Peterborough North

[gresley]

The Stanier tank now departs and will head for the Midland lines the other side of Spital Bridge, while the loco for the Down Glasgow patiently waits.

2573 and 538.JPG

The next sighting though is on the Up, as the 1000am Up Leeds comes onto view. This was a lodging turn for a 34A crew, who had taken Gannet to the West Riding the previous day on the Yorkshire Pullman.

32 1.JPG

Time for a cup of tea. Elevenses.

Gilbert,

 

Since when did King's Cross turn out A4s in that condition ?

 

Stuart

[great northern]

Gilbert,

 

Since when did King's Cross turn out A4s in that condition ?

 

Stuart

They weren't all shiny Stuart. The Top Link locos were, but some of the more run down ones could get quite shabby. Gannet isn't actually dirty, it was just a gloomy day, and I was photographing from the dark side. The loco is more or less standard Hornby green at the moment.

[great northern]

This morning we have another A4, this time 60028 arriving with the 1100 Glasgow.

Now I have to go out and wrap up well against the cold.

 

60028 's right hand lamp is one of the new ones from Modelu, with a predrilled hole to fit RTR lamp irons. Fantastic stuff!  I haven't yet tried to fit the tiny "glass" supplied, but it looks very good just as it is.

[Mallard60022]

They weren't all shiny Stuart. The Top Link locos were, but some of the more run down ones could get quite shabby. Gannet isn't actually dirty, it was just a gloomy day, and I was photographing from the dark side. The loco is more or less standard Hornby green at the moment.

Nooooooooo. not a new 7mm layout that you have secretly been building?

A. Mazed of 36E

[gwrrob]

This morning we have another A4, this time 60028 arriving with the 1100 Glasgow.

28 1.JPG

Now I have to go out and wrap up well against the cold.

 

60028 's right hand lamp is one of the new ones from Modelu, with a predrilled hole to fit RTR lamp irons. Fantastic stuff!  I haven't yet tried to fit the tiny "glass" supplied, but it looks very good just as it is.

 

 

The lenses are very fiddly Gilbert and a few of mine pinged into oblivion.Alan at Modelu plans to list them as spares soon.

[TrevorP1]

 

60028 's right hand lamp is one of the new ones from Modelu, with a predrilled hole to fit RTR lamp irons. Fantastic stuff!  I haven't yet tried to fit the tiny "glass" supplied, but it looks very good just as it is.

 

 

I'm fiddling with some of the Modelu lamps this week. A major improvement on anything I've seen before but the lens is a challenge!

Edited November 5, 2016 by TrevorP1

[Mallard60022]

The lenses are very fiddly Gilbert and a few of mine pinged into oblivion.Alan at Modelu plans to list them as spares soon.

Would a blob of that liquid glass stuff (for doing cab windows) be any good?

Phil

[TrevorP1]

Would a blob of that liquid glass stuff (for doing cab windows) be any good?

Phil

 

 

That's a thought... 

[TrevorP1]

Hopefully a few more of Ralph Turner's experiences from Kings Cross will be appreciated. I am certainly glad of the opportunity to share them lest they are lost forever. This a certainly a major 'plus' of forums like this. I am aware there are quite a few railwaymen reading this so please, if you can add anything, feel free to comment. As before the italics are Ralph's own words, either from a long letter he wrote or 'ghost written' from conversations. As a reminder we are talking about the period 1955 to 1963. I should think the following took place around 1958/60.

 

"As soon as I was 18 and allowed to do shift work I took as many spare turns as possible in No.3 link which did fitted freight. I had a lot of runs to Peterborough on 'Green Arrows' and 9Fs. My official position was in the Spare Met link which covered work over the Widened Lines. The trains started at Hertford North and ran to Broad Street via Dalston Junction or we went down through Kings Cross York Road to Moorgate. A typical days work would be three round trips or one trip and ECS work.

 

"N2s worked rakes of eight Gresley Quad-arts on these trains. There were more N2s at Top Shed than anything else. Going to Moorgate we stopped at York Road where I had to jump off and put the trip cock down, and then we dived down the 'Rat Hole' as we called it. This was all downhill but then we had to come back...

 

"When you got to Moorgate another N2 would be waiting in the spur to back down onto your train and take it back to Hertford. Then you went into the spur yourself, cleaned the fire - sometimes it would be solid clinker - took water and backed down onto the next train.

 

"The pull out of Moorgate was stiff enough but the worst part was the Hotel Curve Tunnel underneath the Great Northern Hotel. This was 1 in 48 on a sharp curve with a check rail and in a very tight bore tunnel. I can still hear the exhaust and the walloping noise in the tanks from the condensing gear. The bore was so tight that rough riding engines would hit the tunnel sides. 

 

If the thought of the engine hitting the sides of the tunnel seems a bit far fetched take a look at this photo of  a Brush Type 2 merging onto platform 16:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/82097736@N00/8564849341

 

"Often we had wet handkerchieves over our faces so we could breathe. There was nowhere for the smoke to go. It just got sucked into the cab by the draught on the fire or was pushed along in front of the engine. We came into the open air on platform 16 at Kings Cross but at times the only way we could tell was when the exhaust note changed as the engine came out of the tunnel. The smoke was so thick you just couldn't see.

