Longdrem & The Pinkhill Branch

[60027Merlin]

Some ex-North British Railway 0-6-0s still working well in the late 50s. Built to last! Also, a somewhat bigger guest which visited in pristine fashion and photographed in less than that on it's day of departure.

 

[landscapes]

Hi Eric

 

Very nice photos, coincidence I was just discussing the two Haymarket J36's this morning on my Haymarket thread with JeffP and I said I was sure you had both locos on you layout.

 

Regards

 

David

[60027Merlin]

One of the many highlights from these glorious train spotting days of the late 50s on the ECML was the daily fish traffic for the south. These trains were eagerly awaited at the lineside, being an unforgettable site (and sound) of our local pacifics hammering along on express freights, rather than on their usual passenger workings. The smell of fish lingering in the air for some time afterwards whilst not so eagerly awaited at least added to the atmosphere. A great viewing area to see them at speed was at Saughton Junction in the western suburbs of the city where the Aberdeen and Glasgow Queen Street lines went their separate ways. The steeply elevated curve there on the Aberdeen line allowed for the continuation of high speed running from the Forth Bridge and Dalmeny then past Turnhouse leading into the long straight run into town with the Glasgow line for company.

 

Haymarket had regular daily turns for these southbound workings and with that in mind here are a few views of some of the 64B steeds starting of with Call Boy and ending with its long time compatriot Spearmint. From 99 to 100 but with a few numbers in between!

 

I have not had enough free time recently to take many photos but hopefully these taken earlier in the year will do even if they are all of the same type of train!

 

[landscapes]

Hi Eric

 

Great to see you back on your thread again.

 

Stunning photos as usual, please keep them coming.

 

Regards

 

David

Edited September 6, 2013 by landscapes

[Btourer]

Thank you for sharing the photos of your beautiful models of the Pacifics and the V2. The history of the fish trains that you provided is very interesting.

[landscapes]

Hi Eric

 

I forgot to say in my last reply to your thread, seeing your splended photos of A3 60099 Call Boy on the fish reminded me I just missed out on bidding for a Hornby A3 60039 Sandwich on Ebay earlier this week it would have made an ideal indentity change to 60099 as it has the correct tender and a 107 boiler.

 

I only needed to I crease my bid by £6.00 really sorry I missed out as 60039 does not come up for sale very often.

 

Regards

 

David

[60027Merlin]

David,

 

Call Boy was previously Sandwich! In fact I managed to obtain a few of the 60039 locos when they and the coaches were were split up from The Talisman set some time ago.

 

As you say the double chimney with A4 boiler and high sided late emblem tender came in very handy. I have a couple of other locos on the go just now where bodies and tenders are in the process of being swapped then either done up for the layout or sold where that version is of no use. Slow progress on this as the garden and other stuff is taking up too much time.

 

As ever, it is a great pity that Hornby do not offer separate items, unfortunately we are in an age of loco "units".

 

Eric

[landscapes]

Hi Eric

 

I never saw any of the fish trains in my spotting days just outside King's Cross station, although I did not start train spotting until late 1962.

 

I did however get to see The Scotch Goods heading north behind an A4 on quite a few occasions until the end of steam in June 1963.

 

Look forward to more photos in the future.

 

Regards

 

David

[60027Merlin]

David

 

Here are a few photos of the local work horses on fast freights you would not have seen either as none of these locos reached Kings Cross! At least it's a bit of variety from pacifics on fish trains and A4s on the Scotch Goods.

 

Eric

 

 

 

 

 

 

[landscapes]

Hi Eric

 

Many thanks for putting on the extra photo, I cannot believe how many locomotives you have, a fantastic selection, not just the locomotives but the wagons and coaches as well.

 

It's seeing photos from Richards The Far North Line, Gilbert's Peterborough North and your Longdrem and Pinkhill that give me the inspiration to complete Haymarket 64B when sometimes I find after a setback I'm thinking is this worth the time and cost, yes of course it is.

 

Regards

 

David

Edited September 10, 2013 by landscapes

[60027Merlin]

With the recent release of the North British Railway buffer stops by Dave Franks of Lanarkshire Models the opportunity was taken to replace the Peco types with these excellent castings . Way back in the 70s when I did not have a layout and was only building kits I purchased a few NBR buffer stops from Mikes Models, however, that number did not prove sufficient when the layout was built many years later so the Peco types were also used .

 

Now that they match the ex-NBR locos here are a few photos showing the new buffer stops in position and no doubt strong enough to stop any wayward locos heading for the floor during shunting operations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kingfisher24]

i like the j88 in the last group of snaps is it the falcon brass or the nb models kit.

 

gary

[60027Merlin]

i like the j88 in the last group of snaps is it the falcon brass or the nb models kit.

 

gary

 

Gary

 

It's the Norrie Blackburn kit from the the late 70s. I built it not long after it appeared and it's still going strong after 35 or so years!

 

 

Eric

[60027Merlin]

Earlier in the year a few running sessions comprised of stock seen on the ECML between Edinburgh and Aberdeen. After buffer stops and ex- NBR locos photos it’s back to the glam side with the Haymarket A4s of the No.1 Link on turns including the 16.15 Dundee, 15.40 ex-Aberdeen, 20.35 ex-Dundee, 12.05 ex-Perth amongst others.   

 

Edited October 8, 2013 by 60027Merlin

[great northern]

Blimey! We'd have had more chance of winning the pools than seeing those seven in quick succession down our end Eric.

[landscapes]

Hi Eric

 

What a collection of A4's you have, from Haymarket's allocation I have so far 60004, 60011, 60012 and 60027 you have made me realise I still have a few more to go.

