Longdrem & The Pinkhill Branch

[60027Merlin]

 

 

Now that we are well into the Autumn and gardening is slowing down I was able to use the additional free time take a batch of pictures recently. For a working model railway the usual summer work of track and scenery maintenance etc. carried on as usual throughout the summer in preparation for winter running sessions.

 

When working in the garden last week I heard the first sounds of the geese flying in from the north high in the sky and heading south. I thought that to tie in with that, as it will take some time to sort out all the photos, that a handful of "snaps" for RSPB members in RMWeb may be of interest. Hopefully they will be, they are of the species 64B.

 

 

The last one of course is a sub species 12C!

[davidw]

Thanks for the new photos'. More would be delightful.

 

60027 is a loco on my to do list. Flamingo looks smashing - I thought she was a Carlisle canal loco. How did you get the A4 non corridor tender. I did 60103 with a spare off Ebay

 

David

 

Oh just read 12C CC?

 

I'd like to do Blair Athol.

[davidw]

Just a thought the plates I've got for Merlin are red back ground - yours is black which is right?

[Russ (mines a pint)]

Just caught up with this one, suffice to say it looks VERY nice !

-will be watching with interest.

[Rannoch Moor]

Merlin,

 

Thanks for taking the time and effort to post your great photos of a wonderful layout. Love them all, but particularly admired your C16 and K2. Are they the Nucast kits or from another source? Any chance of a track plan please - I missed this in the BRM,

 

Gus

[Guest Max Stafford]

The track is beautiful too. What did you use?

 

Dave.

[Clagmeister]

Absoulutely fantastic peice of work! Just how many pacifics have you got?

 

You have captured the ugliness of Thompsons rebuilt P2's perfectly.

 

Can we have some more pics?

 

cheerio

 

Claggy

[McRuss]

Great photos,

 

more please.

 

Markus

[60027Merlin]

Great photos,

 

more please.

 

Markus

Many thanks for the comments. We have just got back from a short break in Tuscany where the temperatures were somewhat warmer than freezing Auld Reekie. After attending to the usual household chores after a holiday and pacifying the cat who is not too happy that his routine was changed, even although my sister-in-law was looking after him in our house, I have now found time to get into the computer for a few minutes!

 

I'll reply to the above queries "in one go" as follows;

 

Flamingo's tender was taken from a Hornby A4, Sparrow Hawk, which has now changed identity awaiting a proper A4 tender. Unfortunately Hornby will not produce tenders separately even for a limited run. As the paintwork and lining is so good nowadays the days of the 1970s/80s of adding much detail etc. to ready to run locos resulting in a complete re-paint and lining are long gone as it would be impossible to get an exact match. So the only alternative is to either kit build or buy a complete loco where only the tender is required for a loco awaiting a correct tender or even the other way round! This results in a number of locos awaiting the correct tender and the same number of tenders not required, one of the joys of modelling Sir Nigel's masterpieces.

 

Merlin did have its nameplates painted with a red background for a time but in the main they were a black background. I much prefer black on Merlin but am not fixed in attitude as some other Haymarket pacifics had red occasionally and it always makes for a change.

 

The C16 is a Sutherland kit. They originally introduced it in the 70's and it eventually ended up with Nu-Cast.

The K2 is Nu-cast from the same era, if memory serves me correct they were called Nu-Sto at that time. The 70s were great times for us kit builders of LNER and Ex North British locos and the decade ended with the introduction of the Peppercorn A1 by DJH which set new high standards.

 

Unfortunately I do not have the track plan on the computer as I am next to hopeless on it and in fact it took me an hour or two get these last 4 photos on as I had forgotten the method of transferring them across. A couple of blokes at the Perth Show in June this year told me that they had just ordered and received the back issues from BRM for July and August of 2009 which include layout and track plan.

 

The track is by SMP, as are the points, which were built by my friend and fellow Gresley fan Tommy Mann.

 

I have been building kits since the late 60s of locos based in Edinburgh with the main emphasis on Haymarket so it has been a long time getting it altogether. Whilst appreciating Kings X and the southern part of the ECML etc. I am, of course, totally biased towards Haymarket and the "Glamour Boys" as that is what I knew and saw on a daily basis in the fifties. Great days, add in the start of Rock with Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly et al and it was a time not to be missed!

[davidw]

Many thanks for the reply..

[45157]

Wonderfull layout, it must be a joy to watch those pacifics running.

I used to go camping to Dunbar each year with the BB (94th Glasgow) and I have never forgotten standing on Dunbar Station watching a Gresley Pacific leaning into the avoiding lines at speed (at least I think it was Dunbar !!!)

You have brought it all back, I will be in 60's mode for the rest of the day now.

 

regards

Stewart

[60027Merlin]

With the adverse weather of late it afforded the opportunity to take a batch of photos of the layout over a couple of afternoons. After deleting some I was left with a fair number and am putting them into files which should make it easier to sort out on the computer. Hopefully this first selection from the sessions will be of interest to some of you. I should have time in a month or so to put more on if it is found to be not too boring for you. However for those interested in the ECML the glory days of the ECML in south east Scotland circa 1957-61 were wonderful for us Gresley etc. fans and not forgetting the ex-NBR stuff as well. The winter modelling season is on the horizon and that coupled with running sessions will make for a busy time. These locos have to earn their living!

