West Riding Terminus- Halifax Powell Street

[leopardml2341]

I thought the lantern was too bulky on the original ones.

[AireValley1962]

Lor, but if I had that skill for lamp-making I'd quit my day job! Nicely done!

 

Cheers,

William 

Edited June 21, 2020 by AireValley1962
Spelling edit

[BurscoughCurves]

Hi folks,

 

Not much modelling done recently as I'm still working from home in the layout room but I'm having some good running sessions.

 

One thing I changed a few weeks ago was the track cleaning fluid I was using. I know there is a lot of information out there about this so I will keep it brief! My previous process was; 1) track rubber 2) hoover bit from rubber 3) clean cloth with methylated spirits on the rail tops to finish. Even with a small layout such as mine this could take the best part of an hour. It gave a good clean finish which allowed for at least a week of good running. What I did notice was the fairly quick build-up of black surface scale when rubbed with a clean dry cloth after about 8-10 days. I have changed to use Servisol 'Super 10' contact cleaner sprayed onto a clean cloth only- no use of the rubber at all. It doesn't require such an abrasive action to clean and rubbing the rails after a number of weeks didn't produce any black staining at all. It makes sense being a mechanical contact cleaner and I had a small amount left in my stash from years ago it just took me a long time to put 2 + 2 together! I do use nitrile gloves and keep the room well ventilated when doing this as it is a bit pungent however.

 

After my recent 3D printing trials and tribulations I decided against installing the electrical ground signals after it dawning on me that a mix of mechanical and electrical signals would not have been very common. Instead I installed static Ratio LNWR type semaphore ground signals which I had left over from a set when I kit-bashed the main/shunt signals some time ago. 

 

I am starting to think about adding some simple detail to the overcast photo back scene. I am thinking of airbrushing very subtle Pennine hills in two light brown and green shades and adding some faint building outlines. To mock up this I have crudely mocked up the following (in MS paint!):

 

 

I think this could work okay but my main area of concern is above the over-bridge between the two large buildings. I will have to add some closer in-field detail to this area I suspect.

 

Below are some images from part of a running session; mid/late morning.

 

The Brit has arrived with an express and is being watered and turned before being a priority departure:

 

 

The class 24 had arrived very early with a parcels train has finally shunted the empties and is waiting light engine at the ground signal for access to the MPD (ignore the disc headcode- I still haven't altered these!):

 

 

A local arrives into platform 3, usually a DMU but there must have been a failure:

 

 

 

Early afternoon shunting duties for the J50:

 

 

The photographer has bolted onto the tracks...!

 

 

A crude crop to finish:

 

 

All the best,

Pete

 

 

[A Murphy]

The last four views in particular look great Pete - Powell Street is an inspiration! 

 

Alastair

[ianathompson]

The layout is excellent and captures the atmosphere of the West Riding  I remember as a kid.

 

Just a few thoughts about the backscene; take them or leave them.

 

I know that there were remote mills, sometimes at higher altitude in the side valleys, hence the Piece Hall.

(There was a similar building in Huddersfield, I discovered when I did my PhD, but it was demolished int he 1870s.)

From a visual perspective I would group the chimneys in the valley bottom and ignore the remote ones.

In my Central Yorkshire League cricket days you were not so aware of them on the King Cross ground whereas you could not miss them at Sowerby Bridge.

(Mind you as the latter ground was accessed via a mill yard I might be  a little biased!)

Grouping them in the valley bottom would also emphasise the open countryside on the hills which, to me, is a characteristic West Riding trait not usually found in the other major industrial conurbations.

 

As for the smoke, you probably need a disco fogging machine to replicate the true atmosphere.

 

Regards,

Ian T

[Enterprisingwestern]

16 hours ago, BurscoughCurves said:

(ignore the disc headcode- I still haven't altered these!):

 

Neither did the drivers a lot of the time, I wouldn't worry!

 

Mike.

[Adam88]

... hence the Piece Hall.

(There was a similar building in Huddersfield, I discovered when I did my PhD, but it was demolished int he 1870s.)

 

Let me correct you a little, Huddersfield Cloth Hall was demolished in 1930, not the 1870s, there is a short article here: https://huddersfield.exposed/wiki/Cloth_Hall,_Huddersfield

 

 

[4630]

16 hours ago, BurscoughCurves said:

 

 

I am starting to think about adding some simple detail to the overcast photo back scene. I am thinking of airbrushing very subtle Pennine hills in two light brown and green shades and adding some faint building outlines. To mock up this I have crudely mocked up the following (in MS paint!):

 

 

In relation to the real Powell Street location in Halifax, Beacon Hill and Bank Top are due east and are dominant features overlooking the town and the valley of the Hebble brook.

