Whinburgh and Slitrigg - Main line across the border

[coronach]

And here is platform 1!  The building is actually Lambley station house on the Alston branch, dating from a previous layout in the 1990s. It sits well here as it is fairly local to the Waverley. 
 

 

The station building on platform 1 is based on that at Hassendean. 
 

[coronach]

Got the D20 out again too. First time I have run it since stripping it down to fix a short circuit. Runs well now 😊

 

 

 

Edited April 4 by coronach

['CHARD]

Crab were rare on the Waverley route but not unknown. You're right in thinking they were LM interlopers and possibly pressed into service by Carlisle if short of St Margaret's power, which also suggests that Hurlford examples could appear as Kingmoor or Canal kick-outs.

 

I haven't got the records to hand but will provide more analysis as soon as I have.

 

Great modelling, of course, and the Hornby 2MT is delightful. 

['CHARD]

I have 25 Crab locos known to have worked over the route.

 

By the time of the first Locoshed book to hand (1965 edition), only 9 of these remained in service:

42705 at Bolton

42717 Rose Grove

42751 Gorton

42780 Ayr

42793 Stockport 

42800 Ayr

42831 Bury (Newton Heath by 1966)

42901 Stockport and

42905 Bury

 

Of the others already withdrawn, 42833-36 and 42875-77 are consecutively numbered sequences recorded at Hawick. 

 

EDIT to add:

Found pictures on Flickr of withdrawn 42834 at Upperby and 42835 at Kingmoor in 1962/63, so there was perhaps a phase when Carlisle allocated Crabs put in the occasional shift on the Waverley. 

 

Second EDIT : Carlisle sheds had the largest single allocation of the class, with 23 in total.

 

It certainly appears that some LMR, North Western depots' charges appeared on the route, I suspect they may have worked on double-headed cartrains as well as the through fitted freights.

 

Edited April 4 by 'CHARD

[coronach]

NBL type 2s weren’t seen on the Waverley Route but they are interesting locos to have. 

[coronach]

Just enjoyed a two hour running session (!) with my son. We exercised all of the railway infrastructure and several of the trains, which found out one or two issues but generally everything ran really well. The highlight for me was watching the pick up goods shunt the sidings at Slitrigg and the sidings at Whinburgh. The Heljan Class 17 runs beautifully at low speeds, which is ideal. 
 

We have made a list of the locos, passenger rakes and goods sets with the view of creating a comprehensive operating sequence. It’s all rather exciting really 😊

Edited April 5 by coronach

[coronach]

The sun has come out at Slitrigg. 
 

['CHARD]

Fantastic to see you back in the loft doing what matters!

 

I bet it's brisk up on Whinburgh Edge this afternoon, with a hint of sleet and hail from the direction of Slitriggshiel.

[coronach]

1 hour ago, 'CHARD said:

Fantastic to see you back in the loft doing what matters!

 

I bet it's brisk up on Whinburgh Edge this afternoon, with a hint of sleet and hail from the direction of Slitriggshiel.

Yes I bet it is. I have a realistic natural sound of wind gusts in the loft but fortunately it is warm and dry. 
 

Following the operating session on Friday evening with my (grown up!) son, today I discovered on the layout a sheep in the top of a tree. I wondered what he was up to after I descended the loft ladder!  

 

That aside, I am really pleased with the research he is doing into the Waverley local passenger trains. He is creating a working timetable based no later than winter 61/62 that we can base our running sessions on. I understand that the schedule was somewhat decimated after that.
 

The audit of rolling stock has identified that we have five 2 or 3 coach rakes of various LNER, LMS and BR non-corridor stock, plus lots of NPCCS and loose coaches that we can use for variation. We can also created the school goods if we are flexible with dates. 
 

There are 9 other rakes of coaches including the Waverley, Up and Down sleepers, semifasts, the Dundee- Blackpool and a couple of inter regional trains from the SR and LMR/WR so lots to go at. 
 

and then we have the freights……
 

 

Edited April 7 by coronach

[coronach]

 

[coronach]

A short interlude in the loft today

 

The G5 waits for the off on a northbound local train

 

The vans collected from Slitrigg yard by the up pick up await the down pickup to take them north to Hawick. 
 

Whinburgh North signalman has recently bought a new car

[coronach]

And here is the G5 seen on the approach to Whinburgh 

 

 

[coronach]

Here is Ivatt 4MT 43000 heading south through Slitrigg back to Carlisle on a permanent way train after the weekend engineering work.