Mikes Micros

Local History

Once located in Netherton, was a firm of chain makers Noah Hingley & Sons, which was famous for making the anchors for the ill-fated Titanic. The works were set up by Noah Hingley in 1837 on the banks of the Dudley No. 2 canal. Anchor manufacture commenced in 1848 and the works were extended in 1852. The main anchor for the Titanic weighed fifteen and a half tons and, on completion, was hauled from the factory to the rail head at Dudley Port by 20 shire horses owned by a local ostler called Edward Newman. Hingleys also produced anchors for the Lusitania and a number of other ocean liners. A replica of the anchor now stands on the old marketplace. Hingleys' success in international markets and their use of the Netherton name for their trademarked wrought iron products (e.g. Netherton Crown Special Best Iron) caused the name of Netherton to be known more widely both in the UK and overseas. A sculpture of an anchor stands at the junction of Castleton Street and Halesowen Road commemorating the local anchor and chain industry and the anchor motif can be found in a number of places around Netherton (e.g. on the metal park benches in Netherton Park). Immediately adjacent to the works of N. Hingley & Sons on the Dudley No. 2 canal was Lloyds Proving House where chain was subjected to a variety of tests to show it was of suitable quality.

The Model

The main focus of the layout is the buildings, caricatures of Lloyds Proving  House , Noah Hingleys including the transhipment shed and a Black Country Pub The Round of Beef. Perhaps the most notable building is a version of the Crossing Keepers/Signal Cabin that was situated on the Holy Bank and Hilton Main Colliery Railway. Although nowhere near the Saltwells Branch it is such a unique building I just had to incorporate it the overall scheme.

The actual line of the Saltwells Branch passed near to the confluence of the Tipsyford Brook and the Black Brook - the Saltwells Spa although by the 1930's the bath had been swept away by Severn Trent to make way for the Earls Muck Works used for processing slag (this will be modelled as a bridging section between Reely Grate and Primrose End).  I've bent, massaged and altered so much of the local history and places that I ought to try and get something almost right.However, on the down side, in this case not a railway term, I have discovered that the photos showing a transhipment shed in Primrose Basin is not in fact part of the Earls railway. The Earls Basin, Primrose 2, had no railway connection, oh well as they say (whoever they are) rule 1 applies- it’s my railway.

The buildings are constructed from 2mm Lite-ply skinned with embossed plastic-card. The baseboard is built from good quality 3x1 framework with a 6mm ply top all glued and screwed. The traverser slides on ball bearing runners. The trackplan is a mirror image of Reely Grate and whilst the layout has been designed as a standalone it will couple to Reely via the fixed head shunt to give an end to end configuration, a sort of micro modular approach.

The track is again code 100 flat bottom rail soldered on copper-clad sleepers the single point being 34" radius, ferrite permanent magnets are set at suitable locations to operate the auto couplings.