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

[trw1089]

Look John, it's like this with regards to your photos - any shot of Granby is a good one, it's a layout I aspire to in terms of the look and feel of the townscape scenery, but seriously, that Pannier Parade post was a little hard to swallow...

 

I'd love to play with one of those Accurascale Manors as they just look superb.  I have weakened recently by doing up a Hornby King with sound simply because I liked the sound file so much and there's a shot of a King through Wakefield Westgate during the 1948 loco trials if I remember correctly.

[john dew]

Continuing  shunting the Up Parcels from Chester.

 

It has taken far too long to tell this tale. Apart from the usual summer diversions I am afraid I have wasted too much time experimenting with an Iphone camera app. The aim was to introduce more variety into my photography - view points for tripod mounted DSLRs on Granby are somewhat limited. Sadly the experiment failed, or at least stumbled, at the first hurdle - more on this next week.

 

Back to the shunting:

 

Approaching from Chester (Storage), the routine is designed to drop one van in the Bay Siding and then pick up two vans previously stabled by the Pilot in the Up siding

 

 

 

I left you with the incoming train headed by Compton Manor (Dapol - I still have a long wait for my Accurascale) leaving the main line to enter Bay P3 - thus allowing access the Bay Siding.

 

 

You can see the Bay siding, marked by a magnet, in front of the Signal Box. Immediately to the right of the box you can catch a glimpse of the leading Siphon on the Up siding.

 

Here is the reverse view of the train entering P3. An LMS Ordinary Passenger with a Lanky Tank is in P2. On the extreme left is the Station Pilot waiting for Compton Manor to drop off the rearmost van(s)

 

 

 

This is my single  Iphone shot - not great, definitely a box brownie effort - but does demonstrate my need for alternative photo angles. The drunken hydrant has been reprimanded and now stands properly to attention.

 

Compton Manor stops just short of the Stop block with the rear van clear of #50 which willl be thrown to access the Bay Siding

 

 

 

The train reverses into the Bay Siding:

 

 

and uncouples:

 

 

I have had to substitute these two 4 wheel SR vans for for the intended SR bogie van. For whatever reason the latter proved to be an unreliable uncoupler.

 

Once uncoupled the shortened train clears the Bay siding and advances further back into into P3 so that the rear van clears #50:

 

 

During this segment, you may have noticed that Compton Manor and the two vans immediately behind , do not actually leave P3. They merely shuffle up and down P3 while the rear of the train enters and leaves the Bay siding. This makes automatic operation a bit tricky because RR&Co relies on Block Occupancy signals to activate brake and stop markers. Fortunately close attention to individual schedule rules - plus a local innovation that might not meet with Herr Freiwald's approval -make it all happen!

 

Once #50 is thrown, Compton Manor can push the train back on to the main line and via #47 into the Up Siding and couple with two Siphons:

 

 

I mentioned the lack of photo viewpoints - despite moving a building and a couple of locos this is the best close up I can manage:

 

 

The six van train is so long (or my siding is so short) that the Manor is still trapped in P3!

 

 

It now has to draw forward into P3 yet again so the train can completely exit the Up Siding and clear #47. Once #47 is reversed the Manor can push the train clear of the Bay area and on to the Up Main ready for departure:

 

 

 

 

I had hoped to conclude this drawn out post with a couple of shots of Compton Manor with the train leaving Granby and the Pannier collecting the 2 SR vans from the Bay Siding. Unfortunately I will have to leave that until next week.

 

As you can see from the last shot the evening sun is now pouring through the train room window making decent photography quite difficult.

 

More importantly tomorrow is September 7th:

 

We got married on that day in 1963 - 60 amazing years!  Dinner for tomorrow is set up and a romantic week end in Tofino later but all this will be worth nothing if I dont get a move on - I have just realised I have forgotten to get a card!

 

In haste from Vancouver  😳

 

 

[Neal Ball]

Congratulations on your Diamond anniversary @john dew

 

Nice sequence with the Manor.

[M.I.B]

Congratulations John.

 

 

[Mikkel]

What a lovely sequence John, shunting and marriage both! 🙂 Congratulations! 

