Although I've got a few horse drawn vehicles on the layout, I haven't got anything suitable for transporting goods from the station into the town. While I was at Guildex, I found a white metal kit from Duncan Models http://www.duncanmodels.co.uk/ that looked like it had the potential to make a simple flat bed wagon.
Duncan Models flat cart
They also make a nice range of horses, I chose to use their Shire horse. The horse is cast in a running position,
Just a quick post to thank those who came to see the layout at Guildex in Telford last weekend. It was pleasure to meet everyone, Al and I enjoyed the event immensely It was a really well organised show, being able to drive the hire van right to the space allocated for the layout almost made setting up the boards a pleasure! So much easier on the knees than having to carry the boards across the exhibition hall
The layout behaved itself all weekend and it was good to be able to ope
When I built the original fiddleyard for Sherton Abbas, the plan was to have a 4 foot six diameter "turntable" that would avoid having to touch the stock during operating sessions. The reality was that it was just too unwieldy, heavy and cumbersome to spin right round, so ended up just being used as a sector plate. I've been considering building something lighter and more manageable for sometime now, but other modelling projects were always much more interesting, so it remained a "get round to
I find it much easier to paint coach sides "in the flat" rather than when the coach is fully assembled. This is obviously impossible with etched brass kits, soldering painted sides would be a challenge, however with plastic kits it's not a problem. The Slater's sides come in two halves which have to be joined, fortunately the Guard's ducket helps hide any join line. I think it looks more realistic if coaches have a few windows open, so micro strip was used to represent the top of the dropligh
So far the only coaching stock that I've built to use on Sherton Abbas, are a rake of 4 wheeler's along with a solitary all 3rd bogie clerestory. To add a bit of variety to operating sessions I've decided to build some more passenger stock and thought I'd document their build in my blog.
The Slater's kits comprise of really well moulded plastic components for the majority of the coach body, accompanied by lost wax castings for for detail parts. The coaches run on etched brass bogie
I spent the weekend exhibiting Sherton Abbas at Railex http://www.railex.org.uk/ accompanied by Al (Barry Ten), to whom I'm indebted for all his hard work setting up the layout and for his ninja like operating skills🙂
We arrived in Aylesbury around 6.30pm and took about 90 minutes or so to unload the hire van and get the layout set up in the exhibition hall. Everyone was very helpful and welcoming, particularly David Lane (David Bigcheeseplant) who's the exhibition manager.
I was posting some pictures of Sherton Abbas on the "O gauge Guild" forum https://www.gauge0guild.com/, where it was pointed out that my poor signalman had no means of communicating with the rest of the world. This situation obviously had to be rectified by the addition of some telegraph paraphernalia! I spent some time researching the subject, but as is so often the case in this hobby, the more I read the more questions I needed answering:-) During my search I came across a number of intere
In my imagination at the other side of the road bridge lies Sherton Abbas's engine shed, turntable, water tower and ash pit.
Road Bridge
However the Station Building would need a water supply and in 1904 it probably wouldn't have been connected to a mains supply. I've also thought that it would have been more convenient for locomotives requiring water to be able to access a supply near the platform rather than having to go to the engine shed. I'd appreciate any
The snows have melted and spring has definitely sprung at Sherton Abbas! I've thought for a while that although there are plenty of trees at either end of the layout, the centre is looks somewhat sparse.
Centre section of the layout
I made some more trees using wire armatures, artex powder, postiche and Greenscene scatters as outlined in a previous blog entry https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/17699-trees/
These w
The air temperature in Sherton Abbas has been plummeting over the last few days. A winter like this hasn't been seen since the mid 1890's when the Queen was still on the throne. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_1894%E2%80%9395_in_the_United_Kingdom More snow has been forecast to fall this evening and reports are coming in of heavy drifting further North.
Despite this bone chilling weather, passengers are arriving at the station in the hope that trains are still running and t
The Stygian gloom that descends upon Sherton Abbas platform at nightfall has been a concern for sometime now. Complaints from passengers about the complete absence of platform lamps has been on the increase as nights are drawing in and Winter approaches. Rumours of "Ne'er-do-wells" lurking in the darkness abound, which although completely unfounded have proved unsettling for passengers of the fairer sex. The Sherton Abbas Chronicle has been stoking this discontent and shouts of "Something must b
A previous blog entry described the building of these wagons http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-21530-coal-wagons-for-sherton-abbas/
Once I’d finished building the four wagons they need painting. I’ve tried using acrylic paints in the past but still much prefer working using enamels. The insides were painted in a greyish yellow base coat to represent unpainted wood, this was then dry brushed in browns and gunmetal to represent wood grain. The under frames, i
I've just returned from a very enjoyable weekend exhibiting Sherton Abbas at the South Hants Model Railway show in Portsmouth. https://www.shmrc.org.uk/event/2018-shmrc-exhibition/ We were made very welcome by the hosts and even provided with an excellent fried breakfast at the exhibition hall before the public arrived:-) It was good to meet up with other RMweb members who came over and introduced themselves during the day.
