Arpster

I couldn't have put it better myself, dear Porce. Arp

If you want to explore these maps a bit more, Les, the National Library of Scotland site has them on now: http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=54.8730&lon=-1.6677&layers=171 You can use the transparency slider at the bottom of the box on the left to compare to modern-day aerial photos. It's amazing how the field patterns still follow the old colliery sites and lines!A Arp

I've just found this absolutely tremendous photo of Blackgill on Flickr. Thanks to Simon Edmunds for putting it online: https://www.flickr.com/photos/simage61/17029495350/ I hope that those of you who made it to Scalefour North at the weekend enjoyed watching Blackgill. It worked pretty smoothly 85% of the time, and we're finally getting the hang of the timetable at last! All the best, Arp

Blackgill is all set up and ready to go at Scalefour North in Wakefield. Come and say hello if you're at the show. There's an bonus 9F this year, with 92099 emerging from the works, and we might even be demonstrating the new 'Dusk Mode' option! All the best, Arp

Was this the former Percy Arms? If so, it wasn't part of the station but the back windows did look onto the platform of the former Blyth and Tyne station: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/p/percy_main_bt/ Arp

Cracking photo, that. I'd always assumed those torpedo trains would have needed to be double-headed up there. As an aside, what's that little loading conveyor down at the bottom of the fields? Arp

Have you tried asking on LNER.info, Duncan? Arp

Yes, the anti-nationalisation rhetoric even crops up at the end where he's "talking" to the engine driver about "them painting it black" - a clear reference to British Railways coming in and ruining it! Arp

p.s. Where's that station at the end of 'Men of Consett'? In the description it says "probably Rowley" but it seems to be a 7-coach train and I can't work out what kind of engine is pulling it.

I'll have a look in Whittle the next time I'm over at my dad's, Porcy. Thanks for the pointers. Thanks for the links, Duncan. I'm so pleased that NERA are starting to put embedded digital versions of their films on the website now - it's a real treasure trove! 'Men of Consett' is a brilliant film. If you can overlook Tom Stobart and the hilariously 'natural' dialogue with the actual workers, it is a great portrait of the steel works. And the footage of the furnaces is incredible! It's available on the BFI Steel boxed set if anyone is interested: http://www.bfi.org.uk/blu-rays-dvds/working-life-steel Arp

That's an interesting question and one to which I don't know the answer. I assume you must have some photos somewhere of pre-56-ton hopper iron ore trains, Porcy? Can you recall what formed the trains? And as for those pipe supports, would the seawater pipe to the chemical works (which I assume is the same one that went over the Queen Alexandra Bridge in Sunderland?) have gone beyond Washington station and up into the 'v' of the junction? On the subject of Washington Chemical Works, there are some fantastic photos of the works (and the station) on the Britain from Above website (you need to register or log-in to be able to zoom in and see the detail). For example: http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw016389 Arp

Was it not just called Tyne Dock Bottom? Page 10: http://files.limitofshunt.org.uk/other-documents/br-ner/signal-boxes-hours-of-opening-1961.pdf Arp

I think you're right, Brian. The sidings for the Team Valley Trading Estate would have been on the other side of the slow lines (and are visible in some of that contributor's other photos on that site - sadly it's not the easiest website to navigate or link to, but there are loads of other gems in that area on there with some fantastic freights behind Claytons, EE Type 3s with brake tenders and even EE Type 1s!). It does look to be a 'Perambulator' van, yes. How often did the Tyneside electrics make it off their patch onto the mainline? I guess most of their repairs and maintenance were done at Gosforth? Arp

Hopefully it should be working now! Arp

I'm not sure we've had this one before, but he's a Tyneside electric car being towed along the ECML in Low Fell by a Clayton: http://railphotoarchive.org/rpc_zoom.php?img=0187020166000 Any idea where it would have been?! Arp Edited to correct the link!

That's the fella, aye! Well, what wicked webs they weave, eh? Amazing the lengths they went to in order to close railway lines. Arp

I have a booklet somewhere printed at the time the yard was opened detailing its design and construction. If I remember correctly, that road has diverted in order to build the yard, sending it round and under those bridges being built in the film (which as you say, John, are all still there although only a couple of them still carry lines). You can see the stub of the old road going past Long Acre Farm on the OS Map of the area (which you can get on Bing Maps). I seem to remember that they also had to divert the River Team too. I can maybe dig out the booklet and try to scan it if anyone's interested. Arp

The clip closer to the beginning with the EE Type 4 passing on the car carrier train (at 4:28) looks to be taken at the north end of Tyne Yard too (probably under construction, given the contents of the trains in the foreground), with Lamesley Colliery on the hillside. Arp

It's to the north-west of the mainline, just at the back of the new flats that were built on the old coal yard. I managed to take a couple of pretty poor photos from my friend's kitchen window last night: It's sandwiched in a sort of no-man's land between the boundary fence and the new back fence of the housing development, still on a very overgrown siding! Arp

It seems like that leaning telegraph pole next to the signal box (as faithfully recreated on Blackgill!) has been there, leaning, for an awful long time! It's still there in the 1960s photos in that Flickr stream too! Arp

A very sad photo. It's weird to see a Railfreight liveried brakevan on the Stanhope and Tyne Railway! Arp

I'm not an expert at these things, but I've had a tinker with the levels on that photo and it's come out like this. Maybe someone more skilled with Photoshop or similar could do a lot more with it! Arp

What a great photo. You can only imagine the noise they would have been making on the climb up around the hillsides. I'll repeat my request here that I made on your layout topic, John: has anyone ever seen any photos of the Washington to Ouston Junction section of the line after it re-opened in the 1970s for the ore trains from Redcar terminal? I've seen a few photos of Biddick Lane crossing (both in steam days, and PinzaC55's photos of it with a railtour crossing in the Eighties) but that's about it. Cheers, Arp

I'm a bit late to the party on this one but it's great to see another model of this fascinating route being built, and it's looking really good so far. You've certainly come up with an ambitious track plan! With regard to the discussion on the previous page about wagon loads, Blackgill does employ both a secret track and removable loads. For the coal trains (of which there are many!) and the iron ore trains (of which there is one) there are loads which are removed with a magnet. This is a pretty quick and easy process and means that only one rake of iron ore wagons is needed. Steel plate trains also have removable loads. However, with the train of bogie bolsters with loads that are chained down it is obviously a bit more difficult to remove the loads so this is sent along the hidden track behind the embankment at the rear of the layout. In theory anyway, as at Scaleforum we couldn't get this to work because of a point being out of gauge! There are actually two hidden tracks, which allows storage and passing of trains should it be necessary. I'm looking forward to following your progress with this. The Dave Alexander hopper certainly looks the part. I wonder if it's any lighter than the Dave Bradwell version, as even a 9F struggles to get the rake moving on Blackgill. Maybe it needs roller-bearings... As for the colour, I think the original livery was bauxite but by the time they were covered with reddish-orange iron ore dust you wouldn't be able to tell that! All the best, Arp p.s. being interested in the more recent history of the line, I have been enjoying immensely the photos you've managed to find of the later years with diesel power. I grew up a stone's throw from Washington station, so if you ever unearth any pictures of the Washington to Ouston Junction section then I'd love to see them, as there appears to be hardly any photos of this section of line after its re-opening for the Redcar iron ore trains.

I hope he was polite and cheery, and not his usual grumpy self! Having looked at the 'night-time' photos on my monitor at work, it seems that they're a bit dark. I'll have to have a go at taking longer exposures to see if I can better capture the subdued 1950s railway lighting! Arp