Hetton Colliery Railway diorama

[Andrew Cockburn]

For the last month or so, I’ve been busy on a special modelling project, a diorama/representation in N Gauge, of a former section of The Hetton Colliery Railway. The section in question, being the former entrance to The Barnes/Durham Road Tunnel, behind The Toby Carvery (formerly Barnes Hotel), and the adjacent cutting & road overbridge. The actual model is built upon a piece of plywood, measuring approximately 12 x 6.5 inches, and, asides from small details such as cars and figures, is entirely scratch-built, using the usual modelling materials, ie balsa wood, card, brick sheet, also various products from The Woodlands Scenics range. A fair degree of modeller’s license has been employed, ie in real life, the water pipe is located on the other (Southern) side of the bridge, but as only one half of the bridge has been modelled, ie the side which faces Northwards, the pipe in model form has been re-located for effect. Also the buildings at the rear do appear a bit different to the real-life versions, but generally speaking, I think the model is quite an accurate representation, & does tend to capture the flavour etc., of a former section of The HCR. Below are several pictures of the model, also the tunnel mouth as it appears now, while other pictures of this particular section, and indeed other parts of The HCR, when it was actually operational, can be found on The Hetton Colliery Railway 200 Facebook page.