Gresley Junction

[thegreenhowards]

3 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

I think that's right, Accrington Stanley were one of the twelve founder members. I used to know who they all were, and seem to remember Aston Villa and Notts County, with the rest being from the northwest. I was brought up close to Blackburn, and the Rovers were one of the twelve as were nearby Preston North End, and probably Burnley and Bolton Wanderers. Accrington Stanley did reform a few years ago, and I think now may be in something like League Two, if that's what its called.

 

In my years living in and around London - 1978 to 1998 - I did go to Shepherd's Bush once to see the Rovers play QPR, not surprisingly we lost as was usually the case. My highlight match in London was them getting a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge circa 1980. The trains were a lot more fun!

 

John.

My wife’s from Preston and I went to Ewood Park a couple of times to escape the in laws. I think we lost both times, but that was in the early -mid ‘90s around the time when you were champions.

[thegreenhowards]

1 hour ago, Tony Teague said:

Andy

For info most pictures that I put anywhere near the web are about 200kB, but then I put everything through Lightroom which allows me to output whatever file size that I specify.

One good reason for me is that the "rural broadband" that I get here has a download speed of around 3.5Mps and an upload speed at about one tenth of that - so if I used larger images I'd be here all night!

Tony

...and I thought my broadband was bad! I suppose I really ought to find an app in which I could put in sky etc. and reduce the size. But if I started doing that there would be no time for modelling and that would never do.

[thegreenhowards]

Today we have the 1915 Royston to King’s Cross - a standard non-corridor outer suburban 6 set. The excitement comes in the form of the first run on Gresley Jn for 61027, Madoqua. You’ve seen this engine before as 61008, Kudu, but I’ve now got round to renumbering and naming it to Madoqua, a Hitchin stalwart through the mid ‘50s. I’ve also augmented the Bachmann weathering with some of my own.

 

 

...and the video.

 

 

[John Tomlinson]

Interesting that all the coaches except the brake at the front have toilets. How very civilised of the GN section!

 

John.

[Clive Mortimore]

Back to the renaming of 61662. My dad who was mate's with the cousin of the geezer who supplied Doncaster works with their casting sand was told they had already prepared the name plates for CHELSEA not those upstarts from Loftus Road.....and that is fact .................well may be. 

 

Now this is real fact, my uncle John's footballing playing career ended while playing for QPR. His jaw got broken in a game. 

[great northern]

1 hour ago, thegreenhowards said:

Today we have the 1915 Royston to King’s Cross - a standard non-corridor outer suburban 6 set. The excitement comes in the form of the first run on Gresley Jn for 61027, Madoqua. You’ve seen this engine before as 61008, Kudu, but I’ve now got round to renumbering and naming it to Madoqua, a Hitchin stalwart through the mid ‘50s. I’ve also augmented the Bachmann weathering with some of my own.

 

 

...and the video.

 

 

My goodness, some very smart work there by someone. Madoqua didn't arrive at PN until 1615. From train to New England, turned, watered, a light engine path found. and at Royston in time for 1915 departure.

[thegreenhowards]

6 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

Interesting that all the coaches except the brake at the front have toilets. How very civilised of the GN section!

 

John.

John,

 

The brakes at both ends have no toilets - four out of six coaches with toilet access. The rear brake was the fifth coach because (I think) of platform length restrictions somewhere on the route. I think the white window on this is the guard’s compartment. The rear Coach was a SLO. The GN was the only part of BR to have mark 1 non corridor stock with toilets. It was designed for these services which had toilets going back to the 1903s if not before. As you say, very civilised.

 

Andy

Edited February 27, 2020 by thegreenhowards

[thegreenhowards]

5 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Back to the renaming of 61662. My dad who was mate's with the cousin of the geezer who supplied Doncaster works with their casting sand was told they had already prepared the name plates for CHELSEA not those upstarts from Loftus Road.....and that is fact .................well may be. 

 

Now this is real fact, my uncle John's footballing playing career ended while playing for QPR. His jaw got broken in a game. 

As a true super hoop, I would have had Chelsea going bust if there was a B17 so named. But they weren’t anywhere near LNER territory - at least Loftus Road is close to the GC.

 

My respect for the Mortimore family has increased if you have a hoops blood line!

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

5 hours ago, great northern said:

My goodness, some very smart work there by someone. Madoqua didn't arrive at PN until 1615. From train to New England, turned, watered, a light engine path found. and at Royston in time for 1915 departure.

On PN time stands still in August 1958 (except when you have a DELTIC wobble). Whereas on GJ a tardis is required as each train represents a slightly different time period. I assume the tardis was employed in this case.

[thegreenhowards]

Today we have another overnight service and another of my favourite rakes on Gresley Jn. This one is the car Sleeper Limited, 20h05 King’s Cross-Perth. This train was the first Motorrail service to run in the UK. It started in 1956 using LNER designed CCTs built in 1939 and 1950. Later on it was upgraded to bogied vans based on some old underframes and then propose built ‘Newton Chambers’ car carriers, but the former is not available, even in kit form, and the latter is only available as a kit from Southern Pride. So when Hornby were disposing of surplus CCTs cheaply I snapped up a batch to form the rake. 

