Peterborough North

[CUTLER2579]

Just looked at your model of 60022, I'm pretty sure she should have a plaque on both sides of the boiler.

 

Nice shots though.

 

You are quite right she should.

 

Click on photo's to enlarge and you will see she has.

[landscapes]

Hi Gilbert

 

Great photos as usual, so realistic.

 

If anything can take me back to those great days in the early sixties watching Gresley, Thompson and Peppercorn Pacific's going by your Peterborough North layout can.

 

Great work.

 

Regards

 

David

 

[trw1089]

Hi Gilbert

 

Excellent shots as always. I'm working on a layout at the moment based on Wakefield Westgate in the early 1950s and am intrigued by the 0800 KX-Leeds that is being hauled by 60039, was this a relief for the White Rose in the later years? I'm relatively new to modelling BR Eastern Region (only started seriously about 12 months ago) so apologies if I'm asking a dumb question. My primary reference is the June 52 Bradshaws that a friend kindly gave me and it shows an 0830 White Rose KX-Leeds non-stop through Peterborough North, but no 0800. I love the photo of the A1 on the 0733 Nottingham - KX as only yesterday I managed to get a high res copy of an Eric Treacy photo of A1 60131 Osprey at Wakey seen here http://www.ssplprints.com/image/98474/treacy-eric-british-railways-a1-clas-steam-locomotive-no-60131-osprey-1960s . It's been the only really good photo I have managed to track down of Wakefield Westgate before it was modernised so was quite happy to get it, and seeing your A1 today looking so fine means I will just have to get one so I can replicate the photo, but it will never be to Peterborough North standards.

 

Cheers

Tony

[great northern]

You are quite right she should.

 

Click on photo's to enlarge and you will see she has.

 

Thanks Derek, I was worried there for a moment. Never occurred to me of course just to walk upstairs and have a look at the loco.

[great northern]

Hi Gilbert

 

Excellent shots as always. I'm working on a layout at the moment based on Wakefield Westgate in the early 1950s and am intrigued by the 0800 KX-Leeds that is being hauled by 60039, was this a relief for the White Rose in the later years? I'm relatively new to modelling BR Eastern Region (only started seriously about 12 months ago) so apologies if I'm asking a dumb question. My primary reference is the June 52 Bradshaws that a friend kindly gave me and it shows an 0830 White Rose KX-Leeds non-stop through Peterborough North, but no 0800. I love the photo of the A1 on the 0733 Nottingham - KX as only yesterday I managed to get a high res copy of an Eric Treacy photo of A1 60131 Osprey at Wakey seen here http://www.ssplprint...31-osprey-1960s . It's been the only really good photo I have managed to track down of Wakefield Westgate before it was modernised so was quite happy to get it, and seeing your A1 today looking so fine means I will just have to get one so I can replicate the photo, but it will never be to Peterborough North standards.

 

Cheers

Tony

 

Hi Tony,

 

Keep asking the questions! As with just about everyone on here I will answer them if I can. There was for some years an 0750 train from Kings Cross to Leeds and Newcastle, which split at Doncaster. It was a very quick service for the early to mid '50's, and so became unofficially known as " The Bradford Flyer". By summer 1958 it was a Leeds/Bradford service only and retimed to 0800. By 1958 the White Rose was leaving KX at 0850. It's a bit strange to have two services so close together at that time of day, but whether the 0800 was officially regarded as a relief to the White Rose I don't know.

 

For photos of and around Wakefield I suggest you look for a range of books which was published some years ago by Bellcode books. Volume 6 covers Ardsley Wakefield and Normanton. It was published in 1994, but I still see copies around so it 's worth googling for it. There are several books in the series, really good for West Riding research. I hope that helps, and good luck with your project. Don't hesitate to keep asking questions.

[westerner]

Personally Gilbert I cnnot see anything wrong with the new photos. Unfortunately there is laways the slight distraction of the background shelves etc. However when one concentrates on the railway I find them as good if not better than the daylight lit ones.

[Coldgunner]

You are quite right she should.

 

Click on photo's to enlarge and you will see she has.

Heh I see now, didn't make it out first time lol

[great northern]

Personally Gilbert I cnnot see anything wrong with the new photos. Unfortunately there is laways the slight distraction of the background shelves etc. However when one concentrates on the railway I find them as good if not better than the daylight lit ones.

 

Thanks Alan. I agree about the background clutter. My next task is to learn how to put some sky backgrounds in. That will be the only enhancement that will be allowed though.

[trw1089]

Thanks Gilbert

 

I've always been too nervous to ask any questions as you all seem so knowledgeable I feel like I'd be just distracting the conversation. Your thread is always a source of inspiration for me as well as being a great place to learn about ECML workings. Thanks also about the tip about the Bellcode books, any excuse to expand my library!

