North East England - Steam Days Screenshots - Large Screenshots Possible

Night Owls at Durham in 1947

Northeast England during the steam era circa 1947. A late and starry night at Durham, L.N.E.R. Gresley A3 4-6-2 Pacific No. 91 "Captain Cuttle" stands at the head of an Up sleeper train while Gresley J39 0-6-0 No. 4967 stands in the Up through road with a loose coupled goods train bound for York. In the second shot Durham Cathedral can just be made out above the dome of No. 4967. At this date both of these locos had recieved their 1946 Thompson numbers. Both of them are also foreign to the area. "Captain Cuttle" was a Carlisle Canal engine at this time so I have her commandeered to take a sleeper service from Edinburgh diverted via the Waverley line and the Newcastle & Carlisle railway. The J39 was a New England shed loco, so she is working her way towards home to Peterborough after bringing a train to the Newcastle district. The sleeper will require the assistance of one of the banking locos from Durham shed. This was a sub shed of Sunderland and usually members of Class A8 4-6-2T would be rostered to push trains up the 1 in 100 bank to Reilly Mill junction. the parachute type water tank at the end of the Up platform can be seen beside the A3. This route is my own personal NW Durham one. It is a work in progress.





July 2017 - photobucket links switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
Hello Ray, thanks for that. After SuperSpeedMaglev's post I have tried to take some shots of trains made up on consists available on the DLC in order to satisfy him. Andi06's coaches, edh6's A3s, johnwhelan's J39 (but pacificseven's J39 tender...) and a range of LNER conflats, 3 plank, 5 plank and 7 plank wagons. Just my personal opinion here, but LNER content on the DLC has been relatively thin on the ground, so of necessity I have had to resort to payware to get me somewhere close to where I would like to be. My interest ranges from 1900 through 1967 but my relatively recent interest in the pre-grouping NER era is only satisfied through payware and I don't expect that simple economics will cause that to change. Having said that I acknowledge the pain of anyone in Scotland who has an interest in the North British, Caledonian or even the Highland!
 
Schoolboy Trainspotters at Chevington 1945

Northeast England during the steam era. Depicting 1945 at Chevington, Northumberland on the East Coast Main Line, L.N.E.R. Classes Q5/2 0-8-0 and K3 2-6-0 cross on loose coupled goods services. The 1911-built former N.E.R. T Class Worsdell engine, Q5 Part 2 No. 642 is a Borough Gardens shed engine taking a loaded coal train (consisting of 20 Ton L.N.E.R. steel bodied hoppers) northwards on a down train to the port at Amble. The 1929-built Gresley K3 No. 1364 is a Gateshead shed engine taking a War Department train southwards on an up train bound ultimately for Harwich. I have Number 1364 working the Rosyth - Harwich WD train on the leg from Tweedmouth to Darlington, where a York engine will take the train onwards to Doncaster.

In 1933 No. 642 was one of several Q5 Class to receive used large diameter Diagram 59A boilers taken from scrapped Q10 engines (ex Hull & Barnsley Class A), thus becoming Q5/2. Number 642 will keep this type through until withdrawal in March 1947. Number 1364 will be renumbered 1875 in August 1946 and 61875 in April 1948. She will remain in service until 1962, being withdrawn from "the place where engines go to die", Hull Dairycoates shed.

This is my personal route Chevington and is a work in progress.





July 2017 - photobucket links switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
Springtime at Croft Spa 1946

Northeast England during the steam era. Depicting springtime 1946 at Croft Spa station in County Durham, a L.N.E.R. Class A5 4-6-2T No. 1719 of Darlington shed calls at the station with a Richmond branch train for Darlington as Class B16/2 4-6-0 No. 1374 of York shed accelerates past with an up goods train for York. After the grouping the L.N.E.R. determined that there was a need on the North Eastern section for heavier tank passenger engines to relieve the workload on 2-4-2T Class F8, 0-4-4T Class G5 and Class H1 4-4-4T. Gresley selected Robinson's Class A5 (former G.C.R. Class 9N) and ordered thirteen from Hawthorn Leslie in 1925. Number 1719 was in traffic from October 1925. No 1719 was on its third allocation to Darlington shed in 1946, spending a decade there from 1939 to 1949. Renumbering to 9831 under Thompson's scheme was several months away. B16 No. 1374 entered service in 1923 as one of Raven's later builds and in 1939 was one of seven chosen by Gresley to be rebuilt with his conjugated gear and a new cab, becoming B16 part 2. A York shed engine since 1943, the B16/2 would remain there until withdrawal in 1964. The B16/2's renumbering to 1457 would not happen until November 1946. Croft Spa station was served by the Richmond branch passenger service when Eryholme Junction's main line platforms were closed in 1911. Passengers from Richmond, Eryholme (branch platforms) and Croft Spa had to travel north to Darlington in order to catch a London-bound train. Heavy military traffic from Catterick Garrison was a feature of both World Wars as well as the post-WWII National Service period. Croft Spa station only had two sidings for goods traffic as the main goods facilities were a short distance to the west at the end of the original Stockton & Darlington Croft branch. This is my personal rolled back version of the TS12 built-in Kings Cross route County Durham section.





