Peterborough North

[great northern]

Pretty Polly now meets 61113 as it slows for the stop.

and soon afterwards Polly is seen at rest.

A short express, this one.

[great northern]

Back now to Spital Bridge, but still hovering above it. We now get this view of the waiting A3, and a 9F which has been allowed to come across its path and along the Up slow. A bit of zoom, which doesn't seem to have got things too much out of focus, and thought about cropping to remove the hanging bridge, but that would have cropped out the 9F too. I hope it meets with your approval.

Whatever this chap is using must be jet powered, as he now manages to get back down to the south end before the 9F has travelled more than a few yards onward.

[great northern]

Following the 9F, we get views of both sides of the loco as it starts its journey across to the Up side.

 

[New Haven Neil]

On 15/02/2024 at 18:25, great northern said:

and of course at least one regular visitor will be happy to see it.

 

Indeed he is, thank you Gilbert.

 

Nice photos this week, the 'early' drone is doing a great job.  Maybe it's seagull powered or something.

[Grafarman]

Maybe the photographer got hold of one of these 😁:

 

[great northern]

11 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Indeed he is, thank you Gilbert.

 

Nice photos this week, the 'early' drone is doing a great job.  Maybe it's seagull powered or something.

I hope not Neil, things could get very messy.

[great northern]

Circling cautiously over the bridge, we get one more look at the 9F.

before our intrepid bird man scurries back to the north to watch 60061 going on its way.

[great northern]

A very last look at the A3....

Then attention switches to number 4 bay, where a D16 is standing with the 8.30pm to Melton Constable. The justification for this is tenuous to say the least, but my love of Clauds overruled any objections. So, instead of the usual Ivatt 4 a D16 has got onto a M&GN service to and from PN. Melton still had a few, although this is not one of them, and they worked to the East of their home, not to the West, but its my train set.

 

[New Haven Neil]

Clauds are just 'right'.

[great northern]

Another Pacific on menial duties, this being the 5.00pm from KX. As usual though, Silver Fox will be doing something befitting its status next time.

 

Following it has been a Hitchin-Colwick Class D, which now comes past on the slow, but only as far as that obdurate signal.

[thegreenhowards]

1 hour ago, great northern said:

Another Pacific on menial duties, this being the 5.00pm from KX. As usual though, Silver Fox will be doing something befitting its status next time.

 

 

 

 

Correct me if I’m wrong (I’m a bit rusty these days), but this was a fair sized train from KX, splitting at Hitchin. So the pacific power would be justified for the first half of the journey. The other similar train got a pair of B1s I think.

 

Andy

[great northern]

8 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

 

Correct me if I’m wrong (I’m a bit rusty these days), but this was a fair sized train from KX, splitting at Hitchin. So the pacific power would be justified for the first half of the journey. The other similar train got a pair of B1s I think.

 

Andy

I blinked a bit when the tablet told me the loco was 34A 7, which tiurned out to be an A4, but I didn't have time to go and check further. I have now, and it is a mistake on the sequence slide, down to me. There is one photo I've seen, I think in Book of the GN part 1, of an A4 piloted by a B1, but no explanation given. If this was the 5pm, I would think that the B1 would have come off at Hitchin, leaving the A4 to carry on to PN, after which it would back on to the Cambridge portion. Even so, it would a very rare occurence.

[great northern]

My guest today was Geoff West, but he didn't get to see many trains run, as we got side tracked into venting our feelings about modern technology, and I kept being distracted by the car sale saga. What trains I did try to run, perhaps predictably, did not behave.

 

Here's the K3 grinding to a halt at the signal.

and another angle on the Claud, just as graceful from the rear.

[Tony Wright]

On 18/02/2024 at 19:34, great northern said:

A very last look at the A3....

Then attention switches to number 4 bay, where a D16 is standing with the 8.30pm to Melton Constable. The justification for this is tenuous to say the least, but my love of Clauds overruled any objections. So, instead of the usual Ivatt 4 a D16 has got onto a M&GN service to and from PN. Melton still had a few, although this is not one of them, and they worked to the East of their home, not to the West, but its my train set.

 

Good evening Gilbert,

 

Though the D16s tended to work more on the eastern section of the old M&GNR system, there is evidence that the class occasionally worked westwards as well. 

 

In one of my books, there a picture of No. 2573 in post-War days leaving Bourne heading a westbound express. 

 

This 'evidence' was enough for me, so I built 62573 to represent the loco under BR ownership.

 

Though I never saw any D16, I thought it fitted well on the MR/M&GNR bit of Little Bytham............

 

 

Heading towards Saxby, before I added the front numberplate.

 

 

And again, after I'd fitted its front 'plate (from Ian Wilson's Pacific Models range).

 

 

On the way back it must have got dirty (courtesy of Geoff Haynes, who weathered it for me after I'd painted it).

 

Built from a Mallard/Blacksmith etched kit, I wanted one still retaining the decorative valances. I wonder whether Hornby will ever make this variant? 

 

I don't have the slightest problem with the notion of running whatever you want; after all, PN is your model railway. 

