Tony Teague

Wednesday at 07:09

Further slow but steady progress - the two GWR / Peco-Parkside banana vans still looked too shiny to me so I gave them each a waft of Tester's Dullcote; it has improved things but the underlying issue remains that the Humbrol 'Matt Cote' that I applied post-transfer application just isn't matt at all - it would easily pass as a perfectly satisfactory gloss varnish! Nevertheless I am not starting again, so these two have entered service & joined the banana train, along with the 2nd ABS banana van which had been awaiting couplings. The whole train of 16 vans plus brake now needs weathering but looks pretty reasonable when running:

Whilst waiting for varnish & decals to dry I also managed to get the ballast on the lines through Churminster cutting sprayed with track dirt, as well adding some darker weathering powders; this included the narrow gauge line:

As each layer goes on I am starting to feel that this area is getting there; the rail sides will be next to be painted - with rust, small shrubby things are yet to be added, whilst work on the foundations for the building in the centre is also progressing.

Tony

Monday at 21:45

1 hour ago, railtec-models said:

& @KNP Hiya both - please could you re-send? It transpires there are a number of messages not reached me over the past weeks/months and similarly some of my outbounds not reaching their destination, despite nothing being indicated to the contrary in my email client. What I do know is that my inbox is constantly teetering either side of above the permitted limit (it does have some leeway above the advertised limit) on account of constantly receiving large attachments day/night, and it's not uncommon that I have to take out 2 or 3 hours just to clear down particularly heavy attachments just so the inbox can continue to - allegedly - function as normal. I apologise for that.

Thanks Steve

Will do.

Tony

Monday at 07:53

1 hour ago, KNP said:

Just waiting to hear from Railtec about the transfers, been a while now.

Interestingly, I too have heard nothing following an enquiry at the beginning of March - in my case for my breakdown train.

April 28

On 25/04/2024 at 11:52, chris45lsw said:

Small point. GWR Bananas had a white disc. The yellow spot was a BR innovation which only came in after steam heating Banana vans was discontinued from around 1959, I think.

Well I was unable to ignore Chris' advice @chris45lsw, so I fished around in the bin and found the alternate white spot transfers supplied with the GWR banan van kits; a dab of micro-sol, a sharp blade, and job done:

I have to say that the transfers supplied with these kits (Peco-Parkside version) were not that great; they took a long time in water to freely come away from their backing, and then once they did, the decal itself was ready to disintegrate - thus the problem with the left hand van above, as well as with some other markings on these wagons. At least they now, sort of match the Accurascale one, although that is really in a black livery, whereas the instructions for these kits clearly called for GWR freight grey - as shown.

I have also just completed two LMS ex-L&Y d.1 one-plank low goods wagons from a kit by Three Peaks Models; they are 3-D printed and I had seen them mentioned in @jwealleans excellent West End Workbench thread. As Jonathan had observed, these barely qualify as kits as they only have two parts but I like variety in wagons and so they appealed to me:

I had imagined in my head that they might each carry a container but I hadn't bothered to measure up, so when it came to plonking one of those that I had in stock onto the wagon, realisation dawned:

"My" containers were not only too long but also too wide:

I shall have to think again as they certainly need a load, as well as some weight!

Finally, and given that I have some ballast to paint / weather, both in the Stowe Magna siding patch, as well as through Churminster cutting, I decided that I might as well get the narrow gauge line from Churminster quarry ballasted so that I can deal with all three in one hit.

I had thought about doing this with ash ballast but given that it is in a quarry, I felt that stone would be acceptable. Once it has all dried out the three areas will all be weathered and the rail sides painted.

Tony

April 26

15 hours ago, Sidecar Racer said:

Very similar to most humans then..........

April 25

2 hours ago, chris45lsw said:

Small point. GWR Bananas had a white disc. The yellow spot was a BR innovation which only came in after steam heating Banana vans was discontinued from around 1959, I think.

