Lower Thames Yard

Hi All,

No modelling tales or Photos today, as I had a number of household/garden jobs to get through.

So instead this afternoon have been doing some research, trying to solve my own problem of not having any pics of the 2010 Maidenhead to Reading Parcels or the inbound 0540 Reading to Princes Risborough Parcels.

No luck yet, so any thoughts from readers would be appreciated.

The vans moved on in the morning to Aylesbury, and then returned in ones and twos on the afternoon Aylesbury /High Wycombe to Maidenhead or Slough passenger trains, so any views of parcels vans on these movements or at these locations would be useful?

Many thanks
Best regards
Paul

 

Good Afternoon, One and All,
As I am still sorting out the models for my consist of the morning Thomas and Green's Paper Mill pick up, I thought I would ease us from the past Parcels Train postings to the subject of Freight trains on the High Wycombe Branch by giving a quick run down of the freight trains in 1960/2.

On the face of it the Freight WTT for the branch looks simple, four trains in each direction. But when you start to look at the detail you realise that there are only two straight forward out and back trips and even these have their unusual features:-

So starting with our morning Thomas and Green's trip, this was, I think a very variable train. It could be lengthy if including 25 off 5 plank opens from Brentford Dock loaded with imported grass, but these seem to have been infrequent, or just a few empty vans for loading the mills writing paper output. in between it could include China Clay, machine parts, lubricants, and possibly consignments for Bourne End or Marlow, of which possibly the most interesting might be timber for the timber mill at Marlow. But to me the most interesting aspect of this train was the way that getting back to Maidenhead, just after 14.30, with less than 10 minutes to run to its finish at Taplow, it spent 8 minutes changing its loco for the one that had been shunting at Maidenhead since 0930 that morning!

The other out and back pick up, known locally as the Loudwater Goods (although it ran to High Wycombe!), also involved a loco change, and also some toing and froing between Loudwater and Wooburn Green for shunting!
The loco change occurred at High Wycombe, where the train loco was swapped with the High Wycombe Shunter, which on Mondays arrived LE from Slough around 0400, and on other days spent 24 hours at High Wycombe, arriving on one day's Loudwater Goods, and returning to Slough on the next day's Loudwater Goods!

The Loco had already had a crew change at Bourne End as it had started the day LE from Slough around 0500, to shunt at Taplow,

Next we come to the first outward bound freight wehich ran from Slough to Hinksey yard via High Wycombe and Thame. This was an all day trip, and crews were I think swapped with the next train we will look at a Hinksey to Taplow at Princes Risborough.

The Hinksey to Slough freight left at 0930, reached Princes Risborough via Thame around 1200, left there around 1330 getting to Slough around 1630.

Finally there were two further trains one in each direction, which had little in common apart from their evening running.

The outbound train left Slough at 2030 for Oxley Yard, via High Wycombe and Banbury, by far the longest run for a High Wycombe branch train. I am still investigating its return trip:-
A possibility is the 0930 Oxley Yard to Moreton Cutting Yard which arrived via Oxford and Didcot at 1615. I have now to find a train from Moreton Yard to Slough.

The final train is the evening Aylesbury to Paddington via the High Wycombe Branch. This appears to be the return trip for an Old Oak Loco that left Paddington in the early morning for Aylesbury via the GW&GC line, and spent the day shunting at Aylesbury!

So we can see from the above that the eight trains use eight locos, which is I suggest unusual for a Branch Freight Service!

More to follow on each of these trains in the next few posts.

Stay safe,
Best regards
Paul

 

Apologies All,
I had just written but not posted, a post for today, when my Laptop decided to throw a wobbly and lock up!
Think it is ok now, but having once lost all the content of my post, I am loath to risk the same again!

So, I will put off this posting until tomorrow, when I will pick up the implications for my model of my comment yesterday about needing 8 locos for the 8 freight trains on the High Wycombe Branch.

Take care, stay safe,
Best regards
Paul

 

Good afternoon to you all,

It is funny how off the cuff comments can bring you trouble!

