Callington Branch Colour Photos

 

Mainline 56XX British Railways Black

Another Mainline 56xx from eBay in excellent nick, this time in early British Railways livery, ideal for my proposed branch line engine shed layout. These old Mainline models are a bit noisy but nicely detailed and inexpensive, which means I can afford to weather them up without worrying about over cooking the final finish. 

British Railways Mainline Dean Goods

 

I've expanded my locomotive collection into the early 1950's with a lovely Mainline Dean Goods in early British Railways livery. It's in as new condition and runs pretty well for a model that must be forty years or so old. I'm now looking for at least one more ex-GWR locomotive, most likely a pannier tank, so that I can run them on either a shunting puzzle layout or an engine shed layout, as a variation on the earlier period. Very nice!

Lima J50 0-6-0

I have now acquired an old Lima J50 in British Railways livery for my Northumbrian branch line shunting layout project, so have retired the knackered old Mainline J72 that I was originally going to use as motive power. The Lima model isn't very detailed and is probably inaccurate in all sorts of ways but it was cheap and, if it runs well enough, will make a good stand in until I can find something better. I do have a Hornby J52, which is a much better model and a lovely runner, but it's always more fun to have a couple of locomotives rather than just the one. In the longer term, I may also use the J50 as a test bed for detailing and weathering, perhaps with a chassis swap to make it a better runner, much like this chap has done with excellent results:

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/43527-on-40-somethings-workbench/

GWR Goods Rolling Stock

A shunting layout wouldn't be much good without any goods wagons or vans to actually shunt, so I've been steadily adding some assorted rolling stock to the set up. These include half a dozen GWR vans by Mainline and Bachmann, so I have enough to be starting with. I do need some open wagons, flat wagons and cattle trucks, however, as well as more early British Railways goods stock for the NE Region project. I'd really like a rake of three or four private owner tank wagons too assuming they fit in with the layout theme.

Northumbrian Lineside Industry

Fourstones Quarry, Lime Works and Colliery

I've been thinking about a lineside industrial focus for my British Railways era North Eastern region layout. A possibility is a quarry and limekiln served by a siding or yard. There are lots of lime kilns in the area and some were linked to the local railway system including some very large multiple kiln structures and some quite small individual kilns.

Amberley Lime Works in Sussex

I think this would make an excellent focus for the layout and would be a very interesting scenic feature, perhaps combined with quarry traffic and general goods wagons serving the rural area. Anyway, it's just a thought at the moment and so I will do some more research to find suitable examples on which to base my plans.

There's a really good website too, which has loads of photographs and information from which to work out ideas:

http://www.brocross.com/industrial%20history/northumberland%20limekilns/northumberland%20limekilns.htm

Northumbrian Branch Line Halt

The second old Mainline J72 that I found on eBay turned out to have seen better days, so has been relegated to the spares box, although it only cost me a bit over a tenner so I'm not too bothered. However, the first one I managed to acquire is a lovely runner and virtually new, so I can still crack on with my plans for a small and minimalist branch line halt layout in Northumberland. This will be set in the early 50's, so will have a mixture of old LNER rolling stock and new or refurbished British Railways wagons, vans and brake vans.

Fontburn Halt on the Rothbury Branch Line

I'm in no rush to get started on this project, in fact I don't intend to do anything until the start of next year, so in the meantime I can continue gathering bits and bobs to build the layout. I will also be thinking up some variations on track plans and scenery to make the layout as interesting as possible, if perhaps a little less than exciting to operate as a pure 'Inglenook' shunting layout. I have some prototypes to use as  a basis for the layout design and appearance, so will have no shortage of ideas when it comes to working things out in greater detail.

Mainline J72 69001

I won a second J72 in good running condition on eBay today, this time in the 'lion on a unicycle' post-1950 variant of early British Railways livery. I can now run both tank engines on the NE Region Inglenook branch shunting line that I'm planning to build before I move onto the larger and more complicated GWR layout. I am keeping these plans to a simple theme but still have room for a bit of development, perhaps away from an Inglenook design to a very small, through branch line station or remote rural halt.

I've been thinking about this and have been reading up on the old Rothbury Branchline in Northumberland, which has several features that would be a good basis for a fictional rural layout in the area. I particularly like the idea of a lime works, small colliery or quarry as a focus for the goods traffic on the layout, all of which are features of the local landscape. I also like the idea of a more scenic layout rather than one which concentrates on just shunting operations.

Mainline J72 68745

From the 1979 (!) Mainline Catalogue

A friend of mine had one of these when I was a kid and I always wanted one myself. I saw an unused and boxed one on eBay so thought I'd put in a bid, even if the model has to been at least a quarter of  a century on the shelf. It may need some careful looking after but I'm hoping it will be a good runner, having never been out of the box. It's also started me on a re-think of my OO layout plans, with a view to simplifying my first project back to a basic 4' x 1' Inglenook design.

This can be used as a practice run for my more expansive GWR shunting yard branch line layout. It would also be easier and cheaper for me to get up and running, with no complicated or involved scenic or electrical bits to worry about. I also really like the idea of a Northumbrian rural or industrial setting in the early British Railways period, having spent a couple of holidays up there visiting Hadrians Wall, the coast and various castles.

N Gauge Inspiration

I have been reading 'Making a Start in N Gauge' by Richard Bardsley and it has really started me thinking about a layout in a smaller scale. I inherited a load of N gauge track, rolling stock and locomotives from my grandfather about twenty years ago, which have since been sitting in a box in the loft gathering dust. The locomotives are all old Minitrix models but they are in as new condition, having rarely been used, including a 9F, a Britannia, a Deltic and an Ivatt 2MT. They are a bit dated and crude by modern standards but still nice models in their own right. I particularly like the 2MT, which I've been thinking could be the motive power behind a simple compact layout in N gauge.

I have plenty of Peco N gauge track and points, the majority of the latter being Setrack but with some Streamline medium radius points too, so I could easily create a simple scenic countryside branch line or an industrial shunting yard using the Ivatt 2-6-2 as the main locomotive. I also have several of the old Peco wagon and van kits that I collected ages ago, so could assemble them as the rolling stock, together with a handful of ready to run Graham Farish wagons that I inherited. I also have some scenic bits and bobs including tunnel portals, bridges and card building kits. In fact, apart from a controller, I have everything I could need to build a shelf style 'Inglenook' layout straight away.

It would be an excellent way to refresh my layout building skills and would cost virtually nothing in money or time. I could use one of the plans that I've developed for my OO gauge layouts or perhaps design something specifically around the track components that I have. I was thinking of a quarry or branch line theme but, to keep things simple, I may well just go for a generic industrial scene. There are some excellent low and full relief industrial buildings to download from Scalescenes as well, so I can practice my card modelling skills too.

It's just an idea at the moment but I think it might be a lot of fun!