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

Hi Andy

Although there is quite a difference between a marshalling yard and a goods yard, brake vans are less likely to be left at a goods yard.

Merchandise is not loaded or unloaded in a marshalling yard, wagons are sorted between trains, a wagon would only likely to be unloaded in a MY if the wagon was in need of urgent and significant repairs rendering it unsafe to leave the MY before it can be fixed. A MY also has sidings for seasonal and surplus empty wagons, in Warren Yard it is a couple of sidings in the PW yard where a suitable replacement may reside to transfer the load to.

Warren Yard serves as a hub for the national network (north, south and west routes) and two branches, brake vans would be held there primarily for return use on the branches, especially due to the gradients of these branches and most stock being unfitted.

Typically a goods yard is for loading and unloading between traders and the railway company, I would suspect that brake vans would not be left in a goods yard either, a pickup goods train would drop some wagons and pickup some more at each stop on a branch but would retain the brake van. This would apply to my branch line industrial yards and docks.

Jim

 

Actually Rob you remind me that I need to fit a simple form of working brakes to a couple Bachmann brake vans (Dublo ones are stiffer), even if it is just solenoid operated onto an axle via a decoder, many wagons are so light they easily run away when dropping or picking up wagons from the cement works or colliery when a Bachmann brake van is in use. I cannot always get the loco to be in the downhill position relative the rolling (away) stock.

Even coupling some contemporary stock on the flat can be tricky if done slowly.

Mind you fitting a Dublo brake van with Bachmann couplings would be easier as even rewheeled they would probably hold a few ICI hoppers or CEMFLOs.

 

Same day view of the sorting sidings but looking at the north end, the northern brake van storage siding containing a Wickham trolley (the PW gang will park their gear anywhere), a brake van and a shunter with shunters truck.



As can be seen I freely mix vintage and current rolling stock, the differing coupling types (Dublo vs tension lock) will all hang together (and push) well enough for shunting but will be arranged with suitably fitted locos or include one of many coupling convertor wagons I have to hand before leaving the yard.

The grey 7 plank minerals are mostly ex-Hornby Dublo 3 rail with a couple of TTR tinplate wagons thrown in, with a tinplate 20T brake van, at the left hand end and a Wrenn brake van with a Wrenn coupling at one end and a tension lock at the other, all wagons re-wheeled.

The TIERWAGs were all re-wheeled with Romford 10.5mm disc wheels, Tri-ang wheelsets of the Super 4 standard and earlier are extremely coarse and some are variable gauge, yes the wheels float on the axles, rendering them poor performers on Peco Code 100 track.

Mixing and matching couplings adds to the fun, even if I have to put a converter wagon on the turntable!

Even prototypically not all wagon, coach types and locos can be coupled together due to incompatible mechanical coupling parts or braking systems, so added realism

I was going to add a couple of paragraphs on updating wheels and couplings on rolling stock but it grew rather large, instead I will post it on a separate thread or two shortly.

Jim

 

Hi Vinylelpea, so I thought until a few years ago , I'll be posting about my fun on the topic of couplings shortly, Jim

 

English Electric Type 3 (aka Class 37) D6830 runs northbound past Warren Yard hauling an unfitted train of 21T hoppers and propelling a diesel brake tender in front of it.



The prototype locos although of greater tractive effort than the steam locos they superseded lacked the weight to safely brake a heavy unfitted train. To remedy this brake tenders were constructed using old coach bogies, loaded with ballast weights and coupled to the loco braking system.

An article about these brake tenders is shown here, with two attached to a 'Peak' :-

https://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/1425/push-and-pull-diesel-style/

The project referred to in the link above :-

https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/2017/11/the-diesel-brake-tender/

The train here includes an early Tri-ang loco which runs well on DCC, a recent Dapol brake tender, weathered as bought and Dapol hopper wagons.

Jim

November 2023 - Added reference to a YouTube video here

 

Battle of Britain class 34051 Winston Churchill rounds the southern curve around Warren Yard with a northbound express.



Tri-ang Hornby loco hauling Lima Southern region coaches.

 

Hi Echidna I have yet to fully digest the wealth of info you have provided here, please clarify which was abolished by 1950 vacuum, a version of air, or is that a typo?

Regards Jim

 

Will do, I think I have at least one of most of them, (except the bus rather underscale, or caravan) not all colours as about 5-10 years ago they become hot collectors items and the prices went crazy and many wagons were sold on bare, occasionally with collectors left overs. I wasn't bothered what colours I got so long as I could fill my Tierwags with the early chrome wheel Minix cars. The later ones with black wheels are very low quality imitations, including the body moulding.

