Trainspotting at Little Benton Sidings, Newcastle.

[rowanj]

A5/2 69839 leaves the sidings to head back to Darlington. It has arrived on a Special of some sort- possibly a race meeting at Gosforth Park, However I have determined, as is my right as "Medium-build Contoller", that this was the occasion of an Inter-Counties Rugby match between Durham and Northumberland, held at Northern Rugby Club, The presence of the Composite suggests that the Club President and other Board members attended,

The loco was converted from a Craftsman kit. I is probably an A5 one  and 3 quarters, as there are some inaccuracies. I changed the chimney and dome, reprofiled the cab roof and amended the spectacle plates, changed it to LH drive, and did a few other mods which I cant remember, It sort of looks the part,

Edited January 12 by rowanj

[rowanj]

This photo, undated but I suspect  around 1960, turned up the other day on a Facebook site I visit, The Q6 passes Little Benton South cabin. Unusually, at least in my memory, is the coaching stock in the sidings, It may be mid-week, during the Summer, when the SO Glasgow -Whitley-Bay was kept there for a week, before returning to Glasgow on the following Saturday,

The loco is heading into the headshunt- something I never saw. Looking at the points, it has come down, headed for Newcastle, on the siding nearest the mainlines, and will presumably reverse to collect wagons from the line behind the rake of coaches.

Edited January 16 by rowanj

[rowanj]

My latest effort is this LRM J21, which I built as the preserved 65033 in the period between its; last General in 1956 and its' repaint in 1860 for a railtour. It and 65110 were the last survivors, both at Heaton, and so seeing them at Little Benton is not the most improbable thing to happen on my trainset.

[rowanj]

I get the odd query about the 3rd rail on my layout. It was used a couple of times each day for "express" EMU services from Whitley Bay via Monkseaton  to Newcastle, usually early morning and evening for business travel to and from Newcastle, In addition it saw occasional use to get stock back to South Gosforth Sheds, The photo shows such a train, an 8-car set made up of 4 x 2-car articulated sets. 

The photo is from about 200 yards beyond the northern limit of my layout. I would love to have a model of the ex LNER North Tyneside EMU's- Dave Alexander was in the process of developing a kit before his death- and , one of these days.....

The NW curve which the train is following was removed in the 1980's when the Rowntree factory at Fawdon ceased rail operations, To the right, just beyond the photo, is the sole remaining  SE curve, currently freight only, but due to be the route of the re-opened Northumberland Line to Ashington.

 

The second photo shows the 8.27 express passing the site of the lifted sidings in 1967, the last year before the EMU's were replaced by DMU's

Edited January 26 by rowanj

[rowanj]

This photo caused a bit of a stir on a Facebook page when I posted it, so I may as well put it up here. heading south past Little Benton South, North Tyneside DMBS , on e of only 2 built for the Contol Unit (need to research what that was),leads a 2-car South Tyneside EBP, with a North Tyneside MPV at the rear, No date but probably c 1958, Lots of speculation about what was going on.

More prosaically, 65033 completes its'test runs by taking a LOCO coal train out of the sidings to Heaton, The signal guarding the mainline was alyays of interest to us spotters, as it heralded the next arrival on the Up line. Home only meant, in all probability, another J27 on a load of hoppers,-. If the distant was also pulled, it presaged something a bit more exciting,. The whole model Ratio signal is about to be pulled, as I have discovered it should also have a dolly to control the siding nearest the Up mainline,

Edited January 22 by rowanj

[rowanj]

I don't have much 3rd rail stock, and, of what I do have, 26500 is an unlikely sight at Little Benton. However I saw the 26500 and 26501, or at least one of them, on almost every trip from my home in Wallsend to Central. The Bachmann model is quite splendid, and I found it irresistable. It has an unlikely pick-up goods turn probably from Tynemouth to Trafalgar Yard. All fictional, I'm afraid,

 

[rowanj]

60506 leaves a lot be be deired, but it has a bit of sentimental value. being one of the first DJH kit I attempted. This was in the days when DJH attended the Newcastle MRS , and the kits included a full set of wheels, Although, over the years, I have reduced the "strangers" who would rarely, if ever, be seen at Little Benton, the Wolf has survived, I do have a photo of her at Newcastle, but new England locos north of that would be like gold dust to the spotters, Putting her on The Queen of Scots is adding insult to injury. I'm thinking of dragging her into works to do a bit of tarting up to become 60502.