 

 

The train is headed by 60066, Merry Hampton. This was unique in having a raised ventilator on the cab roof. My model is based on the Wills kit but mounted on a Hornby chassis. This gives exceptional haulage ability through the weight of the white metal body. I’m afraid the length of the train and the low perspective has prevented me getting it all in focus. The formation was:

10x CCT

Mk1 BSO

Mk1 TSO

3* Gresley SLT

Thompson BSK - converted to permit use as a sleeper

 

The only kit built coaches are the three SLTs for which I’ve used Kirk kits, either complete or the sides mounted on Hornby donors.

 

 

Even if you don’t normally watch my videos, I’d recommend this one to see the full train.

 

 

[Tony Teague]

19 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

Today we have another overnight service and another of my favourite rakes on Gresley Jn. This one is the car Sleeper Limited, 20h05 King’s Cross-Perth. This train was the first Motorrail service to run in the UK. It started in 1956 using LNER designed CCTs built in 1939 and 1950. Later on it was upgraded to bogied vans based on some old underframes and then propose built ‘Newton Chambers’ car carriers, but the former is not available, even in kit form, and the latter is only available as a kit from Southern Pride. So when Hornby were disposing of surplus CCTs cheaply I snapped up a batch to form the rake. 

 

 

The train is headed by 60066, Merry Hampton. This was unique in having a raised ventilator on the cab roof. My model is based on the Wills kit but mounted on a Hornby chassis. This gives exceptional haulage ability through the weight of the white metal body. I’m afraid the length of the train and the low perspective has prevented me getting it all in focus. The formation was:

10x CCT

Mk1 BSO

Mk1 TSO

3* Gresley SLT

Thompson BSK - converted to permit use as a sleeper

 

The only kit built coaches are the three SLTs for which I’ve used Kirk kits, either complete or the sides mounted on Hornby donors.

 

 

Even if you don’t normally watch my videos, I’d recommend this one to see the full train.

 

 

 

Thats a good length of train to watch snaking their way through the curves!

Tony

[thegreenhowards]

Here we have the up Heart of Midlothian crossing ‘Welwyn’ viaduct. This was booked for a Grantham A3, so here is suitably dirty 60064, ‘Tagalie’ in charge. The formation is the 1959 one with Thompson RF and the SK with ladies waiting room which was transferred from the ‘Elizabethan’ in 1958. Tagalie only got her double chimney in June 1959, so I’;m not sure how she’s got so dirty already! I eventually intend to model this service in its full ‘Festival of Britain’ glory - I.e. as it was introduced in 1951, but I need to build a Mk1 kitchen car and RSO before I can do that. I’ve started on them, so watch this space.

 

 

I offer a conventional view and a drone type view - let me know which you prefer.

 

For the video I tried a new vantage position with the camera propped on my (cardboard) road bridge. This doesn’t seem very stable so there’s a fair bit of wobble, but I hope you appreciate the different view.

 

 

Note to Gilbert: This is getting ridiculous! I was halfway through this post and see that you have also featured the Heart of Midlothian today. I seems to have got from PN to GJ in 10 minutes and changed engines en route!

 

 

[St Enodoc]

3 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

I offer a conventional view and a drone type view - let me know which you prefer.

I have to say that I prefer the "conventional" view. The slightly raised perspective lets us see more than an "eye level" view but the "drone" shot goes too far for my taste.

[great northern]

Yes, I jumped a bit when I saw you mention the Heart of Midlothian! We seem to have got to nearly the same time of day. As to Grantham A3s, I remember very vividly how things did change in the summer of 59. Grantham had always been known for turning its engines out in fine condition, but that summer cleaning just stopped, and within a few weeks the A3s were in a terrible condition, much worse in fact than your 60064. That carried on right through to 1961, and I remember that even at the age of 14 it made me realise for the first time that things were really starting to change.

 

I also remember Tagalie well. it was a Doncaster engine until June 59, and for ages I was an object of scorn among spotters because I'd never seen the thing. Where it was, I don't know, but it took at least three years for me to cop it.

[thegreenhowards]

This morning we feature the terminating inner suburban service from King’s Cross (1954). A couple of weeks ago I promised you D5054 having enjoyed the real thing at the East Lancs Railway, and here she is. D5054 was a Finsbury Park engine from ‘61 to ‘66. I think the Class 24s were mainly used on cross London freights, but did see some use on suburban workings. She is hauling my standard 5 car non corridor Mark 1 set. These (and the quad arts) were pretty much omnipresent on inner suburban workings and AFAIK were never strengthened as the platforms at Moorgate were too short for anything longer.

 

 

...here’s the vid.

 

 

NB. I took these photos before yesterday’s comments. As the consensus seems to be strongly in favour of lower viewpoints, I will concentrate on them for the future, but it may mean smaller depths of field.