[5BarVT]

12 hours ago, john dew said:

More importantly tomorrow is September 7th:

 

We got married on that day in 1963 - 60 amazing years!  Dinner for tomorrow is set up and a romantic week end in Tofino later but all this will be worth nothing if I dont get a move on - I have just realised I have forgotten to get a card!

Congratulations from me too.  We ‘only’ managed 40 this year and I too forgot the card until the last minute so was limited in choice at the local shop.

My favourite card was from our daughter who said “Congratulations on tolerating each other for 40 years.”

12 hours ago, john dew said:

During this segment, you may have noticed that Compton Manor and the two vans immediately behind , do not actually leave P3. They merely shuffle up and down P3 while the rear of the train enters and leaves the Bay siding. This makes automatic operation a bit tricky because RR&Co relies on Block Occupancy signals to activate brake and stop markers. Fortunately close attention to individual schedule rules - plus a local innovation that might not meet with Herr Freiwald's approval -make it all happen!

I will have some of that sort of shunting to achieve when I get to adding parcels trains to the sequence.  I may come for advice on local innovations when I get there.

Paul.

[BWsTrains]

9 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Congratulations on your Diamond anniversary @john dew

 

Nice sequence with the Manor.

 

Hi John,

 

Likewise from me. Will email you shortly with latest.

 

Colin

[trw1089]

Congratulations on the anniversary John and Mrs Dew.  We got married on the same date in 1996, so 27 years for us yesterday.

 

Cheers

Tony

[john dew]

Belated thank yous for all those nice posts congratulating us on our 60th anniversary - they were very much appreciated.

 

It was definitely a memorable week end. We have only just recovered from Saturday's lunch. What we thought would be a quiet meal, with our two daughters and their spouses, turned out to be a  multi course, four hour lunch with our entire extended family plus in-laws and a pair of old sailing friends. Our kids are masters of deception - we were totally flabbergasted when they lead us into the dining room and saw such a crowd. They had surreptitiously (I had to spell check that one) purloined photos taken over the 6 decades of our marriage and had a lot of fun devising captions and trivia questions - some of you can probably imagine the hilarious shots from the seventies - was my hair really that long, were flares ever that wide?

 

When we finally got home it was time to watch England v Argentina which I had had the foresight to tape - the second time for me to be amazed that afternoon! Not a result that I expected, particularly after the red card. Not approaching the standard of France v New Zealand but as an example of how to win with only 14 men it was brilliant - super finale to a truly memorable day!

 

Not often I go completly off topic but celebrating 60 memorable years should be a reasonable excuse.

 

Best wishes

[BWsTrains]

5 hours ago, john dew said:

Not often I go completly off topic but celebrating 60 memorable years should be a reasonable excuse.

 

 

Fair enough too, that's usually my domain!

 

Best wishes from over here,  Colin

[john dew]

Back to Granby:

 

Finally we can see the freshly marshalled Up Parcels leaving Granby for the Midlands:

 

 

 

The four leading vans run as a fixed formation whereas the two rear siphons and SR 4 wheelers rotate with each run of the routine. I have a couple of Lima/Hornby Siphon Hs and I may substitute one for two SR vans

 

The three new AS siphons are separated by a Hawksworth PBV. As I have said before, I know such a van in this livery is pure fiction but needs must! You may have noted there are two in this train. Both have been weather, "WR" removed and twin city decals added. I dont think they look too out of place hopefully before not too long I will attempt to convert a Collet suburban or, better still a Toplight will arrive

 

In the foreground  the pilot can be seen pulling the recently released  SR vans to the King St Parcels depot for unloading :

 

During the course of the day the two vans will be shunted out of the depot building into the adjacent siding ready for the Down train.

 

Next, at the other end of the train room and after manipulating tripod and DSLR under the duck under:

 

7807 Compton Manor hauling the 6 van Up Parcels over Granby viaduct:

 

 

The LNER ran into Wrexham although I am not sure how often one would have see an LNER van on a southbound train? Regardless  I do like that teak livery particularly in this setting followed by the contrasting GWR liveries. .

