Peterborough North

[great northern]

16 minutes ago, Bogie said:

I rather liked the wide view, but have I cropped it too much at the bottom?

 

In a way you raise an interesting question about photographing model railways and that is - could someone in real life have taken such a photo.

 

I must admit I am two minds about that.  Should the photo reflect the realism of the scene or the effort to record the scene?

 

Sorry I have typed this post after drinking some fantastic red wine and I am probably being a little too intellectual.

The photo was taken from what would be a place of safety between the bridge and the signal box. and I have seen a number of similar shots taken of the real thing back in the 50s, so I think the answer is that yes, the photographer could have stood where he needed to to get the shot, and the camera of the time was capable of taking the picture.

 

Vic Fincham, who took many of the photos I rely on, was obviously well known to the staff, and as a more relaxed view was adopted back then he was allowed to roam very freely. I follow his example, and sometimes exceed it by going somewhere far too dangerous, but my excuse is that my camera is rather bigger that Vic would be in 4mm scale, so he'd have been able to achieve the angles I want more safely.

 

I have to say I was at first a little surprised that you'd been imbibing not long after I'd had my breakfast, but then I ckecked out your location.

[Bogie]

I have a few hours left to continue imbibing, so apologise in advance if I post another post the intellectual quality of which may have declined somewhat - let alone the spelling!

[great northern]

Rather late tonight, and bed calls so I shall be brief.  Fish from on high.

 

 

followed by more coal, but with a Standard 5 instead of a WD or 9F.  I've only found one photo of 73158 during its time as a KX engine, and that was passing South yard on a coal train, so this is OK.

 

 

[bigwordsmith]

Just had an email from Hattons about the new Thompsons - didn't realise they were planning a Thomas the Tank Livery!

[great northern]

18 minutes ago, bigwordsmith said:

Just had an email from Hattons about the new Thompsons - didn't realise they were planning a Thomas the Tank Livery!

No, that's a Clive cut and shut.

[Clive Mortimore]

5 minutes ago, great northern said:

No, that's a Clive cut and shut.

Well that is what Mr Thompson done in real life.

[great northern]

All looking very black again this morning. We got another angle on the Standard 5.

 

 

Quite a nice looking loco really. We saw 73162 at Lincoln on the York-Yarmouth for what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few months, and I always enjoyed looking at it. Not as much as a B17 though. Good Lord no.

 

Then we had 61282 on the 5.52 from KX, which was definitely the one that was double headed as far as Hitchin.

 

 

 

and as most of this short train is made up of lovely Gresleys, we get a look at the formation too.

 

 

[Oldddudders]

I note 73158 was at KX for exactly a year - 20.10.57 to 19.10.58 - having arrived when less than a year old.

 

I agree these were handsome engines, and most that I saw had Arthurian names, nicked from deceased N15s. My first was Maid of Astolat, 73089, bringing a freight up the Windsor lines into Clapham Junction, circa 1960. 

[great northern]

9 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I note 73158 was at KX for exactly a year - 20.10.57 to 19.10.58 - having arrived when less than a year old.

 

I agree these were handsome engines, and most that I saw had Arthurian names, nicked from deceased N15s. My first was Maid of Astolat, 73089, bringing a freight up the Windsor lines into Clapham Junction, circa 1960. 

Our family holidays took us near Bournemouth around 1960/61, and I spent quite a lot of time on Pokesdown station, where I do remember seeing quite a lot of the named engines, as well as a lot of very filthy Spam cans.

[great northern]

As I seem to have five days worth of images in store, here is a bonus shot. This is A3 Doncaster, recently transferred to Kings Cross, and the train is the 5.05 Up Newcastle.

 

 

Gazing into my crystal ball, I predict that this train will also be seen at Gresley Junction shortly. Might not be the same loco though.

[CUTLER2579]

73158 arrived new at 34E  Neasden in December 1956 then went to 34A in as  our friend Ian mentions in November 1957.She returned to 154D Neasden twice and finally left in June 1962.

I don't know what the drtivers thought of them,but I know the Fitters at Top shed could not get on with them at all and my Late Father spend many hours going back and Forth to 34A to work on 73158 as well as 73071, 73157 & 73159.

