Along the Chapeltown loop

[Alister_G]

I sometimes wish the new likes system allowed multiple choice, as a simple like is not enough on it's own!

 

Thank you for a fascinating description of how your layout works in conjunction with the software.

 

This is something I would like to try at some future point when I actually have a running layout.

 

As someone who works with computers as a day job, the idea of automatic scheduling in conjunction with manual shunting sounds an interesting avenue to explore.

 

Cheers,

 

Al

[LNER4479]

I can only echo comments of others. For me, this is a model of a RAILWAY (as opposed to a model railway - I contend that there is a difference). There are similarities in approach with my previous layout, but operationally yours is developed to a far more sophisticated level.

 

A pity it has to go but thanks for sharing it and I'm sure a bigger and better version will arise from the ashes

[Draughtsman]

@northolland

A “thank you” is due to you for posting an enjoyable description of your layout.

 

Many thanks for your detailed explanation of how you use RR&Co. I now have a better understanding of the capabilities. offering an interesting approach to operation.

 

Also for your appreciation of the track plan I produced and supplying the information that enabled me to update to a more accurate version.

[northolland]

I will now start explaining how I have set up traffic flows on the layout. I do the mineral traffic first. It will show the basics of how I have done it. The general goods traffic will be explained later, as there are a number of complications and twists to it.

 

Every waybill denotes a movement of one wagon from one point on the layout to another point on the layout. This can be from staging yard to a client located on the layout; this can be from client to client, or from staging yard to staging yard. In the case of my mineral traffic, it is from the staging yard to four different clients: Dearne Mill, G. Pedley & Sons – Coal Merchants, Samuel Cooke & Co and the Astley engine facility. When the wagons have been unloaded, they need to be removed. This would require another waybill. If the wagon goes back to the same destination all the time, you can use the same waybill and add the return destination on the back. This is what I have done with my mineral traffic.

 

The waybills have a ‘turn over after unloading’ instruction on the front, and when you turn the waybill card over, it says ‘return emty to .......”.  Mineral wagons are run as out-and-back traffic, going loaded from staging yard to the consignee and then back empty to the staging yard again.

 

So with four destinations, I can have waybills from an offside consignor  (the staging yard) to any of the four consignees on the layout that receive coal. As consignors, I simply took some South Yorkshire pits. The question then is: how many waybills do you make? This depends on two considerations. One is how many wagons fit on the layout. The other is what frequency and volume of traffic do you want.

 

The capacity is determined either by how many wagons fit in the fiddle yard where the train originates and ends, or by how many wagons can be spotted with the consignees on the layout. The mineral train starts and ends in the same road in the staging yard. This road fits 10 wagons plus engine and brake van.

 

Dearne Mill has room for one wagon next to the boiler house.

 

The coal yard where G. Pedley is located fits four wagons.

 

The engine facility at Astley also fits only one wagon.

 

There is flexibility with regard to Samuel Cooke & Co. Samuel Cooke is a fuel dealer imagined to exists alongside the steelworks branch, which is off site. This means that the wagons for Samuel Cooke will be delivered and collected at Astley Down Sidings. The other destinations can take 6 wagons in total. The train length is limited to 10 wagons.  Astley Down Sidings can easily fit 4 or more wagons so with my mineral traffic, the maximum train length determines the capacity. This means I can have 10 waybills delivering coal for every operating session.

 

The next question is: how am I dividing the traffic up between destinations? Here is where another thing comes into play. I work with a working week of six days. I have given the people on my layout Sundays off. Every operating session is a day of the working week. I do that so that I can say that a destination receives so many loads per week. If I do not specify the days, I can have variety in how many wagons turn up each day. This also means that I have a capacity of 6 x 10 = 60 out-and-back movements for my mineral traffic for the whole working week.

 

So when it comes to establishing the mineral traffic flow, I established that Dearne Mill receives 1 16ton load every working day. That takes care of 10 of the 60 coal traffic movements that I have room for. I also imagined that the Astley engine facility receives 2 20ton loads of loco coal every week. G. Pedley receives 18 16tons loads and 1 20tons load per week, and Samuel Cooke receives 18 16tons loads and 2 20tons loads. So I made 49 waybills for my mineral traffic. I did not go up to the full capacity of 60 out-and-back movements to leave some room for daily fluctuations.

 

To set up the daily traffic flows, I make six smaller piles of waybill cards. I make sure that each pile has a waybill for Dearne Mill, as they receive a load every day. I shuffle the other waybills and allocate them to days of the week at random. To keep the piles apart, I have made cards that denote the days of the week. When I have finished with an operating session – ‘at the end of the day’ so to speak – the train has returned to the staging yard and I take the pile of car cards for that train and remove the waybills that came with it. I then take the waybills for the next day and stick them in the empty pockets of the car card, making sure that 16 tons loads go into 16T wagons, and 20 tons loads go into 20T or 21T wagons. If I cannot fit all the waybills, I add them to the pile for the next day. I only have 11 16 tonners and 3 20/21tonners, so this happens quite often.

