CKPR

Probably still the best book on the railways of Carlisle is 'Carlisle - Rail Centres No.6' by Peter W Robinson published in 1986 (There's a more recent and excellent book on the yards, depots and goods lines of Carlisle but it's pretty rare and I've only ever seen the copy I bought from C&M Models).

Tattie pot, Cumberland sausage and sticky toffee pudding ?!

The M&CR goods & coal depot adjacent to Carlisle Citadel was officially called Crown St. Goods, but was also known as Bog Goods ! This area of Carlisle was once known as Bogfield and there's a Bog Junction on the goods lines just to the south of Citadel.

It took me some time to work out from the maps and photographs that the area immediately to the left of the goods wharf was actually part of the goods yard and not just rough ground - when I realised this, the roadways marked on the map all made sense. I scraped and sanded back the basic scenery and went to work with DAS, paint [Delux Vintage "Jenny Wren"] and pastel chalks. One result of all of this reworking is that the trackwork and groundwork is slowly acquiring that elusive mucky patina from all the dust [the point motors and switches are safely below the surface]. Noo en marra, eer's Robbo Langley an Bill Gibson, an awl 'Slater' ter hos, at wurk int new yard, unlarding deliverees frum "Campbell's Model Manufactory"

As Phil @SteamAle might recall, No.30 runs like a smooth sewing machine on extra strength smooth oil thanks to a heavy white metal body and a Comet double reduction gearbox with a rigid chassis but a 'free-bogie' tender.

There was a rumour that one of the 'Yorkshiremen', in this case No.30, had been seen working to Mealsgate and now photographic evidence has come to light...of course, the date of the supposed sighting was 1st April 1922 !

Unless this is West Virginia and that is the infamous Mothman, in which case it is very realistic...

A bit more progress on the scenery. I've found that I can do scenic work on the layout for 10-15 mins here and there - that it's in my study and I work at home two days a week helps in this respect. I've been pleasantly surprised in the way different areas are coming to life and a sense of both place and space is emerging. I'm going to turn the layout around at the weekend and work on the other side. I haven't got round to moving and remodelling the electrics yet so I'll be able to actually run some trains when I can get to the controls again !

PM me and I'll look up the extant drawing and photos for you.

It's a possibility but comparison of the drawings of both vehicles [there is an HMRS drawing of the M&CR box] indicates that the M&CR box is different from the Caley boxes in several ways, not least in having an assymetrical wheelbase. It's also simpler in it's build with much less of the finesse or detail of the Caley vehicle. Taken together, we concluded it was either a copy or a substantial rebuild. Either way, it was a pig to make in 4mm !

We had some discussion on here a few years ago about whether the M&CR's older type of horsebox, seen here on the left, was a rebuilt ex-Caley horsebox or another instance of Maryport works copying their neighours.

Just posing the branch passenger train in the obviously unfinished station and I'm struck by how all in proportion everything is. Well, at least to my eyes anyway. I am particularly pleased, not to say relieved, that the original guesstimates and compromises from the initial build weren't too far out and fit well with the more recent and hopefully more accurate work. The second photo shows that rebuilding the goods wharf in line with the prototype has certainly paid off as again, it all looks in proportion now. Again, I know that No.26 was really the Derwent branch locomotive and that No. 17, although built for the Bolton Loop, was soon transferred to other duties. Trouble is, my other two M&C locos, No.7 and No. 30, are both 'big' 0-6-0s and rather unsuitable for 'Mealsgate'.

Thank you Jim @Caley Jim that's really helpful - I was planning on using large sheets of thin card to form the forecourt/yard and platform [you can see the platform walls and some internal formers in the photos above] for 'Mealsgate' and will now try using thinned DAS on the card to integrate all of these surfaces with the rest of the scenery.

Very nice to see a tram on the workbench and I've found my thoughts wandering back to the topic after an abortive attempt some 30 years ago to model the Carlisle trams using the old Keil-Kraft kits.

I would endorse everything that Jim @Caley Jim says about DAS and it's also very pleasant to use and readily sandable without the nasty dust associated with polyfilla or plaster. I've been happily smoothing away lumps & bumps and making ditches & paths with nothing more than some old sandpaper and I think that there's definitely something more relaxing about working with 'natural' materials such as wood, card, metal and now clay. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of styrene in my model making (but definitely no resin ) and my wagons are all the better for it. That said, I do sometimes wish I'd gone down the old-school Pendon or S scale path and used card & ply from the start of my pre-group modelling in the mid-1980s (Mike Longridge's classic book on building 4mm rolling stock sits on my bookshelf to remind me of the path less chosen).

Feels likes its starting to come together a bit more now, especially since I started to use DAS for finishing off the landscape - its definitely my new favourite modelling material ! NB I know the sign says 'Allonby'...

Thanks to Phil @SteamAle for alerting me to a bundle of M&CR material on the bay of E. Here's the record from 120 years ago of the journey of a parcel from Cockermouth to Kirkbride via Brayton that involved the LNWR, the M&CR, the Caledonian and the NBR, all without leaving Cumberland.

Definitely Winton ! It was the subject of an article in RM November 1976 and it describes the climax of the Silver Jubilee running non-stop through the station.

The Easter shows at York in 1976 & 19 77- boiling hot, cramped (remember those pillars in the Assembly Rooms ?) and chock full of classic 1970s layouts. From memory, I can recall 'Rewley Road', 'Winton', 'Yatton Junction', Bill Hudson's 'Tideswell' and Ian Futers latest 4mm NBR layout.

Or the great Breck van Gaard for that matter.

I've been busy with some more of the Bausch stonework [ there must be somewhere in Germany that is geologically similar to north west Cumbria ! ] and remade all of the stonework on the goods & cattle wharf. I now just need to remove the original surface of polyfilla and wood ash, which is akin to concrete, and then it's painting everthing with gouache, which I very much enjoy, before refitting everything.

Looks better already !

Hmmm, looks some of the embankment opposite the station building will have to be cut back a bit and the goods and cattle wharf needs altering. The latter should just be case of extending the first siding and possibly cutting back the other siding and the cattle pen area. I'm going to end up with both goods sheds being truncated but that's inevitable given my attempts to fit an essentially triangular station onto a narrow rectangular base. Thinking about it, Mealsgate had a very unique and unusual track plan dating from the mid-Victorian period that remained essentially the same until closure in 1952.

Although I'm primailrily interested in the late pre-grouping and early 1970s eras, I am wondering if there is any cross-over with some other discussions going on on RMWeb, particularly those about the disappearance of old school operational layouts that were much more popular from the 1940s through to the late 1960s. By this, I mean layouts with several stations, all properly signalled and with the primary emphasis on realistic operation. It strikes me that this type of railway modelling, which has all but disappeared with the dominance of finescale accuracy, might be the answer to the lack of variety in modern rolling stock.

...London North Western of course !