Hest Bank in 4mm scale

[TerryD1471]

I haven't posted anything here for ages, but a few things have happened.

 

Firstly and best of all, I was put in contact with Mick Moore and other members of Bingham MRC. They had been building a model of Hest Bank as their own Club layout, but had the great misfortune to lose it and 2 other layouts in a disastrous clubroom fire. The only thing that was not destroyed was the highly distinctive signal gantry south of the station, beautifully built by Mick Nicholson and the subject of an article in MRJ a while back. (NO IT WAS MICK MOORE, see later)

 

A couple of phone conversations resulted in the delivery of this gantry to our part of the world (many thanks to Chris and Sian) and its installation on my layout. My grateful thanks to all concerned and I hope that the Bingham Club feel that this is as happy an outcome as possible in the circumstances.

 

 

The first picture is of a northbound empty tube wagon train hauled by a Fairburn tank working bunker first.

 

 

A Fowler 4F crosses the down main with a pick-up goods working up the Morecambe branch and passing beneath the signal gantry. The loco is an Airfix body on a Comet chassis towing a Wills tender and the first wagon is a Warflat.

 

 

The gantry frames the passage of 45587 Baroda on an up working from Scotland to Liverpool. It is passing a short freight on the Morecambe branch hauled by an Ivatt 4MT.

 

 

Another shot of Baroda speeding south. The grassy bank behind the loco has been a trial area using old carpet underlay. Not happy with this, it will be replaced soon.

 

 

The same location looking towards the bridges. The workmanship on the signal gantry can be appreciated full from this view.

 

 

The Ivatt Flying Pig (I actually thoroughly like these locos, despite the rudeness heaped upon them for their looks) has moved off the Morecambe branch and moves through the station heading north for Carnforth.

 

 

A parcels working hauled by a Standard 5MT heads under the gantry and southwards for Lancaster and Preston. The loco is an old Trix body on a scratch brass chassis and is only kept for nostalgic reasons, being thoroughly outclassed by Bachmann's recent model.

 

 

An Austerity WD 2-8-0 hauls a lengthy train of empty steel flats and bolster wagons up towards industrial Lancashire.

 

 

A down express hauled by 46208 passes beneath the gantry on her way north via Carnforth to tackle Shap. The livery is the short-lived maroon lined in BR style orange-black-orange. This was superseded by the LMS style lining which eventually all 4 maroon Princesses carried.

 

To the best of my knowledge and research, only 46204 and 46208 ever carried this variant of maroon (unless of course, someone else knows better!).

 

I conclude by once again thanking the members of Bingham MRC for allowing me to enjoy the fruits of Mick's excellent workmanship.

Edited November 8, 2012 by TerryD1471

[RailwayDave]

Hi Terry, great to the see the signal gantry in its rightful place on a Hest Bank layout, but could I just correct your statement that the builder was Mick Nicholson. It was in fact Mick Moore, one time member and associate of Bingham MRC and writer of the article on its building in MRJ. Its great that it fitted straight onto your layout and shows that both layouts have(had!) been built to the same accuracy. I wish you well with the project.

David Page. ex Chairman Bingham MRC

[TerryD1471]

Hi Dave

 

Thanks for clarifying that confusion on my part. I'm not sure where the idea of Mick Nich's involvement came from, but a quick look back at the MRJ article was enough to cast doubt on the idea, so I was careful to thank Mick (without actually saying which Mick I meant!). Grateful thanks to Mick Moore anyway!

 

None of this diminishes my appreciation of the workmanship involved, nor indeed the generosity of the members of the Bingham club for allowing me to benefit from this superb model which is now sitting very happily on the layout.

 

All the best

 

Terry

[RonnieS]

Hi Terry

 

Gantry Looking Good !

Edited October 7, 2012 by RonnieS

[TerryD1471]

It's about time I added a few more pictures. A busy life means less time than I would like can be spent on the layout, but I do manage to do the odd thing on the scenic side. Also the occasional new item of rolling stock finds its way there too. Also I apologise in advance for the quality of the photos; they are taken on a modest digital without the benefit of additional lighting.

