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All material Copyright © Mike Smith 2003 unless otherwise credited
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Historical Background
This section offers an outline history of the railway freight business from 1800 to 2000. There are sub-sections detailing the role of the Railway Clearing House (RCH) and the Common User Scheme, the system of charging for goods on the railways and brief notes on the methods used for heating and lighting railway stock.
Track and Gauge
This sections covers the history of track and track formations. The various sub-sections cover the development of track systems from early flanged rail on stone sleepers to the modern concrete based PACT track systems, turntables, points and slips, track gauge & loading Gauge, narrow gauge track and associated rolling stock, buffer stops and track maintenance personnel & equipment. The final section discusses model railway track systems, or at least those I have experimented with.
Communications, Control and Signalling
This section covers the evolution of signalling and the associated areas of communications and operational control of the railways. The various sub sections describe Communications & Control Systems, Telegraph Poles, Cable Conduits and Switch Boxes, Bell Codes & Locomotive Head Codes, Mechanical Types & Fog Signals, Ground and Fixed Signals, Power Operated and Colour Light signals, Signal Boxes and Level Crossings, Track Circuits and Industrial Signals and a separate section discusses Basic Layout Signalling
Rolling Stock
This section deals with the development of goods rolling stock including brakes, couplings, body types and specialised vehicles. Topics covered in the sub sections include- Chassis, Couplings & Hoses, Buffers, Wheels & Bearings, Suspension & Bogies, Brakes, body construction, BR wagon Designs, Air Braked Stock, Brake vans and brake tenders, Departmental Stock, Ferry Wagons, Rail Tanks, PO Stock and Air Braked PO stock
Unit Loads
Unit Loads are containers, pallets and Intermediate Bulk Containers, variations on which have been in use since the earliest days on the railways. There are three sub section, Early container types discusses the history of the container up to the end of the vacuum braked goods services, Pallets and IBCs discusses these post war developments and Modern Containers, Road Railer, Piggyback and Swap Bodies discusses the post air-brake networks
Livery
This section covers the liveries and markings used for goods stock from the pre-grouping era to about the year 2000. Individual sub sections contain details on Goods Locomotives, Traders labels and standard markings used on goods stock), the standard liveries of the Big Four (LMS, LNER. GWR and SR) goods and passenger stock, PO wagons, Tank Wagons, early British Railways livery (1948-1964), the later British Railways livery (1964 - 1975), BR TOPS era (1975-privatisation) liveries, BR Departmental Stock and BR Ferry stock. Separate sub sections deal with the liveries of the early Privatisation Era stock and the liveries and marking required on ISO Containers
Freight Operations
This section deals with operational practice such as the formation of goods trains and their routing through the system. The sub-sections include an introduction and discussion on the categories of goods carried, categories of Goods Train and usage of rolling stock, Coal traffic and Merry Go Round Coal Services, Ore and Metals traffic, Grain and Beer, Road Vehicles, Military Traffic and Farm Machinery, Livestock & Seasonal Traffic, Petroleum Products, explosives, corrosives and compressed gasses with details of the vehicles used for these, vacuum braked and air braked Container Services, the BR Air Braked Network, Speedlink and Enterprise wagon load services and Ferry Services.
A separate series of sub-sections deals with Non Passenger Coaching Stock operations including Fish & Newspapers, Parcels and Mail, Milk (churn traffic and tankers)and Private Carriages and Motor Cars.
A third series of sub sections then details the operational use of Private Owner Stock including an Overview with sections on the coal trade, stone and lime traffic, PO Vans and tank wagons and the modern air-braked PO scene (up to about 2001)
Railway Company Goods Facilities
This section deals with marshaling yards and goods yards, including the specialised facilities required for container handling. There are sub-sections on topics such as Shunting Methods, Refuge Sidings, Exchange Sidings and Marshalling Yards, station goods yards and their facilities, a selection of prototype goods yards and wharfs, the facilities provided for coal and heating oil, railway container handling facilities and Railway owned road vehicles.
Wagon Loads & Materials Handling
This section covers model wagon loads. A sub section discusses the use of specialised materials handling equipment on the prototype and how this might be modelled. The various sub-sections discuss topics such as Tarpaulin Sheets on Wagons, Minerals and Other Bulk Loads, Metals and Timber, Road vehicles and Farm Equipment with a separate section on Unusual and Out of Gauge Loads. There is also a discussion on the modelling of yard and platform clutter. The materials handling side describes, Platform trucks and trolleys the methods used for, Bulk Minerals Grains and Powders as well as Liquids and Gasses. There is a section on the design and modelling of Hoists and Cranes with a section on Crane Hooks and Lifting Aids. There is a discussion on Unit Loads and a section on railway yard weighbridges.
