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MOVING COAL - A Colliery Layout in 0 Gauge


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I suspect that fans of this thread will also enjoy this that popped up after PGH's wonderful coal loader video:

 

a magical lost world...

 

Seaham Harbour - that certainly takes me back.  The first time I travelled to the North East in June 1966 was a two day industrial "bash" and included Seaham Harbour and 12 colliery systems.  A total of 89 steam locos were seen of which 45 were working or in steam, plus one solitary diesel and the Westoe electrics.  Magic indeed - Happy Days !

 

I've had another go with the video, with I think a slightly better result.  Bear in mind of course that in the prototype the wagons would be moved under the screens by gravity rather than by the locomotive.

 

https://youtu.be/vG1ZrMuEPUY

 

 

Edited by PGH
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  • 3 months later...

Having spent part of last night and most of this morning reading the whole thread I must agree with all of the above positive comments here.

 

Really inspirational PGH and gives me more inspiration, a huge thank you, please keep posting..

 

Grahame

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Just had yet another run through this thread - each time there is something new to note which somehow I managed to miss from the previous views.

 

On this occasion I noticed a Breyer Garratt loco in the 1st photo in post 185 - maybe I was not the only one to miss it as its appearance caused no comment!

Also in post 188, the tank of the dismantled Peckett is sitting on 2 x n.g. mine tubs, a scene crying out to be modelled.

Edited by Osgood
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  • 1 month later...

PGH, I know you like colliery railways so I thought you might like this, something a little different...

 

 

.

Positively 'state of the art' compared to this 'colliery' in Albania.

.

.

Brian R

Edited by br2975
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  • 5 months later...

Some interesting ideas there, Thanks. 

 

Personally I'd like to keep the wagons as unaltered as possible even if it means some compromises in the operation.  I appreciate that a layout intended for public exhibition requires "hands off" operation but for a home layout its just a matter of personal preference and its quite acceptable to me to use some external means (a finger if necessary !) to operate a door catch.

 

I spent several hours trying to get 6 identical wagons to roll exactly the same without success.  Polishing the journals, polishing the bearings and of course oiling made little difference.  So the minimum gradient has to be set for the worst running wagon, which will consistently just run off the tipping table.  On the steeper section some form of retardation will definitely be required, something that doesn't look out of place, like vegetation in the form of small bushes rubbing against the wheels, or something inconspicuous like clear nylon brush bristles set vertically catching the axles.

 

I don't have any problem using real coal and just sieve it regularly to remove any dust.

 

I have just got round to reading this thread fully. My first venture into O gauge in 1984, was a Sevenscale Pug, 3 wagons and a end door coal drop. I used anthracite beans ground to a consistent 2mm in an industrial grinder. The benefits of having one brother with concessionary coal and the other working in a lab.

Sadly nowhere near this standard of engineering but it made lots of mess, generated lots of attention and inspired several fellow club members to move up a scale.

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  • 1 month later...

Its just over 12 months since I posted in this topic - how time flies.  There hasn't been any progress to report on the layout although much coal has been moved, sometimes with visiting locos like these two Minerva Pannier Tanks. 

 

post-14569-0-82934600-1535214256.jpg

 

I am reliably informed that one will shortly be returning in green livery as South Wales Area NCB 7754.

 

 

post-14569-0-90085100-1535214264.jpg

 

or a Dapol Jinty, courtesy of Larry (coachmann) before he returned to 4mm scale.

 

Most of last winter was occupied in building Penrhyn Railway wagons in 7/8" scale 45mm gauge, as described elsewhere on the forum here:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/133709-penrhyn-railway-wagons-in-78-scale/

 

and Slaters 16mm scale 32mm gauge WDLR bogie wagons to go with a live steam Accucraft Baldwin, as shown here on my small backyard layout

 

 

Different scales, different gauges, but both have had outings on local 16mm Group meetings over the summer.

 

But back to the topic......

tbc

 

Edited by PGH
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Whether it be full size preservation or creating models, the person paying the bill decides the livery and its appearance. I do begin to worry about the sanitized way we present the coal industry and its locomotives. Every year there are fewer people who lived amongst the strange beauty of the collieries and the wilderness of stockpiles and muck stacks. I hadn't thought of myself as a "filth fanatic", but someone attempting to pay tribute through the models to a lost industry and it's workers. Unless I choose to build a layout based on the Area Workshops the grime is equally important as the correct spoked wheels.

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Whether it be full size preservation or creating models, the person paying the bill decides the livery and its appearance. I do begin to worry about the sanitized way we present the coal industry and its locomotives. Every year there are fewer people who lived amongst the strange beauty of the collieries and the wilderness of stockpiles and muck stacks. I hadn't thought of myself as a "filth fanatic", but someone attempting to pay tribute through the models to a lost industry and it's workers. Unless I choose to build a layout based on the Area Workshops the grime is equally important as the correct spoked wheels.

 

Oh dear ! here we go again, the belief that colliery locos have to be covered in filth to have "convincing realism" or be "truly representative".

 

 

Edited by PGH
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I agree entirely with your final statement. I just want to present locos as I remember them. Some colliery managers expected to see their locos well cared for and allocated sufficient time and resources to achieve that. Some even maintained historic liveries against Area policy but most saw them as a tool to be worked hard. The bible for my collection is the late Ron Rockett's Castleford Colliery Railways. Clean locos are outnumbered 19:1. The challenge is to get the grime right.

