UK Screenshots for Pre BR Blue. High resolution warning.

Hi Lewisner.
When I look at my original Consett & NW Durham route I can now see all too clearly where my research was lacking "back in the day".
It is a process of improvement, that is for sure.
The items related to the orginal Londonderry builders are going to have to be either custom built or substituted with as close an item as we can find.
I was looking at the disused railways site for Ryhope East and the station buildings are unique items. the footbridge is also a unique item.

I have been thinking some more about the reversing lines lying between the running lines at the south end of the Ryhope Grange Junction complex.
Looking at Fawcett Street Junction, a train from the north intending to stop and have the loco run round prior to the descent down the lower Penshaw branch to Hendon Junction would have been decidedly unpopular.
The train would have occupied the up running line, the loco would have to run all the way up to Millfield station to find the nearest trailing connection and then all the way back.
If the driver had a robust sense of humour and a fit fireman, it is possible that they could have pressed the Bishopwearmouth Flour Mill siding connection into use as an extended form of trailing turnout.
Three changes in loco travel, six levers and the likelihood that everything past the first lever on the siding was private metals.

I can imagine a stern letter, if not a telegram on its way to the District Manager if the owner of the Flour Mill found an 0-8-0 on the siding.
 
borderreiver said:
Hi Lewisner.
When I look at my original Consett & NW Durham route I can now see all too clearly where my research was lacking "back in the day".
It is a process of improvement, that is for sure.
The items related to the orginal Londonderry builders are going to have to be either custom built or substituted with as close an item as we can find.
I was looking at the disused railways site for Ryhope East and the station buildings are unique items. the footbridge is also a unique item.

I have been thinking some more about the reversing lines lying between the running lines at the south end of the Ryhope Grange Junction complex.
Looking at Fawcett Street Junction, a train from the north intending to stop and have the loco run round prior to the descent down the lower Penshaw branch to Hendon Junction would have been decidedly unpopular.
The train would have occupied the up running line, the loco would have to run all the way up to Millfield station to find the nearest trailing connection and then all the way back.
If the driver had a robust sense of humour and a fit fireman, it is possible that they could have pressed the Bishopwearmouth Flour Mill siding connection into use as an extended form of trailing turnout.
Three changes in loco travel, six levers and the likelihood that everything past the first lever on the siding was private metals.

I can imagine a stern letter, if not a telegram on its way to the District Manager if the owner of the Flour Mill found an 0-8-0 on the siding.
Click to expand...

The loop at Ryhope Grange was called "Carriage Sidings" on the signalling plan and so were the sidings at Tatham Street. I'll scan a couple of the plans and message them to you. However be warned that Ryhope Grange had 70 levers with only 3 Spare, I think I've seen a reference in the past that if a train needed to go from Sunderland station to South Dock then a banking engine was attached to the front as the gradient often required a banking engine anyway for heavy trains.
At the moment though I'm off for a pint because having spent an hour and half remodelling Sunderland station south entrance the game froze and I had to use Task Manager to close it. When I loaded it again it asked if I wanted to Use Changes and I clicked Yes and it wiped out everything I had done.
 
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Heya Everyone, i am sorry i am aware this isn't strictly on topic but seeing as this is where most of the UK Trainz community are it would be the best place put this. Basically my buffer assets needed some changes to function correctly as buffers in the way Trainz had intended and one of the fixes i had to make envolved rotating the buffer mesh so it faces the correct way. This does mean it will be the wrong way round after the update and route creators will have to rotate them. I am aware how much of a pain this is and i hope to make this up with a DLS upload of UK Scenery later this week. My sincerest apologies about this, I'll attach below some images of some of the content i will be releasing this weekend.

Barney
image.png
 
lewisner said:
Hi Borderreiver, those are great shots even pre scenery ! What I actually about DEMs was that although I bought Transdem when its creator was still alive I don't seem to have a mathematical bent so my route was built without using a DEM and couldn't have one retroactively applied since it would probably mean ripping everything apart and moving it. Ryhope Grange is actually where I started building it in about 2005 so it is at height 0.00 ! Although my route is set in a theoretical 1962 I have the NER signalling diagrams for about 1905 and the LSSR diagram for 1879 when it was know as "Half-Way House Junction". I copied these and many others from the original Ministry Of Transport reports in Kew Public Record Office.
Here's a J27 heading from the Durham Coast line onto the the Down Londonderry Line at Ryhope Grange. In the background a train from Silksworth is headed by two Class 03 diesels and will take the Down Hendon Line to South Dock.
Click to expand...

