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Wadebridge Signal Box


Bernard Lamb

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Thanks for the snapshot - It's all I've got till mine turns up in the postsmile.gif It looks good - however when it arrives I will then own over a dozen RTP signal boxes. I can see a whole new line of collecting begining to develop as the older boxes get retired in favour of the new stuff that properly belongs somewhere on the SR.

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Wadebridge signal box arrived here a few days ago and it's a lovely little item. Perfectly ready to plonk for those who want instant scenery and equally at home after a few deft touches of the pen and paintbrush. Placed with a couple of SR locos alongside it looked just right.

 

The "matching" Beattie well tanks are expected late in the year so what next from Kernow I wonder?

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Thanks for the snapshot - It's all I've got till mine turns up in the postsmile.gif It looks good - however when it arrives I will then own over a dozen RTP signal boxes. I can see a whole new line of collecting begining to develop as the older boxes get retired in favour of the new stuff that properly belongs somewhere on the SR.

 

Glad im not the only one who likes collecting boxes;)

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Wadebridge signal box arrived here a few days ago and it's a lovely little item. Perfectly ready to plonk for those who want instant scenery and equally at home after a few deft touches of the pen and paintbrush. Placed with a couple of SR locos alongside it looked just right.

 

The "matching" Beattie well tanks are expected late in the year so what next from Kernow I wonder?

 

 

That's where the problems start. Do I go ahead on adapting it for pastures new in the north or keep it to pose the Beatie alongside. Or do I get another one?

Bernard

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Guest Max Stafford

This tasty little number arrived from Kernow today.

Some will call it sacrilege but it will be the base for an NBR box.

Bernard

 

That's exactly what I have in mind for mine too, Bernard. I think you'll have started yours before me though, so I'll be watching and learning! :)

One thing I'll be interested to see is what you do about the stonework. I understand that all the NB boxes were brick built, although I'd be interested to know of any exceptions. Some boxes did receive a coat of rendering where they were exposed to extreme weather. Riccarton South was certainly treated so.

 

Dave.

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There is one rainwater downpipe on the model, on the back wall near the entrance. That is exactly the same as the real thing had. Quite where the water went which fell on the small porch roof which was serviced by its own short length of spouting is anyone's guess .....

 

The apparent lack of rainwater goods was queried somewhere in here before, when the model was first announced I believe, and has been proven to be correct with reference to photos of the original.

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Like T9s, and the real Wadebridge, one is not enough.

 

Full marks to the sponsor (usual disclaimer) for making it happen. I can only add that we need LSWR Station Buildings, Platform Shelters, Goods Sheds, Overbridges and much else. If this first venture sells well, perhaps more will follow. Like a BWT in WW2 black.

 

PB

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Like T9s, and the real Wadebridge, one is not enough.

 

Full marks to the sponsor (usual disclaimer) for making it happen. I can only add that we need LSWR Station Buildings, Platform Shelters, Goods Sheds, Overbridges and much else. If this first venture sells well, perhaps more will follow. Like a BWT in WW2 black.

 

PB

 

Seconded and seconded!cool.gif Lets hope it begins a trend.

It will keep them busy packing down there in Cornwall if it does...

I believe the Wadebridge SB attracted over 1000 pre-orders...

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Not being totally sure on this one, but how correct is the brick-work in relation to the prototype on this box? I'm not entirely sure but shouldn't it look more like this one below? I'm not trying to stir up a hornets' nest, but I'm curious to check that it is correct before I purchase one.

post-7376-12650504944921_thumb.jpg

This is my photograph of St. Merryn taken at Wells last year. Allowing for the bricked-up windows and the steps being on the other side, shouldn't the brick work be like this for the Bachmann model?

 

 

 

I'd be most interested to hear people's thoughts.

 

Regards,

 

Nick

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Not being totally sure on this one, but how correct is the brick-work in relation to the prototype on this box? I'm not entirely sure but shouldn't it look more like this one below?

 

Nick

 

I take it you mean the stone work? I don't know if it should be dressed stone as the box in your photo or the more rough cut version of the Bachmann model. For my use on an impoverished branch it's ideal. Colour wise Bachmann have used an almost identical shade to that used by Barry Norman on his cornish buildings. The only photo that I have to hand is of the box at Swanage. A different type, but the LSWR typical features seem to be depicted very accurately when viewed against this example.

Bernard

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One thing I'll be interested to see is what you do about the stonework. I understand that all the NB boxes were brick built, although I'd be interested to know of any exceptions. Some boxes did receive a coat of rendering where they were exposed to extreme weather. Riccarton South was certainly treated so.

 

Dave.

 

 

I was thinking more ex Border Counties Railway rather than pure NBR so the stone work will do for me.I will get round to it when I can finish some full size rendering on my house. This extreme weather has put my building work back by six weeks. It's been colder in Hertfordshire these last few weeks than at Riccarton.

Bernard

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but how correct is the brick-work in relation to the prototype on this box?

 

Just about spot on for moulding. That is the same Type 4 box with the design "reversed" from Wadebridge such that the entrance is on the right rather than the left when viewed front-on. On the Kernow model the moulding for the brick arch is there but is in grey and with no scribing for the actual bricks. It also has windows where St. Merryn has bricked-in apertures. As St. Merryn is a fictitious locality railway-wise there is nothing to say whether those bricks are correct or not since they never existed in reality.

