Grantham - the Streamliner years

[LNER4479]

Well, if my calculations are correct, this should be the start of page 20 (not that anyone's counting or anything!) Thanks for interest shown so far.

 

All being well, this should be an interesting page as there are some visitations in the offing. Accordingly, some feverish(-ish!) activity has been taking place...

 

First of all, the D2 is finished!

 

Well, finished so far as construction is concerned(!) There is the little matter of cleaning up and painting. Obviously, handrails and buffer heads get added after the paint. This is a London Road models kit, which I've really enjoyed making. It's taken two years on and off(!) Obviously, when building a layout there is a trade-off between that and projects like this.

 

Why is he showing a picture of the tender on its side?! If I can crave your indulgence for a moment, this is part of my solution to the nose-diving, poor adhesion, intermittent running 4-4-0 conundrum. Well, I say 'my' solution; I'm happy to acknowledge that this was directly 'cribbed' off a loco construction article in BRM many years ago, when someone had done a similar thing to an LSWR T9 'Greyhound'. If you look carefully, you will see that the rear axle is riding in pinpoint bearings directly attached to the main tender underframe but the middle and leading ones have been shortened and are riding free on an internal sub chassis (pivoted about the rear axle).

 

At the front of the tender, this is sprung - not too heavily, just enough to keep the wheels on the rails. A fixed drawbar then hooks on the back of the loco chassis (under the fall plate)

 

This is the effect. Weight is added to the front of the tender to counteract the spring so that it sits lower than in it's running position.

 

Hopefully you can see the difference when engine and tender are coupled? This therefore ensures that there is a decent bit of weight bearing down on the very rear of the engine, which stops any nose-diving tendency. With a simple compensation beam added to the front driving wheelset, this also helps keep all wheels with pick ups firmly in contact with the rails. Despite only having four wheels picking up 'the juice', she's perfectly smooth even at slow speed over the pointwork (and has good haulage powers).

Apologies to the seasoned kit builders out there who are already well-versed in this but I've highlighted this on the basis that there's always someone who can benefit from an old trick (like I did from whoever built that Greyhound!)

 

In other news, the depot is now 'going live':

I've 'bitten the bullet' and committed to a 'front of house' control point for operation of the depot. The controller (right) is only temporary; I'll eventually install a panel-mounted one in the space on the right hand end of the board. I'd be interested to know what folks think. I worry that someone sat 'front of house' obscures the view of the onlookers but there again onlookers often like to see 'how it's done'?

 

I've procrastinated long enough on the turntable (the pit has existed for nearly three years!). The space at the front of the layout is very tight hence it can only be a scale 70' turntable. The Fleischmann turntable looks to be a quality job (with a price to match) but it is just too damn big (and is not of the correct style). So this is the start of a fabrication using the well-known Dapol kit (which is also too big, but a bit easier to hack about), with the aim of creating something that resembles the Ransome & Napier original.

 

This view shows the turntable frame plonked (for now) in the well. One of the main thought considerations behind the front of house operating position is that the turntable will be right alongside the depot operator (the control panel is just off to the right). Positioning a pacific on this turntable (at a scale 70'/280mm long) will be quite tight so this should reduce the possibility of any embarrassing 'faux pas' in this regard!

 

'Robert'

Edited July 18, 2013 by LNER4479

[Markeg]

Hi Robert,

 

Excellent modelling there. 

 

Must get on with my Garratt and W1.  But the layout and some wagons have taken precendence.

Now back to the Cricket & cycling.

 

Mark in OZ

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

Robert, genius trick with the Dapol turntable.  Once again you've shown an amazing level of ingenuity, using bog standard components in an unexpected and realistic way.

 

Where dya get these ideas from, or are you like Commisaire Adamsberg, and things just occur to you with little visible effort?

[LNER4479]

Steady on Dr G-F - I've got to make it work yet! And I'm not the first one to spot that you can use the Dapol girders up-side-down - I actually copied some aspects of the design from a recent article in RM  (although I did make a similar one for Gowhole). Thanks for compliment, all the same (I tried to follow up you literary reference but I couldn't understand a word of it  )

[Alister_G]

Apparently, Le commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg naît dans L'Homme aux cercles bleus. C'est un homme nonchalant, souple, d'un caractère rêveur et en apparence désordonné.

 

 

Personally, I wouldn't have described you as lazy, or chaotic, but there you go...

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

I wouldn't describe Adamsberg as lazy and chaotic either!  

 

My current reading of choice.  I am a serial reader, currently finishing the Fred Vargas books having completed the Henning Mankells, the Graham Hurleys, the Donna Leons, the Michael Conellys.  All in the correct order of publication.  

