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NO PLACE


Les1952
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Perhaps a bit late for you as you seem to be well on your way, but this is a scheme I came up with a while back for a compact colliery layout that avoids the loading problem altogether.  We see the dead end of the colliery yard and the rear entrance to the screens/loading building which forms the scenic break with the fiddle yard to the right: the connection to the rest of the world is imagined to be well off-stage.  Empty wagons are drawn up behind the screens to the headshunt and then run back through for loading: in real life this would likely be by gravity but on the model perhaps they could be drawn through by hand or by a second loco hidden in the FY.  Note that loaded wagons never appear on the layout.

 

For interest I added a second through line in front of the screens, giving access to loco sheds and workshops and a reason to run a variety of non-coal wagons.  A short runround assists shunting.  The pithead buildings at the very front of the layout hide the exit of this line to the fiddle yard and also help to disguise the shortness of the screens building.  At the other end of the layout, the loco shed and workshops disguise the brevity of the headshunt and can even suggest that the line continues to another pit if you wish (modular NCB standard anyone?).

 

In the annotated N-gauge original, I sited the exchange sidings behind the colliery (some versions of this plan even had a separate BR loco release and headshunt).  This was a blatant fudge to allow BR locos to appear, but TBH I think it looks contrived: the exchange siding would IRL almost certainly be off-stage to the right and I've left them out of the 00 version.  This really is-a-no-main-line-engines scheme and great self control will be demanded of the operator ;)

 

N gauge version:

 

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00 gauge version squished to 5 feet:

 

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Thanks for the input ?Simon?

 

As you say I've gone a little further along the path.  I wanted to have the same wagons arriving as departing and to have them actually being loaded either just off scene or actually onscene.  The experience I've had with the hinge-down platform for the fiddle yard is what put me off having a similar platform with cassettes feeding the loader.  Perhaps if I'd bought better quality hinges.....

 

I've kept the headshunt deliberately short as the only wagons which will find their way to the right hand sidings will be for longer term standing, this rather larger part of the layout really belongs to the engine shed.  Turnouts here are bigger radius than at the back, where short Y points rule.  a short headshunt means I can't run anything bigger than the largest loco I already have (the K1).  I have a nasty habit of buying A3s, having three times as many as I need for Hawthorn Dene.  This headshunt should ensure I only buy N-gauge ones when I feel the urge to add another.

 

For exhibition use the largest loco will be one of the 0-6-0 tanks or occasionally no.42, the 0-6-2T.   The main line locos if they appear at all will be confined to the shed area as there is no passenger traffic - other than a single 6-wheel coach I found in the loft which can be the stores/miner transport up from Pelton/Handen Hold.

 

I've had a good look at the Walthers loader and the floor can be adapted to actually load hopper wagons beneath, and there is more than enough wall to cover any coal slides inside that will be needed. If modelling in a ten foot space I'd have looked at both ends of the loader and mimicing the gravity feed.   In the case of the real No Place the exchange sidings were at Pelton, some 5 miles and three or four inclines away.  wagons would have only been removed from the site a small number at a time due to the gradient. 

 

I'm beginning to think the incline from East Stanley Colliery was loco worked for some time before the colliery closed.  Beamish Railway Nos 3 to 5 were all 0-6-0 side tanks with 17" cylinders so were very powerful for colliery use at the time they were built.  They needed to be because of the gradients on the railway.  The yard at East Stanley Colliery in the linked map is shown as small.

 

I abandoned the idea of cassettes as wagons would need to be lifted for emptying in the fiddle yard, making cassettes a luxury I didn't really need.  As it is there will be enough to keep two operators busy, one handling onscene loco movements while the other prepares offstage trains and works the loader.

 

Hope this drivel helps.

Les

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Sunday's efforts

 

A big batch of pics this time as they help to explain things.

 

post-13358-0-40433600-1430074778_thumb.jpg

 

First, as threatened promised yesterday, the connector.  This is the Kato Unitrack extension connector- and runs from a male to a female version of this.  I cut the lead into two and this gives me a pair that work.  One goes on the DCC power booster and the other on the layout.  It gives the DCC supply a unique connection that won't be mistaken for jacks, DINs etc.

 

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The circuit breaker attached to the underside of the layout, showing the blue and white twin-core wire coming in, and the leads to the layout going out.  I was looking to use the red and black cable but the reel of black had decided to hide somewhere out of site- as a result the feed wires are red and blue.

