Norton961

The standard passenger trains between Shrewsbury and Stafford consisted of 3 ex LMS corridor coaches pulled by Staffords 2-6-4 tanks of both Fowler and Fairburn varieties or Shrewsburys Jubilees, Black 5s or Stndard 5s. Here 42176 is seen with a nice set of ex LMS coaches. I am fortunte that I have a set of coaches built by Grahame Varley to replicate this train. However photos show these trains sometimes with different coaches and in a video clip taken at Shrewsbury the train is made up of a newly repainted Gresley articulated set of coaches. The second photo shows a Stafford train at Wellingtonwith 42542 in 1964 with horse boxes and this has given me the excuse to convert one of the recent Hornby models. The last photo is of one of Staffords G2s 49410 at Wellington and I have recently converted one of the excellent Bachmann models.

The previous posting had photos of one of Wellingtons ex GWR 2-6-2 tanks and attached is a photo of that loco in 1960 when it still had the old BR emblem on the tanks. In the background is a Dukedog from Whrexham wich was stored at Wellington over the winter before being returned to its home base in the spring. A feature of Wellingtons Pannier tanks was the fittment of overhead warning flashes as the locos would work to Crewe on the passenger trains from Wellington. The attached photo shows 9774 with those flashes were were not common on Pannier tanks. I have modeled this loco. The coal trains from Granville colliery interchanged at Donnington and required a brake van at both ends for reversing at Wellington and Madely junct. Attached is a photo taken 1965 showing 48436 light engine with brake van approaching Donnington station from Wellington. Not the best photo but taken on a cheap box camera by me.

The majority of the trains working through Trench were of ex LMS origin or BR standards, the only exception being some of Wellingtons Pannier tanks working trip workings. have no photos showing any of the other classes at WEllington working the line but the working instructions for the route allows most of the ex GWR classes including Castles and Halls over the route. Wellington had a small stud of the ex GWR 2-6-2 tanks for working trains to Much WEnlock and Crewe with freight workings to Oxley and I have alwys liked the looks of these locos so one is on the Trench Fleet. I bought the loco at a S4 show in a right state, with a non working chassis and the Airfix body in its original state. I passed the chassis over to my good friend Tony Sheffield whist I attacked the body. I removed the chimmney and safety valve and replaced them with items from Martin Finney and a vast improvement they made. I then carefilly removed all the moulded in hand rails and fitted "proper" handrails. I then painted the loco and fitted the correct number plates. This particular loco was in unlined green with the large BR emeblem. Then a light weathering and some scale couplings to arrive at the current state. I will use the loco on one of the trip workings usually performed by the Pannier tanks.

A few more of my wagon fleet, this time tube and plate wagons, mainly Parkside. My reasoning for the layout depends upon the steel fabrication company (it was called Summerfields) which occupied the old ironworks sit was larger than it actually was and would justify incoming trains of steel plate and sections hence the number of plate wagons. Trains did work into the site but by the early 1960s were on an "as and when required" basis. Trains of plate wagons would also justify the appearance of a Froddingham WD of whic I also have a model. This is a Dave Bradwell kit built for me by my friend David Boorman from a Bradwell kit. Since arriving with me I have painted and weathered it, still a little more weathering to do though.

A couple of photos of some of the locomotives for trench sidings. The first is D5083 which turned up one day on the Granville Colliary coal train from Donnington to Buildwas Powere station instaed of the more usual 8F. This is a Bachmann Class 24 and has been modified with Shawplan glazing and a Brassmasters circular exhaust port. The handrails have been thinned down and it is fitted with Branchlines P4 wheels. The second loco is another Bachmann Class 24 with Brasmasters headcode boxes (complete with a correct headcode for the line) and again Branchlines wheels and renumbered. The 3rd loco is one of Wellingtons Pannier tanks. I bought this as a bit of a wreck, my friend Tony Sheffield sorted the chassis whist I sorted the body. Still some work to finish though.