Edited September 20, 2013 by northolland

[John B]

Someone beat me to it - this is a real model of a railway, rather than a railway model. Doesn't matter a whit that it's unfinished, or that it uses (very well, I might add) commonly available kit buildings. It achieves the "art of the typical" and that makes it special.

 

This thread has been, for me, one of the most inspiring things I've read on RMWeb. Serious kudos, and I look forward to seeing more (and the next iteration).

[northolland]

The trip working from Astley Down Sidings is moving past the coal yard on its way to Pennyfields, .....

 

...... passing under Carr Head Lane, .....

 

..... and coming to a full stop next to Dearne Mill.

 

The paperwork has arrived too.

 

The EE Type 1 has brought two vans loaded with cotton cloth. These are to be exchanged with two vans for BMC in Longbridge, loaded with car batteries manufactured by Paramount, an empty open which has to go to Newton-Chambers, probably to pick up a machine there, and a van with underwear for Marks & Spencer, made at the Dearne Mill.

 

Vans W142689 and B755196, standing furthest away, are the ones with the car batteries. Empty open W111695 stands in front of them. Van B765491, standing closest,  is the one destined for Marks & Spencer. The mineral was brought in this morning and will be exchanged with the empty one still standing at the Dearne Mill boiler house later this afternoon.

 

The diesel shunter is ready to start moving again.

 

Having come forward, it will back into the exchange siding .......

 

..... to couple up.

 

The five wagons are pulled out to clear the points.

 

After the points have been changed, the engine pushes the short rake towards the waiting train to couple up with the brake van.

 

The whole rake is then pulled out, leaving D8158 behind.

 

The newly arrived vans are pushed into the exchange siding. The shunter will leave them there.

 

Having gone back and forth a second time, the four wagons for Astley Down Sidings and destinations further are now standing ready.

 

Simultaneously, D8158 has moved a few yards forward to clear the crossover and is ready to run round to the front of the train. The two vans that it has brought in are now standing in the exchange siding.

 

The shunter has moved into the exchange siding as well, making room for D8158 to run round.

 

Having coupled up, the crew is now preparing to depart for Astley Down Sidings again.

 

Looking down Carr Head Lane.

 

While Pennyfields Sidings was being shunted, a 9F has come along the Down Slow and is passing Carr Head Junction. It is bringing in the afternoon goods from Masborough Sorting Sidings.

 

The train has been brought to a halt at the Astley South Junction Down Slow Home signal. The driver blows the 9F’s whistle to tell the signalman they have arrived.

 

The signalman has cleared the route into Astley Down Sidings and the train is driven slowly into the No.2 arrival line.

 

The heavy train has very carefully crept right up to the buffer stop. Again the driver blows the 9F’s whistle to indicate it has come to a full stop.

 

This train too comes with paperwork.

 

For the present, the train will be split into three parts: the brake van will be moved to the No.6 line first. The fitted head will be parked on the No.3 line. The unfitted wagons eventually are destined for the No.5 line. However, there is not enough room to do that, so they will have to temporarily put elsewhere.

 

The Jinty has made contact and will shortly pull the brake van away.

 

Here they are in the shunting neck.

 

And brake van B950388 has been parked next to the other brake van.

 

The pilot is about to couple up again. It will pull the whole train away from the 9F.

 

Having cleared the crossover in the arrival/departure lines, the 9F is now able to cross to the No.1line.

 

It moves slowly alongside the wagons it has just brought in. We can now see it is 92077.

 

The mighty freight engine crosses the mainline on its way to the engine facility to be turned and watered, and generally made ready for the return trip to Masborough.

 

Having stopped in the Up Slow, it can now move forward into the engine facility spur.

 

In the meantime, the train has been split and the pilot goes off with the unfitted wagons.

 

92077 moves towards us, into the engine facility spur. The Jinty pulls the unfitted wagons into the shunting head. The three loaded grain wagons are destined for Tower Mills. The plate wagon and the two bogie bolsters are loaded with steel billets from Park Gate Works in Rawmarsh. These will be made into plate steel and steel coils at Milton Steelworks.

 

(The steel loads have to be imagined, as I have not come round to making them yet.) 

 

The unfitted wagons have been temporarily parked in the No.1 line.

 

The 9F is about to be turned.

 

The Jinty now collects the fitted wagons  .....

 

....... and pulls them out. The VANWIDE in the middle is for Tower Mills. They are brought in empty almost every day to be available for a load of palleted bags of flour. The other wagons loaded with meat, vegetables and cement are for Barnsley. They will be shunted into the later train for Dunford Bridge, which will detach these wagons at Barnsley Goods. 

 

With the fitted wagons safely put away on the No.3 line, the pilot has come for the unfitted wagons and pulls them out again.

