Trainspotting at Little Benton Sidings, Newcastle.

[rowanj]

Unusually, an N10, North Eastern Kit from ArthurK, has a very mixed train heading north for who knows where, Presumably it is a trip from Heaton Yard, but after that...?

 

Lord President has a Saturday extra from Waverley to Leeds. There are some splendid photos by Keith Pirt of her standing pilot at York and I have used her as an excuse to get her to Edinburgh, where Haymarket will have been thrilled, no doubt, to see her.

Edited May 1, 2023 by rowanj

[rowanj]

Some of my NCB locos have come out to play, From the front is No 40, an RSH 0-6-0, designed for Ashington to haul miners trains on the complex.It is scratch built by a good friend. Next is Hudswell-Clarke No 28  a 3D Print by Hardy;s Hobbies which seems to have vanished from sale. Both these run on Electrotren chassis, Finally No 7 a Hunslet Austerity, modified to have a "Lambton" cab with a few other mods, brings up the rear. Transfers were from Railtec.

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by rowanj

[rowanj]

At one time, if a bulb went out in the car you just popped into the garage, paid a few bob for a new one and plugged it in. Now when a rear light goes in a cluster in your car 5 months out of warranty, even though all the rest still work, you cough up £549 for a complete unit. So while waiting for the call from the garage to pop along with my plastic card to collect it, I visited a local Hornby stockist and spotted the LMS Brake Van in Ashington Blue livery.    £30- a mere pittance!!!

 

The loco is a Judith Edge kit of a Kitson long boiler, which I built during the first lockdown. The prototype is just down the road in a museum, but out of traffic, and, last time I asked, was well down the queue for returning to steam. Here , it passes with the full rake of NCB wagons having somehow acquired running powers on the mainline.

[micklner]

Contact the car maker (which make so I can avoid?) they may give you a discount as the warranty is barely over. Worth a try.

[John Tomlinson]

1 hour ago, micklner said:

Contact the car maker (which make so I can avoid?) they may give you a discount as the warranty is barely over. Worth a try.

 

Our Skoda Octavias still have individul bulbs you can replace. However they are quite old now, dating from 2006.

 

John.

[rowanj]

Any make which needs a sealed unit fitted is going to be expensive. The garage which told me I needed to go to Volvo in case the lighting module had blown and would need replacing and re-programming told me about a Ford where sorting out a headlight resulted in a bill for £1500.

 

All this happened on holiday at Broadway, handily placed for the GWR which just happened to have a steam gala on the middle weekend we were there, and I picked up a couple of books and a Lima Mk1 GUV and CCT from the trade stalls. I also got a Bachmann 56xx chassis- more of that later.

 

The CCT is just behind the Hornby ex-LMS GUV, which has a (PDK) B16/3 in charge,The train probably started at Kings X, and the B16 will have come on at York.  Others will know better, but I believe the London -Edinburgh fast freights, with the notable exception of the Scots Goods, effectively operated as 2 services - Kings x- York, then York-Edinburgh, 

 

Edited May 26, 2023 by rowanj

[rowanj]

The J39 heads a local freight-probably a pick-up from the Blyth and Tyne- headed for Heaton Up Yard, The tarpaulin in the leading wagon was an experiment in making home-made covers taken from a Youtube video, involving paper towels doused in watered-down PVA ,and cling film.

The V3 has the late afternoon parcels from Central to Blyth. The rake contains a Hornby LMS GUV, behind the LIMA Mk 1CCT and GUV which I picked up for peanuts at the GWR Steam Gala at Toddington, Both are better above the waist than below, and the photo illustrates the major issue with the ride height, On this picture , replacement wheels of the corect diameter have been fitted to the CCT, but at this stage the GUV remained to be tackled. This has now been done, with a photo to follow. The Mk1 BSO was a GBL coach to which Comet sides and a scratch-build interior was fitted in the days before the Hornby model appeared. In the fictional work, it is there to get railway staff home as a non-timetabled service, but, in reality, it is there to help me get the GUV ride height sorted.

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by rowanj

[rowanj]

Generations apart, two classic goods locos which also could be seen n passenger duties pass at Little Benton. The 9F is one which arrived at York in 1965, and has a fully-fitted freight for the North- probably Millerhill, This is the loco to which I fitted a CD motor, and  been doing a bit more experimenting with weathering.  Originally a GBL Evening Star on a Hornby tender-drive chassis. I have no evidence whatsover of a York, or indeed a Tyne Dock 9F on any service North of Newcastle.

