Les1952

Proscenium (almost) done The proscenium painted and lettered. Not quite as bad as the shadow makes it appear- the left-hand end will have the NGS Member sign added and the exhibition plaques for the first two exhibitions will also go here. The worst problem was the amount of dust it picked up when drying. Final job is the curtain, and this is in hand. Next update from me will be some pics from Cotgrave Show if I get time to take them.....

N-gauge version for 2013-2014? Ever hopeful , nice NCB loco even if they only lasted to about 1954 in Coal Board service Les

Monday- name changed Mr Simon in workshop again, and I'm having a break from sorting Furtwangen Ost stock to take to Cotgrave this weekend. Second attempt at the trackplan- Changes from Version 1. I've moved the swing of the main line Southwards (left) to give more room for the slope down to the beach and widen the space for the colliery. The pithead gear is now parallel to the layout front which allows the colliery line Northwards to be straighter and for me to use Setrack for the 9 inch curve taking it offscene. I've made a first attempt at the ropeway, which will need to hit the backscene at both ends. The left hand end of this can be hidden better by curving the backscene more, but the right-hand end is more difficult. Still thinking. The colliery line now falls for a shorter distance. I need a gradient as an excuse to keep the trains shorter. I've marked the Dapol magnets at the mouth of the screens. I'm not sure about the weighbridge- I think I prefer it on the loop- it belongs there. However that might restrict my ability to add an engine shed and a landsale siding. I also need to get a plausible way of starting the ropeway- for obvious reasons it can't cross the board join in the middle. Any ideas? Les (back to stock sorting so I can test it tomorrow)

Ah- interesting to know that Get Carter was in Co.Durham- I must confess I had thought it nearer Blyth but didn't recognise where. I dion't think all the steam at Hawthorn Quarries wrer there at the same time- rather like at Fulwell further North, but it doesn't really matter- the quarries are well offstage. The problem with a ropeway is that if we are looking from the beach direction it really needs to come straight at the viewer, which is unbuildable. If it goes offstage to the right it gets in the way of the pithead- and I'm hoping to get one of those nice brass ones from Wrightscale, the contact has been made and an order placed, just waiting confirmation. I'll see if it can be fittted in going off to the left..... All the very best Les RMWeb still won't let me edit the first post and change the header......

Greetings Simon, and many thanks for the offer, which I may need to take up at some point. I'm keen to stay on the stretch of line the NER built rather than the former Londonderry Railway, which got a bit far from the coast North of Seaham. Going for the bit between Easington and the quarries gives me a line running closer to the coast, a cutting and maybe enough room to be able to get the slope towards the beach if my good friend Trevor Webster says he can manage it when making the baseboards- the main line will be at datum Zero so the colliery line can have the height advantage. I've already talked through with Trevor the engineering problems of having the line on embankment and they make the NCB line all but inoperable if the main line is to work as well. One thing I've not yet found out is what sort of wagons Hawthorn Quarry's traffic went out in- its sidings faced North and there was enough to keep three or four steam locos (latterly two diesels) busy- but what was the limestone actually carried in? All the very best Les Les

Name now settled. Looking in the Durham book I find one dene- Etherley Dene Drift, and two burns, Blaydon Burn and Twizell Burn. I like dene better so Hawthorn Dene Colliery it is. Geographically it would be in No.3 Area but could have a link (offstage) to Hawthorn Bank Top and then onwards to Hawthorn Cokeworks- this would also solve the stone problem as an airial ropeway is proving very difficult to fit into a plan, though I'm still working on it. The Colliery Pecket, posed on Furtwangen Ost. This came off eBay- it is a Farish J94 converted to a Peckett- and a good representation of an X2 class- it is meant to be Lord Salisbury from the Somerset Coalfield. However there was a similar loco (called No.1) at Fishburn Colliery- scrapped in 1958. I will either renumber it as No.1 as the Fishburn one transferred or add nameplates. Fortunately No.3 Area didn't have a numbering scheme, either for inherited or for new/acquired locos. The WD, posed at the same place. This also came off eBay, though I have OO-gauge Geisls converted by me. I can only find one Geisl-fitted WD in County Durham, No.1 area converted one in 1961, which then did the rounds of Boldon and Whitburn Collieries. I'll either repaint this one black and number it as 9 (a no.1 Area loco on loan) or keep it green and add a name as No.3 Area engine. The Topic name will change as soon as I can get "Edit" to work on the first post. Back to the drawing board, trackplan No.2 awaits.