 

Meanwhile, 92077 is ready to take water.

 

The unfitted wagons are to be put in the No.2 line so that the return train for Masborough can be put together on the No.1 line.

 

There are four wagons waiting on the No.5 line destined for Masbourough Sorting Sidings and beyond, which have to be collected first. Open P252247 came from Newton-Chambers at Thorncliffe siding a short while ago. Empty grain wagons B885314, E18793, and B885304 were brought over from Tower Mills in the early morning. But before that can happen, a brake van has to be brought over from the No.6 line.

 

Brake van B950388 had just arrived from Masbourough and will now bring up the rear of the return working.

 

The Jinty is about to pull the brake van out.

 

It is then parked right at the end of the No.1 line.

 

The Jinty has come for the unfitted wagons for Masbourogh on the No.5 line. The plate wagon closest to the engine has to be pulled out as well because it is standing in front of the open and the three grain wagons.

 

The ensemble has been combined with the lonely brake van on the No.1 line.

 

While this is taking place, a fitted freight has emerged from Astley Tunnel. It is routed over the Chapeltown Loop on its way from Leeds Hunslet to Sheffield Wicker.

 

It continues along the Up Fast, past Astley South Junction.

 

The engine is a ‘namer’: Jubilee 45609 ‘Gilbert and Ellice Islands’.

 

(I know this particular Jubilee was scrapped before 1963. The model also has not any of its ‘bits’ fitted yet. It was on sale and very cheap when I bought it, so I couldn’t resist.)

 

Slowing down in the curve under Hough Lane, it will cross over to the slow line at Carr Head Junction.

 

The signal has been pulled off.

 

And here the train click-clacks and squeals through the points.

 

There is still a wagon to collect on the No.4 line. Bogie bolster W107319 has to be brought back empty to Rawmarsh.

 

Here it is, waiting patiently

 

An afternoon service to Barnsley exchange slows down for its stop at Astley Park.

 

Hardly any passengers travel this time of the day.

 

The Jinty has collected the bogie bolster. The plate wagon it pulled away with the open and the grain wagons earlier, is still attached.

 

Now the pilot pushes the bogie bolster into the No.1 line.

 

The massive 92077 has moved into the engine facility spur. It cannot go any further yet .....

 

..... because a train with coal empties for one of the collieries further up the line has appeared from the darkness of Astley Tunnel .....

 

..... and trundles past.

 

Only after the coal empties has cleared Astley South Junction, 92077 can move forward and cross over to Astley Down Sidings to collect its train.

 

The coal empties clunk along the Up Advanced Starter.

 

The engine leans into the bend, crawling forward towards ....

 

...... Carr Head Junction, where it whistles past.

 

The 9F has now connected to the short return train to Masborough on the No.1 line. The Jinty has coupled to the unfitted wagons still standing on the No.2 line and will now sort them out.

 

The Jinty pulls the rake into the shunting neck while the Masborough train is starting its journey.

 

Coming under Hough Lane, the short train is an easy job for the 9F.

 

Having past Carr Head Junction, the Pennyfields – Astley Down Sidings trip is waiting on the branch. It had to wait there until the Masborough job at Astley Down Sidings had been finished.

 

Quiet has returned to Astley Down Sidings. The shunting crew on the Jinty use this opportunity to replenish the water supply.

Edited July 28, 2013 by northolland

[Guest bri.s]

Awesome stuff I think the pennyfields ,dearne mill and coal yard area could be a layout in there own right never mind the rest of the layout.

Loved seeing this and how you operate it can't wait for what you have instore for the next layout

Brian

Edited July 27, 2013 by bri.s

[bescotbeast]

Fascinating pictures, I get the real sense of an afternoon or evening being spent in gainful employment just "working" trains around your layout. As I've said before this whole topic gives me so many ideas to pursue.

                                                                   Simon

[The Nth Degree]

This is a fascinating way of building real purpose into a model railway. I'm wondering if this system could be successfully be scaled down, without resorting to repetitive moves. For example, if you only had a limited number of wagons and 'wagon drops' how would you provide variety? Also, if you were short of a particular wagon type, would you then add that consignment to the next trip? Indeed, would this happen in reality, or would somebody make absolutely sure there would be enough wagons of a particular type available?

 

The reason I'm asking is that not everybody has the luxury of having such a large layout with many different locations, more often than not it's just one location or area plus fiddle yard.

[northolland]

@Brian / bri.s

In a way, well observed. Pennyfields without the coal yard was the first bit I built, and I have operated it on its own for a while. The track plan resembles John Allan's timesaver. Where the coal yard is now, was a fiddle yard previously. That is one reason why Carr Head Lane is where it is: it was the pro-verbial bridge where the railway disappears off stage.