Available Models
This section covers the various ready to run models and kits of goods vehicles. The suppliers discussed include Peco, Graham Farish, Bachman-Farish, Dapol, Lima (discontinued in late 1980's), Hornby Minitrix (discontinued in early 1990's), Kits and Discontinued Kits as well as Continental Models suitable for British use.
Kit Bashing
This section contains drawings illustrating the construction of various N Gauge models mentioned in the other sections. These are all 'train set' models rather than 'model railway' standard but they serve to fill in gaps in the available ranges of models and to break up long rakes of RTR or kit built models.
Lineside Industries
This section contains notes on various lineside industries with a bias toward inclusion on a British N Gauge layout. As a result the descriptions of the associated industrial processes are often abbreviated and some options may be too large for inclusion on larger scale layouts.
Appendices
Each entry is a link, click anywhere in the text to go to that section
Appendix One - Outside the Fence
This section deals with 'set dressing', general background information on the environment in which the railways operated. There are a great many sub sections detailing everything from uniforms worn by the authorities and civilians, the development of river, canal and road transport etc.
Appendix Two - Selected Pre Grouping and Joint Companies
Brief details of the history and goods rolling stock of various pre-grouping (pre-1923) railway companies. The listings are not exhaustive but include all the major players and also any companies I felt had modelling potential. Where possible I contacted the relevant association or society to confirm the details, contact details for these are appended to each company entry. Companies described include the three big joint lines; Cheshire Lines Committee, Midland & Great Northern, Somerset and Dorset Joint Rly and the various constituents of the Big Four-
LMS -Caledonian Railway, Furness Railway, Glasgow & South Western Railway, Garsatang & Knott End Railway, Highland Railway, Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, London & North Western Railway, London Tillbury and Southend Railway, Midland Railway, North Staffordshire Railway)
LNER - Great Central Railway, Great Eastern Railway, Great North of Scotland Railway, Great Northern Railway, Hull & Barnsley Railway, North British Railway and the North Eastern Railway,
GWR - Pre-grouping Great Western Railway, Brecon & Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway, Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway, Barry Railway, Cambrian Railways, The Cardiff Railway, Midland & South Western Junction Railway, Rhondda & Swansea Bay Railway, Rhymney Railway and the Taff Vale Rly.
SR - London Brighton and South Coast Railway, London and South Western Railway, South East & Chatham Railway, The Metropolitan Railway and the diminutive Plymouth Devonport & South Western Junction Railway.
Appendix Three - Passenger Rolling Stock
Not my main are of interest but some notes which may be useful to a beginner. Also in this section is a discussion on push-pull passenger workings and an illustrated listing of all the various multiple units used on British lines.
Appendix Four - Freight Locomotives
Alan Cox has re-written the sub section on diesel locomotives, the remainder are my own notes. I believe I have now covered every diesel and electric locomotive type and have made a start on the steam engines (the BR standard classes are described and illustrated). Completion of the coverage of the steam engines is a big job which remains to be completed. If anyone has a model of a steam locomotive which they feel captures the look of the original I would be pleased to use a photo as this means I do not have to do a drawing for each of the thousand or more types of engine.
Appendix 5 - Hale Station - Cheshire Lines Committee
A small double track station with substantial goods facilities and an interesting track plan that lends itself to modelling. I have done a little research and this may provide an interesting insight into the working of such a small station
Appendix Six - Contributors and Bibliography
The original version of this web site had several shortcomings, for one I had rather lost interest in the railways following the introduction of Corporate Blue and hence knew little of developments that followed. Several people have corrected and amended my notes on this era, for which I am grateful (although I still prefer the green diesel era for modelling). Specialist areas such as recent developments in signalling were also something of a weak point, in this instance Keith Norgrove stepped in and provided all the required information.
Appendix Seven - Links to Useful Websites for Railway Modellers
Not comprehensive but the best I could manage. If anyone has any recommendations I would be pleased to hear of them.
Outline History of the Great Grand Fenwick Railway
This is just a potted history put together as an example of how to create a 'back story' for a layout, people tell me it is amusing and should be on the site.
Toy farms, toy soldiers, and wargaming
Simple and cheap scenery and terrain
Simple, and cheap, scenery and terrain for toy farms and soldiers - Can be used with 'wargame' tables but these are designed not to cause injury if trodden on or fallen on. I was not intending to include this on the site but a couple of people said it might be of interest with regard to scenic modelling.