Humber Dock needs a new home

[clecklewyke]

This is the saga of a model railway built in haste, which I have regretted at leisure. It has received a lot of positive response but I have always been unhappy with its operation, so I am rebuilding it in preparation for its exhibition at Scalefour North next year. I will try to keep its progress up to date on RMWeb. Maybe a weekly deadline to report progress will enable me to achieve a deadline of April 2013 for its exhibition!

In only a slightly alternative universe, the North Eastern Railway extended its Hull Victoria Dock branch to re-cross the River Hull and link to its main line from Selby. This created a circular suburban railway and gave an alternative route to the eastern docks, which avoided the many level crossings which plagued Hull’s road users.

Where this line crosses the lock at the entrance to Humber Dock, it runs as a street tramway, with rails inset into the roadway. The railway carries the wealth of traffic which flows through the Hull docks in the 1950s. As well as the trip goods workings and passenger trains on the main line, tiny shunters take wagons in small numbers round ludicrously sharp curves to the dockside.

Here is a map showing the area modelled. Hull Town Docks station, as modelled by Jim Harrison, would have been where Hull Central Goods station was. In my imagination, it would had been obliterated by bombing in the Second World War.



Humber Dock was built for the Scalefour Society 18.83 challenge, which was to build a P4 scale layout with a footprint less than 18.83 sq. ft., which could be carried in a car and require only two operators, the object being to encourage the creation of a large number of easily-exhibitable P4 layouts. Some 60 members took up the challenge and 25 layouts were completed for exhibition at Scaleforum in 2005. Its design and presentation owe much to Iain Rice’s inspirational writings. The buildings are are all scratch-built and based on Hull prototypes,although they have been re-arranged for "artistic" effect.

Here is a plan of the layout:


Humber Dock was originally constructed mainly of foam board for lightness. I always thought it looked pretty good but it never ran very well: the track did not have sufficient support and was very uneven, so, when invited to exhibit it at Scalefour North in 2013 I had to decide how to improve its performance. A close look at the track showed that simply fettling it was out of the question so I have bitten the bullet and decided to remove the foamboard roadway through which the track runs and replace it with a proper 10mm MDF base.

Today I got as far as dissecting out the foamboard roadway and started marking out the MDF replacement. All the electric feeds needed to be severed: their ends were labelled to simplify reconnecting the track, street lights and building lights to the power.

Here is what it looked like before I attacked it.





And this is the sad carcase with the roadway, bridge, some buildings and backscene removed.







Here is the remnants of the track. You will see it was hastily constructed with rail soldered to copperclad sleepers, the idea being that they would be invisible under the stone setts, especially as the layout is presented at eye-level.



So that's the background to the layout and a report on its dismantling. The next posting should report on progress in reconstructing it.

Edited November 27, 2017 by clecklewyke

[Guest Dave.C]

A tad drastic, but all in a good cause, I look forward to seeing the improvements.

[johndon]

As Scalefour North is one show I'll definately be attending next year, I look forward to seeing the progress.

 

John

[Guest oldlugger]

I've always liked this layout of yours clecklewyke and have looked at it on the Scalefour website many times. Hopefully you'll achieve the running qualities you're after and perhaps be able to upgrade other areas of this fine micro layout at the same time. Good luck with it!

 

All the best

Simon

[clecklewyke]

I've always liked this layout of yours clecklewyke and have looked at it on the Scalefour website many times. Hopefully you'll achieve the running qualities you're after and perhaps be able to upgrade other areas of this fine micro layout at the same time. Good luck with it!

 

All the best

Simon

 

Thanks for your kind words

 

I wonder what other areas you think I need to update?

 

The things I am aware of are:

 

Flashing on chimney stacks

More subtle colouring of setts and paving slabs

Better painting of brickwork, especially mortar.

Better detailing and painting of the tug - and proper ropes tying it to the bollards.

A fish train (essential for Hull before the cod wars!)

K3, J39, B1?

 

Anything else?

 

(And please don't say the colour of the water - when I showed it at Scaleforum in the 1883 challenge I was greatly reassured by Gordon Luck's choice of exactly the same colour for his layout which was based on the Southern shore of the Humber!)

 

Less than six months to go!

