Tony Teague

Almost two weeks back I said that I must run some trains, and so that is what I finally got around to today - and most enjoyable it was! I will admit that there was a further incentive in that I had always wanted to have a banana train, and yesterday the postie brought me some of the excellent new Accurascale banana vans.......... When these were announced a few months back I confess that I must have gone bananas, because I bought a whole bunch of them! They are hauled here by Bachmann N class no.1860 whilst the leading van is ABS kit-built van No.50641 - the only van in the train (aside from the brake) that has been weathered so far: Although I had managed to buy a second, already built, one of these on E-bay (which needs a complete re-paint & is not shown), it was the realisation that should these kits ever appear again it would not be soon, which persuaded me that buying the new RTR models was going to be the only way to achieve what I wanted. The vans come in packs of three, and I'm sure they will be reviewed elsewhere, but aside from having the best packaging that I have ever seen on a trio of vans, the models are very finely detailed and finished, whilst each one has some minor difference from the others. Two different diagrams are catered for, that on the right being d.1478 (as is the ABS van), whilst that on the left represents d.1479. Having placed my order, Rapido then announced a GWR banana van to d. Y4, and as I like a bit of variety.......... This also went well with a pair of Oxford Rail LNER, ex-GER vans that I had acquired a couple of years back after learning that the originals had been loaned to the Southern Railway to help them cope with their increased banana traffic between 1933 and 1937. My only dilemma now is whether the train is long enough............ I have a couple of unbuilt Peco Parkside kits in stock for the GWR Y4 van, plus the pre-built ABS one that needs re-working, but I'm wondering, can one ever have enough banana vans? Tony

Following a 2 day visit by my good friend Giles Walburn I am pleased to report that all of the remaining exquisite semaphore signals built fro me by Steve Hewitt more than 2 years ago, have finally been installed; it is an understatement to say that these really bring the layout to life. Down departures from Churminster were alreay dealt with through 3 bracket and one ground signal, but up arrivals are now covered by this 4-arm bracket signal (please excuse the junk beyond!). As the approach to this signal is substantially obscured by an over-bridge, it is precedded by a foxed distant: In the opposite, down direction trains enter the area controlled by the next box along the line and this is controlled by a further distant signal, sited just before the tunnel mouth. All three of those shown have been fully installed and the programme that runs them tested, however, the two distants have then been removed for safety, because there is a significant amount of scenic work to be done very close to them - and they are fragile! Up at Charmy Bottom, the twin starter signals have also been installed; the line in and out of this station is automatically controlled via a shuttle module which will also work the signals and I am waiting on a couple of electronic components that are needed to complete this work. On the Stowe Magna side of the layout, the two main lines are already colour-light signalled - this having been installed when the line was third-rail electrified in the arly 1930's, however, the up & down cross-London lines remain semaphore signalled (or until now, not signalled at all!). These lines will be controlled via 7 further semaphore arms and a single ground signal, all of which are now in place but so far non-operational; pictures at this stage may look a little strange since the signal arms may be pointing at rakish angles prior to their being connected to their respective servos and servo controllers. This is the down approach signal to Stowe Magna station with arms covering the main line through platform 5, the terminating bay platform no.7, and the yard; you may just be able to make out a ground shunt signal beyond and to the right. Three further sempahores cover the up departures from platform 6, the bay plaform 7 and the yard. As with Churminster, departure from the Stowe Magna area into that controlled by the next signal box is controlled by a distant signal beyond the loco yard. I will post further pictures as the installation and the scenery around it gets completed, hopefully including some video coverage. Tony

Surely if we want to encourage rail travel & rail freight at the cost of road travel and freight haulage we should simply accept that road users will be inconvenienced and will squeal in the process! The problem is that no-one has the guts or sufficient power to do this, nor is it reflected in any 'transport policy' - and thus the endless consultations, escalating costs and lack of progress. Of course we all pay for this, regardless of whether we are road or rail supporters - the price of democracy perhaps? (written as a rail enthusiast who almost exclusively travels by road).😄