Thought it may be usefull to post a few photos of some of the prototype trains for Trench. The first photo is in 1936 showing the loco shed with its resident Pug 11218 with a Black 5 5254 passing on the main line. The second photo is of one of Shrewsburys Standard Class 5s with a train at Stafford for Shrewsbury circa 1962/3. The 3rd photos is one taken by me circa 1965 of 46519 (Shrewsbury) leaving the Ordenance Depot at Donnington and heading back to Wellington and shortly to pass Trench sidings. Note the wartime built signal box. the last photo again taken by me in 8-1964 with a cheap camera is of Staffords Fowler 2-6-4 tank usually seen on the 3 coach passenger trains heading towards Stafford with a freight and with the Ordenance depot sidings behind.

Fen end, correct, it also needs a front coupling, front vac pipe and it's front number plate, all to be done before I do any subsequent weathering. David

Pete, thanks for your reminiscences of the area, I will be posting more prototype photos on this blog. I have some photos of the Granville colliery trains in my book The Railways of Telford (Crowood Press) and have built a model of Granville No 5 one of the 0-6-0tanks which I will post at some time. I was 16 in 1964 but could not afford lots of film so only took a few photos. I travelled on the train from Trench to Stafford and to Shrewsbury to go train spotting on a few ocassions and did lots of train spotting at Wellington. David

46509 yes it's a Chivers kit. David

Corbs. Now that's an idea! dont see these ever modelled and they were common in the early 1960s.

I to have had problems with Humbrol 85 Satin as it does not dry Satin any more! I have given up on Humbrol and now only use Revell, Precision or AK Interactive. Humbrol paints are now manufactured back in the UK but I suspect changes in formulation are driven by regulation changes. My major problem is getting Satin varnish to dry, so I now only use Precision.

Portcullis, after the track is laid I will be using Resin W to secure the ballast so that will seal the track plan. There will not be any of the paper track plan not covered by scenery when it's finished.

I forgot to mention that the first brake van is made from an Arfix kit with roller beAring axle boxes. Notice that the Bachmann brake vans are quite brown compared with the Precision paint colour for the Arfix.

I have for more locomotives than the layout requires but most of them are locomotives that I saw operating the line between 1962 and 1965 (the passenger service stopped in Sept 1964) but freight continued. The first locomotive is one I saw pulling into the Army depot at Donnington with a daily freight usually pulled by one of Burton on Trents newly aquired Jubilees and within a few months I had seen all of them. 45593 left Burton for Leeds and eventual preservation, but here she still has the Stanier 3500 gallon tender she ran with in service. After withdrawel she swapped tenders with 45562. The loco is a Brassmaster one built by Len Cattley and I have painted it linned it out and this is the current stage of the weathering, I just need to add a little more, particularly around the wheels and underfarme. I weathered the loco and then took most of it off on the boiler, cab sides and tender sides.

Although I have only started this blog recently I have been building locomotives and stock for the layout for many years, so I suppose I should post some photos of some of the stock I know have. The first pictures show my collection of 9 brake vans, why 9 i hear you sk, no idea I say I just started building them and then realised I had enough! The majority are Bachmanns latest offering but with P4 wheels, screw/3 link couplings, roofs repainted and given some weathering. The 2 ex Midland ones are parkside, built for me by my friend Tony Sheffield and then painted/lettered/weatherd by me. The 21 ton ex LMS is a Chivers kit which I need to letter before weathering. having bought some of the Modelu lamps I need to buy some more for the brake vans.long

Dead flat Dave. The loco shed and rudimentary coal stage also visable on the right. Trench Crossing station just by the trees in the distance. David

The overall track plan I posted was a little crowded to see the detail. The baseboards were built with the help of my good friend and fellow NAG member Ken Kirk in his well equiped wooworking shed. The baseboards were constructed of 12mm furniture grade plywood which a NAG member put us in contact with. The photo shows Ken making sure everything was flat and square and the boards were screwed and glued with Gorilla glue. Once the boards were built they returned to my garage, and here lies a problem it was a concrete sectional and despite my attempts to insulate it was damp. So layout building came to a stop whilst I had a new concrete sectional garage built but this time fully insulated and a set of cheap kitchen units from B@Q formed the "legs" for the layout and gave storage. However this whole process took a year out of working on the layout. The pointwork was built by a fellow NAG member Tont Wilkins and Tony also printed of the track plan for me to lay down on the layout. I used cork for the track base however the rolls are dificult to get flat, and cork floor tiles are sealed on one side and I was unsure about how things would stick, but I found boxes of untreated cork tile at my local charity shop for a few punds and this solved the problem. Having laid the cork I then stuck down the trackplan with the type of wallpaper past that you put on the wall first and that worked a treat. There are only 2 buildings on the layout, a signal box and the loco shed. The interchange sidings are opposite to the signal box.

