Outlines of Power - Nº 7 : Class 52 'Western Diesel Hydraulic'

I think it is high time for the seventh 'Outlines of Power' article by Mike Turner, that the magazine 'Rail Enthusiast' ran during the early 1980s. 

This time we have the Class 52 'Western' diesel hydraulic with a wonderful portrait of D1007 'Western Talisman' resplendent in maroon livery with small yellow warning panels.
The accompanying annotation reads as follows:

Arguably the cleanest-looking diesel express passenger design ever built for British Railways, the diesel-hydraulic "Western" C-Cs had an all-too-brief period of glory on the former Great Western main lines out of Paddington. Introduced in 1961, the 2,700 bhp Class 52s had started to disappear by 1973, and had all been withdrawn by 1977 after a final glorious burst of "Western Mania" in which enthusiasts from all over the country followed the dwindling examples in their final years. The hydraulic, rather than electric transmission of the class - a move favoured uniquely by the Western Region when the switch from steam to diesel power was made, was a major factor in the early demise of these 108-ton locomotives.

Transmission was by two Voith-North British L630 rV transmissions, each with three torque converters, and the Class 52's twin Maybach engines made a beautifully smooth and busy noise, especially under hard acceleration, when the locomotives' maximum tractive effort of 72,600lb made for amazingly rapid getaways. Happily for today's generation, several fine examples have been preserved. Mike Turner's painting shows D1007 'Western Talisman' in the striking maroon livery of the early years when "Westerns" were in their prime. The accompanying technical drawings are by Russell Carter.

End To End - Part 1: Sueston

I thought it might be a good idea to take you for a trip around the railway during the next few weeks, so that you can see each station, feature and location and, hopefully, get a better idea of the layout.

So, to begin our journey, we start at Sueston, the southern terminus of the line.

This station was constructed during July and August 2008, exactly a year after we started work on the layout. 

The reason for the delay was because access to this half of the shed was not possible at first and it was only when this area became available that we could extend the layout to its current size.

Sueston was constructed using two or three Metcalfe Stone Platform kits (P0235) together with the Mainline Station Building kit (P0230) and two of the Parcels Office and Waiting Room kits (P0231) - both of these latter items, I believe, are now discontinued.

The aerial photographs, above, show the station as it was soon after construction, in August 2008. As you can see there are four platforms, a pattern that is followed at all three of our major stations. I don't know why that is but it seems to suit!

Platform 1, next to the wall, is used by local services and parcels trains while Platforms 2 and 3 are the main departure and arrival platforms, respectively. 

Unfortunately, Platform 2 had to negotiate a pillar and this has made it quite narrow at this point - it has also given us a bit of a headache as to how best to disguise it!

Platform 3 has been extended since the photos above were taken, as per the chalk outline on the baseboard. This allows both of these platforms to accommodate eight coach trains although most of our expresses consist of only six coaches, with an occasional seven coach train thrown in for good measure. 

Taking our cue from Bath Green Park station, on our beloved S&D, the arrivals platform has a runaround for the release of locomotives and it is also used for the storage of locos waiting their next turn of duty.

Finally there is Platform 4, next to the edge of the baseboard, and this is also used by local services as well as being the starting point for the branch line to Saggy Bottom Halt, which disappears into the tunnel at the far end of the platform. More of this, though, in a future posting.

The next three photographs, above, show the station as it is today, almost eight years later, and looking very different and quite busy, too, judging by the amount of trains populating the various platforms and sidings.

The first photo was taken from beside the tunnel entrance, mentioned previously, while the other two were taken from the buffer stop end. 

A parcels train, headed by a Heljan Class 23 is seen standing at Platform 1 while, at Platform 2, is an express for the north comprising Lima Mk1 coaches hauled by a Bachmann Class 47.

The middle road is occupied by a Heljan Class 33 while, at Platform 4 is a Hornby Class 121 waiting to depart for the branch.

Coloured light signals control train movements from Sueston and all of these are by Traintronics with a mix of double aspect and double aspect with feather. The platforms also have lights fitted as well as nameboards, platform numbers and seats.

We have long mulled over how best to hide the blue wall and have eventually decided on Peco stone walling sheets (LK-40). These have recently replaced Metcalfe Red Brick Walling Sheets and do look much better, to be honest. Eventually we plan to put a photographic back scene of London above the wall but we are still scratching our heads as to how best to incorporate that damned pillar!

The walling between Platform 4 and the road is several sections of Hornby Straight Walls, sold in packs of three, (R8744), which we then covered in the aforementioned Metcalfe Red Brick Sheets (M0054) in order to hide the joins!

Below there is one final photograph of the station entrance (the Metcalfe Mainline Station Building) with a few people and adornments added to effect some realism.

Finally, all of the rolling stock seen above was expertly weathered by Alex Housego, whilst he was working at Mikron Model Railways in Taunton and we were extremely sad when this excellent shop was forced to close in August 2014. Since then Alex has been able to do a few more weathering jobs for us but might not be able to continue now due to other issues taking up his time.

