Peterborough North

[great northern]

I've just got this vision of a very tall multi-turn helix up the middle of the stairwell (or even via a dedicated helix/stairwell cut into one corner of the house like a Castle tower), and DCC control allowing the use of banking engines (aha, the wishlist groweth)

 

Yes, and if I designed it, I would no doubt find that I had completely blocked any way of getting upstairs myself. I think this idea can be abandoned. One house, one layout room......unless I win the lottery.

[great northern]

The sequence is well into the evening now, within sight of the end, though if Andy Rush has his way the night shift will be waiting to spring into action. The last of the daytime expresses are passing through, producing a feast of A3's.

 

 

The Up Heartof Midlothian approaches, behind Grantham's 60048 Doncaster. This train was always out of our reach, as we'd had to catch our train home before it arrived, but we had worked out by now that just because an express originated from Scotland the likelihood of a Scottish engine up front was small to non existent. This was indeed a Grantham duty, and after all its A1's were transferred away in 1956, A3's were all the shed had, but they still got plenty of top link work.

 

 

 

60048 disappears, but is shortly followed on the Down main by another Grantham engine, 60105 Victor Wild, with the 6.20 pm KX - Leeds, which will stop here.

 

 

60105 has indeed stopped now, and I have realised very belatedly that if I move the engine up off the platform end eleven coaches can be accomodated. That was the capacity of the real thing, so there is little or no compression in this area. Unfortunately I don't have room to store eleven coach trains, or if I did there would not be enough of them.

 

 

I rather like this head on view, though I can't imagine that any photogapher, even with a permit, would have been allowed to stand in a position to get this shot.

 

 

The Grantham driver may well have gazed enviously as Doncaster's 60067 Ladas rolled past him with the Up White Rose. That double kylchap made things a lot easier.

 

 

And you can actually see that she has a double chimney in this shot.

 

 

And in this one.

 

 

[Mallard60022]

Almost nothing better than a feast of A3s on a Sunday afternoon; even better than a Hales Individual Fruit Pie (well almost).

I particularly like the 1st and 4th pics.

Drake.

[andyrush]

I like them all... The C&W must be on an overtime ban though, otherwise they would be working on all those defective parcels vans in the south dock sidings!

 

Andy

[great northern]

I like them all... The C&W must be on an overtime ban though, otherwise they would be working on all those defective parcels vans in the south dock sidings!

 

Andy

Oh dear Put me out of my misery Andy.

[andyrush]

Oh dear Put me out of my misery Andy.

Jonathan Wealleans must be on his hols, he would know what I mean 

[auxie22]

Hi Gilbert,

 

Another possible suggestion regarding storage is to create a 'lower level', I understand it is a lot of work and it may be unthinkable cutting a 50mm x 300mm rectangular hole in your very well built baseboards. I only suggest this as it is what I am doing with my own layout.

 

Jules 

Edited January 7, 2013 by auxie22

[jwealleans]

he would know what I mean

 

Pipes, Gilbert, pipes. 

[Mallard60022]

The C & W Foreman is called Danny and his favourite tune is Danny Boy; you all know why don't you. If you are hesitant to agree then just sing the first line of the aforementioned song...........

P

[great northern]

Pipes, Gilbert, pipes. 

Oh them! Again. I have loads of them,as I constantly find them lying about on the track, often accompanied by a cylinder drain cock or two. Can anyone suggest a means of attaching such flimsy items permanently? I reckon I have tried every glue known to science, including all types of so called "superglue", but the pesky things just fall off again, and in the end I give up the unequal struggle. I know I shouldn't........ Modern locomotives and stock don't seem to be designed with handling in mind, and as my method of operating does require a lot of it, it is a real problem.

[jwealleans]

I find a hole through the buffer beam and superglue does for the dangly ones.  Upright ones I try to use ones with a spigot near the top and make a hole through the body end for that.  Superglue again, usually.

 

Edit - and space them further away from the coupling than is prototypical - it makes your shunter's life much easier. 

Edited January 7, 2013 by jwealleans

[great northern]

Hi Gilbert,

 

Another possible suggestion regarding storage is to create a 'lower level', I understand it is a lot of work and it may be unthinkable cutting a 50mm x 300mm rectangular hole in your very well built baseboards. I only suggest this as it is what I am doing with my own layout.

 

Jules 

Hi Jules,

 

 A couple of problems would arise. Firstly there is a hell of a lot of wiring under there, not to mention point motors, and secondly all baseboards on the fiddle yard side have structures underneath for storage which would not allow room to do it. Thanks for the suggestion though. I can't consider these possibilities unless someone kindly volunteers them.

[auxie22]

Ahh ok, I understand completely, I have considerably less room and I am going to have a terrible 4% gradient for it, although half (or more) of my layout will be covered with late 50's early 60's industry and suburbia so it will be very well hidden and i'm planning on having 200mm of space under there (plenty of room to fix a dry joint or a bung point motor). Not to sound like resounding gong but absolutely love Peterborough North, You are an inspiration to us newbies to settle down and put more planning, effort and detail into our modelling rather than jumping in head first wanting to just run trains.

 

Jules

[great northern]

May I please ask for assistance from those who have reached "a certain age". That is defined as the era of Lyons/Hales individual fruit pies, short back and sides and compulsory wearing of school blazer even when going train spotting.

 

Memory insists on tellimg me that people of all ages then wore very drab clothing, blacks browns and beige being the norm. However, as I now discover nearly every day that my memory can no longer be relied on, I'd appreciate confirmation or otherwise. For me, one of the most startling happenings of the mid '60's was the sudden explosion of bright coloured clothing, but was it really that monotonous in the late '50s?

