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Welcome to DJ’s Train Set Website! You are visitor number Last update: 22 September 2008. This site has been set up to record for posterity the story of DJ’s train set (oops - model railway) – from Inception (or Conception?) through to completion (if there is such a thing!). The latest news is right down the bottom of this page! Feel free to sign our Guestbook.
Background In the beginning, there was a bloke called Dave, born in the backstreets of Manchester on 9th May 1954. He was a bit of a trainspotter (sorry – a railway enthusiast) all his life but he had dreams of building and operating a model railway all of his own. The Railway So in December 2002, he bought himself a Hornby ‘OO’ train set (4mm-Foot scale, 16.5mm gauge) as the foundation stone to bigger and better things. His set contained a pair of BR Class 43 High Speed Train power cars and an intermediate Mk.lll trailer, a loop of track and a power supply/controller. Dave’s dream was the small station in St. Erth, in Cornwall, UK. Although St Erth is on the West of England main line, the station serves as the start of the branch line to St Ives. Dave knew he could not run his HST on the tiny branch line (the real train service is just a shuttle operated by a Diesel Multiple Unit). So he needs a Dapol Class 150 DMU, preferably in Regional Railways’ livery. These can only be obtained second-hand now, as they ceased production of this model in about 1990. At the time of writing he has absolutely no idea whatsoever as to how or when he will be able to get one! Mark used the Internet to try to find a Class 150 Sprinter train for Dave, but the nearest thing he found was a DB (German) class 150 electric locomotive. Dave thought this would look a bit out of place. 30th January 2003 – someone worked out that if Dave did have a DB Class 150 delivered to St Erth, the nearest place it could run under it’s own power would probably be Barnt Green (about 280 miles away). Christian Spittlegerber from Germany has provided this photo of a German Class 150: Dave had heard that real British Class 150s run through Walsall station every 30 minutes or so – Kevin found this picture of some of the station staff at Walsall trying to find one: Later on, Kevin found a picture Class 150, number 150121 in Walsall. But this one is in Central Trains' green livery! The ones used on the St Ives branch have connecting doors on the ends, too. Dave also needed to know the track plan of St Erth. His helpful colleagues at work assisted him with this, procuring plans from 2 different sources. The Peco website ‘back-issue’ department revealed photocopies of the relevant pages, whilst copies of the same pages were sourced from ‘a friend of a friend’. The latter of these arrived on 29th January 2003. On 25th January 2003, Dave found out that a model shop in his home town of Lichfield would manufacture a suitable baseboard (4’x7’) for the proposed development in return for quite a modest sum. He intends to place the order on 1st February. Delivery is just 7-10 days! We can confirm that this order was placed! 2nd February 2003 - Dave visited the Stafford Railway Circle's annual model railway exhibition at the Stafford Showground for further inspiration. There he found out that Dapol had sold the manufacturing rights of the 150 to Hornby Hobbies - will Hornby release this model soon? Dave will contact Hornby... click HERE Dave! VISION Dave's ‘vision’ was released on 27th February 2003: "To create a model railway layout inspired by St Erth Station in Cornwall in early summer 2003. The layout will use appropriate rolling stock for the location and period. The layout will not be an exact replica of the actual station, as this would be impractical due to lack of space / time and the fact that I have only just started this hobby. However I will attempt to replicate as many features of the real station as possible". 29th Jan 2003: We’ve been asked to ‘name names’! Kevin, Mark, Chris and Tony have already contributed to this site. If you can assist in any way, please feel free to offer suggestions. 30th January 2003 – Angie has suggested that no railway is complete without a ‘fat controller’ – who on earth could possibly come to mind? Angie would also like the franchise to run the station shop when it is opened! Aidan thinks his expertise at money-counting could come in useful in the booking office. 3rd February 2002 - the on-line auction site Ebay (www.ebay.com) has a Dapol Class 150 for sale but it's in the USA - also it is decribed as a Class 155 - but we know it's a 150 - look at the picture (the 155 has doors at each end of each vehicle - the 150 has them about a third of the way from each end! Dave would not contemplate buying a 150 to ship across the Atlantic, so we'll keep searching... 6th February 2003 - Dave has today outlined his rolling stock requirements for the foreseeable future. He has not quite finished his ‘vision’, however. But we do know that the train set will be set in ‘early summer 2003!’.
