Auckland Park/Eldon Lane update

After finding some more accurate maps showing detailed track layout, I've recently been taking a break from working on the Shildon area to revise the track layout and signalling in the Auckland Park/Eldon Lane area.

Auckland Park Colliery (which in reality closed in 1946, remaining open as a pumping station until 1961) is a central feature of this part of the route, which lies between Tunnel Branch Junction and South Church on the Bishop Auckland-Shildon line.

Enjoy:

Coundon and Byers Green - route now on the DLS

The screenshot above says it all. :)

As I'm conscious that the complete Bishop Auckland route will take some time (years?) to complete, I've just uploaded this route to the DLS as an early preview of it. Other previews (e.g. Hunwick and Rough Lea) may follow in due course.

Coundon and Byers Green were two minor stations on the former Spennymoor and Ferryhill Railway between Bishop Auckland and Spennymoor. Although both were actually closed to passengers in 1939 (the line itself closed completely in 1966), I've represented both in an open state.

The route is terminated by portals and a small fiddle yard at either end. Also included is a representation of the NER Todhills Branch, in its closed state (track was lifted during the 1940s).

Trackwork is as close as I can get it with the maps I have access to - the only concessions I've made are adding a through line at Byers Green and double tracking the section from the former Burnhouse Junction (where the Todhills branch joined the Byers Green-Spennymoor line) to make operating the portal at that end of the route more practical.

The route is built in TC3 using TRS2006 built-in assets and downloadable assets from www.trainzclassics.co.uk. It will also load in TS2010 with the TS2009:S&C pack and assets from www.settleandcarlisle.co.uk, although I've not changed any of the assets for TS2010 compatibility.

See also http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=62739.

Simpasture Junction update

As I've now managed to work out a more accurate track plan for Simpasture Junction I've revisited it and updated the signalling to be a little more prototypical. Although I've still some track alignment and (quite a bit of) landscaping to do, this section is now starting to look reasonably representative.

Here's the view looking north towards Simpasture Junction Box:





The junction proper. The leftmost lines form the Simpasture (Shildon-Newport) Branch, while the two rightmost lines are the (still in use) Bishop Auckland-Darlington line:



Looking south from the junction:



A DMU from Darlington heads for Shildon and Bishop Auckland:





A freight from Newport leaves the Simpasture Branch and joins the combined down line:

Beyond Shildon

Although I've not blogged for a while, I haven't been inactive (just a bit slow now the good weather is here, LOL).

The good news is that I've pretty much completed landscaping on the central area within the triangle formed by the Bishop Auckland - Shildon North, Bishop Auckland- West Auckland and West Auckland - Shildon North lines, and as a result I've been able to take a step back and work out what to do with the south eastern section of the route.

The end result of that is that rather than terminate the route just east of Shildon station as previously I've decided to bite the bullet and extend to just beyond Simpasture Junction to roughly where Newton Aycliffe is today. That has of course resulted in a whole host of extra work (new research, baseboards, DEM, tracklaying, texturing etc.) so there hasn't really been much worth showing until recently.

Fortunately that is now starting to change (although textures and vegetation are currently rather basic on this section, so please bear with me). So, without more ado, here's some new screenshots. :)

The Bishop Auckland - Darlington (left) and Shildon - Newport (right) lines diverged east of Shildon at what is now the site of Newton Aycliffe station. The latter were of course the subject of the pioneering NER 1500V DC electrification scheme in 1915:



Although the double track line on the left is still in use today the Shildon - Newport line closed in 1964.

Here's Simpasture Junction, where the two lines joined:









The line between Simpasture and Shildon was incredibly busy in pre-nationalisation days, and still retained five running lines until the mid 1960s. Looking east, the three leftmost lines (originated in Middridge Sidings) were dedicated to up freight traffic, with the second and third lines from the left both being electrified in NER days. The fourth line carried up traffic for Darlington whilst the rightmost (also electrified in NER days) carried both down traffic from Darlington and freight from Newport.



Looking the other way, the bridge in the centre of this view marks the entrance to Middridge Sidings (the easternmost extent of the Shildon Yards, and the first to go during rationalisation):



Of course, this does mean that I'm now committed to doing Shildon Yards as well...

Weardale Reconnections

I've been taking a break from routebuilding over the past few weeks due to work committments (and to recharge a bit - all that landscaping gets a bit tiring after a while!).

However, on 19th February I was fortunate enough to be booked onto the first mainline tour (from Kings Cross, no less) to travel up the Weardale branch since at least 1993 - the "Locomotion and the Weardale Railway" tour organised by UK Railtours. The tour was completely sold out, so I obviously wasn't the only one who felt this way. :)

Our train (mostly Mk1s where the heating worked, thankfully) was "topped and tailed" by DBS class 67s, led by 67029 "Royal Diamond" in EWS Executive livery:



Of course this was also a chance to revisit my hometown (even if very briefly - we didn't stop there) and visit the NRM at Shildon:





It was quite an experience to travel through Shildon Tunnel again. Quite breathtaking, in fact!



Once we reached Bishop Auckland we had quite some welcome, for at virtually every crossing on the route local people had turned out to wave to our 12 coach train. It was quite fantastic to see how glad people were to see the railway running again.



Although a rather long day, it was all worthwhile to be on the first tour to travel up to Weardale and to sample (albeit rather briefly) the hospitality of the Weardale Railway. I wish them well, and hope their plans for the long term development of the line bear fruit.

When I Moo, I only Moo for You

I'm busily landscaping again, this time on the Tunnel Branch between Shildon North and Fieldon's Bridge Junction.

You can find this charming little scene about halfway between the two junctions:













More from this area of the route soon.

Peak-a-boo!

Shildon Tunnel (or Prince of Wales Tunnel to give it its full name) was built by the Stockton & Darlington Railway to link Shildon with Bishop Auckland without all those pesky inclines. I've now finally got around to landscaping the area around it on my Bishop Auckland route:



The tunnel portal I've used here is a temporary one until I can get a protoypical asset sorted. The real thing actually looks like this:



Or, for a more up to date photo (the one above was taken around 1900 - it's the only one I've found which shows that it was originally double tracked), see http://blackhatrailwaypics.fotopic.net/p41265249.html

I've just about finished laying scenery around Auckland Park Colliery now, so once I've done a bit more work on Coundon Grange and South Church I'll be able to post another full set of screenshots. :)