Wentworth Junction

[Tortuga]

Those wagons are wonderful! I had a quick look at the POWSides website - do the transfers/printed kits represent specific wagons?

[Barry O]

4 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Those wagons are wonderful! I had a quick look at the POWSides website - do the transfers/printed kits represent specific wagons?

Yes they do.. as far as I can tell ( the  PO wagons books are a good source of info but I can't find mine at the moment).

 

Baz

[John76]

Does anyone know what the local Levvy Tag PO Wagon livery was? it would be good to see one or two of them mixed in with the others.

[Michael Edge]

I've never seen a photo of one, at the moment we are just building wagons from other Yorkshire collieries but in reality all of them had been pooled since 1939 and any wagon could be seen anywhere by the early 50s.

Testing (playing?) continuing this week with some electrical modifications in the fiddle yard. It works differently with WJ attached and a few of the section gaps need moving to allow different operations.

[Michael Edge]

We went for a walk around Hood Green last week, mainly to look at the remains of the bridge on the line up to the colliery but on the way we crossed this.

This 2ft gauge surface railway ran from the pit yard (behind Judith) down towards the tip area. We couldn't follow it either way, the present owners of the pit site have erected very secure fences (and KEEP OUT notices) all round it. this is the only point where a public footpath crosses it.

This was the object of the walk though, looking across the formation of the pit branch the abutment of this small accommodation bridge remains. I presume there was a plate girder bridge across here, this will form the scenic break on the layout.

 

The view towards Wentworth Junction, the tracks had spread out into the start of three loops under this bridge, I've only gotroom for one turnout under it.

The remaining abutment (there's no sign of the one at the other side) looking up towards the pit, the cutting is mostly rock at this point.

Some ironwork remains on the top, not much but I'm fairly sure this was a plate girder bridge.

 

Tomorrow's excursion will be up the Worsbrough line to have a closer look at Silkstone No2 tunnel, it's fenced off now but you can still walk up to it.

[Michael Edge]

The walk up to the tunnel is a bit jungly now since they were blocked off.

This would fit nicely on the layout but I don't know what was originally inside it.

The stonework doesn't go very far into the tunnel, most of it is lined with brickwork. Someone has recently repaired a gap forced in the tunnel fence here but it probably won't be long before another gap gets created.

This is a very steep sided cutting, this is as far as I could scramble up the loose surface. It's not easy to work out what it looked like in use, the only photo I have was taken with snow on the ground - much of it is exposed rock with a lot of fallen rubbish on it now.

Last photo taken from the "up and over" path shows just how steep this is.

[John76]

Mike

 

The cut out used to have one of these in there. 

 

There used to be four of these in this area as it was where the wire runs changed over. There was also a timber track cabin on the down side just where the railway enters the cutting.

 

Go on YouTube, search for Woodhead Cab Ride - Kendall Green to Barnsley Jct and have a look around 5:30 minutes in.

 

There was also an LNER Concrete style platelayers hut on the upside further back towards Moorend Lane Bridge.

 

John

Edited March 31, 2021 by John76
Additional info

[Michael Edge]

Probably the timber track cabin then, it's bit big for the mast and there's only one of them. I've not looked at the cab ride video for a while - every time I do I see something else, last time I watched I was picking stills of the Strafford sub-station from it. 

[John76]

Mike

 

re the substation. i have got a full set dimensions for both Beeley Wood TSC and Wharncliffe Wood  Sub Station. I have also measured out the concrete switchgear supports that are still in situ at Wharncliffe. From these dimensions, looking at lots of photos, maps and plans i am having a go at building Barnsley Junction Sub station. Its 90% complete. i will post a photo once its done. I know that Strafford Sub station wasn't as big as the one at Barnsley junction but if you want i can certainly share with you what i have. 

 

John

[Michael Edge]

Thanks John, the Strafford sub-station was smaller but the electrical gear was different to cope with the regen braking down the hill.

[65179]

It's a real shame that there aren't more photographs of this stretch given the sights to be seen, especially before electrification. These Ben Brooksbank collection images being a good example:

 

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2143653

 

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2761844

 

Not sure what the odd construction just the wrong side of the railway fence to the left in the second photo is!

 

Simon

 

 

[John76]

Still from YouTube video mentioned above

[Michael Edge]

Nothing in the concrete enclosure then - just the anchor post at the trackside. Are the tall posts for the 33kv cable? Why are they so high?

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Could the concrete enclosure be some form of framing/protection for the incoming 33kv cables which rise up out of some form of grid/box on the base of the structure?

 

Mike.

[John76]

For the avoidance of doubt, here is another still taking from the same YouTube video

 

 

The concrete enclosure was there to provide protection against an embankment slip. It also looks like the HV cables come down in front of the stantion rather than go behind it.

 

PS 

Just for info. There are still two similar concrete blocks like the ones the wire anchor stantion is sat on up at West Silkstone Junction. Once again, i have measured these up previously.

 

John

Edited April 1, 2021 by John76
additional info

[Michael Edge]

That looks clear enough, I'm going to have to work out the OLE before I can place the concrete walls though. Presumably there is another pair of anchor posts before the tunnel with the wire runs overlapping - pity this isn't near a baseboard joint!

[John76]

Mike.
 

