mikemeg

April 1

I do have photos of almost half of the class but here's a last one showing one of the earlier built J72's carrying the full lined green NER livery, albeit in BR days and looking decidedly faded.

Cheers

Mike

April 1

John,

I have added three photos to the above posting, showing the main variants.

Regards

Mike

March 31

23 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

Plummeting this thread a long way, I have an old Mainline J72, bought decades ago for not a lot, which surprisingly runs very nicely indeed on its split chassis mechanism.

Would this be the same variant as your 69003/10, so a late one built by BR?

Many thanks,

John.

Hi John,

Without seeing a photo of the mainline model, it is impossible to identify which batch(es) the model covers.

The NER Class E1 (later LNER J72) were built as follows :-

1898 - 99 20 locos all with the shorter bunker. These became 68670 - 68689

1914 20 locos all with the longer bunker. These became 68690 - 68709

1920 10 " " These became 68710 - 68719

1922 25 " " These became 68720 - 68744

1925 10 " " These became 68745 - 68754

1949 - 51 28 " " These were 69001 - 69028

As far as I know, the only visible difference between the 1914 to 1925 batches and those built by BR were the sanding arrangements. The earlier batches had rear sandboxes inside the cab; the last batch (BR) had externally mounted rear sandboxes which were clearly visible under the rear of the running plate. I believe the actuating mechanism for the front sandboxes (part of the front splasher) was also slightly different.

Some of the earlier locos may have lost their 'trumpet' safety valve cover but all of the last batch were built with and retained that cover.

Some locos were vacuum fitted and these did include earlier built examples. These locos were employed on station pilot duties and under BR, some were painted in full NER lined Saxony Green livery.

Reference to Yeadon would verify if this is the complete list of changes. The fifty three year span between the first and the last build is probably the longest of any loco class.

I have attached three photos :-

68670 which was the first NER Class E1 / LNER J72 to be built, with the shorter bunker.

68747 which was one of the 1925 LNER batch with the longer bunker (5 and 3/4"longer).

69010 which was one of the BR batch.

Cheers

Mike

March 31

J72's 'A Plenty'

Here is another of those 'composed' photos. Richard (30368) did remark that I have an ex NER tank loco habit which, of course, I do. Anyway here are three of the four J72's on the railway; two Bachmann conversions with High Level Models Chassis and one of North Eastern Kits models of the longer bunker version.

A fourth J72 is awaiting painting, representing one of the first twenty built with the original shorter bunker. As the models are all set in mid-1950, then both 69003 and 69010 would have been almost new as they were built by BR in 1949 - 1950.

Most of my photos, taken on the railway, are taken on 'gloriously blue sunny days' only because the background 'sky sheets' are that blue of a summer sky and the lighting is a 'daylight lamp'.

But why not portray and remember them on a gloriously blue, sunlit summer's day?

Cheers

Mike

March 30

My last memories of the loco spotting days were of Hull Dairycoates 7 Section in 1965, near the coaling plant and where those locos destined for Drapers scrapyard were temporarily stored. By then steam was in full retreat, almost everywhere. For those of us who saw this demise, then the only lasting legacy of this age would probably be the National Railway Museum collection, then being assembled. Here we would be able to see and appreciate a few carefully chosen examples standing pristine but lifeless in a scrupulously clean environment.

Few if any of us could ever have imagined that the preservation movement would spring up all over the country and that hundreds of locomotives would survive to live and work once more. Carefully restored, lovingly cherished and appreciated by whole generations who never saw or experienced the steam railway. Even less could we imagine that new locos would be built to illustrate some of those classes which were completely withdrawn or which were integral to the evolution of the steam locomotive.

This thread and Rob's 'Photos of East Yorkshire's Railways' thread provide a fantastic insight into not only the steam railway but also the history of the diesel railway, which apart from the change in motive power, was often little changed in its environment and operating characteristics from earlier days.

So many thanks for a wonderful thread.

