My previous post in this series about modelling early GWR coaches ended with the comment: " All that remains is to try and establish some dimensions and start cutting."
Since there are several good side-on photographs of these early coaches, it is only necessary to establish one firm measurement and then scale all the other dimensions to this known 'yardstick'.
Rather perversely, I have decided to model a different coach from those I illustrated in the previous post I was looking at a p
Since my previous entry, I've been spending some time thinking about possible coaches to model for my North Leigh branch. I have found that information rapidly becomes much more sparse, as one delves earlier into the Victorian period
There's an additional twist, in the case of GWR coaches, in that the early GWR was a broad gauge railway and the earliest narrow (i.e. standard) gauge stock only came into the company as a result of acquisitions. There was a long, depressed period, when the comp
The 4mm 'Ratio' kits of GWR 4-wheel coaches have long been popular and probably provided an introduction to kit-building for a great many modellers. The moulds have been re-furbished and they continue to be available at an attractively low price. There's also a lot of useful prototype and construction information in an article by Mikkel at http://www.gwr.org.uk/proratio.html
I built several of these coaches back in the 1980s but now I want to add a little more variety into my late 19th-centu
For the last couple of weeks, I have been dealing with various track issues and tidying up bits of scenery, none of which makes for very interesting blog writing! I noticed, however, in Mikkel's workshop thread some comments about Witney blanket trains, which reminded me of a photo that I had seen of a GWR 'Queen' class 2-2-2 heading such a train. This seems a rather unlikely combination but I eventually tracked the photo down to Colin Maggs' book "The Branch Lines of Oxfordshire" (Amberley, 201
I have mentioned in some recent posts that I intended to work on the scenery of my layout and, in the course of doing that, I found some problems with the narrow-gauge track, where it climbs from the station area, up over the main line towards the quarries.
What followed has been a frustrating few days, when my little railway has been showing its age! I suppose it is hardly surprising that some of the track is giving problems, as it was first laid in 1979.
Th
(the following explanation is intended to help any new readers to find their way around this blog)
Since I started this blog in 2013, I have used it as a diary to record my progress in creating a Victorian GWR branch line. Since the blog follows the meanderings of my mind, it has no real structure and this 'introduction' is, therefore, an attempt to help a new reader to find his/her way around.
There are two main strands: firstly, the documenting of my exploration of the
In my previous entry, I 'mocked up' photos of various styles of roof that I could apply to some of the existing buildings on my layout. My aim was to re-create the appearance of traditional Cotswold roofs, such as would be found in the countryside around North Leigh.
Houses in Snowshill, Glos
That initial survey led to me replacing the roof on one my buildings with plastic sheet cut from the Wills 'dressed stone' pack (SSMP202). The sheet replicated the way in which the stone courses a
I've been spending some time thinking about scenery and how to make my simple scenes more appropriate for 19th-century England.
As I have described in earlier posts, my layout started life as a 'kiddie' layout, to interest my then small son. Many of the buildings are from very old kits and include several Faller buildings which, while very nicely detailed, have decidedly non-English appearance. For example, this is the workshop associated with the quarry on the narrow-gauge (009) section of
Last Saturday I visited my local model railway exhibition - AbRail 2015. I was looking for ideas on scenery and there was a good number of interesting layouts. Several featured canals and water and, of these, I particularly enjoyed the 'Aldford Brewery' (Wimbledon MRC) and the canal-side inn at 'Mulldale' (Letchworth MRC).
I also thought that there were some impressive trees alongside 'The Abingdon Branch'. Initially I thought 'Highclere' (Julia Adams) looked rat
I know that this is a model railways website but I also have no doubt that many people visit because they enjoy looking at the photos of other people's layouts. Thus, it is inevitable that photography plays an important part in communicating what we are doing. There are lots of excellent photos on this website but I thought that it might be of some interest to show some of the techniques I use when photographing my small layout.
The word 'photography' is derived from two Greek words
When I decided to base my layout around the never-built line to Witney through North Leigh, it was simply a whim, derived from a map shown on Martin Loader's website about the Fairford branch.
As I have got 'drawn in' to the scenario, I have begun to learn more about the area and have found, to my surprise, that some of my 'fiction' is closer to the truth than I thought. My layout incorporates several 'features', including a quarry, saw-mill, and.lime kilns.
From s
I've read that some people like blog posts to be fairly substantial, so I'll include a resumé, in this post, of the story so far, before showing photos of my model of GWR No. 184. There are more details in the earlier posts in this series.
Background
I chose this prototype since it was one of the first standard-gauge engines to run on the GWR, following the absorption of the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway (otherwise known as the 'Old Worse and Worse'). No.18
After completing the main structure of No.184, I have been adding a number of rather awkward parts, in order to complete the 'brasswork'. This is the last chance to show the model, before adulterating it with white metal and plastic components, and then seeing everything disappear under a coat of grey primer!