At the end of Friday’s posting, I commented that the 8 freight trains along the High Wycombe branch required 8 locos to run them, and that this was unusual for a branch line.

Thinking about this later, I realised that while in modelling terms 8 locos was quite a lot for the freight service on a small layout such as Lower Thames Goods Shed, far worse in terms of space would be 8 consists for these services. This could require a total of 70 wagons.

So the solution I am working with, at present, is to have a number of sets of wagons, with each wagon in the set permanently connected to the next, and normal couplings (in my case Kadees) just on thy outer ends of each set.

Four of the trains would have two sets plus a toad, the other four, the two return locals, would have just one plus a toad.

The first version I have planned has 6 off 5 wagon sets, a total of 30 wagons:-

Thus the morning Slough to Hinksey freight could have sets 1 and 2, and the morning pick up to Thomas & Green’s set 3.
The morning Hinksey to Slough, which doesn’t get to Slough until 16.30 would have sets 4 and 5.
Before that the returning Thomas & Green’s would have set 1, and the outbound Taplow to High Wycombe set 6, the latter returning with set 2.
This leaves the evening Slough to Oxley with sets 5 and 1, and the evening Aylesbury to Paddington with sets 3 and 6.

So this plan reduces the wagon requirement from 70 wagons to 30, but with the compromises that more than the usual number of wagons would make the return trip in a day, and a few would be seen 3 times!

I think this is manageable provided none of the wagons doing 3 trips are of an unusual design or an outstanding livery!

It might be sensible that any open wagons doing several trips are fitted with removable loads.

Another improvement could be to allow for shunting of the Goods Shed area by having one set being individual wagons, which would change during a visit to the goods shed.

I will be thinking round this over the next few days, and update you accordingly.

Take care, stay safe,
Happy modelling,
Paul

 

Good Afternoon fellow modellers,
Having thought through the wagon plan I posted yesterday, the revised version I have come up with has 8 off 5 wagon sets, a total of 40 wagons:-

In this version the morning Slough to Hinksey freight still has sets 1 and 2, and the morning pick up to Thomas & Green’s set 3.
The morning Hinksey to Slough, which doesn’t get to Slough until 16.30 would now have sets 4 and 2.
Before that the returning Thomas & Green’s would have set 7, and the outbound Taplow to High Wycombe set 5, the latter returning with set 2.
This leaves the evening Slough to Oxley with sets 4 and 6, and the evening Aylesbury to Paddington with sets 5 and 1.

Set 8 would start in the fiddle yard and in the morning run a clockwise trip to the Goods Shed Yard where it swaps with set 5 left there the previous evening, and then later it swaps again with set 5 on the evening Aylesbury to Slough.

So under this scheme, both the outward and the return Thomas and Green trips have sets that are not used again. This is a more accurate depiction of this freight which tended to have its own peculiar consists to service the paper mill’s needs.

Sets 5 and 8 will have individually Kadees on each wagon so that they can be shunted in the Goods Shed Yard, and etra wagons sitting in that yard introduced into the consists to give some variety.
While this version uses more wagons, the only problem that gives me is that it would probably make sense to try to include an extra siding in the fiddle yard to accommodate two more wagon sets.

Sometime in the next couple of days I will finalise and photo set three for the outbound Thomas and Green’s pick up, followed later by photos of the other wagon sets.

Hope you are all well,
Best regards
Paul

 

Good Afternoon one and all,
Typical British weather, one day it freezes your xxxxx off, the next you are sweating pounds off! I just want something in between, and staying constant for a week or so!
If I were a bit younger, I'd think about going and joining the folk in Oz?

Daily rant over, back to the modelling:-
Have decided two things:-
1) Easy way for now to get set 8 of the wagons in to Goods Shed Yard from the Slough direction is to attach them to the Shunter arriving from Slough at 0930.
2) Easy way to ensure space for extra siding for wagon sets is to make the layout an inch or so deeper, which I can do now as nothing has been cut, drilled or fixed that prevents me so doing and there is space in the railway room without having to move other things out of the way.
If only all modelling problems were so easily fixed?