 

 

Elderly Hornby Dublo 8F with scale wheels and original small motor passes northwards through Hest with a partly fitted freight of more than 40 wagons.

 

 

Stanier 2-6-4T simmers in the bay platform with a couple of corridor coaches. Hest's track layout always looked like the junction station connecting a branch with the main line, but if it ever performed that function in the past, I suspect that was a very long time ago. I have no reason to believe that the bay platform ever hosted a branch train to Morecambe in the 20th century, although I would be happy to be proved wrong!

 

 

Grubby Royal Scot 46135 runs through the platforms at Hest with a down express for Carlisle. The period of the layout gives ample scope for variety of coaching stock and this train consists of a variety of ex LMS stock from period 1, 2 & 3. Although BR Mk 1 stock has been in use for quite a number of years, ex LMS vehicles can still be found in the consists of principal expresses.

 

 

As if to prove the point, 46247 City of Liverpool rushes south with a Euston express, consisting mostly of Mk1 stock but with a Collett 3rd also in the consist. At this time stock did seem to move about between the regions and you could find another region's stock purloined into use.

 

 

Here we have another view of 46247 passing under the gantry heading south, while a Stanier tank waits for a northbound working to pass, to be given the road to head back toward Carnforth for servicing, having brought a train into Morecambe.

 

 

Yet another view of the same up express, loaded to 12 coaches. I am a very happy user of Southern Pride Mk 1 coaches and have several rakes of them. They are nice kits to make and the Colourmaster range require no painting or lining, which suits me! Coaching stock is an area of enthusiasm for me and I am happy building vehicles using components from many sources, such as Comet or 247 Developments. However, I am also happy to have the work done for me by Messrs Bachmann, Hornby or Dapol!

[TerryD1471]

A few more pictures

 

 

A Flying Pig runs north through Hest with a train of empty tube wagons passing a southbound express mostly consisting of Bachmann Mk 1 stock.

Although a little progress has been made with the provision of buildings, the decision has been made not to try and reproduce the peripheral buildings accurately (I'm not likely to live that long!), but to place Skaledale near-equivalents or Hornby or Dapol plastic kit built items so as to give the impression of the buildings of the locality. Hence the fish & chip shop (top left) is represented by a Skaledale item which doesn't have the right roof shape, but is a shop building of about the right size.

 

 

The same scene viewed from a little further south. A Duchess (City of Chester) is hauling the up express. I can't wait to replace that old diecast lower quadrant signal with one that looks better!

 

 

I have attempted to reproduce a photo from Antony Darnborough's book "West Coast Steam" (standard reference work for me) of 46148 rushing north under the signal gantry. Since 46148 was rebuilt in 1953, it is rather early to appear on Hest, but I am allowing myself a certain latitude. This may extend to building a model of 46202 Princess Anne, although I honestly don't know whether she would have travelled this far north during her sadly short career before being destroyed at Harrow in October 1952.

 

 

A front view of City of Chester. The absence of front vac pipe, lamps and front coupling is evident and will be corrected.

 

 

A Black 5, rather too clean, is hurrying north with a Crewe-Carlisle parcels. In addition to enjoyng a variety of coaching stock, I also like to have as wide a selection of parcels stock as possible. That too seemed to move around the regions with abandon, hence the presence of Eastern, Western and Southern vehicles as well as ex LMS and BR GUVs and CCTs in my parcels trains.

 

 

A view northward from the vicinity of Cinderella bridge as a Black 5 hauled fully fitted van train accelerates to build up speed in readiness for the climbs ahead of it beyond Carnforth. It crosses with a southbound Glasgow-Birmingham working.

 

 

The same two trains viewed from near the road bridge where Marine Drive crosses the railway. This is the part of the layout where the greatest compromises have been necessary. It was necessary to tighten the curve progressively until it was down to 3 feet radius, to allow the whole layout to fit onto a total width of baseboard of 8 feet 6 inches. Also the distance between the two bridges has, of necessity, been shortened.

