Extracts from Trains Illustrated (4) Jan - Dec 1961

These extracts from Trains Illustrated are continuing my search for information on train movements, locomotive allocations and historical events which might have an influence on any of my proposed projects based in and around Wadebridge - Bodmin area. Though most, if not all, of my projects will be fictitious I'm hoping to bring a good slice of historical accuracy to all of them.

April 1961 issue reports:
Western Region
"On January 30 the 5:10 a.m. St.Austell-Plymouth ran into a landslide at Wivelscombe Tunnel, between Saltash and St. Germans, and for the following fortnight the line was closed at this point, except for some freight traffic. Other freight workings and the milk and perishables trains between Cornwall and the east were diverted via Bodmin Road, Wadebridge, Halwill and Okehampton with Type 2 diesel-hydraulic locomotives and S.R. 2-6-0s as motive power. Passenger trains from Cornwall were terminated at St. Germans and a bus service maintained the connection between this station and Saltash, whence a diesel multiple-unit connected with Plymouth, where services from the east were terminated."

July 1961 issue reports:
Southern Region
"Of the U1 2-6-0s Nos. 31898-31900 have been acquired by Salisbury and Nos. 31901-4 by Exmouth Junction. We understand that the U1s will replace T9 4-4-0s in the West Country; all remaining T9 s have been stored to await scrapping ..... Of the South Eastern Division's B.R. Standard Class 2 2-6-2Ts Nos. 84020-3 have travelled to Exmouth Junction.."

September 1961 issue reports:
Western Region
"The bulk of mainline passenger traffic in Cornwall is now diesel-powered by Type 4 units; steam locomotives still work some parcels traffic and most - but not all - the freight traffic. Although the Par-Newquay line is still mainly steam, St. Blazey depot, which covers it, is expected to be all-diesel by the end of the year. At present, too, the Cornish Type 2 diesels have only two daily turns on the Truro-Perranporth-Newquay line, which is worked chiefly by pannier tanks owing to the current non-availability of many 2-6-2Ts of Cornish sheds."

Southern Region
"The S.R. aims to withdraw all the Class T9 4-4-0s, N15 4-6-0, C, C2X and Class 700 0-6-0s and H, and M7 0-4-4Ts as soon as possible and it's latest withdrawals show further steps to the ends with the condemnation of five T9s, Noos. 30117, 30313, 30701/9/17........ The S.R. is particularly anxious to replace its 0-4-4Ts with more modern power and already redundant Class 2 2-6-2Ts nos. 41238/69/1/70/2/83/4/7 have been moved from the L.M.R. ; but the S.R.s' standard Class 2 2-6-2Ts are to be moved to the L.M.R., as the S.R. has not enough of them to justify Regional maintenance of boiler spares."

October 1961 issue reports:
Southern Region
"Exmouth Junction depot has had a clear-out of ex-L.S.W. types. With the departure of Nos 30120 and 30313 for Eastleigh early in July it rid itself of Class T9 4-4-0s and it's stock of Class 700 0-6-0s was eliminated whenn No. 30691left in mid-July. However, No. 30309 (72B) of the latter class travelled through to Ilfracombe with an engineers special from Exeter on August 15, returning to Yeovil two days later."

November 1961 issue reports:
Western Region
"Type 4 "Warship" diesel-hydraulic No. D845 has emerged from Swindon with its roof fronts painted white and four-character head code panels framed in a broad yellow rectangle as a warning device; the Ministry of Transport is believed to be recommending that a prominent yellow warning panel off some kind be applied to the ends of all main line diesel locomotives. Western region Type 4 diesels are also beginning to appear with electrification warning notices a suitable points in their superstructure.."

"Several of the local workings in the Exeter district are now being covered by N.B. Loco. Co. Type 2 diesel-hydraulics, including the Kingswear portion of the up "Cornish Riviera Express"; these locomotives have also taken over the St. Ives branch, Bodmin Road-Wadebridge duties covered by St. Blazey depot and the Hayle-Hayle Docks workings."

December 1961 issue reports:
Southern Region
"B.R. Class 2 2-6-2Ts Nos. 84020/3 were still on Exmouth Junction shed in mid-October, although the S.R.'s entire allocation of this type has been officially transferred to the L.M.R. Exmouth Junction has now regained three 700 Class 0-6-0s; Nos. 30697/8 and 30700 have joined the allocation for winter snowplough work."

