Peterborough North

[Jon4470]

Melton Constable for me too.

Purely based on memories of an article in Railway Modeller ( I think) in the early 1970s. Lots of brightly coloured locos going to seaside destinations....at that age I didn’t know if it was real or made up!

 

PS Also would be interested in more details on how to build up the correct train formations .... especially pertaining to fiddle yard/ cassette storage. I found the spreadsheet layout helpful - think it is a much better way to set out the information that I already have. Thank you for that.

[great northern]

The Norseman is seen this evening, a KX duty, with Sandwich at the front today.

 

 

 

 

Today I took delivery of some new couplings. Little time to try them out, but first impression is that they are just what I've been looking for. More details tomorrow, when I've been able to do a better analysis.

[jazzer]

8 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Woodham Ferrers on the Wickford to Maldon line with the branch line to Burnham on Crouch and Southminster.

 

Now named South Woodham Ferrers. I was down there this afternoon. Had a good look a I crossed the level crossing . Sadly the station is a mere shadow of its former self, just  a single track , single platform halt, with no points an no sign of even the former passing loop, let alone a junction. Served only by the soul-less electrics whisking their stupefied “ customers” to Wickford and sometimes Liverpool St in clinical boredom.

I only I had a time machine and could have jumped on and N7 trundling its way to Southminster in the days before

the world went mad.

 

Gilberts competition : Marks Tey.

[great northern]

1 hour ago, Jon4470 said:

Melton Constable for me too.

Purely based on memories of an article in Railway Modeller ( I think) in the early 1970s. Lots of brightly coloured locos going to seaside destinations....at that age I didn’t know if it was real or made up!

 

PS Also would be interested in more details on how to build up the correct train formations .... especially pertaining to fiddle yard/ cassette storage. I found the spreadsheet layout helpful - think it is a much better way to set out the information that I already have. Thank you for that.

I'll see what I can do tomorrow, and perhaps take a few photos to illustrate how it works.

[great northern]

4 hours ago, Flying Fox 34F said:

Melton Constable for me.  Always loved the M&GN. Also good to see a D13 at Heacham working an express from Hunstanton.

Gilbert ever fancied a Pre WW2 running session on PN?  There are enough folk out there with suitable stock!

 

Paul

I think there would be two problems Paul. The first is that there would be things that are wrong, mainly the signals and the Arcade, which should be intact for pre war. That wouldn't bother me too much, though it would upset a few people, but the more pressing problem would be finding somewhere to store all my stock which presently fills up an 18 road fiddle yard.

[LNER4479]

... not to mention the fact that any visiting LNER locos would need to be chipped.

 

Unless they were just posed for photos. In which case, no need to clear the fiddle yard ...

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, stewartingram said:

You must mean Wisbech East (GE).

Quite possibly - it's not a part of the country I'm familiar with at all. I've amended my original post. Thanks.

[Clive Mortimore]

42 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Quite possibly - it's not a part of the country I'm familiar with at all. I've amended my original post. Thanks.

I might have a slight bias but you would have been welcomed. It is a lovely part of the country.

[trw1089]

Wisbech East (GE) for me.  I wasn’t all that interested in such things until I decided to build a 4 wheeled tram engine on 5” gauge for my wife and sons to drive while I played with my live steam 2-8-0.  The castings that I obtained were not the best representation of a Y6, but I tried to make it somewhat similar and it got me interested in the railway and I found it absolutely fascinating.  My young lads liked it because, well, Toby and all that, and wifey liked driving the tram engine because it was fast and fun.  
 

Here is a pic of the tram with my youngest (now 19) driving, and me with my eldest lad (now 21) and my 2-8-0.  The latter is what that was all about for me.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by trw1089
added pics

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

Lets go with 'Royston Junc',  just up the road from Trumington.

 

manna

[2750Papyrus]

Another vote for Melton Constable.

 

A railway town constructed in the middle of (getting on for)  nowhere - like a modeller's scenario to justify the unlikely!