Regards

Mike

March 29

21 hours ago, Nick Lawson said:

Hello Mike, would you be able to add this picture back please?

And if anyone knows where else I can see the J21 prototype pictures contributed at the time by Arthur that would also be great.

Thanks,

Nick

Nick,

I also have a collection of J21 prototype pictures (about fifteen in all) covering their NER, LNER and BR days. What period are you modelling and I will try and post one or two appropriate photos.

Some of these locos were superheated, some not. Also some were vacuum fitted, some were not, throughout their lives. This was a very long lived class so there were lots of variations as they went through their lives.

The appropriate Yeadon's Register is the 'bible' on this class (and every other LNER class) but I do have the 'Last Day of the LNER' which lists every extant LNER locomotive and its shed allocation as at December 31st, 1947 and The Ian Alan Combined Volume for mid 1950, which lists every BR locomotive and its shed allocation at August 1950.

Cheers

Mike

March 29

In an earlier post, I posted a couple of photographs of 45562 Alberta (really Galatea?) on the Scarborough Spa Express on August 13th, 2020. Quite a surprise as this loco had been withdrawn and scrapped during the late 1960's. This train would often turn out some quite unusual locomotives, none more so than this one taken almost a year after the Jubilee. So, on August 5th, 2021, the Scarborough Spa Express was headed up by a Merchant Navy - 35018 - again absolutely immaculate.

I guess for those of us who saw the end of steam, in the early and mid 1960's, the rebuilt Merchant Navy's along with the Coronation's, the Peppercorn A1's and the Britannia's, probably represented the absolute zenith of express passenger locomotive development in this country. So to see one, once again, was just a joy.

Cheers

Mike

March 29

Hi Nick,

I do still have all of the photos from the J25 build (and all of the other test builds) so here goes. I often take these shots to check on straightness, curve and fit of the cab roof, etc; in this case the footplate and the cab roof profile. Even though the prototypes were often slightly 'out of true' - see the running plate on photograph 4 of the J21, below - especially in their later years, somehow any lack of straightness doesn't always (ever?) look convincing on the models.

I built the cab interior as a complete sub-assembly and then just 'pushed' the whole thing into the cab. Far easier than trying to build it into the fully assembled cab.

Hope these help.

Regards

Mike

March 24

The First Green Locomotive

Following on from the posting of the 'First Steam Shed Sunday' but actually on the same day, a Sunday in early October of 1958, after we had left Dairycoates shed and were on our way home, the gates of the level crossing on Hessle Road, in Hull, closed. We hauled our bikes up the steps of the footbridge which adjoined the crossing to watch whatever had caused the gates to close.

Down the incline from 'tin pan alley' the nickname of the main line girder bridge which passed Dairycoates shed, came a passenger train hauled by a lined green locomotive. As it approached the footbridge, we could see the number 45562 and then see that it carried a nameplate 'Alberta'. So this was the first of many encounters with Leeds Holbeck (55A) Jubilees; this one bringing in a Liverpool to Hull Sunday train. Later 45562 became one of the last Jubilees to remain in service but succumbed to the cutters torch in the late 1960's.

So imagine my amazement when, on August 13th, 2020, going to Scarborough Station to photograph the Scarborough Spa Express, I saw a pristine, gleaming 45562 'Alberta'. Of course, this was one of the preserved Jubilees (Galatea?), temporarily carrying the number and name 45562 'Alberta' but what a coincidence. When we originally saw these locos, they were almost always filthy and increasingly looking very down at heel. This one looked as if it had come ex-works that same day, so immaculately was it turned out.

The loco left Scarborough at its appointed 5.00pm and took out fourteen BR Mk 1 and Mk 2 coaches unaided, and without a vestige of a slip. A lady, standing next to me overlooking the station platform, who I had never seen before, turned and simply said 'Oh that is just beautiful'.

And so it was!!