The April report of diverted traffic via Bodmin, Wadebridge and Hallwill is a very interesting working... I was also not fully aware when the "Warships" started to appear with yellow warning panels with white trim above the front windows so this information will be very useful if I ever need a Warship...

Winter Project - Installing Hornblocks

I recently resumed this project by fitting the CSB tags to each of the brass bearings. I then continued with fine tuning the fit of the bearings to each hornblock, when happy with their fit, a length of 0.4mm brass wire was installed through the holes in the bottom of each hornblock to stop the bearings falling out.

I'd then reached the stage where the hornblocks needed to be fitted to the chassis.....


To help me get the get the axles square to the chassis I decided to create a simple jig. I started by drawing a diagram in Adobe Illustrator of a rectangle the width of the chassis frame and longer so that the chassis frame could be aligned over the top. Then two rectangles where drawn to match the wheel base and wider than the chassis to help with aligning the axle jigs at right angles to the chassis frame. This was sellotaped to a mirror, and two strips of plywood secured over the top to help keep the chassis frame true to the diagram.



Once I'd soldered the centre axle into position, the front was aligned using the coupling rods. The jig seems to help in the process as the axles look square to the frame. However I did use a small square to double check before and during soldering the hornblocks to the frame...

State of chassis at the end of the evening...

I feel I've had a reasonable few hours of modelling today. The next task is installing the crankpins into the wheels, then it's building the High Level gearbox before installing the wheels. Think I might take the chassis along to this week's Area Group Meeting for some constructive criticism and advice on the next couple of stages....

Goods vans

"How do I glue van sides together?" was a question I asked myself when confronted with my first van kit for many years. To experienced modellers there is no doubt a simple answer but initially I was stumped.

The first kit I picked up was an old Ian Kirk BR 12T Van, which has buffer beams that are part of the van end so extends below the bottom edge of the van side. Unlike the mineral wagon kits that I'd previously built there seems no common edge with which to align sides to ends allowing me to get the ends and sides square and level to each other. After a few dry practise runs I was getting nowhere. I was trying to use the engineers squares along with packing to align the sides to end in the vertical position. When turning the engineers squares over the solution stared me in the face.

Once each end was glued to a side it was an easy task putting the two halves together. Certainly not ground breaking but I'm happy.

Extracts from Trains Illustrated (3) July - Dec 1960

August 1960 issue

"...on the Newquay branch: on June 18 the 7.50 a.m. Newquey-Manchester had a triple-unit combination of Type "4" No. D800 and Type "2s" Nos. D6311/24."

September 1960 issue

"....A correspondent returning from Cornwall in July writes that almost all passenger and parcels trains between Plymouth and Penzance are now diesel-powered, with the later N.B. Loco. Co. Type "2" diesel-hydraulic locomotives now in extensive use as pairs; he adds a further observation of a "Warship" on the Newquay branch, for he recorded No. D801, piloted by "Grange" No. 6816, heading away from the coast with a 15-coach load on the 10 a.m. Newquay-Paddington on July 2. Following last month's report of triple-heading on the Newquay branch, a reader writes that this practice is not uncommon in Cornwall nowadays, seemingly because of the use of Type "2" diesels in pairs. For example, a "Manor" is diagrammed to pilot the 8.55 a.m. (S0) Wolverhampton-Newquay and Penzance from Plymouth to Par; on July 2 this train was headed from Plymouth by a brace of Type "2s", and ahead of them was No. 7816. Some triple-heading is unpremeditated, of course. On July 16 one of two Type"2s" on the 1.20 p.m. Penzance-Paddington failed on Hayle bank: a pannier tank was summoned from Gwinear Road to give assistance as far as Redruth, where it gave place to a "Manor" No. 7813, which triple-headed the diesels, Nos. D6306/9, on to Plymouth....."

December 1960 issue

"...on September 1, Standard Class "4" 2-6-0 No, 76018 was an unusual visitor to North Cornwall; it was sent down from Yeovil to Exmouth Junction to work a Civil Engineer's special to Bude and back, after which it returned to Salisbury on September 3."