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So what's next ?

 

The layout operates as planned - as the title of this topic - moving coal from one end to the other.  There's plenty of locomotives and wagons to operate on it.  What it really needs is more buildings (more brickwork to paint !) and scenic details, which doesn't really appeal to me at the moment. 

However as its supposed to be inspired by the Walkden System what it should have is some locomotives beginning with a capital "A", here's a clue:

 

 

post-14569-0-28523700-1535237968.jpg

 

to be continued

Edited by PGH
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Your Vivian Garratt is quite the best I've seen - by a long chalk! I should have loved to have got my hands on that!!! I hope you'll get a chance to run it, as it will look quite at home on your layout. A good thing your own standard of modeling is extremely high as well!

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A very clever scratch build, or a kit I haven't come across yet?

Have you a list of the giesel locos?

The photo got me thinking about which of the Walkden engines you might choose. Then I found my information lacking. According to Continent, Coalfields and Conservation, only RSH7136/HE3892 Warrington and VF5306 which was based around Ashington were modified from the war time builds.

My own records of the post war locos list only HE3699 Revenge and HE3809 which worked Michael colliery and Wellesley. Surely there were more?

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A very clever scratch build, or a kit I haven't come across yet?

 

Have you a list of the giesel locos?

 

Its a scratchbuild with some parts produced by 3D printing, more details later.  A bit too early to describe it as clever - better wait to see how it progresses !

 

A list of NCB locomotives fitted with Giesl ejectors was given in an article in the Industrial Railway Society's RECORD magazine, issue No.196 published in March 2009.  That article detailed other modifications to NCB locos including the Hunslet underfeed stoker & gas producer system, locos fitted with diesel powered underfeed stokers and (believe it or not !) oil firing.  There was an update with amendments in issue No.203 of November 2010, which was a special issue devoted to Austerity 0-6-0STs.  I believe that back issues of both are still available - see the society's website.

 

In brief, the first NCB loco fitted was HE 2859 at Baddesley Colliery on approval.  Following tests which showed some improvements another 45 units at least were supplied.  In the article we listed 40 locos known to have been fitted, there may have been more but at least two units remained unfitted at NCB workshops.  the 40 known locos included 28 Austerity 0-6-0STs, 2 Andrew Barclay 0-6-0Ts, 2 Andrew Barclay 0-4-0STs, 1 Kerr Stuart 0-6-0T (a Victory), 1 Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST, 3 Peckett 0-4-0STs and 3 Bagnall 0-6-0STs.

Edited by PGH
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Thanks for the information. Inspired by the CCC book I tasked myself with tracking the history of as many of the post war locos as possible. It is, let's say, ongoing.

I take it that the giesel conversions were done by the NCB in their own workshops as opposed to the Porta design which were mostly done at Hunslet.

Very impressed with the start you have made and looking forward to the rest of the build.

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Before we bought "my railway room with house attached" in southern France I was becoming committed to a North Warwickshire Coalfields location, including a standard gauge 15xx which is now available (or soon will be) in kit form by both Warren Shephard and MOK.  The Beyer-Garratt would, of course, be very much at home in Warwickshire, being used at Baddesley.

 

It is so sad that the last North Warwickshire mine had to close a year or more ago due to a fire.  I spent some time researching potential gob gas and coalbed methane opportunities back in the late 1990s, by which time most of the interesting mines had been closed down.  Both types of gas utilization seemed to be non-commercial at the time and the brouhaha concerning fracking has made this just about impossible to consider today.  Interestingly, the best coalfields for rejuvenation appeared to be parts of South Wales and much of South Lancashire, particularly around Warrington.  Most of the Midlands coal mining areas were too shallow (which is why they were exploited earlier at the start of the industrial revolution).  North Warwickshire was the deepest mining area so lasted longer than those in the Black Country where much of the coal was at the surface, hence the name.

 

I hope this is of interest and not too far off topic!

 

Paul

Edited by Focalplane
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Before we bought "my railway room with house attached" in southern France I was becoming committed to a North Warwickshire Coalfields location, including a standard gauge 15xx which is now available (or soon will be) in kit form by both Warren Shephard and MOK.  The Beyer-Garratt would, of course, be very much at home in Warwickshire, being used at Baddesley.

 

It is so sad that the last North Warwickshire mine had to close a year or more ago due to a fire.  I spent some time researching potential gob gas and coalbed methane opportunities back in the late 1990s, by which time most of the interesting mines had been closed down.  Both types of gas utilization seemed to be non-commercial at the time and the brouhaha concerning fracking has made this just about impossible to consider today.  Interestingly, the best coalfields for rejuvenation appeared to be parts of South Wales and much of South Lancashire, particularly around Warrington.  Most of the Midlands coal mining areas were too shallow (which is why they were exploited earlier at the start of the industrial revolution).  North Warwickshire was the deepest mining area so lasted longer than those in the Black Country where much of the coal was at the surface, hence the name.

 

I hope this is of interest and not too far off topic!

 

Paul

With a clear link to austerities, the former Wheldale colliery has a methane powered generation plant. The local consensus seems to be that over 20 years of production was left in the ground. Both Ferrybridge and Eggborough power stations stand idle.

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