So, if you are in the UK, enjoy the sunshine, while it lasts (no comments from the Continental or Oz contingents , thank you!!)
Stay safe,
Best regards
Paul

 

Hi All,
Just a quick post today to correct an error in my Monday's post, by which set 2 made 3 runs and set 6 only one!

I should have said:-
In this version the morning Slough to Hinksey freight still has sets 1 and 2, and the morning pick up to Thomas & Green’s set 3.
But the morning Hinksey to Slough, which doesn’t get to Slough until 16.30 would now have sets 4 and 6.
Before that the returning Thomas & Green’s would have set 7, and the outbound Taplow to High Wycombe set 5, the latter returning with set 1.
This leaves the evening Slough to Oxley with sets 4 and 6, and the evening Aylesbury to Paddington with sets 5 and 2.
This now gives each set apart from set 3 and set 7 an out and a return trip, but it does mean that two trains, one in and one out, both have sets 4 and 6.

Can anyone see a way round this without having more sets?

Best regards
Paul

 

Everyone warm enough?
Should not grumble though, we need this weather to cheer us up.

Started today on a high, found a weathered (or should I say dirtied?) Dapol blue spot Insulated fish van that I had mislaid. I really wanted it to include in my shots of the morning Fish Train last week, but ended up showing just the shorter Lower Thames Gods Shed layout version.

So while I was ahead, I thought I would have a go at adding the extra siding into the Goods Shed Layout fiddle yard for set 8.
This didn't go so well as while widening the layout by one inch allowed an extra track, the siding came out too short for comfort. So I have now added an extra loop to the outside of the fiddle yard, which works from a storage length point of view but can only be accessed at the right hand end from the down relief line. (The left hand end is not a problem because all tracks come together in the branch single line!)

I think I shall have to rejig the points at the right hand end of the fiddle yard so that the new loop and the old up loop can both be accessed from/to the up and down relief lines. When I have figured this out I'll upload a diagram.

Keep your cool, stay safe, and stay away from the crowds.
Best regards
Paul

 

Here, fellow modellers, as promised, are some shots of my Thomas and Greens Pick up freight.

I should say, that there are few couplings at present, although as a fixed set I will probably use narrow tension locks except for Kadees to both ends of the toad and loco, and to the outer end of the front and rear wagons.


For a change, we will start with a view of the departing train. We can see some detail of the Toad, a factory weathered Bachmann model, as yet without a tail lamp. In front of that is an open C, a Ratio kit, which is lightly weathered and loaded with red pipes for use on repairs to the Mill steam pipework. In front of this is another Ratio item, this time a china clay wagon bringing in clay for whitening the paper. The hood is a tarpaulin type used before the introduction of the modern blue hoods. This wagon and hood are also weathered.

The next two wagons in the train are better seen in the second photo. These vans are empty stock to be filled with boxes of the mills writing paper. The eagle eyed amongst you will realise that the first van is a Mogo. By the early 60s, the carriage of individual vehicles had diminished greatly, factory output being moved on open bogie car carriers, so many mogos were used as general freight vans.



The last photo brings us to the head of the train and shows the loco, a standard Bachmann 57xx except for being renumbered. It has yet to be lightly weathered and have lamps fitted. Behind the loco is a tarpaulin covered 5 plank open. This could be carrying any one of a number of items used by the mill. Perhaps lubricant, perhaps boxes of valves for use with the pipes in the open c? The wagon has the more usual flat tarpaulin cover and it and the wagon are medium weathered. The tarpaulin is also missing ropes etc to retain it to the wagon.



You may recall me saying that this set of wagons is set 3 in my running system and is only used for this outward train to the paper mill.
The return trip uses set 7 which will have more vans, and any opens will have their tarpaulins folded up in one corner, once I have a satisfactory way to portray folded tarpaulins!

I hope you find the above photos of interest?
Please feel free to comment, or point out anything you think wrong with the models.

