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Moggs Eye

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  • Location
    East Lincolnshire
  • Interests
    Railway signalling. 2nd generation DMUs.

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  1. I haven't had a great deal of spare time for modelling of late, but have been working on converting a Hornby Class 153 into a Network Rail track inspection unit. The finished unit is seen on Holland Beck at the Lincoln show today.
  2. Holland Beck is journeying well beyond the borders of Lincolnshire in November when we head to Cumbria for the Workington show. https://sites.google.com/view/solrail/2023-exhibition?fbclid=IwAR2SypPzo82d9WYlB-mHmJw6pQt_wSSyzUjUWIIyq36h8Mg8E9zHM9NxByE Since I last posted there have been some alterations at the fiddle yard end to make the layout a little more interesting to operate. An overall view of the layout with the new industrial area hiding the single line fiddle yard. 37114 positioning the first wagons into the new building. The dockyard shunter having a break between duties.
  3. After being laid up in my garage since 2020 and the pandemic, Emsworth was set up for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I had to fight through the life's work of many spiders and much dust before connecting all the different power supplies, flicking a couple of switches, and... It all worked perfectly! Which was very good news as I had committed to take it to the Boston Exhibition last weekend. Happily there were no challenging problems over the weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to grips with the busy commuter timetable and the head-scratching shunting puzzle we use for the loco and wagon yards. Next outing for this layout will hopefully be at Howden next March. If I get the paperwork in today! Three generations of traction awaiting their next duty at the signing on point. The Branch Line Society almost made it to the buffers in the wagon repair yard. 60007 awaiting the fitters' attention in the inspection bay. 66773 waiting to run around its train in the station headshunt. A view across the servicing point, fueling line and East end of the station. The 144 is waiting to depart with a service to Goole. St Vincent Junction signalbox.
  4. We're looking forward to taking Holland Beck to the Carlton Railway Society's exhibition in Howden next weekend, March the 19th and 20th. I have decided to acknowledge the RAF's history by allowing their centenary Class 156 onto the branch. See you in Howden.
  5. Another great show from the Caistor crew, thanks for your hospitality, the Holland Beck had a very pleasant weekend. With our masks on, like many of the other exhibitors, traders and visitors.
  6. The Holland Beck team enjoyed a pleasant exhibition at Caistor in Lincolnshire this weekend. This was the first time I had exhibited it anywhere to its supposed location on the South Bank of the River Humber and a few locals were a little perplexed how they had never passed through Holland Beck or enjoyed a meal at the Black Cat pub! It was good to see so many folk supporting the club by turning out for a visit. The layout behaved itself, which was more than could be said for the operators, particularly the pro-celebrity team who took over Sunday afternoon. Thanks to the Caistor club for the invitation and for their usual friendly show. 47744 gets the road with a trip working to Immingham. The same train seen having just picked up the single line token from the crossing keeper. A class 153 bound for Barton from Lincoln slows down for its stop at Holland Beck. With Carnival Bank level crossing activated the service is about to depart. I'm not sure why they would put a 60 on a trip working like this, but here is 60065 fouling the level crossing while its driver has a chat with the crossing keeper. A track maintenance team ignore the Lincoln train, the Gazelle helicopter is much more interesting. The next exhibition outing for us will be at Howden in March. Have fun.
  7. I had a very pleasant day at this friendly show today. There's a good selection if layouts and excellent cake; well worth a visit.
  8. Waiting for the train at Holland Beck this afternoon at the Boston exhibition. 153382 is on a Lincoln to Barton service. Humber Logistics Services locomotive number 2 rumbles over the Beck. 31466 waits on the headshunt, presumably while the crew has a brew with the crossing keeper, while a Lincoln bound 153 halts at the platform.
  9. Hi, Thanks for the comments on the magazine article. As much as it's nice to see pictures of your layout in the magazine, and Paul Bason did an excellent job with them, the hardest part is trying to get across, in words, a flavour of what the layout is all about. The editorial team did chop the wording around, which means some of it doesn't make as much sense, particularly at the beginning of the article, but it's their product. I do appreciate the comments about the single line working. I've always been convinced that good operation is the heart of a decent exhibition layout and I enjoy operating prototypically, even if the timetable is a little hectic for a sleepy branch line. (Barton gets one train every two hours at the moment!) Really I ought to get the thing set up and have a running session, I'm missing driving my trains! Cheers, Ben.
