rowanj

You know that you have too many locos when you discover there are 2 with the same number. Heaton only needs one of 61869, so the other is now St. Margaret's 61885. How long it would have stayed looking ex-works is a good question, as both photos I have of it on Edinburgh-Tyneside freights show it looking pretty grubby. Anyway, here it is in the headshunt at Little Benton North, either waiting a path back home or waiting to take a freight out of the sidings. Passing it is Haymarket's Hornets Beauty, just back in service after being fitted with an SEF chassis,. The loco is a DJH kit, which I made a mess of several years ago. Regrettably, DJH wont sell their chassis as spares, at least not to the likes of me. Talking of A2's, I am about a third of the way through modifying another SEF chassis to fit under A2/3 Ocean Swell. This is a GBL body with Graeme King resin castings, and was fitted to a modified Hornby Brit chassis. I did 3 of them and all 3 chassis have failed with the motor coming out of mesh.

To round off 2019, here is the other loco I put back into service - in this case after a gearbox came out of mesh, and I just couldn't fix it. It runs nicely now, but as soon as I picked it up, it stopped running, luckily only because the soldered joint to the chassis from the motor had failed. Phew- an easy fix to the K3 , a GBL body on an SEF etched chassis. Though K3's were frequently seen at Little Benton, I certainly never saw one on a passenger train. Based normally at either 64A or 52B, Class A freights were more usual. I'm not sure about St.Margaret's but Heaton had sufficient 6P or 7P power for its trips north, and I suspect Haymarket had the majority of Up workings to Tyneside. Anyway, I haven't even seen a photo of a K3 on passenger work around Tyneside. My only piece of logic to justify tis one is that 61869 is ex-works, so has been used to get back home on an Berwick-Newcastle stopper. Is that me on the bridge? Not with that blazer. Happy New Year and Happy Modelling. John

Hope everyone had a good Christmas. A Little Engines T1 kit awaits, but there are a couple of existing builds needing tweaks. The Dave Alexander J27 has an etched boiler, and the whitemetal tender is heavy, so it struggled to manage the rake of hopper wagons on the Down line, which has a slight (accidental) incline as it enters the scenic section. So 65813 has had additional lead in the boiler. Although the tender was free-running, I reduced some weight by replacing the dummy whitemetal chassis with a plasticard one using Evergreen rodding. Here, the loco proves its' worth, now handling the hoppers without difficulty, and running tender-first, as was very usual at Little Benton.

Things got a bit more exciting for the lads after the J27 passed, presumably why the lad in the centre is back on his heels, but I doubt if any of these were cops. D5180 on a Down Parcels was new at Gateshead in 1963. I renumbered a Bachmann model, but no doubt should really do more - for example, I think this loco was built without a boiler. D345 was a 64B loco, and is on my rake of kitbuit TPO coaches. A Heaton V3 shunts the sidiings, ready to add the pair of grain wagons to the rake on the adjacent track ready to be tripped to Tyne Yard. In reality, the sidings were mainly used at this point to store condemned open wagons, and only occasionally as reliefs. by 1965, they were lifted and Little Benton North Box closed, and the 3rd rail lifted. Even the bridges were altered.

Well, a Bachmann version. It looks from the posture that we may have been sharing a can of Fosters ..

As this layout is a sort of Memory Book of trainspotting at Little Benton from about 1960 -64, here are 3 of us looking suitably disgusted as an often-seen local J27 takes another train of loaded hoppers, probably from the Backworth Coalfield, to some staithes or another on the Tyne.

Catastrophe, Mike. Scrap the whole thing and start again.... But seriously, the B16/1 is an excellent build, and knocks spots off my PDK version..the first etched kit I ever built.and if which I am still proud. I take my hat off to you. John

a bit more on this most interesting train. Amongst the Railscot pictures of Newcastle Central is one dated 23/06/62 with 45605 Cyprus taking the train south. It states the Newcastle departure time of 1.00pm which doesn't fit the timings above. Cyprus had brought in a train from Manchester Exchange (it would usually have been relieved at York ) so this was a convenient way to get it home. https://www.railscot.co.uk/locations/N/Newcastle_Central/15.html And here is the link to the photo of Harvester - both are thumbnails due to copyright restictions https://www.railscot.co.uk/locations/N/Newcastle_Central/12.html So the least I can do is run the train, now just a few miles from Newcastle, headed by 64B's 60087 Blenheim.

