Hudson Road N.E.R. (1998 - )

[jongrant4472]

Following on from the topic on my first layout, Hudson Lane, I thought I'd sort out something similar for Hudson Road N.E.R., my second layout.

The majority of Hudson Road was built between 1997 and 1998, finished just in time to exhibit at the 1998 Shildon show. It progressed, improved and expanded upon themes started on Hudson Lane, applying much of the lessons learnt from operating that layout for 5 years.

Here is the first selection of photos, all taken by Steve Flint for the articles that appeared in the November 2003, January 2004, March 2004 and December 2010 issues of Railway Modeller. Please note that some of the photos were scanned from the copies that Steve sent me, with a consequential loss of quality.












More to follow,

Jon

[jongrant4472]

I chose to model the North Eastern Railway as it was my local railway company, albeit prior to 1923, and there are still a lot of NER bridges, buildings and other historical evidence near my home.

The down side was that there was only one accurate ready-to-run locomotive in OO - a J72 0-6-0 tank loco (now made by Bachmann) - and even that had to be detailled and repainted to get the correct period. There were no freight cars/wagons or brake vans available ready-to-run.

However there was no shortage of unpainted white-metal/lead and etched-brass locomotive kits which required a fair degree of expertise to assemble, motorise and paint. There was also a growing amount of unpainted plastic, white metal and etched brass wagon kits and brass coach kits available.

Anything not available as a kit, such as the snow ploughs, had to be scratchbuilt from official plans and wagon diagrams. I usually worked in plastic sheet and weighted with lead.

Here are some more photos











The majority of the buildings and railway structures were based on actual prototypes found in the North East and were also scratchbuilt using either plastic or card, or both. I generally referred to old photographs, official plans and also going along with a tape measure, yardstick and clinometer.

Jon

[antlorch]

Very nice. I love the snow. Your scenes look very realistic,thanks for sharing..

[icghogger]

I got frostbite just looking at those photos!! Beautiful Work, Jon, Thanks for sharing with us!

[jongrant4472]

Thanks guys

In addition to Model Railways, I have also dabbled in wargaming/figure-painting and modelling military vehicles and aircraft. By setting Hudson Road during the winter of 1917-18, during the Great War, I could indulge in some military modelling as well.

Apart from a couple of plastic tank kits (Emhar/Airfix) and a metal Rolls Royce armoured car kit (Scale Link), I would have to scratch build the majority of the military hardware being transported to the North Sea ports.

Tank train



Scratchbuilt coastal defence rail gun. The NER had 2 of these, built by Armstrong/Whitworth in Newcastle to patrol the North East coast after coming under bombardment from German ships, early in the war.




Whippet tanks riding on specially built War Department flat cars






More military equipment to come......


Jon

[jongrant4472]

The NER served several North Sea ports and built a number of freight vehicles specially equipped to transport wounded soldiers to hospital. The one at the front of the train in this photo was a modified brake-end elliptical roof passenger coach, which could be added to any train heading in the right direction. The second was an express-rated bogie covered wagon fitted for stretchers inside




Armoured cars and 18-pounder guns were built in Railway Shops up and down the country, using the tools and machines normally used to build and repair locomotives. This meant there was a constant flow of new equipment to the ports.

Armoured cars and support vehicles (modified metal kits and scratchbuilt)



18-pounder artillery battery (scratchbuilt)



Platoon of the Durham Light Infantry, which recruited heavily in the area. I later found out that troops did not march over stone/brick bridges for fear of dislodging the masonry with the regular thump-thump. Instead the walked over in irregular file








Jon

[jongrant4472]

A few more photos.

As some of you may remember with Sweethome Chicago, I try to fit Dr Who's Tardis on to all my layouts. Here is my attempt on Hudson Road - including Bessie (the yellow car)




A few more photos












Jon

[jongrant4472]

Hudson Road was always intended to be an exhibition layout and was built to be taken to shows around the UK. Here are some photos of it on its travels

Tolworth(London) 2005











More show photos to follow.......

Jon

[jongrant4472]

Some more exhibition photos

Alexandra palace (London) 2005. The night-time canopy had been rebuilt and extended and was only erected for the first time at the show. In fact we were still sawing the wood for it on the Friday night








Three of us even built a 'Mini-Me' snow layout as part of a 'layout in a shoe box' competition. This was Austrian narrow gauge in the Alps






Jon

[jongrant4472]

Hudson Road had to be dismantled at home so it would fit into the Ford Transit van and driven to a show, where it would be re-erected on a Friday afternoon/evening, ready for a weekend's exhibiting. After the show ended on Sunday afternoon, it would be dismantled and carted home again.

We could normally put the layout up in 2 or 3 hours, leaving us plenty of time for the pub.

Dismantling the layout in the cellar - each board piggy-backed onto the next and the legs folded up inside the boards.








The boards were boxed together in pairs for easy carriage, although they weighed a ton.




continued.................

[jongrant4472]

The layout would be loaded onto a hire van, which would also transport three of the 6 operators required to work the layout over the weekend.



Once at the show, the layout would be put up and made ready to operate, which included setting up the portable control panel and setting out the trains in the two traverser fiddle yards.












Jon

[m a y o r 79]

Very impressive scenery, the snow looks very realistic.