HeatonLodge40

Andrew your memory serves you well! The truth is there wasn’t an old building there in the 80’s! Allan Downes left me two derelict building which I thought would look good there & double as old sewerage works (as you know there’s a huge sewerage farm there and has been since the ‘50’s). The scenery on this very last frame will be largely modellers license anyway as the scenic break, (which is a road bridge) is also fictitious.

Yes it’s synchronised smoke & sound. I do love 9F’s ..this one is lightly weathered (as per the real thing on a charter) & will pull ‘The Downesman’ westbound

Didn’t take any of the 40’s sadly but give me a couple days. I doubt a 40 in real life would have pulled 40 loaded HAA’s though!

Oh I couldn’t resist another..

And finally a behind the scenes look at trusty old Heljan 37191 hauling the aforementioned MGR through complicated pointwork before heading up the 1:74 bank to join the scenic side of HLJ..

And for you steam buffs, newbie on the block 9F 2-10-0 ‘Evening Star’ runs past light engine. A 55H model, its staggeringly powerful and also easily coped with the aforementioned 40 wagon MGR train (I haven’t uploaded this as it will upset so many purists).

Unsurprisingly I haven’t got much scenic work done since the circuit has been completed! Here is Romanian (kit built) 56009 storming through the junction heading east with 40 fully loaded HAA’s. I’ve loaded each one of these HAA’s a third full of real crushed coal which makes for a proper heavyweight train..

Rodger thank you for that, very kind. Today 37191 traversed the whole circuit pulling a fully loaded 37 wagon MGR. Taking 6 mins & 40 seconds at a scale 48mph.. I will post some videos in the next couple of days but I will say the objective of waiting absolutely ages for the train to thunder past (after seeing the high intensity light in the far distance) is spectacular! In the meantime I’ve been installing Allan Downes old sewerage works. I’m re-starting on the scenery at the very end and am now working back towards the dive under I started a few weeks ago. Allans derelict building needed to stand on its own platform between the river and the far end of the model to get the right height. Using bits of 4x2 to prop up the platform added too much weight so I’ve used scrap aluminium tube, hot glued to the frame. I’ll begin infilling the gaps with polystyrene tomorrow (if I’m not distracted by a huge freight passing by every 6 and a half minutes.)

Thanks for the kind compliments! Simon - yes these frames are by Tim Horn.

At 11.11am this morning the last bit of track was connected to form the outer loop of HLJ. It’s only taken just over 5 years... Once this curve and the junction/crossovers immediately before it are wired, the first train will set out on its inaugural lap. Probably have trusty old 37191 with 36 full MGR’s me thinks.. I celebrated with a cup of Yorkshire tea and will throw another 2kgs of coal in the blender this aft to create some more coal loads. Just awaiting the inner loop (Huddersfield Line) frames. Once the tracks laid on these thats the track done. I’ll be back on the scenery tomorrow. Happy days

Looking superb Giles! Have you any plans for something on it to be working ie motorised.. like a jib or crane etc?

Thanks Phil. In all honesty I can’t see a public gathering of thousands of people - as at Warley, being allowed anytime this year. The company manufacturing the handcarts needed to transport the layout are also falling way behind schedule. Alls not lost though, HLJ will eventually be in lots of different locations that I’ll make known later this year.

Well there are 3 MGR rakes of 36, two full, one empty. The full rakes will obviously only have crushed coal over the top of the false foam board base. So 36 loads shouldn’t add too much weight. The Dapol MGR’s run beautifully (and even run down the 1:137 whole length of the layout on their own). One Heljan 37 will easily pull 50 empty ones so 36 loaded ones should be fine. Today I added faded stripes, & weathered (in two colours) 10 HAA’s as well as constructing the false bottoms and adding the crushed coal. These heaped coal loads have to be glued with diluted PVA one layer at a time.. It’s labour intensive but the results are excellent.

Yes I will post videos up within a week or two. The last curve needs wiring, the track cleaning and ready to go! I’m also churning out 5 weathered and loaded MGR’s a day with distressed black stripes. They look much better now as the stripes were too prominent until I took a fibreglass pencil to them

Thank you for the comments. The photos are very flattering mind. Two days from completing the loop.. Update next week with the first trains running continuously ..

