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Hi Brian,

 

Thanks very much. They're empties heading back to the coal mine at Sparwood. There's a huge reverse loop there with a tower that fills up the cars. We also have block grain trains, and general freight. We once had a container train, but they generally go via Banff, and about twice a year a passenger train comes through.

 

cheers

 

Jason

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So I've glued down the cork sheeting where the track will be, and the first layer under the goods yard and I'm thinking about the contours. Wainfleet is pretty flat, but like most places, not entirely. On the road, there will be about a 1/2" rise from the base level to towards the back of the board over a 9" section before it pretty much flattens off.

 

I've a few pictures of the yard, but only either from the tracks or the platforms, which means that it's not easy working out the lie of the land. I know that there is a ramp up to the agricultural siding behind the Boston platform, and I was talking to someone when I was in Skegness who remembers reversing his tractor up to the open wagon to unload. That's the extent of my knowledge though.

 

So, I've decided that I'll glue down a strip of cork or two where the ramp will be, then I'll lay another layer over this and the rest of the yard to form a smooth ramp while bringing the height the whole yard (less the area underneath the agricultural siding) up slightly. Behind this and the other side of the main road some left over 1/2" foam will be glue down. I'm using woodworking glue (the yellowy beige stuff), so hopefully it won't all de-laminate!

 

post-14192-0-06820800-1354472250.jpg

 

In my part of the world, the water in the river would be at the same height as the rest of the land (which actually lowered when the area was drained to below sea level in some places) which means that the Haven has river banks raised above the lie of the land, so two "sausages" of foam will be cut out to represent this.

 

Oh, and I can't forget to dig out the dykes (ditches) around the fields!

 

So with a back wind, that's what I'm doing this week and next. :)

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Hi Michael

 

Here's a photo I took last Winter; we have these passing through 12-14 times a day.

 

 

That's a smashing winter photo, you should post it here too .....http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/64942-show-us-your-december-to-march-winter-looking-pics/page__fromsearch__1

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I regually go past Wainfleet Station and I'm watching with great intrest.

 

The road definatly dips down towards the railway from both directions.

 

Unfortunatly I'm too young to remember the goods yard when in use. All I do remember of it is the end of the goods shed had a large fan in the gable end faceing the road. I don't know if this was a later addition after the yard closed or if it was always there.

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Hi Stephen

 

Thanks for getting in touch. Good to hear you're using the line! I have to admit it looked a bit decrepit last summer. That said, and I know this is sacrilege in some quarters, but I really like what they did at Skegness. They just have to get that court case out of the way and uncover the work they installed out front. I read somewhere that they are thinking of upgrading the line. I saw a whole load of "setrack" in a field just past Pilgrim hospital!

 

I know what you mean about being slightly too late on the scene. When you are younger you think that these things last forever. I was shocked when I arrived home one time in the 90's(?) and found the yard had housing on it. As far as I know, the grey asbestos clad building with the fan on it was the grain elevator, and the yellow corrugated steel goods shed was behind it. You can just about see both here in pinzac55's photo on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/3929572069/ I've no idea when the grey building was put up though. I'm going to contact wainfleet museum if possible and see if they have any photos. They are closed until Easter, but there's a contact number, so could be worth a try.

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Just about to start work, but I thought I'd write a list of references that I've been using apart from my own photos:

 

Railways to Skegness by A.J.Ludlam - a great resource for this line with a lot of information about the Wainfleet and Firsby Railway (W&FR), and photos of all the stations between Boston and Skegness.

Firsby to Wainfleet and Skegness by Stephen Walker - a little older, but another great book, and is referenced by A.J.Ludlam. A lot of history, motive power and old timetables.

GNR Engine Sheds vol 2 - this book fills in the gaps left by the other two books. No engine shed at Skegness, so on the old W&FR only Wainfleet is included. The book has a wealth of information though about engine sheds across the east midlands.

The Lincolnshire Potato Railways By Stewart E. Squires has a code of useful pictures of loading up wagons, and is interesting personally for the inclusion of Havenhouse.

 

http://www.davesrailpics.bravehost.com/lincs/lincs.htm Dave has amassed a lot of information and pictures at Dave's Railpics

http://www.Flickr.com has been very useful and has provided me with a lot of views that I wouldn't have got otherwise

http://www.geograph.org.uk/ is another one

Google streetview

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/index.html - much less user friendly than it used to be, and I'm sure there aren't as many maps on it than there used to be, but still useful

 

I've also just joined the GNR Society and other than minor references that's about it. I don't think I've done this much research since I left education many moons ago. While I'm getting on with the doing, I'm always interested in more information. Although my location in Canada means I can't just pop into a library, if I've missed anything or anyone please let me know!