[TerryD1471]

Just a few more pics.

 

 

First we see a fully fitted van train heading north behind a Jubilee. Photographs suggest that quite a lot of the freight traffic on the northern WCML was fast fitted. I don't know if that's an erroneous assumption. I haven't yet digested a freight working timetable, but given that the stretch from Preston to Carlisle was 2 track only, I think it quite likely that finding paths for slow freights would not have been easy, in between the fast passenger traffic movements.

 

 

Another shot of the same working. Quite how a Midland division Jubilee comes to be on the WCML is not clear, but odd foreigners did seem to be in evidence from time to time. Job no 59 will be to "weather" this loco and change its identity (once I can find a Western division SFB Jubilee with a 4000 gall riveted tender for it to become).

 

 

A further Black 5 hauled up parcels working. More research has shown that the brick outhouse at the back of the chip shop was nearer to the platform than I have it here, also that the grass bank encroached more onto the platform, so that will have to be altered.

 

 

Same train; different angle. The train is the usual eclectic mix of bogie parcels stock with a GW Monster, BR Mk 1 BG and a SR GUV at the front of the consist.

 

 

This was a failed experiment at a low level shot. My excuse is that (a) I'm not Tony Wright, (b) I don't have the lighting and © these are snapshots for the record and as a progress report.

 

 

On the assumption that there must have been SOME slower moving freight, here is an 8F hauled 42 wagon train trundling north to seek refuge in the loops at Carnforth.

 

 

Same train. There are some vehicles still in pre-nationalisation livery and I think it's quite likely that this would have been the case in 1957. What is NOT likely is that they would be as clean as they are. I don't think even the BR liveried vehicles would be that clean, so a comprehensive programme of weathering is called for (Job no 61).

[beast66606]

Hi Terry,

 

I've finally found a book I knew I had somewhere

 

BR LMR Train Marshalling, Western Division (Crewe and North thereof) 1955/56

 

This details the makeup of all the trains in it's area (Crewe - Carlisle and branches roughly)

For example

 

Let me know if you want any information from it.

[TerryD1471]

Hi Terry,

 

I've finally found a book I knew I had somewhere

 

BR LMR Train Marshalling, Western Division (Crewe and North thereof) 1955/56

 

This details the makeup of all the trains in it's area (Crewe - Carlisle and branches roughly)

For example

 

Let me know if you want any information from it.

 

Beast, you are a star!

 

I have been looking for information of this kind for a long time! Clive Carter's book on LMS/LMR train formations has proved very helpful as far as it goes, but there's nothing as good as going to the "horse's mouth". I would very much appreciate some further info on Birmingham-Glasgow/Edinburgh and Manchester/Liverpool- Scotland workings, if you would be so kind.

 

Thanks once again in anticipation.

 

Terry Davis

[beast66606]

Here's what I've found, hope it's of use

 

I've not done Sunday, but will do if you want it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TerryD1471]

Beast

 

Thank you so much for that. It's certainly throwing a lot more light on contemporary operating methods and will give me a lot of very useful data.

 

You can obviously draw some of this from well-captioned photos, but the official documents leave no room for doubt!

 

Once again, I am very grateful and I would be glad if I could refer back to you again at some point in the future regarding other workings via Hest.

 

Terry D

[beast66606]

Beast

 

Thank you so much for that. It's certainly throwing a lot more light on contemporary operating methods and will give me a lot of very useful data.

 

You can obviously draw some of this from well-captioned photos, but the official documents leave no room for doubt!

 

Once again, I am very grateful and I would be glad if I could refer back to you again at some point in the future regarding other workings via Hest.

 

Terry D

 

Happy to help - let me know if you want anything else. Send me a pm if I don't answer for a few days, in case I miss things !

