Mortimore's Yard - '70s trip freight workings

[HillsideDepot]

Leaving the real thing to the 21st century, let's step back to the the 1970's and the model. Whilst heavily inspired by real locations, it is nice to leave the cares and pressures of reality aside and pick out the best bits of the past (and I'm sorry if anyone finds the chocolate tin empty apart from those toffee ones in golden yellow wrappers no one chooses!)

 

Having left the Rover Scouts admiring their new kayaks we cross the road as a class 25 splutters over head. Hopefully a scene that is so ordinary and unremarkable that no one in reality would have wasted a valuable frame of film on it. But that's what Mortimore's Yard is all about, capturing the ordinary we all saw, in all its many regional varieties and flavours and which we thought would never end.

 

 

Who now remembers when all sorts of items came by mail order, delivered not by numerous different firms, but by Royal Mail, National Carriers or BR Parcels? A Commer van from the local station passes under the railway emerging alongside a hording with smaller cinema poster at its base. The arch, the adverts and the faded painted house end advert were all close to one another at Lowden in the '70's. And of course Busby would set up his striped camp all over the place. Just another ordinary day in any number of towns across the UK.

[HillsideDepot]

Something I've been playing with over the last few days...

Not an exact replica, as I want different information (customer and commodity) compared to a railwayman (brake force, etc), and still a few tweaks to do, but hopefully it has the right "feel" to it. 

Edited April 5, 2022 by HillsideDepot
Photos re-instated after Dediserve debacle

[5BarVT]

Can’t be genuine, the printing lines up with the stripes.  A real one would always be misaligned.

:-)

Takes me back a bit!

Paul.

[Fat Controller]

On 17/05/2021 at 20:01, HillsideDepot said:

Leaving the real thing to the 21st century, let's step back to the the 1970's and the model. Whilst heavily inspired by real locations, it is nice to leave the cares and pressures of reality aside and pick out the best bits of the past (and I'm sorry if anyone finds the chocolate tin empty apart from those toffee ones in golden yellow wrappers no one chooses!)

 

Having left the Rover Scouts admiring their new kayaks we cross the road as a class 25 splutters over head. Hopefully a scene that is so ordinary and unremarkable that no one in reality would have wasted a valuable frame of film on it. But that's what Mortimore's Yard is all about, capturing the ordinary we all saw, in all its many regional varieties and flavours and which we thought would never end.

 

 

Who now remembers when all sorts of items came by mail order, delivered not by numerous different firms, but by Royal Mail, National Carriers or BR Parcels? A Commer van from the local station passes under the railway emerging alongside a hording with smaller cinema poster at its base. The arch, the adverts and the faded painted house end advert were all close to one another at Lowden in the '70's. And of course Busby would set up his striped camp all over the place. Just another ordinary day in any number of towns across the UK.

It just needs 'George Davis is innocent' painted on the bridge- along with 'Troops Out' it seemed almost ubiquitous at the time.

[HillsideDepot]

Although I have, at exhibitions, happily spent two days at a time shuffling wagons around randomly I have always wanted to have a bit more order to proceedings, and to that end have spent quite a lot of time developing a working timetable for the layout. OK, such a yard wouldn't really feature in the pages of the actual Working Time Table, but would be covered by the Local Movements and Shunting Locomotive Notice. Kevin Redwood @Rivercider  has generously posted pages of these documents in several topics, including this page from the Bristol area 

But, these trip workings need to link into long distance services, which I have based on reality so my wagons can reach various destinations, whether loaded or returning empty. 

 

So, that's the train service, but what about the actual wagons? Each flow was tabulated, and likely traffic levels decided. That, however, is where things have got a little stuck. I have looked at flow Wagonflow software, which seems to do what I want, but looks a little complex to set-up, and I am probably overthinking it by trying to convert its steam era nomenclature to TOPS type codes. 

 

Although I know little about American Railroading, I came across the Seaboard Central on YouTube and liked what I saw. In many ways it is similar to what I'm trying to achieve on Mortimore's Yard, but with more space than I could even dream of. Tim Garland the layout owner is an Engineer (Driver) on Norfolk Southern, so uses prototypical paperwork to run his trains, in particular Switch Lists.

 

 

In response to comments under his videos Tim has said that he simply uses Microsoft Word to create his paperwork. That got me thinking...

[Ian Blenk]

On 27/08/2021 at 21:37, HillsideDepot said:

Something I've been playing with over the last few days...

Not an exact replica, as I want different information (customer and commodity) compared to a railwayman (brake force, etc), and still a few tweaks to do, but hopefully it has the right "feel" to it. 

This is brilliant, just what I've been looking for for Tynebank!

 

[HillsideDepot]

Rather than simply working out a way to produce a document that looks like a TOPS report I wanted something a little bit interesting.

