Stainmore Route Early Development

Kirby Stephen to Stainmore Summit

Join us as we travel east along the Stainmore line, between Kirby Stephen East and Stainmore Summit. You'll see the early progress around Kirby Stephen, as well as the wonderful bridges and viaducts that have been made for the route.

Video of Kirby Stephen East Departure

Standard 2MT 78019 Climbs Away From Kirby Stephen East

Note that in the following images and videos, a lot of the terrain is still bare. Some scenery items are in there purely as placeholders. Click on the images for original full-sized versions.

Travelling Eastwards Towards Stainmore Summit

And Now the Climb From Belah to The Summit

The BR Standard  Continues Climbing As it Crosses the Impressive Belah Viaduct

Hopefully, in the near future, some words will appear on this blog from our team leader Ben Yates about the work he's carrying out in preparation for sharing route building duties with myself.

Some Special Projects for Stainmore

Civil Engineering
I think it's fair to say that the real Stainmore line had some of the most impressive civil engineering structures of any railway on the UK rail network, up until it's closure in 1962. Crossing valleys, rivers, under and over other railway lines, these viaducts were quite unique to Stainmore in style. 

The above image illustrates well what an incredible structure Belah Viaduct was. 1,040 ft long and 196 ft high, it carries the railway over a rift in the valley side, as well as Belah River itself - whence the name. Sadly, little of the viaduct remains:

The good news, however, is that we're bringing it back!! Thanks to the modeling talents of Phil Baines, this structure will once again allow trains to cross the valley, whilst slogging away up the 1in60, towards Stainmore summit. See below some work in progress shots of the modeled viaduct:

There are many more structures under construction. Here's another:

Tees Valley Viaduct

Locomotives

  From 1886 until the late 1950's, many varied classes of locomotive worked the Stainmore Route. However, through all the changes in locomotive power, there was one(or even two!) constant(s) - The LNER J21 & J25's. These fine little loco's were ideal, powerful loco's, that fell within the strict axle-loading limits over Belah Viaduct. We are pleased to say that 1 of these little loco's will be coming to you, as part of this route - the J21! Being built by Digital Traction, no doubt we can expect a high quality model. Also expect Steam Sounds Supreme sounds.

On the 26th July 2003 LNER J21 0-6-0 65033 is on display at Doncaster Works. [Picture by John Southall]

  After the war, the weight restrictions were relaxed over Belah. Locomotive designer and engineer for the London Midland and Scottish Railway, George Ivatt, designed two locomotive types that went on to serve the Stainmore route during it's latter years. Both 2-6-0's, they were Class 2 and Class 4 tender locomotives. The Class 4 - often nicknamed 'Flying Pigs, due to their appearance and turn of speed -  is particularly synonymous with the line. Both of these locomotive types are being modeled by Tom Homewood, of TAA Developments. The Class 2 hasn't seen any significant progress yet, however, the Ivatt 4MT is coming along really nicely.

Double-chimney version of the Ivatt 4MT 2-6-0 - WIP

 Look out for future blog posts, where we'll show the progress being made on the other locomotives and rolling stock. Also, we'll reveal why the Ivatt 4 is being built so far in advance of the route itself..................................................

 

The Blank Canvas, Into the Beginnings of an Epic Route

Organization

  The project is under the overall care and supervision of Ben Yates. Ben is an excellent route builder. He's really demonstrated his talents with the popular freeware route Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway.

  One of Ben's first tasks, was to lay the track. However, along with that was a need to develop a list of all the assets that would be required to make the route unique in looks. We don't want another generic looking route! Here enters our second member of the team - Phil Baines. Phil's modeling skills are right up there! He has been involved in making buildings, rolling stock and more for Train Simulator for some time. Getting Phil on board was a no-brainer. He immediately got to work on what has to be one of the most spectacular railway structures ever built - Belah Viaduct. But, before that, Phil made a hugely significant little asset. Can you think of what it is? Yes, the Stainmore Summit sign...........................

With most of the track laid and the Stainmore Summit sign in place, this was a hugely encouraging and motivating moment! We were now ready for further developments to progress. A few days later, Ben sent me a WIP picture of Belah Viaduct, and then I began to appreciate what a fantastic team we have pulled together for this project. Anyway, back to the topic of Organization. Ben has sent Phil a list of priority items that are a MUST. Also, are less important assets, but still worth making if we're going to make things as accurately as possible. Ben has also taken the time to plow through his past repaints of old Kuju items and come up with quite a few useful items. The next few pictures illustrate this gathering of assets, lofts and more........................................

A small selection of houses

Roads and pathways

Various platform textures

Lineside huts

Stone walls

Fencing

Old Kuju Brick Bridge, Repainted for Dark Stone

Coming along to our next blog post, in a few  days time, and we'll show you a few of the major civil engineering masterpieces, which Phil has already built. We'll also bring you a report on one of the steam locomotives being built for the line.

The Stainmore Route is Coming to TS2014!!

THE STAINMORE ROUTE

The iconic and much lamented Stainmore and Eden Valley lines will soon be brought back to life in TS2014, thanks to a small team of route builders recreating this fabulous line. It'll be a test of your steam locomotive driving skills, with gradients as steep as 1in57/59 on the approach to Stainmore Summit. Below are some pictures of the routes most famous structure - Belah Viaduct.

In picture 1, an Ivatt 4MT 2-6-0 blasts towards the summit, banked by what looks like a Standard 2MT. In picture 2, another Ivatt 4MT mogul is seen crossing the same location, with a passenger train. The Stainmore route wil run from Kirby Stephen East to Barnard Castle; Kirby Stephen East to Tebay and Kirby Stephen East to Penrith. This will link very nicely with RSDerek's Weardale route, assuming it sees the light of day in the future. Below is a gradient profile for both sides of Stainmore summit.

To complement the route, we're pleased to announce that not one, not two, but THREE new steam loco's will be built especially for the route. They are: Ivatt 4MT 2-6-0, affectionately - and sometimes not so affectionately - referred to as flying pigs! These we seen regularly on the Stainmore line during it's later years. The second loco will be another Ivatt locomotive, the 2MT tender locomotive. Along the the BR Standard version, these were also seen often on the line. The third loco, and one particularly associated with the line - the LNER J21!

In the next post we'll bring you up to date on progress..........................................