Best regards
Paul

 

Good Afternoon All,
Thinking about the information I had posted on my High Wycombe Branch goods trains over the last few days I decided that things might have got a bit confusing.
So today I am posting the allocation of the wagon sets to each train together with details of what the sets contain:-

Thus the morning Slough to Hinksey freight has set 1 (which comprises empty coal wagons mainly 16t Steel minerals) and set 2, which comprises only fitted vans.
The morning pick up to Thomas & Green’s has set 3, which is dedicated to this train and has a mixture of sheeted opens and empty vans.
The morning Hinksey to Slough, which doesn’t get to Slough until 16.30 has set 4 which contains a empty fitted 5 plank + white meat vans and fruit fitted vans, and set 6 which contains full coal wagon.
Before that the returning Thomas & Green’s would have set 7 whose contents are similar to set 3, and the outbound Taplow to High Wycombe would have set 5, containing 2 cattle vans, an Esso tanker, and 2 unfitted vans. This train returns with set 1. (contents as above)
This leaves the evening Slough to Oxley with sets 4 and 7, and the evening Aylesbury to Paddington with sets 6 and 2.

Set 8 containing a fitted van, two presflows, and an empty pipe wagon would start in the fiddle yard and in the morning run a clockwise trip to the Goods Shed Yard attached to the 0930 morning Pilot from Slough (which in reality ran as a LE). There it swaps with set 6 left there the previous evening, which takes a quick (fictitious) trip to Taplow behind the Pilot loco (this returns LE) Later set 8 swaps again with set 6 on the evening Aylesbury to Slough.

So under this scheme, the outward Thomas and Green trips has a set that is not used again. This is a more accurate depiction of this freight which tended to have its own peculiar consists to service the paper mill’s needs.
The sets will have Kadees at each end of the set except Sets 8 which will have individually Kadees on each wagon so that they can be shunted in the Goods Shed Yard, as will the extra wagons sitting in that yard which can be introduced into the consists of set 8 to give some variety.

I hope this makes the consists of the Branch line freights a little clearer?
The operation of the Toads will be interesting as only the Thomas & Green's and the Loudwater Goods will have the same toad each way! So a total of 6 toads will be required.

Hope you are all happy in your modelling?
Best regards
Paul

 

The amount of shunting that can be done "on scene" in my "Lower Thames Goods Shed" layout is limited, as the goods yard consists of the Goods Shed siding and one other, with the Branch Carriage Siding doubling as the headshunt!

However, this layout is only a quarter of the area of my eventual "Lower Thames Yard" layout and more importantly the latter will include Maidenhead's relief lines and loops, so that there are several mainline pickups that can shunt, whereas in the Wycombe Branch, which is the area of the Goods Shed layout, only the late night pickup from Aylesbury shunted!

The larger Lower Thames Yard layout will also have the advantage of a low level storage yard with several sidings accessible from the operating position and a yard shunting loco.
With yesterday's news that model shops (as non essential shops!) should be able to reopen mid June, there is a prospect that my layout builders will be able to get back to work soon.

So I have to consult with them and decide whether I do more work on the "Goods Shed" layout or whether it reverts to its original purpose of being a test and programming track?

While the planning and effort put into the Goods Shed layout will not be wasted, I think I will move forward on planning for the larger layout where for instance, goods trains will be of 2, 3 or 4 sets long as against 1 or 2 sets on the Goods Shed Layout.
One aspect of the Goods Yard layout planning I will take forward, and post here, is the Wycombe Branch Passenger Trains, as I will need them for the larger layout, the only difference being that the suburban coach and DMUs trains will be 3 or 4 coaches instead of two! The auto trains and class 122s will be the same in both layouts.

One of my "tricks" which I just couldn't find a way to work into the Goods Shed Layout, was my loaded/ unloaded coal wagons:-
In Lower Thames Yard there will be two sidings which start in the scenic yard and run parallel to the relief lines disappearing under a bridge to re appear in the Wycombe Branch part of the fiddle yard.
These work by receiving full coal wagons in the scenic area, which are pushed back so that the rear wagon is under the bridge. A shunter approaches from the fiddle yard and pulls the full coal wagons back into the fiddle yard, then it picks up a set of empty coal wagons from a siding and pushes them back under the bridge to replace the full ones. Later, these empties are taken away by a pick up freight.

