit built again. My recent efforts with cassettes and loose stock are designed to make the stock do plenty of work to justify its cost, and that seems to be working well.

 

Goods stock is almost all RTR. I didn't mind individually weathering 42 empty minerals for one train, but I could not have raised the energy to build them, and why should I anyway? My weathering philosophy, by the way, is that the cheaper it it, the more likely I am to tackle it. The less expensive mistakes may be, the less stress for me, which matters.

 

That's it, really. As you know, I do photograph complete formations now and then, and that's probably the best way to see exactly what there is.

Thank you for such a detailed answer, and I quite understand that posting a detailed list is not a good idea in such a public place.

You also make me feel a lot better about how many locos I have even if it is not as many as your collection. You do run a very accurate timetable, so the need for your stock is understandable.
 

Thank you again for sharing your wonderful layout with everyone here.

Jamie

 

 

[great northern]

5 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

The occasional 'warts and all' photo of the layout, as in the backscene photos, is good for reminding us that even the best models are only that. It also makes it clear just how skilled is the general level of photography on this thread. We are visually conned by carefully selected views and photoshopping - and long may it continue. 

"visually conned" - I like that Ian. You are spot on too, as usual. I always try to present it in the best light possible, and the very kind comments are appreciated, but there are plenty of better model railways than this out there.

[great northern]

Still watching the Scotch goods at the moment. This side of the bridge is a safer bet for decent images.

 

 

That reflection in the tender is very strange. It's the wrong side of the light source.

 

Further along Wild Swan passes D11 Zeebrugge, which will start a journey to Grimsby shortly.

 

 

[great northern]

The B17 which has been sitting doing nothing for some time has now moved to the carriage siding, and is waiting to bring the stock for the 5.13 pm to March into Platform 2.

 

 

and following the Scotch goods, another load of coal empties in on ita way to New England.

 

 

[ikks]

15 hours ago, great northern said:

"visually conned" - I like that Ian. You are spot on too, as usual. I always try to present it in the best light possible, and the very kind comments are appreciated, but there are plenty of better model railways than this out there.

 I may be being "visually conned" but as far as I am concerned the photography and modelling on this layout is as close to reality as it gets............brilliant stuff!

Rgds.......Mike

Edited October 20, 2019 by ikks
missed a bit