Christleton Junction - 1986 - Gateway to North Wales

[5BarVT]

21 minutes ago, 61656 said:

The 304 project has been dominating my modelling time recently, and I’m at something of an impasse with the front ends. I’ve temporarily reassembled the unit to enjoy running it for a bit, whilst I consider what to do. 
 

Here it sits on the blocks, having come in from Oxford Road. It runs nicely so will probably stay in this state for a while. 

Whilst not completely ‘start again’ it will be a major project to do more I suspect.  I think leaving it as is for a while and enjoy running it is the way forward.  (How many folk have anything better?)

When you’ve run out of other things to do (?!) you can come back to it.

Thats my twopenn’th of interference done.

Paul.

[61656]

1 hour ago, 5BarVT said:

Whilst not completely ‘start again’ it will be a major project to do more I suspect.  I think leaving it as is for a while and enjoy running it is the way forward.  (How many folk have anything better?)

When you’ve run out of other things to do (?!) you can come back to it.

Thats my twopenn’th of interference done.

Paul.

That’s pretty much where I am, so nice to hear it echoed back before I said it!

 

I’ll probably fit the end hoses and pantograph (delivery of which I need to chase). I’ll also tidy the paintwork up on the roof and buffers. 

[61656]

Frustrated by the 08’s performance I researched buying a replacement, but even a used one is north of £100, so I decided to strip mine down and have another look. The Hornby 08 is a fairly horrific strip down at the best of times, but mine is even worse as I’ve added additional pick ups to replace Hornby’s miserable effort. (I think all my Hornby locos have had poor pick ups - 08, 31 and 87.)

 

With the loco apart I had a good look at the quartering and discovered that the centre wheel set was slightly out of alignment. I also found the drive axle gear was slightly out of position, leading to an occasional lump in the drive (the non circular rotation of the out of alignment centre axle forces the coupling rod to twist the wheel, the misaligned gears then loose contact and slips, I think). With both of these issues improved, the loco seems to be running much better. It can run reliably at much lower speeds than before. 
 

I suspect the quartering is still very slightly out. I need to work out some kind of jig to get all the wheels perfectly 90degrees. Doing it by eye is never going to get them perfect. 
 

With running much improved, the loco returned to full availability on shed. It stands next to fellow shunter 03162, which also needs a little bit of work on the pick ups (mainly the match truck pick ups which add too much friction and don’t always provide good contact). I have a pack of various pick up types to try to improve it with. 

 

[61656]

There are a very small number of timetabled moves which don’t match a service in the actual Working Time Table from 1986. These are used to balance the fiddle yards; although the Warrington sidings are ‘through sidings’ with links to all 3 layout entrances, they still can’t quite balance all the real moves. 
 

Hence we have a mid afternoon 4A22 (completely made up) Trafford Park to Willesden freightliner service, booked for and hauled by a 45/0 on this occasion. It’s the only ‘liner which uses the Warrington lines and this the only one where you get to appreciate it properly on the arches. 
 

 

A 3 car 108 is sat on the fuel road. Although I like the centre car, I may reduce it back down to 2 coaches as the additional length just highlights the shortened dimensions of the layout. 

[lincolnshiremodeller]

On 06/08/2023 at 13:23, 61656 said:

...Solari split flap board (if you don't know Google is your friend, but you will lose an hour of your life).

I did...and I did!

Took me back to Birmingham New St circa 1985 waiting with my parents for a train back home to Lincoln. At a major hub like BNS the board just emphasised the vast array of destinations to an an awe struck 10 year old who lived in the middle of nowhere.

[61656]

Christleton Junction was always a place of mundane business. The every day railway just plodding on in blue and grey. And occasionally, just blue. 
 

Powering the empty steel wagons from Dee Marsh, a pair of 20’s near the end of their leg of the journey. 6S50 will be picked up by electric traction from here. 
 