Rolling Stock Requirements in Priority Order Item details Justification 1off Hornby R4096B: BR Mk III coach, 1st class, Virgin livery 1off Hornby R4097A: BR Mk lll coach, std class, Virgin livery 1off Hornby R4098C: BR Mk lll coach, buffet, Virgin livery 1off Dapol Class 150, Regional livery 1off Bachmann Class 158, Wessex livery 1off Bachmann 30-600 Virgin 'Voyager' plus 30-625 4th car 1off Cl.47/57, First Great Western livery 1off FGW Sleeper OR Motorail stock Strengthen existing HST formation. GOT THIS! Strengthen existing HST formation. Strengthen existing HST formation. GOT THIS! Operates branch line to St Ives. Operates services Penzance to Manchester/ Plymouth/Cardiff/Swansea. GOT THIS! Cross-Country Main line train. To haul sleeper OR motorail. Main line train.
Visit Bachmann's website at www.bachmann.co.uk Dave says the purchasing operation will be very strict - money is short - there's a baseboard to pay for! 9 February 2003 Today, at the Festival of Railway Modelling at Doncaster, a Dapol Class 150 was seen running! It was on a layout called 'Ecclesford Junction', by the Pendle Forest Model Railway Club. This unit performed very well and is just what Dave needs! But - it was not for sale. Although there were many dealers at the Festival, none had a Class 150, although a Dapol 155 was seen - this was sold during the show. For more information about 'Ecclesford Junction', click here!. Here's a link (added 12 Dec 2006) to an N-gauge layout based on BR Souther Region: http://www.freewebs.com/4vep/eastleighshistory.htm 18th February - there's another Class 150 appeared on EBay! Look at the picture Dave - it's unboxed but it's mint!
AND it's in this country - in Manchester!! But Dave says he'll wait for the Hornby release?!?!?!? He's short of cash (that reminds me - the baseboard is overdue - Dave's chasing it). 19 Feb 2003: The baseboard is still not delivered! This slippage will delay the opening ceremony! Dave has told us he will give us a list of 10 things we never knew about St. Erth. We don’t know when we will receive this list, so here is the space for the list (we’ll fill these in as we get them): - 1. The station at St Erth was called ‘St Ives Road’ before the branch line to St Ives was built. 2. An old railwayman’s saying (pre-Beeching) was ‘St George for England, St Pancras for Scotland and St Erth for St Ives’. 3. The St Ives branch line was the first outside the major conurbations to have a ‘park and ride’ scheme. There is a purpose-built station (Lelant Saltings) where you can park the car and travel by train into St Ives. The scheme achieved both AA and Tourist Board awards. 4. St Erth is twinned with Ploulec'h in Brittany (how's that pronounced, then?) 5. In the 2001 Census, St Erth allegedly had 2169 residents living in 895 households, 67% of the residents describing their health as 'good', 25% of 16-74 year olds having no qualifications and an unemployment rate of 3.7%. 6. The St. Erth-St Ives branch was the last railway in the UK to be built to Brunel's 'Broad Gauge' (7 feet and 1/4 inch). This gauge was abandoned in 1892. 7. 8. 9. 10.
4th March 2003 - the Baseboard has been delivered to Dave's house! We await details of the first tracklaying exercises!! Dave has promised a photo of the baseboard by 17th March! If you wish to find out what trains run to St Erth, you visit the Railtrack Timetable 14th March 2003 - Dave has added 2 more of the 'ten things you didn't know...' and someone has asked 'Where on earth is St Erth?' - We're looking for a map! Thanks to Mark for finding this ... St Erth is north east of Penzance on the south west extremity of the UK mainland:
Mark - why is Land's End not marked on this map? 19 March 2003: Dave kindly offered to photograph his new baseboard for us - he borrowed the digital camera over the weekend and Mark managed to extract the contents which are reproduced here; Dave points out that at the moment it is just a flat, plain baseboard - no track, hills, bridges, trees, station, stock, people or anything!