I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine and your modelling,
Best regards
Paul

 

Good Afternoon everyone,
They say things come in threes, and that is certainly true , for me, of yesterday!

Fortunately only two of the three events were bad.
So firstly, yesterday morning, I went for a walk, but unfortunately, taking care over social distancing, I tripped over a kerb, and landed flat on my face! Fortunately the damage was limited to scrapes and bruises, but I decided to take it easy for the rest of the day.
In the afternoon, I was just settling to compose a posting for this thread when my wife called me to tell me that we had low water pressure.
Checks of our system seemed to indicate all was functioning correctly, so it was a phone call to the water company.
Eventually getting to talk to a human being, they said someone would come out within six hours. To be fair, we got a call from an engineer about an hour later. On checking while he was on the line I found the pressure was back to normal!
Finally, the good thing that happened was that Boris confirmed the easing of measures from Monday, particularly welcome was the ability for six people to get together in a garden, which meant our eldest son and his family can come over for my wife's birthday on Tuesday.

I had intended yesterday for a change from the recent wagon topics on this thread to talk about the local and suburban passenger trains on my Lower Thames Goods Shed layout, so I will press on with that topic today:-
Maidenhead was the point at which the suburban trains out of Paddington met the local trains running along the High Wycombe Branch from High Wycombe and Aylesbury. There was some overlap, some of the trains from Paddington ran onto the Branch, and some of the Branch trains ran as far as Slough.
The suburban trains in the late 50s were mainly 5 coach sets hauled by 61xx 2-6-2 tanks. As time progressed these were replaced by class 117 three coach DMUs sometimes singly, sometimes in multiples.
Because Lower Thames Goods Shed is a small layout its suburban sets will only have two coaches, the DMUs being represented by a Class 121, sometimes with a single trailer or by a single 3 coach Class 117.
One branch train that will be accurately represented is the 14xx plus autocoach that spent most of its day shuttling between Bourne End and Marlow but in the late morning and evening, did make trips to Maidenhead.
The rest of the branch steam hauled trains will like the suburban steam hauled be of two coaches. I may include for variety, although not historical accuracy, one B set.

I will detail the trains and the models I will be using to portray them in more detail in future posts.

Keep smiling, stay safe, and here's hoping you all can also arrange to meet up soon in the garden with family,
Best regards
Paul

 

Here we are with yet another sunny day!
I intended to expand on my earlier post on coach sets for Lower Thames Goods Shed, but instead decided to cover updates on other recent postings:-

The saga of sheet bars on china clay seems to have come to a conclusion whereby the only china clay carrying wagons in the late 50s/early 60s with bars were those standard 5 plank wagons fitted with them for general service, and if end door china clay wagons had to be used on this traffic due to a lack of sufficient of the standard 5 planks then they were fitted with "flat" sheets to protect the load. It looks like W94071 was just a one off prototype that was not perpetuated?
Unless any one knows different...……??

I decided this week to take a trawl through my GWR Journals. I did this some time ago to extract those with articles or photos relevant to the
Reading -Slough and High Wycombe branch areas. I was pleased to find one article I had missed in issue 88 about the 0925 Hinksey Goods. This was the morning pick up goods from Hinksey via Thame and Princes Risborough to Slough.
While the article concentrated on the Hinksey -Thame - Princes Risborough part of the trip it did give me a number of useful bits of information:-
1) The Loco generally used was a 61xx (which I knew), which travelled bunker first (which I didn't know).
2) It also confirmed the train crossed with the morning Slough to Hinksey at Princes Risborough and that the loco crew and guard swapped trains (which I had guessed but it was nice to have confirmed!).
3) It explained that the train from Hinksey was often just an engine and van by the time it got to Princes Risborough, (which I didn't Know), and that there it picked up coal wagons for the paper mills on the High Wycombe - Maidenhead branch (which I suspected but was pleased to have confirmed).
4) It also explained that the train from Slough was often only an engine and van by the time it reached Princes Risborough, and that on its run to Hinksey, it picked up wagons prepared by the earlier train from Hinksey. This I did not know.
All the above will be useful in adjusting the two pickups to run on Lower Thames Yard. I may well not bother to adjust the sets in the small Goods Shed Layout!