 

This shot shows just how steep the platform was:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/86020500@N06/7915629476

 

"The job wasn't over then either. The trip cock had to be put back up and as soon as the 'bowler hats' got on we started. Platform 16 was still on a steep gradient and if you rolled back you'd be off the road at the 'jack catch'. Getting away was a two man job with the fireman on the regulator and the driver with the brake and the sanders. 

 

"While all this was going on there was no chance to see to the fire, so once you were away from The Cross that was the next job. Many's the time these trains could be seen stopped for a 'blow up' at Belle Isle. Condensing in the tunnel did nothing for the steaming and if the engine was a rough one many drivers didn't use it. Stopping in the tunnel was our big fear.

 

"First stop after Kings Cross was Finsbury Park and the line between there and Harringay was called 'The Golden Mile' . This was where you saw all the 'Hornsey Loafers' queued up waiting to get into Ferme Park yard with their goods trains. - usually on overtime.

 

"The trains would be buffer to buffer on the goods road, the engine of one squeezed up against the brake van of the next. They had a way of balancing the couplings against the train in front so that when it moved the coupling clattered down and woke them up. All you could see of the crews were the pairs of boots at the cab windows as they caught up on their sleep. Needless to say, when I was temporarily transferred to Hornsey for six months the Goods Road was always empty.

 

Ralph had two more memories of working these trains, one is a bit of 'fun' the other tragic and deadly serious.

 

Fortunately I am not a commuter, no money in the world would persuade me to live or work near London. Commuting was a serious business even in those far off days. As might have been suggested by Ralph's words the trains would stop pretty well at the same spot each time. The intrepid commuters would be waiting for 'their' door to stop in front of them, ready for 'their' seat. Apparently there was one driver who would deliberately stop a few inches out so that he could watch his poor victims fall over each other as they tried to board the train.

 

The last anecdote for this week concerns something at the other extreme of railway work. Quite a few footplatemen I've got to know have, at some time in their career, been confronted with a suicide or tragic accident. This happened to Ralph at Kings Cross.

 

It was a pretty ordinary day thus far but, as they emerged from Hotel Curve Tunnel and ran along the platform, instead of preparing to board the train people were turning away or staring at the engine with looks of horror on their faces. With some trepidation Ralph and his driver got off to look. There was very obviously something badly wrong.

 

There, trapped on the front coupling, was the top half of a woman's body. The crew had neither seen, felt nor heard anything. Somewhere she had fallen or jumped - I don't think anybody ever found out.

 

A tragic tale indeed and one which Ralph related several times. He also told how the situation was dealt with afterwards but there is no merit in repeating that save for the fact there there was no questioning of 'counselling' or other advice. The engine was changed and the police were called. It was a matter of getting on with the job as soon as possible.

 

[New Haven Neil]

Drifiting off topic.....as usual....there was a tunnel on the NCB Westoe system going down to the Mill Dam that was that close too - you couldn't rest your hand on the cab edge as when the loco (Baguley/EE electric 500hp bo-bo) rolled it touched the sides.  eeek.

 

Back to Peterborough.  Like that lamp, Gilbert.

 

edit for eejit speeling.

Edited November 5, 2016 by New Haven Neil

[great northern]

I have an alternative idea regarding the lamps, which I will try tomorrow, so I'll postpone replying till then. In the meantime, another photo of Walter K Whigham, horrible name, but reputedly one of the best A4s, and the relieving engine, Velocity.

and to go with that, another high level view of those beautifully crafted roofs.

[chaz]

I have an alternative idea regarding the lamps, which I will try tomorrow, so I'll postpone replying till then. In the meantime, another photo of Walter K Whigham, horrible name, but reputedly one of the best A4s, and the relieving engine, Velocity.

28 and 538.JPG

and to go with that, another high level view of those beautifully crafted roofs.

roof 2.JPG

 

"Beautifully crafted" indeed! What is so impressive is the way they all fit together perfectly with no signs of those annoying give-away gaps that so commonly spoil model buildings. Full marks!

 

Chaz

[great northern]

A couple of quick images from on high, then I must get on with chores before the railway can be looked at.

60028 heads off for servicing.

leaving 60538 free to move forward and then reverse onto the stock.

[chaz]

The finish you have on the A2 is just spot on. My recollection of the Peppercorn Pacifics is that they all seemed to wear this uniform, kept reasonably clean but bearing the unmistakeable look of being in frequent use.

 

What is telling in the shot with the A4 heading off is how much more realistic Velocity looks.

 

Chaz

[great northern]

"Beautifully crafted" indeed! What is so impressive is the way they all fit together perfectly with no signs of those annoying give-away gaps that so commonly spoil model buildings. Full marks!

 

Chaz

Isn't it a testament to Peter's work that it can be photographed in cruel close up, and still look so very good?  I look at his work, and constantly think how lucky I am. And as you say, to get it all to fit together so well, what ability and skill!

[great northern]

The finish you have on the A2 is just spot on. My recollection of the Peppercorn Pacifics is that they all seemed to wear this uniform, kept reasonably clean but bearing the unmistakeable look of being in frequent use.