 

>Fetches anorak, leaves quietly<

[LNER4479]

Delighted to have hosted a visit from Mr Wealleans today, he of the inexhaustible supply of LNER rolling stock

 

There he is in the background, working so fast placing stock on the layout that he's a blur! Meanwhile, taking centre stage is the layout's mascot 'Robert' (the Devil), terminating at the station with the improbable 3.30pm stopping service from Peterborough. But this was indeed part of a Grantham pacific diagram, the loco having passed through Grantham non-stop heading south a few hours earlier. Having been subsequently relieved at Peterborough, this was the way of getting her back to home shed!

 

A general view of the south end shows the afternoon Leeds express getting away from its brief Grantham stop just after 5pm. Alongside, in the up relief line is the stock of the 4.44 arrival from Lincoln. Due to the continued lack of platform 1(!), this was obliged to terminate in the main southbound platform so has quickly scuttled into the relief line to get out of the way. A nice convenient connection for those passengers wishing to continue their journey to Peterborough or London. Jonathan's delightful quad-art set takes the role of a local passenger set!

 

This one had the spotters scrabbling for their notebooks! A special van working heads south behind a B16. No two vehicles in the train alike; what a glorious sight.

 

Layout beginning to fill up nicely! An O2 heads north with a rake of empties, unusually routed along the mainline during a lull in northbound trains. Meanwhile, the southbound Queen of Scots Pullman heads through at speed. In the carriage sidings, the two vehicles that 'Robert' brought from Peterborough have been deposited, whilst the loco herself is in the background at the depot coaling stage.

 

A rake of fish empties heads north, this time with an ex-NER C7 Atlantic. Accordingly to Jonathan, it should really be in apple green and numbered differently; to atone for this aberration, I hope you noticed that it is bearing the correct lampcode (we think!). Meanwhile, further trains are recessed in the loops behind and this was the last northbound train for a while. Sounds like an important train coming next...

 

I should say so! Having left 'The Cross' at 4pm, 4490 'Empire of India' sweeps effortlessly through Grantham with the northbound Coronation, due a few minutes before 5.30. In platform 5, the stock from the carriage sidings has been formed up as the 5.48 to Nottingham Victoria. Taking a cue from the piece of archive film 61070 highlighted showing the inaugural(?) Coronation passing through Grantham in 1937, the leading vehicle of the Nottingham train is an empty milk tank, being worked back in stages to the creameries at Ingestre (on the Stafford branch).

 

The sharp shooting cameraman has swivelled round to give us this lovely view of the full train as it rounds the curve to the north.

 

I think that's enough excitement for one posting. More to follow in due course (possibly from Jonathan's camera?!)

 

'Robert'

Edited August 2, 2013 by LNER4479

[jwealleans]

Yes indeed, a marvellous day playing trains capped off by the last rites at Lord's on the way home and reading all the Australian post-mortem breastbeating on the web last evening. Takes me right back to 1989...and 1990-91... and 1993... I can only hope they're playing well enough to make it to day 4 at Durham, or I shall be writing to that nice Mr. Rudd to ask for my money back.

 

Anyway, back to the trains. My thanks to Robert for his hospitality and for the clear amount of effort he's made to build a worthwhile test track. We had a good day with almost no derailments and only one loco failure. The running was excellent all day, actually, a comment on how well the layout has been put together..

 

My photographer wasn't quite so well equipped (think small boy in shorts with box Brownie alongside BBC crew in a helicopter) but I did record some of the same traffic:

 

 

Quad Art set in traffic. This ran well - Kirk kit with ABS bogies and whitemetal underframe fittings. Gives it that ballast low down which helps running.

 

 

Here it is recessed as that A4 came belting through towards London. They were used on excursion traffic when they came out of works, but I think we were probably stretching things here.

 

 

I caught the B16 in the classic Grantham location. The working signals (and interlocking) are a very impressive feature of the whole thing as well.

 

 

 

Obviously a regular and so didn't attract much attention from the locals, but I thought this scratchbuilt C1 was one of the highlights of the day.

 

Now my camera has the next couple of trains in a different order.

 

 

I noticed that the goods loops had filled up, clearly to make way for something to overtake.

 

 

.. and it duly thundered past.

 

 

Control obviously took advantage of the clear road and sent this through straight after it.

 

 

There's a bit of a queue for the paint shop at the moment - I really must finish some other jobs and get on with it.

 

 

Finally, I caught this just going off shed for an 'assist'. I expect we'll be seeing that one later.

Edited October 17, 2018 by jwealleans

[great northern]

Delighted to have hosted a visit from Mr Wealleans today, he of the inexhaustible supply of LNER rolling stock

 

IMG_7026.JPG

There he is in the background, working so fast placing stock on the layout that he's a blur! Meanwhile, taking centre stage is the layout's mascot 'Robert' (the Devil), terminating at the station with the improbable 3.30pm stopping service from Peterborough. But this was indeed part of a Grantham pacific diagram, the loco having passed through Grantham non-stop heading south a few hours earlier. Having been subsequently relieved at Peterborough, this was the way of getting her back to home shed!