The first time the layout ever left my workshop was when I t
Autumn is here, the nights are drawing in and thoughts once again turn to modelling!:-) As I mentioned in a previous blog entry http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-20890-coal/ I've planned on building some private owner coal wagons for Sherton Abbas and now the layout is more or less complete the time has come to make a start. I wanted to represent wagons that would have been running in the Somerset / Dorset area circa 1905 and found the information contained in this book
Just a quick blog entry to show that a water trough and some horse poo have been added to the scene:-)
The water trough was built from 40 thou plasticard sheet, then "distressed" using a rose head bur in a rotary hand piece to give it some texture. The water is a represented using a clear sheet of plasticard painted on the underside with a dark green/black colour and held in position with a dab of epoxy resin. Once painted the trough was sat into the yard surface and some weeds around the ba
The uncharacteristic sunny skies above Wales this Summer have meant little time has been spent modelling, motorcycling and other outdoor pursuits have taken precedence. I have however managed to finish the coal yard scene that I started in the previous blog entry http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-20890-coal/ back in the middle of May! As Stubby pointed out the ground around the coal heaps looked a bit too clean, so coal dust and artists pastels were used to blend the co
During the Newport show I had an interesting conversation with Ian Pope of Lightmoor Press who was exhibiting his collection of private owner wagons. I'm explained that I was interested in building some coal wagons for Sherton Abbas and would like them to depict coal merchants that were trading in the Somerset/Dorset area circa 1905. He recommended a book on the topic http://lightmoor.co.uk/books/private-owner-wagons-of-somerset/L9877 and said that he would do some research for me. True to his w
I outlined the construction of one Parliamentary models wagonettes in a previous blog entry http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-18072-horse-drawn-wagon/ but have only recently got round to painting a horse to pull it. There then followed an enjoyable bit of research into how horses and carts were connected together. Equine harnesses, traces and reins are a lot more complex than I first thought, thank goodness railways didn’t employ anything similar to connect their wa
There's not much new modelling to report, but I though I'd let people know that Sherton Abbas will be appearing At the Newport Model Railway show on the 14th April. https://newgog.wordpress.com/
Hope to see you there!
Best wishes
Dave
I’m pleased to say that Sherton Abbas has returned unscathed from its outing to the Cardiff Model Railway show. Many thanks to chaps from the Cardiff EM gang who collected the layout in a van that they had hired and helped me install the layout at the show. Apart from the RMweb members day earlier in the year this was the layout’s first public showing. It was good to be able to set the layout up on the Friday evening, far less stressful than rushing about on the morning of the show! My friends A
One of the drawbacks of modelling a rural location is the number of trees needed to make a convincing landscape! There's only so much fun to be had twisting lengths of wire together and I find stippling an Artex/PVA mix onto wire armatures soon loses its magic:-) Despite all this I've managed to summon the enthusiasm to make a few more trees for Sherton Abbas! I used the same techniques as discussed in a previous blog entry http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-17699-trees/
The President of the "Sherton Abbas Women's Guild" was mortified by the outcry in the previous blog entry caused by the lack of appropriate headwear displayed by some "gentleman" members of the community! The wives of the recalcitrant gentlemen in question were summoned to the following week's meeting and told in no uncertain terms that this "embarrassment" could not be allowed to continue. One can only imagine the conversations that took place behind closed doors that evening, but suffice to sa
I think we can safely say that now we are in September the Summer is over and thoughts can once again return to modelling. My last blog entry was back in April, so an update is definitely due! I rarely do much modelling over the summer months, preferring to spend time on outdoor pursuits. The beast below is a major distraction from finishing the layout, but great fun all the same!:-)
Thunderbirds are go!
Despite the distractions provided by the joy of motorcycling, some progress has bee
Well just under 5 years since I started this blog here we are with the 100th entry! :-) I've been conscious for a while that although the layout is adequately lit by my workshop lights, it could really do with its own dedicated lighting. The layout has got its first showing at the RMweb Members day in Taunton on the 30th of April http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/120694-swag-2017-lineup-details-catering-all-you-need-to-know/?hl=%2Bswag+%2B2017 so I thought I'd better get somethin