 

Cheers,

 

Ian

[Guest oldlugger]

Hello Ian,

 

The water looks fine to me. The tug is rather bare and could become a lovely eye catching feature in its own right. Tugs and steam boats are full of atmosphere and so your model is crying out to be upgraded; here's one real example that is similar to yours:-

 

http://www.stportwey.co.uk/

 

The harbour area also looks rather bare and could do with some more prototypical clutter but not over doing it with the dreaded cameo scenes! The locos on the layout I think should be kept small and characterful; I remember seeing a WD 2-8-0 on your layout I think? This looked rather out of place. Some nice tank locos and the odd diesel shunter would be good with lots of wagons to choose from. Some of the buildings seem to be leaning slightly which spoils the effect you are trying to create which is a shame because you modelled these very nicely. Perhaps it's just the camera angle?

 

All the best

Simon

[Guest oldlugger]

Ian,

 

Here's a really good tug site that has loads of photos of steam tugs including ones registered in Hull but seen on the Thames:-

 

http://www.thamestugs.co.uk/

 

One well known tug owner in Hull was The Humber Steam Towing Company, so it would be nice if you could include their flag and a name on your model.

 

Cheers

Simon

Edited October 14, 2012 by oldlugger

[Debs.]

I`ll be following this project with great interest........it`s a very nice subject/location too.

[jwealleans]

K3, J39, B1?

 

Have you got a J73? There's a man on here who's just finishing a P4 one and I suspect isn't far from you.

[clecklewyke]

Thank you all for your excellent comments.

 

 

In no particular order:

 

The scene is meant to be bare - Humber Dock was a pretty desolate, under-used, wind-swept place in the 1950s so I don't want add too much clutter.

 

Yes, the buildings do lean and its not the camera angle. They didn't when they were built but the combination of the back-scene pressing against them and their pliable foamboard underpinnings caused them to give.

 

Many thanks for the info. on tugs. My tug certainly does look unfinished. It would be good to paint it in the Humber Steam Tug Company's colours. I remember from my childhood a tug in Hull called "Ian" on its funnel, which I would like to replicate, for obvious reasons.

 

Simon, you're quite right about that WD. I know it's got low axle loading but running it through the streets possibly stretches reality a bit far. It's a shame that we are not in America, where large locos pulling quite long trains through streets were quite common. In reality no locos were allowed across the bridges at Humber, Princes or Railway Docks. I believe that all shunting was done by horses or latterly, tractors. However, if the line had been developed as I suggest the bridge over the lock entrance would have been beefed-up to carry locos. I'm not sure how they did that without changing its appearance!

 

I have a J72 but not a J73. The other appropriate locos are the Sentinel and Y7. A G5 on a passenger train on the circular suburban route is possibly the biggest engine I should allow. I have a lovely Judith Edge jackshaft DE shunter, but that is possibly a bit big, so I also ought to build a four-wheel diesel mechanical shunter.

 

Re the J73, MikeMeg has been approached about using his locos but, not surprisingly, said he was unwilling to run them on such awful trackwork as it might give a poor impression of their performance - and he's right! That was one reason why I'm improving it.

 

Now - does anyone know how that Dutchman got the 3.5mm scale bicycle to work? (Sorry I cannot find the link to his amazing model railway.)

 

Thanks again to all for your interest and suggestions,

 

Ian

[clecklewyke]

 

Now - does anyone know how that Dutchman got the 3.5mm scale bicycle to work?

 

 

Ian

[jwealleans]

We were at Warley that year. What a fantastic layout that was.

[clecklewyke]

A little progress to report.

 

I've relaid the track on a new MDF base, which should be much firmer and more level than the previous foamboard, and fastened this trackbed to the original baseboard, using more wooden supports. I've arranged it so that long lengths of rail cross the wagon turntable and swing bridge. The original was designed with the hope that these could be made to work but alignment was always a problem. The track now flows smoothy across these, so we should get far fewer derailmants.

 

 

To the left is the kick-back track which will be hidden behind the backscene. It connects to a swinging track (seen at the very far end), which can be swung to connect to the track which disappears down the roadway behind the pub. It is moved simply by pulling strings!

 

 

In the foreground is the sector plate which can be used to run round wagons on the dockside. Again, this is swung by pulling on strings.

 

The next job will be to connect up the point motors and wiring, and test the track thoroughly before starting to add the setts in the road way and replacing the buildings.

 

So far so good!

 

Ian

[43179]

I always loved the barren windswept feel of this layout , plus its presentation , height and lighting etc - and I work as a lock keeper (how many people on here can say that! so its my kind of environment

 

I saw the layout at Scaleforum a few years back and with its atmosphere it sort of didn't really matter if the trains ran or not . I hope to see it again when its new track is in - watching with interest. I hope your lock gates leak prototypically

 

tfn

 

Jon

[clecklewyke]

I always loved the barren windswept feel of this layout , plus its presentation , height and lighting etc

 

====

 

I hope your lock gates leak prototypically

 

tfn

 

Jon

 

Thank you for your kind comments.