 

Cheers

 

Jason

 

Edited to add mapping

Edited by JCL
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Well I've got most of the cork down and I've been messing about with the track. I've carved the platforms from a piece of 1/2" foam that I've mounted on some cork, I'll then print the blue bricks from scalescenes and glue that on top. It's a lot faster than using the foam board and putting in bracing, and it's a lot lighter than using plywood as I was going to originally.

 

There are three structures that will need to fit between the tracks and that will affect where the track will be pinned down. These are the goods shed, the waiting room on the Boston platform (see original post) and the footbridge. The waiting room if pretty narrow, and I've managed to make enough space between the mainline and the agri-siding to fit it in properly. The corrugated iron/steel goods shed (which has been demolished) was, from squinting at the photos, able to take about 4 vans. Now, I've had to truncate the length of the yard, so I've cut out the picture mounting card but I'm only going to tack it together. Eventually it will either have corrugated pizza box card on it, or Scalescenes beige corrugated steel. It depends on how I get on with the pizza box! This means that I'll be able to shorten to take 3 vans it if needs be once I've worked out how it fits on the layout.

 

post-14192-0-57364000-1354909309.jpg

 

The footbridge is going to be interesting as it has four sets of steps, two to the platforms and two to the street. It was taken down around 1970, but wasn't much used before that as it was quicker/easier to wait for the train to pass and the gates to reopen!

 

This link to a photo by "Ingy the Wingy" shows the goods shed, grain elevator, gates, signalbox and platforms http://www.flickr.co...157622782850737 The footbridge was just behind the crossing gates.

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Got to admit, he search function on here is great. I've a feeling almost any question I have has been answered. This morning I found a box of steel flex track. I was a bit concerned it was "old technology", but apparently not! That'll save me some money!

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Sooo, between clearing snow off the drive, long dog walks and dealing with B&B guests, I've been down to the local hardware store and found out that they sell cork in 4' wide sheets. This is fantastic news because It's so much cheaper than buying the small rolls of it in Staples. I bagged 7' of it the other day, which is is more than enough for the plan that I drew out at the beginning of this thread.

 

I've also been spending the last week or so glueing and tacking the cork down (map pins are my life) and using a rasp to smooth away the differences in height between the cork on the large roll, and the smaller rolls. I've still got some smoothing to do as shown on the ramp to the left of the goods shed in this overview. The track is just tacked down for now with drawing pins so that I can send various sized engines and stock over it to check for derailments bumps and clearance on corners. Once I'm happy with this I'll grab some proper tacks and tack it permanently. I did think about working on the Atlas points, but the only piece of stock that really doesn't like them is my old Hornby A4 with wobbly wheels that I'm considering for retirement anyway.

 

post-14192-0-08502600-1355723084.jpg

 

This photo shows the temporary goods shed. It's currently just 1.5mm card that is clad in Scalescenes corrugated paper and held together with masking tape to help with clearances. The roof is just a piece of letter sized paper folded. I'm going to keep the shell, and one night when there's a blizzard outside I'll clad it in the pizza box corrugated cardboard that I'm busy delaminating at the moment. I use the type of box that you get at the supermarket as they don't have a load of grease on them). Great as the Scalescene papers are, I really want some proper 3D texture on the goods shed!

 

post-14192-0-08410800-1355723085.jpg

 

This photo shows the insulation I'll be using as the platform core. I'll be facing it with 5mm foamboard, and covering the top with 1.5mm card. While I was in Wainfleet last winter I took photos of the side of the Skegness platform which I'll merge with brick sheet. The Skegness (left) platform sides are of red/orange bricks, while the Boston (right) platform sides are blue bricks with an overhang. The top surface for both platforms will be the blue bricks from Scalescenes. In real life, the Skegness platform was actually about 3 bricks lower than the right hand one. This is because the Skegness platform dates back to the single line Wainfleet and Firsby Railway, whiel the Boston platform was added later when the line was doubled. You can still see how much lower it was as the station building is now about 3 bricks lower than the platform in front of it.

 

In the photo below you can also see the first test of the station building and signal box. These were also put together in Photoshop using photos I took on the day and are just printed and cut out for now to give dimensions etc. The small square resting on the platform shows the approximate position of the water tower.