Hi Roja and Brian. Thanks for the most interesting posts. I'm making assumptions here, but it looks as though this train, which seems to have run in both directions throughout the summer timetable, was to drop off folk who had booked a variety of tours in Scotland. The train therefore only really makes sense, at least in 2019 thinking, if it collected and dropped off passengers at a few destinations en-route. So a stop at Nottingham seems feasible, and given the photo of Harvester at Newcastle, Leeds City also makes sense - Harvester was a Neville Hill Loco. It was presumably changed for a Haymarket loco at Newcastle. The photo of Harvester can be found via a Google search.

But wouldn't a train like this have had a Glasgow stop? I must try to track down more info. It seems to have fun for several years as a summer SO, but I confess I had never heard of it. John

Craigendoran to Leicester is a service which seems incomprehensible today, and running via Edinburgh is equally strange,. I need, out of interest, to look at the route, but wouldn't a reversal at Queen Street have been required? Presumably the service ran down to Doncaster? The service seems to have terminated at Leicester London Road- I had thought it would have been Central- but I suppose that explains the LMS stock. the re is a photo showing Harvester at Newcastle in 1961 on the down train, which left Leicester at 5.20 AM, !!!! I have a picture of 60035 Windsor Lad of 64B on a down service on Sat 21/06/58 at Grantshouse on a rake of LMS coaches. The caption asks "Now where did that lot originate from?" Could it be the same service?

It would be nice, as I have a model, but I've never seen a photo of one even as far north as York, and certainly not in Newcastle ..and not the NSW one.. There are a couple of well known photos of a Brit on a Kings X Newcastle service train, which might tempt me.

I would think,looking at the train, that the J38 was about at the limit of its capacity for an Edinburgh to Newcastle run, and a K3, B1 or V2 was a much better bet. As far as I know, all the J38 loco s were in Scotland. And I guess by Summer 1964 supply of suitable steam was beginning to be a problem. But it's good to see these oddities. I have another picture of an Eastfield K2 heading south at much the same location in the 50,s. Tempting...

The scanned photo shows the sort of anomaly which occurred towards the end of steam. I never saw a J38 other than on occasional visits to Edinburgh. On my layout, the train has travelled a couple of miles south and mysteriously transformed into a cattle train. The loco was a basic conversion of the GBL J39, numbered 65912 as per the loco in the photo. Please respect copyright of the photograph.

As I said a few posts back, it is becoming almost impossible to find any new and interesting photos, so I thought I'd end my regular posts with a picture which sums up my modelling preferences as I approach my 70th birthday. The DJH D20 was modified to late BR state with an extended smokebox and Dave Alexander tender with correct chassis cutouts. It is on what was the class's final duties - Alnwick- Newcastle stoppers. The coaches are either weathered Hornby or, in a couple of cases, modified with etched sides. The J71 is a cut down Mainline J72 with Mainly Trains conversion kit. The short train of Insulated meat are Parkside kits. So building rather than running is the way forward now, but see the plastic rodding lying alongside the track- it will become point-rodding, using Wills parts.

Trainspotters of a certain age will remember that locos which were commonplace 20 miles away were scarce as hen's teeth where they spotted- even on the ECML barely 5 miles north of Newcastle. I never saw a B16/2/3 at Little Benton, though they got to Central occasionally, and the Heaton B16/1's had gone to Yorkshire by the time I was old enough (11) to be allowed to go parent-free to Little Benton. As for the Tyne Dock T1 kit which is staring at me, least said. However, no excuse is needed for these two, as 60004 heads back to Edinburgh and passes D9002 which will probably come off at Gateshead. I suppose it depends where the train is heading, but I have decided that this is the SO Glasgow (Queens Street) - Whitley Bay.. None of my rakes are authentic, but I quite enjoy fitting etched sides. At one time, Hornby had a franchise at Fenwicks in Newcastle and you could pick up heavily discounted stock, including Gresley coaches, So William Whitelaw has a Gresley Full Kitchen sandwiched between a FO and SO, which I enjoy seeing running past,

It was headed empty for one of the smaller refineries which were absorbed by Phillips into the Lindsey Refinery at Hull in 1968. The actual oil well was in Berwick. And if you believe all that... John

The O8 has worked its' way to the top of the re-numbering list. I cant remember when it last run, but, plonked on the track, it went perfectly. I have appropriate numbers for Heaton and Gateshead O8's, but don't know the class well enough to know the detail differences, so a bit more research is needed. As a contrast to the untouched RTR, my PDK B16/3 takes the oil train back south- presumably to Yorkshire.

