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BILSTON STEEL WORKS part 2

I have decided to put another removable, half-relief shed where the backscene photo of the Cooling Towers are - they can still be viewed by simply removing the new structure if desired.  The new shed is being constructed at the moment.  I have also still got a pile of work to do on the steel wagon fleet - all will need Spratt & Winkle couplings like the rest of my wagons.     The Yorkshire, sloped-sided shunter, common at Bilston was from Judith Edge.  I'm not particular

PaternosterRow

PaternosterRow in BILSTON

BILSTON STEEL WORKS

Some months ago I came across a fantastic website - www.britishsteelbilston.com - about the Bilston Steel works in Wolverhampton, West Midlands.  This has been put together by Mr Andrew Simpson who worked there and is well worth a visit - there are some fantastic photos including a section on the Work's locomotives.  In fact, I contacted Andrew and he put me in touch with a Mr Roger Deans, a chief fitter at Bilston, who has provided me with information and a lot of stories about his time there. 

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PaternosterRow in BILSTON

Carlisle to Silloth

Just a quick update at Carlisle Citadel.   A picture from the other side of the layout for a change.  I doubt a Green 105 would have worked the Silloth Branch, but it's all I've got in the Green DMU era and I think it makes for a nice picture.  I know they worked Carlisle in the BR Blue days though.  Changing the destination board was a real pain and I also had to twist the frame as it seemed to be pushed up under the body shell and out of line above the bogies - ironic given that the

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PaternosterRow in Carlisle

Carlisle Citadel

Another update.  The platform buildings and footbridge is now complete.  All that is needed now is to create the links with my loft runaround scheme.  The followings pics are all early BR. #               I very much doubt that 46151 ever hauled the Thames Clyde Express, however, other members of the class did work it North of Leeds.

PaternosterRow

PaternosterRow in Carlisle

Carlisle Citadel Station

The picture of the real thing (Mike Morrant Collection - Fowler 2P) that started the journey on this layout.  I've managed, after many hours messing about with a spotlight and my Panasonic Lumix, to capture the streaming sunlight effect I wanted.  Just wish I could photoshop some steam into the shot - I'll just have to put up with cigarette smoke for now!         A couple of sepia images of a Duchess in LMS war time black.  I really like this loco - the streamline

PaternosterRow

PaternosterRow in Carlisle

A Duchess at Carlisle II

The latest pics of progress.  The roof is complete and a backscene of joined, white mounting card has been erected.  Just a small section of some platform buildings and a LCut footbridge to install.  I also need to get a printout of the real citadel building seen to the rear of the station - this will be pasted to card and placed in the correct position on the backscene.         The above looks a bit like a painting in a way.  There is no photoshop trickery here -

A Duchess at Carlisle

The latest project.  I've been off and on with this layout over the last couple of years.  So I decided to buckle down and get on with it.  The roof is still under construction and I'm very much at the McGuyvering stage.  There's always a lot of niggles to sort.  This is a quarter of a station scheme with a mirror at the rear to double the length.  The whole layout is a mere 6.5 foot long.     This is an original Hornby Margate version of a Duchess which has been fettled wit

PaternosterRow

PaternosterRow in Carlisle

Photography and Lighting

I really love photographing my layouts and my ultimate aim is to make the locos and settings as realistic as its possible in 00 Gauge.  Getting as much as possible in focus has always been a bug bear of mine.  The relationship between F-Stop, shutter speed and ISO is complex to understand and I should imagine professional photographers spend a long time to master it.  I haven't quite managed this and have always found that the higher the F-Stop then the yellower the image simply because the more

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PaternosterRow

Folgate Street

Some initial pictures of my latest scheme.  Like most of us modelling fanatics I haven't been idle during the lockdown period!   These are strange times indeed and I have no doubt that many of us have worried about income and job security so, with the exception of purchasing a second hand Hornby Q1, I have managed to construct the layout with materials and track I had to hand.  Folgate Street is a fictitious slice of third rail London and is an old scheme that has been revamped for the purpose. 

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PaternosterRow

APOLLO 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Just a few pictures of a model of the Launch Umbilical Tower in 1/400 scale I made a few years ago.  The Saturn V is a Dragon model.  This is my tribute to those magnificent people that worked to put a man on the moon before 1970.  I still quite can't believe that there are still people who refuse to believe in this brilliant achievement.  Especially given the plethora of scientific information available on the web nowadays.  I'm really enjoying the event and there has been some great stuff on t

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PaternosterRow

HIGH TREES JUNCTION - MORE BR BLUE

A few more pictures of the junction in action.  My track laying leaves much to be desired in some of the shots.  This all looked perfect when first laid, but there are a few wobbles here and there that are more apparent in the close up shots.  It all works and I've had no running problems and yet it shows just how much attention must be paid to laying perfect, level track during the construction of long line layouts.   A Hornby Class 20 combo hauls a short engineering train throu

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PaternosterRow

HIGH TREES JUNCTION - UPPER QUADRANT SIGNALS

Iv'e gone with LMS upper quadrant signals after taking Dave's advice.  These should now match the BR period depicted.  Instead of rushing these, I should have researched Semaphore signals properly - alas, that's how we learn!   A class 31/4 waits on signal. A HST speeds past the junction on the main line.  This is a much beloved Lima set and it's great to see it run around and around.   An old, detailed Lima 50 pulls an old Hornby class 86.  The 'Freigh

PaternosterRow

PaternosterRow

High Trees Junction - Signal Surgery

Just an update after some much needed correction to the signals.  Many thanks to Dave for pointing out my glaring error in having the signal arms the wrong way around!  Despite having built loads of schemes, read numerous books about the railways and pouring over thousands of prototype pictures I am still prone to making embarrassing mistakes from time to time.  But that's what great about being a member of RMWeb - always loads of help and objective advice from my fellow modellers.   It also has

