thegreenhowards

Rather late for the train fix today, but hopefully it will be worth the wait. Here is the up Elizabethan with 60013. Trains don’t get much sexier than this - at least for me. This is the formation as it was in 1957 with 10 rather fine Thompson PV carriages and just one mark 1 on the back letting the side down. The Thompsons are all built from Southern Pride sides on Bachmann donors, so it’s a fairly weighty train, but no problem for a standard Hornby A4. Here’s the video. Andy

I have deliberately kept the list short so as to make it realistic. One of the reasons I started this thread was to give me an incentive to crack on with the layout, so let’s see if it works! Thanks John, my problem is I’m probably happiest building rolling stock, but I need too remember that there’s no point in having lots of stock with nowhere to run it! 7.5 years sounds like a long time. I hope too be well into bodging my next layout by then!

It seems to be the fashion to make new year resolutions for layouts. So, following the example set my Tony Teague amongst others (see https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/115550-churminster-stowe-magna-southern-railway/&do=findComment&comment=3783464 - his thread is well worth a look if you haven't already), here are my top three objectives for the year: 1. Finish ballasting the track - a bit of a chore, but well overdue and should be easy enough to knock on the head; 2. Replace the station buildings and get the scenery in the station area up to the standard of the rest of the layout (not necessarily finished, but largely presentable); and 3. Install at least 2 more working signals. There will be lots of other minor jobs (e.g. installing the trap points which those who follow Wright Writes will have seen me berated for) and hopefully a few new trains to play with, but if I haven't completed the three points above this year, I will be very disappointed and you will have the right to take me to task! Andy

Wouldn’t that imply that the scotch goods left after 1600?

Thanks. That sounds about right because I seem to remember stories of it being thrashed by Bill Hoole to keep ahead of the 1600 Talisman. I will have to amend my sequence. Andy

John, Thanks for your comment on the videos. They take quite a while to film and process, so it’s nice to know that they’re appreciated. As for the C1, thanks for your research. Given that I need a KX outer suburban example, I’ve more or less decided to go for 2881 in 1948 guise with LNER on the tender and I’ve ordered the decals for this in Modelmaster’s New Year sale. I did win a DJH C2 ‘Klondike’ (unmade) on eBay just before Christmas, so at some stage in the distant future I might be able to recreate the Plant Centenarian railtour from 1953 or the suburban trains that 251 and 990 worked in the week leading up to the tour - watch this space! Andy

I think it varied over the years from c.1400 to c.1600. I wasn’t even born and don’t have the freight WTT, so I’m relying on photo captions. Gilbert might be able to give us the definitive answer...at least for 1958.

Christmas and keeping up with taking videos of Gresley Jn for that thread has slowed up my workbench progress a little, but I have now made some progress with the d.16 RKB. The basic structure is now complete and I’ve built the under frame according to what I can see on the photos, but I don’t claim that it’s 100% accurate. There’s was definitely a heavy duty bogie at the kitchen end (MJT) and a standard bogie at the other end (Bachmann). The roof was the trickiest bit as none of the photos are definitive and some seem to show different vents to others. There were definitely some of the standard LNER oblong catering car vents and some photos seem to show a BR style round monsoon type vent. I’ve settled on the layout below, but it’s little more than educated guesswork I’m afraid. Next up decals and glazing. Then glueing the roof on. Any comments welcome. Andy

An iconic train today - the Scotch goods. This left King's Cross around 1600 and headed overnight to Scotland. It was fully fitted and kept reasonably short (about 25 vans I think) in order to allow it to travel fast. From inception to mid '50s it was V2 hauled - this is what they were built for, but sometime in the late '50s it switched to Pacific haulage. Anyway, V2's are my favourite steam engine, so I had to have one on the front. It should probably be black as the train switched to pacific power around the time the V2s were painted green, but my only black one is Bachmann and struggles with this train. 60835 is Nucast stuffed with lead and will pull anything I've asked of it. This picture is in the station (obviously!) and I think reinforces the amount of work needed in this area. I'm working on a Scalescenes station building at present, and when that is finished a major session on this area is called for. This picture gives a view of most of the train snaking round the S curve. Here's the video which shows the whole train.

I do like these aerial shots from the bridge.

