1970s/80s WCML traction

[Blillpers]

Hi,
I'm building a N-gauge model railway which is set somewhere along the WCML in northern England. The double track main line passes through a small village. It's a very simple layout, with just the double track mainline going through and a hidden yard on the back side. With track laying and other work coming along nicely, I am now beginning to look for rolling stock.

My collection so far is made up by the Dapol class 86 in InterCity Swallow livery hauling a set of MK3s as a London - Glasgow express service. With the current track setup I am able to run up to 6 trains, which I think will be enough for a relatively varied timetable. There is going to be a mix of express, stopping and freight trains. Thanks to the size very simple track layout I am able to run full length trains (my current train is locomotive + 8 Mk3s). But what types of rolling stock was usually seen on these parts of the WCLM back then? My fictional village is roughly set somewhere between Preston and Carlisle.

All help is appreciated!

 

[edwin_m]

Swallow livery is towards the end of your period. All of classes 81-87 might have appeared during the 70s or 80s, with the earlier classes more likely to be on freight.

For passenger the Mk3s are OK but perhaps an 87 would be more likely than an 86 on a London train. You'd also see Cross Country services splitting at Carstairs, which would be a motley collection of early (non-aircon) Mk2s for most of this period but aircon Mk2s by the end. That's probably about it for passenger, unless you're south of Carnforth when some DMUs for the Leeds, Morecambe and Barrow services would also appear. A rackety rake of blue/grey Mk1s could appear just about anywhere on an excursion!

Partly-fitted freight was banned from Shap on electrification, so you wouldn't see any grey wagons except maybe south of Carnforth. By the late 70s air braked bogie or long wheelbase four-wheel wagons would predominate, with the BR-owned ones being in bauxite or later red/grey Railfreight liveries. Probably a Freightliner rake too, containers in grey with red band in the 70s, later white with a red triangle and later still in the colours of the various shipping lines.

Earlier in the period the freight would be more likely to be electric, more likely to be the older classes, but air-braked diesels might be seen later - most likely a 47.

 

[Bullfield WEst]

Early 70's? I traveled behind double headed D400's on the Royal Scot between Crewe and Carlisle.

 

[edwin_m]

Early 70's? I traveled behind double headed D400's on the Royal Scot between Crewe and Carlisle.

Mention of class 86 suggests the OP is assuming electrification is in use, so after 1974, and I assumed this without saying so in my reply above. The electric locos replaced the double-headed 50s.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Another suggestion could be a Class 81- 85 heading a Motorail service. Formed of mk1 stock+ carflats or Cartic stock or a mixture of both types.

 

[Springs Branch]

As I recall it there were 3 tiers of Inter-City trains running along this section from the mid-1970s.

1) Euston/Glasgow "Electric Scots" (Class 87 haulage with Mk3 sets, after the loco-hauled Mk3s appeared on the WCML later in the decade). These trains tended to stop only at Preston & Carlisle, skipping all intermediate stations.

2) Euston/Carlisle "Lancashire semi-fasts". (Class 86 or rarely an 87 with Mk2 air-con sets, typically 11 carriages long). These trains linked towns such as Penrith, Oxenholme, Lancaster, Wigan & Warrington with London, given the Euston/Glasgow trains sped through non-stop.
Other trains had the same Class 86 + late Mk2 formations - e.g. the daily Euston/Inverness Clansman and the Birmingham - Glasgow/Edinburgh trains.

3) Glasgow/Edinburgh - Liverpool L.St/Manchester Victoria (Class 86 with earlier non-AC Mk2, migrating to newer AC Mk2 later in the period). Many of these trains split at Preston & Carstairs, resulting in an interesting but messy concoction of vehicles (e.g. brake vehicles in the middle of the formation but not necessarily at the ends, two separate first class carriages). I think these ran about once every 2 hours in the early period, but the frequency, the number of trains which split and their untidy formations seemed to reduce later on.

As already mentioned, a rickety rake of blue/grey Mk1s hauled by a Class 85 or 86 would be essential for this period. These could appear at random on:
- Excursions including Football Specials.
- Summer Saturdays extras (a weekly Glasgow/Blackpool service still ran in this period with electric haulage north of Preston),
- Once-a-day oddballs like Euston/Barrow or Euston/Stranraer (admittedly, some Sleeping Cars needed for true authenticity on these),
- Scheduled relief trains (remember those?) for normal Inter-City services during some busy period.

If your setting is to be south of Carnforth (say your village is Garstang or Galgate), then a 2-car Derby Class 108 DMU would be suitable to cover the occasional trains to Morecambe, Barrow or Windermere. Most of these ran as shuttles from Lancaster or Oxenholme, but occasionally ran to/from Preston/Manchester.


If you're modelling a Class 86/87 with Mk3s from the pre-DVT era, there should be a BG at the London end ahead of the first class, and a Mk1 buffet/kitchen car between first and second class.
As shown here (which admittedly has Mk2 air-con rather than Mk3 vehicles)

 

[Bevan Price]

In addition to Springs Branch's comments.
The residual Euston - Barrow services would usually be Class 47s, or 40s (until withdrawn) north of Preston.

Lighter & departmental freights, e.g. to/from the Barrow line might be Class 25, 40 or 47 (31s displacing 25s & 40s after these were withdrawn).

In the mid to late 1980s, some Manchester - Barrow passenger services became loco-hauled, with 31s or 47s most likely.

 

[underbank]

Hest Bank seems to get modelled a fair bit. Between Lancaster & Carnforth. It's north of the Morecambe junction so would get the ICI oil trains to/from Heysham, and South of Carnforth so would get DMUs and freight for the Barrow and Leeds lines. Quite a bit of variety besides the obvious BR Inter City trains.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

....My collection so far is made up by the Dapol class 86 in InterCity Swallow livery hauling a set of MK3s as a London - Glasgow express service. With the current track setup I am able to run up to 6 trains, which I think will be enough for a relatively varied timetable. There is going to be a mix of express, stopping and freight trains. Thanks to the size very simple track layout I am able to run full length trains (my current train is locomotive + 8 Mk3s). But what types of rolling stock was usually seen on these parts of the WCLM back then? My fictional village is roughly set somewhere between Preston and Carlisle.

All help is appreciated!

Intercity Swallow come on the scene in 1987, though I'm not sure when 86s got the livery. Previous to that was Intercity Executive (from 1983) and BR blue/grey (very much still evident in 1987). Also, Mk3 Driving vans didn't start testing until 1989 IIRC, so express trains would be a mix of Mk2 aircon (Mk2d/e/f) and Mk3 (with buffers) coaches on WCML express trains, with a variety of Mk1 BG vehicles.