Liam

All new suggestions have been added to the guide!

Been over two years since I started this guide! I think the guide needs updating, as sadly we have lost a few of the hostelries that featured, such as the Great Western by Exeter St David’s. But perhaps you’ve come across a few new additions while on your rail travels?

The track and baseboard are currently dismantled, pending being put back in position. But as @The Johnster alluded to, the baseboards aren’t the best policy and I fear some grease from one of the screws may have stained the carpet! I’m wondering if someone can recommend a mat that I can put the track on instead? A fairly thick one from somewhere like The Range.

Never really read this thread until now. Glad I’m not too late to the party though, these photos and works are stunning!

The page headed ‘The Cotswolds’ sets out exactly what sort of buyer they’re after - not many estate agent information booklets tell you about the nearest hunts and polo clubs! And of course details on which independent schools to send the children to, as Prince Henry’s High School in Evesham certainly won’t do…

This is terrible news. In some cases it is natural to speculate on the hows and whys, but our first thoughts must be with the very talented people who are losing their jobs.

Just an update to say that I managed to get everything working OK, as demonstrated by my 153 running. 🙂

Back in the flat tonight - I’m probably being quite stupid, but something tells me that setting up this Gaugemaster controller isn’t quite as simple as screwing the wires in to these holes then inserting the power supply and plugging in. Do all of the wires need to be inserted to the holes? If only I was on hand to witness the wiring up of my home layout 13 or so years ago!

Hi Johnster, thank you for your feedback and your suggestions. To address a few of your queries: Radius of curves - this had totally escaped me. I have a feeling that the curves are R1, as they’re basically Hornby train set track, I will try one of my larger engines on it, as maybe it could work, but I accept that it’s likely it won’t so I’ll look to part exchange the R1 track for some R2 track. Levelling on the mattress base - in my mind I was just going to tolerate it not being quite level, although I wonder what difference it would make if I managed to get the two halves properly joined up (for at the moment they’re not). I hear what you say about the quality of the boards, but I don’t relish the expense of procuring new boards when they’re not likely to be used an awful lot in the grand scheme of things. However, at the club we seem to have lately been donated old layouts and boards from locals who have been clearing out elderly relatives’ lofts etc, and I suppose it’s only a matter of time before we receive another one. There have been few complaints about the quality of the boards from other members, so if the next one we receive features a good board and of a similar size then I’ll grab it and dispose of these boards. There is a temptation to extend the layout, but I’m going to be disciplined and keep the track plan as it is now (except for altering the curves), as otherwise I won’t have a living room left!

I’m now living in North Devon, and although my local model railway club has a test track I’ve decided to set up a very basic layout in the living room of my flat, mainly so that I am able to run my locos in my flat. These baseboards were originally constructed around 9-10 years ago by a family friend of ours, and I was told that they were designed to a standard train set size of 6x4 but when I measured them a while ago it was more like 5x4. Nonetheless, there’s ample space for a loop and a siding as can be seen. *since taking this photo, I’ve swapped the straights around so that the points are now on the other side by the sofa cushion and the power connector is on the right hand side, joined to two small straight sections. All the track is Hornby, and I have a Gaugemaster controller, which I’m told can be fairly easily connected to the Hornby power connector. The test track currently sits on the folded base of the mattress that folds out (the sofa is a sofa bed) - it’s the only space available that’s realistically large enough for it to go. Is there anything I should keep in mind given this (ie a baseboard on a sofa bed)?

This was the project at the club on Tuesday night - weathering the Hornby Railroad Mk1 BG I purchased for a tenner at Milton Keynes last year. The weathering has been conducted under the professional tuition of Elliott Cowton, @DutyDruid of this parish. I’ve also added some 3D printed coach ends which were purchased at the Redditch show back in September then duly painted and glued on. Once exhibition ready the coach will be part of formations on my own exhibition layout, but hopefully also Barnstaple MRC’s layout Milverton and Phil Bullock’s Abbotswood Junction Mk2.

Have you got a small marquee or gazebo you could pop up Phil? Also protects against the rain.

Day 6: Penzance to Gillingham Dorset via St Ives, Exeter St David’s, Westbury and Salisbury. Good morning from Par! Not long after that the steward came round with my breakfast - the roll for the sausage bap was a bit on the crusty side, but otherwise a nice breakfast. A view of St Michael’s Mount as we approach Penzance. After making the most of the facilities at the Night Riviera lounge at Penzance I hopped on a 150 bound for St Ives - the views are spectacular! Then at St Erth I hopped on an eastbound IET as due to family commitments I couldn’t be too late arriving into Gillingham. I had hoped to instead go via Southampton and Bournemouth to Poole and bus to Blandford from there, but unfortunately a shortage of drivers who signed south of Westbury meant that the train I was catching from there was delayed and I would have missed my connection at Southampton Central, so I shortened my route by heading via Salisbury to Gillingham instead. Though there was this 47 at Bodmin Parkway in a nice Railfreight livery.