 

What is telling in the shot with the A4 heading off is how much more realistic Velocity looks.

 

Chaz

 A combination of factors in play here, I think. The A4 is much as it came from Hornby, whereas Tim has done the full works on the A2. He is very good indeed at interpreting what I ask for, and I was delighted with this as a cleaned up "in service" loco, rather than one that had been specially prepared. The difference between Hornby and Bachmann's interpretation of Brunswick green is a factor also, I think.

[great northern]

Returning now to the subject of those lovely Modelu lamps, I've been able to get upstairs and try  an alternative way of dealing with the problem of those tiny lenses. I can't now remember who suggested this, some considerable way back on the thread, but I've just applied a speck of black paint in the recess where the lens should go, and I reckon it doesn't look at all bad. This image was taken in appalling light, and so photoshopping the signals properly was beyond me, but it is the loco that we are looking at, after all. The sun is now shining, of course.

I didn't quite get the right hand lamp seated correctly, but if this works as close up as this, it should be fine from more normal distances. More photos of the Pullman later, but it is a bit out of sequence at the moment.

[davidw]

I'm looking forward to seeing the Pullmans

[chaz]

 A combination of factors in play here, I think. The A4 is much as it came from Hornby, whereas Tim has done the full works on the A2. He is very good indeed at interpreting what I ask for, and I was delighted with this as a cleaned up "in service" loco, rather than one that had been specially prepared. The difference between Hornby and Bachmann's interpretation of Brunswick green is a factor also, I think.

 

I think that one photograph fully makes the case for weathering. The compact, powerful look of the A2 is enhanced by the finish - it just looks right. I have always felt that this aspect of modelling is far more important than the almost obsessive concern with the inaccuracy of minor details. I understand the arguement that goes "It's just as easy to get it right as wrong..." but for me it's much more important that the models look convincing. I much prefer a model with minor inacuracies but which has a convincing finish to an absolutely spot-on, correct in every detail one but with a finish it could only have had in the paint shop. This must be especially true on a layout like PN where one looks at the whole scene and the individual models contribute (or detract) to it. That A2 contributes!

 

Chaz

[great northern]

I think that one photograph fully makes the case for weathering. The compact, powerful look of the A2 is enhanced by the finish - it just looks right. I have always felt that this aspect of modelling is far more important than the almost obsessive concern with the inaccuracy of minor details. I understand the arguement that goes "It's just as easy to get it right as wrong..." but for me it's much more important that the models look convincing. I much prefer a model with minor inacuracies but which has a convincing finish to an absolutely spot-on, correct in every detail one but with a finish it could only have had in the paint shop. This must be especially true on a layout like PN where one looks at the whole scene and the individual models contribute (or detract) to it. That A2 contributes!

 

Chaz

I couldn't agree more. Clean engines were a rarity, let alone immaculate ones, with due respect to Top shed and, until 1959, Grantham. Lincoln, where I sent most of my time, was just shades of grey, occasionally illuminated by something shiny. I still remember how our jaws dropped when an ex works K3 came on shed, and we saw what lined black actually could look like. This would be before we had started to venture further afield and seen Donny paint shop, but even so it showed what the norm was like.

[chaz]

Returning now to the subject of those lovely Modelu lamps, I've been able to get upstairs and try  an alternative way of dealing with the problem of those tiny lenses. I can't now remember who suggested this, some considerable way back on the thread, but I've just applied a speck of black paint in the recess where the lens should go, and I reckon it doesn't look at all bad. This image was taken in appalling light, and so photoshopping the signals properly was beyond me, but it is the loco that we are looking at, after all. The sun is now shining, of course.

TT1.JPG

I didn't quite get the right hand lamp seated correctly, but if this works as close up as this, it should be fine from more normal distances. More photos of the Pullman later, but it is a bit out of sequence at the moment.

 

Those lamps look excellent. It's my recollection that during daylight hours the glasses of the lamps did often look dark and shiny from the front. It's true that a side view shows the curved glass as transparent (see the picture on the contents page of the excellent "Top Shed") but I'm not sure how much that would show in 4mm! (Now a Fulgarex gauge 1 live steam A4....)

 

Chaz

Edited November 6, 2016 by chaz

[great northern]

Let's have a change from big green things tonight. There was just time for a trip working from South Yard to run through Northbound on the Up line, thus giving a reason for that concrete post signal to be in the off position deliberately for once.

We like J6s, don't we? So let us have a nice close up to round off the day.

Another of my favourite classes of engine, it would be nice to have some more.

[manna]

G'day Gents

 

Yes we like J6's and C12's and J3's and O2's, Oh sorry, got carried away .........

 

manna.

[great northern]

G'day Gents

 

Yes we like J6's and C12's and J3's and O2's, Oh sorry, got carried away .........

 

manna.

Entirely understandable. Who wouldn't be carried away by such lovely engines?

[great northern]

This morning though has a GE flavour, as the 1243pm to Cambridge is waiting at Platform 6.

But I'm sure you would like to see more of a B12 than just the head on view.

Chiropractor calls.