 

Cheers

Tony

[NSMerryweather4771]

^{Hi, Lovely layout wish I had the time, space & skill that goes into making a layout like this. However my little fictional layout keeps me busy and sometimes frustrated, but occasionally I get moments where it all seems worth while.}

^{Being from Peterborough and only 18 Years old I have only ever known the 1970's monstrosity called PETERBOROUGH NORTH, and after spendnig 3 nights and this morning reading this topic (much to the girlfriends annoyance) I have a much better idea of what the old station would have been like.}

^{Your layout has such Amazing Trackwork, Brilliant Scenery mixed with Stunning locos and Rolling Stock.... This is not good for me being a recovered locoholic as you say}

 

^{Anyway enough from me. I best be off to work on my own. keep up the good work}

[Guest Tom F]

Lovely too see some more shots Gilbert. I get the feeling I might have to fork out on a decent camera at somepoint.

 

I'll be joining your club at the end of next week hopefully, i.e with a working layout! Looking forward to getting to grips with that NCE system!

 

Edited February 9, 2012 by Tom F

[great northern]

^{Hi, Lovely layout wish I had the time, space & skill that goes into making a layout like this. However my little fictional layout keeps me busy and sometimes frustrated, but occasionally I get moments where it all seems worth while.}

^{Being from Peterborough and only 18 Years old I have only ever known the 1970's monstrosity called PETERBOROUGH NORTH, and after spendnig 3 nights and this morning reading this topic (much to the girlfriends annoyance) I have a much better idea of what the old station would have been like.}

^{Your layout has such Amazing Trackwork, Brilliant Scenery mixed with Stunning locos and Rolling Stock.... This is not good for me being a recovered locoholic as you say}

 

^{Anyway enough from me. I best be off to work on my own. keep up the good work}

 

Hi and welcome to the thread. You must have some staying power to have trawled through all this lot! One of the best things for me about this thread has been to discover that there are young people like yourself who are interested in the railways as they used to be. It's even better that some of you are actually modelling those days as well, so they won't be totally lost when we who actually witnessed it aren't around any more.Keep modelling, and remember that everything takes time. I hadn't got past Hornby Dublo when i was 18.

[great northern]

This morning the postman knocked and delivered a dilemma.

 

 

Well all right it's actually a Bachmann A2, but it's a dilemma as well. I already have 60533 built from a DJH kit. Do I now sell that and just replace it with this one? Alternatively I do need one more (only one honestly) Gateshead Pacific, so this one could become 538 Velocity. I also have Blue Peter, on the basis that she was ex works in August '58 and worked in the South for three weeks before returning to Scotland. I'm finding though that my desire to keep things as they actually were day in day out means that I'm not running her very often. So, 532 could become 538, and the DJH one go on E-bay to raise some more funds. I'll have to think about it.

[Coldgunner]

I suppose you would get a decent price for the DJH kit, why not sell that to fund the next loco?

 

I do like the look of the Bachmann A1/A2's.

Edited February 9, 2012 by Coldgunner

[davidw]

This morning the postman knocked and delivered a dilemma. Well all right it's actually a Bachmann A2, but it's a dilemma as well. I already have 60533 built from a DJH kit. Do I now sell that and just replace it with this one? Alternatively I do need one more (only one honestly) Gateshead Pacific, so this one could become 538 Velocity. I also have Blue Peter, on the basis that she was ex works in August '58 and worked in the South for three weeks before returning to Scotland. I'm finding though that my desire to keep things as they actually were day in day out means that I'm not running her very often. So, 532 could become 538, and the DJH one go on E-bay to raise some more funds. I'll have to think about it.

Magnificent looking machine Gilbert. My Blue Peter has just become Happy Knight. It will get some weathering - from what I unsderstand it was a bit neglected? I'd like another A2 to perhaps become Sugar Palm or Velocity - Oh dear no; locoholism seems to be spreading!?????? Edited February 9, 2012 by davidw

[great northern]

Magnificent looking machine Gilbert. My Blue Peter has just become Happy Knight. It will get some weathering - from what I unsderstand it was a bit neglected? I'd like another A2 to perhaps become Sugar Palm or Velocity - Oh dear no; locoholism seems to be spreading!??????

 

You mean... you can catch it over the Internet? If that's the case there's going to be a lot of people going down with it- Hornby and Bachmann will be well pleased. As to 533, it didn't seem to be well liked, as it got passed round bewteen depots about 15 times in its short working life. It was at Kings Cross though in 1958, so will have looked respectable while there. It had gone to Grantham by April 1959. That shed also kept things clean for years, until all cleaning stopped suddenly. After that for quite some time Grantham locos were a disgrace. Memory tells me that was a bit later though- 1960/61 I think. From June '59 533 was either at New England or Doncaster, neither of which was renowned for clean engines. Still, if you don't have any cleaners you can't clean many engines I suppose.

