GRANBY JUNCTION - Shunting Siphons for the Up Parcels with a Manor!

[BWsTrains]

Hi John,

 

That last photo of Brewery Lane is superb, I think I'll "borrow" some of those ideas for Heathfield and definitely for W-s-M Ashcombe Rd when WC&PR moves from the Virtual to the Real.

 

Colin

 

 

Edited April 22, 2020 by BWsTrains

[john dew]

I have now added some of the painted Modelu figures to this Metcalfe Warehouse which conceals the northern entrance to the storage sidings:
 

As with the soap factory, in my previous post, its in a fairly prominent position. Its right above the computor screen so every time I run some trains (which is quite often!).......I look at the rather bland frontage and am reminded that I need to do something with that loose flapping cable......not at all shipshape and seaman-like





Two doors opened plus some weathering and a few figures make a big difference....particularly with the cable singled and weighted :

 

 

I dont know why but I am curiously reluctant to weather my road vehicles. They appear on the layout fresh and pristine straight from the Oxford Bubble, whereas my locos and rolling stock all have varying degrees of weathering. Its quite daft and needs to be corrected so at long last I made a start with Wynn's lorry.
 

The tarp is a Smiths Wagon sheet turned inside out and crumpled.

 

The shots above were taken on the bench......perching the tripod on the computor screen was not very practical so this is about the best shot from a normal viewing position

 

A typical Granby dark satanic mill.....definitely merits a 1948 style photo:






I hope you are all staying safe and keeping well.

Best wishes from Vancouver


John

Edited August 25, 2022 by john dew
24/8/2022 Photos

[Mikkel]

Hi John, I'm really enjoying watching Granby's population growing. Those Modelu workmen by the warehouse add a nice touch of life. 

 

The sunbathers on the rooftop, is that an actual British custom of the past - or particular to the Granby universe? (real question). In any case, I'm curious and a little worried about that empty deckchair . 

[trw1089]

Most vehicles were kept relatively clean John, so I would worry too much about weathering vehicles.  I do like the roof top sun tan boutique, and the story behind it.

 

cheers

Tony

[john dew]

4 hours ago, Mikkel said:

Hi John, I'm really enjoying watching Granby's population growing. Those Modelu workmen by the warehouse add a nice touch of life. 

 

The sunbathers on the rooftop, is that an actual British custom of the past - or particular to the Granby universe? (real question). In any case, I'm curious and a little worried about that empty deckchair . 

 

Hi Mikkel

 

That is very kind of you and much appreciated.

 

You had to go back a couple of posts for an explanation of the sun bathing:

 

"A bit of Family history may help.....I met Mrs D in Oldham (which perhaps explains why Granby sometimes looks more like a town in East Lancs than North Wales). Her Mum used to work in one of the many cotton mills there. In summer the mill girls used to sneak up to the roof during their dinner time in the hope of getting a tan. One has to admire their optimism! "

I should probably have underlined the last sentence!

 

And the mystery of the empty deck chair.......the deck chair in itself is a very ingenious brass fret and I liked the idea of one being on its own but I do feel that Miss Marple knitting on a mill roof would stretch even Agatha Christie's imagination!

 

Best wishes

 

John

 

[john dew]

2 hours ago, trw1089 said:

Most vehicles were kept relatively clean John, so I would worry too much about weathering vehicles.  I do like the roof top sun tan boutique, and the story behind it.

 

cheers

Tony

 

Hi Tony

 

I am so glad you like the sun bathing scene.....if nothing else it proves that not all GWR BLTs look the same

 

It was nice of you to reassure me about road vehicles being relatively clean in 1948.......but I fear you may be leading me into a trap regarding the relative climates either side of the Pennines I cant speak for 1948 but in Oldham, in the very early 60s, I have not so fond memories of the smog rolling up the Failsworth Road from Manchester.....my highly polished, souped up Ford Anglia didnt stay clean too long

 

Best wishes

 

John

[Mikkel]

5 hours ago, john dew said:

A bit of Family history may help....

 

Ah yes I had missed that. People will always find a way to catch the sun light through the clouds.