So wishing you all as enjoyable weekend as possible without bending the lockdown rules, (we just have to be patient!)
Cheers
Paul

 

Good Afternoon everyone,
This week I am looking at the coaching stock to run the trains on Lower Thames Goods Shed.
Essentially these are the trains along the High Wycombe branch plus a couple of trains that started from Maidenhead towards Paddington or in the reverse direction.

The first train of the day, is typical of the line, and starts from the Branch Coach siding behind a 61xx that arrived chimney first from Slough Shed at 0530. After steam heating the coaches for a while they left the siding ready to depart for Paddington at 0600. In reality this train comprised 5 suburban coaches, but on Lower Thames Goods Shed there is only room for two. So un prototypically, they will be arranged composite then brake 2nd with the guards compartment next to the composite coach so as to place the guard towards the centre of the train in both directions. In the real life 5 coach set there was a brake coach at both ends of the set with the guards compartment outermost.
This set will comprise a Bachmann BR composite and a Hornby Collett Brake 2nd.

The first down passenger train is the 0620 from Slough which arrives at 0634. It also will be a 61xx plus two suburban coaches, but they will both be Hornby Colletts. This 61xx will be bunker first.
The second up train starts from Maidenhead and is a class 117 three car DMU leaving at 0655. It starts up in the down siding at 0645 before moving to the branch platform at o650. Ther model will be a Lima class 117 with a cut and shut DMS. If there is not room for the tree cars then the centre trailer will be left out!

The third up passenger train will appear from Bourne End at 0743 and will be similar to the first up train above except for consisting of a Hornby Collett Composite plus a Bachmann BR Brake 2nd. The 61xx on this train will be chimney first, ie the opposite way round to the first up train.

At 0730 a class 117 DMU arrivers from Paddington to form the 0750 back to Paddington. Slightly unrealistically this will be the same DMU as formed the earlier 0655 from Maidenhead!
At 0740 we have another down train this also a modern version but is a class 121 single car DMU plus a driver trailer. At 0747 this departs for High Wycombe.
This model is a Dapol class 121 with a cut and shut lima centre car forming the trailer.

At 0820 a train arrives from High Wycombe which is the return of the first down train of the morning. It departs for Slough at 0832.
0832 sees the arrival of the 0737 from Paddington to Princes Risborough. To cut the space needed for coach sets on the layout this will be a return trip for the first up train that had been stabled at Maidenhead overnight. If space permits for a bit of variety this will be a three car set.

The last of the morning up trains is the 0743 from Aylesbury arriving at 0854. The stock from this is shunted to the Branch Siding before the 61xx departs for Slough LE.

So we see that there is quite a variety of trains on this "branch" line!
The passenger trains through the middle of the day are a little less varied, but as I will show another day the evening "rush hour" is also quite varied!

Best regards
Paul

 

Well, that's summer over (in the UK at least!)

At the end of my last posting, I said that the passenger trains on the High Wycombe Branch were not as varied as the morning and evening "rush".

Apart from the arrival of the 121 and trailer back from Aylesbury at 0922 and the passing of the LE from Princes Risborough off the 0540 Reading Parcels there were only two trips of the Marlow Donkey later in the morning and two trips of the 121 to Bourne End without its trailer in the early afternoon, before the 1506 departure for Aylesbury comprising the 121 and a "Large Van (according to the Local Parcels Formation Book!).