 

On the recommendation of a couple of friends who are into dolls houses I decided to use copper tape of the same type as used in these.   The problem is that unreeling enough to make a loop right round the layout meant untwisting the tape to apply it became a problem.  I took one tape through the lightening holes in the frame, and fed the other through the gaps between frame and top (which wouldn't have been there if I'd used more glue at that stage....

 

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Droppers were remarkably easy to solder to the tape, and work!  At least any repair to the tape will be easy.

 

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The 5 amp booster connected, the red light shows it is live.  I've put an NCE pocket for the PowerCab on the back of the layout- this will be behind the backscene.

 

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Cab live, no short circuits (there shouldn't be as I've been at great pains to keep opposite sides of the circuit a long way apart).  Track cleaning of the recycled lengths took a lot longer than I'd thought, but all locos run smoothly from the yard through both sides of the loop to the headshunt and back.

 

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Having got it working and tested that all locos run on the bit I've done the next step is to line up the sidings under the screens.   I've temporarily tacked an end plate onto the layout to prevent locos accidentally ending on the floor in testing.  The grey plate standing on end is the floor plate of the Walthers mine kit.  I'm still deciding whether to narrow it to two roads or have a "lorry" lane or just an abandoned one.  I'm thinking of the lorry lane but the decision isn't final.  The slots are where the coal will fall into the wagons underneath.

 

Nothing worth watching on telly but odd bits on eBay finishing.  Time to go.

Les

 

 

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Merry Monday.

 

More progress.  I've dug out the lever frame and am now a bit apprehensive about where to site the thing.  The obvious place is somewhere near the middle of the back edge but the routes for the nylon tubing will be a little exciting to make.  At least the track is only pinned for now allowing me to cut tracks in the balsa beneath.  Trackwork will only be glued when I ballast.

 

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Moving on- the coal loading point has the two tracks laid under it.  A little wide apart for British use but they line up with the slots in the loader floor. Leaving the feet off the supporting ironwork lowers the screens to an acceptable height over the top of a 21-tonner.  Next is to get the front and side walls for the upper deck attached so I know how much headroom I have to play with to make chutes to load wagons.

 

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Pic shows wagons under the loading house to check the dimensions.  The far left wall will be old brick up to first floor level.  The view also shows the last of the succession of small radius Y points to get to these roads- a little sharp but not entirely unknown on old screens.  I've wired these lines in and have tested it propelling wagons with a variety of locos.  All are able to run right up to the screens (and lower locos under) except the new Bachmann 64xx which consistetly tries to go the wrong side of the frog on the first Peco Y-point.

 

Meet the fleet.

 

Two of them, anyway. There are more Hornby J94s available than sensible, especially as I've three (and counting) DJM ones on pre-order.  Here are two of them.

 

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REVENGE was one of the NCB in Lancashire's R series of locos bought in 1950, REPULSE, RENOWN, RESPITE, REVENGE and RODNEY, together with CLOCKFACE and a couple of others named after the collieries they were delivered to.  This one started off as a Dapol low-bunker version which I'd numbered 68043.  I then converted the top to Geisl and then dismantled it to fit DCC- the sensible thing would have been to dismantle it first...  The mechanism was held together with blu-tack (or chewing gum).  Solution was to mount the top of the body on the next loco in line for DCC fitting and sell the chassis cheaply with the body top of the other loco.  Revenge has the chassis off a high-bunker Hornby J94, making it a total bitza.  Now DCC fitted and very reliable.  It needs the centre steps cutting off and a good deal more grot adding. 

 

How did it get to No Place?  Bought for parts from the Cumberland coal field and found to be in better condition than its appearance dictated so put into service.

 

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The other Geisl-fitted WD is RESPITE.  The real one is now at Preston waiting restoration.  This loco is a Hornby HARRY bought new and then fitted with a Geisl of unknown provenance for my previous OO layout (an 8' by 7" plank on the shelf above the computer twenty or so years ago).   It has sat in the showcase for the best part of 20 years.  When liberated it needed a fair bit of oil to get it going.  Chipped by me it will be one of the main workhorses of the layout.

