Havenhouse - the reboot

[jrg1]

Mmmmm...

 

It's not quite there same, but I do have some cans of Speckled Hen. I don't trnd to buy a lot of British stuff, but I did find Colemans in my local supermarket yesterday, so I'm all set for Christmas now.

I dug out a recipe for Lincolnshire Haslet, and we are having it with ham and salad in Melbourne-temperatures approaching 30 degrees.  Merry Christmas from us all here.

[richard i]

Hi everyone, a short one in the middle of the hiatus. As you know I've been waiting for the last few months for the planets to align and suchlike so that I can move to Vancouver Island. Well this is happening next Wednesday. I'll be on a two day journey to move to a rental house just north of Nanaimo. Now on the downside, the main scenic (word used advisably, Adrian might be looking!) Wainfleet board will be too big to set up, so there'll be no more progress on the actual board for at least a year, possibly two. On the up side, I have plenty of projects to be getting on with.

 

First of all, there's the Barnum. After finally taking the plunge and painting it, I had to pack it away. Once I get to the new place I'll be taking it back out again to glaze, add new rainstrips (as Mike pointed out, the other ones were too high), and install the seats. I mentioned a couple of posts back that I'm having a go at 3D print designing. Well the bogies done with the cutter were far too flexible, so I'm going to have a go at 10'6" bogies using the printer and see how I get on. Hopefully the carriage will run a lot more freely. Then it's handrails and I'll practically be done.

 

_JCL6565.jpg

 

Also up for finishing will be the class 114. Painting to do, vents, handrails and everything hanging off the bottom amongst other things.

 

_JCL6566.jpg

 

I've been working on a tender for a D3, and I'll start to work on the D3 as well. Once it's done, I'll be using the Hornby County class chassis and tender pickups. Hopefully I'll be able to sell the County body and suchlike to offset the cost of printing a bit. I've really enjoyed doing this, but it's not quite the same as getting you're hands dirts. Haha and I haven't forsaken the Silhouette for a new 3D mistress! Printing is expensive, and I'm going to be a student next year, so my plan is to print the bits I cant fabricate myself such as domes, axleboxes, tender flares, etc and make the rest myself.

 

_JCL6569.jpg

 

I've always said that I would only define the layout as being in September, but that the year was, erm, fluid. That is still the case, but over the last few months I've been getting more and more interested in the Great Northern. I have two 3'x1' planks on legs from when I was in a tiny flat in Islington. Over the next year, I'm going to use them to create Havenhouse station as a diorama. It's a shorter station between Wainfleet and Skegness. Very pretty, and in it's day, full of GNR items such as a semaphore signal, crossing gates, station house and signal box. Oh, and to save time, a waiting room that looks remarkably similar to one you have already seen on this thread! The signal box used to be manned by a Mr Laud when I was a kid, and my mum and dad bought his house in the late 1970s. When we move into our own hone in a couple of years, hopefully Havenhouse will be a part of the Wainfleet layout.

 

_JCL6150.jpg _JCL6187.jpg _JCL6190.jpg

 

It's quite a list, and there a couple of other things as well, but once we are unpacked at the new place, the main thing will be to get current projects finished first.

 

cheers

 

Jason

Ten foot GCR bogie sides in 4mm 3d printed, now that would be something i would be interested in. Difficult to get them in the USA.

Richard

P.s. love what you are doing here.

[JCL]

10'? I've plans for the ones under the Barnum, but off-hand I think they're 10' 6" I was going to do those next year because I really want to get the Barnum finished. If I'm right in assuming that they are very similar, maybe it would make sense to use the common 10'6' ones on the 10'. Do you have a plan or photo?

[JCL]

Hi there again.

 

All of the boxes are unpacked, and I have a tiny kingdom in an alcove in one of the bedrooms. As you can see below, the two 3''x1' boards have been re-erected for the first time since I left London (about six years ago now) and the cupboards on the right are full of my modelling paraphernalia.

 

 

The remnants of the CPR shunting layout I put together are still on there. I'll lift the track for reuse, and then get a wallpaper scraper and such on the left. Although my part of the Lincolnshire doesn't have much in the way of contours, there are some (the parking layby is practically at platform height for example), and more importantly, there are dykes to take care of, so I'll grab some 1/2" solid foam wall insulation and glue it over the top of the plywood base.