July 2017 - photobucket links switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
Saturday Evening ECML Down Stopping PassengerTrain for Ferryhill

Northeast England during the steam era. Circa 1919, to the north of Aycliffe on the East Coast Main Line a North Eastern Railway MacDonnell '59' Class 0-6-0 in filthy condition hauls a Saturdays only evening passenger service from Darlington to Ferryhill, The MacDonnell, number 567, still retains its pre-1917 lined black livery with "North Eastern" on the tender and large Worsdell brass number plate on the cab side. The new livery for this loco will be single red lined black, with a smaller Raven brass oval number plate while the tender will be painted with N 567 E. Veterans of the mid-1880s, the class were all fitted from new with Westinghouse brake to be mixed traffic engines. The train is passing beneath the electrified Shildon to Newport branch. The NER electrified it to haul considerable tonnages of coal to Newport for shipment and for the steel industry and as a testbed for the planned electrification of the East Coast Main Line between York and Newcastle. World War One postponed the plans and in the immediate post war world, with falling traffic and the impending grouping, the plans were dropped. It would be almost seventy years later that electrification finally came to the ECML in County Durham. The LNER decommissioned the electrification of the Newport branch in the early 1930s as renewal of the overhead catenary could not be justified during the trade depression. This is my rolled back County Durham section of the TS12 built in Kings Cross route. It is a work in progress.



July 2017 - photobucket link switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
Northbound O1 Class 2-8-0 at Sedgefield

Northeast England during the steam era. Depicting 1947 and the final year of the L.N.E.R.'s existence prior to nationalisation, one of Thompson's O1 2-8-0's, No. 3578, hauls a heavy oil tank train northwards through Sedgefield towards Ferryhill and the junction with the East Coast Main Line. Originally built as a Great Central Railway Robinson 8K Class 2-8-0 in 1912, she became L.N.E.R. Class O4 at the grouping. At 33 years of age she was taken in to Gorton Works and rebuilt to Thompson's design as Class O1. This essentially is a B1 boiler, cab, cylinders and valve gear fitted to an O4 frame and wheels and was Thompson's attempt at standardising on a heavy freight locomotive. Surprisingly, the rebuild program lasted until 1949, but only eight of the fifty-eight were turned out between 1947 and 1949. British Railways terminated the program due to the widespread availability of cheap surplus ex-WD 2-8-0 Austerity engines. Officially 3578 was a Gorton shed engine in 1947, but I have her on temporary loan to Newport shed at Middlesbrough for evaluation. Sedgefield station was over a mile from the town it served. It closed to passengers in 1952. It was actually closer to Bradbury station to the west on the East Coast Main Line and that station closed to passengers in 1950. Bradbury station was half a mile east of the hamlet of Bradbury. This is my personal route based on the County Durham section of the TS12 built-in Kings Cross to Newcastle route. I have rolled it back to the steam era, there being only plain track here on the built-in route.



July 2017 - photobucket link switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
War Veteran NER Worsdell T1 Class 0-8-0 at Chilton Exchange Sidings circa 1921

