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About this blog

This blog complements my Pre-Grouping Blog by covering my modelling activities in the Broad Gauge era of the Great Western Railway.  As with the earlier blog, I intend to cover the various methods by which I construct elements of the Broad Gauge scene.  For more background see https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/17705-a-different-type-of-railway/

 

Entries in this blog

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Paddington Station 1840

Brunel’s great arched roof is to many people the epitome of Paddington Station but this was not built until 1854. The passengers who first travelled on the line from Paddington to Maidenhead, which opened on 4th June 1838, started their journey from a far less imposing structure – little more than a collection of wooden sheds.   A London terminus for the GWR was needed in a hurry, after negotiations with the London & Birmingham Railway for a joint terminus at Euston broke down. Wit
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A Matter of Colour

I’m currently pondering what colour I should use for the body of my Broad Gauge ‘Rob Roy’.  References to the colour originally used on Broad Engines declare it to have been ‘Holly Green’ but opinions differ on what shade that name represents.   According to Christopher Awdry’s book: ‘Brunel’s Broad Gauge Railway’, the Boiler Cladding was ‘Holly Green (Dark Blue/Green)’ until 1881, after which ‘Chrome Green’ was adopted. (he quotes the Broad Gauge Society as the source of this informat
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Broad Gauge Mail Coach - part 3 (research)

Much of what we now accept as standard railway practice was actually developed towards the end of the 19th century, so that it is easy to forget that there was a long period of evolution, before the 'norms' with which we are so familiar became established. Whereas we have plenty of photographs to guide our perceptions of the later years of the century, our 'picture' of the earlier years remains much hazier, so it is easy to lose sight of the many major changes that occurred.   For exam
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Creating a Pantechnicon

Even after a long career in research, I am still frequently surprised by the new information that emerges from small beginnings!   After completing my Britzka model, I placed it on my BG carriage truck model for some photos. The Britzka was rather a tight fit between the truck rails, so I went back to Eddy’s Data Sheets from the Broad Gauge Society (BGS) to check the dimensions. It turned out that it is my carriage at fault and I shall revise my model to make it a little narrower (easy
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Building 'Tantalus' - Part Three

At the end of the previous Part, I wrote that I intended to turn my attention to the chassis. Before that, I had broken off from work on the chassis, to give some thought to the problems posed by the curved splashers over the driving wheels.   Now that I have proven the technique of ‘hybrid’ construction, combining traditional etched brass model-making with 3D-printing, I’ve decided to pursue similar methods for the chassis. For wheels, I recovered a spare set from a ‘Mainline’ Dean Go
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A Missing Link?

In my last few posts, I’ve been delving into the almost lost world of the early days of the GWR broad gauge. I notice that my previous post aroused little comment so, perhaps, I have moved rather too far from what most people think of as ‘railway modelling’ - but I do like using models as a way of improving our understanding of these early engines.  I do appreciate the various 'likes' that many of you have given me.   Before I move back into more familiar territory, there is one more p
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Cautionary Tales

Accuracy of Drawings   In an earlier post, I wrote: “I used the same method that I described in my previous post to extrude the saddle tank from a drawing – this time a pencil sketch by F.J.Roche, reproduced in the ‘Broadsheet’ article. This drawing was useful for the front elevation but I feel the drawing in Mike Sharman’s compilation by the Oakwood Press is more dependable for the side elevation.”   Some recent correspondence within the Broad Gauge Society (BGS) e-group sug
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What big wheels you’ve got!

I reached something of an impasse at the end of my previous entry in this blog. Lots of problems to be addressed but no clear routes to solutions.   Possibly the most striking feature of the ‘Waverley’ class 4-4-0s was their wholly-exposed coupled driving wheels. I therefore felt strongly that this was an aspect that my model had to capture. Unfortunately, there seems to be no commercial source of 24 spoke, 7 foot-diameter driving wheels and, while I fantasised a little about building
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Pearson 4-2-4T – Part Two

In Part One , I wrote that “this engine had several very unusual features” and, in regard to building a model, “I had to start somewhere and, with so many peculiarities, it was hard to choose. As a ‘gentle introduction’, I decided to start with the two bogies.”   I intend to continue, as far as possible, to follow a line of ‘least resistance’ but before going any further, I collected as much potentially useful information , photos, and drawings as I could.   In his book
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Aeolus Valve Gear

Interpreting the Valve Motion   At the end of my previous post, I commented on the surprising layout of the valve gear, as shown on the Lane sketches. The Works drawing of the engine, as originally designed, shows a more usual arrangement, with the weigh-bar placed under the boiler behind the smokebox.   Following further research, however, I have re-interpreted the drawings of Aeolus by E.T. Lane and have, therefore, revised this post on 16th April.   According to
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A Year in Retrospect

Last year, as 2020 drew towards its close and we prepared for the holiday season, I showed a collection of my North Leigh engines ‘on shed’. I think that, at that time, we were all hoping that the difficulties caused by Covid would soon be over. Sadly, as another year draws to its close, we are still in a period of uncertainty, waiting to learn what sort of threat the latest variant may pose.   Whatever else has happened, I have found plenty of time to practise my modelling abilities w
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Easy-Peasy Carriage Build

Easy-Peasy Carriage Build or ‘How to build a carriage with no drawing, no measuring, and little time’   One of the vehicles I wanted to add to my collection for use with my ‘Firefly’-class locomotive was the early type of 6-wheel ‘open’ 2nd-class carriage. There is a full-size replica at Didcot Railway Centre, as shown below:   Didcot Railway Centre – Replica ‘Fire Fly’ and train   At first glance, those panelled sides might look to be a modeller’s nightmare but 3D
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One Step on a Broad Road