Thanks Chris

I followed the instructions with the kit in decorating it - which are quite specific about the yellow spot; I did wonder because the recently issued Rapido van (of which I have one, illustrated on the page before this, has a white disc - so I felt that one of us would be wrong!

Glad you like the coach series; there are a small number left to post when I get around to finding and photographing them.

Tony

April 24

4 hours ago, manna said:

Could have put it down to 'Bomb' damage, circa 1940.

Indeed it could - especially as the nearby Stowe Magna locoshed had also suffered bomb damage as reported back in about 2018, when it's entire west wall was demolished:

Locally, however, this is referred to as 'bum damage' as it was the result of an impact with a large ar$e - subsequently perspex screens were installed along this strtch to protect the layout and its buildings from such incursions!

Tony

April 23

Whilst Steve has been grassing away to his heart's content, there has also been progress elsewhere.

Sinkholes seem to be a current fad and as my layout is supposed to mimic reality, it came as no surprise that one had appeared under Stow Magna goods yard - well it could just be subsidence; you can see the result here:

It is actually the result of a baseboard construction fault, in that the left hand board has a leg under it, whilst the right hand one was simply screwed to the left one and whatever was used has slipped over the 15+ years since they were made (not by me I hasten to add!).

With Giles' help we put in an extra support, and with the careful use of an Irish screwdriver (hammer) we persuaded the right hand board upwards:

Sadly, the cork underlay, ballast and the track itself did not appreciate this degree of adjustment and so I have since had to take more radical action, this time involving the use of a Dremel & cutting disc:

On a brighter note, it appeared that only the front reception siding was seriously affected & requiring replacement:

(Now looks bowed upwards but it isn't); fishplates soldered in place & electrical continuity tested

Ballasted, only some serious weathering now needed before traffic can resume!

Meanwhile, on the recent arrival of the excellent Accurascle banana vans I may have mentioned that in my drawer-full of unmade kits there were two Parkside GWR banans vans & so I prioritsed their building so as to give the train a bit more length:

They will get some weathering with the rest of the train, which now at 16 vans has reached a reasonably acceptable length; I'll post another pic when these are back in the consist.

Tony

April 23

11 hours ago, TrevorP1 said:

Road overbridges can be a problem. To fix or not to fix! If all goes to plan I will need to face that problem this summer.

Yes, in this case it crosses over two narrow gauge and the twin standard gauge tracks and would have been easier to construct as a fixed installation, however, the decider was that there is wiring underneath it that just might need to be accessed - so that determined that it must be removable.

April 22

A short update today to cover further scenic progress on the Churminster cutting.

When last shown in early March it was simply looking a dirty brown colour, but since then it has had a couple of visits from my friend Steve Povey, the 'grassmeister'; after several layers involving many different lengths & shades of grass, this is where it has got to - looking south:

At the far end / bottom of the incline, I am now committed to a re-build of the 'chalk' cutting face which I think will improve things and so this area has not been touched.

There are some bigger, shrubby things still to be added but there is already a massive improvement; looking north:

The bridge at the top of the incline did cause a couple of problems - in that, although it is removable, Steve managed to glue it in place.................

After much cursing I managed to extract it unscathed 🤬

Meanwhile there has also been more progress on the semaphore signals.....................

Tony

April 15

1 hour ago, 5944 said:

There's also 73082 and 80151 as well, so 5 big locos with 30541 expected back at some point. Does seem a bit of overkill but if the owners and the railway are happy, then it's all good.

i suppose.

I'm just not a fan of anything GWR!

April 15

7 hours ago, 5944 said:

6989 is staying for the 2025 season as well.

If that is right it would be very odd, with Sir Archie out, the Atlantic expected and the Q on fast overhaul.

I hope you are wrong!

Tony

April 14

After a short pause, let's get another coaching stock set out of the way; this is anotherof the slightly longer sets, No.329, a Maunsell / SR High window set which is all Hornby RTR:

(apologies for the blurred rear-end!).