 

How did it get to No Place?   The real one was sent to Walkden from Cumberland for repair or scrap at one point- actually repaired and sent to Bickershaw Colliery.  I've bent history to say it came to No Place for spares or repair and was repaired.  The Bickershaw Grot is similar to what a saddletank would acquire working up the bank from Handen Hold- cleaning a loco needs it to stand still long enough.....

 

All the very best

Les

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Insomnia O'clock.

 

 

Why is it that 4.30am is the time you wake up and can't get back to sleep?

 

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As promised, one of the pics of No.5 MAJOR waiting scrap at Derwenthaugh. (The better pic is over 1Mb so needs work)  No.5 is the rearmost of the pair.  The other is No.65 HENRY.C.EMBLETON of the Pelaw Main Railway.  The two would have met at various times in their career in the days before Nationalisation as the Beamish and Pelaw Main railways were connected by a spur at Pelaw Grange Saw Mills, just about at the point the Beamish Railway passed over the East Coast Main Line.

 

I've also found another map, this time of Beamish Station.  The incline down from East Stanley Colliery (No Place) ran in a straight line, while the line from Beamish Mary curved round and ran alongside it for the last hundred yards or so.  These then joined the lines from Beamish Second and Beamish Engine Works which came in from the North over the top of the two tunnels of the NER line just West of the station.  Looking at the gradient profiles of the old Pontop & Shields line and the Beamish Railway, both printed in the same book, I assume what looks like an easy option of connecting East Stanley Colliery to the Pontop and Shields line didn't happen due to the railway being a lot lower than the colliery.

 

I feel a field trip coming on to look at the land levels in the area.

 

Time for bed, said Zebedee.......

Les

(displaying his age- old enough to have understood the rude bits in Magic Roundabout)

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Tuesday again.

 

Not a lot done today as it has been Bingham Club day and I've been painting the backscene on Rise Park.

 

Back home I've been working on the slope for the coal in the loader to run down.  It doesn't work with N-gauge coal so I'll have to get hold of some larger stuff.  The slope will  need to be steepened, but that will have to wait.

 

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Jamie's friend Ray turned up two books from Middleton Press.  I've got the Consett to South Shields book, though had forgotten it until yesterday, but I haven't got the Beamish 40 years on the rails book.    Tomorrow I'll exercise the bus pass on a trip to Nottingham to see if Book Law have the book in stock.  I'll also see if Gee Dee have any OO-scale coal, or if they haven't I'll try Access Models on the way home.

 

Meanwhile another J94 from the fleet. 

 

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68062 was one of Darlington's final six, which is why I've not renumbered it yet.  The Consett to South Shields book has some pictures of the locos that worked from WEst Pelton shed, with a statement that this included J73s, 0-6-2 tanks and J94s.  I've traced the allocations of the two 0-6-2 tanks in the photos and found they were allocated to Tyne Dock.  Just as well I did as I'd reckoned the shed might be a Gateshead or Borough Gardens sub.   Now all I need is to look at J94s allocated to Tyne Dock and work out if I remember any of them.   That means J94s are just right for the fiction of BR locos working in.

 

All the very best

Les

 

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Many thanks for the offer, John.

 

The field trip is largely to look at the contours of the land, and really an excuse to visit the Tanfield Railway while TWIZELL is still operational.

 

All the very best.

Les

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Friday again.  Where did the week go?

 

I got to Nottingham on Wednesday, and found Book Law, having got off the bus from Southwell a couple of stops too soon...  Kath didn't have the Beamish book in stock but as it is still in print she phoned an order through and it should be in stock in good time for me to have another day out in Nottingham on Wednesday.  Having forgotten to go into Gee Dee and get some scale coal and insulting fishplates there hasn't been a lot of progress on the layout- except for a comparative push and play trial of Sprat & Winkles and small tension lock couplings.  Given that most things have the narrow tension locks and they seem to actually be less intrusive than the Sprat & Winkles I'm going to stick to these, but try to get hold of spare narrow couplings to replace wider ones on stuff that has got them.  Fortunately I saved a lot of couplings last time I modelled in OO- using three-links (masochist) I'd taken off the original couplers but sold the stock on with three-links only.