 

@the Nth degree

This also in a way answers your question whether it could be scaled down. The two destinations at Pennyfields with the traffic that I imagined was going in and out provided me with enough variety to have a somewhat different shunting puzzle every time I did an operating session. How I achieved that hopefully will become clear when I explain about how I have set up the general goods traffic flow. However, as with the real railway, there is of course a lot of regularity and after a while I developed a particular procedure how to shunt Pennyfields in the most efficient way. Yet occasionally it did happen that I had to improvise because the inbuilt random variety in my 'system' throws up surprises and traffic peaks. I think I mentioned that one time I had Pennyfields clogged up with empty vans. If you look at pictures of Pennyfields, you can see that there two CONFLATs sitting there. They came there carrying sewing thread for Dearne Mill but the return empty to Masbourough waybill has not turned up yet.

 

On a previous smaller layout, I only had a small through station with a goods yard. The variety of traffic that comes with serving a small town is only limited by your imagination. An 'excuse' can be found to run almost every goods wagon you can think of. To keep it real, you just have to watch the frequency: so a couple of coal wagons every day as you would expect (you can vary the number) but a flat wagon with a new tractor for a local farmer only once a month.

 

If I do not have a wagon available at a location to match a waybill, I add that waybill to next day's pile in the hope / expectation that an empty wagon will turn up later. In fact, when devising the system, I made sure that this will happen. Although I have been caught out by forgetting about a particular car movement, with an empty wagon still sitting in a siding after many operating sessions because I had forgotten to create a waybill to take it off stage.

 

@ all of you, I am glad you are enjoying my posts and I am somewhat surprised by the nice comments that you all make.

[northolland]

It is late in the afternoon now and the trip working from Pennyfields has just been allowed to leave the branch on its way to Astley Down Sidings.

 

The train has been stopped on the Up Slow. The Astley South Junction signalman will pull the levers to allow it to cross the mainline into the No.1 departure / reception line.

 

Permission has been given and the short train squeals through the points.

 

D8158 has slowly pulled forward and come to a stop. The Astley pilot has just finished taking in water .....

 

.... and the crew readies themselves for their last big shunting job of the day. The Pennyfields trip needs to be sorted out first. As soon as that has been taken care off, the train for Dunford Bridge train has to be put together on the No. 1 line.

 

The paperwork has arrived as well.

 

Van B765491 can stay attached to the train engine, as the EE Type 1 will provide the power for the Dunford Bridge train. This van is loaded with underwear for Marks & Spencer. At Dunford Bridge, it will be attached to a train that is going to take it through Woodhead Tunnel and onto Mottram Yard, from where it will be put in another train on its way to Chester. The unfitted open will have to be put on the No. 5 line while fitted vans B755196 and W142689 are going to be stabled in the No. 3 line. These three wagons will spend the night at Astley Down Sidings, to be put in trains tomorrow, which will take them towards their final destinations. The open will be put in the trip working for Thorncliffe Siding while the two vans will be taken to Masborough Sorting Sidings first, where they will be marshalled into another train on their way to Longbridge. The brake van will have to be taken off as well and put in to the No.6 line.

 

The four wagons are being pulled out.

 

Having arrived in the shunting neck, the train will reverse direction and the open will be dropped of first.

 

The ancient GWR open has been left in the No.5 line with the other unfitted wagons that are normally parked there.

 

The two fitted vans are now in the No. 3 line with the other fitted wagons.

 

Finally the brake van is being pushed in the No. 6 line.

 

While the Pennyfields trip working is being dealt with, the  late afternoon service for Normanton has pulled into Astley Park’s platform 2.

 

Passengers are crossing the line over the footbridge and will come out of the station any second now.

 

The signal has been pulled off.; the guard has blown his whistle. The driver of the Fairburn tank will sound the engine’s whistle in acknowledgement and the train will be on its way again.

 

The Dunford Bridge train has to be gathered next. There are 12 wagons in the yard that will have to join D8158 and the van from Pennyfields on the No.1 line, which were left there. 8 of these are fitted. The fitted wagons will be done first so that they can form a fitted head. Most of the fitted wagons actually will not go all the way to Dunford Bridge but they will be dropped off at Barnsley. They are all standing on the No.3 line, but they need to be cut out from the wagons that are to stay behind.

 

It will take a couple of moves to get it all sorted.

 

The whole rake is being pushed into the No.1 line for ......

 

SHOCK open B721326 and VANWIDE B782873 to be detached.

 

The two Esso tankers are to be left at Astley Down Sidings and are pushed back into the No.3 line.

 

PRESFLOs PF20 and PF66 and fruit vans B875716 and W134211 are next in the rake to be put on the Dunford Bridge train.

 

Two moves later and empty VANWIDE that was brought in from Masborough for the flour mill at Tower Mills earlier today is back on the No.3 line, while .....

 

..... it is now the turn of CONFLAT B709007 and insulated van B872016 to be attached to the growing Dunford Bridge train.

 

And here are the two vans from Pennyfields with car batteries for Longbridge again. They can now be finally parked on the No.3 line for their overnight stay. Meanwhile a DMU service for Barnsley Exchange is slowing down for its stop in Astley Park’s platform 2.