Being one of those who used to annoy George Smith by renumbering and weathering Dapol locos , it is easier to get the numbers off the Dapol paint finish than the Bachmann//Farish......... " I know some people you can never satisfy ... " All the very best Les

Many thanks for the positive comment- I like Hawthorn Dene Colliery myself, though Hawthorn Burn Colliery also has a good North Eastern Ring to it- there was a Blaydon Burn Colliery and a Seaton Burn Colliery- though they were both Tyneside (one each side of the river). Must look in the Durham book to see if there were others- and to see which if any collieries had Dene in their names. Nice job for Sunday instead of falling asleep in front of the Grand Prix on the telly.... The fiddle yard will be the standard ten road yard that the Newark Group have evolved from Trevor Webster's Parnhams layout- each road is divided into long and short sections with the short being about 2 locos long. This allows two trains to be stored in each- the total length of the two being the length of the road- and the trains can be in either order and vary in length. The development from Parnhams is that the exit points are trailing only- the blades are cut short and soldered to leave a gap for trains to run out. I originally got the idea from Stephen Rabone, but Richard Deas used it on Littlewood, and my son Mr Simon has adopted it for Gresby. I do have a brace of 37s, one split headcode and one centre- they and a class 24 are on the roster.... So far for the colliery I have a WD 0-6-0ST with a Geisl ejector, and a Pecket 0-6-0ST, both on Farish J94 chassis, as front line. Hordern Collieries had a Peckett, but it was outside cylindered, and some of the local WD 0-6-0STs got Geisls, though more of these were North of the Tyne. I'll find a Durham one or give it the next blank number in the No.2 area list (I think 73 but may be wrong). Hawthorn would definitely be in No.2 Area rather than No.3 Area for a pit South of Blackhall. All the very best Les

Hello again. Having had a good look on Google Earth the Coast Line goes into cutting just North-East of Easington for about the distance I require, and there are two overbridges (all the better to hide the ends). The sea here is labelled as "Shippersea Bay". There is just north of this point a viaduct where a stream comes down into the sea- is this Hawthorn Dene? That gives me two possible appropriate better names for the layout- "Hawthorn Dene Colliery" or "Shippersea Colliery", though the latter might imply staithes, which I'm not going to build. Fillpoke Lane area is a non-runner, sadly, as the local topography is completely wrong- the Coast Line is on embankment and too open to hide the layout ends. Any ideas as to which is the better name? All the very best Les

Many thanks for the comment- it did help being able to work on it every day for several weeks. Things have been a little busier elsewhere recently- I'm on stage all this week (a pirate in Pirates of Penzance at Grantham). Also I've kept out of the workshop quite a bit in the last 2 or 3 weeks to give Mr Simon a fighting chjance to work on Gresby without his dad in the way..... Final (hopefully) coat of green on the front of the proscenium tomorrow- the sides and top can wait until after the first show- then the lettering is ready to apply in one go. After which I can get onto seriously planning the next one- and find a better name for it than Fillpoke Colliery. Must get on.....

Latest Toy York show saw a visit to Conti-kits stand looking for small diesels with NEM pockets. Didn't find any- still could do with a spare- but I did find this- an RS1 railcar by Bemo. It needs a valance and I may need to source some buffers. I've had to rebuild the corner of the wall behind the shed to give a little more clearance as it is bigger than anything I'd originally thought to use. Meanwhile repainting the proscenium goes ahead. The lettering has arrived for it- this will only need 24 hours to harden when the pros is ready for it. Only ten days to the first show- eek.

