RailwaysInMyDNA

2 hours ago, ISW said:

Paul,

 

I was at Doncaster Station, about a year back (err, 20th December 2019 actually!), where I ended up talking to a guy (from Norfolk?) who was modelling something 'very' similar. He'd just spent the day 'measuring up' the external wall of Doncaster Works that is adjacent to the station. Obviously, he has quite a lot of useful information about the area. Quite how he can be contacted I don't know, but maybe he reads RMWeb?

 

Ian 

That's interesting to know Ian, thank you. You never know, he might message if he spots the thread! Will keep my fingers crossed.

20 hours ago, sir douglas said:

i cant remember whether they are a private group or a club but there is already a large BR diesel era layout of Doncaster in either EM or P4 (again cant remember) under construction somewhere

Yes, I've spotted a commission build centering on Doncaster station.

Many thanks for the pointers.

Research phase.

Well, the easiest thing is starting a project! This year should see tangible progress, but gathering all the necessary relevant information is my starting point. 

Drawings of the station, works buildings and signal boxes, together with an accurate trackplan of my chosen time period (late 60's/early 70's) will be essential for depicting this well known location. 

The intention is to model the station to scale without scaling compromise, bridge to bridge and everything in between. 

Any reference help would be greatly appreciated on this.

More details soon.

Paul. 

Correct Jeff,

Lots of good pointers there, thank you chaps. Will investigate further and update so others can benefit from what l can get hold of.

Cheers, Paul.

Hi guys,

Can l ask, do Network Rail allow individuals to request station plans or would the local council be a better idea?

I'm looking for scale drawings of Doncaster station for an upcoming project.

13 hours ago, JeffP said:

Doncaster?

Yes...base your model in the late 50's.

A1, A2, A3, A4, W1, A1/1, A2/1, A2/2, A 2/3, B1...and that's just for starters.

 

The only problem with Donny is that the shed is a mile south.

But there's the works entry where ex- works locos stood, and locos awaiting entry for repair or scrap.

Apologies Jeff, but my chosen time period is around 1970. It won't be fixed in stone, as someone will always be pointing out an error, stating such and such!

So l do reserve the right to have something turn up unexpectedly!

On 17/02/2022 at 11:44, t-b-g said:

I wish you the very best of luck with the project.

 

I love to see people being really ambitious and going for something spectacular and I am even more impressed when, like Heaton Lodge Junction, they see it through and that case in a very impressive timescale.

 

I have been helping a friend who is building Doncaster in 4mm scale, EM Gauge. The model, from Hexthorpe Bridge to North Bridge, scales at around 40ft of scenic section and is almost 6ft wide. Reaching the middle of that is tricky enough in 4mm so I will be interested to see how you manage in 7mm. Depending on your period, there is some really interesting but tricky pointwork to tackle. I built it all in EM Gauge and it was quite a challenge. There are very few "standard" LH or RH points and lots of fancy stuff. After the platforms were extended, much of the fancy stuff was replaced by rather simpler crossovers and points.

 

In the mid to late 1970s that was my top trainspotting place and I spent many a happy weekend or school holiday there, usually at the south end of Platform 1 standing next to the Deltics as they set off for London. Happy days!   

Many thanks for your good wishes. I am aiming big but will be able to work on it full time when the layout build itself gets underway.

The trackwork is indeed complex, with a number of slips required and building pointwork will be a real challenge.

A new thread will appear at a more appropriate time when the layout construction begins after sizeable building work has been done.

Agreed Graham, l followed HLJ build and went to see it at Wakefield. I thought it was a magnificent achievement!

Evening all.

There have been significant developments since my last update, in that huge decisions have taken place that have altered all my plans!

After careful negotiation (with the wife) and my offer to build stables away from our established stabling block, it means l now have a much larger footprint in which to build my project.

With this development in mind it has resulted in an ambtious plan to build an even bigger project, with the intention of opening it to the public!

After much deliberation and with the extra space becoming available my plan for York will not now go ahead.

