a new model railway project.

[sheddy]

hi. me and a few mates are planning on build accurate 00 scale model of wittion gillbert station (6 miles north west of durham ) one of the stations on the lanchester valley branch line leading up to consett Iron works. the layout will be set 1912-1920ish when the line was in its hayday. does any body have any infor,pics ect that could helpfull? one other thing that would be very helpfull would be info on passenger locos and coaching stock used in that era and area.


many many thanks

dan

[Malcolm]

Dan,

As a beginning go here (if you haven't already):

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/

Malcolm

[sheddy]

hi thanks. yes that site was my first port of call. like i say i have loads of information, station costings ect.... but when building a layout thats not the most usefull of information lol. sods law i suppose.


many thanks dan

[Bill Bedford]

hi. me and a few mates are planning on build accurate 00 scale model of wittion gillbert station (6 miles north west of durham ) one of the stations on the lanchester valley branch line leading up to consett Iron works. the layout will be set 1912-1920ish when the line was in its hayday. does any body have any infor,pics ect that could helpfull? one other thing that would be very helpfull would be info on passenger locos and coaching stock used in that era and area.

The NRM have track plans for Witton-le-Wear, but I have no plan numbers for Witton Gibert

[sheddy]

thanks. i think we can limp along on building side of things, any ideas of wagons, coaching stock and locos ect in use in the 1912-20s ish and if they are RTR or kitbuilt, as this is one of the big problems we face, dosnt seem to be much information on rolling stock. i have seen some of robs superb kits he has built. Wouldnt mind some of them on the layout thats if they ran in the durham area a the time??

many many thanks dan

[scottiedog]

British Railway Journal published a North Eastern Railway Special ISBN 1 905184 02 06 which contained an article by Bill Fawcett on The Lanchester Valley Branch of the North Eastern Railway, which you might find of interest to you. Amongst many things there are Traffic Figures for 1914 and 1928 for Witton Gilbert, by far the busiest station on the branch. A full page picture (page 81) of Witton Gilbert features in the article. It looks to have been taken in NER days.

As far as I am aware there are no RTR 4mm models available for your chosen period. However you are well served, apart from coaches, by various kit manufaturers

Dave Alexander Models makes whitemetal loco kits and etched brass ones are available from London Road Models. Roger Chivers did a couple of loco kits, too, but I do not know if they are still available.

David Geen, Model Railway Kits, produces numerous NER wagon and van kits (and other pregrouping companies too) as does Model Signal Engineering - the 51L range. Slaters do plastic kits for the NER P7 20t hopper and the V1 brake van.

D&S Models made etched brass NER coach kits, but, sadly these are no longer available unless you can pick them up secondhand or pay sky high prices on eBay!!!!

Apart from D&S Models, all of the above have websites, so have a look at them. Most, if not all, of the NER kits listed will be of use to you. If there is anything you are uncertain about, please post on the Encyclopedia and I will do my best to help.

[sheddy]

many thanks, very intresting. if i changed the era to make it easier for now, lets say 1925-1939, what would i be dealing with. i know the normal Q6s, j27s ect. J39s? any of the K1s, k2s, k3s? but what would be on the passenger services. i seen a pic of a what i would guess was V3 tank loco. am a diesal man, got to get used to these teapots ha ha.

thanks
dan

[scottiedog]

Lanchester Branch passenger services - Newcastle to Durham via Blackhill and return - were withdrawn on the 1st of May 1939.

In the main I think that motive power would be ex NER types probably a G5 or a J21. A V1 might be a possibility too, a number being shedded in the area from 1935 onwards.

Passenger services on the branch were not that frequent. In 1934 Durham/Newcastle trains called at Witton Gilbert at 7.25,12.14,2.47 and 5.38. There were Saturday only evening trains calling at 7.11*,8.56 and 10.36* *Terminating at Lanchester. There was only one train on Sundays calling at 7.56am.

Newcastle/Durham trains called at 7.19,9.18,1.26,3.46 and 6.31. There were Saturday only afternoon/evening trains at 5.22*,7.44* and 8.58 *Starting at Lanchester. There were no Sunday Trains.