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PaternosterRow

High Trees Junction

I haven't posted in an age and, in fact, haven't even visited RMWeb for quite a while.  What a great new format and I'm really interested in becoming a Gold Member - currently in negotiations with the financial controller about the monthly fee!    The new layout, High Trees Junction, is nearly complete so here is a few initial test pics.  This layout forms part of a roundy roundy scheme in my loft.  My previous layout, Perry Barr Station, is on the opposite side.  I just wanted to get

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PaternosterRow

Carlisle Citadel North Screen

The latest effort is a plan to recreate a part of the great Carlisle Citadel Station for my collection of steam locos. I want a half station scene with a mirror doubling up the length on the internal section. It'll be another one of my wire roof schemes. The tracks beyond a middle platform with act as a run through so that the station can be linked up to a future run around planned for my loft space. Station buildings on the middle platform will hide the hole in the mirror. However, I figured th

PaternosterRow

PaternosterRow

Class 304 Arrives at Perry Barr - at last!

At last the Southern Pride Class 304 has been finished. The layout would have been incomplete without it, but building it has tried my patience and I'd think twice before having a go as such a large kit again. The instructions were clear and the kit itself is very well made, but you really need prior experience and I rather think I jumped into the deep end with this.     The lead driving vehicle was the last car built and it has turned out much neater than the driving brake car (see below)

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PaternosterRow

MUTANT LOBSTER ATTACKS PERRY BARR STATION!

Believe it or not, but this plastic Lobster has a direct connection with the real place. Along with the station there was four shops sharing the blue brick building on the overbridge. There was a clothes shop to the left, the station (a simple entrance with small ticket office), a shoe shop (if I remember right), a newsagent and a chip shop. The 'chippie' was called the 'Shell Bar' and had a small eating area that was festooned with fishing nets and lobster baskets etc. Plastic fish and Lobsters

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PaternosterRow

Perry Barr Blues

More pictures. Note Steve Jones's fabulous shot of the station in 1978 with a Class 312 bound for Walsall. I am currently working on a Southern Pride Class 304 - this seems to be the only available WCML EMU kit available at the moment. Work is slow and I am awaiting parts that did not arrive with the kit - such is life, eh?   Fabulous shot taken by Steve Jones in 1978.   Class 86 'Planet' in early Executive livery pulls an eight coach train - made up of 7 Lima MK3s and 1 Bachmann MK1 full

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PaternosterRow

Perry Barr Station II

Just a quick update on progress so far. Upon showing the first pictures to my wife she said that the layout looked too rural for it to be Perry Barr. Whilst the there is a Park to the north of the station there were obvious signs of it being in a suburban, Green Belt area - it was right next to a Shopping Centre (Lynton Square in the 70/80's) and the original site of the Dog Track Stadium - but these could hardly be seen from the station as the ground sloped off rapidly behind the station. Ho

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PaternosterRow

Perry Barr Station

I haven't been resting on my laurels since my last layout and have been ferreting away as usual. So, and having grown up in Perry Barr, I thought it was high time to have a go at a model of the station there. I've had to rely on a couple of pics by Steve Jones along with my memory of the place. I didn't fancy using any of the available catenary so had a go at making my own out of wire. The are not perfect but look credible especially with Colin Graig's superb pewter insulators.       A c

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PaternosterRow

UP THE JUNCTION - EARLY 70'S

Some update pics for the new Southern layout as promised. I've set this around the early 70's period - still want to use the Hornby 2 HAL and realise this was retired in 1971. I'm also a bit confused about using the Blue/Grey 411 CEP for this period as I've always laboured under the assumption that no DMU or EMU received this livery until the mid 80's and ran in complete Blue up until this time. However, I've seen a couple of pics (one on Mike Morant's site) dated around 1969 and 1971 that cl

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PaternosterRow

UP THE JUNCTION

It's an age since I posted anything, but that don't mean that I haven't done anything. So here goes with the latest model. It's a four by three foot micro that has been connected up to three continuous loops so that I ran run trains to my heart's content - a real train set at long last. There's also a small shunting yard at the front for various departmental wagons and freight - depending what mood I'm in. The shunting yard is all operated by Spratt & Winkle - I just use a hand held magnet u

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PaternosterRow

GWR in IRELAND

Ever since completing my GWR branch terminus layout (Cheslyn) it has languished under dust sheets in the loft. My trouble is that I'm a bit of serial layout builder and get quickly bored once a project has been finished. Space is also at a premium and Cheslyn was taking it up so I therefore approached the Lartigue Museum in Listowel, Co Kerry and asked if they'd like to have it for display. They were delighted and mounted the layout on the wall in the old engine shed shortly after it was deliver

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PaternosterRow

An Overall Victorian Station Roof from Galvanised Wire

In response to fellow RMweb members who were interested in how I made the overall wire roof the following is an article that was scheduled to appear in a future edition of FRMR. The baseboard for the model had been completed by the end of December and the roof structure by the end of January. It was around this time I emailed some pictures to the late Bob Barlow, who in response asked me to write a short article about its construction. By the time this was sent the poor man was probably starting

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PaternosterRow

Shadow Box Station Scene

Gosh, it’s been well over a year since my last post. But it has been a crappy time and life has thrown my wife and I some right old spanners to contend with.   The worst of it was when my dear old Mom passed away in mid November after an 18 month long battle with Bladder Cancer. Thankfully she was in a care home for the last 6 months so she was extremely well looked after and had little pain to put up with in the end. Marvellous places.   Whilst all this went on modelling took a back se

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PaternosterRow

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