Then it was via Strood and HS1 back to St Pancras, and after plans to visit a pub between the two Dorking stations fell through I had dinner at a pub next to Smithfield Market in Farringdon. This lent itself to a much smoother ride to Paddington. Anyone who has booked a cabin on the Night Riviera is welcome to use the First Class lounge at Paddington. If you ever find yourself here, head through to the right down the corridor after you enter, as that’s where the real beauty lies - designed as Queen Victoria’s private waiting room. I had a very enjoyable hour or two in here with refreshments and marvelling at all the furnishings inside the room, and then at 22:30 we were invited to board the train. This was my room for the night - it was genuinely lovely! I then wondered to the bar car to watch the train leave Paddington and soak up the atmosphere, and around Pewsey I decided to turn in…

Some more photos from the tour of Shepherd Neame Brewery. The left stained glass window depicts the history of beer production, while the one on the right depicts the history of Shepherd Neame and aspects of Kent history it is linked to. The most important part of any brewery tour! We sampled Five Grain Lager, Whitstable Bay Blonde Lager, Bear Island East Coast Pale, Bishops Finger, 1698 and Whitstable Bay Stout.

Day 6: Alvechurch to Paddington (for the Night Riviera sleeper) via Euston, St Pancras, Ashford International, Canterbury East, Faversham, St Pancras, Blackfriars and Farringdon. A 350 with a very poignant livery at New Street. Between Ashford and Canterbury, with a crown carved out of the chalk hill. Canterbury - no time to explore the city sadly! Faversham town centre. What brought me to Faversham beyond the lovely architecture of the town was Shepherd Neame Brewery, and the brewery tour I was booked on! This is the bar inside the visitor centre. The first building you enter as the tour gets going has this sign above it - for three days James II was held prisoner in the house that is now part of the brewery. We all walked through a door that a king has also walked through! Bodie, one of six hawks employed by Shepherd Neame to keep the pigeons at bay.

Day 5: Weedon Bec to Bromsgrove via Northampton, London Euston, London Marylebone, Oxford and Worcester Foregate Street. These will replace the 323s on the Cross City line - bring on that day! The History Faculty of Oxford University, where my old university lecturer lives. We met up for lunch at the Covered Market. One can easily see Endeavour Morse pulling up on this street in his Jaguar.

Day 3: Montrose to Weedon Bec (Northamptonshire) via Stirling, Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Carlisle and Milton Keynes. The shortened HST arriving into Montrose - they’re lovely inside! Going through the Lowlands between Kilmarnock and Dumfries. Invariably, every All Line Rover bring you to Crewe! Oh the sacrilege of drinking LNER’s ale in the spiritual home of the LMS… 😂 When some of my colleagues go on holiday, they like to go to a hot sunny beach resort in Spain, Greece or Turkey. My holiday took me to a very wet Milton Keynes Central! 😂 But all is well at The Plume of Feathers in Weedon.

Day 2: Macclesfield to Montrose via Stockport, Doncaster, Newark and Edinburgh. Newark - were the first criminal to receive the death sentence in King James I’s reign was executed (Horrible Histories fact of the day!). Durham Cathedral Looking over towards Holy Island - a place that has extra significance to me as at Ampleforth I was in St Cuthbert’s House. Crossing the Forth Bridge. A nice view of Montrose Basin as seen from the station.

Day 1: Alvechurch to Macclesfield via New Street, Bletchley, Bedford, Leicester, Oakham, Derby and Stoke-on-Trent. Ozzy the Bull. Oakham. In the Grainstore Brewery at Oakham. A rather famous signal box. The Pendolino that was just seconds off breaking the WCML record for fastest run from London to Glasgow.

Thanks, yes that’s exactly my purpose for doing an ALR and a few people have said that it’s a great idea to do that. The last person to do that was on an Avanti Pendolino this morning - one Nick Hewer! His initial response was “Why would you want to do that?” But when I told him of visiting friends and family, and taking in scenic routes he changed his tune and said that it sounded fantastic doing it this way. I imagine it would have been great to do an ALR in the 1970s or early 80s with loco hauled Mk1s and Mk3s together with HSTs in their infancy. Tomorrow night I’m on the Night Riviera - to think that it’s Britain’s last scheduled slam door stock working.

I’m currently doing an All Line Rover - a legacy of British Rail, the All Line Rover is one of those brilliant tickets which are not widely promoted, or at least not as much as regional rover tickets. I have done several All Line Rovers before; some with my dad back in 2014/15 when I qualified for a child ticket, then some of the more recent ones on my own as an adult. Previously my All Line Rovers have been done in July, but due to work commitments this week is the earliest point I’ve been able to do one this year. Any later in the year and it wouldn’t be as enjoyable to do an All Line Rover on account of the diminished daylight and it being dark by the time you reach your destination, which isn’t ideal if you’re staying with people you know. Nonetheless, last night I stopped in Northamptonshire with some friends, having started the day in Montrose, going via Stirling, Glasgow Queen Street, Glasgow Central, Kilmarnock (where I had lunch with a family friend), Carlisle, Crewe and Milton Keynes. So far I have covered around 1,250 miles after three days of travel. With my railcard bringing the cost of the ALR to £376.80, I believe I have now covered the cost in terms of what I would have paid ordinarily for the train journeys I’ve been making - it might sound a lot of money but with careful planning you easily get that money back. All Line Rovers are genuinely a brilliant way to get around the country to visit attractions, take in scenic routes and meet up with family and friends who live in different areas. Today I’m meeting up with one of my old lecturers in Oxford (he lives there but that’s not where I went to university!) then on Friday I’m paying a visit to Shepherd Neame Brewery. I’ll try and post some pictures later, but it would be great to have a discussion going here about All Line Rovers, and feel free to ask any questions about my routes and planning.