I have a soft spot for Standard Class 4 2-6-0s I think it stems from building an Airfix kit in my early 'teens'. Does the last entry allow me to develop the thought that I could justify one running further down the NCR line on an engineers train..? I'd like to think so...

Clay Wagons GWR Dia 013 (part 1)

Clay wagons will play a prominent role on Tredethy Wharf and other projects that I'm hoping to build in the future. This fact is something that has been playing on my mind for some time. So, over Christmas, I decided to dig out all the kits from different manufacturers that I'd collected over the years: kits from the wagon works of Ian Kirk, Colin Ashby, Ratio, Cambrian, and some of the new Parkside Dundas kits. Also, while getting the Christmas decorations down from the loft, I discovered a number of part built clay wagons that I'd put together many years ago tucked way in a box.

Above are five of these wagons, part built to EM gauge from Ian Kirk kits. Looking at them afresh they are very basic not really coming up to the standard that I am now trying achieve. Rather than throwing them away, I'm going to attempt to rebuild them as a start in creating my clay wagon fleet. I've already been able to disassemble one other part built Ian Kirk wagon, just hope these five come apart as easily. Much work to be done but it's a start.... I've only 32 clay wagon kits waiting to be assembled..!

Winter project - Chassis awaiting hornblocks

Below is the current state of play:


I've used Alan Gibson short handrail knobs for the CSB fulcrum points. All holes were drilled for the breakgear assembly and frame spacers adapted to fit their locations. These tasks were all completed before soldering the chassis together. High Level's hornblocks were very easy to fold up. My soldering could be a little tidier but so far for my first attempt I'm feeling happy

..............

If anyone wants to follow my stumbling progress in a little more detail I'll try and illustrate below.....

Before cutting the frames out of the etch I marked the position for the CSB fulcrum points using High Level's CSB jig. A 0.4 mm drill was used to mark the centres, as this size drill seemed the best fit for the holes in the jig and I was reluctant to do any alterations to it at this early stage. The jig was then removed and a 0.7mm drill used to drill through the frames. The holes were still very tight for the handrail knobs so a 0.8mm drill was used to open them out. At this stage I also drilled though all the pre-marked locations on the frames for the brakegear hangers using a 0.5mm drill.

The frames were then carefully cut out of the etch. Then, in accordance with Comet's instruction sheet, the etched springs were removed in preparation for the fitting of the hornblocks. The handrail knobs were then soldered into position using a length of 0.4mm straight brass wire to align them. I must admit to making a bit of a mess here, accidentally soldering the brass wire to one of the handrail knobs (it was rectified at the second attempt). Where required the frame spacers were shortened as per my previous diagram. Also a couple of holes were drilled in one of the end spacers to help with threading the CSB spring wire through the handrail knobs at a later stage. The frames were then soldered together using Comet's P4 chassis jigs giving the result shown in the photo above.

Progress has stalled a little over the last couple of weeks but, when a little time has been available, I've been working on getting the bearings to be a smooth fit in the hornblocks.

With Christmas fast approaching this may well be my last posting until the New Year. So may I take this opportunity to wish you all a very enjoyable Christmas and thank you for persevering in reading this blog.

Extracts from Trains Illustrated magazine (2) July 1953

One random, rather tatty, copy of Trains Illustrated I picked is from July 1953. It has a few interesting entries regarding workings to and around Wadebridge. I quote...

'...Of the two Pacifics loaned from Stewarts Lane to Exmouth Junction in the spring, Nos 34066/8, the former was still to be seen at Wadebridge in Mid-May, still carrying a 73A shedplate, it was working the "A.C.E." in both directions. On 2/3/53. "O2" No. 30203 failed at Bodmin North, and the elderly 2-4-0 well tank No. 30587 was turned out to work the 2 p.m. Bodmin North-Wadebridge and the 3.10 p.m. return, but the "O2" had recovered sufficiently to work the 4.23 p.m. from Bodmin.
On 19/5/53 a standard 2-6-2 tank. No 82013, appeared at Wadebridge for the first time, working in on the evening goods; it was dead on shed all next day, but after taking up a midday petrol tank train working to Bodmin North, it returned to Exeter on the 4.30 p.m. goods....'

I was under the impression the the Standard Class tanks did not start to venture down to Wadebridge until the last few years of the NCR's existence......