Therefore, I just wanted to thank him for all of his advice, guidance and efforts because, without it, this rather large model railway project would not be as interesting nor as realistic as it is today - as I hope to show you, during the next few weeks, while we travel along its tracks.

The Devon Belle

On Saturday April 2nd, UK Railtours ran The Devon Belle from London Waterloo to Exeter St Davids, via Basingstoke, Salisbury and Yeovil Junction, returning to London Victoria, later in the day, via Taunton, Frome and Reading.

The train was headed by LNER Class A1 4-6-2 Nº 60163 'Tornado' hauling a rake of 13 coaches.

She departed Waterloo at 08:00 and was due to arrive at Exeter at 13:34, which, indeed, she did having performed magnificently.

We see her, in the top photograph, just about to pass Templecombe on the outward journey. She was due here at 11:05 and was pretty much to time.

The second photograph was taken at 17:45, as the train was passing Bruton - and at great speed too, on the return trip. 

The difference in the weather conditions between the two photographs is quite evident here. The morning was bright and sunny and clear while the evening was overcast and and rather dull.

The train was due to depart Exeter St Davids at 16:31 and arrive Victoria at 22:12. I am not sure if she was on time at Victoria but, judging by the way she was performing as she raced past us at Bruton, I would say she probably was, no problem!

The headcode/reporting number 'M8Y', by the way, is in tribute to Raymond 'Ray' Towell of the National Railway Museum, who sadly passed away last month. 

Apparently he would always refer to people as 'matey'.

Carswater Comings & Goings

Following on from my previous posting, and staying in the same area of the layout, here we see some north and south-bound trains calling at Carswater.
The first is a semi-fast south-bound train headed by 24081.

Next up is a north-bound semi-fast with Class 23, D5909, in charge and posing quite nicely beneath the ornate footbridge.

Finally we see a south-bound stopper hauled by the diminutive Class 22, D6319.

In the final photograph we see this same train departing Carswater and passing beneath the little footbridge seen in the previous posting.

The line diverging to the right leads to the ballast yard, also seen in my preceding entry.

Stone Me!

With no updates since September you could be forgiven for thinking that work on the layout had ceased.

However, nothing could be further from the truth although we have not done that much during the last few weeks, I will be admit.

Much of what we have been doing has involved getting the ballast yard to completion, something that took a lot longer than we had anticipated. We have also been refreshing the scenery at various locations on the layout, applying new grass, trees and bushes, and I will feature all of these in future postings during the coming weeks.

To begin with let us take a look at the aforementioned ballast yard and the arrival of a Class 47 at the head of a rake of Yeoman hopper wagons.

In the first photo we see it reversing its train out of Carswater, through the small cutting and into the yard. Its passage is being observed by a walker on the little footbridge that crosses the line at this point.

In the next photograph we see the train leaving the main line and entering the ballast yard and, as it does so, it holds up traffic at the level crossing that is situated at the entrance to the yard.

Finally we see the 47 squeezed between the yard's buildings and its rock face, with other hoppers occupying the other lines.

In the distance, the a Sentinel shunter can just be seen standing outside of its little shelter.

The buildings in the distance are actually Knightwing's 'Mine Top Buildings' kit (PM113) while the signal box in the foreground is from the Hornby Skaledale range (R8534), which we picked up second-hand. It is a bit worn and grubby but perfect for a ballast yard!

A Deltic & Her Baby

This weekend we finally managed to get all of the coloured light signals working at Gunnmere and the first locos to make use of them was Class 55, 55001 'St Paddy', and the Class 23, D5909.

While the Deltic was at the head of a special train, heading north, the Baby Deltic was busily delivering wagons to the small goods yard.

In a busy session this weekend, we also installed lights at one of our smaller stations, Coneyvale Halt, as can be seen in the bottom photograph. In the background can also be seen the lights of the small coal depot.

Next time it will be the turn of Davemoor to have its signals wired although, thankfully, these are nowhere near as complicated as those at Gunnmere!

Half-way There!

Last weekend we managed to get almost half of the feathered colour light signals working at Gunnmere Junction, as can be seen in the top photograph, looking north from the station.

The middle photograph gives some indication of the amount of wiring involved under the baseboards and you can now see what happened to much of what was dangling from the control panel in my previous posting.

There are wires here for the feathered signals, the three double aspects (also seen in the last posting) as well as lights for the platform and goods depot. Different coloured wire is obviously essential here but, also, coloured numbered sleeves help us to track the wires from switch to light to power source etc.

Painstaking work but satisfying and, thus far, successful.

In the bottom photograph a Class 37 is seen heading towards Gunnmere from the north with a rake of Yeoman hoppers. The signal the train has just passed is one of the ones that is still to be done .. tut, tut!