Leeds City, the Midland Side, in 4mm.

[TheLaird]

Saturday saw  another successful running session with visitors from an EMGS area group. It gave the new signals a good test. As always there were a few minor glitches that have kept me busy since investigating the cause and rectifying. I have also re designed the layout of some of the paper WTTs and created a new report for control. This made me re examine the on screen WTT as I have always found it difficult to read and understand, others appear to have similar difficulties. I have redesigned and produced a new format as below that hopefully you will agree makes things much clearer to read and understand.

 

To those unfamiliar with my method of working, the four boxes at the right hand end of the top line may need some explanation. The first three give the Carriage Working numbers and the last gives the number of parcels units. A SWB van is 1 PU, a LWB Van 2PU and a bogie van 3 PUs. All as clear as mud!!

[5BarVT]

Very nice, looks fun.

I recall that a 7’wheelbase van is 1SLU on the big railway. Is your PU the same as a SLU i.e. 21’?

Paul.

[leopardml2341]

Very nice, looks fun.

I recall that a 7’wheelbase van is 1SLU on the big railway. Is your PU the same as a SLU i.e. 21’?

Paul.

In principle yes.

[Leander]

In principle yes.

...

 

Please explain.

[TheLaird]

Very nice, looks fun.

I recall that a 7’wheelbase van is 1SLU on the big railway. Is your PU the same as a SLU i.e. 21’?

Paul.

Paul, the idea definitely came from the SLU and may equate roughly to one but my PU has nothing to do with lengths. It is more a description of the type of van and is intended to allow an amount of leeway for the operators when assembling a parcels train. If my WTT states that 15PU's are required it can be made up of 15 SWB Vans or 5 Bogies or any combination as long as it totals 15PU's. That is unless of course the notes tell you otherwise! 

 

Regards John E.

[leopardml2341]

In principle yes.

...

Please explain.

Come on Pete, you've been operating long enough to know what a 'PU' is (and multiples thereof)?

Edited August 15, 2018 by leopardml2341

[Leander]

Come on Pete, you've been operating long enough to know what a 'PU' is (and multiples thereof)?

Doh, of course, P!SS up.

[Steve Taylor]

Doh, of course, P!SS up.

 

...... and an SLU is of course the British imperial measurement commonly known as the "standard leaning unit" most commonly applied after the PU of course, unless adverse weather requires emergency SLU usage in advance of PU application, due to say... a hurricane on the way to the pub.

[jamie92208]

...... and an SLU is of course the British imperial measurement commonly known as the "standard leaning unit" most commonly applied after the PU of course, unless adverse weather requires emergency SLU usage in advance of PU application, due to say... a hurricane on the way to the pub.

 

Are those related to the other very British units of The Tad and the one that relates to certain follicle from a particular part of a Gnat, and of course not to mention the liquid equivalent of a smidgeon.

 

Jamie

[TheLaird]

 

43093 stands at the head of the first Morecambe/Carnforth of the day. It has collected the stock from the South Carriage Sidings and set back into platform 3.

 

 

A wider shot of the station at the same time as above. It is quite busy this early in the day with parcels traffic both inbound and out.Out of shot in platform one a DMU is being loaded with parcels bound for Knottingley. The pegs are off for the 05:15 parcels service to Bradford from Platform 2 and another parcels train has just arrived from St Pancras in Platform 5, Peak hauled. The 25 in the foreground is a bit misleading as it is on Stn Pilot duties, propelling more parcels stock into the station and waiting for platform 2 to clear, the cleared peg is for the departure. In the North Carriage Sidings, drivers are beginning to prepare there DMU's for the day ahead. 

Edited August 24, 2018 by TheLaird

[jamie92208]

Just as a matter of interest will you be modelling the bullion train that used to bring coin and notes to the Bank of England. By the mid 70's it had been containerised and was handled at Stourton but prior to that was handled across the platform at Leeds with armed police guarding it. I have seen pictures of the 70's stock that used to stable in the parcels bays overnight bit don't know what stock was used prior to the containerisation.