The first two photos are of 45562 in Scarborough. The last photo shows the view from that Hessle Road footbridge, this as an unnamed Patriot - 45517 - approaches the level crossing on a football supporters special. I don't have a date for this photo but probably late 1950's; the tender totem is the later BR one but the coaches appear to be ex-LMS.

Cheers

Mike

March 24

Hessle Haven

In reply to the previous question, I am still working on it. I have to confess that I did stop work on the layout when I began doing test builds of etched locomotive kits around 2015 but the layout is still the 'test bed' for the locos and I still photograph them on it.

The third section, which is by far the most complex part of the model, and is the section shown in some of my earlier photos of the 'real thing' in an earlier post - Reflections on the thread - is now work in progress but with twelve turnouts, two diamond crossings and a single slip - not to mention a row of railway cottages, another bridge, a gas works and a small shipyard and the muddy water of the haven itself - it is still 'some way off completion'.

While the majority of the layout is based on actual track plans of Hessle Haven, I am going to have to add a motive power depot to house the forty (and growing) locos so far built or converted. Dairycoates is out of the question so, ideally, I need an ex North Eastern straight shed to model though Selby's square 'roundhouses' are tempting.

So thanks for the question and, though this is not a model making thread, here's a couple of photos of a few of the tank locos on the railway, one of the models on test and, of course, that bridge. As it is a model of a part of the railway of East Yorkshire perhaps I'll get away with this on Rob's thread!!

Regards

Mike

March 24

Signals over the years

Looking through the myriad photographs on this thread, as well as the ever changing nature of the motive power and rolling stock, there were aspects of the railway scene, in East Yorkshire, which changed much more slowly and which were 'constants' for very much longer. Nowhere was this truer than with the great signal gantries and bridges, made for the North Eastern Railway by McKenzie and Holland of Worcester.

Those delicate lattice structures supporting the North Eastern's penchant for signalling every conceivable movement, made these structures an integral part of the railway scene for the best part of a century. For essentially functional pieces of equipment, these structures were incredibly elegant things and did much to enhance the 'look' of the railway. Almost the last of these great structures, which became iconic, was the Falsgrave signal bridge, which, in modified form now stands at one end of Grosmont Station on the NYMR.

Some years ago, I began to scratch build models of some of these incredible structures but where to find drawings. The answer to this was nowhere! Oh there were diagrams, outlines on track plans, etc. but nowhere could I find 4mm scale drawings. So I produced some, in fact quite a few. Using photographs and armed with certain key dimensions and using a 'home made' piece of 3D analytic software I was able to get pretty close (within 1/2 of one percent) of the key dimensions.

So a few photographs of some of the drawings thus produced (and their prototypes), which are all hand drawn, and one of the resulting models. They are Falsgrave, Barlby West and Hull West Parade.

The model is, of course, a signal bridge which stood at Hessle Haven, though I have also modelled some of the Scarborough installations.

Cheers

Mike

March 22

The photo of the Class 20 above.

Amazing to realise that the locomotive was then probably fifty five years old. The footbridge, which is a North Eastern Railway cast example, is at least one hundred years old and the station roof, under which the train is passing, is probably more than one hundred and fifty years old.

Our railway heritage illustrated in one photograph.

Cheers

Mike

March 21

XH558

Re the last photo of Avro Vulcan XH558 at Beverley in the above posting, here are a couple of other photographs of this same machine. These were taken, by me, at Scarborough during June of 2015, on Armed Forces Day and yes, this is the actual Avro Vulcan XH558 during its final season of flying displays. Its last flight was during October 2015 after which it became a static display.

In the tradition of bombers carrying names - B17's Memphis Belle, Sally B, etc - this aircraft carried and carries the name Spirit of Great Britain, though not the exotic artwork of the B17's, B29's or some of the wartime Halifaxes and Lancasters.

This was the last of the 134 Vulcans, built for the RAF, to remain in flying condition though for many of its last flying years it was operated by a preservation group.

The photos were taken on a Canon EOS 1100 SLR with a telephoto lens, using a shutter speed of 1/5000th of a second.