 

The steel train arrives mid afternoon. The local spotters are in for the usual treat as an array of motive power gets ready for the rush hour. The steel flats are in the through road awaiting new traction. In the bay platforms a 105 is on the Wolverhampton service whilst a 108 covers the Hooton shuttle. Over on shed a pair of 45’s tick over to pick up trans-pennine workings, although the spotters have also noted a 47/4 looks ready to move too. A 31 is being readied to sort parcels stock, and on the far right units both electric and diesel build air pressure for the evening commuters. 
 

 

You have to be careful focusing on the ‘quad’ so as not to miss one of the daily highlights. 33045 brings in a vacuum braked set of mk1’s on the 1V09 from Holyhead to Crewe. Due to operator’s fancy it’s done a double lap through the fiddle yard and is unusually racing through on the Warrington lines. 

 

 

Frivolity over with, an 85 picks up the weight of the empty steels towards Mossend. It will be joined at Warrington by another 85 to lift the weight over the northern hills. 

 

With the Mossend steel train’s tail light still in sight, 2G66 rolls out of platform 3 towards Chester, Shrewsbury and eventually Wolverhampton. 

 

 

All this needs storage… from back to front:

 

The furthest 5 roads are the ‘Crewe’ sidings:

 

Out of sight is an intercity rake

Mark 1’s form a relief set

On road 3 is a parcels rake

The freightliner set

33 on the semi fast mark 1’s

 

Then come the ‘Warringtons’:

 

HAA MGR rake

TTA tank rake

85 on steel

Another intercity rake

101 Dmu and the civil engineers wagons

One of the trans-pennine rakes

 

Back stage is not for the feint hearted!
 

 

[5BarVT]

Interesting tail load for the Met-Cam.  :-)

Paul.

[61656]

On 12/09/2023 at 20:54, 5BarVT said:

Interesting tail load for the Met-Cam.  :-)

Paul.

A very improbable one too. I only realised recently that the MTA ballast wagons are a 2000’s build on TTA chassis. So they’re 14 years too new, as well as being air only. I think the 101s are vac only, so they could only take them loose, which is probably frowned upon!

[61656]

When I came up with concept for the layout I’d never heard of Hooton or Helsby. I thought I’d just run loco hauled passenger trains with the odd freight and DMU. Then the timetable happened. Choosing a location even just slightly based on reality opens up a world of options you would never otherwise know about. 
 

With regular services to Hooton and Helsby, I need to add a couple more storage sidings so that they can have dedicated units allocated to them. Luckily the 300 year old window design accounted for the possibility of two additional 2 car unit sidings. 
 

The furthest existing road to the left has a 7 coach TP set in it, showing there’s plenty of room for points. 
 

 

The same problem exists in the Warrington sidings, so an extra bit of baseboard has been added for the Manchester EMU service to Piccadilly / Oxford Road. The peak heads up another 7 car TP set. 
 

With the fiddle yard work in progress, various bits of stock have ended up on the layout, so I took photos of those too. 
 

Not many of the fleet have been weathered, so here’s a lucky line up. The four foot needs a lot more oil in it!

 

I would never have described myself as a 47 man, yet here we are. 
 

[61656]

A little reminder of where Christleton is, as the original map is no longer included on the first page. This is an updated version of a map I've posted previously when I put the timetable together, but I've added the ultimate destinations of the lines, rather than the timetable reference.

 

Principle services are:

 

Loco Hauled passenger:

Euston to Holyhead Intercity

North Wales coast to  North East trans Pennine

Holyhead to Cardiff 

Stoke to Llandudno

 

EMU:

Christleton to Manchester Piccadilly / Oxford Road

Christleton to Crewe

 

DMU:

Christleton to Hooton (Hooton was the limit of Merseyrail DC services)

Christleton to Helbsy via Hooton

Christleton to Wolverhampton

Christleton to Manchester Vic

 

Freight:

Speedlink feeder North Wales coast to Severn Tunnel Junction

Speedlink feeder North Wales coast to Arpley (Warrngton)

