Annie

Absolutely impressive that you were able to figure all that out Mike. As you say it makes you wonder how they assembled the locomotive in the first place with all those bits and pieces needing to be fitted together with no main frames for them to be attached to.

B&ER Broad Gauge Cheer Up Photo: One of Mr Pearson's amazing 9ft single driver well tanks. I've caught COVID again so some heavy duty cheering up was needed.

Thank you kindly Mr Northroader.

I'll certainly raise a glass to that Jim.

Thanks very much Stephen. Thanks Mikkel. Yes the round numbers are special and I'm pleased to get to this one. Have to see how I get on with reaching the next one in the series. Always fun to play around with my GWR engines in the snow. Thanks Jim. I know the time difference thing is a bit strange. For me it's Wednesday the 3rd today and my birthday was yesterday on Tuesday. But anyway whatever day it is, - Happy Birthday and all the best from me. Thanks Nick, - much appreciated. Thank you Tom.

Yesterday was my birthday, - it was one of those decade ones that can be a wee bit scary. I almost missed it because this narcolepsy thing I live with snatched me away to the Dreamworld and wouldn't let me go. When I got back though I made a cup of tea and decided to run trains about in the snow in 'Tristyn in Winter' to cheer me up a bit. The 56xx's I have on Tristyn are always good reliable fun so I headed off on the scheduled trip working to Valleyfields and Branwyn. (That's not Rathtyen you can see in the fog) I only got as far as the big town at Rathtyen though because seeing it again annoyed me something shocking. Apart from the random scatter of plonk down terrace houses it also had Soviet era Polish apartment blocks for heaven's sake. The list of 'Not likely to have been seen in South Wales in the 1930's' was getting very long so I went and deleted a huge amount of it. Levelled the ground, - and why the heck layout creators for Trainz don't do this I will never know, - and started to lay down some streets of decent looking and well modelled terrace houses that had proper back yards and everything. As you can see Rathtyen is getting a proper goods shed at last as well since it was lacking even an improper goods shed. I've tidied up some of the other smaller towns on Tristyn, but it always annoyed me that the biggest town on Tristyn looked a right old haphazard mess. Steve Flanders has just released some new industrial buildings so I'll be getting rid of a few more unlikely Soviet buildings and replacing them with proper British ones. I know I've got other pre-grouping and 19th century projects I should be doing, but for the present time Tristyn is my happy cheer up place so I think I'll keep on working on it for now. A general view over Rathtyen before I got stuck in.

The more I look at the closest wagon of the trio the more I'm convinced that the load has been put up in sacks.

Looks like a 6 plank wagon with an end door. My guess is that it's some variety of PO wagon. Any knowledgeable forum members here with better eyesight than mine?

Evening Broad Gauge Cheer Up Picture: Torquay station in the final days of the Broad Gauge. Possibly not such a good cheer up picture after all since preparation work is being done to clear the ballast back from the transoms in readiness for narrowing to the coal cart gauge. (Photo courtesy of the Broad Gauge Society)

Thanks very much Northroader and a happy Easter to you as well. That's a very nice picture with all kinds of interesting details. The signal box that was there pre-WW1 is gone, but the next available OS map was issued in 1938 so it's no help at all with helping to date the photo. My guess would be early grouping as well going by the appearance of the '517' class.

A pity about the lack of proper trains running past outside.

My mixed gauge version of the Minehead Branch had been built up in Trainz TRS22 and for a long while I thought it was stuck there due to the considerable number of changes to the landscape format that had been made between TRS19 and TRS22. However I recently discovered that because I'd decided to stop 'upgrading' TRS22 due to the 'upgrades' breaking more than they fixed it was still possible for me to gather up the MG version of Minehead and backdate it to the earlier version of Trainz. So that was exactly wot I did. There was a good reason for me wanting to do this as with the aid of topographical maps I'd revised much of the landscape from Crowcombe Heathfield to Stogumber and I didn't want to have to do it all over again. While the Trainz TS2004 layout I've been using as a basis for my project was a more or less reasonable effort at mapping out this part of Somerset, - though with some distances compressed a bit, - the section between Crowcombe Heathfield and Stogumber had large areas of the landscape at incorrect heights and levels. It was a right old business getting it sorted and while it's more than likely still wrong in places it's one heck of a lot better than it was. I don't know if this version will stay mixed gauge or not as the attempt at making functional mixed gauge trackwork for Trainz has problems that can't be fixed despite the efforts of Steve Flanders & Co to find ways of solving them. I got the point blades to switch over together, but there's no way to get a signal to recognise the presence of a train on both tracks. It can do one or the other, but not both. Just a snap taken at Crowcombe Heathfield in TRS19 to mark the successful transfer.