Edited August 19, 2012 by 60027Merlin

[davidw]

Really great pics.

 

You're a man after my own hear with all those pacifics!

[Guest TomTank]

Really great pics.

 

You're a man after my own hear with all those pacifics!

 

I'm with David...LNER pacifics galore....I must have gone to heaven!!

 

Really splendid collection, all looking magnificent in action.

 

The A2s drew my attention, what Thompson and Peppercorn A2s do you have?

 

Best

 

Tom

[60027Merlin]

I'm with David...LNER pacifics galore....I must have gone to heaven!!

 

Really splendid collection, all looking magnificent in action.

 

The A2s drew my attention, what Thompson and Peppercorn A2s do you have?

 

Best

 

Tom

Have been working my way through 64B's steeds for many years. The Thompson stuff is complete as there were only 4 and continue the work with the Gresley A3s/A4s and Peppercorn A2s. 99% of the pacifics and other locos for that matter are Haymarket ones plus some from 64A and 64C. I have also modelled a couple of pacifics from Gateshead and Heaton, however, as yet no Kings X! Can't beat 64B!

[60027Merlin]

 

 

A selection of North British Railway locos in B.R.days for "NBR" followers.

[Andrew F]

Wow, I'm gobsmacked! Whilst most folk are ogling the Gresley's which are beautiful of course, I'm looking at the smaller loco's that were hanging in there towards the end of steam on that region and how nicely they are weathered. The pug with the makeshift tender (is it a Y9?) is simply fantastic. So many top qualilty photo's here it's hard to take them all in and notice every detail but what stands out for me is the point rodding and the signal wires.

Wonderful stuff

 

Cheers

 

Andy

[60027Merlin]

Wow, I'm gobsmacked! Whilst most folk are ogling the Gresley's which are beautiful of course, I'm looking at the smaller loco's that were hanging in there towards the end of steam on that region and how nicely they are weathered. The pug with the makeshift tender (is it a Y9?) is simply fantastic. So many top qualilty photo's here it's hard to take them all in and notice every detail but what stands out for me is the point rodding and the signal wires.

Wonderful stuff

 

Cheers

 

Andy

 

Thank you for the kind comments. The smaller stuff is always required to help create a complete atmosphere of these times as by concentrating for example, on a few classes of pacifics puts everything out of balance. Back in the late 50's there was such a variety of stock still running that it seems almost unbelievable now. I am fortunate to have seen it, however beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so each to their own. Of course as we lived about a half hours walk away from Haymarket in the west of the city the 64B pacifics will always be number one for me.

 

The 0-4-0 st in the previous batch of photos is not the Y9 but the Caley equivalent class 611 built in the 1890s. The loco in the photo, 56035 was for a few years in the 50s shedded at St. Margarets before being moved to its final shed, 66D Greenock. I built it from an Anchoridge kit round about 30 years ago, the tender is a whitemetal wagon kit from the same era although I cannot recall the kit producer. Unfortunately time flies in too fast and I should have taken a note of all the building dates and associated details etc.- hindsight is a wonderful thing!

[Andrew F]

Thank you Merlin. It's great that you have memories of this region that a lot of us have only seen on black and white photographs. It must be nice to model from memories as well as photographs as there must be some extra bit of soul that goes into it and I think it does show, and links us younger modellers in some way to the past.

I have only read about Edinburgh's railways from books and my memories are only of modern DMU's and electrics but I've tried to gather some information about the past and see where everything fits in and how structures were built on the NBR. I think a layout of St Margarets would be good to build with it's volcanic turntable and cramped quarters with unwilling tenements.

So it's pretty interesting for me, all this.

 

Thanks

 

Andy

[Scale7JB]

Lovely layout... great to see a K2 also... even if it has got the wrong cab on it

 

JB.

[60027Merlin]

Lovely layout... great to see a K2 also... even if it has got the wrong cab on it

 

JB.

 

It all depends on where you are, up here it was the right one!

[Scale7JB]

Great Eastern composite cab for me down here... here's mine..

 

 

 

and a video of it too..

 

 

JB.

 

[60027Merlin]

Great Eastern composite cab for me down here... here's mine..

 

 

 

and a video of it too..

 

 

JB.

 

Wonderful model both in build and finish, the bigger scale really captures its "look".

 

The big cab was essential up here - our garden was covered in frost early morning two days ago and snow fell much further north yesterday, winter is here!

[45156]

Lovely stuff - more Scotland!

 

Love the photos of your most excellent layout.

[60027Merlin]

Whilst crawling about under the layout searching for a box of Plasticard strips I came across another box which contains a few loco kits built 35 plus years ago. Every year or two I get some of them out for a run round the layout and here is two of them (still not finished!) which although ran in the same area, are completely out of the layout time scale. Unfortunately I do not have suitable stock to go with them however, it makes for a wee change - "Each a glimpse and gone forever".