 

Around the time of your Powell Street, Halifax had a power station, with two large cooling towers and a gas works both, due to the topography, effectively dominating the east and north-east side of the town.

 

To the north would have been the buildings and chimneys of the John Crossley carpets mills within the Dean Clough complex.

 

To the south, through the smog from the industrial town of Elland with another power station, would be the distant hills at Ainley Top, which forms the boundary to neighbouring Huddersfield. 

[ianathompson]

1 hour ago, Adam88 said:

Let me correct you a little, Huddersfield Cloth Hall was demolished in 1930,

 

I stand corrected. I did not go and consult the thesis and put the date in off hand.

Few people nowadays realise that there even was such a building in the town, however, although Cloth Hall Street remains.

I cannot say that the modern day Sainsbury's (as it appears to be from Google Earth) is an improvement.

 

Ian T

[BurscoughCurves]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the input on the backscene @ianathompson and @4630.

 

All this talk of PhD's... I am in the company of some learned folk!

 

Expanding the theme I have mocked up a second attempt. The chimneys just below the outcrop at Beacon Hill (on the left hand side) appear quite high but are very noticeable in some excellent images within the pages of 'Great Northern Outpost Volume 2: Halifax, Thornton & Keighley Railway'. I have slowly collected this range of books as they are full of excellent colour images. I based several of my buildings on prototypes from these books.

 

 

Although I can remove most of the buildings from immediately in front of the backscene, I don't think I can take the actual paper backscene down itself unfortunately. Bad planning on my part. I will either attempt airbrushing 'overlays' on the bench and mount them in position, or try going directly onto the backscene in-situ... carefully!

 

Regards,

Pete

[ianathompson]

46 minutes ago, BurscoughCurves said:

All this talk of PhD's...

 

It helped me to get onto every ground in the Football League in the early eighties and play in the CYL for three seasons longer than would have been the case!

The backscene looks better by the way!

 

Unfortunately the family, what remains of it, have moved away from the area and I rarely get to stamp on my native heath nowadays.

 

Ian T

[4630]

2 hours ago, BurscoughCurves said:

 

Although I can remove most of the buildings from immediately in front of the backscene, I don't think I can take the actual paper backscene down itself unfortunately. Bad planning on my part. I will either attempt airbrushing 'overlays' on the bench and mount them in position, or try going directly onto the backscene in-situ... carefully!

 

Regards,

Pete

 

Actually Pete, from a historical point of view, they're perfectly placed to represent the tea and coffee warehouse of T Collinson & Sons Ltd that, until 1970, occupied a large site just off Trinity Road perpendicular to Powell Street. 

[Mike 84C]

I  realise this thread has moved on  but I love the photos of an afternoons shunting. The last but one is fabulous, J50 heading into the tunnel with a raft of vans and the light catching the mill buildings above, I looked thrice, that picture should be in BRM or whatever! West Yorkshire in a nutshell! please post more like that.

[BurscoughCurves]

On 17/07/2020 at 23:50, Mike 84C said:

I  realise this thread has moved on  but I love the photos of an afternoons shunting. The last but one is fabulous, J50 heading into the tunnel with a raft of vans and the light catching the mill buildings above, I looked thrice, that picture should be in BRM or whatever! West Yorkshire in a nutshell! please post more like that.

 

Thanks Mike. As I've mentioned before it is a goal of mine to get a layout published and I hope that will be case for HPS.

 

A few images from the last few weeks:

 

Firstly, a major incident occurred during an otherwise routine morning on the former LNWR terminus in central Halifax.

 

Crab 42765 (which had arrived with a local deputising for a failed DMU) decided to jump the rails whilst on shed around 09:30 on the 16th of July (1960). Unfortunately this occurred on the double slip and managed to block the headshunt, coaling and ash road, the shed roads and one of the turntable roads. During the resulting drama an anonymous witness claims the incident occurred because of an incorrectly set route. The crew in question have since had a severe dressing down (well I have been... by myself)!

 

Fortunately a 45 ton breakdown crane, which was  being temporarily stored on shed road 5 after a recent bridge repair, could be maneuvered by a 'trapped' loco into a suitable position for recovery. Eventually, once every man and his dog had contributed to the situation and stream had been raised on the crane, the loco was re-railed. The station pilot, J50 68959, was called in to take the mid-morning Pullman service to Leeds for connection to Kings Cross ,and made up time to make the connection. Several local services were heavily delayed however.  