Ballast Penmaenmawr to various North West yards

Freightliner Holyhead to Trafford Park, Willesden, Saltley and Crewe

Steel Mossend to Dee Marsh

MGR Fiddlers Ferry to Point of Ayr

Tanks Stanlow to the North East

Flasks North Wales to Sellafield

 

[61656]

Some photos of the new fiddle yard sidings (or the Pickle Yard as Mrs 61656 refers to it!). I think this makes 8 roads for Holyhead, 5 for Crewe and 7 for Warrington, plus one through siding between the Holyhead and Warrington yards. 21 sidings is about double what I thought I might need originally. Modelling a real-ish place takes a lot more stock than you realise. 
 

Here’s the Crewe and Warrington yards. From back to front, the first 5 roads are the Crewe sidings containing an intercity set, parcels, empty, relief and empty. The next 7 are the Warrington sidings, of which 3,4 and 5 have an exit to Crewe as well. MGR, intercity, speedlink, DMU, DMU, trans pennine and 304. 
 

 

Over in the Holyhead yard we have the two new Helsby/ Hooton sidings, six terminal lines and the furthest right goes off to the Warrington yard. Empty, DMU, trans-pennine, relief, freightliner, tanks, steel, empty and empty. 

 

Looking at the Holyhead exit, we also have White Lane carriage sidings. There are two 4 coach sidings, with a third that rejoins the Holyhead yard. The whole yard is currently accessed by a double slip, eventually I’d like that to be a scissors crossover to allow parallel moves. 
 

 

[61656]

On the subject of fiddle yard exits, here’s a thing that’s been annoying me for a while. The 3 lines to the left exit to White Lane, whilst the right hand 2 go to Chester and beyond. The bright light through the bridge suggest that this is the border with Yorkshire, rather than the ever dismal North Wales coast. 
 

 

It’e quite a complicated shape beyond the bridge, but finally annoyance has outweighed the faff factor. Trains now disappear properly into the gloom. 
 

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by 61656
Photo

[ISW]

3 hours ago, 61656 said:

It’e quite a complicated shape beyond the bridge, but finally annoyance has outweighed the faff factor. Trains now disappear properly into the gloom. 

I trust you are keeping those rails 'spotless' or have some other mechanism / access for the 'hand of God' to help out in those odd cases of train stall?

 

Ian

[61656]

16 minutes ago, ISW said:

I trust you are keeping those rails 'spotless' or have some other mechanism / access for the 'hand of God' to help out in those odd cases of train stall?

 

Ian

The cover is removable. However one of the next two jobs on the list is to look at alternatives to rail cleaning. 
 

The next two big jobs are station including canopies and overhead line. This means auto couplers and less rail cleaning. 

[ISW]

3 hours ago, 61656 said:

one of the next two jobs on the list is to look at alternatives to rail cleaning.

That sound really interesting ... Hope you'll publish your research and test results.

 

Ian

[61656]

1 hour ago, ISW said:

That sound really interesting ... Hope you'll publish your research and test results.

 

Ian

Of course. I’ll make the mistakes so you don’t have to!

[ISW]

4 hours ago, 61656 said:

Of course. I’ll make the mistakes so you don’t have to!

Err, isn't that the idea? :-)

 

Ian

[61656]

I always like to get a decent running session in at some point during the week if possible. The new sidings mean I need to alter the timetable slightly - the siding allocations not the services, but this is going to mean starting at midnight. It’s currently early evening in the run through and I’m keen to get back to zero hour!

There are no end of unit moves. Here we see Oxford Road and Hooton arrivals.  The station area is soon to be upgraded - coping stones, weathering, debris and such before the canopies go up. 
 

 

As late as 19.00, units are still coming off shed. A 105, much in need of headcode box treatment, works its way from White Lane to form a Crewe service. 

 

 

Hot on its heels, albeit with identical timings to Crewe, is the evening Llandudno to Stoke service. This is booked to be a 47/4 throughout. 
 

