UK Screenshots (Hi Res Version)

Prototypical routes always take a long time to make, there is so much research needed and alot of work on the route to be done; the landscape, the scenery and the correct track plan. Anyone who works hard needs all the encouragement they can get.
All the best lass!

Why thank you! :wave:

On that note, here are a few pictures of the long closed Clarence Railway/NER Todhills branch:



Burnhouse Junction, where the newer Spennymoor-Bishop Auckland line (left) diverged away from the Todhills branch (right) to Newfield and Willington.

The trackbed here is now part of the Auckland Way.



The branch was notable for its extreme inclines - the worst of which was a 1 in 16 (!!) from just outside Todhills station down to the River Wear. The section between Burnhouse Junction and Todhills (shown here) had far less extreme gradients.




Todhills station closed in 1867, but the engine shed remained open until 1922, and goods traffic continued into the 1930s. The station buildings themselves were still intact in the early 1950s at least.



A spur leading to the colliery and brickworks at Newfield diverged from the branch before it reached the Wear. By 1900 the inclines and colliery were gone and the track from the brickworks to the incline - shown here - had been cut back to a spur at the bottom of the hill.



Newfield brickworks. There's an industry enabled coal drop-off and goods pick-up amongst the sidings.



If you walk along the line from the brickworks this is where you'll end up after crossing the river.



The Newfield branch rejoins the Bishop Auckland-Durham line at Hunwick. Incidentally, the blue 31 is a hint as to the era I'll be showing in the next set of screenshots. ;)
 
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Great shots everyone!

Some from the Cornish Mainline:

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The railway and A30 run along side eachother between Truro and Redruth

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St Austell Station

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Lostwithiel

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Bodmin Parkway

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A HST and a 150 stop at Liskeard

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The Liskeard Viaduct

Mark
 
Some more from Cornwall:

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The least used station on the mainline, Menheniot

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St Germans

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The St Germans Viaduct

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Saltash

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Saltash, with Brunel's 150 year old Royal Albert Bridge

Mark
 
The trackbed here is now part of the Auckland Way.

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This is some fine work, finer than precedent shots if you don't mind me saying. The abandoned track is great.

What period are you working on? You could get the line "re-opened" if you worked a few years earlier ^^ You know, to get some train rolling ;)

On another note, you don't have to link the image when you post it, the IMG tags are sufficient, there is no need for the URL tags to surround them.
 
Well done

Hello Marky789o,
Those shots are looking good and you have done a considerable amount of work on the route.

A big well done is well earned!

And to Durhamlass,
Some excellent scenic work in those shots. Another well done for you...

Angela
 
This is some fine work, finer than precedent shots if you don't mind me saying. The abandoned track is great.

What period are you working on? You could get the line "re-opened" if you worked a few years earlier ^^ You know, to get some train rolling ;)

Thanks! I'm learning, thats's for sure. :)

I've set the route in the 1960s, since most of the lines in the area (though not that one - it closed 30 years earlier!) were still around then. With the Durham-Bishop Auckland-Shildon, Bishop Auckland-Eastgate, Bishop Auckland-Spennymoor, Bishop Auckland-West Auckland and West Auckland-Shildon lines all open (including the MPD at West Auckland, which closed in 1964 I think) there's probably plenty of variety around the route even without the old Todhills branch.

This period also allows you to mix and match steam and diesel - BR Standards and ex-NER locos such as the Q6, J72 and G5 featured heavily, and when dieselisation came classes 04, 08, 20, 24, 25, 27, 31 and 37 were all regulars on local traffic, with 40s, Peaks, 47s and even Deltics passing through on diverted ECML traffic.

I've bent history a bit in a few places (like keeping the Newfield branch in place, and adding an MGR loop at Rough Lea) to make it a little more interesting, but there is a limit I think! ;)

That said, once it's done we always go retro and modify a copy of the route as Stockton & Darlington vs Clarence Railway circa 1850 or so. I doubt there's much rolling stock for that period on the DLS though!

Had I set the route in 1980 (the period when I first started wandering around on my own - I remember exploring the remnants of the triangular station at Bishop Auckland when all that was left were weeds and bare platforms) all that would be left would be the Bishop Auckland-Shildon line and Bishop Auckland-Eastgate, with 101 DMUs and the occasional 31 or 37 on an Eastgate cement.

In many respects this exercise has been an education for me since it has given me a chance to learn about what was lost around my hometown before I was old enough to remember it (I do remember seeing cement/oil trains in the town near Tenters St, on what was part of the Durham line, but that's just a bypass now). An exercise in nostalgia then, but an interesting one.

And to Durhamlass,
Some excellent scenic work in those shots. Another well done for you...

Angela

Thanks Angela! :)
 
OVR June 1963

Nice screenshots all here are a few from me.
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A J39 Leave Coalfield station on it way East to Pegton.
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Later we see the same J39 Climming the Bank over Gainsborough Junction.
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At Waddington we see two Ivatt 2mt passing.
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Finally a shot of the engine sheds a Templebay.
 
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emo, may i ask you where did you get the road, pavement and traffic cones in your 5th picture of your route please?
 
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Some more from Cornwall:

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The least used station on the mainline, Menheniot

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St Germans

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The St Germans Viaduct

Screen_012.jpg

Saltash

Screen_013.jpg

Saltash, with Brunel's 150 year old Royal Albert Bridge

Mark

Hi Mark.

I was wondering if you could tell me where you got that FGW consist from? As Iv been looking for the Neon coaches and Locomotive for ages.

Thanks Youifhonk
 
I was hoping someone could help me, I am looking for some platform number signs and the British Rail logo on the signs that you see at some stations, the one that looks like a box.
 
For Platform signs, you could try searching under username eldavo, he's got some which may be of interest.

Try also username gavo for nameable BR signs.

Hope these may be of help.

Gam :)
 
As promised I've now done a little tuning on the trackwork (and some tweaks to the scenery while I was in there) on the area around Hunwick and Rough Lea, so here's another update.

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The same location as the last shot in the previous set, but showing off a rake of the TC3 team's excellent Mk1s which just happened to be passing by...

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The realigned trackwork at Hunwick looking north (I'm still not sure about that crossover, though) with shunting discs now in place. The line to the right is the one in the foreground of the first picture.

There's also now an InvisiCAB floating in front of the signal box for those "screenshot moments".

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Looking south this time, a Gateshead based class 46 heads north with an ore train. I always did like the look of this style of headcode on these locos.

From memory the 46's were a little maligned in the North East because as so many of them were based at Gateshead they appeared very regularly in the area. I did like them, though.

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The unique 47901 sits in one of the sidings at Hunwick with an MGR train.

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A class 20 "Whistling Wardrobe" leads a short train of HTV hoppers towards Rough Lea Colliery as a Metro-Cammell DMU heads south with a local service. I saw one of these locos at the Swanage diesel gala in May; it brought back some great memories. :)

Incidentally there's an InvisiCAB in front of this signal box (Rough Lea Junction), too.

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58001 heads north past the Brickworks and colliery.

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A couple more views of Perchpole's 46 north of Rough Lea. It's such a great looking model that it really does warrant it.
 
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