Moxy

Some photos of the Bagnalls

https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3784/12617298365_648751ee8e.jpg

https://www.flickr.com/photos/96859208@N07/12594976365/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/96859208@N07/12595414534/

and some of the Hawthorn Leslie, which apparently still exists in store at Tanfield Railway

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/5868901369_9aa5ef4cf6_m.jpg

https://www.flickr.com/photos/emdjt42/7102349453/

Both get you to the same place.​

 

http://cwrailways.com

 

has the replacement smokebox door.

That's interesting, I tried the link you gave, it threw up a silly error message on my computer saying, 'Virgin media cannot find this link.'  Very strange.  If both links work and end up at the same place, then I'll blame Virgin media!

I've found the original announcement on NGRM Online, they are aiming for a release date of 20th February at Narrow Gauge South West.

Thanks

Moxy

www.shop.narrowplanet.co.uk

I think that might be an old link, try this one http://narrowplanet.myshopify.com/

I don't think the Skarloey conversion set has been released yet, they are still working on it, as far as I know.

HTH

Moxy

I have been looking on the wiganworld website for more details of the derailment Apollo mentioned above, I didn't find it but I did find quite a few photos relating to Wigan Central, so in (roughly) route order, they are listed below:

http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=3&id=10597&gallery=Railways&offset=360

All change at the Great Central - this is a 1970's shot of the lifted ex GC line into Wigan Central.  We are looking roughly SE here, Darlington Street runs left-right and Warrington Road snakes away into the distance.  This is the A573 Warrington Road which runs through Ince, not the A49 Warrington Road which runs through Goose Green and Marus Bridge.

There is nothing left at this road junction today to indicate there was ever a railway line crossing it. The bottom right hand corner with the pub, the sheds behind it and the disused trackbed are all now under a Lidl supermarket. 

The bus stop bottom left and the chapel behind it are still there, that is the base for Wigan Sea Cadets.  Wigan Central was behind the photographer.

http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=3&id=10598&gallery=Railways&offset=360

Darlington Street Bridge - a slightly earlier shot looking east along Darlington Street.  The Silverwell is a pub about 200 yds up on the left, that is still there, but no trace of this bridge.

http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=3&id=17933&gallery=Railways&offset=560

Central Station then and now - This is looking north sometime prior to 1965, note the comments about the ex LMS & ex SR parcels vans.

http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=5&id=10250&gallery=Central+Station&offset=0

Central Station early 1960's (sic) - Despite the caption, this can't be early 60's as the station didn't close until 1965 and as the track has clearly been lifted I'm going to guess at late 1960's.  The platform has been fenced off for storage.  The River Douglas is in the foreground and there are far more trees on that embankment nowadays.  The buses in the top left are on Station Road, a short stretch of which still exists - leading into a multi storey car park!

And finally....

http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=3&id=10302&gallery=Railways&offset=360

Wigan Central demolition - this view is unrecognisable today, where the cars are parked against the fence is the southbound carriageway of Riverway, the northbound carriageway runs roughly through where the canopies are and the site of the station building is under the multi storey car park for the Grand Arcade shopping centre.

Moxy

Westonmouth is on the current RMWeb, here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/104828-westonmouth-central/ along with a few more photos.

A note to add, the Stone buildings pictured were the original retort house of around 1870, used as a vehicle garage towards the end. Two very large stone lions guarded the entrance on Chapel Lane. I believe these were preserved and are now at Haigh Hall country park, though I've never seen them.

 

Brit15

Is this one of the lions? http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3442249

The caption suggests it may have come from another estate in Leigh, but also mentions the gasworks.

Moxy

Will the Bachmann Skarloey be on sale in the UK, or it is the same as their main Thomas range, for the US only, due to licensing issues?

Officially no it won't, and Bachmann themselves won't supply to UK addresses, as you say due to licensing issues.

The Bachmann UK site does list stockists that will supply their American outline goods here http://www.Bachmann.co.uk/uk.php?prod_selected=american which in theory includes the American Thomas range, so there's no harm in asking one of those retailers. 

HTH

Moxy

I agree Wigan's railway history deserves more attention that it seems to get.  Although I have lived here for about 7 years, I have only recently started to investigate where the old railways ran, and there are far more than you would ever imagine!

There is a fantastic resource available from the National Library of Scotland where you can show old maps alongside the current Bing/Google aerial views which demonstrate how many lines have been lost, yet are still visible from the air as green lines through the landscape.  If I have copied the right link, this http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sidebyside.cfm#zoom=13&lat=53.5478&lon=-2.6393&layers=1&right=BingHyb  should show the same area as your RCH map.

I would be interested to know the date of that RCH document, as the 1885-1900 OS map doesn't show either Goose Green Junction to Norley Colliery or 'End of Springs Branch.'