[heycons2]

Dear terry,

 

I have pdf's of the PTM books for the LMR Western lines for summer 1960 and summer 1961, but maybe they are a bit later than you would want. If you do want them, pls let me know by email, same address as before, and I'll send them along as attachments.

best, tony heywood

[TerryD1471]

Hello Tony

 

Thanks very much for the offer. If you would be happy to do me a few pdfs of the PTMs for Anglo-Scottish workings for summer 1960 only, I would be very grateful. I'll contact you by Email.

 

How is your own model of Hest Bank progressing? Do you plan to post any info on it?

 

i must admit to being encouraged by the number of WCML layouts that appear to be around, whichever scale they are in.

 

All the best

 

Terry Davis

[Leander]

Terry, you can find three .pdf files of the Summer 1960 LMR Western Division PTMs here

 

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/AJPQUH8n0f53gbxga-3fssj2mHKlXIFDN1KlxbOv1dW-rO4su6Gw5ikRuYHfbDjuN4WohHqL-E9n8ZxsLzEnrdwsx98LhFGoBMs/Carriage%20workings/CWN_Dropbox-list-for-BRCS_16-12-12.pdf

 

Pete

[Anglian]

Terry

 

Since you have large areas of grassland to cover have you considered or experimented with the faux fur method used on Retford, Leamington Spa, Blea Moor and others? There's an excellent 'how to' article in MRJ 186 that I think was written by a forum member.

[TerryD1471]

Terry

 

Since you have large areas of grassland to cover have you considered or experimented with the faux fur method used on Retford, Leamington Spa, Blea Moor and others? There's an excellent 'how to' article in MRJ 186 that I think was written by a forum member.

 

Hi Anglian

 

Thanks for that. You will have seen that my early efforts at doing straggly grass over a large area have not been an unalloyed success. They were my attempt to replicate previous experience on the Wolverhampton Club's layouts, but I shouldn't have been such a cheapskate as to try and use ancient 2nd hand carpet underlay, courtesy of the late Triumph Motors Ltd, recovered from the nether regions of my 41 yr old TR6. No, I shall endeavour to use some MUCH newer material, in the shape of hanging basket liner acquired from a garden centre. This looks much more convincing (even before I have tried to lay it), so if that doesn't work, THEN I might be persuaded to go the faux fur route.

 

If, at first, you don't succeed, blame someone else!

 

Terry D

[11B]

Hi Dave,

 

I've just found your thread quite by chance, I live just a few mile from Hest Bank, and looking at the photos of your layout capture the location really well.

 

I be watching this one with interest.

 

Kind regards

 

Ian

[TerryD1471]

Hi Dave,

 

I've just found your thread quite by chance, I live just a few mile from Hest Bank, and looking at the photos of your layout capture the location really well.

 

I be watching this one with interest.

 

Kind regards

 

Ian

Edited December 24, 2012 by TerryD1471

[TerryD1471]

Hi ijb2085

 

I tried yesterday to respond to your post, but my computer ineptitude overcame my good intentions. Thank you for your kind remarks, which encourage me as this is exactly what I am trying to achieve, even though the trains are supposed to be the stars of the show.

 

Thanks also Peter (Leander)

 

I have actually been sent the PTM books in question by another member (Heycons2) to whom I am also very grateful. All I have to do now is digest the huge amount of information and turn it into a workable sequence timetable with convincing looking trains.

 

All the best to everyone this Christmas time.

 

Terry D

[TerryD1471]

Christmas time brought the opportunity, after seeing the family (and sleeping off the effects of a superb Christmas lunch), of getting on with building a trio of Southern Pride Mk 1 coaches to augment/improve a couple of the rakes of "front-rank" trains on Hest Bank. So the Midday Scot rake and one of the Birmingham-Glasgows have now been uprated a bit. I think that's the name of the game; gradual improvement and slow progress towards one's goal.