 

[thegreenhowards]

21 hours ago, great northern said:

Yes, I jumped a bit when I saw you mention the Heart of Midlothian! We seem to have got to nearly the same time of day. As to Grantham A3s, I remember very vividly how things did change in the summer of 59. Grantham had always been known for turning its engines out in fine condition, but that summer cleaning just stopped, and within a few weeks the A3s were in a terrible condition, much worse in fact than your 60064. That carried on right through to 1961, and I remember that even at the age of 14 it made me realise for the first time that things were really starting to change.

 

I also remember Tagalie well. it was a Doncaster engine until June 59, and for ages I was an object of scorn among spotters because I'd never seen the thing. Where it was, I don't know, but it took at least three years for me to cop it.

Well even if we’re synchronised on the up, I should be a couple of hours ahead on the down, and today’s working shouldn’t trouble you at PN!

 

As for my Tagalie, she’s is pretty new out of works (June ‘59), so that might explain her slightly less dilapidated appearance. 

 

Andy

[37Oban]

On 01/03/2020 at 10:34, thegreenhowards said:

Here we have the up Heart of Midlothian crossing ‘Welwyn’ viaduct. This was booked for a Grantham A3, so here is suitably dirty 60064, ‘Tagalie’ in charge. The formation is the 1959 one with Thompson RF and the SK with ladies waiting room which was transferred from the ‘Elizabethan’ in 1958. Tagalie only got her double chimney in June 1959, so I’;m not sure how she’s got so dirty already! I eventually intend to model this service in its full ‘Festival of Britain’ glory - I.e. as it was introduced in 1951, but I need to build a Mk1 kitchen car and RSO before I can do that. I’ve started on them, so watch this space.

 

 

I offer a conventional view and a drone type view - let me know which you prefer.

 

 

 

Hi,

 

I prefer the conventional view, for purely personal reasons, the main one being that until the 21st century drones didn't exist and, unless you had a friend who was a pilot, it was virtually impossible for any enthusiast to get a airborne shot of the railway, let alone an action film. We've grown up with the conventional view in the real world so we like to see it in our models.

 

Roja

[great northern]

4 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

Well even if we’re synchronised on the up, I should be a couple of hours ahead on the down, and today’s working shouldn’t trouble you at PN!

 

As for my Tagalie, she’s is pretty new out of works (June ‘59), so that might explain her slightly less dilapidated appearance. 

 

Andy

The 5.33 Up Leeds has just left here though Andy, so should be with you in about an hour from now.

[thegreenhowards]

2 hours ago, 37Oban said:

Hi,

 

I prefer the conventional view, for purely personal reasons, the main one being that until the 21st century drones didn't exist and, unless you had a friend who was a pilot, it was virtually impossible for any enthusiast to get a airborne shot of the railway, let alone an action film. We've grown up with the conventional view in the real world so we like to see it in our models.

 

Roja

Fair enough. The view seems to be unanimous. I admit that part of the reason for the higher view was that I’ve just weathered all the roofs and wanted them to be in the picture!

[thegreenhowards]

9 hours ago, great northern said:

The 5.33 Up Leeds has just left here though Andy, so should be with you in about an hour from now.

That's next but one on the list. Should be with you in a couple of days!

[great northern]

5 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

That's next but one on the list. Should be with you in a couple of days!

More like four months before it is seen again at PN I think.

[thegreenhowards]

Today we feature a horse box special to Newmarket returning from the Southern Region (take your pick of racecourses).

It is headed by B12 61553 (Hornby) and consists of four horse boxes, two are RTR - BR Mark 1 and ex LMS. The other two are ex LNER kit built ones; a D.4 from D&S and a D.5 from Parkside. I have written these up on my workbench thread here.

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/135510-coulsdon-works/&do=findComment&comment=3802087

 

..and the normal video...

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

Tonight I feature the 1733 Leeds-King’s Cross headed by top shed A4, Woodcock. Apologies for the clutter (aka rest of layout) in the background. I really must learn photoshopping!

 

This is another train made up from loose stock and gives me the first chance of the sequence to give an airing to my Kirk Gresley triplet.

 

 

Here is the video. 

 

 

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

The 1733 from Leeds featured yesterday was the first of a procession of late up trains and next up is the 1715 from Hull, 16 minutes behind. This is a shorter train with catering provided by a Gresley (or Thompson, I’m never sure from the carriage workings) RF which gives a first outing to my Kirk RF. Apart from the shade of cream, I think it still looks OK.

 

 

 

I’ve chosen a track level viewpoint this time.

 

Here’s the video - this one’s got DCC sound so make sure you have the volume up.

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

No update yesterday because I received what my wife calls ‘[not] another oblong shaped box’ From Kernow on Friday, so spent yesterday sorting out the contents. More of that in a couple of days, but today I feature another class 26, D5309 on 2024 King’s Cross-Cambridge. This was a stopping service formed of a standard non corridor six set with 2*CL as strengtheners on the front. Here she is stopping at Platform 2.

 

 

And the video...