Has Roland (GeoPhil) passed away then? I read the forums most days. Is this something I've missed?
 
Bournemouth West is shaping up nicely. This is one night's work; hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to pick up the pace. I would have finished it sooner but having laid everything down I realised I'd missed a measurement and was around 40m out! So everything had to be shifted East and then later on North to properly bring it into place, but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. The girders spanning the main platforms provided structural strength to the canopies, thereby preventing them from flying off in high winds and gave a rather unique look to the station.

3BAHpzJ.jpeg


JeO0VhK.jpeg


Cheers,

PLP
 
Hi Lewisner,

When you say "look better", what do you think is wrong with it? It looks good to me - I think the only thing I would suggest is trying to update some of the older assets and adding detail. For example, look for a higher res cobblestone road and perhaps consider trying the NSWGR range of signal rodding. I'd also look at adding some weeds and general debris around the area - Dinorius_Redundicus I think does so excellent derelict items including bin bags and old newspapers which would look the part.

Cheers,

PLP
 
Sunderland could be a challenge.
There was quite a complex tunnel arrangement at the north end of the station and at the same end above the platforms magnificent station building befitting the town.
However, the station itself would require several iterations to reflect the period depicted.
Steam Era
The NER and pre-WWII LNER with the overall roof intact.
WWII and post-WWII with the central bomb-damaged section of the roof removed.
Modern Era
1960s - 1990s with the prefab station building at the southern end and platform canopies..
2000s - 2010s with the station buried and the Metro restoration of the line along the S bank of the Wear, only the eastern island in use.
2020s with new station buildings and the planned restoration of the western island platform.

Several decades ago I bought a BR plan of Sunderland's track layout but I have never used it.
I will have to take it out of its tube and check it now that I am building my County Durham route.
The AJS station 29m roofs are "just" too narrow for Sunderland, darn it.
 
PortLineParker said:
Hi Lewisner,

When you say "look better", what do you think is wrong with it? It looks good to me - I think the only thing I would suggest is trying to update some of the older assets and adding detail. For example, look for a higher res cobblestone road and perhaps consider trying the NSWGR range of signal rodding. I'd also look at adding some weeds and general debris around the area - Dinorius_Redundicus I think does so excellent derelict items including bin bags and old newspapers which would look the part.

Cheers,

PLP
Click to expand...

Hi , nothing looks like it did in real life - especially the main building which was a sort of mini St Pancras with a gothic clock tower. YES to the cobblestones, I have just searched for some better ones and replaced them. At this period (1962 ish) I think BR tracks were kept free of weeds so I only ever have them on little used sidings. Also at this period BR had replaced most old point rods with new galvanised rods on concrete stands so I think the ones I use are the best available.

The Hetton Landsale was a large coal depot served by the Hetton Colliery Railway but latterly only had trains from Silksworth Colliery though these ceased in 1971 when the colliery closed. There was a tunnel which is best described as Stygian and it took trains to the Hetton High Level Staithes which closed in 1968. It was filled in during 1978. There was also an engine shed (obscured by the smoke) which contained an 0-4-0 electric locomotive which took trains over Hylton Road to the power station.

Hetton Landsale Trains 3.5.24 by A1 Northeastern, on Flickr
 
Hi Lewisner,

I confess I have no knowledge of Sunderland station so the new rodding sounds like it's a good match, and it's good that you've found some better cobblestones. The only thing that I could suggest changing track - this is easy to fix and I would recommend 2995valliant's new A06 range of track as it is absolutely excellent.

It looks like it's coming along nicely though, I always have a tremendous amount of respect for route builders that decide to model a prototypical location as few realise just how much time and effort go into it. I must have spent close to £500 on material so far for the S&D and with the books currently on my wish list, I need to find another £109! Swanage was a similar story but you learn so much about the railways that you wouldn't perhaps have known otherwise.

Cheers,

PLP
 
PortLineParker said:
Hi Lewisner,

I confess I have no knowledge of Sunderland station so the new rodding sounds like it's a good match, and it's good that you've found some better cobblestones. The only thing that I could suggest changing track - this is easy to fix and I would recommend 2995valliant's new A06 range of track as it is absolutely excellent.

It looks like it's coming along nicely though, I always have a tremendous amount of respect for route builders that decide to model a prototypical location as few realise just how much time and effort go into it. I must have spent close to £500 on material so far for the S&D and with the books currently on my wish list, I need to find another £109! Swanage was a similar story but you learn so much about the railways that you wouldn't perhaps have known otherwise.

Cheers,

PLP
Click to expand...

