Modelling the M&CR's branch lines in EM gauge

[CKPR]

No model making this evening as too tired from supporting aged Ps and stress from work so here's the latest piece of  M&CR ephemera - a journey over only two lines this time, the M&CR and the NBR. I've never read of M&C engines working over the NBR /MR /G&SW goods line via Dentholme or the NBR Canal line that connected with the Waverley Line so perhaps this traffic was exchanged at the one and only Bog Junction. Pre-group goods working around Carlisle was very complicated to put it mildly.

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, CKPR said:

No model making this evening as too tired from supporting aged Ps and stress from work so here's the latest piece of  M&CR ephemera - a journey over only two lines this time, the M&CR and the NBR. I've never read of M&C engines working over the NBR /MR /G&SW goods line via Dentholme or the NBR Canal line that connected with the Waverley Line so perhaps this traffic was exchanged at the one and only Bog Junction. Pre-group goods working around Carlisle was very complicated to put it mildly.

 

Wagon No. 30680 - certainly not a M&C wagon! My first thought was that it would be a North British wagon back-loaded but then I saw the date - 1921 - so it could be from any of the larger companies.

 

Looking at the 25" map I don't see any sign of exchange sidings at Bog Junction or Rome St Junction. Surely there must have been some tripping onto the Goods Committee lines? (Cal, G&SW, L&NW, and Mid joint; the Dentonholme Joint Committee lines, G&SW, Mid, and NB, were a loop off the Goods Committee lines.) There must have been some quid pro quo for G&SW engines working to and from their shed at Currock Junction?

Edited October 12, 2022 by Compound2632

[CKPR]

Good question - the M&CR weren't formally  involved in the joint goods lines at Carlisle and had their own goods depot at Crown St., which is still standing and still  advertising the M&CR. There must have been some trip workings to and from the M&CR and it's interesting to note that one of the early 0-4-2Ts built for the Mealsgate branch was subsequently rebuilt as an 0-6-0T, which was then based exclusively at Carlisle. Perhaps this was the M&CR engine that ventured onto the goods lines and yards of the other companies at Carlisle?

Edited October 13, 2022 by CKPR

[Annie]

12 hours ago, CKPR said:

As a former dabbler in S scale,

I was a member of the society for a while and made some wagons and started on building a Furness 'Sharpie', but far too much life started happening and by the time everything settled down again some years later it was coarse scale 'O' gauge that claimed my attention.

[CKPR]

I fear I may have taken this conceptual micro layout idea a bit too far...

[CKPR]

Like the C&WJR coke wagons, these must have travelled over the M&CR...though probably not to Mealsgate even though much of the line was still intact in 1973. Alas, the plan for the dual era (1908 / 1973) M&CR mainline layout has been shelved as the old barn is coming down to make way for a house extension.

[SteamAle]

I hope the house extension includes a dedicated railway room.

 

[CKPR]

On 01/11/2022 at 16:57, SteamAle said:

I hope the house extension includes a dedicated railway room.

 

Alas no... in compensation for losing the barn, I've been offered the second sitting room as my room for modelling and hi-fi with the usual caveat that everything must be very tidy with no mess. This means that Mealsgate & High Blaithwaite will be converted into wall mounted cameo layouts and Seahouses will have to be an old fashioned portable layout living under the stairs. The idea of modelling Cockermouth has been quietly shelved - I'll probably build the engines and rolling stock and hope someone builds an EM layout on which I can run them.

Edited December 22, 2022 by CKPR

[CKPR]

All modelling at a halt as the stepdaughter has been using the modelling room as a home office this week and then there's the usual round of Crimbo socialising.  Therefore, I thought I'd post this article from MRC March 1982 with a request. "Harringham" was the first time I ever saw models of the M&CR [I was familiar with Ross Pochin's Furness models] and I always awaited a follow up that never appeared. I never saw the layout at an exhibition but I did see the locomotives, albeit looking  a bit worse for wear, when they were  displayed in Tully House Museum in Carlisle in the late 1980s. Does anyone know what happened to them after this ?

Edited February 8, 2023 by CKPR

[CKPR]

The stock list and constructional details for "Harringham"

[Compound2632]

12 minutes ago, CKPR said:

 Therefore, I thought I'd post this article from MRC March 1982 with a request. "Harringham" was the first time I ever saw models of the M&CR [I was familiar with Ross Pochin's Furness models] and I always awaited a follow up that never appeared. I never saw the layout at an exhibition but I did see the locomotives, albeit looking  a bit worse for wear, when they were  displayed in Tully House Musuem in Carlisle in the late 1980s. Does anyone know what happened to them after this ?

 

Am I right in thinking that Ross Pochin's models are now in the care of the CRA?

[WFPettigrew]

Fascinating concept!  And great to see the FR open top cattle wagons (diagram 48) and diagram 21 roof door van!

 

Best to draw a veil over Rush's FR books as a "valuable source of information" ahem.   Particularly I spotted the reference to his "diagram 8" and "diagram 15" carriages, used in the FR local train, when these diagrams were actually six wheel Cleminson vehicles (source FR carriage historian Alan Headech) that eventually found use on workmen's trains to the Barrow shipyard.  But in 1982 Rush was pretty much as good a source as you could get.  

 

I would be interested to see the rest of the article. 