 

post-14192-0-07597500-1355723086.jpg

 

Here are more photos

post-14192-0-03926400-1355723083.jpgpost-14192-0-84606300-1355723086.jpg

 

I've a photo of a numberless 4MT at Wainfleet shunting wagons in the yard, and a different photo of a Class 105 keeping busy.

 

post-14192-0-79077600-1355723087.jpg

 

edited because I shouldn't have written this while I'm tired. Parts of it didn't make sense, I hope it does now.

Edited by JCL
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Good to see some track and buildings Jason, even if just temporary for now. Already the orientation and spacing gives a feel for the real place - I like the way you've allowed for plenty of width to avoid things being crammed together. It may have been a small place by railway standards, but even small places can be surprisingly big in model form :imsohappy:

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Hi Stephen

 

Thanks for getting in touch. Good to hear you're using the line! I have to admit it looked a bit decrepit last summer. That said, and I know this is sacrilege in some quarters, but I really like what they did at Skegness. They just have to get that court case out of the way and uncover the work they installed out front. I read somewhere that they are thinking of upgrading the line. I saw a whole load of "setrack" in a field just past Pilgrim hospital!

 

I know what you mean about being slightly too late on the scene. When you are younger you think that these things last forever. I was shocked when I arrived home one time in the 90's(?) and found the yard had housing on it. As far as I know, the grey asbestos clad building with the fan on it was the grain elevator, and the yellow corrugated steel goods shed was behind it. You can just about see both here in pinzac55's photo on Flickr http://www.flickr.co...c55/3929572069/ I've no idea when the grey building was put up though. I'm going to contact wainfleet museum if possible and see if they have any photos. They are closed until Easter, but there's a contact number, so could be worth a try.

Hi Stephen

 

Thanks for getting in touch. Good to hear you're using the line! I have to admit it looked a bit decrepit last summer. That said, and I know this is sacrilege in some quarters, but I really like what they did at Skegness. They just have to get that court case out of the way and uncover the work they installed out front. I read somewhere that they are thinking of upgrading the line. I saw a whole load of "setrack" in a field just past Pilgrim hospital!

 

Not thinking about upgrading the line. More like nearly finished :)

The setrack is the old stuff waiting to be taken away.

 

I don't use the regular service but there are about two railtours a year which start out from Skegness and I regually go on these. Loco's were banned a while back due to the poor track but once the worst bits were redone they allowed loco's back again with a 25mph speed restriction.

 

The pictures look really good. It's really starting to come together.

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Not thinking about upgrading the line. More like nearly finished :)

The setrack is the old stuff waiting to be taken away.

 

I don't use the regular service but there are about two railtours a year which start out from Skegness and I regually go on these. Loco's were banned a while back due to the poor track but once the worst bits were redone they allowed loco's back again with a 25mph speed restriction.

 

The pictures look really good. It's really starting to come together.

 

 

The setrack is the old stuff removed when the line was relaid. It's been done over the last couple of years, using, in part, reclaimed concrete sleepers from other areas. Most of the up line between Firsby and Sibsey used them. The down line is on steel sleepers as I recall. I believe there was a plan to use reclaimed rail as well, but there were problems and it was taken away again.

That setrack was very old, I suspect the same stuff I travelled over as a child on days out with my parents to Skeg or Mablethorpe behind B1's. I'm now a guard working over the same track and, prior to relaying it was really showing it's age, rather like I feel some mornings when I'm on early turns.

The loco speed restrictions have been largely lifted now I understand, we run an HST set on summer Saturdays to help with the demand, don't sign them so can't be 100%. I'm down there again tomorrow but it'll be dark by then.

Layout looks promising, it's nice to see something I must have seen as a kid but only have memory of from more recent times.

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Blimey, regular HSTs :) Is the 25mph restriction staying? On the Wainfleet side of things, I think the tight curve after the station is 15mph.

 

I'm talking to my uncle this week who used to deliver sugar beet etc by tractor in the 60s. Apparently he remembers a whole load of things about the station and the workings.

 

I'll do my best to bring back your memories.

 

cheers

 

Jason

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Blimey, regular HSTs :) Is the 25mph restriction staying? On the Wainfleet side of things, I think the tight curve after the station is 15mph.

 

I'm talking to my uncle this week who used to deliver sugar beet etc by tractor in the 60s. Apparently he remembers a whole load of things about the station and the workings.

 

I'll do my best to bring back your memories.

 

cheers

 

Jason

Blimey, regular HSTs :) Is the 25mph restriction staying? On the Wainfleet side of things, I think the tight curve after the station is 15mph.