 

On 21/04/2020 at 18:39, john dew said:

The mystery of the empty deck chair.......

 

That chap under the newspaper looks extremely suspicious to me! 

 

[ian]

8 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

Ah yes I had missed that. People will always find a way to catch the sun light through the clouds.

 

 

That chap under the newspaper looks extremely suspicious to me! 

 

 

He is of couse dead.

 

No doubt poisoned, but how?

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, ian said:

 

He is of couse dead.

 

No doubt poisoned, but how?

Miss Marple will know.

[BWsTrains]

On 22/04/2020 at 02:39, john dew said:

Time to get these figures into a more realistic location




On a factory roof!

 

 

 

Lovely work John but only one thing, the woman in the sunnies brings to mind that classic Monty Python line from "The Travel Agent" sketch where Eric Idle complains about British Tourists holidaying in sunnier climes....

 

".........sitting in their cotton frocks squirting Timothy White's suncream all over their puffy raw swollen purulent flesh 'cos they 'overdid it on the first day.'"

 

a perfect fit!

 

Colin

Edited April 24, 2020 by BWsTrains

[john dew]

2 hours ago, BWsTrains said:

 

Lovely work John but only one thing, the woman in the sunnies brings to mind that classic Monty Python line from "The Travel Agent" sketch where Eric Idle complains about British Tourists holidaying in sunnier climes....

 

".........sitting in their cotton frocks squirting Timothy White's suncream all over their puffy raw swollen purulent flesh 'cos they 'overdid it on the first day.'"

 

a perfect fit!

 

Colin

 I’ll ave you know thats Gwyneth Jones from Accounts and her Mum is going to give her heck when she gets home for showing so much leg......whatever will they say in chapel?

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, john dew said:

 I’ll ave you know thats Gwyneth Jones from Accounts and her Mum is going to give her heck when she gets home for showing so much leg......whatever will they say in chapel?

That's funny! I used to know a Glenys Jones who was at teacher training college in Wrexham...

[john dew]

After the last few posts featuring 4 mm. figures you could be forgiven for thinking that Granby was a static diorama.

Its time for a few locomotive shots

 During the last few weeks I have also been developing and testing the 4 different passenger services that I want to arrive and depart from the south end of Granby Junction.

Last year, when I first started this exercise, I think I mentioned that I had a problem storing some of the trains that I wanted to run.

Two had to be stored in the carriage sidings that run alongside the Engine Shed:




On the left is a GWR two car B Set and a small Prairie already to back into Platform 6....not entirely prototypical but.....no problems

On the right is an LMS 4 car suburban set......here the siding is not long enough to accommodate a loco as well.
To set this train up for an Up departure a pilot will have to couple, back the train into P6 and uncouple....the train loco will then leave the shed and couple to the other end of the train.

Not quite as easy as it sounds. The shed exit road enters the P6 road and thus shortens its effective length. It can be done but it is a bit complicated to do automatically and involves pulling some wool over Train Controllers eagle eye........but thats for another day!

Right now, lets assume mission accomplished, so we can see the LMS train departing from Platform 6 (the Down Relief line) and in the act of crossing over to the Up main line

 

 

With cosmetic signals in fixed positions there are occasions, like this, when something will look fundamentally wrong!

Moving swiftly on......the train is hauled by an Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T . They were introduced in 1946 and look very different from the pre grouping "Lanky" tank and ex-LNWR Webb Coal tank that I use on the Northern suburban services to Birkenhead




I have a bit of a soft spot for these locos......as a boy I lived near the Liverpool-Southport electric line.....these were the only steam locomotives I ever saw, as once a day (weekdays only!) they hauled two blood and custard coaches
from Southport to join up with the Liverpool Lime Street-Euston train at Edgehill.

Sadly, close ups reveal that HMRCS straw lettering doesnt match Bachmann's lettering!

The relief Loco waiting in the storage yards is the original 1202

 

In historical terms, these two locos would have been among the newest to run on Granby.........in real terms they are  veterans. I guess I bought 1202 over twenty years ago. The re-numbered 1206 was bought more recently...actually in B.C.....it is nevertheless of the same vintage.