 

With the fitted wagons now sorted, there are still four unfitted COIL Js on the No.5 line, which have to be added.

 

While busy with all this shunting, an 8F pulling an unfitted freight emerges on the Carr head Junction Down Slow.

 

It slows down even further to merge into the Down Fast at Astley South Junction.

 

Here it rattles through the point work. It is difficult to make out the engine’s number.

 

Now the train curves through Astley Park station.

 

It will soon disappear into Astley Tunnel. This final shot reveals that it is 8F 48151.

 

The COIL Js have been waiting all day at the end of the No.4 line, so the whole rake needs to be pulled out to get at them

 

They are pushed towards the rest of the Dunford Bridge train on the No.1 line.

 

The DMU has come back from Barnsley Exchange and is now on its way to Sheffield Midland again. It will stop with a little brake squeal in Astley Park’s platform 1.

 

A few minutes later and the DMU gathers speed as it comes out of the curve underneath Hough Lane.

 

The only thing left to do is to get the brake van from the No.6 line and attach it to the rear of the Dunford Bridge train.

 

With all the moves complete, all wagons coupled up, and having performed a brake test, D5158 has pushed the Dunford Bridge train into the Down Slow.

 

The signalman has given the all clear .....

 

..... and D5185 pulls its train .....

 

..... into Astley Park station. Next stop will be Barnsley Goods where a number of wagons will be dropped off.

Edited August 16, 2013 by northolland

[Draughtsman]

@northolland

 

Thank you for the latest account of your layout working I find it absolutely fascinating.

 

I note in one of your earlier posts that you collect snippets of information about the line.

Way back in 1949 as an 11year old ( is it really 64 years ago) I was introduced by a friend to the delights of standing on the canal bank (towpath) at Stairfoot at 6.15pm. waiting for a named locomotive on an express train coming from Sheffield. The position was carefully chosen to get the view of the train for the longest possible time and to be able to read its number and name before it disappeared over the high viaduct and headed for Ardsley Tunnel. Of course British Railways did not always work to our plan and groans emanated from the little group when a Black 5 appeared instead of a Jubilee. but of course there was not a great variation of named locos allocated to the train anyway. There was a working in the opposite direction at around 3.15 in the afternoon. It was referred to as The Thames Clyde. so you can have a named train that did use the branch.

In the later 1950s there was a 9F with a long train of vans about 8.00pm. on the same stretch of line from Cudworth through Ardsley Tunnel to Monkspring heading for Sheffield.

There was also the oil train on the section from Barnsley to Monkspring going to Ecclesfield Oil Siding.

The Barnsley to Sheffield steam operated Push-Pull sometimes had one or two milk tanks from the Co-op Dairy at Summer Lane tagged onto the back coach.

I left Stairfoot in 1960.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Draughtsman

[Fat Controller]

I wonder if these were part of the 'long train of vans'?

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brizalvan

[Draughtsman]

@Fat Controller

 

Sorry I should have specified they were not the type you have shown they were BR standard vans or possibly ventilated vans. I think they would have been a company train. Cadburys was mentioned by someone at the time but I have never investigated.

[d winpenny]

More great pictures

 

David

[Theakerr]

Fascinating, some very nice modelling too

[Fat Controller]

@Fat Controller

 

Sorry I should have specified they were not the type you have shown they were BR standard vans or possibly ventilated vans. I think they would have been a company train. Cadburys was mentioned by someone at the time but I have never investigated.

If they were coming from the north, then more likely Rowntree's, who established a network of rail-served  distribution depots around the UK (Paddock Wood, Penkridge and Avonmouth spring to mind; doubtless there were others). Did they have light-coloured roofs?

[APOLLO]

A very interesting and refreshingly different thread. As others have said - fascinating.

 

This thread has got me thinking of something similar, however much simplified.

 

I'm thinking of cards being for complete trains only, i.e. point of origin (off layout) / on layout from / to / final destination (off layout), class of train, 4 digit head code or trip number, air/vacuum braked, loco power classification rqd, steam / diesel, loco changes on layout, that sort of thing. I'm thinking of using small cards magnetically affixed to a large layout plan and moved around as required. This may work for me as I tend to run my trains in fixed rakes, occasionally changing locos. I dislike shunting !!.  Perhaps each loco may have a card, and this is fixed to a wagon rake card to make a train card, this being placed on the diagram. Moving train cards being placed on the main line on the diagram.

 

This, hopefully will add interest and make operation a bit less train-set like. - Just having a think at the moment !!!.

 

Thanks for the inspiration.