Northroader, thanks for your kind comments. The lilleshall company only had a couple of sidings adjacent to the loco shed for the land sale of coal. The main interchange for tha Lilleshall Co was further down the line at Donnington where in the BR period the coal trains from Granville Colliery connected to the main line. I have been researching the area for 35 years and have all the books on the area and collected 100s of photos and have now produced my own book The Railways of Telford with Crowood Press earlier this year and of course I have included some photos of Trench Sidings! I will post a simplified view of the area adjacent to the canal basin. The area is currently unrecognisable as the earth movers have removed all traces of the canal basin.

I have been planning to build Trench Sidings for 20 years and have finally made a start. But first lets place where it is. In my teenage years I lived near Trench Crossing station which was a small station between Wellington and Donnington on the line to Stafford. The line was ex LNWR/LMS. Just down the line from Trench Crossing was an interchange yard called Trench Sidings where there was a curved line down to a canal basin which was bounded with a number of iron works. There was a small loco shed which closed in 1943 but the shed remained standing until the mid 1960s. The line from Wellington to Stafford had a regular passenger service usually 3 coaches with either a B5, Standard 5, Fowler 2-6-4t and re built Scots and Patriots. Freight was usually B5 with 8fs, with some of Wellingtons Pannier tanks working pick up freights to Donnington. Most ex LMS locos could be seen and occasionally the line was used by diverted expresses. Not wanting to model a station the interchange yard seemed a good choice as the line into the canal basin was still used until the mid 1960s.

For those who like Coal Tanks I can thoroughly recommend the definitive history of the locos which includes shed allocations. The book is called "Bashers, Gadgets and Mourners (The life and times of the LNWR Coal Tanks) by Peter Skellon and published by the Bahamas Locomotive Society at £19.00. In my view this is one of the best locomotive histories ever written and covers the full history of the class right through to the withdrawal of the last class member. Lots of reminiscences by shed staff, fitters and drivers including J M Dunn who was responsible for ensuring the preservation of the last example.Full of excellent photos of all periods and lots of detail photos and drawings. Can be bought directly from the Bahamas Locomotive Society and all profits go towards the upkeep of the preserved Coal Tank.

Dave, I have the same problem with a Brassmasters Re built Scot, if the drivers are from Ultrascale they are wider than other makes of wheels by about 0.5mm, enough in a tight space of splashers. The problem cannot be solved by simply moving the splasher front as this then destroys the etched rivets on the footplate top. This reinforces the need to build the chassis first and then do the body checking all the time for potential shorts.

Re the tender not sitting properly I had not screwed the tender chassis to the body so it was just sitting and hence the not quite level. It looks much better now the two are screwed together. He I use Fox transfers for the lining, I use to use a lining pen but the Fox transfers are so good I use them, it is also much quicker than using a pen.

Something I had never noticed about the bunker shot of 58904 is the fact that is has 2 brackets which would appear to be for a destination board! I assume that these were for working in the London area, but I doubt that it has been used for a long time! David

Sorry managed to get 2 photos of 58904 and missed of the Coalport photo.

Sandy, re the extended tank filler for 58904 it might have had it when it was an LNWR loco but not in the late stages of its life. Attached a photo of the loco when in store at Craven Arms in 1955. The photo shows good bunker details. When allocated to Shrewsbury it worked from Shrewsburys sub shed of Coalport untill the line shut and would be seen also on a Wellington to Newport stopper (I have photos of it at Newport circa 1952). The photo at Coalport taken in 1950 with 2 ancient ex LNWR coaches. If anyone is interested in the lines radiating from Wellington they are covered in my book, The Railways of Telford and the workings down the Coalport branch and from Wellington to Stafford are fascinating. I did a little bit of restoration work when the preserved Coal Tank was at Dinting including needle gunning the side tanks, so the Coal; Tanks will always have a place on my model railway (Trench Sidings - between Wellington and Donnington) even if it is slightly out of my time period (1957 to 1967) David