 

To finish, some closeups of Compton Manor (Dapol) :

 

 

 

 

The reverse slope of the firebox is a bit obvious. The brass safety valve cover  would still pass muster on Horse Guards Parade - despite numerous applications of dullcote. Other than that, on the whole, I think she scrubs up rather well

 

Usual treatment : Crew, Head lamps, Fire Irons and real coal. Wheels blackened, lightly weathered and for the first time I applied Pledge to the boiler and firebox. I think the experiment was rather successful. The depth of colour has been enhanced and I find the overall effect quite pleaasing.

 

 The running performance is superb, she handled all those slow (scale 10 mph) shunting moves without faltering  - if my Accurascale Manors, when they arrive **, perform equally well I will be a very happy camper.   

 

** I am afraid it will still be a few weeks before the, no doubt eagerly awaited, Canadian review is posted. Anthony Manor went into my Hatton's trunk on August 21 but, thinking Hinton Manor was imminent, I left it there. Now that I know Hinton Manor is unlikely to be at Hattons until early October I have bitten the bullet.  Anthony Manor is now winging its solitary way across the Atlantic to Vancouver - continue to watch this space - but with patience

 

Best wishes

 

 

[Neal Ball]

1 hour ago, john dew said:

Back to Granby:

 

Finally we can see the freshly marshalled Up Parcels leaving Granby for the Midlands:

 

 

 

The four leading vans run as a fixed formation whereas the two rear siphons and SR 4 wheelers rotate with each run of the routine. I have a couple of Lima/Hornby Siphon Hs and I may substitute one for two SR vans

 

The three new AS siphons are separated by a Hawksworth PBV. As I have said before, I know such a van in this livery is pure fiction but needs must! You may have noted there are two in this train. Both have been weather, "WR" removed and twin city decals added. I dont think they look too out of place hopefully before not too long I will attempt to convert a Collet suburban or, better still a Toplight will arrive

 

In the foreground  the pilot can be seen pulling the recently released  SR vans to the King St Parcels depot for unloading :

 

 

During the course of the day the two vans will be shunted out of the depot building into the adjacent siding ready for the Down train.

 

Next, at the other end of the train room and after manipulating tripod and DSLR under the duck under:

 

7807 Compton Manor hauling the 6 van Up Parcels over Granby viaduct:

 

 

The LNER ran into Wrexham although I am not sure how often one would have see an LNER van on a southbound train? Regardless  I do like that teak livery particularly in this setting followed by the contrasting GWR liveries. .

 

To finish, some closeups of Compton Manor (Dapol) :

 

 

 

 

The reverse slope of the firebox is a bit obvious. The brass safety valve cover  would still pass muster on Horse Guards Parade - despite numerous applications of dullcote. Other than that, on the whole, I think she scrubs up rather well

 

Usual treatment : Crew, Head lamps, Fire Irons and real coal. Wheels blackened, lightly weathered and for the first time I applied Pledge to the boiler and firebox. I think the experiment was rather successful. The depth of colour has been enhanced and I find the overall effect quite pleaasing.

 

 The running performance is superb, she handled all those slow (scale 10 mph) shunting moves without faltering  - if my Accurascale Manors, when they arrive **, perform equally well I will be a very happy camper.   

 

** I am afraid it will still be a few weeks before the, no doubt eagerly awaited, Canadian review is posted. Anthony Manor went into my Hatton's trunk on August 21 but, thinking Hinton Manor was imminent, I left it there. Now that I know Hinton Manor is unlikely to be at Hattons until early October I have bitten the bullet.  Anthony Manor is now winging its solitary way across the Atlantic to Vancouver - continue to watch this space - but with patience

 

Best wishes

 

 

I'm interested in your side by side analysis John….

 

As ever a Saint would be nice next, not sure I need another Manor just yet 😎

[BWsTrains]

Hi John,

 

just sent you a PM,

 

Colin

[M.I.B]

I agree on the sight of a teak full brake behind a Great Western tender engine - my pigeon rake is still my favourite looking NPCCS.

 

Fully support your use of a Hawksworth full brake as you well know.  Good models from Hornby and had BR been born 2 years later these would have been in full GW livery.  Rule 1......

 

Regards,