Kelvin Pinnock

The track is OO, Peco code 75 with re-spaced sleepers on the main line through Elmleigh Market and the island platform, with Peco points 'persuaded' to adapt to the curved main line, and some scratchbuilt pointwork. Many years ago, the track was scratchbuilt using plywood sleepers. and these survive in the goods yard with C&L chairs. Other parts of the yard use C&L flexible bullhead track, and there are also areas of copper-clad and bullhead construction. Stratford St. Mary is mostly C&L flexible and C&L components. Robin Pinnock a.k.a. robock.

Yes, this video was made as a 'before and after' account of the railway, knowing that the area was soon to be redeveloped. Kelvin and Robin Pinnock

Meanwhile, work continues with the improvements to Elmleigh Market Junction.

Crecy are now saying "Available Spring 2024". Wait and see ...

To quote Crecy's reply : 'LNER Train Formations is currently out of stock, furthermore I do not know when a reprint will be available.' The order status actually says 'out of stock'. I wonder if the reply was mistakenly referring to Volume 1, although the order was clearly for volume 2.

Order placed on the Crecy website this morning, and seems to be accepted OK. (Publication date shown as yesterday - 1/10/23) I have now received a cancellation of this order, referring 'to doubt over a reprint'. Has it ever been printed in the past? We seem to be back to square 1, with a status of "on order".

Elmleigh Market goods shed has better vehicle access. The shed is one of the original buildings on the layout, and is based on those at Southminster and Battlesbridge. It needs some detail improvement, as part of the Elmleigh Market development. Kelvin.

Elmleigh Market goods shed has better vehicle access. This is one of the original buildings, based on sheds at Southminster and Battlesbridge, and needs some improvement as part of the Elmleigh Market development.

Yes, we realised the position of the lorry looked unlikely in the picture. It would have looked better with a mechanical horse and semi-trailer, but this side of the goods shed is not visible from the normal viewing position, and rarely photographed. This is one of the few areas on the layout where space is cramped, unfortunately. Kelvin.

Rear of the goods shed at Stratford St. Mary.

Stratford St. Mary goods shed.

A queue for the taxi at Stratford St. Mary.

'Rush Hour' at Stratford St. Mary. Previously seen on the front cover of February '23 BRM.

Thanks for your advice Bob. This sounds like it will answer my query. I can now go back and tidy up the pictures posted so far. Kelvin Job done - thanks.

Hello John, Thanks for your advice. We are still experimenting with the presentation of our articles, and have simply added photos together before submission, which is disappointing when they appear bunched together. I noticed your item on last Friday's 'Show us Yours', and the separation between your pictures is what we are hoping to achieve. Was this simply done by adding the second picture as an edit? Learning all the time ... Kelvin

Hi steve45, Thanks for your appreciation of our efforts. It was, of course, your post back in May, that prompted us to start this thread, that will enable us to go into more detail of the layout. Being a loft layout, the recent hot weather has put a halt on operations for the present, it's no fun modelling in 105° as we work toward the preparation of Elmleigh Market for a future BRM article. As far as building an exhibition layout, I'm afraid we are both comfortably in retirement, and reluctant to start a new project. We are content to continue developing our current layout, and hopefully maintaining people's interest. Regards, Kelvin and Robin

Hello John Besley, The sugar beet is available in packs from Model Scenery Supplies.co.uk

Loading sugar beet at Stratford St. Mary.

Loading sugar beet at Stratford St. Mary.

Some weekend activity at Elmleigh Market shed. This area is still under redevelopment, when the temperature allows. (Not this week!). The J19 is the one shown in Robin's video, last Friday, and features the working inside motion. https://youtu.be/F-0d4gMMZWg

Some weekend activity at Elmleigh Market shed. This area is still under redevelopment, when the temperature allows. (Not this week!)

A couple of pictures taken by Robin last year, which have been shown on another forum, and subjected to some proper stacking. The cattle pen gives a wider view, and the platform scene surprisingly shows the first appearance of a Class 30, there are after all, quite a few operating on the layout. This one is a standard Lima, bought on-line as a bare body and chassis, repainted, and fitted with a current-level Hornby Class 31 motor and bogies. It performs exactly the same as the factory product.

Hi Martyn, I've had a further search through the files, and found another couple of half-decent shots taken with the DSLR, in 2017. These were fully stopped-down single exposures that still show some loss of depth of field, the pictures we take nowadays are multiple stacks, to eliminate this. The picture of the locos, was simply entitled 'Great Eastern evolution', to show Hornby's contribution to the motive power dept., but it does show a wider view of the station. Kelvin

Hi Captain Kernow, There were so many alterations in the early days, the main structure being laid down in 1979. The basic plan was still as it is today, it has just grown additional features. Once we had established the geographical area, we studied many books of the Great Eastern and made field visits at weekends. The first buildings I made, in 1981, were those at Stratford St. Mary which remained in place until a couple of years ago, when Robin gave them a much needed facelift. As you know, a layout is never 'finished', and the prospect of creating another presentation for BRM, has spurred us on to tidy up the details at Elmleigh Market. Kelvin