The other two anchor posts were back towards Moor End Lane. I will have a go at drawing it out later. 

 

John. 

[John Tomlinson]

15 hours ago, 65179 said:

It's a real shame that there aren't more photographs of this stretch given the sights to be seen, especially before electrification. These Ben Brooksbank collection images being a good example:

 

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2143653

 

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2761844

 

Not sure what the odd construction just the wrong side of the railway fence to the left in the second photo is!

 

Simon

 

 

I'd suggest there are two main reasons that the area had relatively little photographic coverage over the years, and certainly in the later years of electrification. One was that access was quite difficult, certainly without a longish walk, and the second was the extent to which it became "treed in". Michael's pictures show this process to have carried on  over the last 40 years! My own collection has a gap between the M1 and Barnsley Junction, for just these reasons.

 

You can add to that two other reasons for anyone not local with limited time. East of Barnsley Junction you missed the traffic to either Wath or Sheffield, depending which line you were on. The other reason was that Hadfield to Woodhead was quite spectacular scenically, easily accessed and being on the south side of the valley had the light in the right place for looking down on the train.

 

I've scanned some (but only part) of my efforts from Railblue days and put them on Flickr, which may be of interest. The shots around Gilroyd are the closest I got to the area of Michael's layout.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/51265696@N03/albums/72157668206646154

 

John.

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by John Tomlinson
clarity

[Michael Edge]

1 hour ago, John76 said:

Mike.
 

The other two anchor posts were back towards Moor End Lane. I will have a go at drawing it out later. 

 

John. 

That's better, they can be at the baseboard joint.

[65179]

3 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

I'd suggest there are two main reasons that the area had relatively little photographic coverage over the years, and certainly in the later years of electrification. One was that access was quite difficult, certainly without a longish walk, and the second was the extent to which it became "treed in". Michael's pictures show this process to have carried on  over the last 40 years! My own collection has a gap between the M1 and Barnsley Junction, for just these reasons.

 

You can add to that two other reasons for anyone not local with limited time. East of Barnsley Junction you missed the traffic to either Wath or Sheffield, depending which line you were on. The other reason was that Hadfield to Woodhead was quite spectacular scenically, easily accessed and being on the south side of the valley had the light in the right place for looking down on the train.

 

I've scanned some (but only part) of my efforts from Railblue days and put them on Flickr, which may be of interest. The shots around Gilroyd are the closest I got to the area of Michael's layout.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/51265696@N03/albums/72157668206646154

 

John.

 

 

Thanks for the link to your photos John.  Some lovely views there.  I'm just too young to have any memories of the full MSW system operating, although I must have seen the 506s at least when young.  Your suggestions for why the line was little photographed make perfect sense.  I'm just intrigued that more effort wasn't made by the photographers in the area to photograph those particular sights once it was clear electrification was coming, particularly given that it looks like on one occasion ca. 1951 someone trekked out all the way to the Silkstone tunnels in the snow and apparently only took 2 photos!  Cost and availability of film in that instance I suppose.

 

Simon

[Michael Edge]

I've lived in Yorkshire, not too far away from the Worsbrough, since 1972 and I didn't bother to spend much time looking at it. I was younger then of course and busy with other things, by the time I moved to Barnsley the MSW had been closed for 6 years. I was always more familiar with the main line, regular transport between Lancashire and Sheffield in my student days but my only sight of the Worsbrough line was the level crossing on the A61 and the bridge over the M1

[John Tomlinson]

3 hours ago, 65179 said:

 

Thanks for the link to your photos John.  Some lovely views there.  I'm just too young to have any memories of the full MSW system operating, although I must have seen the 506s at least when young.  Your suggestions for why the line was little photographed make perfect sense.  I'm just intrigued that more effort wasn't made by the photographers in the area to photograph those particular sights once it was clear electrification was coming, particularly given that it looks like on one occasion ca. 1951 someone trekked out all the way to the Silkstone tunnels in the snow and apparently only took 2 photos!  Cost and availability of film in that instance I suppose.

 

Simon

I suspect that for private individuals film, even B&W was not really obtainable back then, both on price grounds and also actual availability.

 

Remember as well that anyone so equipped would be drawn to the "glamour" routes, ECML or WCML Pacifics. An interminable succession of coal trains hauled by grubby O4's probably didn't hold the same attraction.

 

John.

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, 65179 said:

someone trekked out all the way to the Silkstone tunnels in the snow and apparently only took 2 photos! 

Perhaps his camera froze up.

[Michael Edge]

Silkstone No2 tunnel mouth now complete and ready to start painting.

Plenty of clearance in the tunnel, it does need to be extended back to the baseboard joint, just one ring of brickwork in at the moment. This is a steam era picture with the S1 banking a down train and the class A tanks on the up (the O4 is one of the Wentworth bankers and will come off at the junction), I'm going to fit (very securely) two rails in the roof for the pantographs to run under.

[TheSignalEngineer]

On 01/04/2021 at 22:35, St Enodoc said:

Perhaps his camera froze up.

I rode down to Thurgoland Tunnel  from Dunford Bridge last month. I can't remember taking any pictures other than anything that got recorded on my GoPro as my hands were so cold I couldn't work the ordinary camera. By the time I got back to the car I had so little use in my fingers I had difficulty in turning the ignition key.