Hunslet 102

The following photo is from NIR in 1981,a few years out of my main modelling period of the early 70s,but with the recent excellent NIR 111 class in original livery produced by Murphy Models,I could not resist but to include this photo in this thread,even though GVSt station did not survive to see the 111 class.Anyway,NIR 111 Great Northern can be seen heading towards Dublin with the Enterprise,while an 80 class driving trailer heads to Belfast,passing a CIE 141 class shunting container wagons in the head shunt.

Not a silly question Nelson.It would be unlikely that 3 CIE loco's would occupy the platforms at the same time,but it would not be unusual for that number of CIE loco's to be in and around the station area.The A class would have been a regular on the Enterprise and there would usually be a couple of 141s in and around the Grosvenor road freight yard beside the station.To my knowledge,the Sulzer B class never made it as far as Belfast,although I know at least one made it as far as Portadown,probably with the changeover of the CIE weedkilling train.C classes also made it to the station,usually with shoppers specials.121 classes were regular visitors in the 60s and 80s,but not the 70s.

Its 1971 and Belfast Great Victoria Street has an unusual look to it.The platforms are full of CIE loco's,a rare occurance.Platform 2,beside the wall,has CIE A class no.A20 with the CIE Enterprise set.Platforms 3 and 4 have the rare sight of further CIE loco's,platform 3 with B class no.B165 and platform 4 with a different type of B class,a Sulzer no.B105.Both have arrived with specials formed of cravens and laminate stock.

Great to see you posting again Stu,like the google earth shot,very effective.Look forward to more updates in the coming months

The following couple of photo's are taken from 1972,the first photo below has been taken from platform 4 and shows a double ended BUT railcar arriving in platform 4 with a train from Portadown.A sister BUT railcar,this time a single ended unit is in platform 3 waiting to depart with a local to Lisburn.The recently arrived CIE Enterprise set,in the hands of B class loco number B165 occupies platform 2. The following photo is the same view,but taken from the platforms ends looking towards the damaged roofs.

Thanks Nelson,now that the main roof structure has been finished I will be starting the island canopies that were just in front of the main roofs and then the Boyne bridge there after,I should be busy over the winter months with that lot and that excludes finishing an A class,the CIE weedkilling train and an MPD railcar!!

Finally got round to finishing the roof over platforms 3 and 4,with some missing panels at the front as was common in the early 70s from bomb damage.The first image shows an overall shot of both roofs over the platforms. The next image shows a view of the roof from the underside. The following image is a side view of the station,with an 80 class in platform 4,an MED railcar in platform 3 and the Hunslet Enterprise in platform 2,an image dating from 1974. The final image shows the same views as above but from the end of the platforms looking back to the customs hall and ticket barriers.

Thanks Colin,working on the roof structure over platforms 3 and 4 at the moment along with the small island canopies,but progress has been slow.Will update the thread once some more work has been completed.

Below are a few more photo's of progress with the station build.The first photo below shows the finished roof over platform 2. The next photo shows the same build but looking towards the customs shed from the end of platform 2. The final photo is again from a different angle,this time looking across from platform 4.The NIR Hunslet Enterprise set is in its usual place on platform 2,partly hidden by the custom's fence that separated platform 2 from platform 3.

Colin-Many thanks for posting those superb and nostalgic photo's,what a story they tell.Thanks for your offer of some higher resolution photo's,I would certainly be interested in some.I will study them closer over the next couple of days and pm you with what I would like.many thanks again. Andy

I did not really review the above photo of the column supports before uploading and did not realise how poor it looked.Having made a start on the roof supports over platform 2,below is a clearer photo of the column and roof supports.I have decided to paint the roof supports in situ rather prior to fitting as I done the latter with the column supports and have some touching up to do anyway.

Just a short update of a little bit more progress with the station.The following photo shows the column supports for the roof in place on the platforms.The supports were made from cut down and reformed wedding cake pillars with cut down Hornby canopy supports attached to the top of the columns.Strips of evergreen I beam were used to add the correct length between the beams.Next job to tackle will be the roof supports and then finally the roof,or at least the sections of the roof that still remained after the bomb damage that the station sustained in the early 70s.

Yes Jim certainly remembers Jimmy and Bert.He actually related a superb but funny story about Bert that he thinks you will remember,if you wish,I will forward his email to me via a pm to you,I am sure it will bring back some memories for you.He reckons you will remember Bert from the Donegall Road library layout and that he had a great 3 rail layout of his own.Let me know if you want me to forward it on to you. Andy

Thanks Jawfin,unfortunately there is not much of the old GVSt station left,the new station has eliminated virtually it all.The only part left of any interest for my era is the Boyne bridge,which has not changed too much.Colin has already posted quite a few photos of the bridge on the thread,so if you view them before taking any photos and if you feel you can add anything to them then that would be great.Thanks for your offer. Andy

Thanks for the comments and to all those who have liked the various recent photo's.Colin,I will see about adding a portly ticket collector,I am sure there will be one somewhere.I am afraid I didn't know Jimmy Briggs,but I will ask Jim Edger,who knows,he may even have a photo of him,as Jim has supplied me with many photos from in and around the station area that have helped me with the model to date.Look forward to seeing some of your photos also,it is great when I can compare photos from different angles,it helps greatly when starting a project.