 

[great northern]

10 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

... not to mention the fact that any visiting LNER locos would need to be chipped.

 

Unless they were just posed for photos. In which case, no need to clear the fiddle yard ...

Thank you Graham. Trust me to overlook the obvious.

[great northern]

Forgot to process any new pictures, so the image store is empty. To give you something to look at, here is one from the archives.

 

 

 

 

 

[great northern]

Melton Constable 7, the rest nowhere.  I think that finishes country junction stations, unless you can remind me of any areas I may have forgotten.

 

OK, we've done termini, great and small, large junctions and smaller ones, so now we shall consider the simple wayside station, just a place to pass through, or to stay a while. And again, let's start in the big conurbations and work our way down. None bigger than London, so that's where we are for a while. And above ground please, none of this Underground stuff, unless it comes above ground where there is a proper station.

 

We'll start with stations within five miles of termini, give or take a mile. Places of which you may have fond memories, places you would have liked to visit, or just places you think are particularly evocative or atmospheric, which may be another way of saying urban grot.

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

For me it's got to be Wood Green (today's Alexander Palace) in the late 50's and early 60's my home station and very busy, I can remember the N2's all of Gresley's loco's still about at the time and the wonderful 'clanky' WD's. Photo's taken by me. Oct 1970.

 

manna

[Metropolitan H]

It has to be Finchley Road (Metropolitan Railway) for me which is well within 5 miles of the Baker Street terminal roads.

 

It would have been neasden, but I think the distance from baker Street is just over 5 miles!

 

Regards

Chris H

[St Enodoc]

The Gateway to the South - Bal-ham.

[mullie]

Brockley South London, spent a lot of time there when at university as it was the nearest station to my hall of residence. Into London bridge then platform 6 and into Charing Cross if going into central London or walk from London Bridge to Liverpool Street to save the tube fair.

 

Martyn

[Clive Mortimore]

1 hour ago, great northern said:

Melton Constable 7, the rest nowhere.  I think that finishes country junction stations, unless you can remind me of any areas I may have forgotten.

 

OK, we've done termini, great and small, large junctions and smaller ones, so now we shall consider the simple wayside station, just a place to pass through, or to stay a while. And again, let's start in the big conurbations and work our way down. None bigger than London, so that's where we are for a while. And above ground please, none of this Underground stuff, unless it comes above ground where there is a proper station.

 

We'll start with stations within five miles of termini, give or take a mile. Places of which you may have fond memories, places you would have liked to visit, or just places you think are particularly evocative or atmospheric, which may be another way of saying urban grot.

What a cheek, I know East Anglia is not the most populated part of the country but to say all the other nominated locations are nowhere....well I am lost for words.

[great northern]

1 hour ago, Clive Mortimore said:

What a cheek, I know East Anglia is not the most populated part of the country but to say all the other nominated locations are nowhere....well I am lost for words.

You get the wilful misunderstanding prize again Clive.  Next time, if there is one, the prize will be to be locked in a room with a person of my choice for two hours. I won't say who, but just be afraid, be very afraid.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Clive Mortimore said:

I am lost for words.

That'll be the day.

[great northern]

23 hours ago, TrevorP1 said:

 

This is a  topic which interests me in trying to create a 3d moving picture  of what might have happened 'back in the day'. However, many of us have to start with a compromise before we've even begun our research because we cannot run full scale length trains. That aside, I try to work towards a similar system as described by Andy. 

 

My efforts concern operations in Cornwall so I have to content with, as far as types of vehicle are concerned, the apparently random make up of all but the top line expresses. By 'type' I mean construction/diagram/date, not class/number of seats etc. Of necessity, interpreting the information gathered also requires a good knowledge of carriage types - which Gilbert modestly ignores! With copies of 'Russell' and so on I'm learning but I have a long way to go! I also know the photographers whose captions can be relied upon and the authors/publishers who cause me to scream in frustration!