[trw1089]

You mean... you can catch it over the Internet?

Quite definitely, happens to me all the time, especially when visiting KMRC or eHattons.com

 

As to your dilemma, I'm sorry Gilbert but there is none, there is only one logical choice here, what else should an express passenger engine be called but Velocity, my favourite BR loco. I succumbed to the addiction last October and got a cheap boxed 60532. The Fox plates and numbers were forthcoming before that, just got to break out the T-cut and give it the treatment.

 

My dilemma was having two Peppercorn A2s and no A1s, but that one will be easy to solve...

 

Cheers

Tony

[NSMerryweather4771]

Hi and welcome to the thread. You must have some staying power to have trawled through all this lot! One of the best things for me about this thread has been to discover that there are young people like yourself who are interested in the railways as they used to be. It's even better that some of you are actually modelling those days as well, so they won't be totally lost when we who actually witnessed it aren't around any more.Keep modelling, and remember that everything takes time. I hadn't got past Hornby Dublo when i was 18.

 

Thanks, and my staying power is that if something truly interesting and gripping then I read it, if not I leave it. And this is one of few layouts on here that actually spark a genuine interest for me, although it is nice to follow others and see how they are doing etc.

Personally the Late 50's/Early 60's were the best time on BR. Introduction of some nice Diesels in a lovely BR Green livery, and some beautiful Steam Engines. Really gives a nice atmosphere in my mind. Suppose my interest in Railways is from a young age when a former work colleague of my Grandad's became General Manager of Nene Valley Railway in the mid 1990's and we used to get free tickets back then. Nowa Days he is a Ticket clerk, and i'm a staion porter and trainee engineer on NVR.

 

My Nan's neighbour is also something to do with my interest in railways as he used to be a Fireman from New England shed, and he has some fascinating stories about his life with BR! He even stayed on right to the bitter end in 1994 when he took retirement because of Privatisation.

 

Quite surprised i havent seen any Class 31's or similar pottering around your Peterborough North yet seeing as they were built in 1956 onward..... (i do prefer steam honest) My 31, D5512 has been sound fitted now, and modified to have the half yellow panel on it, something like that would look a treat on your layout i think.

 

Once again i'm rambling. Apologies.

[HerbertHopkins]

Personally the Late 50's/Early 60's were the best time on BR. Introduction of some nice Diesels in a lovely BR Green livery, and some beautiful Steam Engines.

 

Quite surprised i havent seen any Class 31's or similar pottering around your Peterborough North yet seeing as they were built in 1956 onward..... (i do prefer steam honest) My 31, D5512 has been sound fitted now, and modified to have the half yellow panel on it, something like that would look a treat on your layout i think.

 

 

Agree entirely. Like Gilbert, I'm pleased to see that there are younger modellers who are interested in this fascinating period of our railway history. With regard to diesels on Peterborough North, I'm know, having visited Gilbert several times since he began this project, there are some early examples lurking around there somewhere and, I'm pretty certain, there is a Class 31 (or Brush Type 2 as they were known back then) amongst them. However, the half yellow warning panels were not introduced until the early 60's, so would be quite wrong for a layout based in 1958.

Edited February 10, 2012 by HerbertHopkins

[great northern]

Thanks, and my staying power is that if something truly interesting and gripping then I read it, if not I leave it. And this is one of few layouts on here that actually spark a genuine interest for me, although it is nice to follow others and see how they are doing etc.

Personally the Late 50's/Early 60's were the best time on BR. Introduction of some nice Diesels in a lovely BR Green livery, and some beautiful Steam Engines. Really gives a nice atmosphere in my mind. Suppose my interest in Railways is from a young age when a former work colleague of my Grandad's became General Manager of Nene Valley Railway in the mid 1990's and we used to get free tickets back then. Nowa Days he is a Ticket clerk, and i'm a staion porter and trainee engineer on NVR.

 

My Nan's neighbour is also something to do with my interest in railways as he used to be a Fireman from New England shed, and he has some fascinating stories about his life with BR! He even stayed on right to the bitter end in 1994 when he took retirement because of Privatisation.

 

Quite surprised i havent seen any Class 31's or similar pottering around your Peterborough North yet seeing as they were built in 1956 onward..... (i do prefer steam honest) My 31, D5512 has been sound fitted now, and modified to have the half yellow panel on it, something like that would look a treat on your layout i think.

