A Ballasted Long Time

With not much happening on the layout over Christmas and during the first month or two of the new year it has been a while since I have posted anything. 

However, with quite a bit work having recently taken place on the central section of the northern half of the layout, I thought that it was high time for an update.

So, to begin with, the first photograph above gives a general view of the area around Carswater, with the station now fitted with lights and name boards and, yes, even some potential passengers!

The adjoining lake has yet to be filled with water but it already has a couple of climbers scaling the hill behind, courtesy of my nephew and his girlfriend. I will include a photograph of the climbers in a future posting.

Once atop the ridge, these climbers will be afforded a 'wonderful' view of the ballast yard which is just starting to take shape. 

There is now a small shed in the far left-hand corner in which the Sentinel locomotive will be housed when not in use. The ground has also had a few coats of stone scatter applied to it and we are pleased with the way things are progressing.

The long chute between the hill and the building will obviously be cut, once the building has been fixed in place. This chute was made purposefully too long becaue, when it was constructed, we were not too sure how long it needed to be.

I will post more close-up photographs of the ballast yard as it progresses.

We plan to build a small hut or 'bothy' on the hill at the far end of this area, just beyond the ballast yard, for walkers and, yes, climbers too, to take refuge. 

We also wanted to make it possible for them to walk across all of the hills, from one end to the other. However, to be able to do this, bridges were going to be needed to allow walkers to cross the railway (twice) and the road (twice). 

Well, an old Tri-ang brick bridge already spanned one of the road crossings and, now, two more bridges have been added at the far end, as seen in the third photograph above. 

This just leaves one more bridge needed to cross the railway for a second time at the bottom of the first photograph.

Finally, for this time, I have included a photograph showing Class 50 50011 'Cenurion' calling at Carswater station with a special train consisting of Orient Express Pullman coaches. 

It is not intended that this station will see too many express trains, with local services and semi-fasts being its more usual visitors - together with the occasional ballast train, of course!

50s In The 80s

 

Here are three photographs that I took, on 35 mm slide film, of Class 50s in the early 1980s.

The first one, I believe, is 50017 Royal Oak at Exeter St Davids having just arrived with a train from Waterloo.

This photograph was taken in the summer of 1980, not long after the fleet had taken over the Waterloo to Exeter services, in May 1980.

The middle photograph is of a rather dirty 50003 'Temeraire' standing at Paddington with a train from Oxford. This was taken in the spring of 1981.

Finally we have 50037 'Illustrious' about to depart Waterloo with a train for Exeter St Davids on a wet summer's day in 1980.

Outlines of Power - Nº 3 : English Electric Class 50

Here we have the third of the 'Outlines of Power' articles by Mike Turner that the magazine 'Rail Enthusiast' ran during the early 1980s. 

This one featured the English Electric Class 50s with a fantastic portrait of 50003 'Temeraire' in large logo livery.
The accompanying annotation, which may be too small to see on the picture, reads as follows:

Mike Turner's painting of 50003 'Temeraire, in the bright new livery applied during the type's refurbishment at Doncaster Works, compliments Russell Carter's outline drawing of sister loco 50023 'Howe'. The Class 50s, originally leased to British Railways, were built by English Electric at Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows, in 1967 and 1968. A total of 50 are in service on the Western Region, although their early days were spent on the London Midland before the full electrification of the West Coast Main Line to Glasgow.
Technical details:
Type: Co-Co diesel-electric; Weight: 115 tons; Tractive Effort: 48,500lb; Maximum Speed: 100 mph; Fuel Tank Capacity: 1055 gallons; Brake Type: air/vacuum; Brake Force, 59 tons; Engine: English Electric 16-cylinder 16 CSVT; Horsepower: 2,700; Traction Motors: six English Electric 538/5 of 400 hp; ETH Index: 61; Route Availability: 6.

D400 and a Footbridge

Time for me to highlight some of the locomotives, rolling stock and other features that we have added to the layout during the past few months and I will begin with another Class 50 (and the fourth member of the class to be added to our fleet) as well as a beautiful station footbridge - both seen above.

We acquired the Class 50 in the guise of 50037 'Illustrious' which came with faulty, non-working Hornby sound decoder.

This we duly removed and sent back to Hornby with a covering letter and, amazingly, within a few days it was back with us, fully working. 

You do have to hand it to Hornby, their Customer Service department is second to none - absolutely brilliant.

Well, this now meant that we had three large logo Class 50s when we really wanted a blue-liveried member of the fleet. 

So, with the help of Alex at Mikron Models, who found a blue body for us and swapped it and then weathered it, we now have D400 in original blue livery - nice. 

The sound is still that of Hornby's and it is okay but not as good as the Howes and SWD sounds that we have in our other Class 50s.

She is seen, here, passing through Manxton at the head of an express heading for Davemoor.

The second photograph shows the footbridge that spans the four tracks at the aforementioned station. This was needed to allow passengers to cross from one platform to the other, there being no subway at the station. It is another masterpiece by Alex who produced it from drawings and measurements that we gave him. 

The bridge is, basicaly, a Dapol kit, with extensions, and it has been painted and weathered to look, well, stunning!

This station is coming along nicely now and just needs the addition of lights and station nameboards and a barrel crossing to be complete.