Peterborough North

[great northern]

Good morning all. One image this morning, and another look from Spital Bridge, but from further over towards the DE dept. For some reason, I missed cleaning up a few bits, so please just regard that as a consequence of 1950s developing techniques.

Looking at this again, a WD creeping up to signals on the slow line would improve it a lot. I will try to remember that.

[Mallard60022]

Good morning all. One image this morning, and another look from Spital Bridge, but from further over towards the DE dept. For some reason, I missed cleaning up a few bits, so please just regard that as a consequence of 1950s developing techniques.

7 from SB.JPG

Looking at this again, a WD creeping up to signals on the slow line would improve it a lot. I will try to remember that.

Good afternoon. I like these shots from Spital Bridge as they show the sweeping reverse curves and display the 'depth'/distance achieved on the layout. Thanks G; more please.

Phil 

[mullie]

Good morning all. One image this morning, and another look from Spital Bridge, but from further over towards the DE dept. For some reason, I missed cleaning up a few bits, so please just regard that as a consequence of 1950s developing techniques.

7 from SB.JPG

Looking at this again, a WD creeping up to signals on the slow line would improve it a lot. I will try to remember that.

 

That is superb!

[glo41f]

Gilbert

 

It just keeps getting better!  Thank you so much for the wonderful evocative pictures. The weathering of the signals has added a further layer to realism that you have achieved. You are definitely pushing the envelope and inspiring us all to even greater heights. I bet you never thought when you started out on this project that your efforts would reach the premier division of model railways.

 

Regards

 

Martin Long

[chaz]

Good morning all. One image this morning, and another look from Spital Bridge, but from further over towards the DE dept. For some reason, I missed cleaning up a few bits, so please just regard that as a consequence of 1950s developing techniques.

7 from SB.JPG

Looking at this again, a WD creeping up to signals on the slow line would improve it a lot. I will try to remember that.

 

I hope you don't mind me saying that those sagging semaphore arms are a bit of a turn-off! I don't remember ever seeing an arm at danger sagging below horizontal. On my 7mm signals I soldered wire stops to the posts so that the arm at danger sat on them and couldn't sag. The wires needn't be very thick (the arms are very light and will not bend even very fine wire) and in place and painted are virtually invisible.....just a thought.

 

Chaz

[great northern]

Gilbert

 

It just keeps getting better!  Thank you so much for the wonderful evocative pictures. The weathering of the signals has added a further layer to realism that you have achieved. You are definitely pushing the envelope and inspiring us all to even greater heights. I bet you never thought when you started out on this project that your efforts would reach the premier division of model railways.

 

Regards

 

Martin Long

It has exceeded all my expectations Martin, and I'm very fortunate. It really is a dream come true - and a tribute also to the work of master craftsmen. I never thought I could have anything like this, or the support and encouragement I get on here.

[great northern]

I hope you don't mind me saying that those sagging semaphore arms are a bit of a turn-off! I don't remember ever seeing an arm at danger sagging below horizontal. On my 7mm signals I soldered wire stops to the posts so that the arm at danger sat on them and couldn't sag. The wires needn't be very thick (the arms are very light and will not bend even very fine wire) and in place and painted are virtually invisible.....just a thought.

 

Chaz

Not at all. They are a problem. The worst offenders are on the signal that has been damaged, but others aren't as good as I'd like either. The trouble is that lovely though they are, the way in which they are set up leaves some slack, which has increased with use. I'll see what Tim can do to fettle them when he visits shortly, but they really need to be rebuilt with different operating mechanism, and powered by servos instead of Tortoises. Just another of a long list of things to do, when funds permit.

[great northern]

Two very heavy crops tonight.

and another of the Spital Bridge shots.

 

[davidw]

Two very heavy crops tonight.

7 head on.JPG

and another of the Spital Bridge shots.

from SB 2.JPG

Windows on coach?

[great northern]

Windows on coach?

I was trying to make up the correct formation for the train from loose stock, and needed a MK1 FK. There was one in a drawer, and it was only when I picked it up that I realised that it was there because I had popped some windows, and it was waiting repair. I decided that I would use it anyway, but put it so that those windows were on the side that didn't get photographed. Then I photographed the other side.

[great northern]

And here is the side I meant to photograph. Wild Swan arrives with the Nottingham-KX  "Mark Lane Flyer".

There are of course both benefits and disadvantages with these darkened signals, especially on a gloomy day. More light is needed. The Electrician will have to visit. It is going to be difficult to reach the necessary places though.

[Alister_G]

It really is amazing how a simple change of colour of the signal posts and brackets can make such a difference to the photos.

 

It's quite intangible, but they suddenly look more "real".

 

It's very strange, because I would have said that your previous photos were already pretty close to the real thing.

 

Your long view from the bridge in your second cropped shot above is a prime example, the buildings, trackwork and stock are all superb, but the addition of the darker signals just takes it to another level.

 

Excellent!

 

Al.

[CUTLER2579]

Gilbert,

one advantage for poor old "Sparky" is that he can at least get fairly easy access to your loft space to do some of the work. He can also pre wire the light fittings you require fitting.

