Blacker Lane D.P.

[03060]

Thanks for the swift response Dave ... and some more interesting photos to ponder.

 

I got the impression that 03037 picked up the darker blue around the time it was transferred to Oxcroft open cast site, but reference to your 1986 visit is a couple of years before this. On closer looking at 08016 (in the photo you posted) I can see the red buffer beam and coupling rods along with the darker blue livery, strange then that the NCB men kept the BR emblem ??

 

The other 'query' that you could maybe clear up for me and which appears in the background of Pic.2 is whether or not the small shed to the left of the screens was ever rail connected or not ? I've seen photos of one of the Class 14s in a similar shed being rail connected but also have seen other photos of an NCB blue diesel being delivered by road and worked on in the  shed in the photo with no sign of rails, which I believe by then (if it is the same shed) was just a workshop.

 

I'm afraid that when I first looked into this site most of the photo references were stored on a different phone which is now dead and they didn't transfer to my new phone, so apologies for my vagueness.

 

Regards,

Ian.

Edited June 23, 2023 by 03060
Correction to info.

[Ruston]

3 hours ago, 03060 said:

The other 'query' that you could maybe clear up for me and which appears in the background of Pic.2 is whether or not the small shed to the left of the screens was ever rail connected or not ? I've seen photos of one of the Class 14s in a similar shed being rail connected but also have seen other photos of an NCB blue diesel being delivered by road and worked on in the  shed in the photo with no sign of rails, which I believe by then (if it is the same shed) was just a workshop.

 

There is a photo in Industrial Railway Record issue 187, with a Class 14 in it and there is a photo with the Jinty just outside it in one of the IRS industrial loco shed books. I only ever saw the 08 and 03 being kept out in the open, next to the later breeze block-built workshop building, which was also rail-connected.

[Ruston]

I had a bit of a set back at the weekend. A friend came over to test his new Accurascale Class 37 on Blacker Lane and it soon showed up a major track defect that has developed since the track was laid. It wasn't just the 37 that kept derailing, it was also some of my 21-ton hoppers, so an investigation began.

About 12 inches of the curve was like a rollercoaster! I had used 3.5mm ply as a trackbed here and it seems to have warped with the hot and humid weather. Rather than take up all the track I cut away some of the scenery and hacked holes in the base to allow G clamps to be able to hold and glue 9mm ply to the underside of the trackbed and so take out the twist. It seems to have worked as the 37 can go around without derailing and the hoppers can even be propelled around the curve by a Rapido Hunslet with the regulator fully open (28 out of 28 steps on the DCC controller).

[Ruston]

Another British Oak engine joins the Blacker Lane roster.

 

Bagnall 2761, of 1944. According to the IRS it was named Pepper but I have seen two photos of it and in both it carries neither a name or a running number.

The model is a DJM and the tension locks have been replaced by 3-links, of course. The crappy buffers, that don't look much like Austerity buffers, were cut off and replaced with the correct pattern buffers, from Lanarkshire Model Supplies. Real Yorkshire coal, from British Oak and Kellingley added to the bunker. Weathered, detailed and driver figure added.

 

D2049. Not quite ready for service. The Stay Alive that I fitted has turned out to be a dud, so will have to be replaced as it's causing erratic running.

[doilum]

Love the Banall WD paint job. I guess it won't be getting the later Cas Tigers colours. Without my IRS to hand, I am assuming that this is the same loco that ended up at Bower's Row.

[Ray M]

Looking good.

i never noticed the orange horns, on the 03  when i was having a wander around

[Ray M]

Are you going to get an old Kitmaster 08, to look a bit like

D12122 (the rust bucket)

[Ray M]

April 83 

[Ruston]

15 hours ago, doilum said:

Love the Banall WD paint job. I guess it won't be getting the later Cas Tigers colours. Without my IRS to hand, I am assuming that this is the same loco that ended up at Bower's Row.

The Bowers Row Austerity was an RSH-built one and never worked at British Oak.

 

1 hour ago, Ray M said:

Are you going to get an old Kitmaster 08, to look a bit like

D12122 (the rust bucket)

I'm waiting for the Heljan Class 11 to do 12099 but I won't bother with 12122 as it never actually worked at British Oak. From what I gather it was only ever there as a source of spare parts.

 

The red air horns on D2049 may have been a bit faded in your picture as the rest of it seems to be, but there's a picture somewhere on the web, taken in 1978, when it worked at West Hallam D.P. with red horns and the chimney lip also painted red.

[Ruston]

Levelling up.

 

To allow a RTP building to fill that gap. I made the fence from balsa and plywood.

 

More old rail guard rail has been installed.

 

The land has been restored where it was excavated to fix the twist in the trackbed. The RTP shed was a bargain at my local model shop. It will be levelled up and this area will have an allotment and a chicken run, belonging to the cottage.

 

Hex frog juicer wired up.

Edited December 16, 2023 by Ruston

[Ruston]

A little more on the scenic side of things has been done.

I laid some track on the embankment and ballasted it. It isn' finished yet. The bridge is now fixed in place, so any weathering to it will now have to be done in situ.

 

As seen in my workshop thread, the Paxman is all but finished, needing only numbers to complete it.

 

 

 

[Ruston]

More locomotives than railway.

 

This isn't a new one, not really. It's the Judith Edge kit-built Fowler that I built a few years ago, for Charlie Strong's Yard. It was painted red with Shelby Group on the engine casing. It's the same prototype as George Barber, JF 42000038 or 1949. The loco was built for the City of Stoke On Trent Gas Dept. and ended up in use at both British Oak and West Hallam disposal points. It only worked at British Oak for about one year from 1972-73.