 

 

Havenhouse

 

Croft Bank station opened for traffic along with Seacroft on 23rd July 1873 as a part of the single line extension from Wainfleet to Skegness. It was then renamed Havenhouse on 1st October 1900 when the whole line was doubled between Firsby and Skegness. The existing station house and signal box was joined by a waiting room to the same plans as the one at Wainfleet, and a platelayer's hut rounded things off at some point. In the map below, the number 15 is the station house, I wish I knew what nos. 13 and 14 referenced. I'm thinking there may have been a tiny cattle dock near the platform at the very end of the siding near the station house.

 

 

At the doubling it seemed that the existing siding layout changed as well, please see the diagrams below showing what I believed happened based on maps and books I've found. There isn't much left now, the somersault signal disappeared fairly recently and has now been replaced by a signal light. What is there is still in good condition though. I mentioned a few posts back that this is possibly because of its out of the way location, there's nothing worth stealing(!) and because it was recently refurbished. Despite losing the signal box, Havenhouse has managed to keep it's looks while Wainfleet station has struggled.

 

Unfortunately no further information could be gleaned from a later map (above, OS 6" to the mile 1888-1913) because even the sidings that I know were there aren't shown on it. I've included Wainfleet as a comparison as those sidings are shown in their entirety. I wonder if the surveyors ever got out as far as Havenhouse. Although it's productive farmland now, it's still referred to as the marsh.

 

 

Source: http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=53.11426&lon=0.27207&layers=171

 

An amended layout is then included in the signal box diagram dated 1928 that has been reproduced in The Oakwood Press' "The Lincolnshire Potato Railways" by Stewart E. Squires.

 

So this is how I see how the line changed over the years.

 

1898

 

              ---/---------- OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO \ \

<---------------/------------------------------\-\--->

                                                \ \

 

From "Railways to Skegness", A.J.Ludlum

 

In the plan above, you can see the layout of the station before the doubling of the line and the provision of the second platform. There is a dyke that seems to have either been cut off by the railway or which was carried under the permanent way via a culvert of some sort. There was also a single platform and a siding with a small spur. Did trains enter the siding travelling only from Skegness, and not Wainfleet? I can't imagine it sitting there waiting for the relevant wagon to be filled.

 

1901 - 1927

 

      ---/---------------\-- OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO \ \

--------/-----------------\---------------------\-\---> down

<------/-----------------------------------------\-\--- up

                               OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  \ \

1905 OS Counties map 1:2,500

 

During, or after the doubling of the line, a single slip was installed from the up line into the siding. I've inferred the general layout from reading between the pixels of the 1905 OS Counties map 1:2,500 at old-maps.co.uk, and the slip from the diagram below.

 

1927 - late 1940s

 

      ---/---------------\-- OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO \ \

--------/-----------------\---------------------\-\---> down

<------/----\------------------------------------\-\--- up

          ---\--------         OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  \ \

 

This was taken from the "The Lincolnshire Potato Railways" book mentioned above.

 

The addition is the dock to the farm 2' gauge railway. Although the potato railway was replaced by tractors in the late 1940s, Havenhouse didn't close to goods traffic until 1964. It became unmanned in 1968, but the signal box remained until fairly recently (I'm afraid I only know it was between 1985 and 1995).

 

 

2014

                             OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO \ \

------------------------------------------------\-\---> down

<------------------------------------------------\-\--- up

                               OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  \ \

 

I went over and had a look

 

I'm going to set the time period for this, well, essentially diorama, to between the doubling of the line and 1927, with the emphasis on the GNR. Like Wainfleet, traffic would have been local trains, excursions in the summer, and agricultural traffic.

 

Although I feel like I've been an armchair modeller of late, I have had a couple of things on the go. First of all, the waiting room that I built for Wainfleet will be reused here with a change of colour for the doors and windows. Also, I've been having a go at the 3D printing malarky and I've managed to put together some GNR railing posts from measurements and photos you may remember I took last summer. They are tiny, so there's not much detail there, but I do know they are in proportion for Havenhouse.

 

The posts will have to be drilled out before they come off the sprues, but they'll be easy to separate because they are only held to the sprue at the bottom. The top rails don't actually touch the posts.

