East meets West, joined by the Pacific



 

The image above shows Newcastle Central Station in the early sixties. To the lower right of the picture the Tyneside EMUS indicate that the DMUS had not yet come into being and a steam train is central to the image. This could have been earlier, in the fifties, but the multiple warts of the Crudas Park Flats dominate the horizon so its early sixties.

I'm not sure of the location of the picture above, but the A4 Pacific would have been very much at home in Newcastle Central. Less happy, the Streak is hauling mineral wagons - how the mighty have fallen! And yet it looks very clean. A running-in turn, perhaps.

The point of these pictures is to show my favourite locos on the East coast, and to show them on the West; the join being my FANTASY's aim. Now, where did I file that Duchess! :( Found it! :)

This picture is of an unidentified Duchess in the region of Carlise. It is planned that this particular post will show a collection of the relevant locos,, both real and modelled; an ongoing resource.

 

 

 

 

NB: I do NOT know the provenance and copyright of these pictures. I'd be grateful if anyone could identify them, in which case I'd acknowledge the copyright, or - indeed - remove if the owner required it. As a professional artist/illustrator I've suffered from web-sourced theft...

First draft. Memo to self: Canalside A3s ?

.HANNEM .CENTRAL by Graham Jowett-Ive

Riddles design MT7  for the LMS! *BR didn't happen in Graham's world...



I have been particularly impressed by the layout constructed by the (recently) late Graham Jowett-Ive. His is a FANTASY in my own style. Hannem Central is a large terminus which offers a home to all the big four. He doesn't even bother trying to locate it, although the Shed Complex is LMS. Trains have no destination but just leave for elsewhere. Although some of this is unstatisfactory to my eyes, I admire his panache. It works because the standard of modelling his high.

*He doesn't mention this in his Railway Modeller articles (October 2012 and January 2013) which are a bit lacking in background, wheret he says its set in the thirties, but there are so many anomalies - like the Empress, above, along with streamline Duchesses; all of which put it firmly in my FANTASY category.( In his ......... page he makes the non-BR claim link).

 

 

'Says it all :) The photographs are of poor quality, however, probably due to limitations of the host .............. site.

 

 

 

A very nicely set up Schools, taking advantage of the cab-detail.

 

 

 

If I'm honest, I'm posting these pictures as a break from my own Bull-Ox waffling. ;-) It , though, to give a shape to the Blog, and might be the start of a FANTASY  list. Although such playthings are comparatively rare these days. There are plenty of the toy-train any-thing-goes layouts, but - despite my tolerance - these are NOT the sort I'm aiming for. Thinking back, one of the last of these was ............... York Central in the .................... Railway Modeller. I must check but I have no photographs of that layout.

 

 

 

 

Draft One. To be continued.

 

 



CARLISLE CITY

Carlisle, a historic garrisoned town on the Scottish boarder, developed a new frontier role between the railways of England and Scotland. By the dawn of the "Railway Age" it had already become an important textile manufacturing centre, linked to the outside by the Carlisle Canal, opened in 1823.With the trains of seven companies operating into Carlisle Citadel station from 1876 to 1922, Carlisle became perhaps the most interesting and varied of Britain's railway centres.
  

 

 

 

 

Despite its important location on two of the Anglo-Scottish trunk route systems, Carlisle's first railways were of regional origin. The *Newcastle & Carlisle Railway opened into the city in 1836, and the *Maryport & Carlisle in 1843. The former was the successor to a proposal for a cross-country canal that dated back to the 1790s. All goods brought into Carlisle were liable to a toll levied by the Corporation which was commuted to a fixed annual payment by the railways. (The Oxford Companion to BRITISH RAILWAY HISTORY)

 

In summary, the inadequate layout lead to the various systems becoming acutely overloaded. When the Midland Railway's "Settle to Carlisle" line opened in 1876, a major reorganisation of Carlisle's railways became necessary.  The Citadel station was greatly enlarged with a new island platform and seven acres of roof. Also goods avoiding lines were put into place along with new passenger approaches. This was largely paid for by the Midland, as the price for its entry to Carlisle, although the benefits were mainly to the west-coast partners, the London and North Western, and the Caledonian.

 

For the sake of the model railway, it is that after Grouping the territory was mainly LMS - London, Midland and Scottish. The magic that allows for the FANTASY  goes back to the beginning with the Newcastle and Carlise railway, which came under the London and North Eastern railway's umbrella after Grouping: - thus the East Coast had a crucial link bridging the country from east to west. Furthermore, the LNER had a back entrance to Edinburgh via the Waverly route, more of which anon.

 

 

 

  Carlisle Citadel Station as it is today.

 

 

 

Second draft. To be continued.

The "why and where" of it.

This a FANTASY  model. Some call such layouts "freelance" but that word - redolent, to my mind, of self-employed writing and artwork, an area I am involved in - doesn't suit my purpose, whilst FANTASY says exactly what it is. The word came to mind from the PC Game Fantasy Football, a game where a club manager chooses his players (within his price-range, etc) from any number of real soccer stars.* For my game - the running of a railway - I use this as an excuse for running both Gresley and Stanier Pacifics together. Otherwise, my loco-fleet is predominately ECML whilst the Stanier pacifics would mainly be found  on the West Coast Mainline. There is one well known station where both types did meet, it was Carlisle. More of which anon.

The point I'm making - and will remake at regular intervals - relates to the true protype models that are currently achieving such high standards that I can see a time when they'll be considered historical documents. This is a claim I'll be discussing in depth later.

 

 

 

Regarding the picture above - the second of three basic shots - the Hornby B1 mentioned in the first post, shows the quality of modern out-of-the-box engines. One day it will be weathered.

 

Finally, the last of the three rough images taken for the start of this blog. Hopefully, future images may indicate improvement.

 

 

 

 

 



FIRST ROUGH...

The first picture of the layout on the first day of this Blog. Its a very poor photograph, but its a start. The picture shows a four-track mainline on the outskirts of a city. To the left is a mock-up of a Goods (Freight) Shed, and a number of goods sidings. Their is also a carriage siding and two loops which allow the yard to be shunted without compromising the down/slow mainline. In the near distance is a mixed goods train hauled by a Hornby B1, while in the far distance is a train of empty mineral wagons, also hauled by a Hornby B1. Just entering the picture in the foreground is a Hornby A3, Coronach.