 

One of the consequences of the new sidings for units is the lack of stock in the right place. The working timetable has the Llandudno to Shrewsbury service allocated to a 150, which is in turn allocated to a 108 in my version of reality. Sadly (!), neither is available so a 31 fills in with a short rake of coaches. 
 

 

19.30 is probably my favourite time in the whole timetable. A pair of 47’s move off the fuelling point and await turns to York and Holyhead. 
 

 

Arriving two minutes early is 1D66, the 17.00 Euston to Holyhead, with extra BG and SLEP for the return sleeper. One of the only Holyhead services booked for 87 haulage. 
 

 

Coming in the other direction is 1E93 to York, booked for a 45/1 throughout. Although a 45/1 is on shed, the local foreman wants to send generator 47, 47402 back to home territory. 
 

 

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by 61656
Photo duplication

[61656]

Early evening sees one of the few through services to Birmingham. There’s a mixed bag during the day and this is the only Intercity diagram, booked for a 47/4 from Holyhead. 
 

 

Just behind it, in one of the few half decent photos I’ve ever managed to take, a 101 trundles through the pointwork of the station throat on an incoming service from Hooton. The operator (if they’re on the ball) will press function 9 here and we’ll hear the wheels squeal as it crosses to the left of the camera into platform 4.
 

Meanwhile at the south end, the 47 has handed over to the booked 86 for the onward working of 1G54 to New Street. Both bays are full of units at this stage in the evening. 
 

I think this was an 86/2 turn, but I’m not sure if any of the 86/4s were booked to separate diagrams as so few had entered service by 1986. 
 

 

Showing just how full it is, the 3 car 304 from Oxford Road just squeezes into platform 3 on top of a 108 and a 105, making 8 coaches in total. It just fits, provided the driver is on their game. 
 

 

Next comes another favourite move, 4D07 from Wrexham. Booked for a DPU with a trailing load, although I can find no photographs to show that the trailing load was ever attached. I can find several photos of this very unit around Chester in 86 though. This is one of a very few moves which use the crossover into platform 2 from the west end. 

 

 

[mallaig1983]

The trains look great but oh my I am envious of that trackwork.

[ISW]

23 hours ago, 61656 said:

Just behind it, in one of the few half decent photos I’ve ever managed to take, a 101 trundles through the pointwork of the station throat on an incoming service from Hooton.

That's a great photo (the 2nd one). It just looks like it's been pouring with rain. Really atmospheric.

 

Ian

[61656]

8 minutes ago, ISW said:

That's a great photo (the 2nd one). It just looks like it's been pouring with rain. Really atmospheric.

 

Ian

Very slowly it’s coming together. I enjoy running it more than building it, so it’s taking longer than HStw… oh. 

[61656]

Firstly, a minor alteration to some civils. This nice looking bridge was unfortunately foul to gauge, being particularly prone to the middle of mk3s. I only have one mk3, but should the fiddle yard ever get extended then there could be more. Although all but mk3 sleepers and restaurant buffets didn’t feature regularly in Holyhead workings until the early 90’s. 
 

 

A slight change in profile is sufficient to solve the problem, without accentuating too much that the fiddle yard exit is on quite a curve (600mm). 
 

[61656]

Now we move over to the station area. There’s much to do here, including outer walls, station buildings, footbridge, canopies and lighting. Just before work starts we get to see 4B07, the DPU, from the tunnel at the Crewe end. 
 

 

Before anything major starts there’s quite a lot to do weathering the track and finishing the platforms. A start has been made building up the layers of grime to the ballast, and adding platform coping stones. The trusty mk3 is out on gauging duties. 
 

 

About 2 and a half platform edges have been coped so far; it’s quite a tedious job around the curves. I plan to use a thin filler before painting the coping stones. I’m not quite sure about the platform surfaces yet, but probably a very fine grit sandpaper. 

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, 61656 said:

Very slowly it’s coming together. I enjoy running it more than building it, so it’s taking longer than HStw… oh. 

But at least some of your trains run to Manchester...