TerryD1471

Hi Gilbert Nice to see you have been able to rehome some of Mr. Geary's locos. They are nice, aren't they; I told myself exactly the same when I acquired 4 for use on Hest Bank. My congratulations on the continued progress on Peterborough. It is looking a treat and must be giving you so much pleasure, both visually and operationally. Keep it up and don't waste too much time on those small round white balls; they never thank you for all the effort you put into putting them where they belong! Best regards Terry D

Yet more 45621 Northern Rhodesia makes its way north with a featherweight 6 coach express for Windermere A pick up freight in charge of 44454 an old Airfix 4F with a Comet chassis heads for Carnforth before turning towards Barrow. The archetypal West Coast main line freight. A fully fitted van train behind a Black 5 speeds northward for Carlisle. On a different day, the same working is handled by 45518 Bradshaw. This is a Hornby bodyshell on a Bachmann chassis with a Ks tender and obviously predates Bachmann's excellent current offering. An ex-works 3F trundles gently up towards Lancaster with an empty minerals working, consisting mainly of 21 ton wagons. Mold Junction's WD no 90157 hauls an empty steels train back towards industrial Lancashire. A very uniform rake of Mk 1 coaches in carmine & cream on an up Glasgow-Birmingham working. The same train taken form a more traditional front viewpoint. City of Chester is in charge.

It's been a long time since I contributed anything to this thread, so here is another set of photos which will rather point up the fact that the promised scenic work has yet to start. This an up Glasgow-Manchester working hauled, very appropriately, by 46135 East Lancashire Regiment and composed mostly of Eastern Region stock. The same working on a different day, this time hauled by Low Moor Jubilee 45695 Minotaur. The same train is now seen just a few yards further south about to head under Cinderella bridge on its way toward Lancaster. A northbound Euston - Glasgow working composed of Stanier Period 3 stock (except the Period 2 diner) all from Hornby's stable. It's nice stock, with very fine detail (almost too fine at times) but I await the Bachmann porthole Period 3 stock with interest. Same train different view. More pictures soon.

Hello Tony Thanks for your message. I checked the Geoff Plumb site you mentioned and it's very interesting with good colour prints which will help fill in some more gaps in my knowledge. Also (off topic) it's given me a few views of Aberystwyth which interest me as well. The books you mention fortunately I already have except for the Kirkman & van Zellar; I'll look into that. As regards your queries, can I suggest that the Cooperline site will give you quite a bit more source material. Most of the captions are sound, but one or two are not, so use with care. I have checked the Bolton le Sands section and also "near Hest Bank" and there appear to be two shots of Pasture Lane bridge. Couldn't be sure about whether you'll find detail on the huts/tanks. There are many photos to look at, so it'll give you hours of fun! Your point about the bay platform road being skewed intrigues me. It's only slight, but it's there. The aerial views taken after the '65 crash prove it, albeit that much of that spot is in shadow. I can only concur with you that the bay buffer stop is a railbuilt one, while the best view I have seen of siding 2's stop is that it's sleeperbuilt and extends back further than I would expect. I have done some groundwork on the buildings on the west side of Marine Drive. With the help of photos I took onsite years ago and Google maps streetview, I have identified 26 separate buildings (counting a pair of semi-detached houses as one structure) fronting the A5105 road between the overbridge and the station building. Most of these seem to date from the 1930s and the majority are bungalows. I will pass on what information I have with pleasure. I can scan in the information and Email it if you wish. Also did you see the article by Keith Miles on Hest Bank in March 2011 issue of BRILL with a further page or two in August 2011? All the best Terry D

Hi Tony Congratulations on your choice of prototype! I have a great deal of source material although I have obviously tended to focus on the pre 1958 era. Nevertheless a lot of the surrounding buildings and infrastructure remained unchanged throughout the 50s and 60s so a lot would be relevant. As a start point for photo references, I would heartily recommend the Cooperline website (as I mentioned earlier in the post) as it has a wealth of photos of Hest in your era. The photos are on the site in thumbnail form, but I admit I've cheated a bit and blown them up as I printed them off. I only just found this site myself a short time ago, and I would have benefited greatly if I'd found it earlier. I think that if you can get some or all of the troughs in, that would be great; hope you've got plenty of space as you'd need it! Please let me know if there are any more specific areas of query and good luck! Terry D

Hello beast Yes, I'm pretty sure it's not Hest as it seems to be 4 track and paired by speed. That rather suggests the Leyland area? It hardly matters anyway in research terms, because the Cooper site has given me such a lot more material that it's going to take a while to digest all that. Thanks anyway. TerryD

Hello beast Thanks for the hint, but having looked at the Cooper site where you suggest, I can't spot them. Am I missing something? Do you have reference numbers? ATB Terry D

Just found another reference source in the shape of the superb Cooper collection of photographs referred to in "railways of the North West". If I remember correctly the address is www.cooperline.co.uk, and it is well worth a visit if your interest lies in this region. There are dozens of photos of Hest Bank, let alone the vast collection of photos of other north-western locations. The number of reference photos I now have to call on is much increased and, of course there are inevitably views which improve one's knowledge. Sadly in some cases, these improvements arrive after I have taken a best guess as to how a particular feature should look and show rather glaringly an error in the model. A case in point (ha-ha!) is the pointwork leading into the small yard, one of which I now realise is a left hander rather than a right hand. And there's a catch point needed. Errrhm! More positively, other photos shed further light on features on which I have been searching for information, so overall, I'm pretty pleased. One of the aspects that has struck me through my research is that the prototype kept (and keeps) changing. You think you know how a particular building should look, e.g. it has a lean-to shed at the western elevation, but then you find another photo on which the lean-to is absent; clearly at some stage a feature has been either built or demolished, or some inconsiderate person has built a garage or painted his house white. Am I getting paranoid about modelling correctness or does one just have to accept that one is never going to get it 100% right? Answers on the back of a £10 note, please!

Looking at other superb layouts on this site, I am shamed by the state of the scenery on Hest and must make a determined effort to improve it. From my dossier (in which I have collected copies of all the photos and information that I could find of the real location and which now runs to a file about 2 inches thick) I have been looking in particular at the road bridge carrying the A5105 over the track. It's a composite structure of brick and concrete and should be reasonably straightforward to construct in plain and brick-embossed plasticard. Once that and the "Cinderella" bridge are done, I shall feel a lot happier and will feel able to tackle more of the green areas requiring attention. The station footbridge has now been lowered to the correct height; it isn't strictly the correct pattern, but it is close enough for this philistine! However, I notice that during the 50s era, the down platform starter signal was a 2-aspect colour light attached to the bridge. I shall have to view the photos with a magnifying glass to see what kind of inspection platform was erected around it and install that too.

The previous post ended with an unsolicited repeat of an earlier photo. Don't know how that happened. To continue the theme of locos, this is a Stanier 2-6-4T built by Alan Hammett from a NuCast kit. Lovely runner. It's hauling a short train north under the road bridge carrying Marine Drive and consists of empty tube wagons (some of which are inscribed underneath "Goddard - Lawrence" so a pretty good pedigree). "City of Nottingham", built by Tony Wright and painted by Ian Rathbone, works north. Most of the red Duchesses received the BR pattern of lining before getting the LMS pattern which the model has. The livery is therefore strictly too late for the period that Hest Bank is set in, but it's my train set..... By way of contrast to the exquisite workmanship of 46251, there follows another Duchess, this time a much modified Hornby Dublo bodyshell, with a scratch brass chassis, built by me many years ago. The camera reveals too much, but I am compelled by nostalgia (and the fact that it's a very good runner & hauler) to keep it and one day upgrade it? Back to quality again; this is a modern Hornby Duchess of Montrose, modified by Tony Wright using a Comet detailing kit. A very good formula for getting a first rate model. It's hauling the up Caledonian, but please don't tell me that the brake 1st should be next to the loco and not the brake 2nd.which should be at the back of the train. I know! Wills Finecast produced a body kit for many years for the Stanier 3 cylinder 2-6-4T. This is not too difficult to modify to represent one of the first batch of 8 of the 2 cylinder variants and this is what I did. It's a scratch brass chassis with an open frame motor and Comet valve gear and motion. Too bad I have yet to get around to weathering it. Crab 42757 is returning north to its home shed of Kingmoor on a parcels working. The model is 25 years old and I built it from a Wills Finecast kit on a scratch brass chassis. I think I plundered the cylinders and valve gear from the Lima model produced in the 80s. The rest of it went in the bin. Incidentally if anyone thinks the tender lining is wrong, I can assure them I have the photo to prove otherwise!

As promised, I include photos of locos which have come my way from the Tony Geary collection along with a number of others. They each have their own pedigrees. The first is 46112 Sherwood Forester. This was built by Tony Wright from a Comet kit and painted by Ian Rathbone. It has appeared on Charwelton on a number of occasions but is so appropriate for a WCML layout. Next, in no particular order, is a shot of 45715, a bog-standard Bachmann Jubilee negotiating the crossing to the Morecambe branch with a working from Scotland. Next we have a Flying Pig, not a Bachmann offering, but a Tony Geary build complete with compensated loco and tender chassis. It's been seen on Charwelton and it's a very good performer. It's on a light engine movement and has just passed under cinderella bridge and is about to pass beneath the bridge carrying the A5105 Marine Drive. Next we have a DJH Black 5 built and painted by Tony Geary on a down parcels working passing a Fairburn 2-6-4T waiting on the Morecambe branch. This was built by Alan Hammett from a DJH kit too. More to come.

Just to acknowledge "old plonker's" comment about being fragmented, I had a problem with the site recently in that it normally signs me in automatically, but a few days ago it refused me entry, assuring me that my name/password (generated automatically by the site) were incorrect. It took a deal of effort to get back on again and even than I had to use a modified name. Be assured that TerryD147 and TerryD1471 are one & the same. I have had the good fortune to acquire one or two of the Tony Geary collection of locos, being ex-LMS types. They have previously appeared on Charwelton and, I think, Stoke at shows in the past. Photos to follow shortly.

Progress on the layout (and on posting here) is not quick because of other calls on my time. However, here are some more photos:- Black 5 hauled up milk train crosses with a down Crewe-Carlisle parcels working hauled by another Black 5. It's good to have a number of different variants of the same loco type and most of the normal variants will be found here, i.e. long/short firebox, riveted/welded tenders, domeless/domed boilers etc. Another view of milk train. I collected a number of Lima tankers when I thought they were in short supply. They are strictly GWR prototypes, I believe, but will be modified in due time. A Glasgow-Morecambe working crosses over from the up main to the Morecambe branch. Some of the trains on the layout are composed mostly of RTR items, this one being no exception. For attention at some time in the future will be dulling the nice shiny motion work, removing front coupling, fitting lamps, crew etc, etc. Pick-up freight crosses to the Morecambe branch behind a Stanier Mogul. Must get around to painting that brake van! (Job 41A) Front view of same working. Nice new Bachmann Deeley 3F reverses a pick-up freight into the yard at Hest. Usual rider about removal of couplings, lamps, crew, weathering and so on applies. Down Euston-Carlisle relief consisting of a real variety of coaching stock. K's Princess with X04 motor heads north. The model is hearly 30 years old, and while it's powerful and fast, it's showing its age compared to more recent offerings.