Expansion at Albion Yard (N part 59)…

With the rumour of 08441 being en-route to Albion Yard my fears about the fate of 08417 were unfounded, I was pleased, no, thankful to find the yellow H&M work horse pottering around with the polyhylate hoppers as usual…

It sounds as if it’s actually an increase in work that has led to the new arrival. The yard has just opened a covered steel terminal and the first of the new trains can be seen in the photo above. I wonder how they’ll balance operation in the constrained yard, or whether we’ll see further track expansion to allow parallel operation. Time will tell, but I am excited as always.

These venerable machines have travelled a long way. I wonder how many miles they’ve rolled, or how much of our lives they’ve touched with shunting goods trains destined for who knows where… ribbons again, through time, through space too - today’s fertiliser supports the food we put on our table, our cars from the steel imported through Albion Yard.

These day dreams become a rich story that surrounds the Hilton Mears ‘modern goods’ scheme, the additional reference of the ‘name’, Albion Yard a connection that weaves in another good friend Paul. 

The opportunity to add further to the story means that it was the pre-ordering of the new Revolution IHA steel wagons that prompted 08441s arrival, and the back story that has already justified its existence. One thing often leads to another and a stop gap has arrived in the form of a Farish BRA covered steel wagon. The pre-weathered model has been toned down with a wash that has brought out the neat tooling hidden under the tan ‘one colour’ airbrushed filth. DG couplings are a transformation, the only scale give away being the corner steps. This wagon gives the ‘story’ some reality, the service being started with whatever wagons were available before the curtain sides ones arrived for use later…

These old workhorses, the classic 08. This pair have such character despite their small diminutive size, their colours complementing one another, restrained weathering reflecting their age and nature whilst retaining an air of pride and care in their ownership and adoption. Whilst Paxton Road is not their intended destination the locomotives and stock already show promise, their complementary finish and detail suiting the eye level viewing this tiny cameo layout provides. 

I recently received a message from regular reader (and previous customer, owner of Renfrew) David Murray who was rather taken with these ideas of ‘modern goods’…

08571 at DIRFT, summer 2020 - David Murray photo

“Just reading your ‘Modern Goods’ blog. I thought I’d share a couple of photos taken at Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) a few years back. It had just deposited a lengthy rake of IZAs loaded with Evian at the Stobart warehouse. The Evian train needs to be split into cuts (two) as it’s too long for the siding/warehouse. I do like the minimal look and clean lines of the warehouse and it would make a very good (ultra) low-relief model”.

As David’s photos show the facility at DIRFT is long, as are the trains that serve it, which could cause us more problems than my corner setting for Hilton Mears based upon AV Dawson in Middlesbrough, but it goes to show that there are examples of facilities still worked by these venerable machines (Boston docks is another location I’m keen to investigate for this, as well as Celsa steel in Cardiff).

DIRFT New Years Day 2019, David Murray photo 

As with all large prototypes the key to telling the story in a smaller space isn’t about compromise, rather it’s about closely cropping a scene. It is this that makes Dawson’s curved yards useful, whereas the long straight rectangular boxes of most terminals leaves us nowhere to hide. Another benefit of Dawson is the variety of traffic compared with many single traffic locations. So whilst the draw of modern image freight is strong, to fit something in a small space will require some creativity, luckily a trait many of us modellers are used to practicing. Until next time, more soon…

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