However I don't envy him or her (PC) actually fitting the lights to your ceiling with the layout below them.   

Derek.

[31A]

And here is the side I meant to photograph. Wild Swan arrives with the Nottingham-KX  "Mark Lane Flyer".

21 2.JPG

There are of course both benefits and disadvantages with these darkened signals, especially on a gloomy day. More light is needed. The Electrician will have to visit. It is going to be difficult to reach the necessary places though.

 

 

The "Mark Lane Flyer" - there's an old GN name you don't often hear!

[Mallard60022]

And here is the side I meant to photograph. Wild Swan arrives with the Nottingham-KX  "Mark Lane Flyer".

21 2.JPG

There are of course both benefits and disadvantages with these darkened signals, especially on a gloomy day. More light is needed. The Electrician will have to visit. It is going to be difficult to reach the necessary places though.

Some sort of portable lighting rigs as used in a photo studio? More versatile.

Philk

[great northern]

Some sort of portable lighting rigs as used in a photo studio? More versatile.

Philk

I've seen the problems that occur when professionals bring their lighting rigs Phil. They just eat up space, and would be constantly in the way. The light is needed to get rid of the shadows caused by the overhang of the bookcases behind Spital Bridge, so I'm vaguely thinking about something fixed under there. Getting at it will be the problem though.

[great northern]

Wild Swan duly came to a stand at the South end of Platform 2, and as her train is only 8 coaches, doesn't come far out from under the roof, so I decided to have another go at replicating a prototype photo. You.ve seen this before, and it is courtesy of Peterboroughimages.co.uk

It wasn't as sunny when I took this.

I couldn't quite get the same angle, and the chances of getting the same lighting conditions are remote to impossible, but quite a lot is nearly in the right place.

[Oldddudders]

 

 

I couldn't quite get the same angle, and the chances of getting the same lighting conditions are remote to impossible, but quite a lot is nearly in the right place.

 

The composition is within a GK (gnat's knacker), and that's quite an achievement. But there seems to be camera shake, which is not something we often see on PN. Again lighting is not helping, if it is extending shutter speeds. I am not familiar with the degree of manual control your camera offers, against automation. But well worth persevering with. 

[great northern]

The composition is within a GK (gnat's knacker), and that's quite an achievement. But there seems to be camera shake, which is not something we often see on PN. Again lighting is not helping, if it is extending shutter speeds. I am not familiar with the degree of manual control your camera offers, against automation. But well worth persevering with. 

 I always use manual settings Ian, but normally the camera is firmly supported, and I have it on five seconds delay in case it does move. With this one though I had to move the camera so that part of it was in thin air so as to get anything like the right angle, and as it was a dull day it needed a long exposure. My hand wasn't quite steady enough. I'm well aware that I'm never going to get an exact match when I try these though, so I don't worry myself about it. Well, not much anyway.

[great northern]

Tonight's featured train is the second of those early morning KX- Grantham slows, but has rather more in the way of stock than the first one. An easy turn for the crew of 60109 Hermit, and they get to stand here for quite a while, so plenty of time for tea.

One of those occasional images where the blue walls do their intended job, and no photoshopping is required.

[chaz]

The "Mark Lane Flyer" - there's an old GN name you don't often hear!

 

Who was Mark Lane? was he Penny's brother?

[chaz]

Was

 

Wild Swan duly came to a stand at the South end of Platform 2, and as her train is only 8 coaches, doesn't come far out from under the roof, so I decided to have another go at replicating a prototype photo. You.ve seen this before, and it is courtesy of Peterboroughimages.co.uk

Wild swan.jpg

It wasn't as sunny when I took this.

21 3.JPG

I couldn't quite get the same angle, and the chances of getting the same lighting conditions are remote to impossible, but quite a lot is nearly in the right place.

 

Was the camera shake intentional? Makes it look like some of my Brownie 127 efforts.

[chaz]

Tonight's featured train is the second of those early morning KX- Grantham slows, but has rather more in the way of stock than the first one. An easy turn for the crew of 60109 Hermit, and they get to stand here for quite a while, so plenty of time for tea.

109 1.JPG

One of those occasional images where the blue walls do their intended job, and no photoshopping is required.

 

Oh, I do like the shot of 'Ermit on the curve - something about the angle and background - gels nicely. Quite special.

 

I remember standing on the platform end at WGC while 60109 sat at the starter waiting for the road with a down stopper. When the signal cleared it drifted away and over the crossover onto the down fast with barely a sound. The coach wheels made more noise. Happy days.

[31A]

Who was Mark Lane? was he Penny's brother?

 

 

He might have been, but it referred to Mark Lane in the City of London, off Fenchurch Street.  Apparently a lot of financial types heading in that direction used this secondary express, which I have also seen referred to as the "Mark Lane Cannonball".  I'm not sure where I read this but suspect it was in Wrottesley's history of the Great Northern, although as it's not mentioned in the Index I'd have to plough through the three volumes to find it!

[great northern]

Was

 

 

Was the camera shake intentional? Makes it look like some of my Brownie 127 efforts.

Very little that I do is intentional, these days.