 

Reason for request? I picked up a job lot of cheap figures a while ago, but I think they will nearly all need a repaint, as the colours look far too bright to me. Some alas will not be useable at all. Can you imagine the effect which would have been caused by a young woman wearing hot pants back then? She would probably have been arrested.

[Oldddudders]

Being 64, I think I qualify! But, rather than rely on hazy memory, I have quickly thumbed through a suitable volume - "London Trolleybuses - A Class Album" which is all in colour, has very many street scenes - and has no pictures past 1962, when operations ceased.

 

Interesting. Outer, by which I mean weather-resistant, garments were largely as you say - black, navy blue, beige (think Burberry) and brown. Men's trousers were dark-ish, but don't forget jeans, which were already widely sold, although usually in a darker blue in those days. In warmer seasons there is a definite difference between the sexes. Men wore sports jackets and suits, mainly again in subdued colours, very often with ties - even at the weekend. Ladies, by contrast, seemed to have much more interesting colours in dresses, skirts, cardigans, whatever, with lighter colours predominating. Pink and mauve appear here and there. Kids wore brighter colours, too. School uniforms were less formal in the Spring and Summer, with girls in light-coloured skirts, brighter blues and even a red top on one female child.

 

HTH!

Edited January 7, 2013 by Oldddudders

[DaveF]

I haven't many photos in colour with people in from the late 50s early 60s but here are a couple.

 

Possibly Brighton mid 1950s JF253

 

Rempstone circa 1960 JFRV010

 

Are they any help for clothing colours?

 

David

[Oldddudders]

Definitely Brighton - it says Brighton Place and Lanes!

[DaveF]

Definitely Brighton - it says Brighton Place and Lanes!

 

I never thought of reading the signs!!

 

David

[jukebox]

*snip*

Some alas will not be useable at all. Can you imagine the effect which would have been caused by a young woman wearing hot pants back then? She would probably have been arrested.

Don't discard them so quickly, Gilbert. I have found many seated passengers need to undergo full amputations from the waist down... in which case, you can throw away the lower torso, and keep the upper body. The trick is to use them in the seats next to windows, where the viewing angle hides the surgery.

 

Regards

 

Scott

[The Stationmaster]

I generally go along with Ian on this but there were distinct regional differences still and the north tended to be rather dour compared with the south.  But one important area is headgear - even into the early 196os most working men wore, usually, a flat cap - the old grubby one for work days and the better one for high days & holidays.  Similarly many women, but especially working women and those in the north (in my experience) wore headscarves, again with newer and brighter one for high days & holidays.

 

Male clothing tended to be drab although there were occasional 'more sporting' sports jackets to be seen and more colourful shirts were coming in for leisure time - I acquired a shirt with purple stripes c.1962/63, went nicely with the winkle-picker shoes

 

Women's summer dresses were more colourful in terms of more and lighter colours but nothing like as vivid intone as came in the later 1960s - all fairly subdued in a way due as much as anything to the nature of cheaper material and washing methods.  Incidentally in my experience school uniform for girls consisted of dresses in the Summer Term and blouse & skirt in other terms while school boys were in blazers and wore caps of course.

 

I've just been looking through a couple of colour albums of the last years of British trams and the overall impression of clothing is drab - except in seaside resorts in the summer (and not much brighter there).  Don't forget macs & coats were worn far more widely back then as well.

[beast66606]

I never thought of reading the signs!!

 

David

 

 

http://goo.gl/maps/tvvzo - I think this is the same location today, slightly different angle but the shops to your right are in front in this view, twist left and you'll see the pub and the other shops

[great northern]

Don't discard them so quickly, Gilbert. I have found many seated passengers need to undergo full amputations from the waist down... in which case, you can throw away the lower torso, and keep the upper body. The trick is to use them in the seats next to windows, where the viewing angle hides the surgery.

 

Regards

 

Scott

Hi Scott, Back in Oz and very warm? I woudn't think many people have experienced as huge a range of temperatures as you have recently. As to your suggestion, fiddling about with young ladies below the waist area would not be a good idea given the number of pending Court cases! Seriously, I will bear it in mind, should I ever think about populating my coaching stock. Yet again though the sheer size of the layout is the problem. If I start, I have to do the lot really, and as that runs into the hundreds it feels a bit daunting. So does breaking into expensive kit built coaches come to think of it, especially as I don't think they were designed to come apart.

[great northern]

Thanks chaps, that makes me feel a good deal more confident. Pastel colours I think were the in thing for ladies summer wear and I do remember seeing men sitting on the beach dressed in a suit and wearing a tie. Trousers rolled up while paddling of course.

 

Thanks Mike for reminding me about the headwear. Very few men did not wear some form of hat I think, and it tended to act as a clear indication of social status too. You also remind me of another '50's and 60's icon -  the Packamac. Hardly a fashion statement, but I was always reminded to take it with me, and more often than not it was needed.

 

I suppose I should concentrate on getting my fitted stock right first though.

[tetleys]

Gilbert,

 

Whatever colour you decide on for your 1958 population please, please paint them in matt paint, check out images of published layouts and despite great attention to detail and appropriate weathering it's amaxing how many modellers are drawn to 'leather' or that's what it looks like with gloss blue footplate and station staff. Not quite as bad as standing them all on a 3'x 2' by 6" slabs of concrete though.

 

Now where did I leave my S & M gear?

[jwealleans]

Can you imagine the effect which would have been caused by a young woman wearing hot pants

 

Put her on the station approach surrounded by policemen arguing about who's going to arrest her?