Thanks Tony, The signals are just plonked for now. I’m planning to build a MSE gantry to cross the four lines at about the point where the junction signal is now. Two reasons for not building an actual prototype. Firstly, at the time I started Gresley Jn, it was designed to get the kids involved, so operational interest was paramount which is easier with a made up location. Sadly, that plan failed! Secondly, I’m not really a scenery builder, so I like to plonk RTP stuff. That’s easier when you’re not having to replicate something accurately. Having said this, my next layout will be an actual prototype - hopefully King’s Cross station. I will keep the non railway buildings to a minimum and probably have to have help, simplify or commission some of the other structures if I’m going to get it done in my lifetime! Andy

Thanks for your comments Tony and ‘ Philou’, constructive criticism is always welcome. I had to wait to reply until I returned home as, despite having lots of photos of the layout they all had trains in the way obscuring the point I want to make. You are certainly right that I squeezed in sidings where I could, and it’s likely that in some cases, I’ve made situations that are improbably with regard to the prototype. However, I don’t think it’s as bad as you suggest. This is a view looking the other way from the position where the previous photographs were taken. I hope this shows that the fans of five sidings leads into a headshunt. The running lines drop from 4 to 2 at about this point and that headshunt provides protection for the up fast as the down slow/ station access diverges from it as well as access to the fans of five sidings. I can not see that there’s anything wrong with this arrangement, but I stand to be corrected if I’ve missed anything. On the down side, the sidings are accessed directly off the down slow just before it joins the down fast. There is a headshunt for the sidings as seen terminating to the left of the tunnel mouth. Again this is the same headshunt which provides protection for the down fast as the down slow joins it. Following this discussion, I suspect I should have put the crossover from down slow to down fast (seen centre right in the photo) further back (behind the camera). Then what is currently the down slow could have been a dedicated siding access line at this point. However, it’s too late for that, so I think I will have to add a couple of trap points and accept that it’s a ‘less common’ operational feature. I attach a plan of the layout below to allow readers to make a bit more sense of the photos. On the subject of large layouts, I hope that Gresley Jn. qualifies (it's c.32ftx10ft). I’m lucky enough to have a large converted loft in which to base it. Indeed, that loft rather sold the house to me! Andy

Today we have a partially fitted pipe and steel train headed by WD 2-8-0, 90428.

Thanks for this - I think I could easily incorporate dummy blades into the point, and failing that the double slip is certainly an option which would require minimal relaying. Thanks also to St Enodoc for your comments on the other siding. Andy

Well when you see the barren industrial complex behind which still needs to be built and the whole station area is embryonic you will realise that I have other priorities!

Here we have another up train, the 0800 Newcastle-KX. This should have been much earlier in the sequence...but I forgot - sorry! Anyway, it’s the last of the four trains which inhabit the three reversible centre roads in the fiddle yard and which you will see again on their down journey later in the day. The others being The Talisman, The Tyne Tees Pullman (which being short can share a road) and The Yorkshire Pullman. The most interesting vehicle on this train is the triplet dining set from the pre war ‘Silver Jubilee’ which you can see in the video. The rest is Mark 1 with some Thompson brakes. The formation is as it was in Winter ‘55/56. Andy

Tony, Thanks for your trap point illustration. They look good and easy to achieve...that is until I look at where they’re needed on Gresley Jn.! Can I ask for some advice? I have two sets of sidings that I think need protecting. The first is this one (sidings with five coal wagons and pipe and van): I seem to have three options: 1. Fit it between the two points in the middle bottom of the photo; 2. Fit separate trap points on each siding; or 3. Relay the sidings (which probably won’t happen). The second siding is below (with the coal wagons): Should the trap point go inside the ‘gate’ (which isn’t yet built) or between the gate and the point onto the down slow? If the latter, should it face directly into the brick wall/ boiler house in the back scene as the alternative would be onto the running line which doesn’t make sense! I’m sure you will tell me that this sort of question is why I should model a prototype, but all I can say to that is ‘next time’. In the meantime I want to finish Gresley Jn as accurately as I can. Andy

I did consider that, but it didn’t look thick enough. Anyway, mystery solved in which case, it’s a remarkably good recreation.

Gilbert, In your picture I can see a signal with the distant on and the home off, whereas on the prototype shot there’s doesn’t seem to be a home. What’s going on there? Andy

Sounds interesting, I’ve never met liquid thinner. I use squadron Green or Deluxe Materials fine surface thinner, both of which are pastes. What brand do you recommend? I do use a strip of 20 thou plasticard all down the inside of the coach side to give it some strength.