Greetings. Very many thanks gents for the suggestions. The idea of the chalet park (not caravans) was that one of the Tyneside councils opened a holiday park at Crimdon for boys from distressed backgrounds, with the original buildings being old Northern General bus bodies, which I thought mioght be interesting (though it aquired prefabs later, some of which looked a bit like the Ten Commandments model)- a couple of bus bodies plus a prefab and a Nissen hut was what I had in mind. Almost certainly going for early rather than mid to late sixties- I first visited Seaham Harbour in 1963, just able to see Milo and Mars, the ex-NER saddletanks, though sadly by then they were out of service. No station and no pointwork at all on the BR line- its function is to supply a succession of trains while the real playing is on the colliery line. Trains would be a pair of expresses with A3 or A1 haulage (I have a pair of professionally made Foxhunter A1s which need some work), a pair of parcels with A3, V2, B1 or A2/2 (Cock O'the North needs work also!), two locals in each direction with DMU, Fairburn or G5, then a through freight each way, a Northbound steel plate Hartlepool to Sunderland with return empties, a dolomite train of Covhops, and full and empty coal trains - a total of somewhere between seven and ten trains in each direction, depending on length. WDs on the Covhops, a Tyne Dock O1 (which is another loco needing a job) on one of the steel trains, and plenty of J25, J26 and J27s. Were there any fish trains along this line? Moving North into the Easington area also gives the possibility of an offstage link to the top of Hawthorn bank for stone disposal and to take coal to Hawthorn Cokeworks- that gives a bit more room to fit a landsale depot towards the left-hand end. The ropeway is also an attractive idea but would need to pass to the curve of the backscene to go offstage- I'll have to think about how this can be managed. Plenty to think about- I'll work up a second version of the trackplan over the next few days- and see if I can find a suitable name for the area between Easington and Dawdon. All the very best Les

Many thanks, Jack. I'll try to keep ideas on here in case I have some really stupid ones that need shooting down.... Just North of Easington Colliery, before you get to Hawthorn Quarries, there is a cutting through higher ground, which would suit, except the line is curving the wrong way at that point. Again there was never a colliery at this point but an older pit "could" have been there. A new pit would have too big a screening house for my purpose. Ownership would probably been Horden Collieries which I can cope with as far as the locos I have for the pit line. However i would lose the holiday chalets as they aren't suitable for that part of the coast- waste dumped onto the beach, but could possibly make a waste tip in front of the railway a second feature - the first feature being the colliery headstocks..... York show today. Time to get ready to go.

Note the trackplan evolved from its earlier provisional name of Crimdon Colliery. Minimum radius on main line 10.5" setrack, on colliery 192mm continental setrack.

Hello all. Having spent about 6 months on Furtwangen ost and got it just about exhibitable, it is time to start planning the next one. This time the aim is to get what I actually want- a roundy-roundy and a shunting plank in one, with the shunting happening at a higher level and self-contained. My primary interests are the late steam period in my native North East, and in NCB railways in the sixties and since. The layout needs to reflect both. the pic shows the sort of ambience I want for the colliery area. My first planning ideas revolved around three boards, each 4' by 2'8 (ie such that they all came from one 8' X 4' plywood sheet). Then I decided that two 5' boards would be easier from the point of transporting them- I have a Grand C4 Picasso. It is for exhibition and home use. At exhibitions most people spend more time in front of roundy-roundies than shunting planks, hence the simple BR line. Next- where to set it? I like to see an odd express as well as the slow freights, parcels etc, so a main line is essential. The East Coast Main Line passes through County Durham so that is a possibility, but on a 10 foot layout the fiddle yard wouldn't really do it justice (we found out with Farndon Road Mark 1 that a 12' layout is a bit short to do the ECML justice feeding trains onto a roundy-roundy). So, what alternatives? One would be to go to West Durham and use the Wear Valley north of Bishop Auckland (done- Bishop Wearburn, can't compete with that). Alternately to use the Leamside line but that would possibly tread onto Fence Houses territory. Both of these lines also suffer from the bigger trains mainly being diversions, and that I didn't want. So the coast line it is. The problem with this is that the pits were big ones, Blackhall, Horden, Easington, Dawton, Seaham and Vane Tempest then you are into the Sunderland area. So where to put it? As you approach the Southern edge of the Durham coalfield there were quite a few smaller collieries, admittedly more to the West than the East, so a location near Blackhall might work. Problem here is that the Coast Line is mostly on embankment and Blackhall Colliery was between the railway and the sea. So- it becomes ficticious to a certain extent. FILLPOKE LANE is exactly where I want the location to be, exxcept that it crosses under the railway to get to Crimdon Dene Holiday Park, of which more later. So, Fillpoke Colliery is a ficticious location on the landrward side of the Durham Coast Line, at the Southern edge of the coalfield. First attempt at the trackplan at 10 foot length. The colliery lines will be at plus 2" to allow for them to be clear of the main line. Ideas please?

Just a thought- would an ordinary reed switch give the pulse to return the signal to danger?- I'm thinking of having a signal not that far from the exit of the "roundy-roundy" part of my next layout and the reed switch could be between the rails inside the tunnel. A pushbutton on the panel to set the signal to "off" before the train arrives. (yes I know that gives a recipe for a train to pass a signal at red which then clears to green as it passes) Or am I thinking too simplistically here? Les

Quick update. Not a lot happening that is photo-worthy but the proscenium is mostly green on the outside and is white on the inside where the LEDs aren't. One disaster- the front board has blebbed up under the top coat and is having to be stripped off again- it is that bad I'm using a paint scraper on it as the power sander just gummed up. Self-inflicted as I used waterproof varnish to seal it without giving it enough time to set- 48 hours wasn't enough... On the positive side the lettering is ordered and the layout is performing well enough on test. Back to the scraping.......

Almost done Have spent Thursday, Friday morning, yesterday and today so far painting the proscenium, which is now mostly done. The layout itself is almost complete- just odd figures and other small details to add here and there. Main change is going over the edge of the hills in green to stop the white showing through. Looks better in this overview- the one for the exhibition flyer. One extra train- my BR23 now has Dapol magnetic couplers both ends after I dropped it and broke the coupler housing on the tender. I spent an arm and a leg on a Brawa DR coach to couple to it (wanting a shortish coach with NEM sockets. The trackplans for the back by the control panels and the decency curtain haven't been started, and the proscenium will take a few days to finish. Updates much less frequently now as there is little to report.

Just a little on today's experience fitting couplers today. Tally so far- fitted 26, broken none- push them in using a cocktail stick held vertically in the jaw of the coupler. Failures in use- one particular- the N-gauge Society Gresley BG. This is due to the lack of a floor above the coupler arm (as built by me). I can't remember whether the instructions in the kit say there should be one- if so it is my fault for ignoring it, but you do need a floor to keep the coupler being pulled out of its track. One or two of the longer-arm Brawa wagons have a huge amount of flex in the coupler arm so move vertically too much when over the magnet. Successes in installation- all Dapol locos and stock tried, likewise all Brawa (for Furtwangen Ost), Arnold, Minitrix and Fleischmann. Farish Class 108s and Stanier coaches. Failures in installation- Farish 3MTs -two different locos tried, and mark 1s. In all these cases the NEM socket seems to be not only shallower in the aperture but shorter than everyone else's. A pair of Mark 1s from the first productionj batch were OK, the others not. We'll be using them on the parcels and some passenger trains on Stamford East at Nottingham Show this weekend. We also use Peco drop arms on Rapidos and have had no problems with one system accidentally uncoupling the other on test. All the very best Les

Tuesday- Proscenium made Took the layout to Trevor's to get the proscenium made- and three inches added to the trestles. Also able to show it to Bingham MRC's exhibition manager, who likes it (whew!) The pros outside the workshop- not enough headroom inside to erect it. Next job is paint it green. Lighting is done with 5 metres of LEDs. I've gone for warm white. If experience shows this isn't enough there is a second reel of 5 metres and a power splitter.