 

 

Thinking about GNR specific traffic, I've also been busy with that D3/D4 I talked about, and have the following computer render of the part. There are a couple more things to do to it, and then I'll be able to print it.

 

 

The tender has been printed already. The chassis still has to be ordered.

 

 

I know that the prototype (GNR A4) Ivatt 4-2-2 number 166 was in the area before WW1 as there's a photo of it at Stickney leading a train from Skegness in Trains from the Lincolnshire Seaside...Skegness, again by A.J.Ludlum. I won't be modelling that loco specifically as it's too short, however but I have the new version of Caledonian 123 from Hornby to convert into an A5 (all Ivatt 4-2-2s apart from No.166 were A5s). Apart from the trailing wheel and bogie wheel size, the dimensions are very close. There will almost no messing about with the chassis, but I will be buying the right size wheels. I think that the bogie would also be a good fit for the D3/D4 with the bonus that it's wired up for current collection.

 

 

Finally, I've just ordered the Right Track Loco kit building and lining and painting DVDs from the closing down sale, so they will be winging their way over to my mum's place in the new year (heads up mum!). GNR lining is filling me with dread.

 

I'm writing other ideas down as I go along, but that'll do for now. Two reasons why I'm excited, is that Havenhouse was my local station when I was a little kid as we didn't move to Wainfleet until I was 11(ish). When we did move into Wainfleet, we moved into a Mr. Laud's house at New England Corner.

 

Mr Laud was Havenhouse's last signalman.

Edited December 28, 2014 by JCL

[Donington Road]

I think Havenhouse with the potato dock is a no brainer.

I know it is not quite correct but this would make an esquisite model, if only as a static part of the layout.

 

 

 

You might glean further interest from this layout as well:

http://www.grahamsrailways.com/#!formma/cmm2

[JCL]

Hi Mick, you're making me think. I wasn't going to put it in because I only have a foot to play with on the width. If I put the track on a diagonal, I might be able to date the layout to 1927 and put in the dock, but it wouldn't be at the expense of a feeling of space (like (Wainfleet). It'd look better as well than track parallel to the sides. Eventually, the boards would be included in a round-the-room opposite Wainfleet, in the next house, so if the dock doesn't get in here, then it would in the future. . Apparently, there is an example of the little petrol driven engine they used waiting to be refurbished...

 

Graham's layout is great, isn't it? I was surprised to see it was 009, I thought it was a larger scale!

 

I'm out today, but if I can find the wallpaper scraper I'll be taking off the current track and landscape this evening - exciting times!

[JCL]

Out of interest, does anyone know of any other GNR (not LNER) layouts out there?

[RANGERS]

Sutterton is about the only other one which springs to mind.

[Donington Road]

Sutterton is about the only other one which springs to mind.

 

[JCL]

Thanks for that Mick, that's a great video

[JCL]

Hi there

 

I've started drawing up the signal box. Because there are two positions which gave you a great photo of trains going up and down, those tend to be the two views of the signal box. The problem is that other things like signals and lamps, etc get in the way. Also, there's no photo of the back.

 

So, I've inferred a bit, and come up with the following (to scale, at least it is on my computer). I've still got the chimney and small window at each end to sort out, but the main view to think of is that back. As engineers would have to get underneath the floor of the signal box (I'm assuming), there should be a door. It isn't on the front or sides, so it must be around the back, together with a window. Anyway, here's the drawing, with the colours taken from http://www.stationcolours.info/index.php?p=1_4_LNER

 

The Wainfleet signal box was done in card, but I think I'll cut the windows for this one out of styrene, at least to start with.

 

 

Havenhouse station and signalbox by Awwalker1, on Flickr

 

It's good to make a start

Edited December 30, 2014 by JCL

[JCL]

Here you go, all of the bits and pieces drawn. What I have to do now is separate out the layers and colour code them for the Silhouette. The way I work I use red for cut and cyan for score. As I mentioned, the back is an educated guess, but the rest is from photos.

 

 

The white areas will be brickwork, and of course there'll be a chimney pot up there on the top. Taking inspiration from Al (acg_mr) and Lee (freebs), I'll try to do an interior as well.

