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Exhibition Layout project: Bricklayers Arms circa 1844

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A London & Birmingham Novelty

I’ve long been entertained and intrigued by depictions of early railways of the 1830s and ‘40s. The period was marked by significant political and social change, the technology of the new iron roads symbolised these changes more than anything and the railway companies knew it. From the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway onwards, artists such as Isaac Shaw, John Cooke Bourne, Thomas Talbot Bury and many others recorded what they saw, creating images that sought to commemorate and i

Bury goods, part the sixth

It occurred to me yesterday that it had been a while since I visited RMWeb, "Oh, it must be a few weeks now..." I said to myself. However, logging on to view the fascinating, entertaining and sometimes stunningly inspirational projects on show I was utterly shocked to discover that it's been many months and that my last blog entry was before Christmas last year! What the heck have I been doing?   Thankfully the answer is quite a lot really and therefore an update on the Bury 0-4-0 is a

Bury goods, part the fifth.

For some time now I have been working on a 0-4-0 Bury goods locomotive in 4mm scale for my EM gauge London & Birmingham Railway project.    Today I managed to apply the black undercoat and try a loose assembly. Although these engines were green (like the wheels) I have to admit it looks quite fetching in black.     The model is built entirely from scratch, powered by a Portescap motor inside the boiler through a scratch built gearbox. The wheels are cast from 3

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5&9Models in Bury Goods 0-4-0

An early carriage truck.

No drawings survive for these late 1830s carriage trucks but they frequently appear in contemporary illustrations and there are written accounts describing them together with references in company minute books. This one conforms to the dimensions given by Wishaw of a Grand Junction Railway carriage truck c.1837.   ‘The carriage trucks are each 13 feet 8 inches long, 7 feet 1-1/2 inches wide, and the sides 1-1/2 inches high; the weight being about 43 cwt., and the price £130.’  

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5&9Models in Early Carriage Truck

Bury goods, part the fourth.

A little progress today, trying to keep out of the heat! Having now milled out the copper firebox to make space for the gearbox, at least nearly, (I still need to take a bit more out before it fits properly), I cut and soldered in place the boiler bands. These were cut from thin brass sheet, bent to shape and tacked in place.    The little turned brass lock-up safety valve cover was then soldered on after drilling an appropriate hole towards the front of the boiler. These little covered

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5&9Models in Bury Goods 0-4-0

Bury goods, part the third.

A two week break has given me time to ponder a couple of tricky areas regarding the Bury goods and this weekend has seen some progress, the most obvious being the smokebox and boiler.   I toyed with the idea of producing the smokebox as one cast lump to provide a bit of tractive weight and to balance the weight of the turned copper firebox. However, since this is a one-off scratch build I felt that might be a waste of mould space and also I was too impatient to go through that process

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5&9Models in Bury Goods 0-4-0

Bury Goods loco, part the second.

Having tackled the frames and being happy with those, I turned my attention to the guts that are hopefully going to make this wee beestie move. A rummage through the ‘tray of delights’ resulted in a selection of gears as follows: one 38:1 worm and pinion (Ultrascale), one 10t spur and two 20t spurs (Branchlines). The first of these is just an idler, the second will be the fixed drive gear on the axle.   Today’s job was to drill and cut two gearbox sides ensuring everything was in t

Bury goods 0-4-0

This scratch build is something I have been wanting to do for years but have never quite plucked up the courage.   There are several 'sticking points' in modelling a bar framed Bury loco, the obvious one being the distinctive wheels. All Bury locos had them so unless you get those right you might as well not bother with the rest. Thankfully, a friend very kindly drew some up and 3D printed the centres to be fitted into Gibson tyres of the appropriate diameter. However, I found the prin

Bricklayers Arms c.1845 - a recap.

All this replacement of lost images on previous blogs has made me think about gathering some favourite images from my layout project and dumping them in one blog entry, so here it is. A hotch-potch of photos from around the first baseboard which is almost complete.   The layout is 4mm scale and track work EM gauge. I initially set it in 1844 when Bricklayers Arms was completed and opened to the public. However, it has now turned into 1845 as this allows for a little weathering and I do

Rennie locos part three, nearly but not quite...

Well, having restored the lost images to my blog about the Rennie loco project I now realise that I've done more than I thought and this deserves an update.     Croydon is now complete although the above image shows that there are a few final jobs to do before it can enter traffic. There is a large black scar behind the drivers on both sides where i removed too much of the boiler/firebox to allow room for the driving wheels. This has now been filled, smoothed and painted to b

Rennie locomotives, part two.

Visually speaking, work appears to have slowed up on my Rennie loco project. I have reached the stage where all the fiddly little detailing jobs need to be done and this takes time without much obvious progress. The current pair approaching completion are Satellite of the London & Brighton Railway, and Croydon of the London & Croydon Railway.   However, the list is reducing as each detail is ticked off and at present I'm awaiting some etches for the reversers. This is unusual f

Image restoration and a teaser...

Not realising that restoring the images to some of my blog entries would also shunt them to the front of the queue, I thought I'd best add something new to redress the balance.   Having sat to one side for some time patiently waiting for me to get 'other stuff' out of the way, my William Bridges Adams light locomotive has been lifted out of the box and steered towards a state of completion. At least the locomotive is almost there notwithstanding a few finishing jobs. It still lacks the

Public nuisance

Having recently acquired a discarded dandy horse from a house clearance off the Old Kent Road, Jean Floret de Cauliflower is quite the man about town. At least, his own frisky imagination tells him so.      However, this past week he has consistently upset every innocent pedestrian and skittish filly in Bermondsey.     Perhaps it is just as well that his wreckless behaviour may soon be brought to a dramatic finale. The work of our tiny but destructive foe Ano

Jenny Lind takes a break (while her crew go down the pub...!)