After spending a long time reading and thinking about Brunel's broad gauge railway, I knew I had to make a start somewhere. The thought of plunging straight into a layout was proving too daunting so, I decided to buy a display case of the type sold by Antics models This case has a plain wooden base, measuring about 330mm x 80mm, onto which I could build a short length of broad-gauge (BG) track.   I wanted to build my track base using materials and techniques that mirror the original co
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Simple Carriage Build

As a diversion from the problems I am experiencing in completing my Waverley-class 4-4-0, I have put together a Broad Gauge carriage body, using photo-printed sides.   I have previously described making various standard-gauge coaches by using my Silhouette cutter to cut out several layers, some of which I pre-printed from photographs of actual coaches. I gradually refined and simplified my methods, resulting in the construction of an early Passenger Brake Van (PBV), which I built back
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Gooch Goods – line of development

Following my recent post about research into the ‘Fire Fly’ class engines, @Mikkel remarked “I was wondering when and why Gooch abandoned the Haycock firebox for his own round topped version, e.g. on the Pyracmon class.” my model of ‘Tantalus’   It reminded me that, when I was preparing my model of ‘Tantalus’, one of Gooch’s ‘Standard Goods’ engines, I had collected together a number of drawings by G F Bird of various engines from this class and its immediate predecessors.
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Brunel's Britzka

It’s some time since I modelled horse drawn vehicles but recent discussion on @Mikkel's blog raised my interest in the subject again.  In Janet Russell’s book: ‘Great Western Horse Power’, there is a photograph of the Britzka carriage in which Brunel travelled while surveying the route of his planned Great Western Railway.       This vehicle caught my imagination and the first question it raised was: “what on earth was a Britzka?”. The question led me to research many l
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Open-top Cattle Wagon

Whoo-hoo  – I seem to be getting the hang of 3D modelling, at least for simple shapes like carriages and wagons.  Whereas I had some infuriating moments when designing my first cattle wagon model, its open-top cousin has proceeded with scarcely a hitch.   I decided to follow exactly the same procedure that I used for my first wagon : floor and ends as one ‘body’ and individual sides as two separate ‘bodies’. After printing these separately, I used a soldering iron, set to 200°C, to ‘we
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Modelling the Broad Gauge ‘Eagle’

Over the summer, I had little time for modelling, although I did continue with my reading, especially about the early engines of the GWR. Although these have been widely dismissed as ‘freaks’, this term only really applied to a very few examples and most were simply too small, because the manufacturers were attempting to meet Brunel's weight specifications, which were virtually impossible.   At that time in the late 1830s, locomotive design was still in its infancy but a few manufactur
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An 1850s Broad Gauge Tilt Wagon

The ‘tilt wagon’ seems to have been a popular design in early broad gauge (BG) history but I hadn’t got round to building a model before now. A very few of these wagons were converted to standard gauge and I did model one of those back in 2014, regarding it as an interesting curiosity!   In the early days, it seems that most goods (and 3rd class passengers) were carried in open wagons but a growing need for weather protection led to the addition of canvas covers, known as ‘tilts’ (from
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My Atmospheric Caper - Part 1

Introduction   Having worked my way back to the very beginnings of the GWR, it’s been hard to think of where to go next. I’ve enjoyed exploring those odd-ball engines that Brunel ordered for his new concept of a railway, even though they proved to be disastrously undersized. Nevertheless, several of them had quite long lives as branch-line engines.   I do enjoy ‘bringing to life’ forgotten areas of railway history and, for the broad gauge, the ultimate in odd-ball ideas was,
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Broad-brush Planning

One thing leads to another ... back in 2013, I started a blog to cover my growing interest in 19th -century railway models. Since I chose to model the GWR, this inevitably brought me onto a collision course with the Broad Gauge. At first, I thought of this system as something that was only associated with the 'primitive' stage of railway development. It was something of a surprise to realise that broad-gauge trains ran almost until the end of the century: the 'last gasp' being in 1892. As I have
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A Coal Wagon for Bullo Pill

When I started to build my model of one the Broad Gauge ‘Bogie-class’ engines, it was purely on a whim, because I was attracted by their jolie-laide appearance. At that time, I thought they were South Devon engines, generally confined to the West Country.   I had brought my model close to completion when some further research revealed that they were also familiar engines in the Bullo Pill area, which was exactly where I had started my Broad Gauge modelling!   My model of
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GWR Luggage Box

Following my recent series about modelling the GWR Posting Carriage,  @Mikkel asked “But where did the luggage go? Next project?”.   In response, here is my next project!   In the early years, the GWR addressed the need to transport passengers’ luggage by providing separate ‘luggage boxes’ – and it seems that Victorians always travelled with a very large amount of luggage! It should be remembered that, at that time, passengers’ ‘luggage’ might also include their personal carr
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3D-Printed Cattle Wagon - 1

As I wrote in the previous post, I found plenty of inspiration from my research into Broad Gauge cattle wagons. It gave me the impetus to move straight on with the design of a 3D-printed model.   Whereas I created my 3D printed carriages by extruding the carriage from one end, I felt that the sides of these wagons might be better printed while lying flat on the printer bed. This would mean assembling the wagon from separate parts for the sides and ends, mounted on a rectangular base, r
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Pearson’s 4-2-4T – Part One

In a comment on my previous post @Mikkel wrote “I never know what's next on your blog Mike”. Actually, I feel much the same – I never know where a whim will take me next!   A week ago, the thought of a Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) engine was nowhere in my mind and then @Annie posted some splendid photos of Pearson’s magnificent 4-2-4 Broad Gauge tank engines.   B&ER No.42 4-2-4T designed by James Pearson   It wouldn’t be true to say these engines hav
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