 

But first, what is a TOPS report like? What does it include? Fortunately, there are a few examples on-line, via Flickr and there are two British Transport Films productions which include shots of various reports. From 1974 comes "What's TOPS" which is on one of the British Film Institute DVDs while "Using TOPS" (1978) is available to view on BFI Player 

 

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-using-tops-1978-online

 

What comes apparent is that there are several different reports, and that things seem to have changed over time. And, whilst I could work out what some columns of figures were telling me, I couldn't decipher some of the others. Given this incomplete knowledge I decided that rather than try to replicate any one report I'd instead construct something that would look like a TOPS report but which would have the data I want when running Mortimore's Yard.

 

The 1974 BTF film describes the file structure of TOPS

 

And I opted to construct something similar. Rather than using Microsoft Word as on the Seaboard Central Rail Road I opted for Microsoft Excel as I didn't want to type everything from scratch each time, but can copy and paste various data fields.

 

Just like TOPS I have a Wagon File (OK, it's a tab within the spreadsheet)

 

 

A Locomotive File  

 

A Location File based on a STANOX list found on line- albeit not as old as I'd like, so with lots of closed places missing - with my own locations added (and colour coded by Region to help finding places)

 

Rather than a Wagon Distribution File I have a Traffic Origin and Destination file. This includes the actual loaded flows and the return empties (which may not go back to where the loads originate from)  

 

 

And finally my Train File where I construct the actual report by copying and pasting formulas (to preserve the cell formatting elements)

 

 

There are some elements within the Train File which are calculated off other cells, such as the train length and counting the loaded and empty wagons. Each train has its own template within the spreadsheet tab, which I can then populate with the necessary details. My idea is that I will populate several days' worth of train lists, print them out and then work through them over a number of operating sessions.

 

I'm sure that there are better ways of doing what I have here, and no doubt someone will be able to automatically generate the traffic rather than manually deciding "two of this, one of that, and three of the other", while some think the whole think is already over engineered when I could scribble things on scraps of paper but, for me, it adds something to running the layout.

Edited April 5, 2022 by HillsideDepot
Photos re-instated after Dediserve debacle

[Rivercider]

Hi Adrian

I have the TOPS Location Handbook for October 1977, I had previously scanned some of the pages.

 

I am not sure if this will work, but this document is a scan of a page of the TOPS Location handbook for October 1977 from 81223 Hallen Marsh to 81922 Bridgwater.

TOPS-List-Bristol-locations a.pdf

 

This should be 79822 Garw Washery to 81222 Hallen Marsh

TOPS-List-Avonmouth-locations.pdf

 

cheers

[HillsideDepot]

19 hours ago, Rivercider said:

Hi Adrian

I have the TOPS Location Handbook for October 1977, I had previously scanned some of the pages.

 

I am not sure if this will work, but this document is a scan of a page of the TOPS Location handbook for October 1977 from 81223 Hallen Marsh to 81922 Bridgwater.

TOPS-List-Bristol-locations a.pdf 2.69 MB · 7 downloads

 

This should be 79822 Garw Washery to 81222 Hallen Marsh

TOPS-List-Avonmouth-locations.pdf 2.76 MB · 6 downloads

 

cheers

Two more gems there @Rivercider , to add to my knowledge base. Thank you.

 

[HillsideDepot]

June 1977, and what's this? A ladder against a lamppost? Can't be the Southern Electricity Board as even back then they had hydraulic platforms to reach the lights (based on Leyland FGs: BaseToys model in my stash of future projects). So, what is going on?

[5BarVT]

Good to see you back here. Always enjoy a Moretimore’s Yard story. 
Paul. 

[HillsideDepot]

Now they are getting the trestle tables set up at the Scout hall. There is definitely something going on...

 

[Jon Gwinnett]

Oooh the suspense…. 😉

[PaulCheffus]

On 28/05/2022 at 13:32, HillsideDepot said:

June 1977, and what's this? A ladder against a lamppost? Can't be the Southern Electricity Board as even back then they had hydraulic platforms to reach the lights (based on Leyland FGs: BaseToys model in my stash of future projects). So, what is going on?

Hi

 

Attaching bunting for the Queens Silver Jubilee?

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[HillsideDepot]

As Paul, and no doubt others, correctly guessed, there will be a Silver Jubilee street party outside the Scout Hall later today.

And they have the bunting up at the local shop too

 

When Scale Model Scenery Introduced their bunting an idea rapidly formed on my mind which, with trestle tables and barriers from the same source helped the temporary scene came together.

Happy Jubilee holiday everyone!

[RANGERS]

3 hours ago, HillsideDepot said:

As Paul, and no doubt others, correctly guessed, there will be a Silver Jubilee street party outside the Scout Hall later today.

And they have the bunting up at the local shop too

 

When Scale Model Scenery Introduced their bunting an idea rapidly formed on my mind which, with trestle tables and barriers from the same source helped the temporary scene came together.