 

 

Jamie

[Suddaby]

Just as a matter of interest will you be modelling the bullion train that used to bring coin and notes to the Bank of England. By the mid 70's it had been containerised and was handled at Stourton but prior to that was handled across the platform at Leeds with armed police guarding it. I have seen pictures of the 70's stock that used to stable in the parcels bays overnight bit don't know what stock was used prior to the containerisation.

 

 

Jamie

Be a bit expensive to model it with an accurate load!

   

 

Kevin

[TheLaird]

Just as a matter of interest will you be modelling the bullion train that used to bring coin and notes to the Bank of England. By the mid 70's it had been containerised and was handled at Stourton but prior to that was handled across the platform at Leeds with armed police guarding it. I have seen pictures of the 70's stock that used to stable in the parcels bays overnight bit don't know what stock was used prior to the containerisation.

 

 

Jamie

 

Hi Jamie, interesting stuff this, was not aware of it. Truth is I probably will not model it as my maxim is to model the "ordinary" and not the "extraordinary", unless of course someone tells me that it happened on Weds 12th Sept 62!!

 

Regards John E.

 

ps, thanks for the logs, some useful info in there. Hope the move went OK. 

[TheLaird]

Just by way of a little update, a lot of work is going on at the moment with the signalling on the layout. We now have the "Signalling Systems Development Team" formed. This is a small group dealing with the technical stuff of mechanical and electrical interlocking. My part at present is installing track circuits on a trial basis using the NCE Block Detectors.These will be an essential part of our attempt at simulating "Rotary Block" between some of the signal boxes. Another member is developing an electro mechanical lever lock for the frame. The Proff is modifying block instruments so that "Line Clear" will release these lever locks. The down side is that most of this work will be totally invisible to the casual observer and most of the operators!

 

John E.

[ianblenk]

 

Saturday saw  another successful running session with visitors from an EMGS area group. It gave the new signals a good test. As always there were a few minor glitches that have kept me busy since investigating the cause and rectifying. I have also re designed the layout of some of the paper WTTs and created a new report for control. This made me re examine the on screen WTT as I have always found it difficult to read and understand, others appear to have similar difficulties. I have redesigned and produced a new format as below that hopefully you will agree makes things much clearer to read and understand.

Clipboard01.jpg

 

To those unfamiliar with my method of working, the four boxes at the right hand end of the top line may need some explanation. The first three give the Carriage Working numbers and the last gives the number of parcels units. A SWB van is 1 PU, a LWB Van 2PU and a bogie van 3 PUs. All as clear as mud!!

 

 

Hi John,

 

Have you ever given a detailed account anywhere of how you have used Access? I am trying something similar. I know you are busy etc. but any pointers would be fantastic.

 

Thanks

 

Ian B

[jamie92208]

Hi Jamie, interesting stuff this, was not aware of it. Truth is I probably will not model it as my maxim is to model the "ordinary" and not the "extraordinary", unless of course someone tells me that it happened on Weds 12th Sept 62!!

 

Regards John E.

 

ps, thanks for the logs, some useful info in there. Hope the move went OK.

Thanks John, I'm glad that the logs were of interest. As to the bullion run, as far as I know it was a regular working, possibly every month. In the containerised days it ran from York Way to Stourton with a coach with various extra aerials and some observation windows. When I saw it stabled between platforms 2 & 3 (IIRC) there was the coach and attached to it was a standard Freightliner flat fitted with buckeye couplers and rubbing plates as well as 100 mph commonwealth bogies. It used to be hauled by a class 31. Come to Stourton, the containers get unloaded onto lorries then theses were driven, under escort direct to the Bank of England which had a special loading bay that the two lorries could rive straight into. It's all gone now so no secrets are being revealed. I will ask on a FB site that I'm a member of if anyone can remember the earlier arrangements and how regular they were.

 

 

Jamie

[leopardml2341]

Jamie,

 

A small correction to your post, the flat wagons were not freightliner flats.