 

Brit15

[northolland]

As always, thanks for the favourable comments. Draughtsman's observations at the line side in Stairfoot are absolutely fascinating. I had read somewhere that the Thames Clyde Express took the Chapeltown route but it was unclear to me how it proceeded to Leeds: via Barnsley and then the L&Y to Horbury Jct, or via Cudworth. Your memories tell me it was Cudworth. I also read somewhere that there was a Bradford - Poole (or was it Paignton) that travelled over the line, but that was it for glamorous express trains. I am intrigued by the oil train for Ecclesfield Oil Siding. Where did it come from? And the possibility of a 'chocolate train'. If it originates from Rowntree's, I presume it came from York. And how long did the milk tanks from Summer Lane last and where were they off to? 

[northolland]

It has been quite a while since I have added something here. One thing I promised to do is to go into the detail of how I have set up the card system and traffic flows. In previous posts I have explained about the car cards and I have posted about how I have set up the mineral traffic flow. I will now go into the details of the general goods traffic.

 

The purpose of it all is to create what I would call ‘play value’, variety, and a purpose to the running of the trains. Within the confines of the layout, it would be impossible to have any of the traffic volumes that you would see on the ‘real’ railway. My aim was to be faithful to real railway practices but to accept the compromises that need to be made.  And there are little cheats because I fancied particular wagons and created a reason to run them. This means that – if information could be found – attempts were made to create traffic flows that simulate real life while resorting to assumptions, guesses, and simplifications if needs be.

 

The layout was purposefully designed to accommodate this kind of operation. This means that there is a fiddle yard, representing the rest of the UK, so that loads and wagons would have somewhere to originate and terminate outside of what is modeled on the visible part of the layout. I also included a small marshaling yard – Astley Down Sidings – to serve as the hub for all goods traffic. And I added a number of destinations / industries to serve as consignee / consignor.  The industries and destinations that I put in was a compromise between what would be believable for the locality of South Yorkshire and what would be relatively easy to build given my time constraints and modeling ability. It also tried to think up industries that would generate traffic from one destination to another destination on the visible part of the layout so that not every wagon would just be moving from and to the fiddle yard during an operating session.

 

If people have persevered through all the pictures and have reached this post, they should be familiar with the industries and destinations that I have come up with, and also with the trains and trip workings that serve them. Pennyfields was inspired by a brownfield site that has become a small housing estate in Bolton-upon-Dearne. Before it became a housing estate, it was the site of an industrial building that first was occupied by an undergarments firm and it later housed a battery manufacturer by the name of Paramount. I did not find the company name of the undergarment firm, so I came up with the name of Dearne Mill.

 

I utilized educated guesswork to think up traffic flows. Obviously an undergarment manufacturer would produce underwear, so that would be the outbound traffic flow. I imagined that Dearne Mill’s clients would like to have a secure inflow of merchandise. For that reason I specified that the vans that would be used needed to be XP rated so that they could go into fast fully fitted trains. As for inbound traffic, I thought it would be reasonable to expect that underwear would be made from wool or cotton.  So there is wool cloth brought in from West Yorkshire and cotton cloth from Lancashire, all in ventilated vans. I also thought that they would need some sewing thread, which is supplied on reels in BD containers. Because one of the Metcalfe kits I used for Dearne Mill came with a small boiler house, I imagined that all the machinery would be powered by a steam engine, with belts going throughout the buildings, which required a regular supply of coal.

 

I could not find out what kind of batteries was made by Paramount, so I decided to go for car batteries. These are made of lead and acid, which is put together in plastic casings. The lead is transported in an SHOC open, while the battery acid requires a tank wagon. The casings are imported form China and come in wooden crates in open wagons from Liverpool docks. The car batteries are shipped out in vans.

 

The Hovis grain store and flourmill is situated on a branch line coming direct from Astley Down Sidings. The grain store requires a steady flow of grain wagons. The flourmill supplies bags of flour to various bakers in the vicinity, who collect their consignments from the many goods stations in South Yorkshire. Because of the pallets, the flourmill has empty PALVANs and VANWIDEs coming in, and loaded ones coming out with various local destinations. I wanted this combination of the well-known Walthers kits on my layout and my excuse was the Town Mills in Rotherham. Remembering my research vaguely later, I mangled it into Tower Mills when I made the signal diagram on the side of the layout and stuck with it.

 

Further down this branch line, I imagined the Milton Steel Works. People in the area will know about the Milton Iron Works in Elsecar, which name I borrowed here. This I imagined to be a finishing mill, with billets coming in from Park Gate near Rotherham (on bogie bolsters and plate wagons) and steel plate and coils coming out. Halfway along the branch, I positioned a fuel dealer which not only receives coal but also diesel in tank wagons (to provide a reason to run the Airfix/Dapol class B tank wagons). The steelworks and the fuel dealer are off side, which means their traffic flows originate and end in Astley Down Sidings.