To be fair the gaps do allow plenty of time for the shunter to do its stuff, and the shunting of the " Large Van" by the 121 between its trips to Bourne End is somewhat unusual.
In real life this "Large Van" arrived at Maidenhead at 1207 on the 11.38 Paddington to Didcot Parcels, but in the world of "Lower Thames Goods Shed" this train cannot physically run so I have to devise a means to get it on scene!
The easiest way would be to run the 1138 to Maidenhead only just with the "Large Van" and send its loco back towards Slough LE. I could make this slightly more interesting by having another "Large Van" ready for the loco to take back east. Alternatively I could use a 128 rather than a loco.

Next time I will detail the passenger trains after the 1506 to Aylesbury.

Stay Safe, be Alert,
Best regards
Paul

 

I had intended today to detail the late afternoon and evening passemger trains on Lower Thames Goods Shed.
However, as that would take a while and SHMBO has rescheduled my afternoon, I will limit myself to my latest thoughts on how to improve the flow of passenger traffic between 0900 and 1500:-

It occurred to me that it would be a reasonable compromise to include round the right hand side of the layout the approximately hourly Paddington to Reading and Reading to Paddington suburban trains.
This can be done by cutting the service back to Paddington to Maidenhead and return. There is stock already available for this in the shape of the morning Paddington to Maidenhead and return 3/2 car DMU and the steam set that covers the 0737 Paddington to Princes Risborough, which in reality returned to Paddington via the GW& GC after a trip from Princes Risborough to Thame.

Cutting the trips back to Maidenhead would, if I keep to the original timings, result in a fairly lengthy turnaround stay at Maidenhead. It would be best to keep to the original timings because as far as possible they were planned to allow good transfers from and to the High Wycombe and Marlow trains at maidenhead.

Why not also include the Oxford and Didcot trains you might ask?
This would INHO be too unrealistic on what is a small layout and would give problems with some of those trains which were hauled by tender locos.

So I now need to look at the details of this and decide also if I am going to treat any of the rush hour Reading Trains in the same way. My inclination is not too because I am not sure there will be enough trains on the layout to avoid any of them making unrealistically frequent (in my opinion!) appearances in the scenic section.

Any thoughts gratefully received?

Best regards
Paul

 

Good Afternoon All,
I hope no one has suffered at the hands of the wind and the rain? We have quite a lot of small (tree!) branches down!
I haven't got to sorting out the timings of the Maidenhead to Paddington and return trips yet , so will concentrate today on the afternoon and evening passenger trains:-

Once the 1506 121 car and van have left for High Wycombe and the shunter has left for Taplow, all is quiet until around 1611 when a 61xx plus coaches appears from Slough as the 1558 from Slough to Aylesbury. This departs at 1620 then almost an hour later a light engine (another 61xx) arrives from Slough to collect the coaches from the Branch Siding and form the 1726 to High Wycombe.

At 1755 the class 121 returns from Aylesbury towing a van (but not the same van it left for Aylesbury with at 1506!). It then deposits the van in the Branch Siding, collects its trailer and prepares to leave for Bourne End as the 1855.
But in between its movements the 1742 from Paddington to Aylesbury arrives at 1820, leaving at 1824.

Next at 1920 a 61xx arrives with the 1838 from Paddington to Aylesbury. This must wait until 1925 to allow the next train off the branch.
So at 1923 this train arrives in the shape of the 61xx that left with the 1726 to High Wycombe returns with the 1850 from there. As well as the coaches it left with it has also a GUV destined for Crewe via the 2010 parcels train.

Twenty minutes later the 121 and trailer growl through empty stock returning to Slough. and another 10 minutes after that at 1954 another passenger train arrives from the branch.
This is the 1825 from Aylesbury that left as the 1558 from Slough at 1620. This also has an extra load, this time two vans, both being forwarded on the 2010 parcels, one going to Didcot and the other a BG just to Reading. The train engine will act as a passenger pilot to place the passenger stock from this train into the Branch Siding and form the vans up for the 2010 Parcels. What I have yet to work out, and the WTTs are not clear, is where the loco for the 2010 Parcels comes from?