 

The loco in question:

 

 

The eventual recovery:

 

 

The anonymous witness...

 

 

Well I did cause the problem by my sloppy route setting during a running session so thought I'd try to dig myself out of a hole and work around it. A little bit of random chaos thrown into the session!

 

I managed to paint a test piece of backscene on the bench to try the basic stencil method. I am happy with the results and have started to make the full sized stencils. I just need to pluck up the courage to get it done now!

 

The test section showing the 4 colours used for my reference (note; I will be omitting the windows that can be seen on the factories):

 

 

Having made a fume extraction chamber for my 3D printer I also started printing again over the weekend. To get back into things I modelled and printed a station clock and some name and running boards for the platforms and will be painting and mounting them shortly.

 

The 'LNWR' clock:

 

 

 

A test printed name board based on those at North Bridge station:

 

 

Hopefully more progress on the backscene soon.

 

Thanks for reading,

Pete

[lezz01]

Hi Pete.

I'm loving the back scene mate, very atmospheric. The printed stuff is outstanding. I wish I had that skill. 

Regards Lez. 

[5BarVT]

10 hours ago, BurscoughCurves said:

Thanks Mike. As I've mentioned before it is a goal of mine to get a layout published and I hope that will be case for HPS.

It should indeed, very worthy of publication.

Paul.

[richard.h]

A great set of photos of your first class layout, I was very impressed by the items made withe 3d printer, I had previously thought that this type of printer was a luxury but seeing your work and others it is starting to look like another essential tool for quality railway modelling.

 

Richard

[BurscoughCurves]

On 22/07/2020 at 08:04, 5BarVT said:

It should indeed, very worthy of publication.

Paul.

 

Thanks Paul, really kind of you.

 

On 22/07/2020 at 08:27, richard.h said:

A great set of photos of your first class layout, I was very impressed by the items made withe 3d printer, I had previously thought that this type of printer was a luxury but seeing your work and others it is starting to look like another essential tool for quality railway modelling.

 

Richard

 

Cheers Richard. I'm still getting to grips with it to be honest, and need to experiment more than I am doing really. I imagine some folk on here would reel in horror at this technology being described as essential! luddites! I mean that in a very light hearted way of course. Although I could have done so much with it detailing buildings a year or so ago I'm actually glad I did the work manually to be honest.

 

It is a fabulous tool though, and in the correct hands can produce amazing work (I'm thinking specifically of the work of @MikeTrice amongst many others). It is exactly that- a tool, the technology of which has become so accessible recently. Working with CNC machine tools I'm still amazed the number of people who think you just 'put the drawing in and the technology does the rest'. It encompasses a range of skills to master; being proficient and creative in CAD, understanding the techniques and limitations of DLP printing in various resins, model supporting, curing and finishing etc.

 

I'll have a few more printed test items to show soon. 

 

Here's the clock mounted anyhow:

 

 

 

Regards,

Pete

[BurscoughCurves]

Hi all,

 

A quick update to show the finished backscene. It was as predicted a lot more difficult to airbrush the templates mounted on the layout in-situ. I will definitely learn from this on future layouts! Better/more planning needed...

 

Some of the edges are a little furry  but the overall effect is okay; it adds some depth without taking the eye from the layout.

 

 

 

 

I also installed the 3D printed station signs and running in boards:

 

 

 

The major scenic jobs are complete, however I have a list of smaller, fiddly things to tick off. I'd like to finish weathering the fleet and stock but I am partially working from home on the bench in the layout room so I won't be able to do this for now. I am also planning on trading in several blood and custard coaches for maroon ones but the stock at Hattons looks a little light at the moment.

 

The usual selection of random images to finish.

 

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Pete

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

Nice views, but what about the 'fiddle yard' ????

 

manna

[BurscoughCurves]

On 31/08/2020 at 00:52, manna said:

G'Day Folks

 

Nice views, but what about the 'fiddle yard' ????

 

manna

 

Hi Manna,

 

Just for you; two views of the fiddle yard!

 

All the best,

Pete

 

 

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

I like that, smaller than I thought, but I like the use of the stock trays (can't think of there name) I have been thinking about building a few for myself. Usual problem, to much stock.

 

manna

[lezz01]

"Cassettes" would be the word you're looking for Manna! 

Regards Lez. 

[lmsforever]

Excellent progress I really like  the overall gritty down to earth look you have achieved ,the buildings are very well made and fit the scene well.I would have thought that some sort of canopies would have been over the platforms but I do not know the actual location so its only a thought.Thanks for the pics and chat. 

[steve45]

Brilliant backscene, I can smell the smoke from the chimneys!