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Belfast Great Victoria Street Station and Adelaide-lookalike tribute


Hunslet 102
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As a youngster I grew up in 1970s Belfast beside my local station,Adelaide,which was the first local station out from Great Victoria Street on the main Belfast to Dublin line.Nothing unique there and there was nothing unique about the station in the 70s as by then it was 2 platforms linked by a footbridge with a couple of waiting shelters.The appeal of Adelaide for me,was the freight yard that was built around this time to replace the old freight yard at Grosvenor Rd,which was just outside Great Victoria Street station.

 

I think,as like a lot of modellers,we are drawn to recreate a model of something we remember from our past.Such was the case here.I decided to model a fictitious local station with an adjacent freight yard,but running it in a prototypical manner as per the real operations on the line at the time.

 

The layout,as time and resources permit,has been moving along those lines over the last few years and ended up in layman terms as a double track scenic side with hidden sidings at the back-until last summer!

 

I have always liked the bustle of main line stations,but the area I have available,12x4,was fully utilised with the existing layout.I have always had a soft spot for the old Great Victoria Street station,which finally closed in 1976 and wanted to do a tribute model to it.I also did not want to undo all the work and effort of Adelaide,as the freight operations and movements are something I enjoy in modelling.A compromise was needed,but Great Victoria Street in such a small area available,it could never happen!

 

Bringing everything up to date,the continuous run hidden sidings have been ripped up,to be replaced with the 4 platform Great Victoria Street (lookalike).Although Great Victoria Street was the Belfast terminus for the Dublin trains,it did only have 4 platforms in the 70s.Also,the NIR based Enterprise,the name for the Belfast to Dublin express,had a winter formation of a locomotive and 5 coaches while the CIE equivalent had a loco with a maximum of 6 coaches.After careful measurement,platform 2,which was the only platform used by the Enterprise due to customs checks, could accommodate trains of this length.So,as prototypical operation could be achieved,all local trains were formed of 2 and 3 car railcar sets mainly,a start has been made on building a tribute to GVSt while retaining my tribute to Adelaide and the freight yard.

 

If progress is anything like the last few years it will be slow,but hopefully I will be able to upload some photos as things progress.Photos can speak a thousand words and hopefully the Irish feel of the layout will be apparent.Great Victoria Street station was a shadow of its former self in the 70s due to various bomb damage,with the overall roof being in a particular bad shape,so to create a model of a glass-less roof will be a challenge in itself.

 

Further information on the station and layout will follow with photos.

 

Hunslet 102

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Looking forward to this!

 

Thanks McC,hope it is of interest to you.By the way,I like your avatar of the C class in silver,unfortunately that livery was not a great success!

 

Not many C classes made it North to Belfast in the 70s,those that did were usually on the 'shopper specials',for those that wanted to take advantage of the exchange rate between the punt and the pound!

 

The variety of stock that both NIR and CIE used during the 70s makes it such a great period to model.

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Nice start Andy - now we know you can type ........... We need some photos so we can all see your talent for recreating 1970's Belfast

Looking forward to seeing this - congratulations on opening a topic ( at last).

 

Stuart

 

Thanks for the thumbs up Stuart.Might need a bit of advice from yourself and help from the family to upload some photos,but like British Rail,we'll get there in the end!

 

An update on blue with yellow faces is also required,hopefully Glasgow show at the weekend will get both are modelling mojo's up and running again.

 

Andy

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Hey Andy (and Stuart)!

 

I have a NIR Class C modeled - one of my favourites :)

 

Stuart - yours is still one of my all-time-favourites on here - would love to see some updates :)

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Hey Andy (and Stuart)!

 

I have a NIR Class C modeled - one of my favourites :)

 

Stuart - yours is still one of my all-time-favourites on here - would love to see some updates :)

 

McC-have seen Blue with yellow faces in the flesh,it is a cracking layout.Had the pleasure of running a Murphy 141 on it!

 

I have a few photos of the start of work on GVSt to upload,but had no success so far,afraid I will need to wait on being shown by the younger members of the family!Technology has left me behind!

 

Andy

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Has anyone any ideas how I can upload the photos from above as pictures with comments on this thread?I uploaded the photos to the gallery and then transferred them,but they came over as per the gallery thread,not really sure what I am doing.

 

Any help appreciated!

 

Andy

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Looking good Andy!

 

in the gallery, you will see a 'direct link to image file' when you hover over the image.

 

Copy this link and paste it into the box called 'URL' when you click on the little picture icon 'Image' in a thread. This will allow you to drop in just the photo at a larger resolution!

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Looking good! I love the terraces - look really really well!

 

Thanks for your support and comments Stephen,much appreciated.I grew up in those type of 2 up, 2 down terraced houses in Belfast,just beside Adelaide station.I will try to get some photos of the scenic side of the layout uploaded,with more terraced houses backing on to Adelaide station,as per the prototype,plus the freight yard,which is where most of the CIE loco's will be found!

 

Andy

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Am loving the maroon hunslet and class 80's - the scenics are very evocative of the place and time! More please!

 

The maroon Hunslet is an old MTK kit,sitting on a butchered Lima class 20 chassis.It is 1 of 2 like this.I still have 2 MIR Hunslet kits to build to go on butchered Bachmann class 20 chassis',both will be painted maroon to represent all 3 of the class in their original livery,while one of the original MTK kits will be repainted in the later NIR light blue livery of the late 70s,early 80s period.

 

'very evocative of the place and time' could not have been put better-damp and cold-just like the loft!