 

A thought occurred to me during my typing this message; I have a number of old Lima Mk1 coaches. They have all been flush glazed and fitted with oval buffers. They have also now been undergoing a programme of filing off the old roof vents and replacing with proper shell vents, fitting with Jackson wheels and their couplings replaced with something much nicer and now after all this, they are beginning to look as if they belong. Not sure if this is an encouraging message to others, but it works for me. Perhaps it's a case of "don't lose what benefits you have". In this case, you have a coach which is the right size and shape with a decent paint job, but which could be improved in other ways. So don't throw it away, just get on and put right the quirky flaws which can be sorted out relatively easily.

 

They look OK to my eye among the 70+ Mk 1s present on Hest.

 

Rant over.

 

Have a good New Year.

 

Terry D

[TerryD1471]

It's about time I posted something else here otherwise it will be thought that nothing happens here at "little Lancashire in mid-Wales", which is not entirely correct.

 

For reasons that I don't understand, the pictures have not reproduced, even though they were uploaded in the correct places and in the same way that I have done many times before.

 

 

The first view is of City of London (DJH kit-built) hauling a down Euston- Glasgow loaded to 13 Mk1s (mostly) passing beneath the signal gantry. Apologies for the poor lighting in this and succeeding pictures.

 

 

Swing round and a second or two later we see her about to cross with an up mixed freight in charge of a Super D.

 

 

A while earlier(about 2 years) we see a similar Super D hauled freight crossing with another Duchess-hauled down express, this time the Midday Scot, loaded to 14, behind one of the last members of the class still to have a bevelled smokebox following destreamlining.

 

 

A southbound (up) milk train, Black 5 hauled, passes through Hest station at the same time as a down Birmingham-Glasgow express.

 

 

The milk train is now about to pass beneath the gantry on its way toward Lancaster and beyond.

 

 

Different day, same working, but this time the milk train meets a coal empties working north behind another super D.

 

 

Another Super D hauled coal empties wheezes northward as a Barrow-Preston semi-fast restarts after its stop at Hest Bank, one of the few workings to halt there.

 

 

Another view of the same coal empties (40+) making its weary way north.

 

 

Rotten picture; can hardly even tell it's an 8F hauled oil working from Heysham just about to join the main line.

 

 

Slightly better!

 

 

That's more like it. The oil train is halted at the gantry awaiting the passage of an up train before following it onto the main itself.

 

 

Rebuilt Patriot wheels a mixed bag of ex LMS coaching stock forming a Euston-Barrow working towards Carnforth where it will turn left off the WCML.

 

 

Turn around and we see her making for the north. Those back gardens of the houses which overlooked the line had a fantastic view in the 1950s era.

 

 

Here is Bunsen again, shot from a different viewpoint.

 

 

A loaded tube train behind a Flying Pig heads for Workington, which it will reach by traversing the Cumbrian coast line through Barrow.

 

 

And this is the reason I have not done much scenic work recently.

 

A load of Comet etched brass sides are being turned into about 20 coaches, mostly LMS period 2 and 3 and these are a few of them in work-in-progress. Long way to go.

Edited March 3, 2013 by TerryD1471

[Alan Higgi]

Where are the pictures?

[TerryD1471]

Where are the pictures?

That's what I want to know! They were uploaded, but they wouldn't appear!!

[TerryD1471]

I still don't know why the previous post failed to show the pictures when they were loaded exactly as before. Still here are the first 4.

The first view is of City of London (DJH kit-built) hauling a down Euston- Glasgow loaded to 13 Mk1s (mostly) passing beneath the signal gantry. Apologies for the poor lighting in this and succeeding pictures.

Swing round and a second or two later we see her about to cross with an up mixed freight in charge of a Super D.

A while earlier(about 2 years) we see a similar Super D hauled freight crossing with another Duchess-hauled down express, this time the Midday Scot, loaded to 14, behind one of the last members of the class still to have a bevelled smokebox following destreamlining.

A southbound (up) milk train, Black 5 hauled, passes through Hest station at the same time as a down Birmingham-Glasgow express.

Edited March 3, 2013 by TerryD1471