The D20 on the headshunt is there for photographic purposes, as I begin a Northeastern Kit of sister loco 62383, This one is modified DJH with a Dave Alexander tender,

[rowanj]

61410 was the first etched kit I ever built-from PDK- and although I did get it to work, it was a bit of a triumph of optimism over experirnce. Over Norman Solomon;s track it would probably have been fine, but on my layout, it had its' moments.... So I got a replacement chassis from PDK and it now runs much better, to the extent that Heaton has rostered it on a Berwick semi=fast, and the return trip, on which it is seen here.

[rowanj]

With the weather warming up (temporarily), and as a break from a rather frustrating attempt to build a re-sided tender for a D20,  i ran a few trains in the loft., Unfortunately for the spotters, nothing unusual passed by.

 

j27 65815 from North Blyth has a rake of 16T minerals, rather than the more usual 21T hoppers. I understand these were normally used for household coal, and photos of them in rakes in the NE are thin on the ground. Heading north loaded is a bit anachranistic, and all I can assume is that they are to be dropped off at the various yards before being incorporated into pick-up freights , Well, that's my excuse.

B1 61014 ORIBI was also common fodder, based at Gateshead, Tweedmouth and, strangely, Tyne Dock, I'm not sure what turns the latter had to warrant a B1 on the roster. Here it has a fitted freight, probably from Millerhill to Forth Banks 

[rowanj]

I'm in the early stages of a D20 build using ArthurK's NorthEastern kits, I wanted to build this one with one of the resided tenders, which were attached to some of the longer-lasting locos, including those on the Alnwick-Newcastle turns. How I'm getting on with the tender is covered on my building thread, I suppose I have been semi-successful, which, of course, means I have also been semi-unsuccessful.

I was using my DJH version as a "model" when adapting the NER tender in the kit, and decided it was far too uniform in its; matt Railmatch Weather Black, so have weathered it down using a photo (albeit in black and white) of a loco in 1957, the last year the class was in service. 62396 emerges frpm Scottie Bridge, on which we stood many a time to spot the trains, You need a stepladder to see over the top of it now, as it has been rebuilt following ECML electrification and to stop idiots hurting themselves.

 

The next photo , which just arrived on a Facebook page, is the only one I have ever seen of a freight on the North-East curve, which took trains off the ECML onto the North Tyneside Suburban line, and, in this case, onto the Blyth and Tyne towards Newbiggin and Blyth. If you see a rake of hoppers behind a J27 on my layout on the Down Line, it is about 1000 yards from this point, and the wagons should really be empties, This curve, incidentally, is the only remaining one of the three which were here (Benton Quarry Junction), and is now a freight-only single track, It will be used by the restored passenger services on the Northumberland Line in mid 2024

Edited February 8 by rowanj

[rowanj]

 A couple of minutes later, the D20 meets a fellow ex-NER veteran. J21 65070 is a Dave Alexander kit which I rebuilt into one of the locos without train braking, It is heading for Tyneside with a short rake of open wagons.

 

The J21 is held at the signals, and will soon reverse the stock into the sidings., On my next layout (in my dreams) I will be able to draw them in from the north, as per the prototype. Even in the loft, I didnt have enough room to fit run- though sidings , so they are dead-ends under the bridge at Little Benton North.