In it's basic form this is a 6 coach set but it runs with the addition of a Restaurant Car, whilst a Van C is attached to the rear

The set is hauled here by Hornby Arthur No.736 'Excalibur', and led by brake 3rd no.3793:

Corridor 3rd no.1227 follows:

and then the additional Kitchen / Dining 1st - Restaurant Car, no.7869, serving full English breakfasts!

Corridor 1st No.7230:

Then two further corridor 3rds, Nos. 1225 and 1226:

Before brake 3rd No.3792 brings up the rear:

Finally, Van C No.721 tails along for the ride:

Yes, they are all RTR but this set has to be an illustration of just how good this can now look! - depite the lack of weathering..........

Tony

April 13

Those trains look like they bought them from NSE !

I hope they have retention toilets..................😝

Tony

April 13

Having visited the layout in the past, I have to say that this is absoultely the best way to see it - without crowds and with the opportunity to talk with the modellers and operators.

Whilst it moves most of the cost of a visit to the visitor, John and his team still have to put themselves out to host each visit and deal withour inane questions - for which we must all be hugely grateful.

I for one will want to make a re-visit just as soon as the gates re-open!

Tony

April 4

12 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Or one of those children's wooden whistles that the preservation groups sell (just kidding).

An egg timer (Easter egg, of course, at York) would do nicely. You/Mo could adjust the setting according to whether you thought the next protagonist was or was not likely to be worth spending time with...

A former boss of mine, who had a sense of humour, had a timer that resembled a small model of a friesian cow; he would set it at say, 10 minutes, at which point it would "moo" so loudly that everyone forgot what they were saying or thinking, and meetings ended or were moved on as he determinded.

Thoroughly recommended!

Tony

March 29

Superb work Iain!

March 26

Dave

I am of course delighted that construction of the C3 is underway - and I'd be equally happy if my thread were 'cluttered' with the sort of discussion you have requested; I'm unfortunately not able to answer your questions myself and so I am hopeful that others more knowledgaeble than I will have something to say!

Thanks for what you are undertaking.

Tony

March 26

I'm trying to maintain the pace so that I can finish off running through the coaching stock sets before we get to Xmas!

This set is in plain, unlined olive livery and is a further Adrian Rowlands / Northstar production, Set No.410

It is hauled here by Bachmann ex-LBSCR E4 no.2497

The set is led by ex-LSWR left-handed 4 compartment brake 3rd no.3147

which is closely followed by 54' tri-composite no.5086

with right-handed 4-compartment brake no.3104 completing the set; I believe that Adrian Rowlands only made two rakes of this particular set (& I know who has the other!).

Completing the train, and in matching livery is ex-LSWR 44' full brake no.227 - a Roxey kit constructed by Ian Willets and painted by Larry Goddard.

One of my favourite looking trains, although it might be better complemented by an ex-LSWR loco!

Tony

March 26

2 hours ago, Chuffer Davies said:

I too have experienced the ‘Sir’ effect when operating exhibition layouts. As soon as Sir appears you can be sure chaos in one form or another will ensue.

#Me too#

March 25

On 21/03/2024 at 12:33, thegreenhowards said:

Anyone know where I can source the ‘passengers must not cross the line’ sign? Sankey scenics do the lower half with ‘Warning….£200’ but I can’t find the upper bit anywhere.

https://www.sankeyscenics.co.uk/o-7mm-modern

March 24

Andy

Just worked through your thread and was especially impressed with the results of your "weedifying" of certain baseboards - they look most impressive.

This is a major project which I shall follow with great interest.

Tony

March 23

Yes, and always whilst a visitor is watching!

March 23

Andy

Thanks

A great pleasure to have you here and I'm only sorry that the train set did not behave at all times! - Sod's Law.

The good thing is that as the more major works get ticked off, it will allow time for snagging faults and issues that have accumulated over the many years that the layout has been in build.

Tony

March 23

Returning to the coaches...........Sets 965 & 973:

An all Bulleid 59' stock (& all Hornby) train, hauled by No.21C158 'Sir Frederick Pile' - who, like Lord Dowding above, has suffered premature naming: