Warren Yard - The Layout - 1960s BR freight in 00

Thanks Paul

Jim

 

Thanks Mark, Jim

 

Thanks Vinylelpea, Jim

 

Britannia 70000 posing in Warren Yard.



This old girl is one I have had since my first 2 rail DC days in the 1960s, originally part of a second hand Tri-ang Pullman train set I was given it is almost the proverbial everlasting broom, about all that is original now is the chassis, bogie (not the wheels), pony truck, driving wheels, axles, gear and connecting rods! The original body was rather worn and the tender was replaced with a new one when they were still available old stock and was fitted with a Peco coupling and Jackson alloy spoked wheels. Bogie wheels probably Romford.

Over the years it was subjected to many attempts to improve the body and motion, but due to a lack of the relevant skills it never got finished, almost into the scrap bin. Back in 2017 I decided to rescue it from my 'Barry' and removed my worst early 'improvements', sourced a replacement body and original valve gear and set about restoring it to running order.

Finally in 2021 it was then fitted with a DCC decoder and runs pretty well for it's age, these wrinkly locos have a certain charm and this one is unique.

Curiously it had one of the strangest pickup issues I have ever come across after initially fitting a Hattons decoder, at moderate speeds (scale 50-60mph) across one set of points on the mainline it would hesitate, but not at low speeds, usually it's the other way around, possibly it bounced over these points and lost contact momentarily. Anyway I tried one of the new Rails of Sheffield decoders and no problems since, normally the Hattons decoders drive almost anything if they physically fit, (they are my default choice), just goes to show that you cannot rely on one decoder family for all locos.

Jim

 

One of the resident industrial branch locos, J94 68030 on shed at the Warren Yard loco services prior to next duty.

 

It's a'right guv, did'na spill me char ...

 

Thanks Phil, I had this dead cheapo loco and found a use for it

 

D2388 (Class 03) at the Warren Yard loco services for refuelling.

 

Class 07 D2990, all shiny new for evaluation by the yard crew taking the first cut of wagons from the sorting sidings to the departure road for onwards transit to the Euroferry dock. Part of the Minix Motors export drive, the first cut includes vans on Lowfits and ex-Mogos containing spares and accessories. The second cut is of 4 Tierwags of assorted saloon cars.



A very broad mix of stock here from an early Hornby Dublo Esso tank wagon to the Heljan 07, probably 60 years between them and many other wagons in between.

 

Hi Andrew

Especially as the headshunt to move wagons between the sorting sidings and the arrival/departure roads is only half the length they can take, a little annoying but it would have compromised a scenic break to implement, it just means I have to think when shunting.

To answer your question, ideally, yes, because wagons would have arrived in the sorting sidings from multiple sources and not always with a brake van attached, e.g. when only part of a passing train was dropped off and similarly if wagons are added to a passing train they may not need a brake van included. This is especially the case for national network traffic dropping off to the branches and vise-versa.

In the case of this Minix Motors train it is a self contained unit which arrived from the industrial branch and will leave on the port branch to the Euroferry dock.

It is also possible for a train to have multiple brake vans within a national network train for easy dropping off of a self contained section to a minor branch.

Similarly a surplus of brake vans may be moved between yards.

I mostly park the brake vans in two separate dedicated short sidings, one each at the north and south ends of the arrival/departure yards so they can be attached to trains as required.

However if the yard shunter (me) knows they are departing with a quick turn around he gets a bit lazy and leaves them attached to the wagons.

On this day I had too many brake vans in the yard and the guards who had a long walk back to the yard office soon complained about it

Jim

 

I'd never have the time to build all the wagons I have, so I cheat and buy rtr even pre-weathered if possible without breaking the bank

 

Yes Rob, I tend to spend far more time developing my railway than running it, which is partly why I keep the level of detail modest so I may at least complete a first pass within another 10 years or so