An awesomely beautiful aeroplane!

Cheers

Mike

March 21

8 hours ago, 30368 said:

Wonderfully evocative of so many engine sheds on a Sunday, reminding me of a couple of Sunday visits to York shed followed by a trip accross the road to the staff canteen for a very hearty breakfast!

Many thanks,

30368

Thanks Richard,

The above 'opus' is now finished and illustrated with photos so that it meets the criterion of the thread's title. I have to say, writing and illustrating this was a very pleasant task and rekindled all sorts of memories.

Regards

Mike

March 20

The First 'Steam Shed Sunday'

Thanks to Rob for the very kind words, though you might live to regret inviting me to post on here more regularly.

As part of our initiation to the railway and its trains, way back in 1958, we discovered that there were places which, for spotters or railway enthusiasts, were the holy of holies. Often these places bore names which really didn't signify as railway places; Dairycoates, surely something to do with cows and agriculture; Botanic Gardens, again redolent of manicured, orderly places where plants and trees are cultivated; Springhead, perhaps the source of a small stream or river. Alexandra Dock, a place full of water and ships, surely.

No, these were the great sheds and some not so great, where the locomotives lived and from which they worked. Very soon, normally on a Sunday, we would venture into these places to find that they were enormous, covering a huge area. They were great cathedrals of places, dedicated not to some deity but to the upkeep and functioning of the steam locomotive.

So, on a bright, sunny, early October Sunday three young lads, I being the youngest, rode down Brighton Street, in Hull, past some allotments and wood yards and parked our bikes in a bike shed alongside the goods lines which skirted Dairycoates loco shed. We walked over the footbridge and into this place. And almost immediately the realisation that this was a very special place and a host of impressions formed in my mind, impressions, pictures, memories which have stayed with me throughout my life.

There was a stillness about the place, nothing was moving. There was an air of dilapidation, with a row of offices which had once adjoined a much larger building and now stood in isolation. But the overriding memory was of straight lines of locomotives, again on tracks which must have once been covered, most being Austerity's perhaps a dozen of them.

In the near distance, in front of a huge building, was a turntable with tracks radiating around it, on each of which was a tank locomotive or an 'interloping' diesel shunter. So that's how they did it; they used turntables to determine where the locos would rest! Alongside the row of Austerities, was another building, this one lacking a complete roof and again, packed with locomotives. More Austerities, K3's, J25's and J39's. But these would be mere hors d'ouvres for the main course!!

We moved on into the main hall of this place and here the impressions flooded into the mind. The stygian gloom of this soot encrusted place, even on a sunny afternoon, was palpable. There was almost no noise in this place save for the barely audible sound of steam hissing, water dripping and the sound of pigeons flying and cooing up in the roof beams of this enormous building. Great shafts of sunlight punctuated the gloom, where glass panels in the roof were broken or missing. These shafts of sunlight, almost tangible, struck the floor, illuminating pools of water and oil which would reflect the colours of the rainbow. Some shafts of the light from the roof would illuminate parts of a locomotive, occasionally gleaming off newly applied paint and lining. But everywhere stillness! Tomorrow this place would echo to the sounds of a working railway, hustle and bustle; today was their 'day off' and the locomotives rested in silence.

The two turntables, within the main building, contained largely the home based complement of B1's, J25's, J39's, K3's, 4MT's and even more Austerities. Outside the shed was yet another turntable, though much later we would read that prior to its rebuilding in 1955/56, this shed actually contained six turntables, all within the one building. Around this turntable stood the 'foreign' loco's resting before returning to their base from whence they came. What traffic brought K3's from Woodford Halse, Black 5's and a Crab from Manchester, a Standard Class 5 from Huddersfield, O1 and O4 locomotives from Frodingham and the sheds in the Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire coal fields? Questions we would all answer over the coming years.