Edited February 13 by rowanj

[rowanj]

The other day I saw a photo taken at West Gosforth Staion of the twins, 26500 and 26501, which were taken there on the occasion of a railtour up the Ponteland Branch. The branch left the North Tyneside Loop just east of South Gosforth Station, Not being electrified, the twins must have been hauled there by something, I assume they were taken either from Heaton or, more likely, South Gosforth Car Sheds, where they were allocated. In my world one of them is going via the ECML and will take the North-West curve at Little Benton Quarry Junction, then pass behind the Shed to join the Ponteland Branch,

 

The Ponteland Branch is an interesting line,, given that it closed to passengers in 1929, but remained open for freight until 1988, albeit truncated, Now, most of it is the Metro Line to Newcastle Airport, and the site of West Gosforth is the Regent Centre  Bus/Metro Interchange,  Had the whole line survived, it would probably see considerable traffic from Ponteland as well as the Airport traffic. 

 

Having dropped off its; mineral wagins , J27 65815 leaves the sidings to head back to Heaton, I think the photo shows what a good job Oxford Rail did with the model, for under £100, I renumbered it, then weathered it using Humbrol powders.

Edited February 17 by rowanj

[rowanj]

The spotters would not have expected to see a Tyne Dock Q7 emerging with a Class B freight ,After the 9F's arrived for the Consett traffic,  the Q7's were regularly used on ordinary freights, By 1960, they were often overpowered for the loads they were hauling, as is the case here,  

The loco doesnt get out much, and didnt run too well, so it is obviously due a "General",

Edited February 22 by rowanj

[rowanj]

All vintage ex-NER today, J21 65070 is still waiting a path out of the sidings, while J77  68392 has brought a couple of empty tank wagons down from Blyth. Poking its' nose in, J25 65697 has a freight for the Riverside Branch, This was the electrified loop off the North Tyneside Line, and ran from Percy Main to Byker and then on to Central, predominantly serving the Tyneside shipyards and engineering works, Services from Heaton Yards could only access it from Percy Main, so that meant a trip up the ECML, the south-east curve at Benton Quarry Junction onto the North Tyneside line, a run along the Coast. then off onto the Riverside Line at Percy Main- a long way round but useful for me as it passes Little Benton.

The Riverside Branch , by the time I was spotting, had next to no passenger services, catering only for the start and end of the day-shifts, There was a Saturday lunchtime service from Central, which I managed to use only once, getting off at Carville, next to Swan Hunters, and only a few hundred yards from Wallsend Station, which was my usual stop, This was probably in 1963 or '64, and I can still recall how run-down the stations were on the Branch,

 

 

Edited March 2 by rowanj

[rowanj]

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that my Dave Alexander Q7 was running a little "lumpily" so it has gone int Works. Turned out it was nothing major, so with a bit of TLC it is now back in service, It may be just on a running-in turn to get it , unusually,to Little Benton on a rake of hoppers, but it could possibly be a train of coking coal from Weetslade Disposal Point to Consett Steelworks, and the Tyne Dock loco just happened to be somewhere -probably Heaton- and was used instead of the more usual Q6.

the loco, as I said, is one of the late lamented models produced by Alexander Models, Their loss is a real shame, as was the loss of Dave, a lovely, helpful man, There was talk of his kits being taken over, but nothing seems to have come of it. 

Edited March 5 by rowanj

[rowanj]

Finally released from the sidings, Dave Alexander J21 65070 takes its' short rake of open wagons to Heaton, and then , in a few cases, probably off for scrap,  The majority of them were bought cheaply at Tynemouth Market, boxed and mint PO wagons , whose value I proceeded to worsen by my practice weathering,

The newly completed Northeastern Kits D20 has also been parked up with a SO Alnwick-Newcastle, but can now complete its' journey, This was a lovely kit to build, but I modified the tender to represent one of the several which got new sides and tanks, This was not wholly succesful but, from normal viewing , a man with a white stick and golden retriever would be happy.

 

Edited March 7 by rowanj

[John Tomlinson]

On 17/02/2024 at 19:07, rowanj said:

The other day I saw a photo taken at West Gosforth Staion of the twins, 26500 and 26501, which were taken there on the occasion of a railtour up the Ponteland Branch. The branch left the North Tyneside Loop just east of South Gosforth Station, Not being electrified, the twins must have been hauled there by something, I assume they were taken either from Heaton or, more likely, South Gosforth Car Sheds, where they were allocated. In my world one of them is going via the ECML and will take the North-West curve at Little Benton Quarry Junction, then pass behind the Shed to join the Ponteland Branch,

 

The Ponteland Branch is an interesting line,, given that it closed to passengers in 1929, but remained open for freight until 1988, albeit truncated, Now, most of it is the Metro Line to Newcastle Airport, and the site of West Gosforth is the Regent Centre  Bus/Metro Interchange,  Had the whole line survived, it would probably see considerable traffic from Ponteland as well as the Airport traffic. 