A3 "Sceptre" is simply a renamed/renumbered Hornby A3, and is now a 52B loco. The coach behind the loco was a Hachette BSK, to which I fitted etched sides and an interior to become a BSO. The second coach is a slightly modified Hachette SK, and the third a Bachmann SK. One day I will tackle the underframes, but I think, from normal distance, they look OK. J39's were reasonably common at Little Benton, though rarer than the J27's and, to a lesser extent, Q6's, They tended to be on shorter freights. A couple of mine pass Little Benton South on fairly typical duties.

That's true, and I have to say it was a great time to spend at Whitley Bay and the Spanish City for young teens - and not for the trains, either!!! Booklaws Vol 18 has a photo of 45549 from Upperby on a return excursion to Workington in May 1957. The train stock is all LMS . My 46162 was at Upperby at some point so I have some sort ox excuse - not that I need one.. Actually, my photo of 46162 at Newcastle was dated 1962, with a caption stating is was a Saltley loco on a Saturday relief from Birmingham. So it would have gone no further north than servicing at Heaton for the return journey- still a couple of miles from my location. John

This is my short rake of LMS stock- not very prototypical. They are ex-Airfix coaches with Comet or similar etched brass overlays. There are a few photos of LMS stock running between Newcastle and Edinburgh, and vice versa, but all have ex-LNER locos on the front, and none of the captions explain what the train is. I suspect they wrer usually reliefs with the stock all that was available on a busy Summer Saturday or whatever, This is a bit different, as the train is clearly an excursion. I have a picture of 46162 at Newcastle on a train from the Midlands (or was it Manchester... I need to check). In this case the train is a returning Saturday excursion to Whitley Bay. Though nothing like as busy with holiday traffic as , say Scarborough, Whitley Bay did see a fair amount of excursion and holiday special traffic and this is what is happening here.

I hope folk viewing this thread don't find it too boring. The layout is really a large-ish diorama to allow me to run my locos- loco building and adapting is my main pre-occupation these days- and so getting different views to make life more interesting is almost impossible. But that was what spotting was like in an essentially semi-rural location in the late 50''s/early 60's. Anyway here is Heaton's 60511 heading to Edinburgh , probably on a relief, The leading coach, to the howls of the purists, is a MK1 SO which came with one of the Hachette magazine series, for about £3 if I remember, I bought several, and have modified a few using Comet or similar sides, and replaced the wheels. I meant to upgrade the underframe, but other than on a converted RO, I never got round to it. A "layout" coach in the extreme ! The A2/3 was a GBL A2 modified using Graeme King resin parts, on a modified Bachmann chassis.

After the excitement of the W1, it's back to reality with the G5 on the Businessmen's Special to Newbiggin. This went from Central rather than Manors, and went on the more direct line on the ECML rather than the loop via Benton , joining the North Tyneside loop at Benton Quarry Junction then the Blyth and Tyne mainline at Backworth. The G5 is an ancient NUCast kit, and I keep meaning to do more to it. One of these days....

There were a handful of Standard 5's on Tyneside though they don't seem to have been very popular, not particularly surprising in an area with a surfeit of A2's, V2;2 and B1's. Heaton has rostered one of theirs' on a parcels, which has been held at Little Benton South. Quite why is a mystery, as the Down line was clear enough to allow the N10 through on a humble LOCO coal. The N10 is a North Eastern kit, the 5MT re-numbered Bachmann. After that came a spotters dream. I always wanted to see 60700, but I haven't even found photographs of it as far north as Newcastle in BR days. It seems to have been used predominantly south of its' Doncaster base. No doubt the spotters thought it was another A4, and probably fell off the fence when W1 sailed past. I "built" it when I was less geographically fussy about my locos, and it is a Hornby A4 modified with Graeme King resin parts, and I keep it and run it occasionally out of sentimentality- and because it's my railway.

The A8 is finally released from the relief sidings, and will stop briefly at Manors East before terminating at Central. A8's were regular at Newcastle, though more usually from the south. The Ivatt , which was shedded at Heaton, looks as though it is on a stopper heading to Berwick or beyond, but the splitting distant gives it away- it is actually a diverted portion of a Bergen Boat Train. The line through Percy Main is obviously closed, so the train is diverted up the ECML where it will take the route to Backworth and reverse , then head for the Tyne Commission Quay via Blue Bell.. Usually a V1/3 would be motive power, but I have a photo of an Ivatt on a similar train at the Quay station, so here is my version. The Ivatt is simply a re-numbered Bachmann,