Grantham - the Streamliner years

[gr.king]

I have also thought of making a little wheel out of clear plastic and somehow attaching the horse's legs to simulate some movement.

 

Have you seen the Dutch chap with his working scale cyclists?

[Barry O]

Have you seen the Dutch chap with his working scale cyclists?

and he sells the bits - watch out for a 2mm layout and a tram layout with these on in the future. Not really suitable for the " hoss" though

[LNER4479]

So what could this be, plodding up the goods avoiding lines into Grantham?

Why it's J69 no.7384, at the end of its delivery run from Stratford (and no doubt 'looped' at every possible place en route)

 

They've turned her out nice, haven't they? Perhaps hoping to make a good impression in 'enemy territory'. Can't see those polished steel wheel rims lasting long myself... (the cab roof isn't white - just the way the light caught it)

 

At the north end of the station she exchanges greetings with another member of the station pilot team

 

A quick spin on the turntable - she needs to face south for shunting duties in the goods yard

 

At the new shed, some of the Grantham regulars wait to meet the new arrival.

 

Those of you with the Cawston book, turn to page 47 now...

Edited November 3, 2013 by LNER4479

[Nelson Jackson]

She's looking mighty well fine, and beautiful, great job.

[Barry O]

very pretty - perhaps a bit too clean ..

[LNER4479]

She's just off works! Give it a few days hard shunting...

[Guest 2750]

I'll give her a dusting down.

[Barry O]

rather a genteel greasy look with some dust along the boiler top - it needs to have a greasy sheen I think..

[Guest 2750]

I will be checking reference photos once the time arises. I now have Mr Wrights A3 to put into the queue too. I'm going to need an order book at this rate.

[Mike Bellamy]

 

Those of you with the Cawston book, turn to page 47 now...

 

Too clean although I see you got the right engine in the background - and in that photo there are two crew members on one side - but I guess you have someone on the other side to hide the motor !!

 

So what about the other photo on page 47 - J54 3637A or does a withdrawal date on 1930 make it too early for you?

 

Then there's the horse from page 46 already discussed - but Grantham had three . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

 

Mike

[Barry O]

a bit like this...

 

 

or

 

 

Barry

[LNER4479]

Too clean although I see you got the right engine in the background - and in that photo there are two crew members on one side - but I guess you have someone on the other side to hide the motor !!

 

So what about the other photo on page 47 - J54 3637A or does a withdrawal date on 1930 make it too early for you?

 

Then there's the horse from page 46 already discussed - but Grantham had three . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

 

Mike

Too clean, yes - Tom has 'booked her in' for his skilful treatment. I do like to take pix of my locos in ex-works condition before they get mucked up (I even have an ex-works picture of the Garratt somewher!)

 

Yep - his mate is leaning out the other side (see pic#3, alongside the C12).

 

The pic of 3637A has been studied many times and agree it's very tempting! A cut down Hornby J52 perhaps? (not just priority at the moment though)

 

Horses? Yes, as discussed! I could make a start by depicting the stables where they were kept (pictures, anyone?!)

[Michael Edge]

This is the J69 we use on Herculaneum Dock, Brunswick had a few of these in the 1950s. Lightly weatherd by Barry Oliver, 68601 is more or less the Wills kit with Sharman wheels.

 

[LNER4479]

Time for something different (lovely though the locos are - thanks for picture Mike. 68601 looks great)

 

So now I ‘risk it all’(!) by going into some detail re signalling and electrics…

 

Although there is already a fair degree of signalling and interlocking installed, the big challenge is now upon me – sorting out the signalling/electrics for Grantham North junction. Rather than draw a trackplan, I thought an aerial view would suffice:

 

At its heart is a double junction (bottom left), where the ECML and the Nottingham lines diverge (in the left-to-right direction). However, as can be seen, it is more complicated than that. Also bottom left is the entrance to the east side bay (the old platform 1) – tracks only temporarily laid for now – whilst the down relief line, up-and-down goods avoiding line and the depot entrance all converge together at the top left. The facing crossover (top right) allows a train arriving from Nottingham to access the down relief platform and thus keep clear of the ECML (as discussed a few pages back).

 

So(!), quite a few permutations in terms of possible routes through all this lot.

 

Here it is in diagrammatic form (apologies, as the left hand side is not covered by the earlier photo). This illustrates the challenge in that, whilst the principal track sections correspond to the signalling block sections (eg ‘Down ECML’, ‘Relief Station’, etc), the various different moves require intermediate track sections (T1 to T5, shown dotted) to be switched different ways according to the route required in order to have maximum flexibility. The next sequence of pictures should illustrate.

 

Situation ‘normal’, the simplest configuration. ‘Robert’ heads south with an express (up ECML à up station), a K3 heads north with a fitted goods (down station à down ECML) whilst the C12 shunts a rake of stock out of the station (relief north à down Nottingham). I use the word ‘normal’ quite deliberately as I understand that to be the term for a lever in the signal box to be back in the frame. All points are ‘normal’ in this view. When a lever is pulled, then it is ‘reversed’; this explains the ‘N’ or ‘R’ notation on the above diagram.

 

But I also want to be able to do things like this. The C1 arrives with a train from Nottingham (up Nottingham à relief north) as the D2 departs towards Boston (East Bay à down ECML). Whilst the C1’s arrival is relatively straightforward (just points P7 being reversed), the departure out of the East Bay is more complex, as it blocks both up and down ECML. By reference to the above diagram note how, for example, reversing P7 automatically links intermediate section T2 to the up Nottingham line. The eagle-eyed may also spot that the signal box work has included creating a representation of North signal box itself.