 

It would not be hard to detail the Kernow model and apply mortar courses, gradation in the stone colour and actual brick arches over the lower windows. Just like weathering any RtR model really. At ??26.95 it's a good value item. St. Merryn looks to have achieved this well with prototypical colouring for the area. If we had expected another pass through the paint process for just two short runs of bricks that lifts the price. But for a superbly detailed, weathered and pinpoint accurate model then hand-built is very hard to beat. That sort of quality and individualism is seldom matched in the mass-produced market and if it were what then would be the cost of the item?

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This is my photograph of St. Merryn taken at Wells last year. Allowing for the bricked-up windows and the steps being on the other side, shouldn't the brick work be like this for the Bachmann model?

 

 

 

I'd be most interested to hear people's thoughts.

 

Regards,

 

Nick

 

I can't find a photo of the original box quickly, but judging by the other buildings at Wadebridge and the box at Padstow ( pre and post whitewashing) then the colouring should be as per St.Merryn and certainly not a uniform mid grey. The colours on the stones used in Wadebridge station range randomly light grey / dark grey /light brown / dark brown.

 

edit: and whilst I'm in rivet ( stone?) counter mode, the stones should be more or less rectangular rather than rounded, St. Merryn has that right as well.

 

 

edit 2: This photo of the main station building shows what NCR stonework looks like, mind you I am still assuming Wadebridge East was an NCR buidling not B&W,I'm 90% sure that's the case.

 

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Wadebridge_railway_station.jpg/300px-Wadebridge_railway_station.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadebridge_railway_station&usg=__cJ_jwm-moSmyGdSbGm6PBXrC7wA=&h=225&w=300&sz=17&hl=en&start=11&um=1&tbnid=LEFtmmAXbD5M8M:&tbnh=87&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwadebridge%2Bsignal%2Bbox%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

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I can't find a photo of the original box quickly, but judging by the other buildings at Wadebridge and the box at Padstow ( pre and post whitewashing) then the colouring should be as per St.Merryn and certainly not a uniform mid grey. The colours on the stones used in Wadebridge station range randomly light grey / dark grey /light brown / dark brown.

 

edit: and whilst I'm in rivet ( stone?) counter mode, the stones should be more or less rectangular rather than rounded, St. Merryn has that right as well.

 

 

edit 2: This photo of the main station building shows what NCR stonework looks like, mind you I am still assuming Wadebridge East was an NCR buidling not B&W,I'm 90% sure that's the case.

 

http://images.google...sa%3DN%26um%3D1

 

Thanks for that. I just thought it seemed to uniform in its appearance, one day I would like to do a similar style layout to St. Merryn and thought that I would try and detail the RTP (Ready to Plonk) building rather than build it myself, but I'm not convinced by the model's brick work and for me I will build my own box, rather than buy one.

 

Thanks for your input gentlemen.

 

Regards,

Nick

 

 

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Thanks for that. I just thought it seemed to uniform in its appearance, one day I would like to do a similar style layout to St. Merryn and thought that I would try and detail the RTP (Ready to Plonk) building rather than build it myself, but I'm not convinced by the model's brick work and for me I will build my own box, rather than buy one.

 

Thanks for your input gentlemen.

 

Regards,

Nick

 

Wadebridge East box is pictured on the cover of the Irwell Press "An Illustrated History of the North Cornwall Railway" and a few more places inside. My RTP model arrived the other day and dimensionally it looks very accurate of the type.

 

The main difference is the type of stone finish that Bachmann have chosen. I would agree that the St. Merryn stone work, which appears to use the Wills SSMP200 sheets, is a lot closer to the real Wadebridge box than that on the Bachmann model. In my opinion the stonework on the RTP is too small, flat and regular. It's almost as though the stonework has been scaled for 2mm/N gauge. Looking at photos also reveals that one of the lower windows should be bricked up and the should be a lean-to building on the RHS of the building. The later are small points which can be sorted by any serious modeller.

 

In summary i think that as a generic LSWR Type 4 the box is great, and will be used on many layouts, but as a model of the specific Wadebridge box, it misses the mark slightly. For the price I'd still recommend it though as it will enable modelling time and effort to be used elsewhere.

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This is my photograph of St. Merryn taken at Wells last year.

 

Regards,

 

Nick

 

Pardon my ignorance ( I don't hang around here as much as I used to ...) but whose/what layout is that box from? It's a cracking model of an NCR box and no mistake.

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Wadebridge East box is pictured on the cover of the Irwell Press "An Illustrated History of the North Cornwall Railway" and a few more places inside. My RTP model arrived the other day and dimensionally it looks very accurate of the type.

 

 

In summary i think that as a generic LSWR Type 4 the box is great, and will be used on many layouts, but as a model of the specific Wadebridge box, it misses the mark slightly. For the price I'd still recommend it though as it will enable modelling time and effort to be used elsewhere.

 

A good summary, I agree entirely, I was going to dig out the bumper book of the NCR to double check but you've saved me the time.

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Pardon my ignorance ( I don't hang around here as much as I used to ...) but whose/what layout is that box from? It's a cracking model of an NCR box and no mistake.

 

I think the scrath built box belongs to:

 

St Merryn (P4)

South London Group Scalefour Society

BR Southern Region in North Cornwall

 

Some photos here

 

And a few more here

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