A couple more publicity shots Hello again. I've added the layout to e-Layout directory as it is all-but ready (proscenium Tuesday and final painting of the outside by the weekend means it is ready to go- just as well as the weeks up to Cotgrave are busy ones). These are three of the ones I didn't send. Show the masts for the catenery done and painted. I've ordered some 0.1mm copper wire for the overhead wire itself- I may or may not use it depending on how brave I feel. Major jobs to be tackled are making the curtain for the front, and getting the electrics PAT tested, both of which are one-day jobs. Odd details as and when.....

Tramway overhead at last.... Taking advantege of the warm weather I've mede a start on the tramway overhead- and "finished" the paving at the tram stop - not that it will ever be finished- there will always be a bit to blend into the next one or to regrime when the trak cleaner removes the weathering.... View along the tram stop showing the central standards with lights. I've used the lamp standards to give sone "traditional" light where the illuminated stabndards aren't and put a lamp on the footbridge and a globe light on the bank. Also made is the Mark 4 tensioner - marks 2 and 3 were worse than mark 1 so got binned. It needs a heavy wire running to the platform and to under the loading dock, and if possible a pair of operating wires made from taut thread. This is the only tensioner. The point immediately in front of the signal cubicle doesn't need one, and the other two were put into a room under the top of the ramp when the station was built- with an outward-opening netal door, see below. This also shows the three Marsh seats and some more Preiser/Faller/Noch people (seated) and Chinese ones (standing).

Cleaners and Tensioners- Tuesday progress. I ordered a Dapol Shirebrook van for cleaning the tram track. Having cut away part of the underframe to get the Noch pad installed I found I needed lead adding to keep it on the track. Fitting the pad also meant I needed to take the coupler and housing from one end. I'll look to see if I've other wheels on a thinner axle that will work. Silly picture No.1 - the Glaskastern will pull it, but not up the bank on the layout front. It will manage the shallower gradient of the fiddle yard however.... Silly picture No.2 - solution found, push it round the layout using a tram! Meanwhile my first attempt at a point tensioner has been created out of angle and thin strip (Evergreen) and the sort of wire aero modellers use (sdcrap point wire from an earler layiout. Not quite correct. However, I'm wondering whether I can get away with only one..... .

Videos as promised. Three videos of the trams- the cream one is suffereing from dirt and resisting cleaning attempts at the moment. 1. Green tram arrives from Freiburg. 2. The green tram sets off up the hill. 3. Lastly in this sequence the cream tram then departs for Freiburg Busy day- trying my first attempt at point tensioners- a nightmare as I've only found one clear photo.

Tuesday- profitable day Not form a money point of view, that was the weekend on eBay which left me solvent enough to get the lights ordered for the proscenium. Music today by Meatloaf- managed a signed copy of the new album. . Got the deep cleaning done on the tram track and it all works perfectly. Attempted to get some video but got good sequences between the posed runs without actually getting the bits I was filming.... Brain out of gear again....... Got more of the tramstop weathered and made a trial fitting of one of the Tomix tram standards. After shortening by about 7mm this is the result. I'll need to get some sort of pearly effect for the lamps on the top. Also got the benches on the railway platform and more paint onto more figures. While Mr Simon has been working on Gresby I've been looking out for tram ads. I'm still working on this one rotating and scaling as a side advert. Six weeks to the first show date. Must get some details detailed....