 

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So having played wagons all day yesterday what did today bring?  Frustration.  I'd decided to use wire in PTFE tube for the points, and getting the end that feeds the point actually into the point has proved a nightmare.  Of course being wire off a reel (originally) and sold as a loop it has acquired its own bend and trying to turn an end you've bent into a right angle is fun- not!  The right-angle needs to be upwards to go into the hole in the point tie, but upwards is at an uncertain angle to the one the wire WANTS the right-angle to be.  One hour later the first one is in!  45 minutes more and the second one is also in. 

 

The second problem is that PTFE tube is made of PTFE, "non-stick" to its friends and for a reason.  It doesn't stick to ANY adhesive.  So the tube as it reaches the point is run between a pair of bits of Green Scene plastic strip of the right thickness, which have previously been superglued to the board.  A third piece is quickly superglued over the top.  Superglue isn't necessarily the best stuff to stick plastic to plastic, but it sets very quickly and cures to rigid faster than anything else I've got.

 

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Of course this, and the necessity to put uncouplers in the line, meant it was better to lift the sidings across the front of the loader to allow me to make a point wire run more easily.  The sidings will be relaid with Peco Streamline instead of Setrack.  The lifted bits will come in useful either in the shed or on the floor next time I need to run a loco in.

 

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Being from Darlington originally I couldn't resist this one.  How I'll justify it I din't know.  Perhaps it will sit in the siding by the engine shed to hold fuel for the diesels....

 

Tomorrow- laying the first two points at the front and getting their operating wires through to the layout back.

 

Time to have another go at finger ends with the pumics stone to remove set superglue.

Les

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Have you investigated the Brian Kirby modifications to tension lock couplers - and have you thought of only having the hook on one end of the stock (which makes the BK mod even easier)?

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Hello Ray.

 

Having only recently returned to OO after 20-odd years I must confess I hadn't heard of the Brian Kirby modifications.  I have locos that can't be fitted with a full tension lock coupler due to deep brass bufferbeams.  These have/will have a simple loop at the right height.  As a result wagons will need a coupler at both ends.

 

Hello DLPG.

 

5 or 29 would be nice, though I have an 0-6-2T.  There is also a STAGSHAW in build.   What would also be nice is an r-t-r TWIZELL or No.5 MAJOR.  The latter was a type also bought by the Manchester Shiop Canal Railway and a couple of the South Wales railways (the latter pasing to the GWR, so I suppose someone might take a punt on a kit.

 

Introducing the ficticious Beamish Railway No.7.   By the time the pit at East Stanley closed the railway was effectively down to three engines as the two original long-boiler Stephensons were worn out, even if No.2 was retrived from derelict in 1950 and given a new boiler as the start of an overhaul that was never completed.

 

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My history is that the first two locos the Ministry of Fuel and Power added were numbered in the Beamish series as 6 and 7.  This is No.7, bought by the MFP as surplus stock from Hudswell Clark in 1942.

Named THE GREEN HOWARDS after one of the North East regiments. It also shows the point I was making above about wire loops instead of proper couplings, though this one has a shallower buffer beam the body screw is just where a coupling would be mounted.

 

Cat feeding time again.

All the best

les

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In yellow of course?

 

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Like this?

The alternative is smart- like this post-preservation shot.

The first pic has just reminded me how small a 14" Hawthorn really is.

 

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Today has been spent laying track.  I've run out of flexi so will need to get some on the way back from Bingham on Tuesday.  I've also abandoned the lever frame as it is a lever short.  In addition the curves on the wire to the three-way point made it too heavy.  I've ordered enough individual levers for each point to be worked separately.  The levers will be along the back edge and there will be a slot in the backscene so they can be reached.  Basically the same point control as Hawthorn Dene's colliery yard and Furtwangen Ost's railway.   Keep it simple.

 

More pics tomorrow if I've got anything worth showing.   I'll  get the remaining point wires attached tomorrow and maybe chip one of the remaining brass locos (one Agenoria and one Mercian still to do- six more awaiting building, but not by me).

Les

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What to do on a wet Bank Holiday Sunday?

 

Stay in the shed and get on with the railway...

 

I found enough flexi to lay in the final version of the roads under the coal screens.  That end is now fully laid and wired, with just a little tweaking to do so certain locos don't keep stalling.  I've also raised the back wall of the screens to get a steeper slope for coal loading.  Any steeper and it ay have to be plan B- running through a hole and emerging ready loaded, which I want to avoid.