The fitting of these additional parts is difficult on a locomotiive with lots of flowing curves that are hard to measure accurately. My method has been to make paper templates, cut out
Here we go again into a New Year, to meet a new set of challenges and opportunities! I find that I have to be in the right 'mood' for scratch-building and it certainly cannot be rushed. Before Christmas, I had too many other things on my mind and, as a result, my first tasks this year have involved dismantling much of what I had done on GWR No.184 and re-doing it, to what I hope is a better standard!
There is no doubt that 'rolling your own' makes you appreciate how much effort most kit-desi
I had hoped to have moved a lot further with No.184 but, unfortunately, have made a very elementary mistake! I knew that one of the problems with 00-gauge is that it is, in fact, a narrow gauge, with implications for fitting the boiler, etc., between the wheels. I think this had lulled me into a false sense of security with the outer dimensions, but these do become rather important in the case of an outside-framed locomotive with outside cranks! I 'got away with it' on my earlier scratch-built '
I have written before in this blog about the Wilcote family, whose activities formed such a large part of the social life of North Leigh in the late 19th-century. Any regular readers will know a little about the younger daughter, Blanche, but her sister, Amy, was a far more serious character.
Like any well-educated young lady of the period, Amy enjoyed practising her artistic accomplishments. Remarkably, some of her work has survived and come into my possession, so I am fortunate to
Although this may seem a short post, it represents a very big step for me! I had been seriously concerned that I would not be able to construct a chassis with sufficiently well-aligned axles, within the constraints of my own abilities and my lack of any real workshop facilities - just a desk and Dremel drill on a stand.
My work-desk
When one builds a kit, the designer has already made lots of difficult decisions for you. A scratch-builder has to think out eve
I feel it is time for an update on progress with my model of GWR No.184. After a rather static period, when I did little actual modelling but thought quite a lot about the details of this engine, I have at last been cutting metal.
In fact, apart from the fact that it is now made of brass, I have made few changes to my initial paper template. My method of construction followed that used on my first scratch-built model (GWR 'Queen'-class - described in Railway Modeller July 2014). In s
Time flies! Back in August, I wrote about the 'DCC Concepts' oil lamps that I had installed on the platform at North Leigh. Various events have conspired to limit my modelling activities of late, but I have finally got around to wiring up these lamps.
The enamelled copper wires attached to the lamps are extremely fine, so I mounted small printed circuit boards carrying block connectors, onto which I soldered these wires. This proved a rather cruel test of my eyesight since, although
Being somewhat of a back-water in railway history, the Witney branch via North Leigh became home to many unusual vehicles, rarely seen elsewhere. I have already shown the standard-gauge Tilt Wagon ('Hat Box') but a particular claim to fame for this line was that it became the 'stamping ground' for William Dean's experimental 4-2-4 express tank engine, shown below entering North Leigh station.
William Dean's e
Part 4 already, and I've not actually touched any metal yet! My thanks to all who have given encouragement by their 'Likes' and a warning not to expect any 'model engineering' in this thread - it's more like cut-out scrap-booking - but I enjoy it and it might lead to a working model.
Since my last post, I've re-visited the cab area, so that it can accommodate the rear pair of drivers. On my paper model, I've cut slots in the front of the cab and floor, to allow for the 14.4mm back-to
I've re-titled this thread, so that it doesn't read as though I'm building a whole fleet of engines - one at a time is enough for me!
My first attempt at scratch building was a 'Queen'-class 2-2-2. I chose it on the grounds of simplicity, since building an uncoupled 2-2-2 is little different from building a wagon. My first step was to draw the constituent parts and then cut these out as a series of paper templates, so that I could check the fit of the parts and explore different asse
My first post in this series described how I produced a working drawing for a model of GWR No.184. Now, it's time to consider the tender and, for this, information is less readily available. Wet and windy weather has kept me indoors, so that progress has been rather quicker than I had anticipated.
The various photographs of No.184 show it partnered with a variety of different tenders, so I decided to try to model the tender shown together with its 1893 re-build. I have not found a br
Since reading Part Three of the RCTS "Locomotives of the Great Western Railway" series, I have become fascinated by the first standard-gauge locomotives to run on the GWR. I shared some of my findings in a forum thread - now updated at https://www.rmweb.co.uk/blogs/entry/26175-early-gwr-absorbed-engines/
My interest has gradually become focused on GWR No.184, which was built by E.B.Wilson and Company for the Oxford, Worcester, & Wolverhampton Railway in 1853. It was photographed
I have written before in this blog about the convenience of using tender-drive for small 19th century locomotives, especially for 'single wheelers'.
In my earlier post, I described the conversion of two types of tender kit, both of which represented Dean 3000 gallon tenders. Since then, I've read 'GWR Tenders and all that' in drduncan's blog, which, amongst many other useful insights, showed the close similarity between Dean's 2500 gallon and 3000 gallon designs. He also comments on
