Everybody wants close coupling and in recent years the main players in the trade have made improvements with this on coaches and some bogie wagons. Yet the humble 4-wheel wagon seems to have been left far behind. All my kit-built wagons are fitted with 3-link, but the rest mostly have the old tension-lock type. Now fitting 3-link to these is not always an easy job, due to the way they are moulded. So what can be done to make these close coupled, yet still go around my tightest radius, which happ
Since my last entry nothing has happened on Somercombe. Although time has been available in the evenings, torrential rain has put me off going out to the shed. My eight straight days at work has now turned into nine and sthough I have quite a late start tomorrow, car problems mean I have to go to the garage instead of working in the shed. Never mind. I have thursday off and hopefully saturday I will get annual leave granted and then I am not available this Sunday. However, I have not been totall
I am beginning to wonder whether to keep this blog up, or whether to go back to the old style and put it in layout topics. Personally I find the blogs a great way of updating progress and the latest are always at the top of the pile. But I don't seem to be getting as much feedback as before. Sure, people are reading it, but there is just not the comments there was before. And looking at other's blogs, it seems that this is the case across them all. I do enjoy reading other's comments and critici
Just been out and lopped those overhanging eaves from the Vollmer building, also cut back the roof at the gable. Looks much better. Another job done, is to make a start on the water tank to go on the roof of the main brewhouse. As I said earlier, this is made from the Will's vari girder pack. After working out the capacity, it may be rather large, but it does look in proportion to the rest of the building. Photos tomorrow with luck. But I do have to iron my uniform shirts and go back to work tom
Did a bit more on the brewery today. Had a look, with the aid of Google Earth, at some of the older breweries around the country and came to the conclusion that I needed a brewery yard. Not completely practical to have it surrounded by building where it was sited, so I am going for the layout in the pictures below. Another kit has been added, a Vollmer kit from an earlier layout. A little work to do on it, like a new roof and a lick or two of paint. The boiler house was removed and now resides a
Just a few pictures today.
Need to build a barrel store. This can just be 3 walls and a roof as it only needs too be an area where the barrels would be washed out prior to re-use. But after writing that I though, if I have it completely enclosed I wouldn't need to buy so many barrels
Decided to go with the Heljan kit as I think that the Metcalfe kit, while nice, would not dominate the area as many breweries do. Just look at Adnams in Southwold or Hall and Woodhouse in Blandford. Had a look at Georges Brewery (later Courage) or at least what's left of it, in Bristol today and this would have stood head and shoulders above the surrounding buildings when built.
Using left over parts from the kit, I have made up the loading bay that was seen in the last lot of photos, it is
About time too, I hear you say.
First up, we have the brewery kit.
Yes, it is a big kit. Bought it many years ago because I had a plan for it. And now, all these, years later I have a use for it.
The bridge is only resting in position, It will be level. And a loading bay between the main buildings.
I will be putting floors into the building to give it some strength and so it doesn't look like an empty shell. I have yet to decide on a name for it, but I have a few in mind: Starkey, Knig
I have come to the conclusion that the farm is in the wrong place. I did seem a bit odd being between the town and industry. Where the farm was will be a brewery. This will use the Heljan brewery kit with a few additions. The farm will move to the other side of Griffen & Fudge and now be on a sloping site. The existing farm buildings will find their way onto my next project and new ones built for Somercombe. I would still like to find room to put in some allotments for the railway staff and
Well, yesterday I had a bit of a running session. All of my loco's, apart from 3 non DCC ones, have been run in the last week. I was going to make up a tool cupboard for G&F, but it is hammering down at the moment and I really can't be bothered. I will be getting wet enough at work this afternoon, with trips to Avonmouth and Portsmouth Harbour. With a bit of luck, it will stop before tomorrow and I may then be a little more enthusiastic about going out to the shed.
I have decided that the engineering works at the far end of the private siding will be named Griffin & Fudge Ltd. An odd name you may think, but it is named after a real company in Bradford-on-Avon, that closed it's doors for the final time only a couple of months ago, after more than 50 years. My connection is that my late father was a personal friend and business customer and that my oldest friend has worked there for the best part of the last 20 years. So this is my little diorama named a
Knocked up a Dapol mineral wagon kit as a static for the coal merchant. Part loaded with a figure inside shovelling the load out.Thomas Muir's son perhaps.
Also looks like they have invested some money to help load coal sacks a bit easier.
I don't know the origin of these bits as they came in a box of stuff a friend was clearing out many years ago.
Mostly working actually. But I did spend a little time on Somercombe and now I have a week of annual leave starting tomorrow, I hope to get more done.
