46256

Would have been nice if a director had been in charge of the set in in photo...could have justified the one I've got...not that I need much justification to run such a beautiful loco...and a Scottish one at that!

If the carriages were used in Leicster area that would tie I with the originating location of that train...thank you.

just to show it completed..44767 together with Bertha at the exit from my fiddle yards. The other photo...the old stalwart 43284....moved down from the main yards...across the west junction crossovers ove the main running lines and down into the little good yard. I have he Bachmann 3f....but this one for all its lack of finesse...it just looks if it's put numerous years of work into its metal....hope you are eynjoyng my sharing this my obsession. My wife if asked where I am...." He's up his hole" meaning the loft opening......I think

two if the Lima single cars being detailed after conversion to the three car set... The middle car was a collet coach...the valve gear is my working of Bill Bedfords etch for the Stephenson geared class 5 44767...it incorporates some comet ingredients

Again thank you metro 457. In reply about the twenties I don't know what duty they were on...I will e mail my friend later and ask if he knew. It is true though that Kingsbury branch was still active at this time and could well be that duty. The date if I recall from Eddies notes was 28 th or 29 th Dec 1968. The yards had closed fully in the August of that year. The empty stowage sidings buffers are to me especially poingnant. In respect of compressing this segment into my 18 by 12 foot loft...yes it has called for certain compromises. One that may not be apparent. In getting the max radii under the eaves I've built it low. This has left very little room under the boards for my bulk. I have literally suffered for my modelling obsession...squeezing under...banging head arms and other body parts on beams and point motors. Hot solder dropping into eye is another cruel consequence. Is it worth it? ....Sometimes I have doubts...then Iook over the Minworth Road bridge parapet back to the signal box and footbridge....see a class 8 with twenty thirty coal wagons clanking towards me...or an equally mundane cravens set emerge from under the bridge towards Leicester.....My biggest regret ,and one I I would rectify if commencing this again, by modelling it in 2 mm...the omission of the east junction.....to see one of my class 45s rattle over that crossing with a set of blue grey mk 1s... The group who have modelled this station in 2mm calling it Watton. I saw t at Warley and congratulated them on, as I hope I have with mine, capturing the atmosphere of this still busy reality area. My only regret is they modelled the current rail configuration not the pre 1982 jct....please not a criticism far from it a wonderful model that had me transfixed whilst watching it.

Thank you for your kind comments....not being an expert I've posted the artic picture on Tony wrights post. This rightly attracts any number of persons knowledgable on all things eastern especially coaching stock. I can only assume it was a last minute replacement for a failed dmu. The other alternative is that it as not in service but a withdrawn set

can anyone assist please in identifying these carriages. The train is a Birmingham to Leicester local 1962..about to enter Castle Bromwich station either en route to ..or from Bham. The coaches appear to be a LNER artic set...the loco a std 4.... Any info would be much appreciated..

a strange combo...std class 4 and ex LNER artic set deputising I think for a failed dmu just about to enter castle Brom having travelled through WO from Leicester to brum

Sorry the twenties are on up goods...

two photos taken by my friend Eddie Ravenhall Xmas time 1968...empty stowage yards...buffers...two class 20s light engine passing station on up fast line

The dmus are well represented on my layout....loathed them at the time....now miss the first generation ones....nostalgia not what it used to be !....classes 105...,104...120 116 123 the latter used for a short time on cross country ...I suppose you can include the three car GWR set laboriously created from the Lima models as per the late Monty wells in the nineties...got a class 103 etched sides waiting in the wings...class 121 128 and 129. I am an unreformed collector of locos and stock...My main problem is its storage...and yet I buy more.....in respect of the jinty it has always amused me that it populated the Lms as the std shunter but not so much on its originating railway...the midland. I write that knowing it was a Lms development of the midland design... In my case in addition to the recent Bachmann models I have created 43284. This was at Water Orton as the yard shunter when both Bob and his brother Terry Essery were stationed there on the footplate. This model is made from a tri ang model...Geo Norton brass etch cab...plastic pipe for the boiler...plasticard splashers in the correct place..ks wm tender...will photo..

In respect of the yard shunters...no jinties were used....indeed I don't think any were allocated to Saltley...class 3f tender locos were used, then class 11 Lms diesel shunters. The only jinty I've seen a photo of in the area was one left in a siding at nearby Whitacre on route for scrap

Thanks for the photo seen another of this train at new street in one of my books. One of the ironies of those days you were unlikely to see Lms locos allocated to the ex LNWR ( western lines)... The only time I can think of a princess going thru would have been 46201 en route from Carlisle to Saltley then Ashcurch after withdrawal then preservation. As stated coronations were seen on diverted Trent valley usually on parcel trains. In electric days diverted Trent valley expresses pulled through by an attendant deisel . I've recreated that by having a Bachmann class 25 with its motor removed ( it was broken and bought as such) being pushed by my class 81. I am to be honest a little wary of this combo. The memory can play tricks. I've seen many diesel hauled ( electric) trains...what were the hauling engines? I know and remember class 47s.....would a class 25 be able to do this alone...or were there pairs of them?

dear signal engineer just realised your logo...ansells mild...my first pint in the dog...I Was or indeed not quite 18.......or indeed 15....or ind,...

the yards i have a photo taken by my friend Don Taggart in 68 of the then preserved 4472 travelling thru my station. It clearly shows a set of modern lights erected in the yards ....months before closure My mates remember them being erected thinking the rumours of closure I'll founded if they were investing in such items......