 

I managed to squeeze in a single siding along the mainline between Astley Park and Elsecar, with a very low relief factory ‘wall’ behind it. I named it after Newton-Chambers, a firm that once occupied an ebourmous site in Thorncliffe, Chapeltown, hence the name Thorncliffe Siding. I specified their output as machines, which came in large (requiring a LOWMAC to be transported out), or small (to go on normal open wagons). I imagined that the materials they would need to build their machinery would be electric components, and machinery parts (coming in in ventilated vans), steel plate (requires a plate wagon), and tin plate (so that I could specify a SHOCVAN). The steel plate would originate from Milton Steel Works, so that I would have an in-layout traffic flow.

 

Every loaded wagon coming in or going out requires a counter flow of empty wagon workings. This also provided a number of opportunities for in-layout movements, with Pennyfields requiring more loaded vans going out than loaded vans coming in, while Newton-Chambers has only loaded vans coming in and empty ones coming out. Also opens could be redistributed across destinations to match the traffic demands. This was made even more interesting by specifying specific wagon types for specific loads.

 

I also had to make decisions on frequency: how many loads of wool cloth, cotton cloth, and sewing thread are needed to generate how many loads of underwear? I decided to specify this on a weekly basis. So each week Dearne Mill went through 6 loads of cotton cloth, 4 loads of wool cloth, and 2 containers full with sewing thread to generate 8 loads of underwear. I went for a six-day working week, and with these frequencies, this averages out as 2 wagons coming in and 0.75 wagons coming out, each day.

 

These averages are important to consider because of the limitations in terms of maximum train length and siding size. This average daily traffic flow had to be combined with the average daily traffic flow for Paramount Batteries and has to fit within the maximum specified train length of the Pennyfields trip to and from Astley Down Sidings (6 wagons plus engine and brake van) – and all other trains these wagons will be appearing on – most of the time, to make the shunting operations and train workings manageable. I will explain later how traffic was generated in a day-to-day basis, leading to occasional peaks and troughs so every once in a while but you do not want to make this a regular occurrence, as it could grind all traffic to a halt.

 

These decisions were made for all traffic flows, eventually leading to a pile of 268 waybills for non-mineral traffic. The number of wagon movements was slightly higher because some waybills featured a ‘return empty to’ instruction, thus not requiring a separate run empty waybill. This averages out as roughly 45 to 50 non-mineral wagon movements per operating session. One wagon movement can involve up to three different trains.

 

To do all this, my timetable features two daily return goods train workings and three daily return trip workings. The return goods trains start in the fiddle yard while the trips are confined to the visible part of the layout. The daily goods train from Masborough Sorting Sidings for Astley Down Sidings comes in from the Elsecar direction and carries wagons originating in the Eastern and Northeastern regions, and the southeastern part of the Southern Region. The daily goods to and from Dunford Bridge comes in from the Barnsley direction and connects with trains going over Woodhead to and from destinations on the Western, London Midland, and Scottish regions, and southwestern part of the Southern Region.  There are daily trips to and from Pennyfields, Tower Mills, and Thorncliffe Siding.

 

A six-day working week means six operating sessions. To generate the traffic for each operating session, I first divide all waybills into 6 stacks on the basis of where the consignor is located. So there is a Pennyfields stack, a Thorncliffe stack a Tower Mills stack, an Astley Down Sidings stack, a Masborough stack, and a Dunford Bridge stack. Then each of these stacks is subdivided in six smaller stacks to divide them up over the six days. Some traffic flows require a daily delivery so I make sure there is one waybill in each day stack. The others are allocated at random. After I have done that, I put the day stacks for each location together again but separated by a ‘day’ card for each working day. The stacks for the on-side locations are kept in a special pocket next to the waybill holders on the side of the layout marked ‘dispatching’. The Dunford Bridge and Masborough stacks are kept on a small table underneath the layout.

 

For an operating session to start, I first remove all the waybills from the car cards of every wagon that has reached its destination, and collect them in the pockets labeled ‘receiving’ that I have created beneath the ‘dispatching’ pockets. I then go round every location and take the cards from the stack in the dispatching pocket until I reach the day card. If a wagon is available at the location to take a load, I tuck the waybill in the respective car card. If a wagon is unavailable for that particular load, I add the waybill to the next day’s stack. I do the same with the Masborough and Dunford Bridge trains in the fiddle yard, fiddling with the wagons that are available there, removing and adding waybills, and putting the wagons in the right train for that day.

 

Each operating session takes the best part of the day. There is time for coffee, lunch, and tea breaks. When I have gone through six operating sessions – Monday to Saturday – I start again with sorting waybills on the basis of the consignor and making new stacks. This is how it basically works. It looks complicated when you have to explain it but it was rather fun to puzzle it all out and research / imagine possible traffic flows. It is even more fun to ‘play’ trains on the basis of this.