They are the last split chassis locos operating on Granby. It is, perhaps, a bit of a leap of faith that they will be capable of consistently performing with the precision that this complicated routine will demand.

More on this next post..........

......meantime, lets go back in time to 1948 as an 18 month old 1206 crosses Granby viaduct





Amazing what you could achieve with a Box Brownie!

Stay safe...keep well

Best Wishes

John

 

 

Edited August 25, 2022 by john dew
24/8/2022 Photos

[john dew]

Thank you so much for all the ticks......it is so encouraging.

 

Not sure if this post will be so popular. There are a few hand held shots that are a bit dodgy....I really need to invest in some sort of cantilevered tripod.....plus there are some computor screen shots!

 

I left you with 1206, a LMS Ivatt 2-6-2T, hauling a rake of 4 non corridor coaches on its way to Crewe





Nearing the end of its journey......having travelled at least 6' ......the train enters the approaches to "Crewe"





Running parallel , as it leaves the storage turntable, is the relief loco 1202. This loco will eventually take the train back to Granby





This is a screenshot of the Storage Yard Block Diagram. Occupied blocks are coloured pink and display the train assigned to it. 
 
D5, the unoccupied block at the bottom, serves as the destination block for 5 different services from Granby......at any one time it can be Barmouth, Oswestry, Ruabon, Shrewsbury........right now its Crewe



At the bottom is a blow up of D5. The red and yellow arrowheads represent brake and stop markers that are assigned to different schedules and or locos.

Each pair of brake and stop markers are set up with specific distances. D5 is 73" long  If I wanted the train to stop at the very end of the block the Stop marker would be set at 70" (to avoid fouling the adjacent line). The brake marker would be set to activate after the the train had traveled 46" from first entering the block.....once activated the train would progressively slow for 24".....finally stopping at  70"  

For this schedule I want the train to stop over the uncoupling magnet which is 54" from the start of the block.  



The train having entered the block has to travel for 30" at 20mph before the brake marker is activated.. This screen grab was live so you can see  train has in fact travelled just over 30".........the uncoupling brake marker is activated ( Yellow square) and the loco throttle (bottom right) is showing just a littleless than 20 mph

The loco will progressively slow for the next 24"  and eventually crawl over the magnets:
 

Once the loco has traveled 54" the stop marker is activated



 

 At the finish of every schedule you can set up a list of commands





In this case the Kadee Shuffle and start the schedule to couple the relief loco at the other end of the train



If you are following closely you may well wonder why the uncoupled loco has to move 7" away from train?



The relief loco has not only to couple but also push back the train 4" to avoid fouling the main line exit point



At the end of the coupling schedule another list of commands



Another Kadee Shuffle to ensure coupling has taken place
 

 

Train Controller now matches what has happened on the layout .....1206, the original loco, is separated from the train.
 




So there we have it......all done......full house!
 



D5 is not a storage siding as such. Trains ending a schedule here are essentially turned round and sent on their way. When not required they are stored elsewhere. The Crewe and Ruabon trains are stored adjacent to Granby Shed. In this photo, the GWR Barmouth train can be seen on the right. At the very top of the  sidings you can just see the 4 coach GWR suburban set.....patiently waiting for some large prairies.

Hope you enjoyed this.....I tried to keep the RR&Co stuff to a minimum but bearing in mind how essential it is to the operation of Granby I cant avoid mentioning it from time to time!  Other RR&Co users will note that, for simplicity, I glossed over the coupling schedule where the relief loco has to stop in an already occupied block......a tale for another day perhaps.


My best wishes from a very sunny Vancouver

John

[john dew]

No time for a post last week I am afraid.......gardening, including shifting 3 yards of top soil became a priority. I doubt if I spent more than an hour in the train room.

Since then we have had a couple of rainy days.....who would have thought one would welcome rain in the Pacific North West?