 

I may even want to do things like this! A relieved loco reverses towards the shed entrance (down station à down Nottingham) whilst a coal train comes off the Nottingham line (up Nottingham à up station) and a passenger train arrives from Lincoln (up ECML à East Bay). All of these are perfectly legitimate signalled moves and could therefore all happen simultaneously. In contrast to the previous moves, intermediate section T2 is now connected to the down Nottingham, whilst adjacent section T4 is connected to the up Nottingham

 

It becomes apparent therefore that the switching of the intermediate sections (in particular the single slips T3 & T5) is vital to making all this happen (not something that the real railway has to worry about of course). My solution is to have the operation of the points looking after this (ie automatic switching); the alternative would be an unacceptable (to me) number of additional switches on the panel with the ever-present risk of human error.

 

 

But this is the down side!   This is one third(!) of the wiring diagram for North box and shows the double-pole, double-throw switch blocks on the Heathcote relay boards. The black lines are the feeds to the track sections, the red (dotted) lines are the point motors and the blue dotted lines are for the signals. I’ll spare you a blow-by-blow description(!) but the above wiring diagram (a product of time spent sat on an Algarve beach this summer being put to good use!) encompasses the interlocking of the points and signals as well as switching power between the track sections. It therefore helps me determine how many of the relay boards I need! (four switch blocks to a board).

 

 

Just some of the electrical components now being bought and installed on the layout to get it all ready for Barrow Hill. Not the most exciting (visually) aspect of railway modelling but an inescapable one. As well as being essential to actually being able to run trains(!) the ethos behind the above is to be able to portray the operation of the station as it would have been (so far as can be determined) in the 1930’s. The irony of course is that the real thing would have been a fully mechanical operation!

 

Anybody still there…? Hello…?(!)  

 

'Robert'

Edited November 7, 2013 by LNER4479

[Mike Bellamy]

 

So now I ‘risk it all’(!) by going into some detail re signalling and electrics…

 

 

Anybody still there…? Hello…?(!)  

 

'Robert'

 

Sorry you lost me on the second line when you mentioned signalling and electrics - and as for interlocking and that amazing diagram - well words fail me . . . . .

 

Good luck - I'm sure someone will be along soon with words of wisdom but you can bet I still won't understand it

[jonny777]

I really do have a serious headache from imagining the full wiring diagram. I must have a lie down.

[Barry O]

The wiring diagram is fine - its all of those modules in the control panel which you need to be amazed by!  

 

The result is a very well engineered working solution to what is - in reality - a complex logic problem.

 

Keep on wiring Robert!

[Alister_G]

Blimey!

 

 

That's about all I can say, really...

 

I think you earned your time on the Algarve beach!

 

Al

[micklner]

Clueless too, nice Locos !!

[jwealleans]

I shall make SWMBO read this tonight. She'll never dare call me an anorak again.

[beast66606]

Hi Robert,

 

Are you providing flank protection ?

[gr.king]

Blimey!

 

 

That's about all I can say, really...

 

 

Ditto.

[LNER4479]

Thanks guys - a reasonable mix of reactions! I am now going to attempt to answer Beast66606's question (wish me luck!)

 

If by 'flank protection' you mean:

 

The setting of flank points to the position whereby an overrunning train will be diverted away from a route and overlap that has been set for an authorised train movement. (from GK/RT0064)

 

...then the answer is generally no, but there are some(!). Let's look at that track plan again:

 

All points shown operate together as pairs (ie as a crossover) with the exception of point P4. That in itself provides a degree of protection. The interlocking then provides further protection by preventing certain conflicting routes being set - eg reversing points P7 (for an arrival from Nottingham) locks points P2 in their normal position (it also locks points P6 normal). So, by the above definition that is flank protection against a train in the down main platform overrunning towards Nottingham. However, the reason I did that is because reversing both P7 and P2 sets up an illogical route (all ECML sections on the plan are uni-directional, so a southbound train cannot be allowed to arrive in the down main station platform); moreover, when the corresponding signal (S5) is pulled off then the interlocking only needs to lock P7.

 

Conversely, when routing a train in from Nottingham to the ECML (P3 and P4 reversed), the interlocking does not require P2 to be reversed. So that is an example of flank protection not being provided. Why did I (not) do that? Because I want to be able to depart a train for Nottingham from the relief line (platform 5) as a simultaneous move and that requires P2 to be 'normal'. The interlocking ensures that signal for the conflicting move (S1) cannot be pulled off with P2 normal but P3 reversed (see wiring diagram!) and, with track power fed to the rails via the signals in 'auto' mode, then this prevents the movement in any case.

(Interesting historical note. It was exactly this feature that was a contributory factor in the famous 1906 crash at Grantham. Apparently a southbound train from Nottingham was due or had just passed through and the points I call P2 had been reversed in order to provide this protection. This was why the runaway northbound express took the Nottingham route and consequently derailed on the reverse curve; had the points been 'normal' it may well have come harmlessly to rest a few miles down the line!)

Edited November 6, 2013 by LNER4479

[ROY@34F]

Robert,I find all this wiring business fascinating.I can follow your descriptions of movements pretty well I think.Using language understandable to the common man!;reminds me of the Revd.Peter Denny describing his control methods very logically many years ago in a number of articles in the Railway Modeller.Using the relays,do you intend flicking a switch to fire a series of relays to set a route/signals/track feed.Wish I understood relays a little better,or rather which ones to get to do 2 or 3 or 4 changeovers.Already looking forward to seeing you at Nottingham next year,where I believe you intend taking your North Box board.Your north box looks good by the way,complete with relay room attached;well,I think that's what it is/was?

Kind regards,Roy.

[Barry O]

knit one , pearl one....