 

I'm talking to my uncle this week who used to deliver sugar beet etc by tractor in the 60s. Apparently he remembers a whole load of things about the station and the workings.

 

I'll do my best to bring back your memories.

 

cheers

 

Jason

 

The 25mph restriction is pretty much lifted now as far as I know. It was a blanket restriction between Boston and Skegness due to the track condition. There are some sections west of Boston which may still have restrictions on, there is still some very elderly rail in places. The stretch on the approach to Rauceby is particularly uneven, you feel every joint and some of it is 30 ft lengths. It is still 50 mph there for units although I can't speak for HSTs which are classed as loco hauled.

Not sure if a few HSTs a year can be classed as regular though?

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The 25mph restriction is pretty much lifted now as far as I know. It was a blanket restriction between Boston and Skegness due to the track condition. There are some sections west of Boston which may still have restrictions on, there is still some very elderly rail in places. The stretch on the approach to Rauceby is particularly uneven, you feel every joint and some of it is 30 ft lengths. It is still 50 mph there for units although I can't speak for HSTs which are classed as loco hauled.

Not sure if a few HSTs a year can be classed as regular though?

 

i travel over the line frequently from Heckington where I live and there seems to have been a progressive replacement of rails between Allington and Ancaster which is almost complete. I noticed recently lots of new rail lying trackside waiting to be used and when it is I would say it will be CWR all the way between Ancaste and Allington. I hope when it is the speed can be lifted a little, maybe from the blanket 50 to 60 at least as its a but tedious sitting at 50 for mile after mile. The new parts seem very smooth and 50 is too low.

Anybody in the know ?

 

 

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Just about to start work, but I thought I'd write a list of references that I've been using apart from my own photos:

 

Railways to Skegness by A.J.Ludlam - a great resource for this line with a lot of information about the Wainfleet and Firsby Railway (W&FR), and photos of all the stations between Boston and Skegness.

Firsby to Wainfleet and Skegness by Stephen Walker - a little older, but another great book, and is referenced by A.J.Ludlam. A lot of history, motive power and old timetables.

GNR Engine Sheds vol 2 - this book fills in the gaps left by the other two books. No engine shed at Skegness, so on the old W&FR only Wainfleet is included. The book has a wealth of information though about engine sheds across the east midlands.

The Lincolnshire Potato Railways By Stewart E. Squires has a code of useful pictures of loading up wagons, and is interesting personally for the inclusion of Havenhouse.

 

http://www.davesrail...lincs/lincs.htm Dave has amassed a lot of information and pictures at Dave's Railpics

http://www.Flickr.com has been very useful and has provided me with a lot of views that I wouldn't have got otherwise

http://www.geograph.org.uk/ is another one

Google streetview

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/index.html - much less user friendly than it used to be, and I'm sure there aren't as many maps on it than there used to be, but still useful

 

I've also just joined the GNR Society and other than minor references that's about it. I don't think I've done this much research since I left education many moons ago. While I'm getting on with the doing, I'm always interested in more information. Although my location in Canada means I can't just pop into a library, if I've missed anything or anyone please let me know!

 

Cheers

 

Jason

 

Edited to add mapping

 

There's a book on Firsby Station published around 1991 which may have some references to Wainfleet in it. I bought a copy from a stationers and book seller in Lumley Rd in Skegness around 1992 and I've never seen another one since. It's a pretty good source of general info' on the station and the traffic which it generated but I can't remember what there was on any of the surrounding stations.

 

There might also be some info' in the archives of the Lincolnshire records office and the Museum of Lincolnshire Life.

 

The layout is coming along well and reflects my memories of Wainfleet in the the 1970s as seen through the window of a passing coach on the numerous trips we took to Skegness during the summer months. Virtually every works outing or social club trip went to Skeggy and the day always included a walk down to the station to see what specials were there and note what was at the head of them.

 

I've some records of classes 25, 31, 37, 40, 45, 46, 47 and 55 dating from 1976 to 1988, curiously I don't seem to have kept anything on the numerous 20s which were a permanent fixture on Saturdays, Sundays and bank hols. Memory suggests that just about every Toton allocated 20 was probably spotted there at some point. I copped all bar about three or four but as they were also a permanent fixture on my home patch in Corby, most of the ones underlined in my "combined" were probably seen there. 20 147 and 148 were two which stick in my mind on account of being in green up until about 1980 at least, both were fairly regular visitors to Skeggy and 147 was one of a green pair which I remember seeing, probably in August 1979.