[great northern]

The camera still follows 60048, running through non stop.

 

 

and about to pass the B1 still waiting to be allowed to head off to New England.

 

 

[St Enodoc]

12 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

My first was Maid of Astolat

Lucky you!

[thegreenhowards]

16 hours ago, great northern said:

 

Gazing into my crystal ball, I predict that this train will also be seen at Gresley Junction shortly. Might not be the same loco though.

You’re not wrong there...on both counts. Are all your loco allocations based on diagrams? I base mine on photos where available, but for these secondary trains it’s quite difficult as most captions state ‘an up express’ or something similarly useless! I figured a returning KX pacific, but chose Wild Swan which those who follow can look forward to on Gresley Jn, hopefully later today.

 

In another coincidence, I’m working on commissioning 73157 for her debut on Gresley Jn. She’s a DJH kit which I bought on eBay as ‘Maid of Astolat’ (yet another coincidence for Olddudders’ conquest!). As often is the case with white metal kits, I’m struggling with the decoder. If only it was a case of ‘just four wires’. So far I’ve blown up one decoder with a short circuit, and the second one has just stopped working at which point I gave up. I’ll have another go tomorrow.

 

I think the Standard 5’s mainly worked on the Cambridge line. I’m basing 73157 on a wonderful photo in ‘Steam Around London, The Postwar Years’ by Brian Morrison (p131) on a 9 coach Buffet Express. The other photos I have seen also feature Cambridge line trains. I think I read somewhere that they were tried out on the Grimsby fish as well, but I haven’t seen a photo and can’t remember where I read it.

 

If you dig out that book, there’s a nice photo of the double headed 1752 two pages earlier with 61095 and 61627.

 

Andy

 

 

[great northern]

16 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

You’re not wrong there...on both counts. Are all your loco allocations based on diagrams? I base mine on photos where available, but for these secondary trains it’s quite difficult as most captions state ‘an up express’ or something similarly useless! I figured a returning KX pacific, but chose Wild Swan which those who follow can look forward to on Gresley Jn, hopefully later today.

 

In another coincidence, I’m working on commissioning 73157 for her debut on Gresley Jn. She’s a DJH kit which I bought on eBay as ‘Maid of Astolat’ (yet another coincidence for Olddudders’ conquest!). As often is the case with white metal kits, I’m struggling with the decoder. If only it was a case of ‘just four wires’. So far I’ve blown up one decoder with a short circuit, and the second one has just stopped working at which point I gave up. I’ll have another go tomorrow.

 

I think the Standard 5’s mainly worked on the Cambridge line. I’m basing 73157 on a wonderful photo in ‘Steam Around London, The Postwar Years’ by Brian Morrison (p131) on a 9 coach Buffet Express. The other photos I have seen also feature Cambridge line trains. I think I read somewhere that they were tried out on the Grimsby fish as well, but I haven’t seen a photo and can’t remember where I read it.

 

If you dig out that book, there’s a nice photo of the double headed 1752 two pages earlier with 61095 and 61627.

 

Andy

 

 

Loco allocations are based on what little precious information can be found in contemporary RO and TI, plus observation, deduction and guess work!  I think for ECML south of Grantham we won't be far wrong if most of our express diagrams are worked by 34A or 34F, other than some of the West Riding trains, and the regular Tyneside workings. I think I know what all the 34A lodging turns are, so locos allocated to them work just once in the entire sequence, which means about every four months. As they only do one lap of the layout, at least they shouldn't get worn out for quite a while.

 

For the others, I make sure that they don't appear again until a realistic amount of time has elapsed, and nearly all have one Up and one Down duty in a complete sequence. If I'm to be self critical, I think I use too many A3s and A4s, and not enough A1s, but the temptation is too great.

 

I don't have that Morrison book Andy, would you recommend that I get it?

[great northern]

Been up half the night with a very upset stomach, so not much will get done today. Plenty of time to be on here or to sit and do some "research" then.  A final look at 60048, this time from Crescent Bridge.

