Peterborough North

[great northern]

First, your morning picture, which shows the 9F about to blast its exhaust on the underside of Crescent Bridge.

 

 

[great northern]

1 hour ago, landscapes said:

Hi Gilbert

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2022 to you.

 

just a thought you have a wide variety of fabulous locomotives on Peterborough North but I cannot remember seeing a Britannia Class running on your layout.

 

Or have I just missed the times a photo was posted?

 

Regards

 

David

There was one, David, some years back. I couldn't resist the excellent Hornby model, and so i employed one on the E.Lincs expresses. In reality though, they didn't start to be used on those trains until 1961, and eventually I realised that I wasn't using it because it was outside my time frame, so I sold it.

 

I could have one, as Railway Observer records three working on the ECML through Peterborough in August 1958, but they were rare occurrences at that time, so I have resisted.

[great northern]

1 hour ago, KNP said:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you....

Many thanks Kevin, and the same to you and yours. Many thanks too for the daily updates on the delightful Little Muddle, which I visit every day. I marvel at the scenes you conjure up in such a small space.

[great northern]

Well folks, we approach Christmas again, and it is time for Season's Greetings. In these troubled and uncertain times, I'm sure all will try to be merry, but I think in the circumstances my wish for you all will be that you are able to spend time with family and loved ones over the next few days, and to enjoy something as near to normality as we can safely manage.

 

From me, thanks for all the support you continue to give me, which encourages me to keep going, and to try to find new things to occupy myself, and to entertain you.

 

Now to Geoff West's post, last evening. When I looked at that picture of the B17 at the excursion platform, I thought to myself "that it is my favourite view of all the ones I have taken on the layout". That in turn made me think that as a little Christmas fun thing I might ask you all to tell me what your favourite is. So, over to you.

[great northern]

One more post, which I feel deserves a separate mention. You may recall the ten year old lad who visited a few weeks back, and who so impressed me with his knowledge and enthusiasm. Well, there was a knock on my door about an hour ago, and there was his Grandad, who passed to me a Christmas present that young Owen has given me. Now, isn't that really something? It has certainly made my day. I shan't open it till Christmas day, of course!

[malc60015]

Fave photo ,

really has to be the 9f and B17 from yesterday.

just like a real railway. 
cheers malc

[New Haven Neil]

Thank you for your wishes, Gilbert.

 

My favourite views are always those which have a lot of infrastructure clutter in them, not necessarily with a loco in them (despite being a locoholic).  Second choice, down under the canopy with the train at the other end.

 

Have a happy 'Non-denominational Holiday Period'!

[Bazza]

Hi Gilbert, thanks for keeping going with your daily news of movements through Peterborough North via your time machine. Thanks too for the little asides of weather, duvet wrestling days etc. I very much hope that you have a great time this Christmas and a very happy and healthy  2022. Stay safe and well, and keep those coal trains rolling towards London! Bazza 

[mullie]

Gilbert

 

Have a great Christmas and thank you for continuing to post every day. I don't think I have a particular favourite, I simply enjoy them all.

 

It was also good to see the layout on video.  I have watched it a few times and have it saved in my YouTube playlist. 

 

Martyn 

[landscapes]

4 hours ago, great northern said:

There was one, David, some years back. I couldn't resist the excellent Hornby model, and so i employed one on the E.Lincs expresses. In reality though, they didn't start to be used on those trains until 1961, and eventually I realised that I wasn't using it because it was outside my time frame, so I sold it.

 

I could have one, as Railway Observer records three working on the ECML through Peterborough in August 1958, but they were rare occurrences at that time, so I have resisted.

Hi Gilbert

 

My mistake, I completely forgot you are modelling 1958.

 

I saw a photo of 70037 at Doncaster on its way to Kings Cross Station in 1961 and that’s what made me think about your Layout and no Britannias.

 

I remember seeing than at the Cross in 1962/3 I think on either Cleethorpes or Grimsby trains.

 

Regards

 

David

[great northern]

1 minute ago, mullie said:

Gilbert

 

Have a great Christmas and thank you for continuing to post every day. I don't think I have a particular favourite, I simply enjoy them all.

 

It was also good to see the layout on video.  I have watched it a few times and have it saved in my YouTube playlist. 

 

Martyn 

The ones with GE engines surely Martyn? If I include B17s, they are right up the top of the list for me.

[mullie]

9 minutes ago, great northern said:

The ones with GE engines surely Martyn? If I include B17s, they are right up the top of the list for 

 

I do enjoy it all, ok maybe a soft spot for a Claud, J15, B17 and 4mt etc. 

 

Martyn

 

[Oldddudders]

I think I most enjoy the snaking passenger stock in the overhead views, but must also say the under-the-roof shots, which I know are hard work to get 'right', are simply splendid, and not seen on many other layouts. That alone gives PN a USP (Unique Selling Point).

 

Merry Christmas and HNY to Gilbert, PN - and all others who sail in her hereabouts!

[FarrMan]

I find all the views good and nostalgia inducing, but as I spent more time on the down side of Spittal Bridge than anywhere else, that has to be my favourite, but I understand your reluctance to perform the necessary contortions. The thought of the effort that you have made to get them increases the gratefulness at the result. As has been said by others, many thanks for the regular fix for our addiction to PN, and best wishes for the new year (we do not keep christmas ourselves).