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That's really interesting information about the two green class 20s. When I was a kid it was the class 20s that I remember crawling around that sharp curve just after Wainfleet station (this is probably one of the few times when a sharp curve on a round-the-walls layout is prototypical). I think I remember them because they double-headed and this looked more impressive at the time. Because all the trip trains were people going on holiday or out for the day I thought that it was normal for a passengers to wave at us kids in the fields in those long hot summers of the '70s. I'm looking at you '76! I think it was that year or the year after where we had a plague of ladybirds in the area; you were looking for trouble if you wore yellow as you'd be covered in them. Much preferable to the plague of slugs a few years later. There were so many that you couldn't help popping them underfoot.

 

There were a couple of class 55s, Tulyar was one of them on 13/08/78, and The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers on 25/8/79 for example. There's some great information here: http://www.napier-chronicles.co.uk

 

Here's Tulyar on Youtube at Sleaford:

 

http://www.google.ca...355534169,d.cGE

 

"Not sure if a few HSTs a year can be classed as regular though?" - I think I got a bit excited there. :)

 

It's always interesting to hear from people using or working on the line as I'm not there any more and my knowledge is from memories, books and the internet. Thanks to everyone that is helping build up the picture of this rural line.

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That's really interesting information about the two green class 20s. When I was a kid it was the class 20s that I remember crawling around that sharp curve just after Wainfleet station (this is probably one of the few times when a sharp curve on a round-the-walls layout is prototypical). I think I remember them because they double-headed and this looked more impressive at the time. Because all the trip trains were people going on holiday or out for the day I thought that it was normal for a passengers to wave at us kids in the fields in those long hot summers of the '70s. I'm looking at you '76! I think it was that year or the year after where we had a plague of ladybirds in the area; you were looking for trouble if you wore yellow as you'd be covered in them. Much preferable to the plague of slugs a few years later. There were so many that you couldn't help popping them underfoot.

 

There were a couple of class 55s, Tulyar was one of them on 13/08/78, and The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers on 25/8/79 for example. There's some great information here: http://www.napier-chronicles.co.uk

 

Here's Tulyar on Youtube at Sleaford:

 

http://www.google.ca...355534169,d.cGE

 

"Not sure if a few HSTs a year can be classed as regular though?" - I think I got a bit excited there. :)

 

It's always interesting to hear from people using or working on the line as I'm not there any more and my knowledge is from memories, books and the internet. Thanks to everyone that is helping build up the picture of this rural line.

 

Tulyar was the first one to visit the line, quite an event that day, the place was teeming with enthusiasts when it arrived about two in the afternoon at the head of a rake of air-conditioned mark 2s, leaving for Kings X a couple of hours later. I'd need to dig the notes out but I think there were a further 3 Deltics visited Skeggy on the summer dated Saturday Kings X trains in 1979 and 80.

 

In earlier days, the baby Deltics had worked non-corridor stock on the Kings Cross trains along with Class 15s and 31s. I've never seen reference to it, but I've often wondered if any of the other Kings Cross suburban locos worked to Skeggy, I'm thinking 26s and 20s.

 

There were several green 20s at Toton at that time, most were so dirty that the actual colour was pretty much indistinguishable but 147 and 148 were still clean enough to be able to see the green body and the grey on the roof.

 

The ladybirds were '77 I think, Silver Jubilee year. We were in the seafront car-park one afternoon and one of the fence posts was literally crawling with them, the post couldn't be seen for the moving sea of red which coated it and yes yellow wasn't a popular choice of colour.

Edited by RANGERS
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Hi there, Pinzac55 has a double header of class 31s, 31200 & 31178, at Skegness, albeit 20 years or so later on 20/7/80

 

http://www.flickr.co...c55/3614440274/

 

cheers

 

Jason

 

31s were fairly common, certainly during my time period, mainly on the Sheffield, Leeds, Cambridge and Peterborough trains. Pairs weren't exactly a rarity but when they did turn up, it was usually on the Sheffield or Leeds trains. A run from Peterborough or Cambridge was hardly taxing for one, particularly since these trains were usually relatively short sets. I think the Peterborough was a DMU turn which materialised into a loco hauled set, presumably when there was no DMU available. The Cambridge could be just as likely to produce a March based 37 but the Peterborough presumably used a Kings X outer suburban set and loco on weekend layover at Peterborough. I never saw anything other than a 31 on that one that I can think of.

 

I'll try and dig my notes out over Christmas, it'll be interesting to reminisce on those halcyon days of blue diesels.

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