Jump to content
 

Train spotting at Finsbury Square


31A
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Gold

I have just read this thread from the start for the first time (please forgive my overlooking it previously).

 

I love this, very evocative and convincing. I like the way that freight arrivals are so convoluted, must make operating much more interesting.

 

Am I right in deducing that all the platforms can accommodate 6 coaches and a loco?

 

Thank you for sharing and keep the photos coming. Very inspirational.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

I have just read this thread from the start for the first time (please forgive my overlooking it previously).

 

I love this, very evocative and convincing. I like the way that freight arrivals are so convoluted, must make operating much more interesting.

 

Am I right in deducing that all the platforms can accommodate 6 coaches and a loco?

 

Thank you for sharing and keep the photos coming. Very inspirational.

 

 

Thank you (and to everyone else too) for the kind comments and 'likes', etc!

 

Yes, the platforms can accommodate 6 and a loco, but it depends which coaches!  1 and 2 are plenty long enough; 3 can accommodate six 'short' coaches (LNER 51 footers and BR 57 footers mixed) with a loco (tank engine or Diesel) at each end if necessary, and 4 can accommodate six 'short' coaches with a loco at the outer end only.  This isn't a problem for platform 4, as trains can't arrive there so they have to be shunted in first by a pilot which then leaves, followed by the train engine arriving on top.  Only 1 and 2 will accommodate six coach trains of 'long' coaches (LNER 61ft and / or BR 63ft) with a loco.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Oh dear! So the curse of the bookshelves has spread.

 

 

I'm afraid so.  I try to crop them out as far as possible but with pictures taken from the 'right hand' end, it isn't always possible without also cutting out bits that you want people to see.  I haven't got any clever picture editing software, and probably wouldn't have the patience to use it if I had!

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

More on Std 4 tanks Steve. Trains Illustrated records 80103/37 arriving at KX in September 58 for outer suburban duties, including the 5.39pm KX- Baldock. D5300 is also recorded as arriving, and working Broad Street- Welwyn Garden City, rather than from KX. Some good ammunition there!

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

More on Std 4 tanks Steve. Trains Illustrated records 80103/37 arriving at KX in September 58 for outer suburban duties, including the 5.39pm KX- Baldock. D5300 is also recorded as arriving, and working Broad Street- Welwyn Garden City, rather than from KX. Some good ammunition there!

 

 

Thanks Gilbert; I shall have to dig out my Bachmann one, and see about changing its number.  I only bought it really because it struck me as a nice model when it came out, and reminded me of the Hornby Dublo one that I used to admire!

Link to post
Share on other sites

More on Std 4 tanks Steve. Trains Illustrated records 80103/37 arriving at KX in September 58 for outer suburban duties, including the 5.39pm KX- Baldock. D5300 is also recorded as arriving, and working Broad Street- Welwyn Garden City, rather than from KX. Some good ammunition there!

 

Gilbert,

At this time 80103 was shedded at Plaistow 33A and 80137 was a  Neasden engine   34E  or 14d from 1st January 1958 when the shed  was transferred to the Midland Region of BR.

There were lots of transfers between 34E & 34A that were I believe unofficial and just agreed by the Shedmasters, although how the routes were authourrised is beyond my knowledge.

I remember seeing 76042 and a Neasden Standard  4 Tank at Grantham. The spotters were jumping up and down with excitement apart from me. I had seen both of these Standards umpteen times at Neasden. I later found out the 2-6-0 was going to Doncaster Works,but I am not sure about the .Standard  4 Tank and I don't know if they received attention at Doncaster ?

Oh Happy days.

Regards,Derek.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Thanks for the information and encouragement; inspired & enthused by a weekend spent stewarding at the York Show, I shall dig out said 4MTT tomorrow.  It was a pleasure to meet so many fellow modellers, several of whom were previously only known by their writings on this forum!

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Thanks for the information and encouragement; inspired & enthused by a weekend spent stewarding at the York Show, I shall dig out said 4MTT tomorrow.  It was a pleasure to meet so many fellow modellers, several of whom were previously only known by their writings on this forum!

Hi Steve

 

It was good to meet you on Saturday. What a good show York was this year.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
  • RMweb Premium

Daily life continues at Finsbury Square with the usual routine of arrivals and departures, and little recently to get the train spotters excited, apart from the gradual increase in the number of Diesel workings.

 

Recently however, some were surprised to 'cop' another L1, although the more knowledgeable and adventurous ones said it had been a 34A loco for a couple of years and was often to be seen at The Cross.

 

This was 67773, which is seen here in the Engine Spur between duties, and then leaving with an evening outer suburban train.  The spotters thought it unusual that it was running chimney first towards London, and the fireman was having a moan about having to make sure there was plenty of water over the firebox whilst trying to avoid priming on the climb up from Canonbury.

 

post-31-0-65172400-1540654766.jpg

 

post-31-0-83828500-1540654782.jpg

 

I'd been sort of keeping an eye open for another L1 for a while, but BR liveried ones at a reasonable price seem rare so I was glad to pick this one up at Railex NE earlier this year.  It was missing one lamp at both front and rear, and both sight screens on one side of the cab.  I replaced the missing lamps with new ones made by balancing three tiny bits of brass on the end of a soldering iron; I can live without the sight screens (I imagine these may have easily gone missing on the real locos).

 

post-31-0-50627400-1540654979.jpg

 

Other modifications included adding a piece of spring wire to control the waywardness of the pony truck, and shortening the NEM pockets front and rear so that the couplings don't stick out so far.