Finally got round to doing some work on Great Victoria Street station,having recently been concentrating on the rolling stock.The following 2 pictures are a couple of different angles of the area of the station directly behind platforms 2 and 3.The customs hall is directly behind the buffers of platform 2 and yes it was in the very bright (some say vile) white and yellow panels.When the Enterprise was in the platform,the large yellow doors would be open for customs checks,but would be closed and the side entrance gate would be opened for local trains using platform 2.On the concourse between platforms 3 and 4,the small sloping corrugated roof can be seen,with the entrance kiosk in the background.A ticket collector on the platform,plus one in the kiosk along with some passengers have been added just now,because once the overall roof is done,the only way to view any of this area will be from eye level from the platforms.

Having recently nearly finished my B101 class locomotive and the weedkilling train,it had to get a run out on the layout as the weeds (cobwebs!)had taken a bit of control.The photo below shows B101 class No B105 at the head of the weedkilling train from the early 70s and it was a right motley assortment of ancient wagons.The weedkilling train belonged to CIE,but usually done the NIR network during June each year.Normally NIR would have provided the motive power,with the changeover of locomotives happening at Portadown,but sometimes the CIE locomotives worked the entire NIR network.The B101 class were a rare visitor to the north,they certainly got as far as Portadown,but no recordings of them further than that have come to light. The following photo shows the other side of the weedkilling train,passing a couple of B141/B181 locomotives.One is in charge of the CIE Enterprise with Cravens and laminate type coaches while the other is in the headshunt sorting some loose coupled wagons.Although this is a scene on Northern Ireland railways,it would also be a scene seen all over Ireland in the early 70s.

The following few pics show the changing face on Northern Ireland railways in 1970.Brand new Hunslet 102 Falcon is pushing the new Enterprise train towards Dublin,is seen passing an ex UTA Jeep,now under NIR ownership.The Jeep is a rare visitor to the GNR section,having worked round from York Road via the Antrim branch with an Engineers train.While the Hunslet would be on the Enterprise service for the next 10 years,the Jeeps were at the end of their careers and would be out of service within a few months.Loose coupled CIE wagons are in the siding beside the main lines,awaiting collection back to Dundalk.

Thanks Colin,I have seen that photo before,but it is good to have it on the thread for quick reference.The rain water on the platforms show how badly damaged the roof was,but along with that photo and a few others that I have,there was still quite a few panes of glass still intact.The other clear thing from the photo is how grimey the track was,think I will need to add more charcoal to my tracks,I thought I had overdone it a bit but obviously not.No great hurry for your own photo's,my rate of progress is slow to virtually stop at the moment,but hopefully will get a bit more time on the layout and update the thread soon.

Hey Stu,what about an update on the layout for all of your followers,it has been a while since a report update

Having laid and sprayed the ballast with pva/water,after setting it was necessary to test the area with some train movement to ensure everything was still working ok.Below are a few photo's from the test run. The above photo shows the DH shunter removing a couple of brown vans from the rear of a recently arrived AEC railcar set in platform 4.Platform 3 has a BUT set while on platform 2 the Hunslet waits for clearance to go to the sheds having arrived with the Enterprise,coaches have already been removed to the carriage sidings.An MED railcar waits in platform 1 to depart with an all stations to Lisburn service. The above photo shows a close-up of the AEC and BUT railcars that shows the differences between these sets.The AEC railcar has still to be completed. The above photo shows the Hunslet makings its way to the shed,with the MED ready to depart also.A couple of CIE craven coaches along with the NIR weedkiller wagon occupy the sidings. Andy

Thanks Colin,that is my aim of the lookalike tribute,to give a feel of how the station looked without it being an identical replica,which would be impossible with the space I have available. It has been a while since I have done any work on the layout,mainly because I knew I had to do the ballasting first before I could make any other progress,so decided to take the bull by the horns over the holiday weekend to enable me to get on with the rest of the station.

The first work on the layout for a long time has just been started and a couple of photo's are attached below.The station area has been ballasted,with a mixture of grey and brown ballast that was then dry brushed with ground down charcoal.The platform surfaces were also dry brushed with charcoal to achieve that well used look.Great Victoria Street in the 70s coming towards the end of its time was a murky place,with the ballast and sleepers particularly covered in grime.The whole area still has to be soaked in a pva/water solution,which hopefully will be done over the weekend.

Some clubs that I am aware of that may be of interest are :- North Down Model Railway Society based in Bangor,1st Bangor Model Railway Club also based in Bangor,surprisingly! and the Ulster Model Railway Club based in Belfast.All 3 of the above clubs have their own websites which would give you more information on them.There is also the Erne Model Railway Club based in Enniskillen but dont know much about them. North Down Model Railway Society will be holding their annual exhibition on Sat and Sun 20/21/4/13 at Bangor leisure centre,this is reckoned to be one of the best shows in Ireland. A bit closer to home for you and happening this weekend,Sat 23/3/13 is a railfest being held in Castlerock in the Peter Thompson hall.Killagan from this forum will be on display along with North Down MRS Ballyclare layout and a couple of N gauge layouts from 1st Bangor.