It’s a good point. I’m told by someone who worked in a power station facility the real coal in MGR’s was much finer than in my HAA. I smashed up a couple of lumps with a hammer but I think I’ll try a blender now. Ive used foam board to create a false bottom in the HAA, about 1cm from the top.

There’s always jobs I don’t like doing and laying cork is one of them. This is for the last curve before the golden spike and the loop is complete. So for a change this weekend I decided to paint rolling stock which I do enjoy. Since Heljan’s super VAA vans in Railfreight livery sold out ages ago, I acquired 15 in EWS livery and spent the last couple days repainting them into the much earlier red and grey. As usual I don’t bother with convention and simply painted red and grey over the purple (after a quick rub with wet and dry). Into the oven to bake (the spray booth with a fan heater and towel over it) before transfers and weathering. That said, I was a bit too hasty and got a paint reaction (see pic). It’s staying though as I quite like it.. Likewise the lovely Dapol MGR’s are also very thin on the ground with only the blue cradle variety left. Having acquired 15 of these too I hand painted the cradles into bauxite before weathering. The twin black tyre marks need distressing yet, and the real coal load to dry. I had to buy a 20kg bag of coal since I’ve another 99 MGR’s to fill Wish me luck

Thanks to Ben Jones at Heljan who tipped me off, I managed to buy this photo of Heaton Lodge Junction. Its unusual as it shows the signal box and semaphores which all went in early 1970. And of course a Class 50 which I’ve never seen a picture of at this location. I know they often did Settle/Carlisle runs before being transferred to the western region. So I’m guessing this must be ‘69 early 1970.

Last week saw the remaining frames delivered which complete the full circuit, so I’m back on the fiddle yard side constructing and laying track. Main job was to create a double junction & crossover which mirrors the same on the scenic side. To break this up I switch onto weathering and modifying stock during the day. Seeing as there are so few Heljan VAA vans around, I bought some with the EWS livery which I’m repainting into the earlier Railfreight colours. Still a huge shortage of rtr wagons in O gauge..

Thanks Jamie for those pics. Yes you’re definitely standing on the old GN line, didn’t live far from there some years ago. 9F 2-10-0 Evening Star has now landed (a Finescale Brass loco) and will be in charge of steam specials. With its synchronised sound and smoke I’m looking forward to seeing it pull 12 coaches on ‘The Downesman’. The 9F has always been my favourite class of steam locomotives and ‘Evening Star’ especially so. Possibly the steam equivalent of a Class 56 I think..

Just finishing off this frame. It’s taken 3 weeks from scratch so it’s a bit overdue as I aim to complete one in 2. That said it’s been a complicated one. On the high level I’ve added a PW portakabin. This is an Intentio kit and very nice it is too. I added the window grills, used the talc on wet paint method to try and get the ‘pebble’ effect and scratchbuilt a brass door instead of using the wooden one (inc) as it was a tad too thick. The truck is an IXO diecast model from Spain. It’s actually a SAVA, who back then made the BMC/Leyland FG under license. I dismantled this, converted it from left hand drive to right hand drive, filed the bottoms of the tyres down (so it sits better), added a sleeping BR PW chap in the passenger seat, (much of whose head I had to remove) changed the no plate to a British one before giving it a coat of dirty black. Probably overdone it a bit but hey ho

Thanks for that. The same diagram is available online which is how I managed to get all the signal numbers. Might make a bid though

I had to have the Calor logos made. Most transfer companies like Railtec for example will make bespoke ones

On the home straight with this complicated frame.. Needed to scratchbuild a plethora of bits and bats from brass including track circuit transmitters and an elevated platform for two relay boxes. The dilapidated concrete fence is made from individual card sections sprayed with concrete paint and talc sprinkled on. Didn’t forget the strengthening rebars which are left after a panel falls out. The stream/pond at the bottom is my second attempt since the first resulted in the casting resin finding its way into to the floor overnight! I usually make a long list of details to add once the main landscaping is done. The list on this board was a long one. In the evening I’ve been weathering more MGR’s and a new batch of Accurascale’s excellent HUO’s which will run behind 40009 - as in the post above.

Progress with this frame continues.. First section of the dive under tunnel lined whilst on the upper level the two furthest tracks start to peel off towards Huddersfield. These await painting/detailing Once the brown paint is dry I’ll start to add static grass, water(resin) for the stream then detailing will begin..