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Leeds City, the Midland Side, in 4mm.


TheLaird
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As a thought on when this is at the stage where you get to play trains, have you thought about live streaming the action, I think it would be quite popular.

...... swear box on standby and a fresh box of form ones for the district inspectors please. It's certainly entertaining, but wait 'till the block shelves are fully up and running, then we will get seriously impressive. 

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It was a great day operating an increasingly impressive layout. We ran the day's schedule from 02.00 hours I until about 07.30 at which point I had to take my leave. The team was 11 strong with three main line operators plus a station pilot driver, a signaller on each of the Leeds City Wellington and Leeds City Junction signal boxes, and a signaller and driver on the two fiddle yards, Engine Shed and Whitehall Junctions respectively, plus TheLaird in the role of Controller.

Operating a layout based on a relatively complex prototype and operating it in real time gives you real insights into what it must have like to operate trains on the real railway at that time, without the physical graft that went with the job of course. You get periods of intense activity and other times of down time which, on the model, gives you a chance to set things up, prepare trains and turn locos in the fiddle yards. At times we had three trains moving in the area between the station and Leeds City Junction. Who said that modelling a prototype leads to periods of inactivity with little happening?

The layout performed faultlessly, I wish I could say the same of the operators. It can only get better as more locos and stock are added to the roster, as we create rosters for locos, DMUs, and parcels stock, the block instruments are added, signals built and installed and the operators acquire more experience!

Thanks, John, for the experience.

 

Edited to correct a typo.

Edited by Leander
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It was a great day operating an increasingly impressive layout. We ran the day's schedule from 02.00 hours I until about 07.30 at which point I had to take my leave. The team was 11 strong with three main line operators plus a station pilot diver, a signaller on each of the Leeds City Wellington and Leeds City Junction signal boxes, and a signaller and driver on the two fiddle yards, Engine Shed and Whitehall Junctions respectively, plus TheLaird in the role of Controller.

 

Operating a layout based on a relatively complex prototype and operating it in real time gives you real insights into what it must have like to operate trains on the real railway at that time, without the physical graft that went with the job of course. You get periods of intense activity and other times of down time which, on the model, gives you a chance to set things up, prepare trains and turn locos in the fiddle yards. At times we had three trains moving in the area between the station and Leeds City Junction. Who said that modelling a pro type leads to periods of inactivity?

 

The layout performed faultlessly, I wish I could say the same of the operators. It can only get better as more locos and stock are added to the roster, as we create rosters for locos, DMUs, and parcels stock, the block instruments are added, signals built and installed and the operators acquire more experience!

 

Thanks, John, for the experience.

Wonderful stuff. That is the sort of thing I hope to achieve on my layout. When complete it will require three signalmen, two yardmasters, a Fat Controller and as many drivers as turn up. I look forward to more updates as the operational side of Leeds City develops.

 

Disclosure: I was, in the late 1980s, Area M&E Engineer at Leeds. My office was in the former enginemen's barracks at Holbeck.

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Brilliant day as ever.

 

The enhanced operating docs really help planning moves, especially at Engine Shed Junction and Whitehall Junction, (The fiddle yards). On our stint there, Alan (colleague operator) and myself managed to do all our stock shunting with locos and still keep to time.

 

Thanks John.

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One of TheLaird's photos taken prior to Saturday's operating session.

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A couple of Peaks shunting stock onto trains waiting in the station, the locos will then take the trains on to their destinations. At the top at Leeds City Junction's Fast Line starter are the two Leeds-St Pancras sleeping cars which have been steam heated by the train engine in Platform 1. They've been drawn out on the North Departure to Leeds City Junction, usually they would go down the Engine Shed Junction line and then reverse and cross over and return to the station on the South Arrival Line. They'll then be backed onto the head of the Glasgow-St Pancras overnight train in Platform 6 (see previous page). The LNER BG has been requisitioned to carry loco stores from Derby to 55A Holbeck shed. It's now being returned via Engine Shed Junction and will be attached to 3E01 the Carlisle-Sheffield parcels. All this is happening around 02.00hrs.

 

The lines in the foreground are the ex-LNWR Viaduct Line from and to Leeds City South.

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And I was wondering why I could not find any Bachmann Peaks on ebay :)  Stunning work!

And there's two more on my desk here awaiting detailing to be finished off. I don't know how many that will make. I really must check when I go to john's next weekend en route to the NEC. I will contribute Nos. D18, D27, D31, D92, D115 and D188, the first two of which and the last have featured earlier in the thread. All are detailed (to an appropriate level for a 'layout loco'), weathered and have either Gibson or Ultrascale wheels, plus additional pick ups on the bogies and are fitted with SWD sound chips.

 
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Since the last operating session I have been busy putting in the cabling for the block instruments. I also took the opportunity to move LCJ box as it did not fit quite right where it was. The cables all had to be extended so I boxed them in to tidy them up at the same time.This also means that it is now a proper back to front box!!

 

post-10660-0-99673300-1511621400_thumb.jpg

 

LCW got tidied up at the same time. All of the connections are now ready to accept the BIs when they arrive.

 

post-10660-0-89639400-1511621412_thumb.jpg

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Since the last operating session I have been busy putting in the cabling for the block instruments. I also took the opportunity to move LCJ box as it did not fit quite right where it was. The cables all had to be extended so I boxed them in to tidy them up at the same time.This also means that it is now a proper back to front box!!

 

attachicon.gifIMG_0804.jpg

 

LCW got tidied up at the same time. All of the connections are now ready to accept the BIs when they arrive.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_0805.jpg

When do you expect to get the block instrument's innards John?

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  • 2 weeks later...

25299296_860701650771293_379293283741893

 

Another good operating session with eight operators and a few more lessons learned. We worked in real time over five hours, with pub and tea breaks, through to 1425 in the WTT. The TCE has just arrived and D18 is about to back down on to the train.

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Another good operating session with eight operators and a few more lessons learned. We worked in real time over five hours, with pub and tea breaks, through to 1425 in the WTT. The TCE has just arrived and D18 is about to back down on to the train.

 

So about 30 minutes of running then?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Its been a little while since my last post but despite the festivities of xmas and NY we have been busy here at Leeds City. Apart from the odd running session a fair bit of work has been done on the electrics and other stuff that is not always visible. A further four monitors have been installed, and additional power supply unit purchased and commissioned plus of course the clocks constructed by Andy. The pictures are I think self explanatory but if not please ask:-

 

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The clocks run off 12volts and are synchronised. They run to normal time but can be advanced in 30 second increments when required.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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