bennyboy

Paul, I hope you don't mind me posting this other great picture of yours. A181C-016 by Jamerail, on Flickr

Thanks Paul, although that's a rather sad picture to see. Do you know if the infrastructure such as the oil tanks and the buildings were removed at the same time?

Someone else has already posted a link to the site. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/123971-photos-of-tyneside-electric-lines/

Thanks. I did some Googling for pictures of the East Sidings and it made me realise that they must have been built during the 1977 'Clearing The Throat" as I saw a picture of them in use from 1978. And it seems that they were altered in 2010 in order to accommodate the new Platform 0. Also I found someone mentioning how a lot of the changes made to Kings Cross in 1977 were actually planned decades earlier as according to them.... " They were done in the late 1950's & early 1960's when, under the modernisation scheme, it looked like the GN suburban electrification was going to be done. At KX quite a few changes were planned. As the widened line services were planned to come off (apart from the freights) the Pass Loco was going to be transfered to the east side and the power box was to be situated on the site of the pass loco, by the tunnels. There was going to some remodelling of the suburban side to accomodate the longer trains and a couple of sidings would have remained in the pass loco to act as headshunts to the remodelled milk dock as well as the diesel fuel oil off loading area - it would be piped across underground from the existing tanks. East Goods was indeed going to be the depot for the EMUs with a washer put in on the upside to the south roughly parallel to where the emirates stadium is now. It was also going to be the site of the depot in the late 1960's plan, which eventually came to fruition, apart from that depot site! The National Freight Plan saw the end of Ferme Park Up as a freight yard and, as we know, the EMU depot went there. You can see how the signalling technology moved on within just a few years as the next power box was planned to be at Finsbury Park." https://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5136&p=45891&hilit=milk+dock#p45891

Thanks for those definite answers to my questions! I did some research myself and I found this thread in the LNER forum about the Passenger Loco Yard and someone did mention that it closed in 1979, but there's also a few more photos of the area if anyone else is interested. https://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6311&hilit=milk+dock

Yeah, I did think that the combination of the electrification of the suburban services and the switching to HST's must have radically reduced the use of loco hauled services in KX. So were the East sidings used for loco stabling as I've always wondered why they were built? And it seems that ECML sleeper services ended in 1988 so I guess that must roughly date the end of Motorail services at KX.

Thanks a lot for those pictures as they show rarely seen views of the Milk Dock in the 80s! Also it does clearly show that the loco yard was closed in the early 80s which surprised me as I'd always presumed that it was closed at a much later date.

I've always been fascinated by the area of Kings Cross station with the suburban platforms/Hotel Curve/Milk Dock/Loco Yard ever since Model Trains had an article suggesting building a layout based on it. I believe that the Hotel Curve and some of the Suburban platforms were lifted in the 1977 'Clearing The Throat' remodelling, but that the Milk Dock and loco yard were still in use with the Milk Dock being used to unload Motorail coaches. However I've always wondered when were Motorail services removed from Kings Cross and was the Milk Dock still in use for parcel unloading at this time? Also when did BR stop using the Loco yard and when was it (and presumably the milk dock at the same time) actually lifted?

Can the POS coach and the FFA/FGA be put through the shrinking machine please Mr Bachmann? "It is increasingly evident that Bachmann are looking at bringing more added value to products and exploring where additional features can increase the appeal of products, a prime example of this has to be the Mark 2F coach range." This is actually a bit concerning as the cost of models has already increased significantly in recent years and when manufactures add features that many purchasers could live without, it adds even more to their cost. A perfect example is the Bachmann MK2 Regional Railway coaches where the addition of weathering and the model passengers has increased the price of them by £20. If they also offer a "vanilla" version alongside these feature filled models then fair enough, but I can see some modellers being priced out of purchasing them.

Yeah, thanks for those pics as they do seem to show that the steps were generally plated over before they started to remove the nose doors. It also looks there were quite a few (31157, 31193, 31224, 31258, 31273, 31291, 31293, 31145, 31413) with a headcode box that were given TOPS number while they still retained the bodyside steps. http://www.rail-online.co.uk/p695497667/h31382973#h31382973 http://www.rail-online.co.uk/p695497667/h2f8b054e#h2f8b054e http://www.rail-online.co.uk/p695497667/h2f981ac1#h2f981ac1 http://www.rail-online.co.uk/p695497667/h28f7fa15#h28f7fa15 http://www.rail-online.co.uk/p695497667/h2819a943#h2819a943 http://www.rail-online.co.uk/p695497667/h2f881018#h2f881018 http://www.rail-online.co.uk/p695497667/h2d27f530#h2d27f530

Right, I believe that there have several periods where they have been refurbished or turned into various sub-classes in the 80s though, but I have seen ones as early as 1982 with the doors welded up.

I'm thinking about buying one of those cheap Farish Class 31's and repainting it into Rail blue, but I notice that it represents the Class before they had the bodyside steps plated over. So what I'm wondering is did any/many of them ever get given TOPS numbers before they had the bodyside steps plated over? Also when did the last ones lose their bodyside steps? And I presume that the communication doors were welded up at the same time that the steps were plated over?

But they are actually historical artefacts recovered from a 1970s Buffet car.

I just thought that I'd give a heads up that this is currently being repeated on Quest at 12:00 PM during the weekdays, as unlike most shows on Quest it doesn't get shown very often!

If you look at this photo of it next a shunter it doesn't seem to be any taller than a standard loco. I think it's just the weird proportions and the tiny wheels that make it look bigger than it is. https://inlanding.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/img_5414.jpg

They also had self lubricating axle boxes.

Perhaps they laser scanned the 68, but did the 142 the old fashioned way as it was originally announced about seven years ago!

This is good time to to buy the MK1 in Crimson & Cream as Hattons are selling the SO for around £18 as Bachmann seemed to have dumped a load of cheap stock.

Was this burglary mentioned on here when it first occurred?

If you want Pullmans in Blue Grey how about the Hornby trailers that are designed for the Brighton Belle? They may not be 100% accurate for the Golden Arrow train and obviously you'll need to remove 'Brighton Belle' from the sides, but they'll be more realistic than the old Wrenn coaches. Hattons have got some for a reasonable £30 each. http://www.hattons.co.uk/35947/Hornby_R4527_Brighton_Belle_pullman_trailer_third_S285S_in_BR_blue_grey/StockDetail.aspx

Wow, I never knew that HAA type wagons were used to convey limestone.

I notice that there seems to be a dividing bar in the windows that doesn't seem to there in their later years, I wonder if that was because of the venetian blinds that you mentioned?

Congratulations, but don't tell her that your are a model railway enthusiast until it's too late for her to back out of the relationship!

I've always wondered just how similar were they to standard MK2s? I know the doors and the windows were different, but was the bodyshell the same basic shape and did they use the same bogies and underframe equipment etc?

Here you go.... MISC_MSC_1_&_08913_Trafford_Park_30_July_2007 by DMC1947, on Flickr