Time to catch up with the 4 coach LMS suburban set that we last saw arriving at Crewe (Storage siding D5) hauled by Ivatt 2-6-2T number 1206

Now on the return journey, another Ivatt, 1202, storms up Granby Bank:




 Once the train has cleared D5 the original loco 1206 moves to the storage turntable



Here we see 1206 scurrying back to completely clear D5 so the block can then accept another Up suburban train from Granby


Meantime, 1202 continues on its journey to Granby with the Down train

 

Just like a stopped clock a fixed signal can occasionally be correct!

 

As the train approaches Platform 6 the relief loco can be seen on the turntable

 

 

At one stage I had thought of doing a loco run around rather than an exchange at Granby but that would have meant Platform 5, the main Down line, being blocked. So I reverted to my usual pattern of three locos being allocated to a set train. One loco at each terminus and one on the train. When this train isnt being run, the carriages are stored in the vacant carriage siding seen above and two locos are in Granby Shed


Time to introduce the third member of the cast:
 

 

Yet another Ivatt......this time the Class 2.... a 2-6-0 tender version. Although labelled 2F it was designed and used for mixed traffic duties and often seen with passenger trains in North Wales.

She is a brand new loco for Granby .......more on this next post.


For now......lets enjoy the sunshine!

Natural light and shadows........not often seen on Granby. The train room gets very little sun but in summer time there is a brief period in the late afternoon when one side of the layout is flooded with light. So much so that from some angles it is impossible to take photographs.

 

However, just occasionally the sun angle and subject position coincide with quite pleasing results:

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy this picture as much as I do

Best wishes from Vancouver where there is still soil to shift and its started to rain.....not sure if I am pleased or sad!

John

[Neal Ball]

Afternoon from sunny Spain John.

 

I've just had a catch up with your last few posts - I love your block detection / controller details for the locos.

 

As ever, another busy day at Granby - thanks for sharing.

 

Regards, Neal.

[trw1089]

Lovely shots of the Ivatts, John.  I have a soft spot for them after traveling behind 41241 on the Worth Valley and weathering a few for my LMS inflicted friend as can be seen below.  I like hearing about your workings on Granby too, everything has a purpose.

 

Cheers

Tony

[john dew]

Hi Tony

 

Thanks for posting those photos......you are a master at weathering. I still use your Super D as a guide when weathering black locos. For some reason I struggle with black locos....much more comfortable with green ones......its no doubt all those panniers I have done!

 

I found the Ivatts particularly difficult because they had theoretically only been in service for about a year on Granby.......really filthy after wartime service is easier than slightly filthy! I think mine should perhaps be revisited!
 

Best wishes

[john dew]

No pretty scenery this week or mention of RR&Co........just a bit of philosophy and a sequence of workhorse photos as I continue to focus on my latest acquisition.


Regular readers will know that I use an old Army mantra to evaluate possible purchases:

                                       Must have        Should have         Could have 

I always qualify this with the caveat that I am talking about discretionary spending on a hobby. "Must have" has a somewhat different connotation in the real world....particularly in 2020.

It does remain a useful way of evaluating priorities.......looking at new GWR releases this year.....

With a rake of 4 almost unused GWR suburban coaches, Granby must have one or more of Hornby's retooled large prairies.....now expected in June.

I should, and almost certainly will, buy a Mogul from Dapol........my Mainline split chassis expired years ago

I could........perhaps.... buy one of Bachmann's 94xx  panniers.....4 or is it 5 years in the making.... now due December. However only 9 were built in 1947and only one ventured north .....to Wolverhampton..........stretching towards Rule 1 territory

Rule 1 is always a convenient get out but, to my mind, if applied without question can negate all the effort that has gone into the layout to ensure some sort of historic accuracy.

Here is a good example :





Rails/Dapol Terrier!  Absolutely stunning model with great reviews. I spent a considerable time trying to devise a justification for running one on Granby.

Problem is the GWR only had two (taken over from the Weston Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway in Somerset) and #6 was scrapped January 1948...........with the sunbathing scene Granby is definitely placed in the early summer of 1948!  Reluctantly I decided this was a case of "Should not"

However Bachmann's Ivatt Class 2 , seen here straight out of the box, easily qualified as a " Could have"



 
Not only was there an operating requirement with the 4 car LMS suburban set, the locos were introduced in 1946 and operated in North Wales.