However, the shunting cannot start yet as there is one more imminent through down train. This is the 1904 from Paddington to Bourne End which arrives at 1956 and leaves at 2000 provided the above 1825 from Aylesbury has arrived off the Branch.

At 2054 the Marlow Donkey makes the first of its four evening visits at roughly hourly intervals to Maidenhead.
The only other evening passenger movements are the departure of the Slough and Reading Parcels at 2010 and at roughly hourly intervals trains from Paddington and their returns to meet with the Marlow Donkey.

At just after 2100 the 61xx that powered the 1904 from Paddington returns from Bourne end LE to Slough, followed an hour later by the loco off the 1825 from Aylesbury, that has by then finished its shunting duties.

I think the above shows that the late afternoon and evening trains are as complicated as the morning ones?
Cheers for now
Paul

 

Boy, did we have some thunder storms here later yesterday, but no damage done!
In my write up yesterday of the afternoon and evening passenger services on Lower Thames Goods Shed, I forgot one important item:-
I need to run a Paddington to Maidenhead DMU in the late evening so there is a unit stabling overnight to form the 0655 to Paddington next morning (see my posting last Monday) .

The best candidate in the WTT for this is the 2155 Paddington to Reading arriving at 2248 which then connects with the 2254 departure of the Marlow Donkey. There is a later departure from Paddington at 2300 but this is a steam run to Oxford and Maidenhead is served by the rear portion of the train which is detached at Slough!

There is also a 2342 DMU from Paddington which would arrive at Maidenhead at 0034, but I am trying to make midnight the cut off time for my timetable.

I might make a portrayal of the above steam trip the last appearance of one of my steam suburban sets, which would give a connection into the last Marlow Donkey. It would then return to Slough ECS, just before my 0000 cut off! Otherwise the last Marlow Donkey would only be picking up a few late night revelers from Maidenhead?

The return to Slough need not be ECS as the WTT shows on Saturday only a Train from Reading at 2345 to Slough calling at Maidenhead 0002 to 0004, a prime case to run 10 minutes earlier every night and apply rule 1? This would also excuse my not running the DMU (in real life from Reading) that left Maidenhead at 2325 for Paddington.

I will have to sort out the rest of the evening running of suburban DMUs and Steam to/from Paddington when I sort out the daytime running of those trains.

So best regards to All from a soggy South Bedfordshire,
Cheers
Paul

 

So, as I proposed in an earlier posting, a start has been made on analyzing the Paddington to Reading and return suburban trains running outside the rush hours with a view to modelling them as Paddington to Maidenhead and return trains by running one steam set and one DMU alternately around the right hand side of the Lower Thames Goods Yard Layout.

In the 1961WTT there are 25 such trains Down but only 22 Up. This discrepancy is likely to be due to the fact that in reality coach sets and DMUs were stationed at a number of different points, not just Reading and London and their daily duties did not always finish at the same point as they started!

There are 14 trips down and up that can reasonably be paired so I could just run those, or I can analyse the other Paddington outer suburban trips to Newbury, Didcot and Oxford to see if curtailing any of them give me more matches.

Another problem is that there are more DMU trips than Steam ones so my idea of alternating them for interest doesn't quite work, particularly as there are down trains that get to Maidenhead at a good time to match to a return up train but one train is a DMU, the other a Steamer!
I would prefer to avoid running the DMU or the rush hour steamers on consecutive trips, but there is not room in the fiddle yard to hold both the number of steam hauled sets needed for the rush hour services, more than one class 117 DMU, and the necessary parcels and Freight sets.

There is another way that the outer suburban trains mentioned above could help because a higher proportion of them were steam than was the case with the Reading trains! However, against this is that a number of the steam hauled trains particularly the Oxford ones had tender locos, which are not really suitable for a small layout.

Another possible compromise is to look at my 1959WTT, when the quantity of DMUs in service was smaller and see if using that will improve the number of steam runs I can use.

Thus there is quite a lot more to do to get to a workable solution, so don't hold your breaths!
More to follow on this in a day or two (maybe!)
Best regards
Paul