[Guest bri.s]

The oil train I think came from pinder oaks /qarry junction sidings I'm going to get in touch with my uncle to verify

The Bradford to Paignton was called the Devonian

I've read some where recently that the cudworth flyer got routed over the Chapletown loop at least once due to engineering works at monkbretton

There's also Bradford exchange st pancras (Yorkshireman ) but that had stopped by the 1940's though but a bit of modellers licence you could run that

There was a a decent yard about 7 sidings it increased to 10 in the late 40's i think ,stairfoot side of ardsley tunnel called ardsley sidings I read that they were for coal trains from the skiers spring area they were marshalled there sothey didn't have to go into Carlton sidings which at that time were pretty clogged

Don't know where the milk tanks went though

Brian

[Draughtsman]

@northolland

Thanks for another really interesting account.

 

I have enquired and researched some of the traffic flows I observed in the 1950s.(my post 62).

 

Suggestions are that the Co-op milk may have originally come from Doncaster area, but supplies may also have been from Shropshire or Cheshire travelling over Woodhead and return empties via Sheffield.

 

The oil trains for Ecclesfield were from Shell refinery’s and in the 50’s & 60’s would probably have been from Heysham via Skipton

see http://www.derbysulzers.com/68.html. July 1968. 06.40 Heysham - Ecclesfield oil tanks.

 

Outside your time period The BR Eastern Region Working Timetable of Conditional Train Services 6 Oct. 1975 to 2 May 1976 Shows YJ16 Weekdays  train 6E57 as COY (Company Train) timed at 22.15 ex. Stanlow to Ecclesfield does not run Monday or Sat. and as conditional could be cancelled at short notice on the days it was booked to run.

Dunford West 01 38, Barnsley Jn. dep.01 51. Sheffield No.3 02X11.GL Woodburn Jn. 02 14. Attercliffe Lane 02 16. Shepcote Lane 02 20. Tinsley Yard arr.02 25

Tinsley Yard Express Freight dep. 06.11as 06Z42 Brightside Jn. 06.19 to Ecclesfield.

 

In the same timetable there was a train 6J36 timed ex Teesport 03 05 to Ecclesfield except Sat. this train ran via York, Burton Salmon 05 11, Altofts Junct.05 21, Cudworth Stn.05 39, Wath Road Jn. 05 51 to Tinsley Yard

 

 

 

see http://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-diesels/8099801906/ English Electric type 3 (Class 37) 6795 (later 37095) heads 6J37 15 13 Teesport Refinery to Ecclesfield Oil Terminal.

 

Edited September 25, 2013 by Draughtsman

[Guest bri.s]

Sorry I was wrong with the oil working I got mixed up. think the ecclesfield working used to get double head class 25's on it as well.

The train I got it mixed up with was a train that called to an oil siding at quarry junction the working finished in the 70's and came up from wath yard usually a couple if 08's on it ,don't know when the working started though

Brian

[northolland]

At the end of the day, there still is some shunting to do at Pennyflields Sidings.

 

There are five wagons that need to be spotted alongside Dearne Mill. The two vans at the back are loaded with cotton cloth and have been brought over from Astley Down Sidings earlier in the day. The other two vans are empty and will be spotted alongside the loading bay, to be stuffed full with a day’s production of underwear. The mineral contains coal for Dearne Mill’s boiler house.

 

Unfitted van M523538 has been pulled from the Paramount siding earlier. It is loaded with car batteries, destined for BMC. Fitted van B777777 has been loaded with underwear and is on its way to Marks & Spencer. The mineral has been pulled from Dearne Mill’s boiler house and needs to be brought back to Wath. These three wagons are standing in the exchange siding, ready to be picked up tomorrow

 

D3586 pushes the mineral towards the stop block at the end of the siding, where Dearne Mill’s boiler house is located.

 

Here the shunter is pushing the two empty vans to the loading dock, which can be made out in the far left of the picture.

 

The final move of the day at Pennyfields has spotted the two vas loaded with cotton cloth next to the warehouse.

 

D3686 is now powered down and parked up for the night.

 

Astley Down Sidings’ pilot ‘Jinty’ 47629 prepares to move across the mainlines into the small motive power depot.

 

The crew has to wait for the last DMU of the day to go past, on its way to Barnsley.

 

Having crossed the mainlines, 47629 is about to reverse back into the depot.

 

The only thing left to do is the arduous task of cleaning out the engine and preparing it for next day’s shunting duties.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

The layout is no more. All trains, buildings, and electronics, etc. have been taken off. The remaining bench work ended up in Barnsley’s waste disposal site at Worsborough. I started this thread with the announcement that I was putting up some pictures of a layout that needed to be dismantled because of an impending house move. That has now taken place. Only Pennyfields Sidings has been saved for now and I have taken it with me to my new location. Thanks to everybody who has taken the time to look through these pages and especially the fellow hobbyists who were kind enough to make some nice comments and share memories of South Yorkshire’s railways. There will be a new layout.

Edited October 27, 2016 by northolland

[Guest bri.s]

Shame to hear the layout is no more ,glad you shared it and will be making another layout .

Will be looking out for it.

 

 

Brian

Edited December 8, 2013 by bri.s