 

I know of only two photos of it at British Oak and both show it with hoppers at the staithe. They show it in what appears to be a plain green livery and with a large exhaust silencer on the top of the engine casing. I have made this from brass bar, tube and milled brass sheet for the mounts.

[Ruston]

I have just found these in an old photo album. 18th October 1987.

 

My brother, aged 12, stood on 08016.

 

03037

[03060]

3 hours ago, Ruston said:

I have just found these in an old photo album. 18th October 1987.

 

My brother, aged 12, stood on 08016.

 

03037

 

Super photos Dave, thanks for letting us see them. Both engines looking very smart, you'll have to try and get a couple of Modelu figures or suchlike to represent you and your kid.

 

Regards,

Ian.

[Sweet pea]

Hi @Ruston I have to say your layout is starting to take shape nicely. 

I like what you have done with the Planet Industrials Victory loco. I have just ordered one from Rails myself.

[Ruston]

I may have mentioned adding a signalbox to the area next to the canal. I changed my mind about that as it would have been too far away from the supposed exchange sidings with BR. I am going to use it as a sort of view blocker on the embankment of the scenic-only track that goes over the bridge. It will help to hide the fact that the track dead ends at the backscene.

 

The thing I'm not all all sure about is if the box itself should be deeper/taller and embedded into the embankment, or if it should sit on a built up area of embankment that would need a retaining wall.

[Sweet pea]

Dave what figures are you using in the planet industrial victory loco.

[Ruston]

On 03/08/2023 at 15:45, Kevin Johnson said:

Dave what figures are you using in the planet industrial victory loco.

It is one bought from ebay. I'm not able to get on my computer at the moment, so can't look up my emails to find out the name of the manufacturer but it isn't Modelu or Hardy's Hobbies.

[Ruston]

Initial tests pieces from the laser-etched viaduct.

The file is apparently so large that it cannot be cut as originally intended but will now be made as a modular system of arches and piers.

 

I made the mock up before I had laid all the track, so wasn't sure if or how it would fit in with the track, but it's just about perfect. 12mm will need to be removed from the wall of the viaduct at the extreme LH end and a 7th arch made to fill the gap.

 

[Ruston]

The cottage is just about ready to be planted for good. The chimneys that came with it were nothing but lengths of plain plastic tube and I wanted something better. I knew that I had some cast whitemetal chimneys that I found in a second hand loco kit that I bought last year but I cannot find them, so I eventually gave in and ordered some 3D-printed chimney pots, from Modelu.

 

And, as usual, I got distracted. It's not my fault. It's the fault of my mate, Scott. He's already bought one of the Class 20s to run on here and when I mentioned the intention to alter the time period by changing the stock and road vehicles he saw that as an excuse to run a Super D in the mide 1950s period. He even tried to tell me that Wakefield shed had a load of them! 😁

 

As it happens, there is recorded online as being seen at Wakefield shed and my father's old 1956 Ian Allan ABC has 6 of them underlined. I don't think he would have been straying far from home aged 8, so they must have operated here quite frequently. Using a bit of modeller's licence and the old "motive power shortage" excuse, I will run a Super D on Blacker Lane. It will be renumbered 49368, shedded at Nuneaton.

 

And so as not to feel left out, I went and got a Midland 4F. It seems that Wakefield had one of these and so being a suitable engine there's no reason why it wouldn't have worked trains to and from British Oak. I mostly bought it because the Lanky Class 27 isn't likely to enter service anytime soon (see my workshop thread).

The 4F will become 44019. I'm going to need to learn how to weather these things. I'm reasonably proficient at weathering but putting dirt, which tends to be black, on a loco that's already black is going to need a different approach to what I'm used to.

 

[Ruston]

Signalbox on stilts.

The 8F was a mistaken purchase. It can't pull a train, tender first, around the curve at the end of the layout due to the overhang. It would if I used tension lock couplings, but I'd rather drink bleach than use those things, so it's for sale. Posing it for the photo gave me the idea of getting some cheap, old and knackered locomotives to place in the same position for variety.

 

The lorry area has at last been completely covered with "concrete" and a retaining wall has been added.

This area will be kept pretty much clear of buildings or other obstructions. It was a feature of the real site but here it also serves as somewhere to rest one's arm whilst using the shunting pole and doubles as a flat area on which to place the camera for photography.

 

 

[Ruston]

Today's modelling has been computer-based.

I drew this up to print and go just after the track to the cottage. The road junction is assumed to be just beyond the backscene. The sign, despite being possibly pre-WW2 in style, (?) suits all periods of operation as there is still one of this style at the Netherton end of the real Blacker Lane, for the junction with the B6117.

[Ruston]

Work on the viaduct has been delayed after someone pointed out that it ought to be in English Bond, rather than Plain Bond, so it's back to the drawing board for my laser etching contractor.

 

Power lines and static grass.

After Charlie's yard this seems like such a huge waste of space with no railway in it.

 

Signalling cables.

 

And the store hut has been turned 90 degrees and moved off the concrete simply because it got in the way when taking photos from the top of the embankment. I do prefer it like his now.

 

[Barclay]

With the viaduct, the six rings of bricks on the inner edge of each arch would be headers wouldn't they, while on the model one they appear to be stretchers. I can't quite tell from your picture of the real thing a few pages ago but I think they are headers and must admit I've never seen bricks laid end to end in such a position.

[Ruston]

3 hours ago, Barclay said:

With the viaduct, the six rings of bricks on the inner edge of each arch would be headers wouldn't they, while on the model one they appear to be stretchers. I can't quite tell from your picture of the real thing a few pages ago but I think they are headers and must admit I've never seen bricks laid end to end in such a position.

You are absolutely correct. I hadn't even noticed that.