Llanbourne North Wales in the 80s.

[P.C.M]

I love this layout. It's got what the French would call 'Je ne sais quoi'. Brilliant.

 

Can I ask, Peter, what model 31323 is? Is it Hornby?

 

Best wishes,

 

Michael

 

 

Hi Michael,

I think, like me, you've been watching too much Tour De France.

 

The 31 is Hornby, I still like the Lima model though I have been thinking of putting a Lima body on a Hornby chassis, that's a while of yet though.

 

Cheers Peter.

[DIRTY DIESEL]

Here's a couple of mine ..

 

19 July 1977, 40111 at Llandudno

 

24087 in Llandudno Junction (ex carriage) shed

 

Beast,

 

Fantastic photos, love the 40 in Cae Bach? When I see The Town layout now and wonder what the first Summer Saturday shift would have been like after the remodelling, hand tried behind ones back me thinks!!!!

 

Also a nice shoot of my hinding place in Junction shed

 

'Rail 2 to 3,4,5 has anyone seen the Box Lad? hang on minute is there a 40 in the shed?'

 

Brings back many memories.

 

Cheers

 

Stu

[P.C.M]

G'day,

I have had man flu and been off work for two days, I felt well enough to go out to the garage this Arvo though and take a few pics.

 

47106 waits for the shunter to finish his tea before collecting a few VGAs.

 

45111 waits to depart for Bangor, 47106 has finished shunting and waits to depart for Warrington with the return Speedlink service.

 

45029 sits on the holding sidings.

 

45111 storms onto the new section which shows some new troughing and other bits.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Clagmeister]

Nice!

 

Wheres that peak going? And the 47 on what I presume is a speedlink where is that off to?

 

Any chance we could see you operating cards or whatever you use?, I'm always interested to see how other people do it.

 

Claggy

[P.C.M]

Nice!

 

Wheres that peak going? And the 47 on what I presume is a speedlink where is that off to?

 

Any chance we could see you operating cards or whatever you use?, I'm always interested to see how other people do it.

 

Claggy

 

 

Hi Claggy,

You must have scrolled past my write up and just seen the pics. have another look.

 

My timetable is written in pencil in a book. It covers 24 hours and each move is written down each loco has a diagram based on a Loco-Hauled Travel book that I mentioned to you on your thread. Each time I operate the layout using the timetable I find things to improve hence writting in pencil. I still haven't worked out the flask train and some of the trips but all the Trans Pennine and Inter City are sorted. DMUs need to have headcodes sorted but I am getting there.

In the back of my rather tatty book is my todo list for the year and the things I want to buy. Sad I know but there you go.

 

Here is 35 minutes for you.

 

--.-- Loco leaves shed to behind signal 47401

 

07.05 IC arr plat 2 EX Holhead 1A44 47403

 

--.-- Loco drops onto train in plat 2 47401

 

07.12 Speedlink Dep loop To Holyhead T92 47002

 

07.15 IC Dep plat 2 To Cewe/ Euston 1A44 47401

 

--.-- * Yard pilot takes vans in

plat4 behind signal. 08001

 

--.-- Loco in plat 2 goes to shed 47403

 

07.20 DMU Dep plat 3 To BF ? DMU001

 

07.35 Vans Arr plat 4 r r set back.

( pick up vans in plat 4)* EX Holyhead 3J04 31401 * Note If 5 vans long go to plat 2 . *Pilot will attach vans

then go LE to H.S Loco onto train or Pilot shunts to plat 3.

then loco onto train.

[yellowvanman]

looking good there Pete , like the catch points in the pic of the peak coming onto the new section..

[Clagmeister]

Sorry missed those. Duh!

 

Thats better, I'm there now rather than just trains on a railway.

 

A bit more hectic than Caolisport I rekon. Can you imagine the amount of spare men sitting around, either in the pub or in the Llanbourne card school.

 

Claggy

[P.C.M]

I know what you mean Claggy, I am quite happy to watch trains on other layouts but if there is a timetable showing whats going on it makes it just that bit more real.

I used to be a member of the New Forest Model Railway Society and the exhibition layouts had a timetable useing flip cards which showed the movements to the public as well as the operators. For me it always made the layout more fun to operate.

 

Here is a pic of a page in my timetable book which hopefully will give you an idea if what I am doing. The other thing I use is a whiteboard with the loco diagram number ie 47401 with the loco I have chosen to work that diagram written next to it. As you can see last time I used the board there were a few no heat loco's working, which is due to the fact I don't have quite enough ETH loco's yet. As you can see my darling daughter left me a note, and I haven't seen the marker pen since.

 

Cheers Peter.

[DougN]

Gees Pete you really hide those when the meeting is at your place. Though it is a good idea. The Peak on the new section really looks the biz. I think that it is comming along really well.

