Geordie Nigel

Image from a recent running session of Port Solway.  We are getting in some practice and checking for any issues before the exhibition at Doncaster Racecourse on 11th & 12th February.  Class E1 doing some shunting.

Port Solway is scheduled to appear at The Festival of British Railway Modelling 2023.

The North Eastern Railway Electric Autocar pays a visit to Port Solway.  This is still a 00 model, straight out the box and yet to be converted, and is just placed on the track.

Following the Christmas break I have managed to photograph the level crossing and three way turnout at Port Solway using the latest aerial hot air balloon photography.  Also featured are the signal box and cantilever signal.

On 24/11/2021 at 14:17, SteamAle said:

Dougal

Clicked on link to read your post and it was not there! View came up full screen width and I could not get past August posting. Went back to e-mail and clicked on Topic heading rather than go to this posting. Took me to page six and then I got to nine and found your post.

Aspatria has not been updated because I spent over an hour typing up a posting one night pressed a button and lost everything. Couldn't be bothered to spend time trying to redo it all. There again nothing has happenned to Aspatria for several months due to a family crisis after  broken toe in June. Workington show went very well and Port Solway in S4 with a rake of M&CR chauldron wagons running made my weekend.

Philip

M&CR chauldron wagons on the Port Solway layout (scratch-built using resin casting).  Glad they made your weekend.  All the best for 2022.

One of our members purchased a second-hand NER Class A several years ago and this has recently been converted from EM to P4/S4.  Here are some images of it having its first test run on the Port Solway layout.

The gates are manually operated (i.e. can be pushed with fingers and that is it for the moment).  Because the level crossing goes across the three-way turnout, there are a lot of wires underneath in that area associated with the (track) crossings [frogs] and (track) switches [point blades] and this would make retro-fitting a motorised or even mechanical mechanism less than straight forward.

When the layout was first built there was no plan to make the gates work as it was felt that we would be forever operating them or would never close them to trains.  That they can be pushed open or closed is a bonus!

Thanks for the compliment.  The layout is a team effort by a section of the Newcastle & District MRS.  The cottages by the level crossing were built by Ian Blenk.

If you could post the track plan that would be great.

Returning to action for the Solrail / Workington MRE following repairs, the NER Class O.

Special guest appearance on the Port Solway layout by Bob Hetherington's Stockton & Darlington 'long boiler' loco 217 at the 2021 Solrail / Workington Model Railway Exhibition.  It should be on the mineral train but the crew felt that it should be given the top link.

A new rake of Maryport & Carlisle Railway Chaldron wagons scratch-built using resin casting.

The exhibition dates originally planned for the Port Solway layout have, as might be expected, been thrown into disarray by the lockdown situation.  In a complete change of plan, Port Solway will next be exhibited at Solrail / Workington on 20th & 21st November, 2021.

A small branch leading off the Port Solway layout runs to the Port Solway Sanatorium where patients can convalesce while taking in the sea air.  A train, run by the Port Solway Sanatorium Trust (PSST), collects passengers and supplies from Port Solway Station.  Recently finished model train (shown on the Lowburn Park layout as Port Solway layout is still packed away). 

During the lockdown period we have not been able to access the Port Solway layout.  Complicating factor was that we were in the middle of moving clubrooms when lockdown was started so the layout has not been unpacked since it returned from the Tyneside Exhibition in November 2019!  Our members have been busy with projects at home.  It was noted that our cattle train, shown in the previous post, was a bit on the short side so various folk have chosen to build a cattle wagon or two.  We now have an additional ten or so cattle wagons which means the train will be too long for the fiddle yard!

The scenic section is 20' long with a 6' fiddle yard at each end giving a total length of about 32'.  The plan is as seen from the viewing side.  Unfortunately I cannot get the file to show a preview but hopefully it will download.

PortSolwayPlan.pdf

Real thing found lurking at Kirkby Stephen.  This has a very close resemblance to the London Road Models kit used.

Getting the turntable to work.  For many years the turntable at Port Solway was a static scenic feature.  Last autumn a concerted effort was made to get it to work in time for its appearance at the Tyneside Model Railway Exhibition.  First image shows the turntable operating correctly for the first time using a borrowed 00 locomotive as a check weight.  The second image shows the workings underneath with, at this point, the temporary flying leads to rig temporary power supply, control switch, etc. disappearing down below baseboard level.  And finally, after finishing off, painting, repairs to the scenery and the proper installation of the electrics.

More from the preparation work.  A trial fitting of the cantilever signal bracket with Port Solway Signal Box and a lineside view of Emes Ferry Signal Box and across the viaduct.

Sad to hear of the passing of Dave Alexander.  I first came across him when I was a schoolboy and he used to run The Model Shop in Laygate, South Shields.  I regularly saw him at model railway exhibitions around the North East of England and the last time I saw him was at Workshop Wise, Stannington last October.  He has therefore been known to me for a very long time and will be a miss. 

Port Solway being prepared for the 2019 Tyneside Model Railway Exhibition with a behind-the-scene look at the working lever frame with mechanical interlocking visible just behind and the main control panel with signalling diagram and section switches.  The second photo shows the brand new lighting pelmet on test.

The brig which was built just in time for the layout's appearance at the Tyneside Model Railway Exhibition in 2019.  The photo was taken on an evening using a basic camera with built-in flash, hence the shadow of the rigging on the backscene.