 

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At the other end I put temporary track on the shed site so I could run things through the points and check everything worked as it should.  No problems here either- yet.  There is enough room on the shed roads to store 4 tank locos without reaching the end of the boards.

 

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One point left over- one of the longest ones, so I'll probably put that on eBay tomorrow.  The WD is Respite, and she runs well over all pointwork- a favourite for front line service when the layout is finished.  The Sentinel is a bit hesitant at low speeds here and there.  I'm wondering if I should replace the Y-points on the screens with electrofrog ones before it is too late.

 

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This is the 3-axle coach I mentioned a few posts ago.  It has been in the loft for a lot of years- I may even have bought it while still in the North East in the seventies, though late eighties is a safer bet.  It was already built and more than a little rough at the time- it still is. The chassis claims to be a London, Chatham and Dover 3-axle by, I think, D&S.  I assume the body is LC&D also, but I don't know.  It is compensated on two axles- and WAS compensated on the third one also I assume, though that was missing when I bought it.  It will make odd appearances as the payroll coach or carrying bigwigs up from Handen Hold.  It does stay on the track from the fiddle yard to where it is standing and back.

 

All the very best

Les

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Tuesday again

 

Yesterday was a rest day- largely due to a family visit to see my neice's new offspring and celebrate her elder one's second birthday. He is being brung up proper as he is into Brio and Thomas the Tank engine, though he has the slightly worrying word for trains - titties.   

 

So far today I've been to Railway Club and contacted Cotgrave Welfare to double check that we'd booked the venue for next year's show.  The worry is the final coment "Its in the diary now"- which seems to imply it wasn't....

 

Called in on the way home for more balsa and some more flexi.  I now have enough flexi to finish laying the shed side of the layout.

 

Meet the fleet- No.6

 

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Loco number 6 is a Hunslet 48150 class, purchased by the Ministry of Fuel and Power from Hunslet's "on spec" build stock and given the first vacant mumber in the Beamish Railway series.  Named James after Sir Syd James,  purchaser of the site from the Lambton Hetton & Joicey Co.   He sold the site on to the MFP for a not entirely exhorbitant sum and retired to a spa town to set up a rest home for young ladies of a nervous disposition.......

 

In reality a Mercian kit built for me by David Temple in 2003, and brought out of the showcase this weekend, run-in and fitted by me with a Digitrax decoder.  Runs smoothly.

 

Tomorrow back to Book Law to get the Beamish book.

Les

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A couple of days off and...

 

back into the shed.   Got the lawns done first thing, grass really too wet but it persisted down this afternoon...

 

post-13358-0-28667000-1431114250_thumb.jpg

 

I bought some flexi on Tuesday so I've been able to lay the shed side in properly.  As a result I've found it necessary to move the actual shed from the back to the front of the layout, which might just have the advantage of balancing the loader being nearer the back.

 

post-13358-0-03679200-1431114252_thumb.jpg

 

I've also got the shed built far enough to really apreciate its size. the side and end are only fitted together at the moment, not held in by glue.  In any case the part numbers need trimming off the sides, and the buttresses adding amongst other things..  There are three more sets of glazing bars and then I need to decide on the glazing.  Perhaps inspiration will come at Derby on Sunday.

 

In the meantime I was elected yesterday..................................................................................................... as the new exhibition manager for South Notts Model Railway Exhibition, a very political job but with no party affiliation (other than using Cotgrave Miners' Welfare Club as our show venue, that is).

 

This morning brought tow packs of goodies.  the first was the two sound-fitted locos from Hawthorn Dene home again after repair, and the second was the pack of GEM point levers.

 

post-13358-0-36661600-1431114253_thumb.jpg

 

So far today three installed, and I'm working my way along the line.  There will be a slot/slots in the backscene and the levers will be under the raised bank.  The trackplan will need to be shown on the back of the backscene to help locate the right lever...

 

Cat has thrown up in the kitchen within the last half-hour, so might not want feeding just yet.  On the other hand Nigel Farage might have voted Labour.......

 

All the very best

Les

 

 

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Progressing slowly, not a lot to look at.

 

I had Sunday off to go to Derby exhibition.  Nice to put a few names to faces- I gave out exhibition invitations to three layout owners, and when I get some back I'll start an exhibition thread for next year's Cotgrave show.