 

Hopefully you get over the 'flu it is knocking a lot of people for a 6 up here! (there are only 2 left in the office that havn't had it and one of them is me!)

 

See you in sept.

[P.C.M]

Gees Pete you really hide those when the meeting is at your place. Though it is a good idea. The Peak on the new section really looks the biz. I think that it is comming along really well.

 

Hopefully you get over the 'flu it is knocking a lot of people for a 6 up here! (there are only 2 left in the office that havn't had it and one of them is me!)

 

See you in sept.

 

Hi Doug,

I have never bothered to do timetable running at a meeting, maybe once it's sorted I will.

 

I still have the flu, we have all had this week, Abbie said kids at school have had it and a couple of Leanne's friends have been sick too.

 

Cheers Peter.

[MRDBLUE17]

Hi Peter,

 

Hope you feel better soon! Great pictures as always and that flow into the new section looks really good as well from that angle with the peak. Those TPO's are very nice models - I got the 80's and 90's versions myself and I am delighted with them - hope we get a few more variants as well as these seem to have been a big sucess.

 

Thanks,

Mark

[JackBlack]

What is your station yard used for? As I'm doing a layout and I want a small yard in it?

[P.C.M]

Hi Peter,

 

Hope you feel better soon! Great pictures as always and that flow into the new section looks really good as well from that angle with the peak. Those TPO's are very nice models - I got the 80's and 90's versions myself and I am delighted with them - hope we get a few more variants as well as these seem to have been a big sucess.

 

Thanks,

Mark

 

 

Hi Mark,

Thanks mate, feeling heaps better today went back to work though, so not so happy about that. I am happy with the new section though, more so now since I relaid the oil siding. I am well happy with the TPOs too my Blue grey actually looks ok next to my Southern Pride stowage van so thats was a bonus, I just need to weather them now but they will have to wait as I have a few things on the go at the moment.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

What is your station yard used for? As I'm doing a layout and I want a small yard in it?

 

 

Hi Jackblack,

The station yard is used for unloading the VGAs that get shunted off the daily Speedlink, the coal wagons also get left in the yard until they are tripped to the coal yard (off scene) the TTA fuel tanks often get shunted over to the yard when they are ready to go back on the Speedlink. other wagons also get left in the yard but its only the VGAs that get unloaded.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Cheers Peter.

[coachmann]

Speedlinks were the province of the Class 25s for many years. Economies were effected from 6th July 1987 in order to save a loco and crew, when the gunpowder working was combined with the morning Speedlink from Valley. Class 47s then became the usual motive power. On arrival at Llandudno Junction from Valley, the loco would leave its wagons in the yard before working the Conwy Valley Trip to Maentwrog Road siding during the afternoon. The whole train would join up at the Junction late afternoon and go forward to Warrington.

[Waverley West]

Hi Peter,

 

Have just got back from holiday (in North Wales actually!) and been catching up on your thread. Glad to hear you're feeling better, even if it does mean going back to work!

 

The extension's looking nice. Nice sweeping curves. They always make trains look good I think. I especially like the cable tubes. Wish I'd thought of those before I laid the track on Waverley West.

 

I like the TPO too. Have got a few myself, so I'm looking forward to putting those on.

 

Good to see your timetable too. I've always had one for WW but I spent quite a bit of time in the evenings while on holiday working on mine (yes, a bit sad I know). I now have the all-line timetable and the main working timetable for Waverley for 1986, so I've been working on putting together a comprehensive table including non-passenger trains too this time. Will post my efforts on my layout thread when I get chance. Having a timetable always makes trains seem that bit more real to me I think. "The 10.45 Llanbourne to Llandudno" sounds so much better than "a 45 with Mk II coaches going somewhere".

 

Looking forward to more updates.

 

Cheers,

Dave

[JackBlack]

Thanks Peter. Can show you show me an example through a video or pics please so I have a better understanding????

[P.C.M]

Speedlinks were the province of the Class 25s for many years. Economies were effected from 6th July 1987 in order to save a loco and crew, when the gunpowder working was combined with the morning Speedlink from Valley. Class 47s then became the usual motive power. On arrival at Llandudno Junction from Valley, the loco would leave its wagons in the yard before working the Conwy Valley Trip to Maentwrog Road siding during the afternoon. The whole train would join up at the Junction late afternoon and go forward to Warrington.

 

 

Hi Larry,

I have a class 47 booked on my Speedlink but a class 25 turns up quite regularly, In my timetable I have the speedlink leaving for Warrington early afternoon, with the Maentwrog Road train running in the afternoon using a class 25. The loaded wagon is left in the yard and returns on the next days Speedlink. I think thats how it worked at one point, but happy to change it if its wrong.

