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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

General

Splashers!

This is a lengthy post, containing a lot of detail about the methods I devised. When I started to write it, I realised that I had already forgotten some of the steps, so I have made this detailed description as a support to my own memory!   From the very start of my plan to construct a model of a Broad Gauge ‘Waverley’ class locomotive, I realised that those bicycle-like splashers were going to be difficult! They are a very prominent part of the locomotive and fit closely around the ri
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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General

More Waverley Thoughts

Over two months have passed since I last wrote about my attempts to build a model of a Waverley-class 4-4-0. To re-cap, I have built a boiler, by using the Broad Gauge Society (BGS) kit for a Gooch Standard Goods, and have cut out some inside frames from card, to carry 24-spoke driving wheels taken from a Tri-ang ‘Lord of the Isles’ model. After putting these parts together, rather roughly, I felt that I had achieved an approximation to the appearance of the prototype.   As I continued
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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Six-wheel Luggage Van - 1861

One of the vehicles I need for my planned 1868 Mail Train is a Luggage Van, which was the last vehicle in the train that was involved in the Bullo Pill accident.   When I noticed that the Broad Gauge Society (BGS) has launched a new series of laser-cut plastic kits, which included an early luggage van, I thought it would be interesting to try building one. As readers of my blog will know, I like to scratch-build as much as possible but there is always a lot to be learned from building
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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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
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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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
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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Next Stage – Making Rolls

In the previous entry, I described my approach to making sandwich frames. While that was only a small part of building a chassis, I decided to change tack and have a look at how the ‘super-structure’ of the Broad Gauge kit goes together. As I have mentioned before, I am considering how the boiler in this BGS kit for the Gooch Standard Goods might be used to create a model of the ‘Waverley’ class 4-4-0.   To put it mildly, the instructions with the kit are somewhat terse in their descri
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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Planning a Mail Train

Having ‘cracked’ the main problems with building my Mail Coach, I have started thinking about the other vehicles that made up that ill-fated train. According to the accident report, the engine ‘Rob Roy’ was pulling three passenger carriages, and a luggage van. It is stated that the leading carriage had a break compartment in it, and that the third carriage, which was the mail carriage, also carried a guard.   This leaves me trying to decide what the other carriages might have been. A M
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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Broad Gauge Mail Coach - part 5

My progress, since the previous post in this series, has been slower than anticipated, mainly because of the need to build a chassis that deviated from that intended for the BGS kit. I also took a few false turns, which led to a significant amount of re-work.   In the comments following my first post about this coach, I said that I prefer scratch building to kits. I suppose what I really meant is that I like to do things my own way. The down side of the scratch building approach is tha
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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Broad Gauge Mail Coach - part 4

I’ve been spending quite a lot of time thinking about undergear for my Mail Coach. Apart from building a kit for an N6 Horse Box, which included fairly detailed brake gear, this is an aspect I have tended to ignore in most of my scratch-built models.   I have described myself as an ‘impressionist’ modeller but, somehow, now that I am exploring the Broad Gauge and an earlier period, I feel a certain responsibility to try to be more historically accurate.   The Broad Gauge Soci
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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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MikeOxon in General

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Broad Gauge Mail Coach - part 2

My previous post in this series ended on a 'cliff-hanger' – how was I to escape from the 'hinge' problem?   After a little thought, the solution proved very simple. I used my jewellers' snips to cut a 1mm strip from the edge of some brass sheet and then folded the strip to make three staples, which pressed into the slots on the adjacent compartment doors. It was fortunate that the doors were hung 'back to back' so that the staples could be kept quite short.   I did discover a
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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Broad Gauge Mail Coach - part 1

In my first post in this blog, I explained that the inspiration behind my exploration of the Broad Gauge was the discovery, when researching family history, that during the 1860s, my wife's great-grandfather worked for the GWR on the South Wales line at Bullo Pill.   During his time there, there was a serious accident in 1868, south of the station, when the 5 pm fast Mail train from New Milford ran into the back of a special cattle train, making its way laboriously from Carmarthen to G
MikeOxon

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Broad Gauge at Didcot

A visit to Didcot Railway Centre is always good, when in need of a little inspiration!   In this case, I was invited along to help introduce my grandson to the delights of steam trains. At 3 months age, he seemed to enjoy a ride in the steam railmotor but was not too sure about the joggling over points.   Meanwhile, I slipped away for a look around the Transfer Shed, where various Broad Gauge replicas are stored. Outside the shed, a length of broad-gauge track shows the detai
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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
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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Finding some details

I visited the Forest of Dean recently to see the site of the Bullo Pill accident and to try and unearth more information about the area. The 'Gage Library' at the Dean Heritage Centre in Soudley holds a large number of maps and books, with staff who are very willing to help.   I have already posted one of my photos of Cockshoot Bridge, close to the accident site and couldn't help thinking that there was a resemblance between the modern LED signal and a Brunel 'disk and crossbar' signal
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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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
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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