Following a great little video recently produced by Anthony Dawson about the locomotive Jenny Lind of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway, I felt inspired to give my own 4mm scale model a little break from the monotony of the display cabinet.   The original locomotive was the first of a batch designed by David Joy and built by E.B.Wilson of Leeds. Delivered in 1847, it was a very successful class of locomotives which owed much to the  design of John Gray who had been Locomot

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5&9Models in Jenny Lind

London to Birmingham and hopefully back again...

Another of my 'seemed like a good idea at the time' projects last summer was to create kits for each of the principal carriages of the London & Birmingham Railway.   Once again this was to be another diversion from Bricklayers Arms but a change is as good as a break, no?     Together with a good friend Tom Nicholls who has provided endless information, drawings, research and above all encouragement, I started at the bottom with the intention of working my way u

The Locomotives of George & John Rennie

Last year I embarked on an ambitious project to scratch build no less than four locomotives by Messrs Rennie of Blackfriars, London.    In 1838/39 the brothers constructed five engines for the London & Southampton Rly., and two for the London & Croydon Rly. It is clear from studying the drawing published by Brees in his 'Railway Practice' that the design was a combination of Stephenson's Patentee and the popular and sturdy 2-2-2 by Sharp & Co of Manchester. However, having

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5&9Models in G & J Rennie locos

Secret crush

Although somewhat irrelevant to my overall project south of Old Father Thames, I confess I've always rather fancied the look of these sturdy GER open wagons.   So it's been a pleasure to revive these two ex-Woodham Wagon Works kits of both 1870 and 1883 versions. I managed to complete the 1870 one which is my personal preference but then struggled to find a period photo of the 1883 edition which is why it is as yet unlettered or numbered. I also fouled up a bit with this one by setting

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5&9Models in GER wagons

A complete whitewash

Jonathan enjoys his job at Bricklayers Arms. Usually he is gainfully employed tending to the bovine guests arriving at the cattle yard. He couldn't say for sure what happens to them once they leave the yard, but given the profusion of tanneries in he area we can be fairly certain it is a one way trip. He makes their lives as comfortable as he can whilst they are in his charge.     Occasionally there are sheep to manage but these are less rewarding owing to their irksome tend

Saturday morning on the Upper Grange Road

Ex petty officer Solly is in a bit of a pickle.  Having recently been suspended from active naval service owing to a regrettable incident with a cannon, he has decided to consume an increasing quantity of London’s best porter. Unfortunately, not only did the calamity result in the loss of his right leg below the knee, it also neatly removed his left thumb. He now has to swap his crutch to the left in order to hold a bottle in his right hand. After several bottles this balancing act can

Activity in the cattle yard

Thankfully, in my case at least, lack of blog updates has not meant lack of activity. The past few months has seen slow but steady progress towards completing the cattle yard at Bricklayers Arms c1845 and therefore entering the final straight in terms of completing the first baseboard of this four baseboard exhibition layout.   The following pictures are a collection of various cameos and scenes which hopefully go some way to telling the story of a busy (ish) mid 19th century yard in 4

LSWR and LCDR in Bermondsey?!

Not that these two will ever run at Bricklayers Arms but by request I dug out the old Woodham Wagon Works masters for a LSWR open wagon and made a new mould to produce the kit again. It went together very well and makes a lovely sturdy wagon. Not convinced about my choice of dark brown but I don't think the lighting helped. I'm in the process of reviving two GER open wagon kits as well, 1870 and 1883 versions, but more of that later. The LCDR van or 'covered goods wagon' to give it its proper ti

Bricklayers Arms stables update

Well, not being a massive footie fan I decided to amuse myself yesterday evening fitting the cattle yard office and back wall to the baseboard in front of the stables. This has created a more Dickensian alley feel to the forecourt which is what I had hoped would happen. There is still much to do in terms of fitting the cattle docks, weathering the surfaces, adding muck and the assorted figures and of course, cattle.   There are a few final touches, the steps to the office are too clean

William Bridges Adams Light Locomotive

In the latter half of the 1840s, William Bridges Adams began to dabble in locomotive design with the help of several key figures, particularly the resident engineer of the Eastern Counties Railway, James Samuel. He had established a works at Fair Field, Bow in 1843 for the purposes of expanding his business building carriages and wagons for both rail and road and locomotive construction was a natural progression.   Together they developed the principle of the light locomotive which was

Bodmer's balanced locomotive in 4mm scale (or "Thank God that's over")!

I've finally completed my scratch built Bodmer single no.124 of the London & Brighton Railway. It's taken a year of blood sweat and tears, trying to be too clever and paying the price!   Details of the project have been promised to the HMRS in the form of an article for their Journal, so rather than spoil that I'll just deposit a couple of images here in the meantime.   Further details of this project can be found on a previous blog entry entitled 'Build a Bodmer Competit

Ballasting at last.

An opportunity presented itself to drag the baseboard outside yesterday and take some photos in the rather dull afternoon light. At last I feel some progress is being made, or in other words, what a difference a bit of ballasting makes!   I took a few more photos to show how some of the areas are finally tying together after some further detail was added.   Oooh look, ballast at last! This is my own somewhat unconventional technique since the ballast in the 1840s was al

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5&9Models in Ballasting at last

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