 

IMG_7028.JPG

A general view of the south end shows the afternoon Leeds express getting away from its brief Grantham stop just after 5pm. Alongside, in the up relief line is the stock of the 4.44 arrival from Lincoln. Due to the continued lack of platform 1(!), this was obliged to terminate in the main southbound platform so has quickly scuttled into the relief line to get out of the way. A nice convenient connection for those passengers wishing to continue their journey to Peterborough or London. Jonathan's delightful quad-art set takes the role of a local passenger set!

 

IMG_7030.JPG

This one had the spotters scrabbling for their notebooks! A special van working heads south behind a B16. No two vehicles in the train alike; what a glorious sight.

 

IMG_7031.JPG

Layout beginning to fill up nicely! An O2 heads north with a rake of empties, unusually routed along the mainline during a lull in northbound trains. Meanwhile, the southbound Queen of Scots Pullman heads through at speed. In the carriage sidings, the two vehicles that 'Robert' brought from Peterborough have been deposited, whilst the loco herself is in the background at the depot coaling stage.

 

IMG_7032.JPG

A rake of fish empties heads north, this time with an ex-NER C7 Atlantic. Accordingly to Jonathan, it should really be in apple green and numbered differently; to atone for this aberration, I hope you noticed that it is bearing the correct lampcode (we think!). Meanwhile, there are further trains are recessed in the loops behind and this was the last northbound train for a while. Sounds like an important train coming next...

 

IMG_7042.JPG

I should say so! Having left 'The Cross' at 4pm, 4490 'Empire of India' sweeps effortless through Grantham with the northbound Coronation, due a few minutes before 5.30. In platform 5, the stock from the carriage sidings has been formed up as the 5.48 to Nottingham Victoria. Taking a cue from the piece of archive film 61070 highlighted showing the inaugural(?) Coronation passing through Grantham in 1937, the leading vehicle of the Nottingham train is an empty milk tank, being worked back in stages to the creameries at Ingestre (on the Stafford branch).

 

IMG_7043.JPG

The sharp shooting cameraman has swivelled round and to give us this lovely view of the full train as it rounds the curve to the north.

 

I think that's enough excitement for one posting. More to follow in due course (possibly from Jonathan's camera?!)

 

'Robert'

Lovely stuff as usual, and that nice Mr Wealleans is very helpful isn't he? I must say that I find it a shame that all of those lovely GN 4.4.0's had gone by my period, not to mention the Atlantics. I just wonder if I could somehow arrange to backdate PN now and again...Noooooo! Look what you've gone and done.

[Barry O]

Really good to see a wide cross section of locos and stock - the layout come alive when you see the trains even though it isn't finished. Keep up the good work gents and thanks for sharing the photos....

[jwealleans]

all of those lovely GN 4.4.0's... not to mention the Atlantics

Small steps, Gilbert, small steps.... now you've all that extra space, what about starting with a footex?  Nice old York B16 bulled up, load of nice ex-NE coaches from the far back end of Holgate sidings where they've been since the Coronation weekend...

 

Then we can get you on to Atlantics... the 'Plant Centenarian' would be a good place to work from.... you'll find yourself back in 1947 in no time.  I'm sure Peter can rebuild that arcade for you in an afternoon.  Then, well, wartime was terribly dreary.  You really ought to carry on back to the 1930s.  Blue, silver and green locos.... 'brake tests' on a Sunday with the Dynamometer Car....

 

You know it all makes sense.

[silky_jack]

Really nice pics.

[jwealleans]

Back to that Sunday afternoon in 1937... once the main attraction had gone through, things started to flow on the Down again. Not far behind was the 4 pm KX-Leeds. Those who chose to wait for it got a bit of a rarity and not something you'd be able to see for much longer.

 

 

The fireman's probably had a rocket for not removing the headboard from an earlier working. Some of the stock also attracted attention - apparently this train could be seen made up of all sorts.

 

 

Behind that, however, something no-one had seen since 1932. A touch of nostalgia for the regular platform enders (did they have those before the War?)

 

 

To sign off, a short video - the only footage I managed to get anywhere near in focus all afternoon. Can anyone identify all the vehicles before the guys over on the LNER forum?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz50mTNxP5g

Edited October 17, 2018 by jwealleans

[Barry O]

ah... a Raven Pacific ...... nice locos and stock, nice layout..

[great northern]

Small steps, Gilbert, small steps.... now you've all that extra space, what about starting with a footex?  Nice old York B16 bulled up, load of nice ex-NE coaches from the far back end of Holgate sidings where they've been since the Coronation weekend...

