Llanbourne North Wales in the 80s.

[coachmann]

The mid 1980's era you chose, give or take a year or two, was to my mind the best since the early 1960's.

 

In 1984 you would have seen the heavyweights like 40001 on Freightliner and other duties plus the 'Peaks'....Also the last of the newly-built Class 56's running-in.

 

1985 Class 25's of flask and the remaining 40's from the Crewe remodelling, Octel and Llandudno Junction-Warrinnton Trip workings.

 

1986 Class 33's on Cardiff turns followed by the first wave of Sprinterization.

 

1987 red-band Class 31's on freight and old ballast to Mold Juntion spoil tip, and the green Class 47's from the GW non-celebrations, red-stripe and blue-stripe Scotrail 47's running in, Blue & Grey, InterCity and TransPennine livery coaches. Also red-band Class 37's on RMC Roadstone wagons to Hope Street, Manchester. 150/2's introduced on TransPennine trains

 

1988 the triple-grey liveried locos and the ARC POA wagon block trains to Ashbury's.

 

1989 the Class 20's working spasmodic ballast and PW rail trains. Line passed for mainline steam.

 

The above dates are not intended to indicate the commencement of a traffic flow or the end of an era. They are merely a guide as to what could be seen lineside.

[P.C.M]

Hi Larry,

Thats a pretty good timeline. It was the variety of motive power that got my interest in North Wales to start with, but as you say there was a good mix of coaching stock and freight too.

I wanted to run two of my favourite class of loco 33s and 45s I also wanted 20s 25s and 31s, not many places in the UK where you can do that. May be Bristol at a push though 20s were rare. Another must for me were class 40s as I didn't get to see many, and when I did thought it was quite special. So the fact that a few survived into 1986 as 97s was great.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Hi all,

Not much of am update really, it's been cold and wet over here and I haven't been out in the garage much this week.

I did take a few pics the other day as 31323 was spotted shunting the 7D14 ex Warrington Speedlink. 45103 is sat spare on the stabling point and 97407 is whistling away having been fired up to work LE to Chester.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Lee m22]

I love these three shots, the first one in particular! I think little more could be done to make it more realistic.

 

Regards

 

Lee

[richard60098]

Hi Pete

 

Looking good there bin catching up with your pages some great wording and pics to, i see you have the Hornby banger blue PED nice that chap like the white thornaby stripe and bird they suited this well i luv 31's an yours gives me inspiration:)

 

Probably been asked before but were do you get the drivers from? I like the position there in i currently fit Bachmann class 25 drivers to my fleet with there arm stretched on the power handle but would like some like yours if there available?

 

Cheers Rick.

[P.C.M]

I love these three shots, the first one in particular! I think little more could be done to make it more realistic.

 

Regards

 

Lee

 

 

Thanks Lee.

If I was any good at photoshopping I could add a bit of clag coming out of the 31.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Hi Pete

 

Looking good there bin catching up with your pages some great wording and pics to, i see you have the Hornby banger blue PED nice that chap like the white thornaby stripe and bird they suited this well i luv 31's an yours gives me inspiration:)

 

Probably been asked before but were do you get the drivers from? I like the position there in i currently fit Bachmann class 25 drivers to my fleet with there arm stretched on the power handle but would like some like yours if there available?

 

Cheers Rick.

 

 

Hi Rick,

Thanks mate, I quite like the old class 31s myself, I saw a pic of this loco actually in North Wales so just had to do it.

Most of my drivers are Dapol Ex Airfix figures I just cut thier legs of, on some I change the heads and move the arms. They are a bit big but stuck in a loco they look ok.

 

Cheers Peter.

[yellowvanman]

Hi Pete, latest pics look good , the new grass banks fit in well..cheers bruv

[P.C.M]

Hi Pete, latest pics look good , the new grass banks fit in well..cheers bruv

 

Hi Keith,

Sorry must have missed this post, thanks mate still more to do but I am happy with how it's looking.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Hi All,

I have been working on some Pete Harvey etches, I started with the depot bins which got better as I went along though I did manage to loose one of the legs. Next up were the steps for a clas 33. Some Cromptons have the bogie steps with the holes down the side and my 33026 was one of these. Some Cromptons have a mix of both. I am a bit out of practise with my soldering so doing the bins first prepared me for the steps, though they weren't too bad and went together really well, my first one wasn't as good as the others and I did manage to burn my fingers and have a bad case of Tourettes but they are now on the loco and look pretty good.