 

The LRM J21 has been given the task of returning the parcels from Blyth to Central. By now, the GUV has been fitted with bogies from Silver Fox and transfers added, The correct diameter wheens require cutouts in the chassis floor, but the conversion is easy and really transforms the overall look of the GUV.

 

[MarkC]

2 hours ago, rowanj said:

I have no evidence whatsover of a York, or indeed a Tyne Dock 9F on any service North of Newcastle.

Wasn't a Tyne Dock 9F briefly used on the Alnwick services? Or am I confusing the last rites there with another location?

[rowanj]

21 minutes ago, MarkC said:

Wasn't a Tyne Dock 9F briefly used on the Alnwick services? Or am I confusing the last rites there with another location?

You are correct, Mark.92099  worked the Alnmouth to Allnwick shuttle on the last weekend of steam service. I have a couple of photos which I'll post next time I have something else to put on.

John

[MarkC]

32 minutes ago, rowanj said:

You are correct, Mark.92099  worked the Alnmouth to Allnwick shuttle on the last weekend of steam service. I have a couple of photos which I'll post next time I have something else to put on.

John

Cheers, John. Nice to know I'm not yet losing the plot... 😜

 

Mark

[rowanj]

Re the 9F on the Alnmouth-Alnwick shuttle, this took place on 18th June 1966, the last day of steam working on the Branch. 92099 is carrying a headboard from The Norseman. The train still seems to have been the usual Thompson SK/Mk 1 BSO, and it must have been a pretty untaxing turn for the loco. By the time I got to Alnwick, the trains were 2-car Class 101's on the shuttle, and through trains to Newcastle wre pretty thin on the ground.

 

I think the photo, though uncredited in my collection, is from the Neville Stead Collection. I was saddened to learn of his death last week. He lived nearby, and , though I hadnt seen him since pre-Covid, we used to bump into each other occasionally in a coffee shop we both frequented in Whitley Bay. I got to speak to him by shamelessly name-dropping  local railway photographer I S (Ian) Carr, who was a master at my alma mater, Wallsend Grammar.where he tried to teach me Geography.

[rowanj]

Even before it gained celebrity status as the last A3 in BR service, Prince Palatine was a common sight on Tyneside, It heads for Newcastle on an Edinburgh-Kings X express, probably an extra given the Thompson Brake. GBL body, Hornby super-detailed chassis ( I remember when you could get them for £30 or so on EBAY), with a cutdown Hornby tender-drive body on loco-drive chassis.

Edited June 8, 2023 by rowanj

[rowanj]

Heaton B16/1 has the afternoon Tweedmouth-Newcastle fish train. In my world, it operates as a fish and meat, and may well have done so in real life too. The wagons are a mix of Parkside and Dapol/Airfix.

 

I have just finished a 3D print of a Robert Stephenson loco, ex- Lambton Railway No 5. It is now on the NYMR under restoration.  It heads north on my little rake of NCB internal user vans - all wholly unprototypical.

[rowanj]

I went trainspotting at Little Benton for real this morning, for the first time in at least 55 years. The scene today is barely recognisable, but I did spot a steam engine, Not a cop, unfortunately.

[rowanj]

The photos in the previous post were taken from more or less behind where the Q6 is, at the head of a rake of empty mineral wagons. The leading pair are the recently released Chivers 21T wagons. I modified the leading one to represent a replated wagon, having seen it done on one of Wallsrails excellent Youtube videos. The Chivers kits are, I think, excellent value at £10. You need to supply wheels and bearings, and couplings, Transfers are from CCT.

 

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by rowanj

[rowanj]

I had a schoolmaster, I S Carr, who was a well-known railway photographer. He was a source of loco name and number plates from scrapped locos, and I remember paying 10 shillings for the plate from an Ivatt "MT 41xxx. I sold it later when cash was short for £20, carrying it down to Kings Cross by train where I passed it to its' new owner.

Ian Carr organised seats on specials, and in 1965 I went from Newcastle to York behind A3 Blink Bonny, where the preserved FlyingScotsman was on a Special going North, We then went behind a B1 to Whitby, reversed to Middlesbrough, then went from there to Newcastle behind Q7 63460. I remember a photo stop at the closed station at Wellfield.

Here is my attempt to represent the last lap, though my Q7 is 63464.

[rowanj]

I'm not sure what has brought this D49/1 to Little Benton. Possibly, a Casual at Darlington has resulted in a run-in up to tyneside, and Heaton has hung on to Berkshire for a service to Berwick. The loco started out as a Hornby Railroad , to which I added a GC tender body.