After tramping across seemingly unending expanses of ash, to the coaling plant to 'cop' yet another line of silent, cold locomotives, we took our leave of this place. We had seen just short of one hundred locomotives, including some of the original 350 hp diesel shunters. Unbeknown to us then - though we would very soon be forced to correct that lack of knowledge - in our youthful ignorance, we had also 'run the gauntlet' of the shed foreman and his Sunday staff.

So, that was the first Steam Shed Sunday of what would become several hundred visits to this shed and a host of others across England, Scotland and Wales over the next six years. Each memorable for a variety of reasons but none more memorable than that very first one, now over sixty five years ago. Of course, what we hadn't seen any of were lined green locomotives - Dairycoates was principally a freight shed at this time - and that discovery would have to wait for another day.

As a final note, some of the photos I have used here are not contemporaneous with 1958 but they are illustrative of the narrative and they are all I have.

So, with the kind agreement of the owner of this thread, perhaps in a week or two I'll describe, and of course illustrate, that 'first green loco' day and, perhaps, one or two more.

Mike

March 20

Reflections on the thread

I have just rediscovered this thread and what a joy! Like many of my generation, I first discovered and then spent many happy days watching the railway and its trains in the late 1950's early 1960's. A railway still dominated by steam, though by 1962/63 diesels of various types, were rapidly displacing our beloved steam locomotives. During those years, apart from the changes in motive power, the overall character of the railway had changed little from its pre-nationalisation and, in some cases, pre grouping appearance. It was a wonderful anachronism in a very fast changing world.

Of all the places, where we watched trains, none featured more often or with greater affection, than Hessle Haven, standing on the road bridge to Hessle Shipyard. Thanks to my old mate Mick Nicholson, who provided a raft of information (photos, drawings, etc.) I was able to build a model of this place, a model which I am still building.

I collected literally dozens of photos of this place and many other places along the line from Hull to Doncaster and Selby but these two just encapsulated all that we loved of the railway of that time (the dmu might be exempted from that sentiment!!). The track layouts with the track formations and ballasting immaculately maintained, the huge semaphore signal gantries and bridges, the signal boxes and, perhaps most memorably, the lingering sight and smell of steam locomotives; that incredible smell of oily, soot laden steam.

I'm sure that these photos must be posted elsewhere on this thread but allow me to post, once again, a couple of photos of a place - that bridge over the railway - and a world now long gone; a world we were fortunate enough to have seen and to have been part of and a world whose passing we shall always miss - The Steam Railway.

Cheers

Mike

March 13

17 hours ago, micklner said:

Comparison with the real Loco using Mike Meggison's earlier posted/shared Black/White original A2 photograph.

Mick,

You've certainly done justice to that kit and that build. Echoing some comments, made above, the finish on that model is lovely and really does highlight the LNER lined apple green livery perfectly.

Kings Cross shed, in the 1920's and 30's must have been quite something to behold with all of that lined apple green, kept immaculately clean!

Regards

Mike

March 12

2 hours ago, 30368 said:

I know exactly what you mean Mike, all those lovely potential "cops"... Lovely picture thanks.

You do seem to have an ex NER Tank habit that rivals my ex LSWR H15 4-6-0 habit. Wonderful!

Kind regards,

30368

Thanks Richard,

I spent very little time on the Southern as a train spotting lad but two days in 1960 stand out. The first spent on Clapham Junction station seeing not only southern region steam but also the electric multiple units. The second day was a summer Sunday 'bunk' around Nine Elms shed seeing not only the Southern Bulleid Pacifics but also some of the last King Arthurs and many other southern 4-6-0's as well as a host of other classes.

Days long lost in the mists of time but which are still vivid in the memory.

Regards

Mike

March 12

On some of my photos I have tried to recapture the feel of the steam railway as we knew it when we were kids. This one reminds me of those 'steam shed Sundays' when the long lines of locos were mostly cold and at rest.

So this photo is simply entitled 'over the fence' and features another of those ex North Eastern large tank locomotives as well as some A6's.