 

Great photos, keep them coming, it's my kick start to get on with Haymarket 64B.

 

Regards

 

David

[landscapes]

Hi Eric

 

I meant to ask you on my last reply, do you know from your experience if any of the North Eastern based J72's ever got up as far as Edinburgh in the late fifties.

 

I recently purchased a J72 off of EBay, No 68737 which was shedded at 52J Borough Gardens Newcastle Upon Tyne around 1959.

 

I know a few J72's were based at Kittybrewster and Kipps at that time but the loco I have has an addition pipe running along the boiler from the cab to the front smoke box and not all J72's had this so I do not want to renumbered it to a Scottish based J72 just in case they did not have this pipe.

 

Easier to keep it as it is.

 

Regards

 

David

Edited October 8, 2013 by landscapes

[G46208]

Earlier in the year a few running sessions comprised of stock seen on the ECML between Edinburgh and Aberdeen. After buffer stops and ex- NBR locos photos it’s back to the glam side with the Haymarket A4s of the No.1 Link on turns including the 16.15 Dundee, 15.40 ex-Aberdeen, 20.35 ex-Dundee, 12.05 ex-Perth amongst others.   

 

A4 60004 William Whitelaw.JPG

A4 60009 Union of South Africa.JPG

A4 60011 Empire of India.JPG

A4 60012 Commonwealth of Australia.JPG

A4 60024 Kingfisher.JPG

A4 60027 Merlin.JPG

A4 60031 Golden Plover.JPG

Hi Eric ,  been watching this link for quite a while , your choice of layout and locos is absolutely brill. I remember these locos at Haymarket / St. Margaret's in the early 60's when we used to cycle to the Edinburgh sheds from outside Falkirk on a Sunday .   Is your layout portable ? as I am always looking for first class layouts for our annual exhibition ,

 

Regards

George  

[davefrk]

With the recent release of the North British Railway buffer stops by Dave Franks of Lanarkshire Models the opportunity was taken to replace the Peco types with these excellent castings . Way back in the 70s when I did not have a layout and was only building kits I purchased a few NBR buffer stops from Mikes Models, however, that number did not prove sufficient when the layout was built many years later so the Peco types were also used .

 

Now that they match the ex-NBR locos here are a few photos showing the new buffer stops in position and no doubt strong enough to stop any wayward locos heading for the floor during shunting operations.

 

1. Longdrem Goods Yard headshunt.JPG

2. Longdrem Goods Yard headshunt (1).JPG

3. Longdrem Goods Yard headshunt (2).JPG

4. Headshunt at Pinkhill.JPG

5. Headshunt at Pinkhill.JPG

6. Siding at Pinkhill Goods Yard.JPG

7. Siding at Pinkhill Goods Yard with Mikes Models version.JPG

8. J88 at Pinkhill.JPG

9. J88 at Pinkhill (1).JPG

10. Loco Shed headshunt.JPG

 

Just to point out in BIGGER letters that the buffer stop in picture seven isn't one of mine.....TFIC

Lovely job there Merlin.

 

Dave.

[60027Merlin]

David

 

The Scottish Region got 10 of the later builds in the early 50s and two were based in Edinburgh at St. Margarets. 69013 and 69014. 69013 went to Thornton first then was transferred to St. Margarets around about 1957 I am sure to join 69014. They did not have the additional pipe running along the right hand side of the loco to the smokebox. It may be easy to take the pipe off and renumber either as 69013/14 as they were still based in Edinburgh albeit on the other side of the city mainly working in Leith.

 

Keep cracking on with the Shed!

 

George

 

The layout is one that never leaves home, sometimes I feel that way too when involved with it! Sunday mornings were great at Haymarket as plenty of locos were being prepared in more of a relaxed atmosphere. Once you got to know the firemen the opportunity to cab the locos for positioning movements from one road to another increased and in summer the heat in the cabs was like the Sahara, I recall one summer Sunday morning the searing heat in the cabs of Irish Elegance, Bonnie Dundee and Kingfisher whilst on the move. Happy days. 

 

Dave

 

On reflection I should have typed in MIKES MODELS under the photo rather than just having it in the photo title bit on screen. Unfortunately I sometimes get a bit mixed up when transferring photos across and I took the easy way out. Hopefully no confusion has arisen.

 

Edited October 9, 2013 by 60027Merlin

[60027Merlin]

At long last the layout hosted a Directors Meeting along the ECML north of Edinburgh heading across the Forth or returning to the Waverley.

 

Edited October 22, 2013 by 60027Merlin

[landscapes]

Hi Eric

 

Nice set of photos as usual, are any the the D11 Class in the new set of photos kit built or are they the new Bachmann locos.

 

If so if you don't mind me asking who's decals did you use to rename and number them.

 

Regards

 

David

[60027Merlin]

David,

 

They are all Bachmann and it's only taken a year to get round to doing them up. I did not require to re-name two of them as that suited my purpose however Roderick Dhu is a re-numbering/re-naming job. I used Methfix for the cab numbers and Modelmaster for the names. The Modelmaster sheets are excellent and include cab side numbers and smokebox numbers as well the names. 

 

Eric

[landscapes]

Thanks for the information Eric

 

I have not used Methfix transfers as I have read some people have had problems applying them.

 

But may give them a go.

 

Regards

 

David

[60027Merlin]

It’s back to a selection of views of typical workings of express passenger and freight trains as seen daily on the ECML on the northern approaches to Edinburgh plus some scenes on the branch.