There's a potted history of it here http://disused-stations.org.uk/s/sunderland_central/index.shtml
 
The disused stations article revealed a nugget of information to me.
In the shot of September 1940, showing the aftermath of the overnight attack by the German Luftwaffe stands a 49ft arc roof ordinary bogie carriage.
It looks like a Third Class Diagram 54 built at the turn of the 20th century for North Tyneside services.
The NER built them as Class 51 and 52 with Gould couplings but all became Diagram 54 upon removal of the Gould couplings.
Seeing one still evidently in passenger service at 40/41 years old shows that pre-grouping carriages could have long lives.
At the start of WWII most passenger rolling stock in use in the LNER was still of pre-grouping origin, though the NE Area was at least rid of six-wheel passenger carriages.
That is something which could not be said of parts of the Southern Area, where, in Lincolnshire, passengers could still be "treated" to a ride in an old Howlden 6w "banger".

The sports shop in the same shot also has a story to tell.
After the raid, LNER work crews had to remove a wheel set from an upper floor of the shop building, and while the report I read said it was a wagon axle it could have been a carriage bogie axle.
The shop owner was not happy to receive an invoice from the LNER for removing their wheel set which had caused a lot of the damage in the first place!
 
borderreiver said:
The disused stations article revealed a nugget of information to me.
In the shot of September 1940, showing the aftermath of the overnight attack by the German Luftwaffe stands a 49ft arc roof ordinary bogie carriage.
It looks like a Third Class Diagram 54 built at the turn of the 20th century for North Tyneside services.
The NER built them as Class 51 and 52 with Gould couplings but all became Diagram 54 upon removal of the Gould couplings.
Seeing one still evidently in passenger service at 40/41 years old shows that pre-grouping carriages could have long lives.
At the start of WWII most passenger rolling stock in use in the LNER was still of pre-grouping origin, though the NE Area was at least rid of six-wheel passenger carriages.
That is something which could not be said of parts of the Southern Area, where, in Lincolnshire, passengers could still be "treated" to a ride in an old Howlden 6w "banger".

The sports shop in the same shot also has a story to tell.
After the raid, LNER work crews had to remove a wheel set from an upper floor of the shop building, and while the report I read said it was a wagon axle it could have been a carriage bogie axle.
The shop owner was not happy to receive an invoice from the LNER for removing their wheel set which had caused a lot of the damage in the first place!
Click to expand...

Sunderland used to have 2 signalboxes, North and South with the North box being almost in the tunnel and in the 1990s I met a man who said his father used to work in the north box. His dad said "You used to have to put your bait on the block shelf or the rats would get it".
 
PortLineParker said:
Hi Lewisner,

I confess I have no knowledge of Sunderland station so the new rodding sounds like it's a good match, and it's good that you've found some better cobblestones. The only thing that I could suggest changing track - this is easy to fix and I would recommend 2995valliant's new A06 range of track as it is absolutely excellent.

It looks like it's coming along nicely though, I always have a tremendous amount of respect for route builders that decide to model a prototypical location as few realise just how much time and effort go into it. I must have spent close to £500 on material so far for the S&D and with the books currently on my wish list, I need to find another £109! Swanage was a similar story but you learn so much about the railways that you wouldn't perhaps have known otherwise.

Cheers,

PLP
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up about the track - I've replaced all my track by one of the variants with dark grey ballast and it looks a whole lot better, Here is Peak D8 Penyghent leaving the revised Sunderland south end where all the cobbled streets have also been replaced.

Peak at Sunderland 4.5.24 by A1 Northeastern, on Flickr

Shortly afterwards the Peak passes Millfield station goods yard. The staircase on the right once led to a footbridge over the tracks which had disappeared by 1900 but the staircase lasted till 2000 and was an interesting place to spot trains from.

Peak at Millfield 4.5.24 by A1 Northeastern, on Flickr
 
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"Sunderland used to have 2 signalboxes, North and South with the North box being almost in the tunnel and in the 1990s I met a man who said his father used to work in the north box. His dad said "You used to have to put your bait on the block shelf or the rats would get it"".

Sunderland North Box was closed literally 95 years ago on May 5th 1929!
When you spoke to the signalman's son then it had been over 61 years since his Dad had stood by that lever frame and took his chances with his bait.
The NERA Cabin Register places it at 89 miles 66 chains and 30 links, with 18 levers in an 1878 built Stevens & Sons frame.
The signal box was of brick construction.
At 34ft long and 11ft 6inches wide it was not a cramped place, so after closure it must have left a noticeable space.
What a gloomy assignment for a signalman and something of a choking one too, with locos belching clouds of smoke as they went to and fro past it.
 
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