 

My first Vitrains class 47 arrived this week the buffers were broken one end and some brake gear is missing from one bogie. Apart from that I think it looks ok and it does run quite well. Plan is to make this 47617 though buildings and more senics have to be done first.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Leon]

Hi Peter, love the earlier pic of the Thornaby 31. Let me know on the Vi 47 I was going to buy it this month as its a lot cheaper than the Bachmann, Im happy with my Vi 37's once detailed and weathered. Interested to see how renumbering goes as Vi decals don't come off that easy, or are you going to respay the whole loco?

 

All the best

 

Leon

[Guest Phil]

Hi Rick,

Thanks mate, I quite like the old class 31s myself, I saw a pic of this loco actually in North Wales so just had to do it.

Most of my drivers are Dapol Ex Airfix figures I just cut thier legs of, on some I change the heads and move the arms. They are a bit big but stuck in a loco they look ok.

 

Cheers Peter.

 

Hi Peter

Just noticed that the cab door on your 31 appears to have been modelled open.

A very nice feature which brings the loco alive for shunting puposes.

 

Good stuff

[Elagage56]

looking great as ever! i really like the shots of the 31 too.

my vitrains class 47 came like that too, i have a gray/red triangle, railfraight one. i think the foam in the boxes is to soft compaired with Heljan for example. so it moves about abit and the bits catch and break. i just found the bits of buffer in the box and with abit of careful glueing got it back together.

other than that i have found the loco runs really well once run-in.

 

cheers

neil

[7APT7]

Hi my Friend

 

Loving all you photos mate, they are great. The REAL LIFE photos are even better in some of the photos, I'm sure it takes us all back the BR BLUE day with NO Politics and No Health & Safty.

 

Excellent laytout...Love It...

 

Regards

 

Jamie

[P.C.M]

Hi Peter, love the earlier pic of the Thornaby 31. Let me know on the Vi 47 I was going to buy it this month as its a lot cheaper than the Bachmann, Im happy with my Vi 37's once detailed and weathered. Interested to see how renumbering goes as Vi decals don't come off that easy, or are you going to respay the whole loco?

 

All the best

 

Leon

 

 

Hi Leon,

Thanks mate, The Vitrains 47 is going to need a bit of work but for the price 49.00 Quid I think it's a good model. The price when they first can out put me off as the Bachmann ones were due out about the same time and were going to be cheaper. I even pick up a few blue ones for 35.00 Quid, so I went with the Bachmann ones to start with. The problem with the Bachmann model is that the only Large Logo loco they have done ( not including all the limited edition ones) has the flush cab ends at both ends. The Vitrains 47401 is a good starting point for quite a few Large Logo locos so I thought I would give it a go.

I have already had a little go at removing the numbers as I has heard they were hard to do, I used some T cut and very fine Wet & Dry and very carefully rubbed over the number, it seemed to work quite well but I have only done part of one number. Hopefully a repaint wont be needed, though I think the roof will need painting once I have removed the aerial and replaced the fan grilles.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Hi Peter

Just noticed that the cab door on your 31 appears to have been modelled open.

A very nice feature which brings the loco alive for shunting puposes.

 

Good stuff

 

 

Thanks Phil,

I modelled an open door on one of my Lima 20s which was a pain to do some glueing the class 31s door open was a piece of cake.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

looking great as ever! i really like the shots of the 31 too.

my vitrains class 47 came like that too, i have a gray/red triangle, railfraight one. i think the foam in the boxes is to soft compaired with Heljan for example. so it moves about abit and the bits catch and break. i just found the bits of buffer in the box and with abit of careful glueing got it back together.

other than that i have found the loco runs really well once run-in.

 

cheers

neil

 

 

Hi Neil,

Yes I think you are right the loco moves about and bits fall off. I will see if I can get some spares other wise I will glue mine back together though I have found some buffers in my parts box, I think the Vitrains ones are to small anyway.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Hi my Friend

 

Loving all you photos mate, they are great. The REAL LIFE photos are even better in some of the photos, I'm sure it takes us all back the BR BLUE day with NO Politics and No Health & Safty.

 

Excellent laytout...Love It...

 

Regards

 

Jamie

 

 

Thanks Jamie,

Yes those were the days.

Here are a couple of real ones for you, some of my favouite locos.

 

Cheers Peter.