Firstly I purchased a granite pestle and mortar from Tesco for the princely sum of ??7. Then, in return for a helping hand, I got hold of a tubfull of fine coal from one of my neighbours. Some of this has been ground up and graded, first through a cheap metal tea-strainer to get the dust out, then through some 1mm mesh for something that can be u
A stranger on the ACE . Well CK assures me it ran over the S&D, so it could easily come this way
As today has been a rest day, I decided to do a little real modelling and build some signals. Using the Ratio kit for LNER lattice post signals, I built these.
You may think I have left the wires a bit on the long side, but they are only loosely in place. These will do for the meantime but will be replaced by MSE signals in the long term. As for making them work..................Not
Built my ground signals yesterday and got them painted up and fitted last night. For the position of them and the type I am very much indebted to Beast 66606 for his advice. These have been made using the Ratio kit. I still need to fit operating cables, but this will done when the main signals have been built and placed. The same goes for point rods.
Here we have the calling on signal at the exit to the yard.
Next we have the triple signal which controls the movement to the bay, down main
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Re: Somercombe. Burnt figers.
by JZ on Mon Sep 14, 2009 4:23 pm
Spent yesterday evening soldering up some benches and luggage trolleys. All from Langley, set 129a, LMS seating and trolleys. At this scale they look good enough for me. At least they are not GWR cast ones.
This morning decided after painting them, to get some figures painted. Didn't realise how quickly time was slipping away. I started just before 10am and was a bit surp
Had a bit of a play today. Then stopped to get some photo's.
Plymouth and Westward Ho with a Seaton to Newcastle service that will go up via the S&D. T9 30310 on a stopping Salisbury to Exeter Central service. xGW pannier waits in the bay with the local to Yeovil. Meanwhile 'Jinty' 47315 waits to take some empty wagons from local coal merchants back up to Radstock.
Bus service appears to be lost passing Clench's Bottom farm (blind says Paulton via Timsbury, must get a new one for
More work done. Now there's a change.
Fencing up on rear of platform, watercranes in place and loading guage.
Lights and running in boards in place.
Not sure about this. The station requires an entrance/exit for when the ticket office is closed. I made this from the steps of a concrete footbridge. It will be gated at the top. Does it look right My excuse is that the old one was rotten and needed replacing.
I wasn't too happy with the looks of the station building. Just n
The fiddle yard in pictures.
Longest loop will take a loco + 9 coaches, the shortest, loco + 3. 4 sidings in the corner, the longest of which will loco + 5 and the shortest an M7 + 3.Julian.
With all the track down now, thoughts turn to the scenics. With money in short supply this month due to my combi-boiler breaking down , I am getting on with the areas I do have the parts for. So I decided that to do the station area next. Finished building the goods shed(Ratio) and the mo
Spent this morning wiring up the tortoises, yet to power them though. Checking for shorts and that the frog polarities are correct. Put the feeds in for the headshunt and private siding and the next section of mainline. This is where I hit a snag. I can do some shunting in the yard. Spent a happy hour or so playing when I could be doing something else.
Let's hope tomorrow work can continue instead of play.
No more pic's at the moment, but progress continues. Spent this morning putting
Work continues on the bridge. Abutments finished on the town side.
Note the use of prototypical 1960 stock.
A bit more track laying done over the weekend. Starting to think about the layout of the goods yard. Only three sidings. One through the goods shed and cattle dock. Another will be for the coal merchants and one for.......well, just as a siding.
The track on the left of this picture is from the previous aborted attempt.
Looking up from the station throat. Agai
Track laying starts afresh. Put in the crossover between the platforms. This will enable trains from the branch, not modelled, and the local train from Salisbury to run around before shunting into the bay. Laid a single line around the curve back to the doorway as well today. This will dissappear into a tunnel(now there's a novelty). Maybe get the second line through the curve tomorrow after work. A few of shots of progress so far.
M7 sitting on the crossover.
View down through t
A trial to get a rough idea of where things go. The bay will now go on the far side of the station and have no loco release. Trains will be terminated in the main platform and be shunted unless it is a push/pull or DMU. The shops behind will just have a wide path in front. This will become a row of houses as it get further away from the town centre. The far polyblock will be at road level and be an area for dropping off/parking. The near block will be the position of a footbridge. The goods yard
So, back to laying track. Ballasting being one of those jobs you love or hate, and I hate it. I want it to be quick, easy and to look good. So I thought I'd try a short test piece.
I cut the cork to width, slapped on some PVA, lightly pinned track down, then left it for ten minutes and turned it over to remove the excess ballast. Not bad, I thought. Now, how would I turn the shed upside down. So a quick trip to Argos to get a rechargable vacuum cleaner.
Tonight I started with the curve that
I am in the process of copying over my Somercombe thread. I will be editing post on the way so things may seem a bit fra g me nt ed. But bear with me, I havn't gone and pulled it up and started again.