 

post-31-0-88909000-1540655061.jpg

 

On the top side, I replaced the rather obtrusive sliding cab ventilator shutters with new ones from thin metal (drinks can material) and while the cab roof was off, added a crew.  Then some weathering, to represent a loco in reasonable condition, and coal in the bunker.  It is a good runner, slightly 'growly' travelling forwards but will probably run in, and a useful addition to the 'Outer Suburban Link'.

 

 

  • Like 19
Link to post
Share on other sites

Absolutely terrific again. More than any other layout this seems to evoke the atmosphere of my own train spotting days at KX although steam was a bit thin on the suburban by then, but It's just like being there with my spotters notebook and pencil again.

 

Incidently, could you give us some insight on how you shortened the NEM coupling, it a job I need to do on my own L1

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Thank you, Jazzer (and everyone else who's ticked 'like' etc.) - glad you like it!  I'm afraid I can't remember the Cross in steam days at all although I must have gone there then, but at a very young age.

 

I modified the couplings by shortening the NEM pockets on the pony truck and the bogie.  Hopefully this picture will give an idea of what I did:

 

post-31-0-42392400-1540736733.jpg

 

The lower pony truck is the modified one from 67773, and the upper one is unmodified.

 

I cut back the NEM pocket so that its front is level with the representation of the pony truck side frames, using a piercing saw and files.  The coupling then needs its 'tails' cutting off, so to hold the coupling in place I've drilled a hole vertically through both the truck frame and the coupling, and inserted a pin from scrap wire right through, bent over at top and bottom to stop it falling out.  You could glue the coupling in, but by using a wire pin you could change the coupling in future if you wanted to.  Both trucks in the picture have had Bachmann couplings fitted (I think they were 36-027) as these are slightly shorter than the Hornby version.

 

The rear bogie is slightly easier (although you need to be careful as it is wired to the loco mechanism for pick up purposes).  I cut about 3mm off the cast NEM pocket, leaving about 1mm proud of the bogie frame which can be drilled through for a wire pin.

 

I aim to get the corners of the 'bar' part of the coupling roughly level with the buffer heads, which reduces the gap between vehicles quite noticeably but still allows reliable propelling without buffer locking.

 

The upper pony truck in the picture also shows the other end of the centring spring, which stops the truck yawing from side to side.

 

Hope this helps!

 

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

 

This was 67773, which is seen here in the Engine Spur between duties, and then leaving with an evening outer suburban train.  The spotters thought it unusual that it was running chimney first towards London, and the fireman was having a moan about having to make sure there was plenty of water over the firebox whilst trying to avoid priming on the climb up from Canonbury.

 

 

He was probably more concerned that he would run out of water entirely, as most of it leaked out of the tanks during the shift!  Faults in design and construction led to these monsters 'knocking themselves to pieces' and the 'excessive vibration caused the all welded water tanks to split along their length at footplate level... '*

 

Handsome though.

 

*Bill Harvey's 60 Years in Steam, pp155-6

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

He was probably more concerned that he would run out of water entirely, as most of it leaked out of the tanks during the shift!  Faults in design and construction led to these monsters 'knocking themselves to pieces' and the 'excessive vibration caused the all welded water tanks to split along their length at footplate level... '*

 

Handsome though.

 

*Bill Harvey's 60 Years in Steam, pp155-6

Ah, at last I understand why they were nicknamed concrete mixers. Thank you your Dr. ship

Ar$£

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

No room there I'm afraid, Phil - with running lines on either side, not a very safe place to go swinging water cranes around, or doing anything else to the engine for that matter!  There is a water crane at the 'country' end of Platforms 2 & 3 which they can use, and I have thought about putting them (probably standpipe type) at the buffer stop ends but haven't got around to it yet.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

No room there I'm afraid, Phil - with running lines on either side, not a very safe place to go swinging water cranes around, or doing anything else to the engine for that matter!  There is a water crane at the 'country' end of Platforms 2 & 3 which they can use, and I have thought about putting them (probably standpipe type) at the buffer stop ends but haven't got around to it yet.

Not even one with just a floppy tube and no crane jib?

post-2326-0-00928700-1540918773.jpg

Yo.

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Not even one with just a floppy tube and no crane jib?

attachicon.gifWater Column.jpg

Yo.

 

To be honest I think even one of those wouldn't really be possible, Phil, because of the overthrow of vehicles on the curve.  The post of the signal gantry visible in the picture of 67773 is in the 'six foot' between the Up Main and the Loco Spur, and is only just cleared by passing vehicles by a whisker, which really makes it illegal in terms of infringing the Structure Gauge, to which I turn a blind eye.  I think any kind of water crane would only be fatter!  The sort of thing in your picture is however what I have in mind for the platform buffer stop ends.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

To be honest I think even one of those wouldn't really be possible, Phil, because of the overthrow of vehicles on the curve.  The post of the signal gantry visible in the picture of 67773 is in the 'six foot' between the Up Main and the Loco Spur, and is only just cleared by passing vehicles by a whisker, which really makes it illegal in terms of infringing the Structure Gauge, to which I turn a blind eye.  I think any kind of water crane would only be fatter!  The sort of thing in your picture is however what I have in mind for the platform buffer stop ends.

Sadly it is (shhhhhhh!) a SR item :O  :triniti:  :rtfm:  :sarcastichand:  ! Probably not a proper piece for your lovely layout. Many moons ago in the early 60s at Plymuff, where I used to go and sit next to the line between North Road and Mutley Tunnel, there were two holding sidings for loco's due to take over eastbound (up) trains in the busy summer months. No water facilities there either and sometimes they would be sitting there for quite a long time.

Phil

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...