 

 

I may have hit on a decent angle here, though it does call for some difficult photoshopping.  How can things which are respectively white and blue both come out as exactly the same shade of grey when I take a photograph?

 

We also have the evening parcels from East behind Kimbolton Castle, no doubt once again just to avoid a light engine movement.

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

11 minutes ago, great northern said:

I don't have that Morrison book Andy, would you recommend that I get it?

Having seen your bookshelves, I can't believe that I've found a book that you haven't got! It's got some great photos but they're all black and white and spread around London. There are only about 18 pages on the GN, but they include some real gems including the Plant Centenarian railtour, a D16 on the Cambridge Buffet Express and several clear photos of other trains. I got mine for a couple of quid second hand and it was well worth that. I'm not sure I'd pay full price for it though.

[great northern]

6 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

Having seen your bookshelves, I can't believe that I've found a book that you haven't got! It's got some great photos but they're all black and white and spread around London. There are only about 18 pages on the GN, but they include some real gems including the Plant Centenarian railtour, a D16 on the Cambridge Buffet Express and several clear photos of other trains. I got mine for a couple of quid second hand and it was well worth that. I'm not sure I'd pay full price for it though.

Just had a look on Amazon. Quite a lot available second hand, but also two new, one at £11.50, and the other for a very reasonable £287.99. Which do you think I should go for?

[davidw]

1 hour ago, thegreenhowards said:

 

 

In another coincidence, I’m working on commissioning 73157 for her debut on Gresley Jn. She’s a DJH kit which I bought on eBay as ‘Maid of Astolat’ (yet another coincidence for Olddudders’ conquest!). As often is the case with white metal kits, I’m struggling with the decoder. If only it was a case of ‘just four wires’. So far I’ve blown up one decoder with a short circuit, and the second one has just stopped working at which point I gave up. I’ll have another go tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

It may be simpler to replace the motor gear box with one that is more DCC friendly. I resorted to this on friends ebay kit purchase. It was time consuming but it did eventually work. 

[thegreenhowards]

25 minutes ago, davidw said:

 

It may be simpler to replace the motor gear box with one that is more DCC friendly. I resorted to this on friends ebay kit purchase. It was time consuming but it did eventually work. 

I'll PM you as I don't want to take over Gilbert's thread with DCC woes!

[great northern]

Another look at 61633, proving how photogenic it is from any angle.

 

 

Then we have some more fish, the second from New Clee. Who would have thought that within a very few years there wouldn't be enough traffic for one train, let alone two?

 

 

[great northern]

Visit to M&S, where there were no empty shelves to be seen. Too expensive for the panic buyers tastes perhaps? Anyway, enough of that, my hands are squeaky clean, and I shall now put in the morning images, which start with the fish under the roof.

 

 

I've noticed before that sometimes a particular class of engine suddenly dominates the scene, and that's the case with B1s at present. There have been a lot of them about, and 61143 waiting to take the 8.58 to Grimsby adds another to the total.

 

 

[Oldddudders]

As a Southern sort of cove, I've always considered the B1 to be a most satisfying-looking design. 

[CUTLER2579]

Gilbert ,

I always assumed the B1 would work right through to London on the New Clee,but I see 61210 was a New England engine, so has she come all the way from New Clee or has she just taken over in the yards at New England.

In response to Ian,of course the B1 was a fine looking engine one of Thomsons finest along with the equally good looking L1  2-6-4 Tank as opposed to that 4-4-0 thingy down yonder

regards Derek.

 

[Clive Mortimore]

31 minutes ago, CUTLER2579 said:

Gilbert ,

I always assumed the B1 would work right through to London on the New Clee,but I see 61210 was a New England engine, so has she come all the way from New Clee or has she just taken over in the yards at New England.

In response to Ian,of course the B1 was a fine looking engine one of Thomsons finest along with the equally good looking L1  2-6-4 Tank as opposed to that 4-4-0 thingy down yonder

regards Derek.

 

Now lookie here Mr Derek, despite being a Midland fan and a diesel modeller I will stick up for the SR L1 4-4-0 , only cos they look like a 483 class 2 4-4-0.