Northeast England during the steam era. Depicting Chilton Exchange Sidings between Ferryhill and Sedgefield on the line to Stockton circa 1921, North Eastern Railway 0-8-0 T1 Class built by Wilson Worsdell in 1902 has uncoupled from the loaded coal train she has just hauled out of the sidings, pushing it over the trailing crossover on to the Stockton-bound line. She will run round and couple on before continuing south to Newport via Redmarshall and Stockton. Worsdell's ten piston valve equipped T Class locomotives emerged in 1901. A second batch of ten emerged equipped with slide valves in 1902 and were designated T1 Class. No. 1709 was number eight of those ten, entering traffic in May 1902. Darlington works turned out a further forty T1 Class between 1907 and 1911 while Gateshead works turned out thirty more T Class between 1902 and 1904. During World War I the Railway Operating Department (ROD) commandeered the fifty slide valve T1 engines for war service in France, so number 1709 is a war veteran. All T Class and T1 Class locomotives became L.N.E.R. Class Q5 at the grouping. No. 1709 has another thirty years service ahead of her from this depiction, becoming No. 3267 in April 1946 but never carriying a BR 6XXXX number between nationalisation in 1948 and scrapping in June 1951. In the north east, coal trains (mineral workings in N.E.R. parlance) were generally run on an ad-hoc basis as required. The 1927 Newcastle District Mineral Train Time Table shows several route tables, each with numbered train paths. I do not have one for Ferryhill District or Darlington District, so I have no information about what table No. 1709 was following on this date, nor what train number she was pathed to. It was possibly a Ferryhill Engine table and could be quite a high number, such as "112 Outbound" (e.g. Ferryhill to Newport via Chilton and Stockton). The balancing working would be "112 Return". I have had 1709 bring empty hoppers from Ferryhill to Chilton, picking up a loaded train there for Newport. The return working will have 1709 bring empties back from Newport to Ferryhill. This path was probably open daily Monday to Saturday but may have run daily, or only two or three times weekly, depending on the colliery's requirements. This is my personal route based on the County Durham section of TS12's built-in Kings Cross to Newcastle route rolled back to the steam era. It is a work in progress.







July 2017 - photobucket links switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
The noon day sun at Lanchester 1926

Northeast England during the steam era. Lanchester in County Durham on the Lanchester Valley branch line between Durham and Blackhill during 1926. L.N.E.R. Tennant E5 Class 2-4-0 No, 1479 stands in the station with the midday branch passenger train from Durham to newcastle via Blackhill. It is waiting for L.N.E.R. Worsdell Q6 Class 0-8-0 No. 1285 to come off the single line block section from Consett South Junction with an empty iron ore train heading for Battersby in Cleveland. The iron ore empties are ex-N.E.R. 20 Ton steel body hoppers. Battersby, accessed via Picton on the Leeds Northern line between Eaglescliffe and Northallerton, is the location for the Rosedale branch exchange sidings. The iron ore mines are high in the Cleveland hills on the Rosedale branch.







July 2017 - photobucket links switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
All Change at Chevington

Northeast England during the steam era. These screenshots are of Chevington station on the East Coast Main Line in Northumberland around 1919. It is 10:55 a.m. and the 10:40 a.m. branch passenger train from Amble has arrived in Chevington's up platform behind No. 485, one of T.W.Worsdell's "A" Class 2-4-2Ts. The train is made up of two 32ft Third Class six-wheel coaches of T.W.Worsdell origin from the mid 1880s and a W.Worsdell 45ft ordinary bogie van Third of 1898 vintage. Number 485 will become Class F8 at the grouping. The L.N.E.R. would consign the six-wheeled coaches to excursion and occasional train strengthening duties after the grouping but in the North Eastern Area would dispense with the six-wheeled coaches altogether before WWII. The L.N.E.R. would still be using six-wheeled coaching stock of 1880s vintage in Lincolnshire during the post-war period. A holdout could be found in Northumberland in the form of the independent North Sunderland Railway, which used ancient ex-N.E.R. four and six-wheeled coaches until its closure in 1951

Number 485 is waiting for the signal to permit it to run across the trailing crossover to the down line and then in to the down independant. From there it can run in to the Amble branch platform, run around and prepare for the second down branch passenger departure of the day at 11:33 a.m.

At Chevington there are only a few railway houses and the station. Any passengers off the recently arrived Amble branch train must change train if they are heading north to Alnmouth, Alnwick and Berwick, or south to Morpeth, Newcastle and London. The timetable shows a short wait for the 11:07 a.m. up main line stopping train from Berwick, which left that station at 9:20 a.m. It will reach Newcastle at 12:18 p.m. taking one hour and eleven minutes to cover the 26 miles from Chevington. A down stopping train from Newcastle to Alnwick will call at Chevington at 11:29 a.m.

With a change of train at Chevington, the one hour thirty-eight minutes taken to cover the 32 miles from Amble to Newcastle was matched by even the earliest models of motor omnibuses. They offered a direct Amble to Newcastle service and it ran at half-hourly intervals. There was even a bus every two hours on a Sunday. There was no Sunday train service. The L.N.E.R. quickly capitulated, withdrawing the Amble branch passenger service in 1930. However, Chevington station remained open for passengers until 1958.