[MRDBLUE17]

Hi Peter,

 

You have been busy of late! I really like the 31 you have done a superb job on that and its always nice to see it appear in your updates! Those Pete Harvey etches are top notch especially the steps looking very good on your already excellent 33. I shall be adding the steps to my 37's and the mirrors to a pair of 66's once I get round to the fleet detailing - probably won't be til the spring but I think they look really good and worth the extra effort. The grampus is weathered very nicely behind those bins!

 

Thanks,

Mark

[P.C.M]

Hi Mark,

 

Thanks, I know you like your class 31s, I still have another blue one to do plus re chassis a Lima railfreight one I did years ago. Petes etches are good I painted the steps on the Crompton last night and they look great. I need to paint the bins but I am not sure what colour to do them at the moment.

 

 

I am getting some spare parts for the Vitrains 47 too. They were quite happy to send some out.

 

 

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

I have painted the new steps on 33026, I also had a parcel arrive yesterday with some bits to finish 47561 so they were fitted and painted tonight. It was only bits for one bogie, but it was bugging me that they were missing.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

I have been working on a few wagons in the last few weeks and a couple more Sealions ready for weathering along with an old Airfix brake van that I have changed from a rail freight grey and red to a grey and yellow departmental ZTO. I have a Bachmann railfreight grey and red one on the workbench at the moment along with a Modelzone limited edition CAR that arrived last week. I quite like a brake van and when I saw the Modelzone model I just had to get it.

I realised the other day that I haven't really played trains since April so started to clean the track. I managed to give 25904 a bit of a run but haven't really had time since then. I have had a couple of busy weekends so time has been a bit short.

I did get a nice pic of two Australian A class at Southern Cross on Friday though.

 

Not sure how to post pics, so will add a few later when I work it out.

 

Cheers Peter.

[pitbull1845]

HI Peter,

Only yesterday I was thinking that I hadn't seen an update on here for a while..

I had the same problem as you with the photos, just click on the more reply options at the bottom right hand corner, it will take you to what was "full editor".

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[Gwiwer]

Rewind .......

Conwy Crompton Pullman

I was on the train as well, nominally as an SEG steward though ISTR we had most of the committee aboard and my stewarding services were barely required.

 

The train ran well until the crew change at Bescot. One of the crew was either not rostered or not at the right location. We were delayed there for some time while someone was hastily despatched by yellow van to enable us to proceed. By that time we had lost our booked path onto the WCML at Rugeley and hence onto the Blaenau branch. As we then had to "lose" another hour waiting a path at Llandudno Junction (no loop at North Llanrwst in those days) it was decided to refuel the locos before rather than after the trip up the branch and it was then that one starting showing signs of ill health. The trip into Llandudno Junction shed was extended while some tweaks were made.

 

The train was almost 2 hours late onto the branch after that - and at one time serious consideration was given to abandoning the trip there altogether or to substituting Bangor - but a straw poll of passengers suggested almost all were aboard for the branch and preferred a late finish to a caping.

 

On the return from BF the train made an emergency stop inside and near the north end of Ffestiniog Tunnel and speculation was we had struck a sheep. Word later reached us in the train that there may have been a brake pipe problem between the locos causing the air to be lost. Either way the train was extremely late returning, dinner service began on the branch instead of the WCML as planned and numerous passengers abandoned the tour at Llandudno Junction to ensure they reached London in time (by service train) for their last onward SR connections home. The diners who did so only got the soup course and missed a good Pullman dinner. The fumes from the rum sauce (possibly the best thing about the entire trip as it turned out!) cooked on board were so rich they seemed to pervade the entire train with a little Christmas cheer on an otherwise underwhelming winter night.

 

A memorable tour indeed but not entirely for the right reasons through no fault of the organisers.

 

I have one ViTrains 47. The first to arrive had bogie and front-end damage too severe to repair including three of four buffers off and one bogie frame bent back at almost 180 degrees on itself. It went back to Liverpool and was replaced. The one I got in exchange had two buffers off and the cab glazing loose. Those could be fixed but it has tiny buffers and not the correct large ones the first one (nominally from the same batch) had. The paperwork suggested there were alternatives in a pack of parts but there was no pack. I couldn't be bothered shuffling duffs any more and made the best of a cheap loco which has never been my finest purchase and will be my last from Vi Trains. The only other Vi Trains in stock is a 37 which looks and runs rather better and was in good condition out of the box.

 

Continued fine work on the layout. We should catch up again when opportunity presents.

[P.C.M]

Thanks Scott, here are the pics,

 

Cheers Peter.