 

I take it you had a good day with Westy?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited February 19 by Tony Wright
clumsy grammar

[geoff west]

2 hours ago, great northern said:

My guest today was Geoff West, but he didn't get to see many trains run, as we got side tracked into venting our feelings about modern technology, and I kept being distracted by the car sale saga. What trains I did try to run, perhaps predictably, did not behave.

 

Here's the K3 grinding to a halt at the signal.

and another angle on the Claud, just as graceful from the rear.

Thanks Gilbert, for a most enjoyable day.

We did vent quite a bit, but justifiably so.

Hope the car sale goes well tomorrow.

[great northern]

The 5.15 Hull-KX brings a very well cleaned Sir Nigel Gresley.

 

 

[great northern]

On 18/02/2024 at 21:47, New Haven Neil said:

Clauds are just 'right'.

I entirely agree Neil, though I prefer them in this form rather than as they were originally built. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder though, isn't it? I believe there are some people who actually like the look of pannier tanks.😇

[great northern]

12 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good evening Gilbert,

 

Though the D16s tended to work more on the eastern section of the old M&GNR system, there is evidence that the class occasionally worked westwards as well. 

 

In one of my books, there a picture of No. 2573 in post-War days leaving Bourne heading a westbound express. 

 

This 'evidence' was enough for me, so I built 62573 to represent the loco under BR ownership.

 

Though I never saw any D16, I thought it fitted well on the MR/M&GNR bit of Little Bytham............

 

 

Heading towards Saxby, before I added the front numberplate.

 

 

And again, after I'd fitted its front 'plate (from Ian Wilson's Pacific Models range).

 

 

On the way back it must have got dirty (courtesy of Geoff Haynes, who weathered it for me after I'd painted it).

 

Built from a Mallard/Blacksmith etched kit, I wanted one still retaining the decorative valances. I wonder whether Hornby will ever make this variant? 

 

I don't have the slightest problem with the notion of running whatever you want; after all, PN is your model railway. 

 

I take it you had a good day with Westy?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

I have discovered over time that if one insists on wearing a straitjacket, it is a good idea not to make it too tight a fit.

 

I understand there would be quite a lot of retooling to be done to create the valanced version, so considering the self inflicted problem Hornby gave themselves by flooding the market with these, I doubt it will happen.

 

Geoff and I did have a good day, though quite a bit of it was taken up in agreeing our frustrations with the modern world, and his, poor chap, with the added frustration of still being no closer to being able to build the ECML layout of his dreams.

[great northern]

I have investigated the strange case of the A4 on the 5.00 from KX. There is a simple answer, that was said by a simple person. The train is in fact the 8.10pm to Grantham. It is formed of the stock for the 5pm KX, and that is what I allowed to fool me. The sequence says clearly it is the 8.10 Grantham, and the A4 is doing the job because it came off here earlier in the day, and now needs to get to Grantham, as its next express duty is from there. So I was both right and wrong to call myself names.

 

And here it is starting on its way there.

 

with another opportunity to feature the Claud.

and a little later it passes the K3, nowhere near so interesting or good looking.

Do you like those overlapping lattices and poles? They took a long time to photoshop.

[great northern]

Most of yesterday was spent in the final stages of selling my car, not in the least assisted by the malfunctioning of websites, and the inabilty to get to speak to a human being to sort things out. Done in the end, but it left only enough time to process one more image. Sir Nigel is waiting for the off at Platform 2.

[great northern]

60007 from the other side of the bridge, and less heavily cropped than usual.

 

followed by a last look at 60017 as it approached Spital Bridge. Shows how addled my brain is at the moment, as I convinced myself this morning that I had already posted this, but I hadn't.

[trw1089]

That shot of No.7 is a cracker Gilbert!  Everything around the clutter, the view of the bridge in the background, the looming visage of the hotel, it all just fits.  A real tribute to your PN vision and all of the wonderful modelling that has got it to that stage.  Shots like these are what makes PN my first thread to visit each time I log on to RMWeb.

[great northern]

Sir Nigel is going round the bend. He is one of the few locos on the layout who actually has a crew to keep him going. I wish there were more, but suitable figures seem very hard to find.

Now we have the 6.45 pm KX-Cleethorpes on the way in. I don't know why, but I never manage to get this shot to my satisfaction. The abrupt end to the bridge has to be avoided, in my opinion anyway, and that leaves angles which never quite seem to work. This time I managed a seriously out of focus background too.

 

Nice clean B1 though, if a bit dusty.

[Podhunter]

2 hours ago, great northern said:

suitable figures seem very hard to find

Have you looked at ModelU's range of figures?  Even at 1:76 scale, they have recognizable features, superior to white-metal cast people.

We took advantage of their scanning service to obtain figures of friends in their West Somerset Railway working outfits.

You could have Clive driving a bus over the bridge!

Edited February 22 by Podhunter

[30368]

1 hour ago, Podhunter said:

You could have Clive driving a bus over the bridge!

 

What a great idea, although are you suggesting that he drives the bus over the bridge and down to the ECML? I hope not...

 

Kind regards,

 

30368