Happy Jubilee holiday everyone!

A very neat touch nicely modelled which sets the period exceptionally well.

 

Now, will 47 163 or 164 be making an appearance?

[HillsideDepot]

When the party's over...

[HillsideDepot]

I've been busy painting a selection of 3D printed models lately, having been a bit trigger happy with the "add to basket" button on a couple of websites! It is amazing what is available, and there are plenty more awaiting painting. Here is my current selection:

 

The farm machinery, mixers and digger attachments can be wagon loads for Mortimore's Yard traffic, the bird tables, fountain and inflatable paddling pool will add extra detail to the gardens, while the dairy workers and equipment are for my South Moredon micro-layout. Finally, the road workers' shelters can, just like the real thing, turn up almost anywhere!   

Edited June 18, 2022 by HillsideDepot
Spelling

[HillsideDepot]

Just a quick update as I have replaced the "missing" photos, but I'd be short-changing you without adding a new one. So here's a view across Mortimore's coal yard, with the lorry being loaded ready to head out again "COAL: It's the fuel of the future" they say.

[HillsideDepot]

Several years ago, a mate of mine, Tom Curtis, said that he was about to build a ZKV "Zander" spoil wagon on a Heljan tank chassis, and if I'd like him to construct a second one as an MTV for my era he'd be happy to do so, if I provided the chassis. This seemed a good deal so, three years ago I gave him a bare chassis and he gave me the spare tank from his conversion to potentially become scenery on one of my projects.

 

Finally this weekend and the Taunton show gave us the opportunity to meet up again and the finished MTV was presented to me and has now been added to my fleet. 

 

The MTV and how it started out.

 

The excellent body is finished off with the correct Pool code (the 3 is actually an 8 very carefully modified!) an appropriate 1975 shopping date and a number made of individual transfers, making this is rather a special wagon.

 

Here it is coupled between a couple of smaller MSV stone tipplers. 

[HillsideDepot]

It's been a while, in fact far too long, but armed with some track cleaning fluid, and a big dose of enthusiasm, I've spent some time cleaning the track this evening and also working on the wheels of the two locos which happened to be on the layout. Still a bit more to do to sort the last of the grimy spots, but more than I've done "down the Yard" for a while.

 

I had to take quite a few wagons off the sidings before starting the track cleaning, mainly new arrivals which were unboxed and placed on the layout rather than stored neatly in the rolling stock drawers.

 

 

By one of those strange coincidences which happen, I found my old Hornby VIX, in Speedlink livery, and placed it to one side thinking I would see if it was worth back-dating. Within a week Rapido announced theirs, and here they are. Although not quite here yet, Accurascale announced their Siphon G within a month of me changing the bogies an old Lima model.

 

One of the reasons for nothing happening at Mortimore's Yard is that its days are now numbered. It's quite a high number, but I have started making plans for a new layout around three walls of the model room. Lots of research, numerous plans, loads of ideas, but no rush yet as some of the points I'll want aren't yet in Peco's bullhead range. That's not a criticism, I'm in no rush, as this is a long term project to see me into retirement, making the most of the time between mortgage and pension. But the research is fun! 

 

Another distraction, or source of inspiration has been YouTube, and not, as you might think, clips of blue hydraulics, although I do enjoy those, I've found a few American channels which I've started following. There are no doubt hundreds out there, but I've found a few favourites and am learning quite a lot, not least how to translate American trade names for DIY materials. They also have a much wider range of scenic bits and pieces, ready made to "plant", but we seem to be catching up. Another source of inspiration are the US live railroad streams. OK, the length of some of the trains is beyond my comprehension, but it takes me back to childhood. Sometimes I think we can know too much. In the UK so much info is available to us, and no doubt it is for railfans in the US too, but I haven't got into that and am just enjoying watching the trains go by. It all gives me the boost I've needed. 

 

Appropriately, given the above the end of the line at Mortimore's Yard, captured on a warm summer's day.

 

[HillsideDepot]

A long forgotten print recently found in an old envelope of holiday snaps shows Mortimore's Yard on a summer morning 

[rob D2]

Good to see the yard in action again.

I’m in the early stages of making a shelf layout for BR blue freight 

[Ben04uk]

On 04/03/2023 at 11:57, HillsideDepot said:

A long forgotten print recently found in an old envelope of holiday snaps shows Mortimore's Yard on a summer morning 

Is that a Ratio coaling tower i can see in the coal yard? Looks very nice.

[HillsideDepot]

3 hours ago, Ben04uk said:

Is that a Ratio coaling tower i can see in the coal yard? Looks very nice.

Thanks. The hopper for the bagging plant is made from the ends of an ancient Hornby 21t hopper body, glued together and mounted on some Plastruct angle legs. It needs more detail at the bottom of the hopper, but as its usually hidden by a 16t mineral wagon its not at the top of my "to do" list.