  10. A few months ago I was invited to join a Micro Layout group on Facebook. Faced with some of the excellent work on there and considering the challenge of fitting something into their limits for OO I have come up with a corner of a military stores facility, Base Ordnance Depot Oakforth, to expend some creativity upon. It's set sometime in the late 1980s and features the loco facility and wagon repair workshop for an ordnance depot with an internal railway network connecting a series of stores sheds with the outside world. That's the complete scenic section, looking vaguely Southwest. From right to left we have the following line/sidings; The depot narrow gauge line - early in the planning process I found a video clip from the Eastriggs munitions depot in Scotland which had narrow and standard gauge networks. I've never worked in 009 before and the idea was too tempting to resist, particularly when I found some of the excellent Tillig HO/009 track. The next track from the right is the depot running line which crosses the narrow gauge then has a siding off to the right. This siding will disappear into a Bicester style, low relief stores shed while the running line will continue into a small fiddle yard. Then we have another narrow gauge line. This leads to a junction then two sidings. One will go into the loco shed, which will be a joint narrow and standard gauge building. The next standard gauge line splits into four sidings - the right hand pair for the locomotives (one under cover and one outside) the other pair for wagons (one undercover and one outside again). Finally on the far left is the remains of a Midland Railway cross country route now reduced to single line branchline leading to Oakforth station. This is the viewing side and I working on the scenery from front to back. To the left is a rudimentary halt serving the depot's South gate, which will sit between the signalbox and platform. As space is tight the depot's perimeter fence runs along the back of the platform. The signalbox, Black Cat Junction, is a much abused Ratio kit which owes its survival to an imagined junction just to the right. A platform for token exchanges has been added to its steps. The layout will use the MoD shunters from my other military themed layout, Cottleston with a mixture of MoD internal user wagons and the kind of airbraked stock that would have been brought to the depot via Speedlink. I envisage using a card based operating system to generate shunting moves for the wagon workshop, loco shed, narrow gauge, running line and main line to keep the operators bickering and getting in each other's way at exhibitions. The 'main' lines will have a class 108 and 121 shuttling backwards and forwards with the occasional very short freight going to the agricultural merchants sidings at Oakforth.
  11. HI Neil, I'm good thanks I was just about to get Cottleston out from under the dust sheets and get it prepared for Redcar in August, but they have just cancelled - though it was to be expected. They have asked me to go back in 2021, which is something to look forward to. Cheers, Ben.
  12. Back in the days when the British Army was essentially self contained and packed with specialists who could sort pretty much anything. There are still some specialist RE troops, mainly reservists I think, who have some railway capability. https://www.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/corps-regiments-and-units/corps-of-royal-engineers/65-works-group/
  13. An interesting project, I hope it goes well. I like the detail around the signalling and the back story that comes across from your signalling diagram. Given your particular interest I can see why you've gone for all the colour light signals - technology that seemed to come fairly late into East Lincolnshire - I think there may have been one or two somersault signals lingering on the Skegness branch around the era you're modelling! I will look forward to your updates, have fun with it.
  14. Despite the menace of you-know-what the Perth Green (Jarrow) Model Railway Exhibition last weekend was a chilled, very pleasant event. The folk up there were very warm and friendly so the Holland Beck crew had a fine time up there. We did end up being backed into a corner of a small room surrounded my narrow gauge layouts, leading to the revelation that 009 modellers don't in fact bite and have a great sense of humour. Thanks for your company, lads. A view down Carnival Bank as a 156 heads towards Barton. Some odd photographic stuff means both red lights on the crossing appear to be illuminated together. The signalling equipment at Holland Beck Ground Frame. 60007 gets away with a trip working to Immingham after picking up the single line token from the crossing keeper. Humberside Police pointing the way to a decent cup of tea for the downed Army Air Corps pilot. As 47744 trundles in with the empties for the brickworks, ex-army Ruston 802 waits to pick them up.
  15. Holland Beck will be heading North to Jarrow and the Perth Green exhibition next weekend. As part of the preparations I have been making sure the Humber Logistics Services industrial shunter are happy on the exchange sidings. The Ruston runs beautifully, even on my average track. Hopefully I'll see some of you up there.
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