LarryG's general album

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Merry Christmas, Larry.

Ah, Parkbridge. Spent many happy hours there, watching the rolling od bars and sections in the Bottom Forge, playing on the old railway trackbed at Rocher Rock and up the the station goods yard. The old steam crane in the sidings near the tennis courts, etc. Towards the end of the line, I remember hearing a slipping loco from our garden in Bardsley and riding my bike to Alt Lane bridge at Fairbottom to find a WD hauled freight stalled and slipping continuously. Must have taken the best part of half an hour to get a grip and slowly head off past the signal box, heading towards Oldham. Sadly of course, the box was later burned down by vandals.
Dave.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Hi Dave... Merry Christmas. All routes to Oldham were uphill although it didn't seem so obvious on the Parkbridge line. I'll bet that WD made a right meal of it.
 

John57sharp

Western Thunderer
Happy new year Larry and thanks for this album which has kept me amused over the last week or so. You brought back many memories, and made me realise how much I missed despite living close by over in Wirral.

John
 

76043

Western Thunderer
Thank you Dave. A lot of wooden bodied minerals for 1963, are they condemned? I can't see any crosses? I guess they must be?
Cheers
Tony
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
Thank you Dave. A lot of wooden bodied minerals for 1963, are they condemned? I can't see any crosses? I guess they must be?
Cheers
Tony

Stored awaiting disposal, possibly. There do seem to be hints of white above the numbers which might well say 'COND' but who can tell?

Adam
 

daifly

Western Thunderer
The (almost identical) copy of the photo in 'Steam in Devon' by Peter Gray doesn't allow any more detail to be discerned. Longer shadows at a later time of day! Cropped to roughly the same as the one above.

Thorverton.jpeg
I agree with Adam's comment though.
Dave
 
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
COND looks to be written on all above the black patch. I copied some of these wagons when weathering my 4mm and 7mm models.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
RAIL naming at Crewe 30 years ago in 1993 with yours truly, Pete Waterman and Murray Broiwn (Editor) on the track. The inimitable Phil Hawkins on the buffers (right), but i have forgotten the two column writers names....
WEB Pete & me Rail team.jpg
 
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
Corwen at last... A public train entering the station on 4th June 2023...

WEB Corwen 1.jpg

Stream, DMU and diesel loco haulage were alternating to provide a more intensive service than normal. A DMU from Corwen enters Carrog on 4th June 2023...
WEB Corwen 3.jpg

We had a butter & jam scone plus coffee in the cafe at Carrog while taking shelter from the sun. Sadly it looked to be the last day of this once popular cafe now that Carrog is no longer the terminus, so I took this shot while in the cafe as a train entered the station....
WEB Corwen 2.jpg
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
My first layout since 1964 was based on Diggle, a large project for one man operation and it never got beyond as large diorama. It started off with Peco code 100 track because i knew no better in 2009. I even photographed the backscene and printed it on sheets of joined up foolscap as seen here near Diggle Tunnel....
WEB Diggle 1.jpg

Another home made backscene photographed at the actually location and a 1950s Guy lorry added! This is the corner leading to Diggle station road bridge. I was replacing Code 100 with bullhead track at the time....
WEB Diggle 2.jpg
 

simond

Western Thunderer
Larry,

my first experience of 0 gauge was Ken Longbottom’s Diggle and Halebarns (prior to Westport being added). It would have been 1973-4-ish, and I was privileged to become a regular there, as a young teenager.

It’s not an area I know at all, but Ken’s interpretation was much more “Satanic Mills” than your bright and breezy photos!

atb
Simon
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Although there were a couple of smallish mill type buildings, I would have said Diggle was very rural, much like Larry's back-scene. For "satanic mills", you needed to travel to Oldham.
Dave.
 

simond

Western Thunderer
Mr Longbottom was a talented modeller and engineer with a wicked sense of humour. Perhaps he just chose the names because he liked them or they meant something to him.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
As Dave says, Oldham was 'satanic mills' area. We got out into the countryside around greenfield etc at weekends. I knew Diggle as a boy in the early 1950s and there was far less greenery because the surrounding countryside was kept back from working railway land. I noticed in a recent cab scene video that trees and bushes were growing on many station platforms including Chester's.
 
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