 

Having dropped off its; mineral wagins , J27 65815 leaves the sidings to head back to Heaton, I think the photo shows what a good job Oxford Rail did with the model, for under £100, I renumbered it, then weathered it using Humbrol powders.

 

Having followed your two threads for a while now, I came across one of the Oxford Rail J27's (BR versions) on Ebay, and for a modest sum made a successful bid, as much as anything to judge for myself the quality of the model. I have a couple of their wagons, but no locos, and it's always interesting to inspect a manufacturer's efforts for the first time.

 

I was a bit put off at first running, as the loco stuttered and eventually stopped altogether! A quick skim through the Oxford Rail thread revealed issues of pickups often needing adjustment, and once on my bench in bits I realised as well that there was a decoder fitted, often as we've discussed before a negative on a DC setup. Anyhow, one blanking plate later, pickups adjusted, some weight in the tender and scale couplings in place, I have real belter of a loco!

 

The exercise got me reading the relevant sections of the RCTS Green Series, so I now feel a bit wiser on the subject of North Eastern 0-6-0's. Presumably I'd be right in thinking that, as yet anyway, none of the offerings from Oxford Rail are of the long smokebox variety, as fitted originally to superheated locos, but kept by a few examples after the superheating was removed?

 

Many thanks,

 

John.

[rowanj]

2 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

 

Having followed your two threads for a while now, I came across one of the Oxford Rail J27's (BR versions) on Ebay, and for a modest sum made a successful bid, as much as anything to judge for myself the quality of the model. I have a couple of their wagons, but no locos, and it's always interesting to inspect a manufacturer's efforts for the first time.

 

I was a bit put off at first running, as the loco stuttered and eventually stopped altogether! A quick skim through the Oxford Rail thread revealed issues of pickups often needing adjustment, and once on my bench in bits I realised as well that there was a decoder fitted, often as we've discussed before a negative on a DC setup. Anyhow, one blanking plate later, pickups adjusted, some weight in the tender and scale couplings in place, I have real belter of a loco!

 

The exercise got me reading the relevant sections of the RCTS Green Series, so I now feel a bit wiser on the subject of North Eastern 0-6-0's. Presumably I'd be right in thinking that, as yet anyway, none of the offerings from Oxford Rail are of the long smokebox variety, as fitted originally to superheated locos, but kept by a few examples after the superheating was removed?

 

Many thanks,

 

John.

Hi John, Oxford Rail have only produced the one variety as far as I know, though there were certainly plans for others, as well as a J26. I believe demonstration models of the J26 were at Warley, with a scheduled release Q4 2024, How the merger with Hornby has affected things, i couldnt say,

I modified a NuCast kit to represent one of the locos you mention- superheater removed, but extended smokebox left on, and continuous handrails around the boiler/smokebos/smokebox front. It makes a nice visual change. The same thing happened to  some J21's which lost their superheater,

The j27 must be among the best value for money among recent RTR releases, and hopefuully another batch will arrive soner rather than later.

John

Edited March 8 by rowanj

[John Tomlinson]

14 hours ago, rowanj said:

Hi John, Oxford Rail have only produced the one variety as far as I know, though there were certainly plans for others, as well as a J26. I believe demonstration models of the J26 were at Warley, with a scheduled release Q4 2024, How the merger with Hornby has affected things, i couldnt say,

I modified a NuCast kit to represent one of the locos you mention- superheater removed, but extended smokebox left on, and continuous handrails around the boiler/smokebos/smokebox front. It makes a nice visual change. The same thing happened to  some J21's which lost their superheater,

The j27 must be among the best value for money among recent RTR releases, and hopefuully another batch will arrive soner rather than later.