July 2017 - photobucket links switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
Summer morning at Sedgefield 1919

Northeast England during the steam era. Sedgefield station circa 1919. While Fletcher BTP Class 0-4-4T No. 62 calls with the 9:47 a.m. Ferryhill to Middlesbrough train, MacDonnell 59 Class 0-6-0 No. 567 shunts the yard with the morning Ferryhill to Stockton pickup goods. The vintage Bogie Tank Passenger BTP (later L.N.E.R. Class G6) is equipped to work with the 1907 Diagram 116 Driving Van Composite as an autotrain. Today though, Ferryhill has strengthed the formation by adding a Diagram 68A six-wheel Third coach. the station pilot at Middlesbrough will have to detach the six-wheeler as the BTP can not run back westwards with the six-wheeler in front of it. An alternate, somewhat bizarre procedure would be to have the BTP and Driving Van Composite run round the six wheeler! The BTP-Driving Van Composite combination are coupled together and rigged with control lines (the 1907 N.E.R. system was not like the the later 1930s L.N.E.R. vacuum type push-pull system).

The 59 Class is about to shunt five Diagram G2 12 Ton vans in to the goods shed. They are probably all "road vans". If I understand it correctly, these were vans allocated to a "road" (route) between two goods depots and loaded with consignments for the intermediate stations. One may be named Newcastle(Forth) to Stockton via Ferryhill given the Newcastle depot's "hub" status, stopping at all stations "on the road" between Ferryhill and Stockton. It will possibly have been tripped down to Ferryhill by being attached to a main line goods train heading for York. The goods staff at Sedgefield will have to be very busy unloading any consignments from the vans and loading any consignments that are to be routed via Stockton. There will be a northbound pickup goods bound for Ferryhill coming through after lunch. The 59 Class has about thirty minutes to get on with shunting any wagons for the sidings while the staff in the goods shed work. The vans will have to be returned to the pickup goods in order to be taken to the next stop along the line. This is my County Durham route, cropped down from the TS12 built-in route Kings Cross to Newcastle and rolled back to the steam era. It is a work in progress.







July 2017 - photobucket links switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
Durham 1930. Moving the Goods

Northeast England during the steam era. Depicting the early 1930s at Durham Gilesgate Goods station, LNER Class J21 0-6-0 No. 314 stands with an afternoon goods train for Newcastle Forth Goods. It will run via Belmont Junction to join the Leamside line to Pelaw Junction and then via Gateshead Park lane. No. 314 is a saturated member of the class. Superheated engines had a longer smokebox extending forwards past the smokebox saddle. No. 314 is also a member of the class lacking Westinghouse and vacuum train brake. The leading van in the train is an ex-NER diagram G2 12 Ton van with spoked wheels. The drop down lower door is a feature of the type, meant to assist access for wheeled trolleys. Earlier examples also featured a roll back roof section above the doors. Durham Gilesgate was Durham's second station, built in 1844 by George Hudson's Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway at the end of a short branch from Belmont Junction on what was the "old main line" via Leamside. The Old main line connected to the Stanhope & Tyne Railway at the north end of the Victoria viaduct Washington, taking it on to Brockley Whins to join the Sunderland to Gateshead line. The station lost its passenger service in 1857 when the Durham station on the Leamside to Bishop Auckland branch opened. From this date it was Durham Goods, being described as Durham Gilesgate some time in the 20th century. It closed in 1966 and after use as a builder's merchant it is now a hotel. Until 1920 Durham Kepier Colliery was served by a siding from near the station throat. This is NW Durham, my personal route and is a work in progress.









July 2017 - photobucket links switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
Newburn on the North Wylam Branch

Northeast England during the age of steam. A representation of Newburn station on the North Wylam Branch of the LNER circa 1925. A former NER Worsdell O Class 0-4-4T, (now LNER Class G5) stands at the station with a branch passenger train from Newcastle to North Wylam. It is hauling four ex-NER ordinary bogie coaches of 1890s vintage in what I believe the NER called "combination "A"". Brake Third, Lavatory Composite, Third, Brake Third. The ones here are all 45 ft bogie coaches. The NER also produced 52ft ordinary bogie clerestory coaches and 49ft low roof bogie coaches around the same time. In the background Worsdell J25 0-6-0 No. 1725 is on the Wylam Wagonway colliery line with a short coal train and the chimneys of Newburn Ironworks.

This is on my personal NW Durham route and is very much a work in progress. Newburn was across the river in Northumberland at the NW extremity of my route and is one of the last places that I have been laying track. I don't have a tall signalbox so I have taken a liberty and placed an NER overhead style box. This type was in use across the river on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway. There is a footbridge to place too, despite there being a level crossing at the eastern end of the station.