Just for the record have any number of model locos, that as far as I'm aware , never went thru in br days such as A1/1 ....A2 s including sub class's...or sadly an A4.... in a way more surprising what did travel through, albeit some on railtours southern Pacifics...a3 with german smoke deflectors ..v 2 and B1s d16... K3 halls and granges...castle...in diesel days westerns warships and hymeks..

Please excuse my ignorance. I was a child in this village, the. Limit of my world was the footbridge...taken there daily by mum to watch the trains...and await the return of dad on his evening train. My dad would take me to the station every Satuday morning to deposit his pigeons to be transported north before release and hopefully return to his lofts. Then my elder sister took me to the station...she a teen me a toddler. She was meeting a former school friend now a junior porter at the station. I wandered from her into the little goods yard...I was reunited with her by a senior porter who found me between two wagons.I never even knew the existence of the west box until in 69 my fellow train spotting mates knowing the then tyseley trio of preserved steam locos were to travel from there turn left at the jct at castle Brom towards park lane jct and Sutton park. We set off from our base at the old cattle dock by the station......walking along the embankment, opposite the marshalling yards being ripped up...towards castle Brom. We walked around the corner on what had been our horizon and there was the west box ...now disused. I have assumed that a midland box had been there prior to this circa 1940 arp structure. In addition the small sidings signal box now forlorn in the middle of the disused marshalling yards. This by now was a small br standard design...again I've always assumed that this replaced a midland wooden box. I've never seen photos of these indeed doubt they exist...please prove me wrong...

A further thought by 1962 the ground shown at the forefront of the 1962 b1 photo would have been developed from the green field as shown to the Tarmac service road serving the brand new row of shops that still stand today. The main shop in that group was a George Mason supermarket. I worked in the early seventies as a grocery delivery boy for them...by now International stores. I had a sturdy bike with basket on the front. My job was to deliver boxes of shopping all around the village. Only on a Thursday, Friday evening and all day Saturday... Shades of ggggranville in open all hours......

hi sir, was the relaying job the removal of the engineers siding, and access lines into the goods yard. I've another photo showing the gantry on that side of the line about 69... Arms missing and the track removed? Best wishes brian

Oops just looked into my last years of steam West Midlands by David C Williams the shot I was trying to recreate is shown on page 66 B1 61033 Dibateg of Sheffield darn all on this occasion is coming off the fast lines....the other usual eastern working was via Leicester and the slow lines....the big mistake I've just made...by 62 the coaches were maroon....I was waiting to see if one of you would spot that....stupid boy Hughsey....to misquote on of my heroes

the high spot f the day for spotters in 62....forget your scots Jubes 8fs and black 5s aplenty....the passage of the easterner as we called it...even later when class31 hauled...a far too clean Hornby b1 brings that joy onto the midland....

the less photographed side of Water Oron again showing the up fast...up goods and yards exit line.....all that remains today is the up fast....even the beautiful wooden lat form buildings were demolished in the 90s

three photos just taken. The first the two signal boxes together, a sight for only a brief time in 1962. The midland one has now, courtesy of station signs the correct nameboard. Water Orton station jct. it's replacement has Water Orton east jct. The second photo is the mundane a Hornby class 4f with freight passing the station, it's goods yard en route into the permissive block section of line towards Washwood Heath. The volume of freight in those days often meant lengthy waits before moving onward. The last photo is over the platform roof showing my representation of the stowage yards and towards what would have been the West Jct and the marshalling yards.The two freights awaiting the road on the up goods and yard exit line are headed by the Heljan garratt....recently remotored with mashima 10/20 after failure of the supplied Heljan motor...see that thread. The other a Saltley crab. All the signals work, and are from the excellent Gibson range. They together with points are being rewired. I use tortoise point motors, and servos for the signals...

Just changed the name of this topic to reflect it moving on from the construction of the DJH big Bertha. I intend to show some more views of the layout, in some cases alongside prototypical photos. In addition display some of my more unusual stock items. These have been created from a number of sources. The intention has been to show what would have been mundane....at the time....class 8 s on freights to 10203 travelling through en route to the British Industries fair at Castle Brom...more soon