[great northern]

14 minutes ago, FarrMan said:

I find all the views good and nostalgia inducing, but as I spent more time on the down side of Spittal Bridge than anywhere else, that has to be my favourite, but I understand your reluctance to perform the necessary contortions. The thought of the effort that you have made to get them increases the gratefulness at the result. As has been said by others, many thanks for the regular fix for our addiction to PN, and best wishes for the new year (we do not keep christmas ourselves).

It isn't as contortion inducing as it used to be, but the photoshopping can be a very long job, and the depth of focus is sometimes a problem. I'm also always frustrated by the fact that the outside wall is in the way when I want to get just a bit further West, which would allow me to recreate a lot more prototype images.

[phil.c]

"The depth of focus is sometimes a problem"

 

Focus stacking is the answer to all your problems

Edited December 23, 2021 by phil.c

[Flying Fox 34F]

Gilbert,

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

Favorite photo spot is the south end of the station looking back towards the roof.  

 

Paul,

 

 

[great northern]

5 hours ago, phil.c said:

"The depth of focus is sometimes a problem"

 

Focus stacking is the answer to all your problems

But understanding photo stacking is itself a big problem, unfortunately. Andy Y tried to explain it to me, but my brain melted.

[great northern]

Quarter to nine now, and a train from Grimsby which has stopped almost everywhere finally makes it to PN. Immingham's B1s are very busy this time of year,  so a D11 gets a run out.

 

 

I have a soft spot for D11s, particularly those, including Zeebrugge, which were Lincoln engines when I were nobbut a lad.

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

This is my pick of the litter, a pic of a L1 through a bridge arch is a very close second.

 

A Merry Christmas to everyone, followed by a prosperous 2022.

 

manna

[great northern]

Just fifteen minutes later, in comes another train from Grimsby, but this one will be going all the way to KX.

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

My favourites are the views of northbound trains snaking out of the station taken from Spittal Bridge. I also love it when you show all the stock but those are for interest rather than artistic merit!

[FarrMan]

17 hours ago, great northern said:

It isn't as contortion inducing as it used to be, but the photoshopping can be a very long job, and the depth of focus is sometimes a problem. I'm also always frustrated by the fact that the outside wall is in the way when I want to get just a bit further West, which would allow me to recreate a lot more prototype images.

The effort to get them, which increases my gratefulness includes, or better is  increased by, the photoshopping and focus problems.

 

Lloyd

[Woodcock29]

Hi Gibert

I also hope you have a happy Christmas and that we all have a better 2022.

As to photos, any with ex GN, GC or GE engines in them.

Andrew

[great northern]

You may be interested to hear what I have been up to, railway wise, this last week or two. Or then again, you may not. Anyway, owing to a total lack of daylight, I have not been running trains, nor taking photos, or even fitting small couplings.

 

To occupy my time in their absence, I started on the Powerpoint for the Saturday sequence, and after a burst of very intense work, it was finished yesterday. I say finished, but I suspect it will only be a first draft, and that when I come to try and run trains from it I will discover plenty of errors and omissions. 308 moves, so far.

 

The whole thing is taken from the Summer 1958 WTT, and the amount of traffic is quite staggering. Leaving Kings Cross between 0800 and 1915, there were 18 departures to the West Riding, 3 to Scarborough and Filey,4 to Hull, with portions on other trains, 9 to Scotland and 13 to Newcastle. Then there were several to Skegness and to Grimsby or Cleethorpes, and some stoppers to Peterborough or Grantham. It was a similar story coming Up. And of course there were locals on the M&GN and the E.Lincs to fit in too. I have found it almost impossible to find paths to get ECS to where it needs to be to form a departure so as to allow more than a very few minutes for passengers to board before the off. Can those of you who actually had to make these things work enlighten me as to how long was the norm for passengers to get on, or to get off so that the empty stock could be removed, for that matter?

 

Very few goods trains, just a few Class C or D, and a very few of the normal Class F/H trains. It is quite clear to me that at some point the timetablers must have effectively given up, and realised that the inevitable delays and other difficulties would soon render the whole thing impossible. Just one example, during the afternoon peak, there was a departure to Harwich at 1632. The WTT then shows a non stop express passing just half a minute later! The Harwich was too long to fit into number 1 bay. It could have departed from Platform 6, and thence down to East without encroaching on the main line. However, Platform 6 would have been occupied by a Down service at that time, so the Harwich could only have departed from Platform 2, the Up main. OK, it would branch off onto the chord down to East soon after leaving, but half a minute seems a very optimistic margin, even if the express is only doing the required 20mph.

 

The next step is to allocate locomotives to trains, and to work out where they would have got to before coming off, and then allowing the requisite time before they could come back. I have a Steam Days survey at Grantham taken in July 1960, which shows the actual times of nearly all the trains between 0930 and 1815, the engines concerned, and which services had an engine change there. It also very helpfully gives specimen times that certain locos laid over before their next duty. The shortest, between arrival from KX and coming off shed to go back there was 52 minutes, and the average around two hours. The times seem to be almost the same as for 1958, so that should prove very helpful. It is the kind of thing I rather enjoy doing, so I shall now get on with it.