 

Andy

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Andy,

 

Keep at it! The devil's in the detail - ballasting, platform edging etc., they can be a tedious business but well worth the effort in the final look and "feel" of a layout. I expect GVS is a "fixed" layout so for many folk your photos will be their only chance of seeing it. Now that you;ve got the hang of photos, what about putting up a few of your NIR stock ones on the irish group area?

 

Colm

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Hi Andy,

 

Keep at it! The devil's in the detail - ballasting, platform edging etc., they can be a tedious business but well worth the effort in the final look and "feel" of a layout. I expect GVS is a "fixed" layout so for many folk your photos will be their only chance of seeing it. Now that you;ve got the hang of photos, what about putting up a few of your NIR stock ones on the irish group area?

 

Colm

 

Thanks for the encouragement Colm.

 

The layout is fixed in the loft,not ideal but the only area available for a layout.

 

I will try to post some of the NIR stock photos on the Irish group area as soon as I can.Most of them still have to be finished detailing wise,but I have tried to capture the feel of them as I remember them and this has mainly been inspired by your superb book 'Diesel Dawn',which helped with seating profiles etc.Without resources like your book,the excellent DVDs by Jim Edgar and some brilliant photos supplied by Jonathan Allen,the 1970s stock and 1970s Great Victoria St station project would never have got of the ground.

 

Thanks again for your comments.

 

Andy

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But for your mention in the Irish Group section I would have missed this. This certainly brings back memories, I was in Gt Victoria Street the morning it was bombed. Love your housing detail not to mention all those Railcars. I thought Colm was the only one who had a go at them. Please put up more pictures of them in the Irish Group Section, especially the DH. It's my next major modeling project and am in the process of gathering up the bits and pieces. Continuing success on your layout project like myself confined to the loft for space.

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But for your mention in the Irish Group section I would have missed this. This certainly brings back memories, I was in Gt Victoria Street the morning it was bombed. Love your housing detail not to mention all those Railcars. I thought Colm was the only one who had a go at them. Please put up more pictures of them in the Irish Group Section, especially the DH. It's my next major modeling project and am in the process of gathering up the bits and pieces. Continuing success on your layout project like myself confined to the loft for space.

 

Thanks Kirley,glad the layout photos brought back some memories for you.

 

The railcars are something I enjoy trying to recreate as they were the mainstay of operations on NIR and sadly none of the early examples were ever preserved.When I get a chance I will post some more photos of them along with the DH.The DH is a model bashed Mainline 03 shunter.

 

If you have a layout project of your own in the loft,perhaps you could post some photos of it on the forum.I assume it is an Irish layout as you are building a DH,have just done an MED and some spoil wagons.

 

Cheers again

 

Andy

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If you have a layout project of your own in the loft,perhaps you could post some photos of it on the forum.

Hi Hunslet

I took up this hobby in Autumn 2009 and built a layout in the loft to match the space I have. Then I discovered Irish models and the possibility of making them. My main focus has been on making, converting, scratch building all kinds of rolling stock. One of my problems is I have not concentrated on a particular area so my stock ranges from UTA/CIE to NIR/IE current stock.

I look with envy at period layouts like Kilagan, Cookstown Junction and your GVSt project and have decided to ditch my poorly constructed layout. My next problems is what era to cover and will probably go for one that will cover past and modern eras but it’s all still in my head.

Hence no photographs of my current layout as it does not meet the very standard set by yourself and others.

Edited by kirley
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Hi Hunslet

I took up this hobby in Autumn 2009 and built a layout in the loft to match the space I have. Then I discovered Irish models and the possibility of making them. My main focus has been on making, converting, scratch building all kinds of rolling stock. One of my problems is I have not concentrated on a particular area so my stock ranges from UTA/CIE to NIR/IE current stock.

I look with envy at period layouts like Kilagan, Cookstown Junction and your GVSt project and have decided to ditch my poorly constructed layout. My next problems is what era to cover and will probably go for one that will cover past and modern eras but it’s all still in my head.

Hence no photographs of my current layout as it does not meet the very standard set by yourself and others.

 

Kirley

 

The only standard that you need to live up to is your own standard.It is hard not to compare with what others have done,but,working to your own standard and trying to improve as you go along is the best way.3 years in the hobby is not long,but having seen some of your work with the spoil wagons and MED,your skills in that field are very good.

 

Layout planning is one of the best areas of the hobby.So much is always in our heads,but it is great to get it down on paper and take it from there.As regards to era,there is nothing to stop you having stock for a couple of different era's.Up until the last couple of years,I was fairly entrenched in the NIR 80s era with some 70s era stock,but once I got the bug to do Great Victoria Street last year and all the research that I put into the project,plus it was the period in time that I remembered most on the railway,I am now fully committed to the 70s era.However,this does not mean that the 80s era will not still have its fling,a blue 111 entering the old GVSt-the beauty of modellers licence!

 

Andy

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  • 3 weeks later...

gallery_1918_2005_167440.jpg

 

A couple of photos from the scenic side of the layout,circa early 1970s.

 

The above photo is a Northern Ireland Railways Multi Engined Diesel (MED) railcar set calling at the local station.These railcars were built in the 50s and had air operated doors,quite unique at the time.

 

The photo below shows the same MED railcar passing an NIR DH class,which were used mainly for permanent way trains.In the street above the railway,an army patrol consisting of a couple of landrovers and a 'Pig' go about their business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

gallery_1918_2005_184880.jpg

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