Reached a significant milestone today in that the landform along the cutting is now complete! After building the shape from card strips, two layers of plaster bandage were applied: Here's the view in the opposite direction (with the bridge next to the quarry building removed): Finally the awful brown undercoat was applied: Plenty of scenic work required to hide the brown stuff! The sharp eyed will also have spotted that both the up and down lines have had a ballast drop - a visit from the tamper is awaited (plus PVA etc followed by rail and ballast painting): The narrow gauge lines are the only ones now remaining unballasted on the whole layout - Hurrah! However, aside from the need to tidy this latest ballast drop, glue it down, paint it etc, there is also a small amount of work to do further along the cutting where those two removable sections need rebuilding & refitting. But I feel the need for a pause and to run some trains......... Tony

Understood!

? Are the 'vast majority' now buying sound fitted locos? I personally doubt it. I'm afraid that for me, the prospect of multiple locos emitting a solid background of tinny white noise is enough to put me off going near those layouts at shows where sound fitted locos prevail. I prefer to hear the clickety clack of a smooth running set of wheels on a track (which of course can be achieved far more cheaply!) Tony

A short session today enabled me to get a 2nd coat of paint onto the recently formed hillside - so it now sports a darker shade of excrement 😷 (apologies for the camera shake!): The land now urgently needs grass & landscaping, whilst the track is crying out for ballasting................... I also made a little progress on the retaining walls for the site of the building that will be set into the hillside: I shall need to fill the missing landform gap to the left before I can complete this site and prepare it for building: Tony

Looking good!

Having been away for a few days, not much has happened with the train set, but I thought I might post these images taken recently of the "twighlight zone" that is the railway's main fiddle yard. What caused me to take them (with my phone) was that a particular train lost it's coupling and despite considerable effort it could simply not be found; so we determined by reference to Sod's Law, that it must be in one of the more inaccessible parts of the layout. The trains were cleared from the road that the train had been stored on, plus those ether side, and then I took these pictures with the aid of an LED light. The first image shows the throat at the northbound end of the storage sidings, whilst the second was taken in the opposite direction; the wiring above relates to the top fiddle yard which sits over this one - handily making access even more impossible! Needless to say the missing coupling has still not been found and will probbaly cause a further derailment at some future date! Tony

....And I have about 25 O gauge BR(S) locos plus EMU's (plus carriages, wagons, etc) to dispose of for another widow; I don't have the bandwidth to do E-Bay, so it is likely to be via interested clubs, the GOG bring & buy etc. Tony

You may be right about the end, retail price, but I doubt that either of those you mention would have paid the vendor any more as a buy-in price - which makes an auction perhaps the best option for anybody selling O gauge models such as this. Tony

...or perhaps seeing an opportunity in the absence of any news whatever as to whether the rail link will ever be built?

I don't know about you but I'm a bit bored with images of white plaster bandages, so I have a couple of rather different ones today! First, the breakdown train; followers of the thread may recall that @Iain.d very kindly built two kits for me into vehicles for this train, and I then did extensive research into the potential 50 shades of gray that these, together with a third vehicle (from Hattons Genesis), might be paintedi. Although I then managed to undercoat all three vehicles, the weather has since been either too wet or too cold (or both!) for me to apply the final colour. I am pleased to say, however, that a milder, drier couple of days recently has allowed me to get these vehicles sprayed in what is Tamiya German Gray - in my view the closest I could get to the Bachmann steam breakdown crane that I did not want to re-paint: The Hattons vehicle on the right is perhaps a shade darker than the two kit-built examples to the left, largely because it started lif in black livery - but I am sure that unltimately a bit of weathering will mean that no-one will be able to see the difference. There is still a lot to be done before this train is finished; the first issue is the lack of decals, which I first ordered and paid for from Modelmaster about 18 months ago, but as BRM regulars will know, whoever owns Modelmaster is not fulfilling orders, despite having recently posted about new products on his webpage. Regretably he does not respond to mails but will still take new orders..... (Please excuse the large water bottle in the image above!). As a result I am seeking decals elsewhere, and whilst the Hattons van is glazed, the two kit built items are not (although Iain d. has supplied the glazing), so this will be dealt with after the decals and a varnish have been completed. Overall I think this is going to be a very handsome train that will add a lot to the railway ambiance. And then to something completely different: The plastering got finished and out came the base brown colour - a pleasing shade of mid-excrement which I picked up in a HomeBase sale many years ago - I wonder why it was in the sale? - despite stirring for what seemed like hours this paint had badly separated and will certainly need a second coat, however I am pleased to have all of that white plaster covered! The errant choc-block has also been removed and the two wires soldered to the tag board, so there will be little excuse for not pushing on.... Tony