 

Once again i'm rambling. Apologies.

 

No apology needed - it's fascinating to see where the railway bug comes from. When did your Nan's neighbour start at New England? I've been looking for people who actually worked round there in the '50's, and who could tell me what really happened on a day to day basis.

 

I do indeed have one or two early diesels, but as HH says above it was very early for them in 1958, so there aren't many. There is a Brush type 2, but it has had to be withdrawn from service as it is suffering from the corrosion that has afflicted some of the Hornby models. Other than that there is DP1, though that's a bit of a cheat too, as it didn't come to the ECML till early 1959, plus an EE type 4 (class 40).

 

Going off at a tangent, I remember going on an (official) shed visit to March in the Spring of 1960, and seeing lines of D5000 and D5500 series diesels just lined up in rows out of use. We never did find out why. I really went to see the last B17's, and was rewarded with Doncaster Rovers and Liverpool, both still in immaculate condition as March always had kept their locos of the class, and both in steam. No sign though of 61660, by then unofficially renamed, " Borstal- Schools class"!

[The Stationmaster]

Going off at a tangent, I remember going on an (official) shed visit to March in the Spring of 1960, and seeing lines of D5000 and D5500 series diesels just lined up in rows out of use. We never did find out why. I really went to see the last B17's, and was rewarded with Doncaster Rovers and Liverpool, both still in immaculate condition as March always had kept their locos of the class, and both in steam. No sign though of 61660, by then unofficially renamed, " Borstal- Schools class"!

I don't know about the Baby Sulzers but wasn't that about the time of the first lot of engine troubles on the Brush Type 2s? I remember there was a spell about then when they suffered some serious engine problems - which finally, some years later of course, led to the re-engining.

[great northern]

I don't know about the Baby Sulzers but wasn't that about the time of the first lot of engine troubles on the Brush Type 2s? I remember there was a spell about then when they suffered some serious engine problems - which finally, some years later of course, led to the re-engining.

 

I think the problem with the Brush engines came a bit later Mike. What sticks in my mind is that these were all brand new engines. Perhaps March had been given so many at once that they hadn't had time to train enough men to work them? Or, being more than slightly malicious, the crews preferred their good old steam engines?

[coachmann]

I wonder if the shedmasters were keen to show off their new diesel locos and put them on duties for which they were totally underpowered and overwhelmed, hence the failures. Especially if expecting a Type 2 to replace an 8P pacific on 11 coaches. Yes they can haul them, but not at scheduled timings.

[great northern]

Half an inch of snow has not persuaded our local ladies on the school run in their four by fours to adapt their usual manner of driving in any way - 45 mph in a 30 limit, then brake heavily....... I've decided not to go out for the time being. We do have perfect light though, just a bit of fair weather cloud which really helps photography, so more snapping has taken place. First on the sequence was a New England - Hatfield Class H, headed by a more than usually disreputable local WD, and still finding a path on the Up main, though no doubt it will be turned onto the goods line when it starts on the other side of Crescent Bridge.

 

 

 

Meanwhile a Spital Bridge D16 heads another Peterborough East - Leicester local at Platform 6.

 

 

The next train on the Up was a Leicester- East stopper, behind a Leicester shedded Standard 4. This will be the last Up Leicester to stop at North for many hours, during which time any passenger who would like to have alighted here will have to watch helplessly as his train passes slowly by on the Midland lines, and goes the extra mile to East station. There might just be a shuttle service due to get him back, but more likely it's either a taxi or a mile walk. I wonder why BR was losing money?

 

 

How about seeing one of the station pilots doing a bit of work instead of standing about? The C12 is reversing the stock to form the 0942 to Norwich into Platform 6, having collected it from the Nene carriage sidings.

 

 

And here's the view from Thorpe Road, assuming of course that you are tall enough to see over the wall.

 

 

The loco has now backed on, March B17 Gayton Hall, having a change from it's regular duty on the Harwich- Liverpool boat train, which didn't come through Peterborough. Just compare this with the photos of Doncaster Rovers a couple of pages back. These are both Ian Rathbone paint jobs, based on photos of both locos in service.

 

 

And here is the last train which ran on the Up with Class B lights - the 0720 parliamentary from Doncaster. I had the body of 60506 the other day in an effort to get her to run a bit more smoothly. As usual I don't notice that when putting it back on I succeeded in trapping the decoder against the footplate until after I've taken the photo.

 

 

To finish for now, a couple of very nice coaches in this rake - Coachmann's Thompson BSK and a Willets Gresley FK. I'm not sure why the passengers on this service got treated to something as plush as this.

 

[davidw]

Gilbert those photos' have managed to lighten my day. Whose kit is the a2/2?