However the price was the clincher......79 GBP and that is before deducting VAT. Thats the sort of pricing I remember from over a decade ago. Recommended retail is shown as about 150 GBP although I think regular retail was close to 120 GBP.

Not sure what went wrong with Bachman's sales estimates but throughout this year there have been a series of heavily discounted prices on a very wide range of their locos. Smaller retailers and customers who paid full price on initial release would not have been too impressed.

I am beginning to think I should add a rider to "could have" purchases.......never buy on initial release!

I must say I am very happy with my new purchase. Good finish with some very fine detailing and smooth running and perhaps most important decent haulage. She coped with the climbing curve out of the storage sidings without difficulty.....which is not the case with some locos out of the box.

LMS drivers nicknamed the class "Mickey Mouse".........Mighty Mouse might be equally appropriate

Looking a bit too pristine in the storage yard




This shot was intended to show just how diminutive she actually is. On reflection comparing her with a Super D and a Castle is hardly fair! At  least it gives us another opportunity to admire Tony's weathering!  That Super D has more Air Miles than most....China-UK-Australia-Canada


Lightly weathered with just a little real coal, crew, Class B headlamp code,tender pickups and a Lenz Silver Chip




.Now by way of contrast a few related locos:

Ex Midland Johnson 3F 0-6-0.........one of the many ageing locos the Ivatt was designed to replace


 


 6418s big sister Ivatt Class 4 2-6-0  4F       


 


Commonly known, with some justification, as "Mucky Ducks".

Some might say it is a triumph of function over design.......Wikipedia suggests that some enthusiasts think it the ugliest British Loco ever.

I have had this loco for many years and never used it very much.....it probably qualifies as a "shoudn't have". I finally got the pick ups sorted and she can now be seen regularly on the Down goods circuit.

This is a better comparison shot






To finish a too lengthy post, here is a repeat shot of 6418 moving off shed to take over the Granby-Crewe run.

 

Best wishes from Vancouver

[brianusa]

1 hour ago, john dew said:

Rails/Dapol Terrier!  Absolutely stunning model with great reviews. I spent a considerable time trying to devise a justification for running one on Granby.

Problem is the GWR only had two (taken over from the Weston Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway in Somerset) and #6 was scrapped January 1948...........with the sunbathing scene Granby is definitely placed in the early summer of 1948!  Reluctantly I decided this was a case of "Should not"

 

Well John, if t'were me, I'd have come up with some tale of finding it on some obscure siding behind the engine shed, or similar.  Too good to ignore!

    Brian.

[The Johnster]

Apparently the mickey mice were so named because the cab, massive compared to the slender boiler, stuck out line Mickey’s ears in a head on view. 

[St Enodoc]

5 hours ago, john dew said:

With a rake of 4 almost unused GWR suburban coaches, Granby must have one or more of Hornby's retooled large prairies.....now expected in June.

I should, and almost certainly will, buy a Mogul from Dapol........my Mainline split chassis expired years ago

I could........perhaps.... buy one of Bachmann's 94xx  panniers.....4 or is it 5 years in the making.... now due December. However only 9 were built in 1947and only one ventured north .....to Wolverhampton..........stretching towards Rule 1 territory

All of those are on my "will have" list - is that a fourth category?

[john dew]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

All of those are on my "will have" list - is that a fourth category?

Engineers are so decisive!

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, john dew said:

Engineers are so decisive!

Agreed - I think...

[richard.h]

Hi John

 Superb work on the Mill you have an artists eye for painting and posing your figures into beautiful little cameos.

 

If I could make a couple of points based on my own research

The hoist end usually had a stop on to prevent the pulley block overrunning, depends on type.

 

Safety chains were fitted across most doorways above ground level, these could be unhooked for larger loads.

 

 

Hope you don't mind but I was an apprentice in't Mill in my younger days