G-Mac Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 Great attention to detail, david Hi David, Thanks for the kind comments, glad your enjoying the layout. Cheers, Greig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Mac Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 Took a Class 156 to Blackpool North yesterday with your layout in mind for a trip out instead of the car even though Blackpool is only 18 or so miles from us. Must be only the second time in 50 years I have done so. I think you have captured PLF very well - from rail level at least! especially the station canopy and signalbox. A fantastic array of semaphores at Blackpool North. Returned via Blackpool South and Lytham to join at Kirkham and Wesham. IMG-20130411-00774.jpg IMG-20130411-00775.jpg Inspired by these at Blackpool South - full of seaside lineside grot - single line - local interest - something might come from it if I find the time. Ian Hi Ian, Thanks for the kind comments. Where space has permitted i have tried to adhere to the prototype as much as possible after taking a small visit down to the station myself last year. Without the photos I took on my visit i think it would have been very tough to produce the model. The semaphore operation was one of the draws of the line for me and is now a rarity in the UK sadly, and as you say Blackpool North has quite a setup. I have never actually been to Blackpool South station, only getting as far as the Pleasure Beach, but by the looks of it would make a very interesting little layout which i would guess be served by pacers, 150's. I was at one stage, before opting for Poulton, looking at Kirkham station as the basis for a model but unfortunately it didn't have the same charm as Poulton does without its big cast iron and glass canopy which i am led to believe was removed in the 60s. I have attached some pictures of my visit last year: Cheers, Greig The Station: The Ticket Office: Poulton Junction with No.3 Signal Box. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 The line to the right is it supposed to be a preserved line I remember seeing an article about a group wanting to take it over? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisis Rail Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 The line to the right is it supposed to be a preserved line I remember seeing an article about a group wanting to take it over? Was the line to Thornton Cleveleys - Freight flows to the ICI works were common. Yes - I heard something was planned - will have a search. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisis Rail Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Greig Yes a fantastic station only eclipsed (maybe I am not so sure!) in our region by Grange over Sands - it is from a bygone age - a decent small town too Poulton. Such a strange contrast between box no3 and the mobile? telecomms mast. Yes the Blackpool South and Pleasure Beach (if that is what they call it) line is odd carving seemingly through peoples gardens in a cutting fashion. Returned from B South in a fume filled Pacer which was took out of service at Preston - I would guess a cracked or loose exhaust connection. Bridges being altered for electrification - should be interesting! Pendolinos? Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Mac Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 Yes your right, the line to the right is the mothballed Burn -Naze freight route/Fleetwood line. I read somewhere that it was still under control of Network Rail but have no idea when that article was written. For the layout I have decided to take the "What if" approach to the mothballed line and open it up to provide much greater operational interest. Cheers, Greig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekypaul Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 This link may help - it talks about the proposals to reopen the line etc.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleetwood_Branch_Linehttp://www.pwrs.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Mac Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 Greig Yes a fantastic station only eclipsed (maybe I am not so sure!) in our region by Grange over Sands - it is from a bygone age - a decent small town too Poulton. Such a strange contrast between box no3 and the mobile? telecomms mast. Yes the Blackpool South and Pleasure Beach (if that is what they call it) line is odd carving seemingly through peoples gardens in a cutting fashion. Returned from B South in a fume filled Pacer which was took out of service at Preston - I would guess a cracked or loose exhaust connection. Bridges being altered for electrification - should be interesting! Pendolinos? Ian Ian, I would agree with you on "Grange over Sands" is the winner in station terms, not many could match its character. If i'm not mistaken, the Blackburn and East Lancs club have produced a cracking layout of it. As you say the contrast between old and new, not just at Poulton but on the line in general makes it really interesting. In terms of bridge raising and line alterations for electrification, I presume the "Breck road" bridge at Poulton is going to have to be raised significantly or the line dropped as clearances look rather tight especially on the Preston bound line. (I hope not however, don't fancy altering the layout, might have to put a running between 2000 to 2013 on it instead of 2000 to present for exhibitions). As for Pendolinos, that could be interesting lol. Talking about the Blackpool South route, how did Blackpool Central connect into the network? Cheers, Greig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Mac Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 This link may help - it talks about the proposals to reopen the line etc.