 

They were carkind code BFB, and later TOPS NWA. Introduced in 1971, they had B5 bogies, were AirBraked, steam piped and electric wired. Buckeye couplings were removed.

 

There were 4 vehicles in total, E99500/1 and M99502/3

 

I saw both E prefix ones together with bullion van M99201 passing thro' Rotherham Masboro', indeed class 31 hauled and heading toward Leeds, sometime in 1977.

 

The vans were converted in 1965/6 from 1956/7 built BSKs; so John, you're ok, they didn't run in 1962.

 

Edit;

 

IIRC, some if not all of the vans carried maroon livery and the 'flats' were BR Blue.

Edited August 27, 2018 by leopardml2341

[TheLaird]

Hi John,

 

Have you ever given a detailed account anywhere of how you have used Access? I am trying something similar. I know you are busy etc. but any pointers would be fantastic.

 

Thanks

 

Ian B

 

Hi Ian. I think that I have not covered it before on this thread but I used a similar setup for Bradfield GS. I think there may be more detail on that thread. There was also some details as part of the article in MRJ on Bradfield, issue 218. If you have specific questions send me a PM. It would probably not interest many on here!!

 

Regards John E.

[jamie92208]

Jamie,

 

A small correction to your post, the flat wagons were not freightliner flats.

 

They were carkind code BFB, and later TOPS NWA. Introduced in 1971, they had B5 bogies, were AirBraked, steam piped and electric wired. Buckeye couplings were removed.

 

There were 4 vehicles in total, E99500/1 and M99502/3

 

I saw both E prefix ones together with bullion van M99201 passing thro' Rotherham Masboro', indeed class 31 hauled and heading toward Leeds, sometime in 1977.

 

The vans were converted in 1965/6 from 1956/7 built BSKs; so John, you're ok, they didn't run in 1962.

 

Edit;

 

IIRC, some if not all of the vans carried maroon livery and the 'flats' were BR Blue.

I've just had an update from my former colleagues in the Police. The trains used to run to the Old Station every Thursday and I presume that they would have run until the changeover to containers which would be after Stourton opened I never saw the stock that operated the earlier type of trains but from the same informed sources they used to move the content onward to the bank in articulated yellow Scammel Scarabs with my former colleagues standing up in the rear of the trailers. I suspect that the converted vans mentioned above would have come in when the changeover to containers took place.

 

 

Jamie

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

Bullion trains on RMWeb here, here and being built here by our old chum Mallard of SJ fame.

[jamie92208]

I've had a fantastic response to my request for information about the bullion runs on the retired police site that I'm on. Much of it is about Police firearms that I can't share but the consensus is that the changeover to the use of Stourton was 1970/71 when the Bank of England moved to a site on King Street in Leeds from Park Row. The other nugget that has come out is that the trains used to work into Leeds central then moved to Leeds City. It seems from the photo above of the bullion van at the head of a passenger train that they might just have attached it to the front of a normal passenger working. This would of course have placed the bullion van virtually alongside the side entrance to the old platform 5. It seems to have been weekly till the new arrangements, after which it went to a monthly cycle. I have no idea what stock was used prior to the new bullion vans being introduced.

 

 

This article on a site called Secret Leeds gives a lot of info.

http://www.secretleeds.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6441#

 

Hope this discussion has been of interest. My request has certainly generated a lot of interest and comments on the retired police site.

 

 

Jamie

[leopardml2341]

.............. the trains used to work into Leeds central then moved to Leeds City................

Jamie

 

Presumably when Central closed - then post '67?

[jamie92208]

Presumably when Central closed - then post '67?

No one can remember the exact date. Whitehall Road goods yard has also been mentioned. However we are relying on the memories of retired detectives in their late 70's early 80's.

 

Jamie

[Leander]

Presumably when Central closed - then post '67?

 

All interesting stuff but a bit late for our period on LCN.

[lmsforever]

Used to see I think bullion runs on the WCML a seperate train with decidedly different looking carriage ,any info?