Regards

Moxy

Also found another inspiring real-life prototype: Liverpool Central (high level) in its last days had the exact atmosphere I'm aiming for! I find the combination of dirty stone walls, the old signal box, the colours of track, platforms and roof structure, and the surrounding buildings very inspiring. And on top of that the first-gen DMUs in between, beautiful! 

 

I agree Liverpool Central High Level is very inspiring, here's some more pictures of it from the disused stations website.  Some steam, but quite a few DMU shots, plus some demolition shots showing details of the inside of the trainshed.

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/l/liverpool_central_hl/index100.shtml

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/l/liverpool_central_hl/index20.shtml

HTH

Moxy

I take it you mean individual bricks - 3mm * 1.5mm * 0.75mm - or something pretty close to this?

This makes me wonder just how good the "bricklaying" would have been - how straight the walls - how square the corners - if these "bricks" had become mainstream.

It wasn't very straight!  I had a 'starter kit' to make a small waiting shelter and it ended up looking pretty derelict.

The idea behind these was the bricks had holes in and that you threaded them on to microrod, but there was no interlocking, they were scale flat sided bricks, so any slight misalignment by the full size builder (me) was magnified by a factor of 76.  I think that's probably why the product fell by the wayside.

Anyway, we're drifting away from Ruston Quay project layout.  As soon as I saw Paul Lunn's artist's impression I immediately thought that could be any number of small run down wharves in Lancashire in the 1950's/60's and it reminded me of a picture I have seen in a book, which I can't of course find online to illustrate the point, of Church Wharf in Bolton with Burnden Viaduct in the background.  Bolton Great Moor Street station was on a viaduct too.  I know that in real life Church Wharf and Great Moor Street are a couple of miles apart on either side of Bolton Trinity Street station, but invoking modellers licence, if we extend the canal a bit further north & west and move Great Moor Street station a bit further east, the result could look like Ruston Quays.

How about a version based around Wigan Central?  The CLC line crossed the Leeds Liverpool canal on its way into Central station, so again with a bit of rearrangement, perhaps with a fictitious canal basin serving a former cotton mill, it would fit.

I think that is the beauty of this design - it could be built with almost any regional 'signature' building style and be believable.

Moxy

Nothing in Wigan today, despite trying both Asda & WH Smith.

I appreciate this is already a day late, but does anyone know what time magazines are usually delivered?  I'm just wondering whether it's worth trying the supermarkets early tomorrow before I go to work.  i can't be bothered with WH Smith again during lunch hour, that will have to wait until weekend before I get back there.

Is my ageing memory playing tricks on me or am I right in thinking that Triang did a clockwork as well as 12v DC version of this loco?

They did, the clockwork version was R151 http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/saddleC.html

I think the clockwork version came out first, then the electric version, but I can't find the exact introduction dates at the moment.

Also what would a "National" Carriage look like with bus doors.

It was done, not with bus doors, it had proper coach type doors, but here is a link to it.

http://www.semgonline.com/coach/leyland.html

Don't know how I put the last line in my post....then again life is a constant mystery to me as my family will testify...

 

I think when you have replied quoting the post, you have typed inside the quoted box, rather than underneath it.  If you are quoting a long post, because you only get a small box to type your reply, it only shows the top of the post - you have to scroll down to the space at the bottom.

HTH

Moxy

The issue with the siding is that it conflicts with pfm 3. That said, for a run-down station in it's final years, you could abandon pfm 3, leaving a loco-length headshunt to access the refuelling road. and have the rest of the road lifted and the platform face disused?

 

If I were building this, I would go the other way and make the siding disused, perhaps with a few permanent way wagons on it, and use Platform 3 for the parcels traffic.

Given that this a run down urban terminus in a 1980's Northern town, the siding is likely to be part of a former siding network leading to a coal yard or goods yard that has long since closed and is more likely to be redundant than in use by this date.

I also think it unlikely there would a refuelling point there at all.  I can't think of any urban termini that had such facilities, the only terminus with a refuelling point that springs to mind is Buxton, but that is hardly urban and that facility was to support freight traffic, not passenger. (I'm happy to be proved wrong on that point if anyone knows of termini with refuelling points).  Most locos and units would be refuelled at their home depot and have enough fuel to get there and back. 

Building a refuelling point would have cost money and BR wouldn't spend money unless it was absolutely necessary, so unless the terminus is a very long way from a major depot, it wouldn't have a refuelling point.

Sorry guys. Yes it is a private plate. It's mine, and it's been on my MG since 1977. In about 1974 a friend acquired the Jag with the plate and gave me the number. It was easy to do back then with the old log books. I just wanted to double check the original issue, my understanding is Warrington in approx 1961, assuming it went on the Jag from new.

 

Ed

Hi Ed,

It is a Warrington registration, issued 1960 onwards, see link http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/registrations/ed.htm

HTH

Moxy

The problem with the J72 seems to be that the wheels go out of quarter - is it relatively easy to replace the wheels with Romfords?