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleetwood_Branch_Line http://www.pwrs.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 Cheers for the links, I have been on the Society's page before but have never seen the wiki page. Some interesting background info into whats going on. Many thanks, Greig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisis Rail Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Ian, I would agree with you on "Grange over Sands" is the winner in station terms, not many could match its character. If i'm not mistaken, the Blackburn and East Lancs club have produced a cracking layout of it. As you say the contrast between old and new, not just at Poulton but on the line in general makes it really interesting. In terms of bridge raising and line alterations for electrification, I presume the "Breck road" bridge at Poulton is going to have to be raised significantly or the line dropped as clearances look rather tight especially on the Preston bound line. (I hope not however, don't fancy altering the layout, might have to put a running between 2000 to 2013 on it instead of 2000 to present for exhibitions). As for Pendolinos, that could be interesting lol. Talking about the Blackpool South route, how did Blackpool Central connect into the network? Cheers, Greig Greig I am not an expert on all things Blackpool being a Preston fan! and I am sure others out there will know better - but as regards the Central it was a continuation of Blackpool South and terminating in a big car park behind the Sea Life centre - The road from Yeadon Way follows the track bed through familiar road bridges past the ground at Bombsite Road - the station was demolished. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpool_Central_railway_station I was looking through the excellent Freight Only books and came across the Enterprise and trip workings to Salwick and Burn Naze Class 47 Rf with ICI tanks and a single Cargowaggon This is an interesting image http://www.flickr.com/photos/actonwellsjunction/7789411710/ maybe some 100T tanks to choke up the cassettes? Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robrailltd Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Breck Road should be fine. The track is to be slewed for a better alignment through the bridge. I would say if you like semaphores then get to Blackpool Asap. End of the year they will be gone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted April 12, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 12, 2013 Ian, I would agree with you on "Grange over Sands" is the winner in station terms, not many could match its character. If i'm not mistaken, the Blackburn and East Lancs club have produced a cracking layout of it. As you say the contrast between old and new, not just at Poulton but on the line in general makes it really interesting. In terms of bridge raising and line alterations for electrification, I presume the "Breck road" bridge at Poulton is going to have to be raised significantly or the line dropped as clearances look rather tight especially on the Preston bound line. (I hope not however, don't fancy altering the layout, might have to put a running between 2000 to 2013 on it instead of 2000 to present for exhibitions). As for Pendolinos, that could be interesting lol. Blackburn & East Lancs have indeed done Grange-over-Sands. There are plans to reintroduce through London services, using 221 Voyagers that are supposed to be released by more Pendos doing the Brum-Glasgow service. When the wires come, it may be a different matter. As for other EMU's after Blackpool is wired, the last "plan" I heard was to have new (as in new to the North-West) 319's. Cheers, Mick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
reevesthecat Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Hi There was a series of fox line books around blackpool with central station etc. I have them all and are excellent but all steam focused. You are correct that central station continued from the south line but there was also a fast line from just after Kirkham which entered Blackpool on the route of yeadon way on the M55 motorway. These lines joined at the site of south station. There is a thread on here somewhere with some information about the route. Mark Type blackpool into the search box some good stuff turned up! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisis Rail Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 A good site: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/blackpool_centrtal/index.shtml Last one Greig as a hijack seems to have taken place. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hybridangel77 Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 judging by the photos it looks as though you have captured the essence of the station and the surrounding area very well.you should be proud of what you have achieved mate well done. terry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Mac Posted April 13, 2013 Author Share Posted April 13, 2013 Thanks for the above information, please don't feel like you are "hijacking" the thread. Not living in the area and only being able to visit annually, every piece of information is very valuable to me. If anyone has any updates on happenings at Poulton station, feel free to post here, it will be most appreciated. Ian, the Burn Naze freight workings look very intriguing indeed. Its certainly something I will consider when looking for additional stock for the layout. Thanks for the info on Blackpool Central, the route makes more sense now. Had a look at it on google maps, its amazing how visible the route is from aerial photos once you know where you are looking. Its a shame the station was closed and so much rail infrastructure was lost. Robrailtb, cheers for the info on Breck Road bridge, I do hope you are right and it doesn't get modified (for modelling sake lol). As for realigning the track, I can picture that working as the Preston bound line currently goes through the arch at a bit of an angle, squaring it up would give more clearance. I wouldn't rule out "putting up the wires" on the Poulton layout one day, maybe a few years down the line when it requires a bit of spruce up mid life, but it really would depend on stock availability. Mick, I remember the article on Grange-over-Sands being in one of the mags a while ago, its a really nice layout and captures the location well (including the green beach). The info on the planned stock is very interesting indeed, it would certainly provided some additional variation to the line. I wouldn't mind being able to run a Voyager "officially" lol. Mark, thanks for the info on Blackpool Central, as i said above its a shame that it as disappeared altogether. Thanks Terry for the great comments, im glad you are enjoying the photos. I'm currently digging through some more shots of my last visit and hope to post them soon. Cheers, Greig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hybridangel77 Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 oh yeah forgot to say that signal box looks the dogs danglies and im thinking of scrapping my signal box and scratch building a new one now. damn RMWEB for having lots of great layouts!!! lol. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Mac Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 oh yeah forgot to say that signal box looks the dogs danglies and im thinking of scrapping my signal box and scratch building a new one now. damn RMWEB for having lots of great layouts!!! lol. Thanks very much, glad you like it. I'll let you into a secret that the current signal box is attempt number two, the first one ended up in the bin lol. I would certainly say have a go, scratch building in my opinion is one of most enjoyable parts of the hobby and is the best way to improve modelling skills. I agree with you about RMweb, the quality of layouts on here is brilliant. Cheers, Greig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Mac Posted April 20, 2013 Author Share Posted April 20, 2013 Hi all, Here is the second batch of photos from my trip last year to Poulton. The photos have been my main reference source while building the layout. Hope you enjoy, Greig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Mac Posted April 21, 2013 Author Share Posted April 21, 2013 Its all action on Breck Road Bridge. Here a couple of better photographs of the roadworks on the bridge and also the station ticket office and ice cream van. The ice cream van has 6 LEDs which I have fitted onto the roof to illuminate the sign, and a further two inside the van itself. The capping stones for the wall are currently getting made from strip styrene and traffic cones for the roadworks are somewhere on the to-do list . Cheers, Greig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammyboy Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Your layout and the prototype photos remind me a lot of a typical Great Central Railway station with it's island platform and the booking office on the road bridge with the stairs leading down to the platform. You have a great layout though in a small space, glad you've kept the junction open at one end, makes operation more interesting. I love the football fans too!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Mac Posted April 22, 2013 Author Share Posted April 22, 2013 Your layout and the prototype photos remind me a lot of a typical Great Central Railway station with it's island platform and the booking office on the road bridge with the stairs leading down to the platform. You have a great layout though in a small space, glad you've kept the junction open at one end, makes operation more interesting. I love the football fans too!! Many thanks for your kind comments, the layout is only 15 inches wide but is 20 ft long so I suppose you could say its one of these "plank" type designs. Cheers, the footie fans had to be squeezed in somehow lol. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hybridangel77 Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 what size is your layout greig and do you have any further plans for it or anything you still need to add. terry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Mac Posted April 23, 2013 Author Share Posted April 23, 2013 Hi Terry, The Poulton layout measures up at 20.5ft long and 2ft wide (max) which includes the fiddle yards on both ends. I don't have any further plans for the layout in terms of expanding it, I think that will be its final size. As for additions, that will probably be just little adjustments to the scenery over time, nothing major though. Cheers, Greig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Mac Posted May 2, 2013 Author Share Posted May 2, 2013 A small running session on the layout with visiting Central Trains 150/1 was had last night. Here are a few pics: Cheers, Greig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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