Herculaneum Dock

[Joseph_Pestell]

I will have to try and get some time off. Would very much like to see this and Dobris.

[KeithHC]

Now can I engineer it to need to go to the gym and by accident have to go to the model show...............

 

Two birds and all that............

 

Keith

[Ben B]

Quote

The type is more or less confined to the MDHB locos but most were sold off for industrial use after the dock system closed, mostly NCB South Wales and at least one is preserved. Similar locos were supplied to Ford and still work at Dagenham but they don't have much detail in common.

 

Have you seen the preserved example at the Middleton in Leeds?  Running in MDHB livery, it's a regular performer, and very nicely turned-out.

[Michael Edge]

It is an ex MDHB loco (45), only moved to Middleton relatively recently and I haven't been to look at it yet.

[Gordon A]

Will have to make a visit to the Bristol (Thornbury) show.

Gordon A

[Michael Edge]

You can bring the teddy bear back to me then if you've managed to dismantle it.

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, Michael Edge said:

You can bring the teddy bear back to me then if you've managed to dismantle it.

 

The mind boggles!

 

Mike.

[Michael Edge]

I thought it might!

[Michael Edge]

This is where we got to a few weeks ago....

Wentworth Junction taken down and stacked up (behind the camera) and Herculaneum dock set up at a slight angle in order to access both sides.

This was all to get it ready for The Bristol show in May - most of a day's work for BarryO and me and all for nothing at the moment.

However I might as well get on with checking and necessary repairs before stacking it away again - it's supposed to be at our show in Leeds at the end of October. Most of it seems to be working OK though.

[gr.king]

Like many others I suspect, I've done a number of things in recent weeks that are now of no use owing to Covid-19 having played its trump card. Many of those were things that I did only very grudgingly too, so it was a doubly annoying drain on time. But it is what it is........

[Michael Edge]

It's not really time wasted, it would have had to be done at some time anyway. Once Herculaneum is packed up again I'll get back to Wentworth Junction - and meantime we are still working in the Edge businesses.

[Michael Edge]

Some work going on with Herculaneum Dock.

This is inside Dingle tunnel, last time out we had all sorts of mysterious derailments on the plain track here so I lifted the track (after removing the LOR which also had some problems) and sanded the boards flat before relaying.

The main problem here is the awful baseboard, originally this was just the quick and easy flat board fiddle yard with cassettes on it. However it became permanent when the dock was extended on to it at the front and when the layout went roundy the depth was made up with odd bits of spare plywood. It's a mess and very heavy but out of sight and OK as long as it works.

The MD&HB's new Hudswell parked at the dockside, all ready for painting now. This loco is way out of period now but I want to have at least one of every type of loco they had, only Avonside No1 and the earlier Hudswells to go now. No chip in this yet but I've tried pushing it round the dock system, the buffer beams are in gauge but they will foul the LOR bumpers because 00 allows too much sideways slop as it runs. It will be OK down at Herculaneum though - and this is where the last of them worked shunting the tanks to and from Dingle oil jetty.

[Michael Edge]

With most of the layout up and running there's some opportunity for photography. The Canon SX730 camera I bought last year does a good job without my trying too hard, the flip up screen is great for layout photos.

View from the long footbridge, 40936 running under clear signals, the MR 3F shunting coal wagons in the exchange yard.

A closer shot of the same scene from ground level.

 

[Michael Edge]

MD&HB's latest loco has now been delivered.

These Hudswells were delivered by rail under their own power so why shouldn't No.45 pay a visit to Brunswick. Waiting for the signal to clear as an O4/8 arrives with yet another coal train. Something of a mix of periods here but just about possible.

Down by the casemates, it seems to have got itself turned round somewhere. The crest on the cab side is the Liverpool Corporation one, it should be the Dock Board crest but there are no transfers for that - they are fairly similar though. Paint is Humbrol 3, letter and number transfers from Fox.

 

 

This one is definitely out of period, the LOR had long gone when these Hudswells arrived, the last locos for the MD&HB. No.45 still survives after being sold for industrial use, repainted now into a rather lighter green - these last Hudswells were in a darker shade than the earlier diesels and steam locos.

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

 

Lettering looks better with the long bonnet on the right. Best keep it that way round at shows!

[Michael Edge]

That's because the Fox sheet contains only one ampersand and I wasn't going to buy another sheet at their prices - the one on the right hand side. The one on the left is cobbled together from bits of other letters and some paint - it's not as neat but it is nearer the right size, the ampersand was smaller than the lettering. What would you have done?

It's not that likely to appear, being way out of period but I want to have all the possible MDHB locos - just two to go now, Avonside No1 and the earlier Hudswells. One of the latter survives at Embsay but I've got round to measuring it yet, I have an HC drawing but it's not quite the same as the MDHB locos.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Michael Edge said:

That's because the Fox sheet contains only one ampersand and I wasn't going to buy another sheet at their prices - the one on the right hand side. The one on the left is cobbled together from bits of other letters and some paint - it's not as neat but it is nearer the right size, the ampersand was smaller than the lettering. What would you have done?