My repainted Bachmann J72 has been held (for some days, actually) in the sidings, but is  at last about to be released to get empty fish and meat vans to Heaton Yard, ready for a return trip to Tweedmouth,

Finally, a photo I recently found on Facebook has 60001 on a cattle train heading North at Alnmouth in 1963. I have a model of Sir Ronald, and a rake of cattle wagons, so may try to replicate this, albeit that my loco has a single chimney, Despite the typical external condition of the loco, posts on the 52A threaf on Facebook by ex-employees would seem to suggest that this A4 was highly regarded for its' reliability, especially after the double chimney was fitted.

Edited July 4, 2023 by rowanj

[rowanj]

Starting with something "normal", a local K3 is on its' typical turn of a freight for Berwick and Edinburghj. These turns were shared with St Margarets, and K3's were common motive power. Unlike further South , it seems to have been a rare event to see them on passenger duties- the only photo I have of one on Tyneside is captioned as an ECS train.

[rowanj]

And , to quote Young Frankenstein, here is something distinctly "Abbe - normal". A great friend id downsizing, and kindly donated this pair of artic twins. I need to research the diagrams, of which I know next to nothig, to find a reasonable turn for them around Tyneside. But they are lovely models and a generous gift. 

The current excuse is a Rugby Special between Durham and Northumberland, Darlington's L1 has brought them up from Hartlepool to Morpeth, and is now on its' way home, The passengers are pretty disgruntled, having suffered a hammering,

Edited July 8, 2023 by rowanj

[Clive Mortimore]

Hi John

 

The two sets of twins are mixed up. The two with the bowed ends are GN or GC steel bodied twin BSK+SK, they originally in five car sets BSK+SK/CK/SK+BSK. The GN sets having a short steel body CK and the GC had a long body CK. The sets were gradually broke up. So for your period they could well appear in a train of mixed stock 

 

The other two coaches with the center doors are a Tourist Stock SO+SO twin. After WW2 the Tourist trains were broken up and the various coaches were used as general stock.

 

In the photos they are a SK+SO and a SO+BSK, just swap them over and you have a pair of lovely twins.

[65179]

9 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hi John

 

The two sets of twins are mixed up. The two with the bowed ends are GN or GC steel bodied twin BSK+SK, they originally in five car sets BSK+SK/CK/SK+BSK. The GN sets having a short steel body CK and the GC had a long body CK. The sets were gradually broke up. So for your period they could well appear in a train of mixed stock 

 

The other two coaches with the center doors are a Tourist Stock SO+SO twin. After WW2 the Tourist trains were broken up and the various coaches were used as general stock.

 

In the photos they are a SK+SO and a SO+BSK, just swap them over and you have a pair of lovely twins.

 

Looks like one of the GN type of twin (D194 + 195). Toplight over the guards door rather than a ventilator amongst other details. Not convinced the numbers are correct for either GC or GN variants though.

 

Regards,

Simon 

[Clive Mortimore]

46 minutes ago, 65179 said:

 

Looks like one of the GN type of twin (D194 + 195). Toplight over the guards door rather than a ventilator amongst other details. Not convinced the numbers are correct for either GC or GN variants though.

 

Regards,

Simon 

Hi Simon

 

I hadn't got as far as looking at the numbers. Also is the main visual difference between the GN and GC sets the toplight or ventilator over the guards door, thanks. I didn't know that.

[65179]

2 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hi Simon

 

I hadn't got as far as looking at the numbers. Also is the main visual difference between the GN and GC sets the toplight or ventilator over the guards door, thanks. I didn't know that.

 

Hi Clive, to be honest, although I have a set of Bill Bedford etches for a GN set I want to turn into a GC twin, I haven't looked into the details for a while (too many other coaches to build), but that was an easy feature to spot in rowanj's photos. Steve Banks provides some helpful information on these here: 

https://www.steve-banks.org/prototype-and-traffic/422-lner-steel-quintuple-sets

 

After a quick scan, aside from the different CKs you mentioned, he doesn't seem to point out any other differences.

 

Edit to add: This thread

was really helpful too, but sadly all the drawings that @MikeTrice kindly provided were lost in The Event.

 

Regards,

Simon

Edited July 8, 2023 by 65179

[Clive Mortimore]

Hi Simon

 

It looks like I have started to make a GN line twin.

Compartment side

 

Corridor side

 

I have made a start of a Tourist Twin as well

 

 

I am also having a bash at making a GN line short steel CK

 

And the GC line long steel CK