July 2017 - photobucket link switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
These shots are very impressive. Clearly you've put a lot of effort in to this route.
Regarding the pic with the overhead lines, what gantries/catenary are you using? I've always found the NER's stalled attempt at electrification fascinating, and I have frequently wondered about doing the Newport/Shildon line for Trainz. The catenary you are using looks just about right, although the real gantries were taller and the wires sort of hung down.
 
Last edited:
This is very well written, amazing all the information you put here, I would really wonder what it would have been like to live in this era, 1920-1930's, with all the activity of the Rail Road had going on.

I come from the Red and White Car era, saw them when I was young in the early 50's,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Electric

Parents never took me on them, it's a shame we lost them and now recreate new transit at Millions and sometime Billions, all for Oil, Buses, and Rubber Co's could do better than Trains!

Sound Familiar?

Your layout and all the Livery looks great, thanks for sharing with us.
 
Hi nathanmallard. Woodhead catenary overlaid by Woodhead signal gantries custom. Not an elegant solution but the Newport/Shildon line is scenery on the County Durham section of the ECML route. I think that it a reasonable representation given the absence of a model of the real one on the DLS.
 
Hi blueodessey. I grew up in a steel town where many homes were still heated with coal fires. Several decades later than the 20s but I recall the smell of them, along with the coal and steel dust in the atmosphere. The adjective used more than once to describe it was "gritty".
 
Visitor at Darlington

Northeast England during the steam era circa 1922. Here is a depiction of Darlington station on the East Coast Main Line in late pre-grouping days during the dying days of the North Eastern Railway. Here a N.E.R. W Class 4-6-2T Number 686 of Leeds Neville Hill shed waits in the bay with a passenger train for Middlesbrough and Saltburn. My justification for this Yorkshire visitor is a running in turn on a Darlington shed turn following a visit to Darlington works for a light repair. The works would routinely allocate an overhauled engine to Darlington for a short period of running in turns. The Saltburn train of four 52ft N.E.R. bogie clerestories has been strengthened by a six-wheel Third and a six-wheel Luggage van. The W Class were often seen in the Whitby and Scarborough areas with 49ft Arc Roof bogie coaches, the Brake Thirds having birdcage lookouts. I believe that they were built around 1895 and used for almost a decade on North Tyneside suburban trains until displaced by electrification. They were then allocated to trains around Saltburn, Scarborough and Whitby. I intend to obtain a set of them as I can find an excuse to have them show up at Darlington during the 1920s and 30s on a Whitby service. In the background of the second screenshot a Z Class Atlantic stands with an up East Coast Main Line Express of East Coast Joint Stock. I don't have any ECJS stock so I have an "ersatz" LNER one until I have a set built. That is on the wishlist along with a set of NER Vestibule coaches. The black tank loco is a 290 Class 0-6-0T, rebuilt from surplus Fletcher BTP 0-4-4T locos. The route is the County Durham section of the built in TS12 Kings Cross to Newcastle route, relaid to represent the steam era for my personal use. It is a work in progress and Darlington required an immense amount of track re-instatement to return it to something like its glory days pre-1967.





July 2017 - photobucket links switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
Pacifics at Newcastle Central

North East England during the steam era. Here is a depiction of the west end of Newcastle Central station circa 1950. Peppercorn A1 4-6-2 Pacific 60115 "Meg Merrilees" in LNER Apple Green with BRITISH RAILWAYS lettered tender comes off the King Edward Bridge from Gateshead Shed to take over an Up ECML Express Passenger train for London Kings Cross. She will take it forward to York or Grantham. Veteran Gresley A3 Pacific 60098 "Spion Kop" has uncoupled from the same express upon arrival from Edinburgh and is about to head across the KE bridge to Gateshead shed's western entrance. A ubiquitous Q6 0-8-0 waits on the Up avoiding line for the right away to take the goods lines for Elswick and Scotswood while a J71 0-6-0T on station pilot duties waits over by the western bay platforms. Behind the A3 stands an A8 4-6-2T departing on a local passenger service for Hexham on the Newcastle and Carlisle line. The coaches on the Up ECML Express are in transition. Some are still in LNER Teak while others are in the new British Railways Carmine and Cream livery. It will be around 1952 before this livery has been completely applied to all the coaches on the ECML. This is my NW Durham route and is a work in progress. Newcastle Central station is largely the same station area as seen on the TS12 built-in. I have relaid all the track in the station area, including the extensive crossings at the east end. Colour Light signalling reached Newcastle in the late 1950s.



July 2017 - photobucket link switched to imgur.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
The North Eastern Railway BTP Steam Autocars
Replies
19
Views
5K
borderreiver
B
Back
Top