 

All the best

 

Neil 

 

 

 

 

[WFPettigrew]

7 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Ross Pochin's models are now in the care of the CRA?

 

Yes. 

[CKPR]

25 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Am I right in thinking that Ross Pochin's models are now in the care of the CRA?

Yes - both his and the related collection of models built by Bill Shillcock.

[CKPR]

33 minutes ago, WFPettigrew said:

I would be interested to see the rest of the article. 

 

 

 

 

 It does  end rather abruptly, hence why I expected a part II appear back in 1982. Re. FR roof door and open top cattle wagons, I've built examples of both and they're  pretty straightforward given a good selection of Evergreen strip.

Edited December 22, 2022 by CKPR

[SteamAle]

You can see the Shillcock/Pochin models here: https://cumbrianrailways.zenfolio.com/p432956309

Check out two other folders with coaches and wagons in same collection.

Edited December 22, 2022 by SteamAle
Pressed send too soon

[WFPettigrew]

3 minutes ago, CKPR said:

it does  end rather abruptly

 

Literally mid sentence and no reference to the FR locos either?! Sub-editing error perhaps?

[CKPR]

Just now, WFPettigrew said:

 

Literally mid sentence and no reference to the FR locos either?! Sub-editing error perhaps?

Sorry, my mistake - there are two middle pages that describe the baseboard, track, electrics, etc but as these aren't particularly relevant to pre-grouping modelling (and there are no photos of M&CR engines !), I omitted them.

[CKPR]

Missing pages 

[SteamAle]

Well the old grey cells are having to work very hard at the moment.

I'm positive that this layout attended Workington MRE back in 1983, I think it was. Unfortunately I had hoped it would have the models as shown in the article but they belonged to one member and as he did not attend the show the models didn't either. It was lightweight DMU's and other 'modern' stock that ran in West Cumbria on display. They did not tell me that when I booked it.

Somewhere I should have a record of the show but where I do not know. Five house moves ago now and I still can't find things.

The show was my first attempt at long distance organisation. I had moved and lived 300 miles away but as the Exhibition Manager I had to see it through! Lots of 'learning' events with the first three shows I ran in Workington.

First show, Derwent Railway Society told me the size of their layout, but forgot to include the fiddle yard. Ended up with only four feet width for the public to access/leave the room. At least me managed to get everything in!

40+ years down the line, lost track of how many shows I've organised between Basingstoke and Carlisle and I'm still learning!

[CKPR]

A rather belated Happy New Year to all and sundry, albeit that it is still 1908 hereabouts, and here's one resolution that I might actually keep - building M&CR No.3. You might recall that the chassis for a proposed model of 0-4-2 No.4 was built  but the project had stalled due to the complications involved in forming the footplate and splashers. I've done some more work on 0-6-0 No.7, which is now nearly complete and awaiting painting when the weather warms up, and so turned my attention back to the nascent 0-4-2. These mixed traffic engines were  very much the iconic M&CR engine design and were closely related to their cousins on the neighbouring G&SWR. Therefore, any self-respecting M&C layout has to have an 0-4-2, but which one ?!

Edited June 30, 2023 by CKPR

[CKPR]

I started building No.4 solely because I had W Hardin Osborne's 4mm sketch of it from RM February 1965 [but see the correspondence in the May 1965 edition]. As I accumulated more photographs and information, I became aware that No.4 might not be the most appropriate choice, footplate complexities not withstanding, as she was very much a 'mainline' engine and thus unlikely to be seen on the Mealsgate or Derwent branches. The question of which of the other M&CR 0-4-2s to build was resolved with reference to this iconic photograph in Bowtell's "Rails through Lakeland" that shows an M&CR 0-4-2 [with a straight footplate - hurrah !] with a train of two hired LNWR coaches on a Keswick service near Bassenthwaite Lake. A spot of logical induction and a subsequent discussion thread on the CRA's "electronic telegraph" led to the conclusion that the engine in the photograph is actually No.3.

Edited February 1, 2023 by CKPR

[CKPR]

Back to reality ! Luckily, the later M&CR 0-4-2s are pretty similar under the footplate and here is the existing chassis with the wheels after a bath in gun black.

Edited January 31, 2023 by CKPR

[CKPR]

Not bad for a couple of evenings work given my slow pace of model making - time for a well earned cuppa I reckon.

[CKPR]

I'll be doing some more work on No.3 later on after tea but I've also been doing some armchair modelling as well. Given the previously reported changes in the plans for our house, the 'last great project' of building Cockermouth has obviously been shelved, but I had a moment of inspiration the other day - what about another CK&PR station ? Obviously, it would have to be  modellable as a 'cameo' layout  within the now much reduced space available to me. Hence,  the obvious choice for personal and practical reasons is Embleton, the first CK&PR station out from Cockermouth - no loop, a small two siding yard, a single storey station building, a level crossing and a stationmasters house [still standing by the side of the A66 !]. As an aside, I  was always very taken with Ian Futers' NBR layouts that I saw at the York shows in the 1970s, but it has taken 45 years for the penny to drop that the CK&PR equivalent was practically on my doorstep. So, Embleton it is and a through station to boot, perfect for NER coke trains, M&CR through trains and even the latterday 'Lakes Express'. Of course, I might be tempted to pretend that the line remained open after 1966 and run my early 1970s class 25s and 40s on through freights to west Cumberland...

Edited July 22, 2023 by CKPR