 

I wanted to capture the empty, windswept feel but at he moment it looks more as if hurricane Sandy has hit it. Of course the trackwork was built using alll the proper P4 gauges so, apart from one stretch where it was insufficiently soldered to the copper-clad base, its dimensions were o.k. but it was not level and the alignment of the bits designed to move (sector plates, wagon turntable and bridge) could have been better.

 

I originally designed it to allow the dock to be filled with water and the lock gates and bridge to work, With my build quality I am sure the gates would have leaked prodigiously.

 

Ian

[the penguin of doom]

Hi Ian.

 

I've never seen this layout before, but actually work very close to it's location so I'm going to follow you're progress and hopefully see the finished layout in the flesh very soon.

 

Cheers.

 

Sean.

[clecklewyke]

 

actually work very close to it's location

 

Then you might recognise the Minerva pub (slightly moved to suit the space I have)? Also Jim Harrison's Hull Town Docks layout would have abutted this location - just where I've built the Goods station - as it was imagined to be alongside Railway Dock. I nearly bought it from Jim so I could join the two layouts together but unfortunately someone beat me to it.

 

Ian

[mikemeg]

Thank you all for your excellent comments.

 

 

In no particular order:

 

Re the J73, MikeMeg has been approached about using his locos but, not surprisingly, said he was unwilling to run them on such awful trackwork as it might give a poor impression of their performance - and he's right! That was one reason why I'm improving it.

 

Ian

 

I think the fella you mention in the above comment will be more than happy to run them on the refurbished layout. Can't remember using the word 'awful' to describe the trackwork, though perhaps uneven! I remember the T1 had a few problems negotiating the curves and the lifting bridge :-

 

"Where's that T1 gone, it was there a minute ago?"

 

"Oh, it's fallen in the water, little Jim." Or was it little Jim that's fallen in the water?

 

And the Minerva Pub, within which you once ventured at your peril, is now quite smart, though still largely unchanged from the era portrayed on this lovely recreation of Hull's Town Docks.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

Edited November 5, 2012 by mikemeg

[clecklewyke]

 

 

"Oh, it's fallen in the water, little Jim." Or was it little Jim that's fallen in the water?

 

You dirty rotten swine, you've deaded me!

 

Jim

[mikemeg]

Ian,

 

One well known tug owner in Hull was The Humber Steam Towing Company, so it would be nice if you could include their flag and a name on your model.

 

Cheers

Simon

 

Simon,

 

They had black and white funnels and many, even in the sixties, were coal burners. One of them 'Yorkshireman' would disappear, every summer, to give pleasure boat trips from Bridlington.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[mikemeg]

 

 

Thanks for your kind words

 

I wonder what other areas you think I need to update?

 

The things I am aware of are:

 

Flashing on chimney stacks

More subtle colouring of setts and paving slabs

Better painting of brickwork, especially mortar.

Better detailing and painting of the tug - and proper ropes tying it to the bollards.

A fish train (essential for Hull before the cod wars!)

K3, J39, B1?

 

Anything else?

 

(And please don't say the colour of the water - when I showed it at Scaleforum in the 1883 challenge I was greatly reassured by Gordon Luck's choice of exactly the same colour for his layout which was based on the Southern shore of the Humber!)

 

Less than six months to go!

 

Cheers,

 

Ian

 

Ian,

 

I do have about fifteen fish and fruit vans which you could borrow, for the show. Save you some time in making them.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

[clecklewyke]

Ian,

 

I do have about fifteen fish and fruit vans which you could borrow, for the show. Save you some time in making them.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

Your offer is gladly accepted! Many thanks.

 

Also, do you have any references to these Hull tugs and their colours? My friend Steve Paulin has offered to do up my sad little example and it would be nice to get ot as correct as possible.

 

Ian (now feeling a lot less deaded)

[the penguin of doom]

 

 

Then you might recognise the Minerva pub.

 

Ian

 

The Minerva Pub..... Hmmmn, an ex girlfriends local pub. I spent many an hour in there, but that's another story.....

 

Cheers.

 

Sean.

[10800]

Lovely layout Ian, look forward to seeing the refurbished version some day!

 

I remember spending quite some time at Scaleforum 2006 trying to take cameo photos without a tripod, with partial success. Remember SADGITS (the Scaleforum Annual Dinner Gastronomic Improvement Society)?

 

 

 

 

[m mcdermott]

The Minerva Pub..... Hmmmn, an ex girlfriends local pub. I spent many an hour in there, but that's another story.....

 

Cheers.

 

Sean.

aw gewon tellus