Jim

 

Hi Echidna, these are examples of what I have.

The most common vehicles, mostly bought second hand in my 2nd childhood, a few in my first :-



Back row left to right, 15cwt Ford Thames van, Ford Anglia, Vauxhall Viva, Austin A60, Sunbeam Alpine

Front row, L to R, Morris 1100, Vauxhall Victor 101, Ford Corsair, Hillman Imp, Hillman Minx, Simca 1300

One of the very few bought new by my mum from Woolworths, in fact quite a rare model now and was I believe sold as a pair in a single box, (which I do not have) a very long time ago :-



Vauxhall Cresta Estate and trailer with two ladders, generally I see it mentioned there was only one ladder but these were connected and had to be seperated, they are very delicate and I almost daren't handle them. The trailer has two supports for ladders so I would have thought they would have been sold as a pair.

Three from a job lot are still in their boxes, with already enough to fill my 12 Tierwags with some left over I have left them boxed, the green Morris 1100 seems to have come apart, but I have not opened the packing to fix it.

First image shows the fronts, and the second different views of a back,(the backs of all three are the same), a side and an end.





The ones I do not have are the Rambler Classic, Triumph 2000 (except for later much inferior version), Austin 1800, AEC bus and the caravan, I am not intentionally a collector so I am not going to look for more as I already have some 90+ cars and 15+ vans already

More info on the models can be seen here :-

http://www.tri-angrailways.com/Minix.htm

When I was designing my railway to incorporate rail interfaces to industry I wanted to incorporate these vintage wagon transporters and their Minix cars but the manufacturer name was a problem, so I created the fictitious "Minix Motors" so that all these Minix cars regardless of prototype origin could be loaded onto Tierwags from a single works interface, subject of another article. (Also another bit of vintage construction using Arkitex OO, with a pair of loading ramps to be constructed partly with 3D printed parts).

The image below is from 2016 when I was constructing the works and sizing it all up to take two pairs of Tierwags or two Tri-ang 'Cartic 2', proper ramps will be scratchbuilt. This Arkitex system was typical 'modern' construction of the time (1960s) and is also used for the electrical engineers across the road, as on my layout they were built about the same time, much later than my other industries.



I hope that has not made you regret asking

Jim

 

Oh dear, I had Citroen cars marked as imports, looks like I will have to amend the data on my TrafGen (Traffic Generator) program, now I know I'll have to change it, except for imported component parts.

If anyone wants further info I found this website :- http://www.citroenet.org.uk/foreign/slough/slough-index.html.

Jim

 

Just had a quick Google, as one does, and found these :-

Book on the estate, a bit pricey but rather specialist I suppose :-

https://wildswanbooks.co.uk/Books/Slough-Estates-Railway.htm

And images of the locos :-

https://www.google.com/search?q=exc...vNv_AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQBg&biw=1461&bih=708&dpr=1

Jim

 

On that recommendation I think I should get a copy too, thanks, Brian

 

Isle of Knowles

In keeping with my plausible traffic for this railway I now introduce the "Isle of Knowles" which is the source of light coastal waters traffic to and from the Nena Docks and the EuroFerry port.

A (very) little known island situated between the Wash and the Norfolk Flats, slightly larger than the Isle of Wight but with a much lower population of only 30,000, thier activities are mainly sheep farming, some fishing, boat building, and a whisky distillery. So they're happy.

They import most of their foodstuff and domestic goods from the mainland, including specialist agricultural feed for livestock, malt for its prized whisky, agricultural machinery, building supplies and timber for boat building.

Exports include high quality knitwear, whisky, sea dredged sand and gravel.

Nena Dock Traffic with the IoK

The Nena Docks are situated on the dock branch from Warren Yard and are the first stopping point for trains on this branch.

Montague Dock:

Regular sailings of packet vessels with mail, casual passengers and everyday supplies, plus the odd tramp steamer flitting between here, the IoK and other east coast ports of the UK.​

Dalby Dock (East) :

Sand and gravel received for the local concrete company or onwards nationally to building material wholesalers.​

Dalby Dock (West):

Grain terminal supplying malt and wheat grain to the IoK.​

EuroFerry Port Traffic with the IoK

At the end of the dock branch this provides civilised passenger travel, vehicle ferrying and other goods services to and from the IoK, including bulk goods in railway wagons.

In practice

Due to a lack of space the actual grain terminal dock is pure imagination, but the silos will be there!

Any similarity between the IoK and any real location is purely accidental.

Return to Montague Dock