Cheers

Mike

March 12

As many of my earlier photos have been lost from within the thread, a couple more pictures of two more of my A6's. 69796 started life as a Little Engines kit, however I eventually used only the boiler/smokebox casting and some of the smaller castings. The rest of the body was scratch built. The chassis is one of Arthur's A6 kit chassis.

This loco was the last survivor of the class, being withdrawn in1953.

69795 was the original test build of Arthur's A6 kit and was built as it appeared in mid 1950 with a saturated boiler and still carrying the original blowdown valve and valve linkage. I took this photo using only natural light, so the sunlight and shadows are real. So the photo of a model of a loco, in the very late evening of its life, somehow gives it a very nostalgic feel!

Cheers

Mike

March 11

Over the last few months, as well as completing a number of models, I have also been trying to catch up on a few repair or rebuilding jobs. Now anyone who has followed this thread will know that I have a very great affection for the large tank locomotives of the old North Eastern, none more so than the rebuilt class W tanks which became the LNER and BR Class A6.

The ten members of this class were originally built as 4-6-0's, specifically for the Scarborough to Whitby line. After rebuilding to 4-6-2's to accommodate an enlarged bunker, they were largely superceded by the more powerful A8's, during LNER days, causing most of the A6's to be dispersed to Starbeck and Hull Botanic Gardens sheds.

By the last days of the LNER - Dec. 1947 - the nine surviving members of this class were almost all different with some retaining their Westinghouse pumps, some having different pattern boilers, some were superheated, others saturated, differently profiled smokebox doors, etc.

So after a little rectification work and before the final parts are replaced, here's one in near pristine condition after what would have been its final general overhaul and repaint. This is the third of the four A6's which I have built and is modelled on 69791, allocated to Hull Botanic Gardens shed c mid 1950.

For me, tank locomotives didn't get much better than these.

Cheers

Mike

February 22

Thanks John.

I know my own thread has become somewhat 'eclectic', with all sorts of excursions and personal recollections and, like you, I feel it has benefitted from that.

Looking at the photos of these locos, I was reminded of an Easter Sunday 'bunk' around Tyne Dock shed in 1962. Eleven of the sixteen Q7's were on shed that day, along with the last three N10's, and lots of Q6's and 9F's. They were 'some great days', those bunks around the locomotive sheds; great cathedrals of places dedicated to the steam locomotive!

So, one more photo of that 'national treasure' taken at Shildon and now resplendent in LNER livery.

Cheers

Mike

February 22

And just as a reminder of what these majestic machines actually looked like, a couple of photos of the real things, one taken during its service life and one when the locomotive had passed into preservation working a passenger train in September 1963.

Just look at the pristine external condition of both locos, though by the time of the second photo (September, 1963) 63460 had become a cherished 'national treasure'.

Cheers

Mike

February 22

The photo of the Q7, which I posted earlier, was actually taken four or five years ago. Further work was stopped awaiting the development of the representation of the 'mechanical assemblies' between the mainframes. Anyway, it has now been removed from the 'airtight tin' to, once more, see the light of day.

So, though by no means complete, here's a new photo of a model of the zenith of the development of the North Eastern Railway's 0-8-0 heavy freight locomotives.

Apologies to John for using his thread but the query was raised here; so best to answer it here.

Cheers

Mike

February 22

11 hours ago, Blandford1969 said:

I'd certainly happily just buy a set of etches if made available for the Q7. Maybe Arthurs daughter will read these comments and who knows .... it would be wonderful.

I'll re-check but I'm pretty sure that the only remaining issue with the development of this kit was the representation of the motion work (crankshaft and Stephensons valve gears) on the driven axle. So with the provision of a diagram for the driven axle arrangement - allowing those who so wish to furnish some/all of this - then the kit would be saleable.

That said, a full set of instructions and some castings may also need to be completed.

Cheers

Mike

Profiles

Forums

Blogs

Gallery

Events

Exhibition Layout Details

Store

Posts posted by mikemeg