John

 

Thanks for this. I thought I saw one of your kit built examples with the long smokebox, as you say it makes for variety and interest.

 

Let's hope their range carries on and expands. I was pretty impressed with the build quality, and the fitting of proper brass bushes to the axles that clip into the chassis sides is especially welcome in giving quality smooth running.

 

John.

[rowanj]

BLENHEIM has the Queen of Scots today, Unlike nearly all the numbers underlined in my ABC, I actually remember seeing  her at Newcastle, as I was always fascinated by the history of the Duke of Marlborough and Blenheim Palace.  Nothing unusual about this one- simply renumbered Hornby,

 

Emerging from under Scottie Bridhe, D20 62383 with its're-sided tender heads home to Alnmouth/Alnwick, ArthurK/NorthEastern Kits with a modified  semi-scratchbuild tender.

The NCB, wholly unprototypically, gets occasional running powers on my layout- otherwise my small stock of NCB locos would never turn a wheel, This is a modified Hornby J94, representing a loco which was at Ashington. It came as a present from my daughter as a non-runner, resolved when a DCC blanking plate was fitted.

[John Tomlinson]

I was just going through the postings of the people I follow on Flickr, and came across this, which I thought might be of interest, 

 

A rather lovely Gresley Triplet Diner, clearly polished to its best! Click on photo for details.

 

John.

[rowanj]

What an interesting shot, John. Thanks for posting. I've never heard of launch specials going to Tyne Commision Quay, and it seems an odd destination, given that, depending which shipyard was involved, there were stations on the Riverside Branch much more conveniently situated,

I "pretend" to run Boat Trains on the layout, but actually getting stock to Tyne Commision Quay via Little Benton is a bit complicated, needing a reversal at somewhere like Backworth Goods, Trains normally headed along the North Tyneside electrified line and reversed at Percy Main. 67637 was a V1, and was at Gateshead and Heaton with a late creast from 1958 to withdrawal in 1962, so the photo is in that range.

Is the triplet that which was usually on The Northumbrian?

John

 

[John Tomlinson]

1 hour ago, rowanj said:

What an interesting shot, John. Thanks for posting. I've never heard of launch specials going to Tyne Commision Quay, and it seems an odd destination, given that, depending which shipyard was involved, there were stations on the Riverside Branch much more conveniently situated,

I "pretend" to run Boat Trains on the layout, but actually getting stock to Tyne Commision Quay via Little Benton is a bit complicated, needing a reversal at somewhere like Backworth Goods, Trains normally headed along the North Tyneside electrified line and reversed at Percy Main. 67637 was a V1, and was at Gateshead and Heaton with a late creast from 1958 to withdrawal in 1962, so the photo is in that range.

Is the triplet that which was usually on The Northumbrian?

John

 

 

I'm not sure about the Triplet, nor it would seem is the poster, as it isn't his shot and presumably he's written down all he knows.

 

From the general condition, clean underframe and especially the pristine roofs I'd say it's just come from works,and not yet gone into traffic. Possibly there was some problem with it, Heaton had to do some repair work, and this was a little test run out? Another explanation/ guess at what's going on!

 

John.

[rowanj]

Just for fun, I raided the stock box/spares pile to get as close as i can to John's photo. No triplet, I'm afraid. The Kitchen car gets out from time to time, but the Diners are put away awaiting a re-build. The BG is Hornby.

[John Tomlinson]

2 hours ago, rowanj said:

Just for fun, I raided the stock box/spares pile to get as close as i can to John's photo. No triplet, I'm afraid. The Kitchen car gets out from time to time, but the Diners are put away awaiting a re-build. The BG is Hornby.

 

Yes, that's pretty close! I saw the exchange on "Wright Writes", a classic case of how one subject can bring forth useful knowledge on something else. I don't have a triplet either, other than an unmade Kirk/ Coopercraft kit in the "one day" cupboard. I really do want to make it sometime, and was interested to see the comments about white windows on both sides of the kitchen car, something I didn't know before. Every day is a school day in our hobby!

 

John.