 

I'd be interested to know:

• How often PN trains have to be made up from cassettes i.e. every day, once a week, or before every operating sessions etc? 
• I understand some trains are exact copies but are others 'typical'?
• I'm far away from devising a complete sequence but I have a 'snapshot' of workings with, as far as I can achieve at the moment, correct stock. From this I find I can run about a dozen trains before a 're-set' of stock. I'm wondering how this compares with others?

 

OK, for Trevor and for Jon 4470, (can't remember how to multiquote at the moment), here's an attempt to explain further.

 

Stock storage facilities first.

 

An 18 road fiddle yard, with spurs of various lengths wherever they can be squeezed in.

 

a purpose built cassette box, four shelves, each holding 12 cassettes.

 

Loose stock housed in drawers and sundry other places.

 

As far as possible, all of this is located in one corner of the room, and close to the cassette spur. Here's afew hand held and probably shaky pictures.

 

 

A cassette in position to be offloaded onto Road 1 of the FY, which is always kept empty for making up of trains.

a section of the cassette box, CP12A being the one on the spur. I don't like the number between 12 and 14, so it becomes 12A.

 

 

12A now happily tucked away.

 

 

One of the drawers. This one holds loose brake coaches, while the one above holds SKs, SOs and MK1 CKs. There's another box on top of Kings Cross shed which holds more CKs and some FKs.

 

 

Spurs next to the cassette road hold stock for short trains mainly, for example a Midland 4 set which is out working at the moment. The two occupied ones hold Gresley and Thomson SKs, which are needed for a lot of East Coast secondary formations.

 

Right, I've reached image limit, so another post will follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LNER4479]

 

24 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

1 hour ago, Clive Mortimore said:

I am lost for words.

That'll be the day.

Well if everywhere in East Anglia (apart from Melton Constable) is 'nowhere' that would at least explain Clive being lost ...

 

My auntie lives in Ware, Hertfordshire.  Halfway between nowhere and somewhere?

 

Which has absolutely nothing to do with today's poll, which I may well abstain from as I don't really 'do' London. Country bumpkin, is I ...

[great northern]

Continuing..... Room for more spurs at the other end of the FY. The E.Lincs set lives here, as does the M&GN set, and some goods stock which tacks onto the back of trains in the FY when needed.

 

 

M&GN stock is also out working. In the background is an artic five set which forms most of the stopping trains to and from London. That sits in one of two spurs I could fit in beween Up and Down FY. Most of these locals are fixed sets which represent all of the services on the route concerned, but I can vary things from loose stock when I feel like doing so, or when I know a specific formation is required.

 

Other loose stock also occupies two of the roads in the FY which are easiest to reach. So how does it work?  Stuff from spurs is just manually run into FY1, loco attached from shed box, and off it goes. Same procedure in reverse when the train comes back to FY1.

 

Now to trains that have to be made up from a combination of cassettes and loose stock. This morning I started running things from where I had left off last time, expecting that it wouldn't be long before I needed to do this. However, the first 11 movements didn't need it. Some were fixed rakes that live in the main FY, and others were locals dealt with as described above. Eventually though, my ancient laptop showed me this.

 

 

so, two cassettes in this formation, the rest loose stock. This probably needs more fiddling about than most, but I timed it, and had the whole train assembled with loco at the front and ready to go within two minutes, even though there were 8 separate actions to be performed. For me, to know that what I now see running round is the correct formation according to the official records is well worth the time that it took to achieve it, both in planning, analysis, and actual physical movements.

 

Trevor and Jon, I'm sure I haven't answered all your queries, so please do ask again if there is clarification or more detail needed.

[JamieR4489]

This is fascinating stuff, GN. I might pinch some of your ideas for Tuxford North.

 

A question, if I may. How have you worked out loco rosters? E.g. If a KGX pacific goes out on, say, the 1054 KGX to Newcastle, how have you figured out which working the engine returns on? I’d be interested to see pictures and explanations of your loco storage facilities as well. You mention the HMRS surveys quite a lot, do you know if there are prewar versions or equivalents as well?

 

Regards,

 

Jamie