 

Meanwhile another Beamish Railway prototype pic, the better one on No.5 Major in its final resting place, the scrap line at Derwenthaugh.

 

post-13358-0-13466700-1431387577_thumb.jpg

 

The bunker of 65 HEnry C Embleton ahead.  The cutout is for the two-way radio.  I'm not sure where that lived in No.5.

 

Meanwhile, not quite the prototype of my No.7.  This is one of the postwar Hudswells, No.38 of Shilbottle colliery, now on the Tanfield Railway (not to be confused with No.38 of Shilbottle Colliery, now on the Tanfield Railway.... the other being a Stephenson saddletank)

 

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My first Tanfield visit saw No.38 looking like this.

 

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The other 38 at Tanfield.

 

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Time for bed (I've done the Zebedee joke already...)

Les

 

 

 

 

 

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Coming along nicely!

 

Never saw Stagshaw at Shotton but her indoors says I can buy a High Level Kit to build one so long as its in the same colour scheme.....

 

Baz

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I saw Ray last night and he' remembered that there was another colliery I think called Burns in the same area between Beamish and East Stanley. Apparently it blew up killing about 100 people. The explosion was so violent that the cages were blown out of the shaft destroying the head gear. According to Ray they knew where it's abandoned workings were and they had to mine to the north of them to keep away from the old workings.

 

 

Jamie

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Cheers gents.

 

I've not got the Beamish book yet (Book Law still waiting for the publishers to send it) but I'll see if there is a reference in either of the Durham books to Burns Colliery.

 

The Stagshaw kit looks nice.  David has now actually started both my Stagshaw and the Ruston 88DS kit I bought at Nottingham.  Both coming back to me in undercoat for running in, chipping and finishing painting, though I'm not sure when.  Then the backlog to look at, some of which were bought in years beginning with a 1......

 

Club day today so I've not been in the shed.  Field trip (No Place to Durham Trains of Stanley to Tanfield to Bishopton then Hartlepool) tomorrow and Redcar, Darlington and home Thursday afternoon.  Next building session Friday.

 

All the very best.

Les

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Sitting in a hotel room overlooking the back of Hartlepool Station. 

 

Got to No Place today and got some close ups of the stone abutment John mentioned in post #4.  I also took a trek down the lane next to the Beamish Mary Inn.  It curves round to the right and then runs along the South side of the field where East Stanley Colliery was.

 

From my point of view the good news is that the land slopes UPWARDS along the South edge of the colliery, exactly right for the best ground arrangement for the layout.

 

Pics tomorrow or Friday when I get home- I didn't bring the USB for the camera with me.

 

All the very best

Les

 

PS- also went into Locomotion at Shildon.  Drooled over their Ivatt Atlantic model but the price tag meant I wasn't tempted to buy one....

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Travelodge.

 

Now I'm sure that last time I stayed in Hartlepool overnight (a school 25-year reunion about 15 years ago) I stayed at the Travelodge- but that site is the Premier Inn....

 

It has changed a lot since I was there (lived in the town 1973 to 1977 and taught there 9/73 to 12/79).

 

All the very best

Les

 

Now home again having used a rat run to avoid the A1 tailback- an accident at Grantham closed it back to the A46, one junction North of where I live East of Newark.....

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Field trip- first set of pics.

 

post-13358-0-15692300-1431719372_thumb.jpg

 

OK - I found it, though not that difficult apart from someone having played sillies with the road through Coxhoe (I picked up my mate Mike from Bishop Middleham on the way).

 

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The site of East Stanley Colliery.  The ground actually slopes slightly upwards towards the track I'm standing on, which makes life easier for doing the front of the layout.  The start of a gentle slope upwards always helps one look into the picture.

 

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John's stone abutment.  Now I know what sort of stone I'm looking for at the layout entrance.  Unfortunately this is the abutment of an underbridge and I'm going to have to use an overbridge, but at least I can now get the right sort of stone.  Looking at the site I reckon the winding house for the rope incline up from Beamish Station (at the present roundabout) must have been on the high ground behind the Beamish Mary pub.

 

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Last one for today (plenty more to bore everyone with) is the only surviving Beamish Railway loco, TWIZELL, at Marley Hill shed.  I couldn't find STAGSHAW or No.38-and-a-half so I assume they were safely locked up in the new shed.

 

All the very best

Les

 

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