What l now propose to build is a complete scale model of Doncaster station, under the umbrella of my business CreativeRail. Therefore, l won't continue this thread. Going forward l will start a new thread, but only when construction of the layout begins.

The scenic section will be in the region of some 70 feet, but much building alteration must happen to make this work.

I do apologise if this news disappoints some, as York remains very special to me and others but l hope that my interpretation of Doncaster will be impressive in this scale. The new thread will be a considerable length of time coming.

Many thanks,

Paul.

31 minutes ago, JeffP said:

Since the steam shed and the diesel depot were north of the station, how do they fit into your plan?

What l'm hoping to do is board above the fiddle yard to gain the necessary space for the shed and fuelling point. There will be an operating well between the station approach and fiddle yard area. 

Just a little update.

I've put a plan into AnyRail that hopefully gives a good idea of the extent of what I intend to include in my interpretation of York Station southern approach.  I'm hoping that I can directly overlay which commercially available points will fit this plan.  There will be some omissions from this plan, due to cost and complexity, such as most of Holgate Junction, but the plan will hopefully still be convincing. 

13 hours ago, hmrspaul said:

Yes they did, We photographed a couple but some years later in 1983. I'll leave it to others to let you know which locos and runners were in use during your period. 

Both were the chassis from demountable tank wagons for Crosfields

 

TDB749402   https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brdemountable/e32058387 and more photos  use with 03-073 https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/diesel03-04/e27d08546

 

TDB749411  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brdemountable/e2e0c027b  I suspect this isn't a runner, it wasn't with a loco and doesn't say it is a runner. What the TMD used it for I don't know. If there was another 03 present I don't appear to have photographed it. I didn't waste much film on locos everyone else did that. 

 

As can be seen both were different brake riggings.

 

I did climb up and take a couple of general views, probably from the tank wagon we were measuring.  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brerner/e52cb7c30  https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/brerner/e88c244e  

 

I had no idea I'd be living in York a dozen years later!

 

Paul

 

PS looking up BRDatabase suggests this was a York loco in your period but moved to Hull in 1972 and no mention of it returning. The loco is recorded as conserved at Crewe Heritage centre 

Hi Paul,

Thank you for the excellent wagon references. Your collection recording so much of Britain's railway heritage has been invaluable to me over the years and is very much appreciated.

Cheers,

Paul.

1 hour ago, 50A55B said:

Good luck with the project. A quick initial observation re. the list of locos, the ratio of 31s to 20s is the wrong way round, York had an allocation of 20s in 1970, and no class 31s. Lots of 47s there at the time too. The station pilot(s) at the time were 03s as well.

Many thanks for your good wishes. I do get your valid point on 20's. I recall seeing an image showing an abundance of single 20's around the turntable in what is now the main hall of the NRM.

My choice of location was a battle between Hitchin and York. Both had their own merits and l took my time in making the final decision. 

Am l right in saying the 03 pilot had a match wagon, as did the Newcastle pilot?

4 hours ago, woodyfox said:

Are you aware of John Turner's Flickr collection? He has an excellent album of images of the area during the period. 

Oh, and based on your stock list - surely you need a few DMU's? 

Cheers 

I didn't recognise the name but recall him by his 53A Models username. Agreed, an absolute superb collection of my chosen time period.

I do have a dmu on pre-order and will need to add additional units later on.

To answer your earlier question about trackwork, l'll be looking at Marcway for pointwork initially, but will work through my trackplan when drawn up. One thing l can say is it won't be an exact replica, although l do aim to make it look authentic.

Cheers,

Paul.

1 hour ago, Graham108 said:

I presume you've read this thread ...https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/157958-york-station-in-the-1950s/#comments

I have Graham thank you, and l'm sure like me, everyone whom followed the progress were blown away by the finished article.

2 hours ago, woodyfox said:

Wow! Genuine good wishes with this project. I admire your ambition! 

Just a few thoughts immediately spring to mind. 

Are you building your own pointwork to fit in with the plan? I assume you're modelling the pre-electrification layout with lots of double slips etc...? 