It's not that likely to appear, being way out of period but I want to have all the possible MDHB locos - just two to go now, Avonside No1 and the earlier Hudswells. One of the latter survives at Embsay but I've got round to measuring it yet, I have an HC drawing but it's not quite the same as the MDHB locos.

I'd probably only have lettered one side!

[Enterprisingwestern]

7 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

I'd probably only have lettered one side!

I'd have modelled in the well known period when the ampersand had worn off!!

 

Mike.

[St Enodoc]

19 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

I'd have modelled in the well known period when the ampersand had worn off!!

 

Mike.

As in "Look Mum, no 'ands!".

Edited May 5, 2020 by St Enodoc

[Michael Edge]

With most of the layout up and working, though not connected to the fiddle yard, I've taken the opportunity to take some photos. All are taken from somewhere it would have been possible to stand - no "helicopter shots".

Viewed from outside the car shed, a 40ft motor set leaving on its way to Dingle.

Down on the ground by the old MR coaling stage, imported timber loaded on bogie bolster wagons.

The view of Brunswick shed yard from an Overhead train, newly repainted compound on the sheerlegs road and two time travellers, the B16/3 with the later BR crest and the new MDHB Hudswell in the shed.

Same stock, slightly different viewpoint.

A closer look at one of the shunters, ex MR 3F 0-6-0T is ready to pull a train of coal empties out of the exchange sidings.

Under the Overhead this time, a stray point cover lying in the middle of the Dock Road but no trains in sight.

J69 shunting a loaded Trestrol EC in Brunswick Goods, the CLC gantry crane in the foreground.

From the inside now, looking down from sandstone cliff, the MR 3F shunting full coals down to the dock.

More to follow.

[Michael Edge]

Looking over the shed with an Overhead train passing, Hunslet No.32 with a couple of tank wagons below. This angle and the light behind shows up the lack of interior detail in my LOR trains though,

View under Brunswick's coal hole with a 4F on the turntable. There was an electric coal hoist under here but it wouldn't be visible either from the front of the layout or to the operator. Using a small camera gets into some very inaccessible locations.

I like this view from ground level with the LOR silhouetted against the sky background. The leaning yard lamp needs some attention.

Looking down into the coal hole, the 60ft turntable is a venerable item, originally built in the 1970s for Bradford London Road on our ols club layout Leeds Victoria.

View along Herculaneum Bridge towards the station and car shed, the line's original terminus before the southern extension to Dingle. A WD 2-8-0 has managed to get left in the old MR coaling area, this was normally used for the shunting locos but occasionally saw use for main line locos as well. Two other LOR trains in the car shed, this is half the length it should be, it coul;d actually hold four trains.

Close up of part of the same shot, the far siding is useful for parking brake vans.

The CLC and Dingle tunnel from Herculaneum Dock station. A J10 leaving with some steel empties while an O4 waits to go off shed. The signal showing red is not for the main line but is the shed exit signal, there was a telephone here to contact the signal box as it was out of sight round  the curve.

This view from the back of the car shed looking over Herculaneum dock as an LOR train leaves the tunnel on the big girder bridge. MDHB small Avonside No.7 pulls full coals across the weighbridge. Some of the casemates were used for storing explosives - this is the explanation for the gunpowder van parked there.

Close up of No.7 by the weighbridge hut, fulls at both sides, there is a weighbridge at each side of this building.

Just about the view from Herculaneum bridge into what was left of the shed after the Luftwaffe had finished modifying it. Storage space was almost non existent and coal wagons were often left in the shed and that poor bu66er has been halfway up the steps with his bike since 1997.

The new Hudswell would have been delivered by rail so here it is paying a quick visit to Brunswick. Way out of time though, the shed had been closed before these last locos were bought by the MDHB.

Last one from ground level in Brunswick goods. Steel empties on the departure road and the J69 with the loaded Trestrol.

 

 

[Barry O]

Can we have a camera down on the turntable road so we can see what is lurking in there? Please!

 

And I thought it was Jimmy and his bike climbing the stairs on his way to the pub..Bless him!

 

Very nice shots in places we can't normally see.

 

Baz

 

[St Enodoc]

10 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

Matey boy looks like he needs a few bowls of lob scouse.

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

Looking down into the coal hole, the 60ft turntable is a venerable item, originally built in the 1970s for Bradford London Road on our ols club layout Leeds Victoria.

Very nice Mike. What happened to the Leeds and Dewsbury 'tables?

[Captain Dun]

Amazing photos Michael.  It's just like being there (although I was never there in the day!)