Given the line is not open to traffic it seems odd that this acn't be done during the day

A little more scenic progress: I shaped the landform using card strips, and have made providion for a driveway descending from the road above to the building that will be on the hillside. At the bottom of this picture you can see the small problem that is preventing me going beyond this point for the moment: The soldered tagstrip is correctly placed under what will be the removable platform on which the building sits, but the choc-block connector below it is wrongly positioed and will be beneath a fixed part of the hillside - so all that is required is to stretch the two wires from the choc blck and solder them to spare tasg on the tag strip = > next job! Ignoring that for the time being I finished the card formers and got the first layer of plaster bandage in place; there are a couple of small areas to fill in, plus a 2nd layer required but already things are looking different: The platform for the building will have retaining walls to the front & rear. Here is what remains to be done once those wires have been moved: Not far to the overbridge! Tony

Thanks Andy That would indeed be helpful. Tony

Tony Also seemed to me that there were differences in the focal lengths used in several of the shots; without knowing what he used it would be incredibly difficult to replicate things precisely. Nevertheless an interesting exercise and some different angles from those normally seen. Tony

Thanks for the several suggestions relating to the electrical connectivtiy of my cassettes; a further suggestion has been made to me 'off-line', via the use of audio jackplugs attached to the cassettes, which sounds interesting and if anything, even more fool-proof than crocodile clips. The locating aspect for the cassettes is less of an issue because there are already brackets in place which make getting this wrong quite difficult. I will explore and report back in due course. Tony

In fact a further option has ust been suggested to me off-line, via the use of audio jack plugs which would be attached to each cassette - all very interesting!

Thanks - how different is that to what I have used?

Didn't manage to attend, but pleasing to see such a relatively small number of rucksacks in attendance! 😏

I hate to disturb this stimulating discussion on accountancy, project management and the like 🥱, but may I ask a model railway related question? My layout has a cassette system for extra storage and the cassettes are formed from a plywood strip with aluminium angle on either side which act as rails for trains stored on the cassettes; when installed for running, the cassettes are held in place and connected electrically by a brass strip to either side, and unfortunately, despite really very little usage one of these brass strips has snapped off. This is a view of the arrangement pre-snapping, withe the cassette stretching to the left and the two brass strips curving out to the top & bottom of the image: So my question is, how have other people located and connected their cassettes and should I be using something more flexible or springy than brass? Apologies for this railway-related intrusion, but all suggestions appreciated! Tony

Further progress has been made on the plastering front, which I shall cover tomorrow, however, I have a question and hope that someone might be able to assist. At the back of the layout, and the front of the fiddle yard, I have a cassette system which was covered briefly about half way down p.22 of this thread: The cassettes are formed from a wooden strip with aluminium angle on either side, and these act as rails for trains stored on the cassettes; when installed for running, the cassettes are held in place and connected electrically by a brass strip to either side, and unfortunately, despite really very little usage one of these brass strips has snapped off. This is a closer view of the arrangement, withe the cassette stretching to the left and the two brass strips curving out to the top & bottom of the image: So my question is, how have other people located and connected their cassettes and should I be using something more flexible or springy than brass? All suggestions appreciated! Tony

Especially when one is ancient & decrepit!

I was reminded of this thread by something that happened today, and that has prompted my working through it an replacing all of the images that were lost in the "great RMWeb image debacle" of a couple of years back. It is, however, disgraceful that in the last 3 years I have managed to achieve ZIPPO in terms of this project - although I do realise that it is because my efforts lay elsewhere - so I think that I must charge myself with doing better in 2024 and re-engaging with my Continental Ferry Van projects! Now to work out where I will find the time............. Tony