That really made me smile Mike. Plainly the rubber suspension must've worked, but how well and what maintenance issues there were with it would have well and truly lost to the mists of the past by now I suppose. At least there is the sectional drawing in The Engineer as a reference as without that much of these amazing engines construction would be a complete mystery. It's most certainly doing that, - excellent work Mike and I'm looking forward to further developments.

My ex-B&ER Vulcan Foundry 4-4-0ST had its cab removed as well by the GWR and replaced with a spectacle plate. I would have liked to have a version done in B&ER condition as well, but I couldn't afford it at the time. I suppose one has to wonder how many footplate crew ended up being injured or worse before those luxurious innovations were provided.

Latest project from Steve Flanders, - recreating the buildings and gasholders that were at Beckton Gasworks in London. There's more buildings still to come including the octagonal roundhouse, but while i was checking the new buildings over I took the opportunity to give the largest town on 'Tristyn in Winter', - Rathtyen, - a gasworks to remember. Rathtyen is in great need of a goods yard and a goods shed along with some proper station buildings, - so while I'm about it I might as well do a gasworks too.

Usually we count ourselves lucky if only a single photo of any mid-19th century Broad Gauge engine has survived.

Afternoon Broad Gauge Cheer Up Picture: Pearson's No.40 again. No date for the photo, but with having been built in 1873 and then rebuilt into a 4-2-2 tender engine shortly after 1876 when the GWR got their hands on the B&ER the window of opportunity is rather small. (Photo courtesy of the Broad Gauge Society) Photo posted previously of No.40 carrying it's GWR number, chimney replaced and with the B&ER cab now removed and replaced with a spectacle plate..

Brilliant Linny, - absolutely brilliant.

What really comes across in these old photos is the sheer amount of written material, both railway company and advertising, that was plastered over every available surface.

I hadn't realised that the bogies had independent India rubber springs. It certainly makes for a very neat and tidy arrangement.

Now this is a pleasant surprise. Well done and thank you Mike for turning your attention towards Pearson's magnificent well tanks.

Very Early Morning Broad Gauge Cheer Up Picture: "Mogul", built by Kitson & Co. of Leeds in 1862, was one of a class of 22 engines built for use on the Metropolitan Railway. Unfortunately she was withdrawn after only 10 years of service when the GWR and the MET fell out with one another bringing about the end of the Broad Gauge on the Metropolitan Railway. (Photo courtesy of the Broad Gauge Society)

I haven't used it for a while now, but when I was into tabletop miniature wargaming I used DAS for making scenery pieces such as ruined walls and towers & etc. It's a really useful material and completely safe to use with no fumes or other nastiness to worry about. I would sometimes mix it with a little PVA to make sure it would stick in place if I was using an underlying support former of some kind.

I did some work around Minehead and the line towards Dunster with generally tidying up the track and checking levels & etc. The area around the engine shed and turntable was a difficult proposition with the way the turntable is set into the ground, - and as well as that the interactive coal loading track between the water tower and the engine shed refused to be set down a little lower into the ground. I've been able to do before so I don't know what is up with the silly thing. Despite all that I ended up with a nice result with not a raw edge showing anywhere. I know Minehead didn't have a two road engine shed, but with nothing remotely suitable it's ended up with the ex-Broad Gauge timber engine shed from Barnstaple. Minehead is somewhat of an engine magnet so a two road shed is practical if nothing else. With track testing going on it was time for me to blow the dust off my 'what-if' Sharp-Stewart 4-2-4T. Those bogies are fully articulated so if there's anything wrong with the track it's easy to see it. Apart from that No.5 is a lot of fun to drive and she steams well. However this evening she had the sulks and she took a bit longer than she should to raise boiler pressure. It might have been me though because having not driven No.5 for a long while I forgot that she needs the blower well turned up to raise steam. I went as far as Washford because it will be the line from Dunster to Washford that I will be working on next. I had done a far bit of work at Washford two years ago so all the station and its surrounding will need is a little tidy up. The track between Dunster and Blue Anchor needs some fettling, but the line from Blue Anchor to Washford wasn't too bad at all. Along the way I'll be exchanging split post semaphore signals for disc and crossbar signals. Leaving Dunster.

Thanks for asking Mikkel. My daughter is still having some problems with nausea as well as bright lights or loud sounds, but the good news is that she was checked over at our local area hospital yesterday and had a CT scan which showed no sign of a fracture or bleeding into her brain. The doctor at the hospital said that it might be another week before things are back to normal again, but he thought that she was making good progress. Ha ha, - yes I have been letting loose a wee bit. What with all the worry I've needed a little bit of a cheer up distraction from time to time and the Broad Gauge is always good for that.