6 April 2003 - Dave set up the track on the baseboard and ran the HST! 7 April 2003 - Chris found 2 photos on the www of St. Erth station (when it wasn't raining!): Don't forget to use the 'Back' button to return here! www.urban75.org/photos/stives/images/si011.jpg www.urban75.org/photos/stives/images/si012.jpg
Dave has borrowed a copy of 'Hornby Virtual Railway' from the Stores Supervisor to assist in the planning of the track layout. 15th May - Dave's colleague Kevin is planning to visit St Erth by train. The plan is to visit St Erth, St Ives and Penzance then get back home (well, to Wolverhampton) on the same day. This was impossible before the introduction of the new timetable in September 2002, and will not be possible once the timetable changes on 19th May 2003! Click the link to the seperate 'Field Trip' page! By 7th May, Dave had bought 3off R.H. turnouts (R613?) in order to develop the track formation. 9 May 2003. It's Dave's Birthday and some of his trusty colleagues got together and obtained a Hornby 1st Class Mk III coach to supplement Dave's HST set. 16 May 2003 - Dave has manged to purchsed a curved point (necessary to make best use of space bedind the model station). 6/7 Dec 2003 - at the National Model Railway Exhibition at the NEC, we all lobbied the Hornby Stand and put the Class 150 on the 'suggested items for introduction' forms! 02 Jan 2004 - it's taken a long time but Dave has acquired a MkIII Buffet car for his HST and some of the track at the back of the layout is complete (though he says there is still only one continuous loop around the layout!). Kevin has been monitoring eBay for months now - Class 150s are in very short supply. 05 Jan 2004 - Kevin discovered that from 9-16th January, all trains between St Erth and St Ives are replaced by buses! See http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/realtime/fs_realtime.htm (click on 'Service Alterations' and select the relevant week!) 01 Feb 2004 - David went to the annual Model Rail show at Stafford and ordered some station nameboard signs for 'St. Erth'. 08 Feb 2004 - Kevin attended a show at Doncaster and procured some station signs for the stickers to go on and also some station signs e.g. 'Passengers must cross the track by means of the footbridge'! 05 March 2004 - David has found a picture of 2 Class 150s in operation onthe St Ives' branch. It is on the Strategic Railway Authority's site and can be seen by clicking below; CAUTION - this may cause your computer to crash if you haven't the necessary software to open it! http://www.sra.gov.uk/publications/consultation/comm_rail_development/community_rail_develop_pub 16 April 2004 - David is travelling to London on Monday 20th - he's hoping for his first 'Pendolino' experience! He was suitably impressed! 03 Dec 2004 - it's just a day away from the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition at the NEC - Dave's first target stand will be Gaugemaster, who hit the local press recently by producing for the model railway market 'couples in compromising positions'. It was thanks to Aline from Luxembourg who spotted the article in the Metro free newspaper on her way to work! Dave thinks this will add 'authenticity' in some of the buildings in St Erth (if he ever gets any buildings!). The observant will notice that a few months ago, Dave purchased the Bachmann Class 158 he needed - this is in 'Wessex Trains' livery, I believe. 08 Dec 2004 - yes, Dave DID buy the couple in bonking positions from the Gaugemaster stand - he brought them into work to show everyone - at lunch! Apparently he got the set that included a bed (alternatives included set with a desk!) 27 Jan 2005 - thanks go to Mark for sending us this super picture of Dave holding some 'items' from his model railway!!
Christmas 2005 - Dave's railway became capable of running 2 trains AT THE SAME TIME! He'd never done this before! 6 January 2006 - Bad news! Hornby have announced the new models they intend to introduce in 2006 - included is the Class 156 DMU (not the 150!). September 2008 - another of the 'Ten things you never...' has been added. If you would like to sign our Guestbook, click the link at the head of this page, or you may e-mail Dave's colleagues on ellis_k[at]lineone[dot]net - we'll pass on any messages! Thanks for visiting this site! Please tell you friends and relatives about it! Click Below to hear what 101.6 Centre FM (now Touch FM) said about this site... The link below is a really noisy sound file (.wav)... This is a Heritage Sound Recording of a Sulzer 16-cylinder diesel in full cry! This is how the trains going through St Erth would have sounded in the 70s & 80s! This particular recording was made on the South Staffordshire line between Walsall and Lichfield, about a quarter mile south of Rushall Crossing (at OS Grid Ref SK020003 to be precise) on 10 January 1979, at 21:32 (it was dark!). The railway there was closed in 1984, the track lifted shortly afterwards, the unidentified 'Peak', a Type 4 Class 45/46 locomotive has probably been scrapped, but the memory is still there! The train reporting number was 4S88 (Pengham-Edinburgh Freightliner) which called at Dudley Freightliner terminal (also long closed). Here's a photo to show you what the locomotive looked like:
The player below has a sound clip of a Class 52 'Western' Diesel-Hydraulic departing Solihull for London Paddington on 23 Aug 1974...
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