Traffic & Trains Part One – Hintock Traffic Flow with Diagram

3329 Model Raiway Traffic Flow on Hintock Branch

3329 Afternoon passenger train with the ‘Grimbsy fish’ van attached arrives in the platform at Hintock whilst in the loop a goods train waits to depart. In the background is the Crown Prince Brewery.

Model railway traffic flow on the Hintock Branch makes the layout interesting and provides the scope for its operation; without it there would be no sense of purpose in the running of trains. This section describes it in some detail. Again as much as anything it requires some careful thought and use of the imagination.

Situated where it is, Hintock acts as the focal point for the inward and outward passenger and goods traffic to the Vale. It is busy because the railways were a common carrier and it was the primary mover in the 1930’s. (That is before the motor lorry and private car supplanted it.) [Continue Reading…]

Traffic & Trains Part Two – Model Railway Freight Operation

3576 Model railway frieght operation

3576 To the left is Hintock Dairies creamery and to it the arriving mixed train is bringing empty milk tanks. In the background are the ‘East’ sidings.

Building trains to move from one place to another is a key part of model railway freight operation. Hintock present many opportunities with milk and dairy products from Hintock Dairies providing traffic. Milk is collected all around Hintock for processing at the Dairy and dispatch by rail in milk tanks to London (by the SR), and to the Midlands (by the GWR.) It also dispatches butter, dried and powdered milk in fitted ventilated vans. This requires one train every day with tanks and vans that run alternately to Vauxhall, London or Wolverhampton. The Up train collects further milk in churns from intervening stations. [Continue Reading…]