 

Cheers Peter.

[coachmann]

Hi Larry,

I have a class 47 booked on my Speedlink but a class 25 turns up quite regularly, In my timetable I have the speedlink leaving for Warrington early afternoon, with the Maentwrog Road train running in the afternoon using a class 25. The loaded wagon is left in the yard and returns on the next days Speedlink. I think thats how it worked at one point, but happy to change it if its wrong.

Correct. Prior to the revisions it did used to leave the Junction around 2.30pm. I think you have chosen an interesting period. You must have studied this as things look as they should be on your model.

[P.C.M]

Hi Peter,

 

Have just got back from holiday (in North Wales actually!) and been catching up on your thread. Glad to hear you're feeling better, even if it does mean going back to work!

 

The extension's looking nice. Nice sweeping curves. They always make trains look good I think. I especially like the cable tubes. Wish I'd thought of those before I laid the track on Waverley West.

 

I like the TPO too. Have got a few myself, so I'm looking forward to putting those on.

 

Good to see your timetable too. I've always had one for WW but I spent quite a bit of time in the evenings while on holiday working on mine (yes, a bit sad I know). I now have the all-line timetable and the main working timetable for Waverley for 1986, so I've been working on putting together a comprehensive table including non-passenger trains too this time. Will post my efforts on my layout thread when I get chance. Having a timetable always makes trains seem that bit more real to me I think. "The 10.45 Llanbourne to Llandudno" sounds so much better than "a 45 with Mk II coaches going somewhere".

 

Looking forward to more updates.

 

Cheers,

Dave

 

Hi Dave,

Hope you had a good holiday, I am happy with the extension now and seeing the trains on the curve captures what I wanted. As for the cable tube I added these on the old part of the layout after I had ballasted so it can be done. Just makes a bit of a mess, I did my point rodding the hard way too.

The TPOs are good, they are now in the long line of coaches waiting to be done I expect you will have yours weathered before me.

 

Good luck with the timetable I have been doing for mine for years now I just keep adding and changing things as each time I run the layout I find ways to improve it. I expect you will find you need a few more loco's to work all the extra diagrams on WW as there were plenty of loco hauled trains in 1986.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Thanks Peter. Can show you show me an example through a video or pics please so I have a better understanding????

 

 

Hi Jack,

I can show you some pics.

These two pictures show that the Speedlink has arrived and is being shunted by the class 08, the pic shows the VGA vans have been shunted into the siding with the fuel tanks that were placed in the yard earlier, the coal wagons are still coupled to the class 08 and will be tripped to the coal yard later. In the other siding is a VAA van which will be picked up by the Speedlink return working, the VGAs will have been unloaded by this time and the empty fuel tanks will all go on the afternoon Speedlink leaving the yard empty.

 

Hope that helps Cheers Peter.

[JackBlack]

Thanks Peter, that helps alot. Would you be able to show a few more pics of the railfrieght train? Also do you think it'll suit a small yard to do a speedlink service?

Thanks

[P.C.M]

Thanks Peter, that helps alot. Would you be able to show a few more pics of the railfrieght train? Also do you think it'll suit a small yard to do a speedlink service?

Thanks

 

Hi Jack,

I will post up some more pics for you.

As for a Speedlink using a small yard it depends on what you are planning to do and what sort of traffic you want to run.

A small yard is more likely to be served by a trip working from a bigger yard that would have shunted a bigger train and made up a smaller train. A small yard might have a daily train bringing a couple of vans for unloading but have a cement siding near by so the trip working would just turn up with a couple of vans and a couple of cement wagons. It would shunt off the vans then go to the cement siding. The train would then return with empty cement wagons and pick up the unloaded vans or empty vans from the previous day. The train would then depart to the main yard where the train would be shunted to form a longer train with traffic from other small yards oil terminals or whatever.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Here are a couple of Speedlink trains that worked out of Eastleigh East Yard.

 

First is is an Eastleigh to Dinton, the vans would have come down from Tyne Yard or Willesden or both and would have been shunted out and put together the clay slurry tanks normally came down on the Willesden service. The train would be made up with the tanks at the back as they would be shunted out at Quidhampton, the vans would then go on to the MOD sidings at Dinton. The return working would bring back other vans from Dinton and call in at Quidhampton to pick up loaded slurry tanks. The train could also call in at Dean Hill another MOD terminal. All this would depend on traffic flows, this train could sometimes be quite long, other times only 3 or 4 wagons.

 

This picture show a Marchwood MOD train returning to Eastleigh. The use of a pair of 37s was for a while quite common as it was a fill in turn for the loco's. As they worked down on a freightliner, did the quick trip to Marchwood then run LE to pick up the return Freightliner.

 

Cheers Peter.

[JackBlack]

Thankyou Peter.