Edited December 30, 2014 by JCL

[uax6]

Is the locking room door not under the stairs?

 

Andy G

[JCL]

Good call - maybe it is... this is the best photo I've found. It would match Wainfleet though if it was. Then 1 - 2 windows at the lower back, maybe 1 - 2 at the top as well if it did follow Wainfleet

 

Edited December 30, 2014 by JCL

[uax6]

Nice arrow pointing to the rod that operates the gates from the wheel in the box....  Difficult to see if there is a frame in there for a door, but it is the usual place. Not sure about the windows on the rear wall, most only had them in one wall....

 

Andy G

[JCL]

Nonono, not the rod, behind that, I thought I could see a light colour of a frame. Zooming right in, it actually looks like a small window frame. With the window possibly having two pieces of glass in it.

[uax6]

This computer in work can't cope with that photo! You are possibly correct!

 

Andy G

[Moggs Eye]

I'm sure there were windows on the operating floor in the back so the signaller could see along the road before closing the gates across it.

[JCL]

Ok, so I'm assuming that there is a window near a door under the stairs, and as the bottom part of the box will be quite low, I'll not include lower windows at the back, I will, however include an arched window on the main floor. Excited to get some modelling stuff out today.

[Theakerr]

Anyone know if there is a better resolution video of Sutterton.  Whats is there is very good and I would like to see more

[Donington Road]

Anyone know if there is a better resolution video of Sutterton.  Whats is there is very good and I would like to see more

 

more info here:

http://www.mdmrc.org/index.php/sutterton

 

 

Edited December 30, 2014 by Donington Road

[JCL]

Well I never did in all it's actuality! The back of Havenhouse signal box: http://www.britishrailwayphotographs.com/p291707953/h33551e07#h33551e07

 

And this one shows the lower door: http://www.britishrailwayphotographs.com/p457209498/h278dbee#h278dbee

 

Thanks for the second video Mick. Sutterton is absolutely beautiful, and something to aim for. I don't know how far I'll get, but I will enjoy trying to get there.

Edited December 30, 2014 by JCL

[JCL]

So that's the signal box drawn up. While I'm waiting for supplies I've started the other project, which is the Caledonian 123 into an Ivatt 4-2-2. I've decided on this instead of the Stirling 2-2-2 (from which the 4-2-2 was derived), I've decided to do an easier conversion that doesn't involve me messing about with the chassis. Also, the boiler is only just under 1mm too wide, so that's close enough for me.

 

Here's what it looked like in real life, though I'll be including the read sandboxes.

 

 

(Great Northern Locomotive History Part 3a, N. Groves)

 

And below is the loco I started with. The work I need to do is remove the handrails and pipes, the Westinghouse brake,  dome, Ramsbottom's safety valves and cab, extend the boiler and, while keeping the boiler at about the same height above the rails, lower the running plate so that it bisects the driver as opposed to sitting above it as it is at the moment (and also bring the buffers down to the right height). Now that'll be interesting...

 

 

Instead of just talking about it, I've actually made a start and carved out the sandboxes and dome and such, and sanded back the handrails, pipe and beading. Cab to come off next, and then I've got to think about moving the boiler and running plate further apart. Would I notice if I didn't do it?

 

 

If anyone wants the Hornby Ltd Edition certificate let me know, it's not much use to me now

[manna]

G'day Gents

 

I like it, I did think about this as well, but I don't think they ever got up to Edgware, I suppose rule 1 can apply. lol

 

manna

[JCL]

Thanks Manna - they really were good looking - I hope I can do it justice! I've just been looking at that post again, and that chimney has to go - it's too far forward as far as I can see and the wrong shape - two strikes. What I. Going to do is do the dome, boiler, and while I'm at it, safety valves vie 3D printing. Unfortunately I couldnt find any plans, but I have the RTCSGNR locos book, so I've a few photos and dimensions to go with. I'll try to trace the dome etc from one of those (the one in the previous post).

 

The smokebox door I'm going to keep as I've managed to sand all the bits off it.

 

I think I can get away with using a tender wheel in place of the trailing wheel - at least it's the right size (give or take), will allow me to lower the running plate, and it'd be mostly hidden anyway.

Edited January 2, 2015 by JCL