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It's a fascinating location. The Wolverhampton Club, of which I'm a member, was seriously considering doing it as a club/exhibition layout a good while back.The idea foundered because of the time it was going to take to build enough Bulleid pacifics and other SR locos (plus green coaching stock) to stock it. If only we were to tackle it now, how much easier it would be with all the RTR stuff now available!!

 

You've obviously made a seriously good start, so well done and I look forward to seeing further posts on your progress.

 

Terry D

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That model of the Flyover looks fantastic ...............

 

I had the honour of being responsible for the track maintenance over (not under - that's Salisbury TME's job) the real thing back in the mid-late 2000's.

 

ISTR the section just London side of the Flyover down the renewed (2007) Worting S&C was of 1964 vintage F24 concrete sleeper 113A rail CWR still in service even that recently.

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That model of the Flyover looks fantastic ...............

 

I had the honour of being responsible for the track maintenance over (not under - that's Salisbury TME's job) the real thing back in the mid-late 2000's.

 

ISTR the section just London side of the Flyover down the renewed (2007) Worting S&C was of 1964 vintage F24 concrete sleeper 113A rail CWR still in service even that recently.

Funny

Edited by 71000
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Funny I just came across the piece of track you refer too, in a photo in the book "Waterloo to Southampton by steam". The photo appears to be taken from the first carriage window behind a Bulleid Pacific, as it passes over the bridge in late 1966. The photo is important to me, as it reveals the track over the bridge was ballasted concrete sleeper track, in 1966. I was sure that at that time the track was wooden sleeper track and fixed to the steel decking, with no ballast. I'm just about to lay the track over the bridge on my model, and as I don't have any concrete track, this delema has delayed track laying !      

The flyover has definitely always been ballasted and of standard track configuration. The use of concretes would have been perfectly acceptable if the correct depth of ballast was achieved beneath them but not compromising the structure clearance to the cross-members - in the early days of CWR this may not have been the case and concretes used anyway in that first CWR installation as mechanical track maintenance was in its infancy with timber replacement coming later.

 

Back in 2010, the 1964 concretes on the London end incline were suffering from heavily galled rail seats throughout and even re-padding wasn't preventing it being consistently Very Poor or even Super Red so was proposed for early renewal (I hope this will now have been done).

 

During my time there though the flyover was actually laid with timber sleepers (installed in 1995)

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That is quite an undertaking.

I have nothing to add, just making this thread have a little star next to it so I remember to look...

Zomboid,

Many thanks. I estimate another 21 months of work, 6 days a week, to get the boards built, track laid and wired, and some scenery complete !

71000  

Edited by 71000
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Terrific project, I will be following with interest.  

I travelled the Bournemouth line regularly during the 1970s "Blue period".

Cheers, Dave.

Dave,

Thanks a lot for your comments. 

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That H15 is excellent, looks like a relatively straight forward conversion too! Did you re-wheel or were you just happy to use the N15 ones?

Jack,

No I didn't change the wheels, as this would have led to other necessary changes such as the valve gear being altered. In fact altering the wheels leads to a Hornets nest of further problems which would end up requiring a totally new chassis, which would then render the bodyshell useless. The reason is that the driving wheel axle spacing is the same on the S15 & H15 but not on the King Arthur which had a 7 inch longer chassis. Even using the Hornby S15 with a wheel change would not have achieved that.

 

The options, were basically: A DJH kit and get it exactly correct visually, but suffer the problems of no motor powerful enough that will fit inside the model to haul 40 wagons up a 1 in 100 gradient. 

 

Or: Do what I have done and hack a Hornby King Arthur to produce a model that is convincing enough to pass as an H15, and get a decent powerful mechanism that I know can haul the necessary loads.         

Edited by 71000
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As I thought, it's a barely noticeable difference in 4mm. I think it's an excellent representation. I was also under the impression the smokbox door was slightly smaller or the boiler was bigger? Either way it really looks the part!

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