 

Then we can get you on to Atlantics... the 'Plant Centenarian' would be a good place to work from.... you'll find yourself back in 1947 in no time.  I'm sure Peter can rebuild that arcade for you in an afternoon.  Then, well, wartime was terribly dreary.  You really ought to carry on back to the 1930s.  Blue, silver and green locos.... 'brake tests' on a Sunday with the Dynamometer Car....

 

You know it all makes sense.

The last word needs to be changed Jonathan, substitute "expense" and you're spot on. I'm retired now remember.

[LNER4479]

And now here is the BBC camera in the sky version (love it!)...


Yes, this is indeed depicting the 4.0pm from 'The Cross'. This famously departed at the same time as the Coronation but I'm sure the A4 would have shown its older rival a clean pair of heels up Holloway bank and was a full half hour ahead of it by the time Grantham was reached. Adding interest to the sequence at this hour is the 4.49 from Peterborough all stations service which was scheduled to pause at Grantham for some 17 minutes before continuing northwards, thus allowing the express to overtake. This latter service is in platform 5, with a K2 in charge.


Much to Jonathan's alarm, the express was due a loco change at Grantham so the pacific has been replaced by the B17 which now heads north (proudly displaying the express passenger headcode). Over on the right hand side, the A2 is reversing onto shed. The composition of Jonathan's express was worthy of note, third vehicle being a magnificent 12-wheeled clerestory, with two ex-NER vehicles on the rear. A little deficient in terms of catering provision perhaps...?(!)


2403 'City of Durham' is captured for posterity at the Grantham coaling plant. Of course, all this is highly improbable (bordering on incredible). There is the occasional picture of Raven pacifics at Grantham and even rarer sightings in London but the chances of one being on the 4pm from London AND being relieved at Grantham....? Ah well, usual model railway rules apply and it was a magnificent sight. Sadly, the attempt by Grantham shed to 'snaffle' the loco came to nowt!


As the visit was coming to a close, we lapsed into 'play' mode. Jonathan was keen to give his (anonymous) 'Long Tom' a run so several goods trains were combined to provide it with a 40 wagon load which it seemed to have no trouble with.



Someone then mentioned 50 wagons as being a notable target to aim for so 10 more of Jonathan's were duly added. This proved to be beyond the single 0-8-0's capability. A pilot loco was required at a moment's notice - and waiting to leave shed was the D2! This proved effective but made a highly amusing sight as the gentle rotation of its stately 6' 8" drivers contrasted with the still frantic efforts of the 'Long Tom' behind.


Finally, we were joined by some local railway friends, one of whom brought his new D11 for a quick spin and very impressive it was too. Also available in LNER livery. Hmm.....

Edited July 23, 2013 by LNER4479

[jwealleans]

That Director was lovely - silky smooth and dead quiet straight out of the box.  I was impressed.  Once I've finished my kit, I may be sniffing round for a bargain one somewhere.

 

The Q1 balked at 52 wagons; I reckon next time with some preparation and a few more plastic ones we can beat that easily. 

 

Since he's now made an appearance in the background, I ought to mention Paul Bolton who many of you will know as the manager of Hartlepool Show; he came with me for the day and I thought did a sterling job on the controls.  It's a mighty big panel to get to grips with first time and the interlocking looked a bit too clever for me.

Edited July 23, 2013 by jwealleans

[Mallard60022]

Now that really is great to see the 'whole' thing so to speak. Looking really good. The Director certainly looks very smart.

P @ 36E

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

I love the shots down the length of the station - can't wait to see the north end bays completed, and the remaining goods sidings in place.  

 

Still my favourite layout by far.

[Nelson Jackson]

Superb collection of locos and rolling stock, plenty of variety. Well done guys keep up the good work.

[Andrew P]

Thanks for the lovely pics, I just wish I had the room, but then we want more, don't we.

 

Please keep the pics coming,

 

Cheers,

Andy

[fishytrains]

Fantastic range of stock and locos. Pictures are brilliant, the layout is coming along very nicely.

 

Mike

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

I always look forward to updates from Grantham, it's one of the real treats on RMWeb.

[JCL]

I loved the photographs, they've given me an even better feel for how it's laid out. One question though, did I spy ballast in the picture of the Coronation??

 

I really love seeing that here has been an update on this thread in my following list

[andyrush]

 Re 4th day at Durham - I'll see you there then!

 

Andy

Yes indeed, a marvellous day playing trains capped off by the last rites at Lord's on the way home and reading all the Australian post-mortem breastbeating on the web last evening.  Takes me right back to 1989...and 1990-91... and 1993...  I can only hope they're playing well enough to make it to day 4 at Durham, or I shall be writing to that nice Mr. Rudd to ask for my money back.