Have you seen New Street in P4 - it used to have its own site and was being built by Jim Smith-Wright? It's very inspiring. 

The boards will be very wide - you'll need to plan ease of access very carefully! As an example a 4mm scale model of Waterloo Station including throat would need an area larger than a tennis court.... 

Really good luck with this - you have an awesome level of ambition! 

Cheers 

I realise how much l've bitten off, but this is the big project to do justice to a favorite place that l've probably visited most years of my life. I'm in awe whenever admiring the fantastic engineering that went into such a grand building. I'll fit in as much as space allows, but only intend around half the station length. I certainly do remember the number of double slips! I actually reproduced York in BR days for Rail Simulator, which l sold through my business CreativeRail. 

Many thanks for the good wishes.

Cheers, Paul.

Very much appreciate the welcome Julian.

Hi all,

I'm pleased to say that my long held aim of building my dream layout is reaching the planning stage. Another house move has enabled the jump in scale from 00, as the indoor space available has dramatically increased!

I'm proposing to use part of my stable block, as a reduction in the number of horses and machinery has freed up usable covered space for a layout.

The building measures in the region of 45 feet by 12, and the fact that l intend loops at either end that extend beyond the walls, for a continuous type of configuration. So the overall length could be touching 75 or so feet.

My plan at the moment is to model the complex south approach from Holgate bridge to about the mid point of the curved train shed. All platforms might not be included, as the overall width might not be possible. This will become clearer when l've drawn up a scaled trackplan.

A fiddle yard will be included in the continuous run, hence available width will be at a premium. I'm proposing to board above the fiddle yard to provide sufficient room for York TMD and Leeman Road stabling point.

For the past couple of years l've been acquiring rolling stock and trackwork for the project. Time period for the layout is around 1970, so preTOPS, and will feature a mixture of BR green FYE and BR blue.

Current list:

Class 08 x 2 *
Class 20 x 2 *
Class 25 x 1
Class 31 x 4
Class 37 x 2
Class 40 x 2
Class 45 x 1
Class 50 x 1
Class 52 x 1
Class 55 x 4
Class 60 x 1

Mk1 BG x 8
Mk1 BSK x 3
Mk1 SK x 5
Mk1 TSO x 4
Mk1 FK x 2
Mk1 RMB x 3
GUV x 3

HAA x 12
Clay hoods x 12
Cargowaggon x 2
VAA x 5
Standard vans x 12
HTO x 5
16 ton x 11
20 ton brake van x 1
Grampus x 1

More items are on preorder.

As you can see, some items in the list don't quite fit. There will be a Cornish project in the future!

This is a mammoth undertaking, and will involve lots of building improvements/modifications before actual layout building can commence.

Updates aren't going to be numerous as my time at present is limited with other assignments, so please be patient. Planning will need doing carefully to make this work.

That's all for now.

Cheers, Paul.

Hi Guys,

I'm currently looking into what magnetic uncouplers are available for Kadee fitted stock.  Does anyone know for certain if they can effect sound fitted locos, ie low fitted speakers?  This may not be an issue as I'm only planning to use one in a siding that shouldn't have a loco pass over it, but I thought I'd ask the question.

I'm a little puzzled by the instant and delayed operation at this early stage in my investigation but need to see how big a range of products are out there before deciding on one.

I'd been hopeful that Heljan would do another batch of this much loved loco.  The guys at Tower gave the impression that it would never happen, which I found puzzling after seeing very inflated prices for 2nd hand examples on Ebay and the speed in which they sold showed there was clear demand for them.

Has anyone tried any of the long bogie locos over these 2nd radius set curves?  Ie., class 40, 45?

Excellent lineup of traction you have Richard and the crane looks superb!

Best of luck with this project of my once local depot.  I nearly started doing this in 4mm but opted instead for Doncaster.

Do you have a copy of september's BRM magazine?  There is a very nice article of Shirebrook depot done in 2mm, which may be of some help to you, but I'd be willing to travel long distances to see this done in 7mm!

Kind regards,

Paul.

Thanks for that Phil.

Not sure if they are still readily available but will have to investigate further!