Again, I think that coaching stock would be ex NER types. In 1932 Low Arc roofed stock was still be found working on the Newcastle to Blackhill (and onto Durham?) trains. The sets were classified as "Composition B" made up 2 49' 4 compartment brake 3rds, and a 49' non-lav composite. Clerestory and Eliptical roofed stock would,no doubt, have been seen too.

As usual reference to photographs, which appear to be scarce will help with passenger train make up

Views on freight/mineral workings to follow, when I have a moment!

[Malcolm]

Dan,

Is this yours?

http://lancre-morris-men.co.uk/durham/witton.html

Malcolm

[sheddy]

firstly. big thanks to scotty dog. very valuable information there. another good point to mention, there was a LNER Sentinel Steam Railcar spotted on the line so that would be intresting to model. . Am sure we can use modelers licence with the regaurds to the passenger service. why couldnt George Stephenson just invented diesels, would have made life a lot easier ha ha ha




malcolm: hi mate. yes thats is our site, but its riding piggy back on a fellow members server.

this the direct site addy, so please feel welcome to follow our progress

http://kickme.to/dhm



many many thanks

dan

[joculator]

Hi to everyone, (new member alert) !
Dan convinced me to have a look at the board so here I am. I'm one of the other two people involved in the project and would like to echo Dan's thanks for any info you guys can help us out with. Just to clarify Dan's 'limp', I scanned in the large scale 1895 OS map and used Templot to produce the track plans. If any of you are not familiar with this lovely track building program you can see it here http://www.templot.com/. But I'm probably preaching to the converted.

The web site is indeed lying in the depths of my server so as the build continues I will be posting regular updates. How malcolm found it in the first place has got me beaten. It's only been online as a prototype for a few days. But it saves paying for another domain name

Well that's about it from me, I've got more research to do so I'll leave most of the chatting to Dan. Nothing new about that!

[twa_dogs]

Not somewhere I'm aquainted with directly, but from the picture on the link above it looks like one of Thomas Prosser's standard NER crow stepped gable station buildings a-la Goathland, Egton, Glaisdale, Pately Bridge etc. I believe some drawings for these are available in NER record Vol 1 as well as the NER Architecture volumes (I'll look up which one when i get home tomorrow night and amend). Does the plan indicate if it is the standard goods shed too? I assume that things will differ from Goathland (Skaledale?) when it comes to the signal box being a northern divison location and also will the signal posts be more likely to be lattice being N-D? I'm intrigued though by the plan which doesn't seem to show any coal drops? A rarity for the NER? Bext of luck and keep us updated?

regards

Steve

[Malcolm]

Dan & Joculator,

First of all I think your address should be:

http://www.kickme.to/dhm

BUT I have to tell you that my web browser (Firefox) lists this site as being infected with a virus and a worm. I don't know if you know this, or whether it's the site or the server.

Secondly...about finding the first address (listed as not infected)....I'm just good at finding things. Always have been.

Lastly. If I find any photos among my collection that would be useful, I'll PM them to you.

Malcolm.

[scottiedog]

I have had a look at my copy of the LNER North East Area Carriage Roster for 1932(available from the NERA) which shows a Steam Rail Car working from Newcastle to Blackhill (and why not through to Durham!). So there you are - modellers' licence is not needed!! I can also confirm that "Composition B Sets" worked the line at that time, too, particularly the Saturday evening trains to and from Lanchester. Must be for all those thirsty Durham miners after having a night out in Durham!

[joculator]

Thanks for the info malcolm, but I can safely say, there is no virus or worm infection on the site. My version of firefox allows the site through without any trouble using http://kickme.to/dhm as the link. Your version may be detecting the anonymous link as some threat, or maybe you have a plugin for firefox that is grumbling about it. I'll check it out fully, but I know my server is very good at preventing virus attacks.
Thanks again I just hope you're not correct in your assumption. The offer of any photos is a great gesture on your part, looking forward to anything you can offer.

Maybe I can answer the puzzle for twa_dogs while I'm online. The station did not have coal drops because Langley Park Colliery was only about a quarter mile up the line and dropped directly to the coal depot.

There is now a map on the site under the researech tab showing just how close the two were situated. A small slide show on there may give you a shot of the signal box as well.

Once again, thanks for the support guys.

I will eventually post a scan of the full system showing the station and the colliery. You never know we may get tempted to do the colliery as well.