Tony, Thanks for your kind words. I actually built four of those 66ft Thompson sleepers. Two for Gilbert and two for me. However they didn’t make the cut for the ‘show and tell’ as they were finished in Dec 2018 (how time flies!). Mine are languishing in a box waiting for the rest of my ‘Night Scotsman’ rake to be finished, but when I get to that point in the Gresley Jn Sequence, I think I’ll have to cobble something together to give them a run. On Gresley Jn I have followed your lead and tracked down any faults when they occur, so the running is now fairly good...although nowhere near the standard of LB. Of course, my thread doesn’t show all of the video retakes! The main problems seem to occur when I haven’t used it for a while or with rakes when I bring them back from running on the club layout and a coupling has got twisted. With regard to the trap points, I’ll be honest. When I started Gresley Jn, I thought trap points were for pedants and couldn’t see the point of spending money and wasting space on something which wouldn’t achieve anything! I hadn’t really thought about it since, but I can now see the error of my ways! I’m no expert, but I think the inner circuit is OK, because the five sidings are accessed via a headshunt which provides protection and the goods yard only access terminating roads in the station - again effectively a headshunt. On the outer, the bay platform provides a similar function, but the other two sidings should be protected. I’ll see if I can glue a piece of rail in to give an impression. For me, Xmas is a family time. My modelling box went away on Dec 23rd and only came out again last night in front of the telly (Eddie the Eagle). So you did much better than me. Andy

As it's 'show and tell' time, here are some of my highlights of the year. Some of them will have already been shown on here, but as they're probably 100s of pages back, I thought it would be OK to show them again. First up we have a SE Finecast J6 following the lead given by Tony's article in Railway Modeller in Dec 2018(?). Next a BEC J17 bought off eBay and renovated. That's about it for locos as most of the year was spent on coaches. First up an ex streamlined artic pair which form part of the 1950s West Riding. These were built from Mailcoach sides, with the rest from 247, MJT and scratch. Next a number of Thompson PV coaches built from Southern Pride sides on Bachmann donors: SK with Ladies Retiring Room. Buffet Lounge. These two completed my 1957 Elizabethan rake. RSO, FO, and ...RK. Which together form the catering core of my 1410 Kings Cross-Hull/ York rake. Then a steel panelled BG from Comet sides. Now we have a couple of Mark 1 FO prototypes built from Southern Pride sides on Hornby donors. First E3083 (now resident on the Severn Valley Railway) and E3084. Moving on we have a Gresley twin SLF from Mousa sides on Hornby donors. This will form part of my Night Scotsman rake which is, as yet, unfinished. On the suburban front, I built this d.210 twin from Mousa sides with the rest made up from 247, Comet, MJT and scratch components. I then tackled Pullman Car 107 which is a wooden K type Pullman which was a stalwart of ECML services in the 1950s alongside the all steel cars. It is different from the standard Hornby offerings, so I built it by cutting and shutting an older Hornby Queen of Scots car and rebuilding the roof, finishing it off with Precision labels panels and SE Finecast flush glazing. It forms part of my Yorkshire Pullman rake as described here: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/149386-gresley-junction/&do=findComment&comment=3771140 And finally this GCR bogied fish wagon built from a brass WSM kit. Should you be interested there are more details of all these projects on my workbench thread starting here: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/135510-coulsdon-works/&do=findComment&comment=3421718 Not as prolific as 'Sir', but I'm quite pleased with my output for the year. Next year, I hope to build more locos as well as making more progress with the layout. Happy New Year to all Wright Writes followers. Andy

No, we should never do that! (Sorry about the lamps - it’s normally on freight and they’re superglued in place!) Andy

Sounds like an opportunity for discipline to give into much temptation!

Christmas nearly over (for me at least), so back to Gresley Jn. Here we have a class 105 DMU having arrived at Gresley Jn on a branch service. The DMU works alternately with the C12 and push pull on the branch service. It arrives in platform six on the up side, and then shunts across to Platform 1(as shown here) to await departure. I know this sort of operation happened at Hatfield on the Moorgate terminators, so I feel it has a prototypical basis. Here’s a video of the DMU in action while shunting across from platform 6. Andy