Alcanman

Track has now been glued in place and wired. Locos running smoothly and slowly for switching. Time to fire up the Alco!

Track has been cut and pinned in place. Just needs some final tweaking and then will be glued in place. I'm thinking of adding a third warehouse, disused, with abandoned track. I'm trying to create a more urban look than the original layout. I've been very much inspired by Roger Nicholls 'Union Avenue' layout.

It's been quite awhile since I visited The Marlborough Branch and it seems there have been quite a few changes! The customer who was served on the trailing spur has gone and the track has been lifted. This has also resulted in the run around siding no longer being required. CSX local B724 will simply shove it's train from Marlborough Junction into downtown Marlborough to serve the remaining customers. However, some of the run around siding remains in place, being used occasionly as a transload track. Here's the revised track plan. Progress pics to follow..... Mal

Thanks Daz. I use around a dozen freight cars.

A few more Brownie pics - Kingmoor 1966 92249 44884 & 44986 70053 'Moray Firth'

Does anyone know if these wagons have NEM coupling pockets? It's difficult to tell from photos. As they have been around for many years I wonder if, perhaps, only recent releases have the pockets. Thanks, Mal

On 9th September 1967, in addition to 7029 'Clun Castle' and 62005 working specials at Newcastle, there was another illustrious visitor. - 4472 'Flying Scotsman' I was reminded of this in Trevor Gregg's article in Heritage Railway magazine. So, after witnessing the last day of steam at North Blyth we were off to Gateshead and Newcastle. Quite a memorable day. 4472 at Gateshead shed 4472 departing Newcastle Central

Yes, there was a smaller ferry, locally known as the 'high ferry'.The location was further south, closer to Blyth town centre and crossing the river to the staithes at North Blyth. Mal

Great pics of Grassington, Dave. For some reason the first one almost looks like a painting, perhaps it's the superb composition of the photo.

Wonderful pic, Porcy. The gateway to North Blyth shed and Bolckows scrap yard!

Love your pics of Kingmoor, Trev. I visited Kingmoor quite a few times from 1964, my last visit being 29/12/67. One the first occasion there were just under 100 locos on shed. A wonderful sight, indeed! Whilst most locos were stabled at the front or inside the shed, there was always a few lurking at the back behind the shed, including the occasional surprise! Visitors from Scotland, I presume. 60027 'Merlin' (Brownie 127 - 1966) 61244 'Strang Steel' (Brownie 127 - 1966) Mal

Always good to see photos of Blyth. It was years before they lifted the lines at the Isabella, however, they did provide a handy shortcut to the Isabella pub. Thanks for sharing.

14 June 1966. I wonder if that was when it got the modified lamp irons. It was August 1966. Another photo of the loco, taken at the time, by my old school friend, Trevor Gregg, is included in his article in Set/Oct Heritage Railway magazine entitled 'The last day of North Blyth steam. (Thanks to Trev52A for letting me know of this article) Mal

Trev, your pic of 80022 at St Margarets reminded me that I visited the shed in July 1965. The visit to Edinburgh was our school annual excursion. Although passenger service had ceased on the Blyth & Tyne in November 1964, the school organised a special train from Newsham to Morpeth and ECMl to Edinburgh. One of our teachers arranged permits for St Margarets and Dalry Road. The rest of the school visted Edinbuurgh Zoo! More pics taken with my Brownie. 80007 80114 J38 65929 and 61245 'Murray of Elibank' at Dalry Road

A few more Brownie 127s from me - 1965. (In 1964 I was using my dad's old Box Brownie!) 60145 'Saint Mungo' at York MPD 45675 'Hardy' at Leeds Holbeck MPD 42152 at Leeds City station

Great pics Dave. Here are a couple of pics from my visit, also in Sept 1989. Taken, of course, from the bridge that gave a great view of the loco depot.

@ Alcanman Thanks for sharing those. Was the shot of 60118 taken on 28/8/65? If so, I was there! I had just arrived from Durham behind - wait for it - 44864 on a Liverpool train after a diesel failure further south! The A1 was in one of the bay platforms at the east end after arriving with a passenger train via Sunderland, if I guessed correctly. Apparently there was still a regular A1 working via the coast on Saturdays that summer. Wish I had known about it at the time! Yes it was! August Bank Holiday 1965. And here is a pic of Black Five 44864 at Newcastle Central on the same day. Quite a few 'spotters gathered round the loco, no doubt amazed at the sight of a Black Five at Newcastle! Mal

Hi Trev. As I mentioned in your 'other' thread I also started with a Brownie 127 and, co-incidently in 1964 when I was also 13! 1964 was also the year I started trainspotting and every Saturday morning a visit to Gateshead shed followed by an afternoon at Newcastle Central. Sundays, usually a visit to my local sheds, North & South Blyth. I always had to be economical with photos due to a) Only 8 shots to a roll of film! and b) lack of pocket money to buy film! A half decent photo could be achieved on a sunny day with the sun shining on a loco. Eventually, I was able to buy a 35mm camera, a Kodak Colorsnap. Sadly, this was August 1967, a month before the demise of steam in the North East. Here are a few of my better efforts with the Brownie 127.

Thanks for the kind comments. Track has now been glued in place and wiring completed. Locos tested and all running smoothly and slowly for shunting. The kick back siding will be used for loco stabling and the occasional engineer's wagon or two.

Sorry pH, I don't have the date of the pic of 62067. Mal

At the end of steam South Blyth shed was 100% J27s.The depot received 10 locos when Percy Main shed closed in 1965. Around 20 locos could be found on a Sunday morning visit. However, at North Blyth, in addition to J27s, Q6s, K1s and 4MTs could be found. The shed even had a couple of B1s for a short while. Here is a selection.

In my last layout thread 'Websters Sidings Mk 2', I mentioned that another small shunting layout was being planned. I've continued the same theme as before, ie. small wagonload freight trains inspired by EWS Enterprise operations. As before, traffic is mostly bottled water delivered to the warehouse in VGA vans and steel products with hardstanding provided for unloading. For the trackplan, I revisited my old 1980s Speedlink era 'Springburn Yard' plan and imagined that in the 21st century, the track had been rationalised resulting in one siding being removed and the track along the front truncated to become a 'kick-back' siding. However, the original warehouse and hard-standing remaining intact. As usual the layout measures 9ft x 15ins. I've started laying track and placed a few warehouses. This is how it looks so far. Mal

Received an email from DPD saying parcel delayed. E-mailed Hattons and received a quick response saying parcel would definatley be delivered between 1.00pm - 2.00pm. Parcel now delivered! Thanks to Hattons staff for their quick replies to my 2 e-mails. Mal

I place an order on Monday 25th Sept and sent an e-mail reminder yesterday. I got an immediate reply saying my items would be delivered today by DPD. Just checked DPD and the order has arrived at their depot. Hopefully will arrive later today. Mal

Sunderland received 5 J27s from South Blyth when the shed closed to steam on 28th May 1967. Here is 65855 at South Blyth,the loco later moving to Sunderland.