Today saw my first trip to the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway for several months, in fact the last time I was there I was the first person to remove and exhibit from the old 'Rails to the Sands' exhibition in the craft units when 'Shifting Sands' returned home. I was intrigued to see what the re-use of much of the display material in Griffin Hall at Lakeside station would look like. I had many personal connections to the original exhibition having painted sections of the structures and other smaller tasks....
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| 'Mighty Atom', Bassett-Lowke no. 11 of 1908 is a display centrepiece. This loco ran at Southport and Great Yarmouth so has genuine seaside links, alongside it's place in the Sutton Coldfield collection. |
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| The ticket office transported from over the road, I'm told a TV is due to go in the opening very soon. The lifering that was cosmetically back-dated using 'mod-roc' on our old kitchen table looks a little tired, I do have the paint somewhere if anyone wants to touch in the chips.... |
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| 'Blacolvesley' (L), Bassett-Lowke, 1909, veteran of Saltburn and Seaburn as well as Blakesley Hall, and currently out of traffic 'Sutton Belle' (R). |
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| SMR no.4, the canopy over the doorway has recycled from the old display in the craft units with some adjustment. |
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| The Triang-Minic locomotive. When the original display was set up my modelling skills were put to use cleaning up and spray painting the reproduction arrows it carries. |
Whilst there is no doubt more to do to enhance the exhibition, the inclusion of the 'Rails to the Sands' material has enhanced the offer in Griffin Hall no end. In fact, the only thing missing appear to be my sandcastles...
Of course the longest-term resident in Griffin Hall is the SMR 'Loco Coal' wagon, inspiration for one of my recent models. I now have a good, clear picture of it (I should have moved the bin...):
My model is definately an 'inspired by' one, having now seen several details in close-up a lot has become clearer, for example the how the end door hinges actually form the door retaining system:
Outside 'Mountaineer' and the GCR 'ROD' O4 were in operation, however I was keen to see the latest arrival at the CCLR, the rather interesting remains of the Les Anderson (of Minirail fame) RapidoRail articulated railcar set, a long-term restoration job no doubt!
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| RapidoRail railcar ex-Flamingoland, Dudley Zoo, Rhyl and long-term storage. |
Interesting post- its quite sad seeing the remains of the railcar... I've a picture somewhere of me and my sisters sat in it at Dudley Zoo, not long before it was removed from there and the line scrapped altogether. Would be nice to see it restored at some point :)
ReplyDeleteSince this post was written the railcar set moved on from Cleethorpes to Haigh Hall. The front end is certainly being restored but I believe the end result will be a little different to the original concept. There are occasional glimpses ofor their projects on their Facebook page.
ReplyDeleteColin