Apologies for veering slightly off topic, but mention of Romford wheels reminded me etched replacement chassis are available for the J72 from Mainly Trains http://www.mainlytrains.co.uk/acatalog/exp_mt248.htm or Perseverance Kits http://www.perseverancekits.co.uk/ .

I realise these are a bit more involved than the Peter's Spares axles & gears option, but it might be useful to those of us whose original split frame chassis is beyond redemption, or as in my case, missing.

HTH

Moxy

Or how about the black and silver livery used on 18000?

 

Now that would be striking!

You reminded me someone has already done photoshopped versions of a Class 52 in BTC Black, here http://www.fictitiousliveries.co.uk/photo.php?52075bk1.jpg, which does look rather nice.

In response to earlier comments about NSE, http://www.fictitiousliveries.co.uk/photo.php?52075nse1.jpg Not for the faint hearted!

regards

Moxy

I've just found this thread, didn't realise Highfield had released such a wide range of kits.

If anyone is interested in the GE Tram & the Sentinel, they are still available from Frizinghall Model Railways, link here

http://www.modelrailshop.co.uk/category/508/FMR_KITS

HTH

thanks

Moxy

About a dozen Scots in WH Smith Wigan this morning. A nice model, sits on the track nicely (unlike some earlier models).  I've toned down the silver valve gear and a dab or two of weathering powder she looks "just the job" on the shed - ready to go (if she had a motor !!!).

 

Brit15

Thanks for the heads up on this Apollo, I will have to try to get in there & see if they have any left this morning.  I don't get chance to go into central Wigan during the week.  I'll echo what you say about patchy distribution, GBL seems to have disappeared from Sainsburys (my nearest supplier until recently) and even Asda hasn't had any since the Standard 4. 

Regards

Moxy

As promised, nearly forgot about this.

image.jpg

image.jpg

It's a GNRI locomotive so you GNR people will be familiar with the cab shape etc...

 

Btw sorry if I'm "hogging" this thread in any way, if it's bothering anyone, tell me an I'll just upload the finished engine once it's done.

Of course you are not hogging the thread.   I have an interest in NCC steam as well, but the later UTA period when they were mostly running 4-4-0's, 2-6-0's and the WT Geeps, so when you said you were converting the 'C' class to an NCC engine I was intrigued and tried to work out which one. I have to admit I had never heard of a 'PG' class - there doesn't seem to be much online about them and I can't find anything in my limited library of Irish books.  The only photo I have found is this one from the Mike Morant Collection http://mikemorant.smugmug.com/Trains-Railways-British-Isles/Irish-railways/Irish-railways-1953/i-KxBNrF4/A

I think it is wonderful that people can look at a GBL models and see a different prototype in them, so please carry on posting your pictures, I am really looking forward to the finished item.

Thanks

Moxy

In addition to the tram depot in Horwich which has been mentioned earlier in this thread, the main depot in Shiffnall Street Bolton still stands, seen here looking rather the worse for wear.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7144/6771144631_bcdbaf4a83.jpg

Whilst searching for that picture, I also found this at the junction of St Helens Road & Hulton Lane, https://www.flickr.com/photos/ingythewingy/5071452092/ past which I used to drive every day when I lived in Bolton without even realising it has been a tram depot!  I believe it is still there, although no longer a Renault garage.

To round off this post about local tram depots, here is a link to the Wikipedia page on the Wigan tram depot at Platt Bridge, still in use by a haulage firm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigan_Corporation_Tramways,

Regards

Moxy

Thanks for the info.  I wasn't planning on motorising my GBL 45xx, just keeping it as a static model, but even to a non-Great Western fan like me, the Lima/GBL version is obviously too tall, so if a bit of gentle plastic bashing, a repaint and perhaps some new brass plates makes it look at bit more like a real 45xx, then I'll be happy with that.

Cheers

Moxy

The Lima 4575 can be improved no end by slicing through the body just above the 'lip' at the bottom and removing a strip of plastic. ..... There was an article on doing this in the model press years ago which also converted it into a 4500.

Thanks for that, I haven't seen the article to which you refer, but the same sort of 'cut & shut' had occurred to me.  Does anybody know how wide the strip of plastic removed needs to be?

Thanks in advance

Moxy

Whilst I sympathise with the OP over the Class 114 kit issue, the reason DC may be a little late with their orders at the moment is I believe they have had a small fire at their premises recently, as reported on another forum.  That also may be why they are not able to reply to e-mails at present.

They are obviously very busy at the moment trying to recover from this setback, so the advice is to ring them to see where your order is.

I know it is frustrating not to have a reply to an e-mail, but I know from my experience of work in a large multinational insurance company that just because you have sent an e-mail doesn't mean it has been read!

Thanks & regards

Paul