[Wincanton Station]

The Somerset & Dorset Railway by Derek Phillips on Irwell press, has some good photos plus a track plan from 1921 and signal diagram.

[Is track building making a come back]

I think with the new Peco bullhead track offering a greater scale accuracy to newbie modelers,(like myself), has opened the door for track building, With most turn out kits now having the thicker sleepers, a lot of different products work together nicely. You can build most of a layout with the Peco flexi and standard points, with some nice curved point kits to add interest.

[Goods train Blandford]

Went down to Blandford in October. Popped into the museum to have a look at this wonderful layout, very nicely done indeed.

 

 

[Building an EM gauge catch point]

Really nice work.

 

I got inspired to make track from your posts, made a catch point a while back, I think it turned out ok.

 

 

[Beaminster Road……….maybe?]

20 hours ago, Jack Benson said:

Finally found the image of the Ford 7V made from bitsa RTI and Classix, it will be a milk churn flatbed in the milk factory yard. Somewhere the model is stored until the layout is ready.
 

 

And a very nice octagonal Scenecraft chimney is inbound for the factory’s boiler house (a chopped-about Airfix locoshed)  Nothing special, nice and subtle.

 

StaySafe

Seems like you are going to build another milk truck, like the one you sent me a couple of years ago.

Here it is in pride of place near Stourpaine.

 

[Modelling Spam Cans (Bulleid Pacifics)]

Nothing to add to the thread really, but went to the Bluebell last week and saw one of my favourite spam cans.

 

 

 

[Show us yours - Realistic modelling]

Another not quite realistic pic of my Stourpaine and Durweston halt. I wish I could use photoshop to replace the plasterboard sky with a nice cloudy image.

This was one of the first pictures I took of it while it was under construction. Wrong loco, wrong coaches but I like the look of the train, lucky shot that I have never managed to repeat.

 

[Hornby 8f Tender short]

I posted a while back that I disconnected the wires for the tender pickups, the loco has been running fine ever since just using the loco ones.

I would like to add that the Hornby 8F is now one of my favorite locos, it runs an absolute dream, even through my clunky hand made points, a real jem.

[Goods train Blandford]

Waiting for the loft to warm up and looking forward to start modelling again.

 

The next part I want to crack on with is Salisbury street bridge and the embankments leading up to it. Took some photos last summer as a guide.

 

 

 

[Show us yours - Realistic modelling]

Not a realistic photo but, I spent quite some time sloping the farmland into the embankment on my Stourpaine and Durweston halt layout. The results are quite pleasing but, it takes up a lot of space.

 

 

[Building a Southern Region layout]

On 31/10/2021 at 16:03, 5BarVT said:

That’s because they want to live in chocolate box countryside, not working countryside.

Not uniquely British though, I rather liked the French mayor who, being equally frustrated, said something along the lines of “it’s the country, church bells ring, cocks crow and cows output smells”.

Paul.

I miss the days of Jack Hargreaves and old country.

 

A friend of mine used to live in a caravan like that on the Shillingstone station site back in the 1980s. He tells me it was wonderful, never saw a person at the weekends and he used to pick wild freshwater mussels out of the Stour.

[Henstridge in EM.]

On 10/08/2021 at 22:48, lezz01 said:

Very nice mate. Don't be afraid of hand building track. Whilst it isn't exactly easy it's not as hard as most people think. Your skills will develop with practice. If you need any help just ask as there are a fair few people on here with track building experience who are only happy to help, myself included.

Regards Lez.   

Thanks Lez,

Over the last 8 months I went back to oo/oosf to hone my turnout building skills. Bought a nice variable temp soldering iron, vee and switch-blade jigs from the EMGS, to be honest I have really enjoyed it. Been bothering folk on the templot / handbuilt track forum, and I think I am ready to start again on the EM track.

 

I have been busy converting some wagons to EM, some are just a straight swap of wheel sets and some require a bit more filing, cutting than others.

 

 

 

Thanks again.

 

Paul.

[Henstridge in EM.]

 

Cheers.

It's taking me a while.

[Sturminster Newton]

A couple of nice pictures of Sturminster Newton goods yard in the new Somerset & Dorset Railway book by Derek Phillips.

 

Also, a tantalizing glimpse of the goods shed at Shillingstone as well.

 

The photos of Stur do not shed any more light on the photo above, unfortunately, just a glimpse of the southern end.

[Goods train Blandford]

Off on another photography trip to Dorset next week, thought I would post up another from last year's trip.

Wonderful brickwork on this one, just north of Gains Cross.

 

 

 

So many of these structures remain well-preserved, a delight to see.

 

[The SOMERSET & DORSET RAILWAY Bath to Bournemouth The Main Line and Branches]

Ordered.

Looking forward to seeing this.

Thanks.

[Sturminster Newton]

I did as much research as I could on Stur, without seeing a photo the closest I could see was the model shed in SN museum. The door to the office had steps each side. This was my attempt, have no idea how accurate the museum model is.

 

The trees behind and the bank to the right look a close match.

I would love that to be Stur.

 

The sun direction would make that late afternoon / early evening.

[What Gauges do I need for hand building track?]

24 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

I’m working at Templot! I managed to produce a crossover between a running line and a siding last night, so I’m getting there!

Stupid I know, but I’m worried I’ll either mess up the transition between 16.5mm to 16.2mm gauge and back and/or that 0.3mm narrowing will be glaringly obvious once I’ve finished. Kind of a “I-need-to-fully-model-the-back-of-this-building-even-though-it’s-hard-up-against-the-backscene-and-no-one-will-know-otherwise” situation, I’m afraid!

You can barely see the 0.3 mm difference. I use Peco bullhead flexi track in 16.5 mm and make the difference on the last sleeper as it meets the turnout. You can't really see it but the 1 mm flange ways look really good.

[What Gauges do I need for hand building track?]

54 minutes ago, Stephen Freeman said:

A 20p coin will be fine for setting the pointblades.

That's a good tip. Thanks.

[What Gauges do I need for hand building track?]

1 hour ago, Tortuga said:

4) narrow the track gauge (is this 00-sf?) 

00sf. Looks really good, I have not had a problem with modern RTR and 1 mm flange ways in 00sf.

Get into Templot, it is a thing of beauty.

[Goods train Blandford]

After a winter break I have started on Blandford again. Been soldering drop wires and laying more track to the South of the station. Going to start powering up tomorrow to begin test running, going to be lots of problems to sort out I'm sure. Better to rebuild anything now rather than later.

 

This is looking south with the horse box siding to the left, entry to the goods shed, up and down platform tracks and the coal siding to the right near the station building.

 

Coal siding with catch point.

 

 

Also started on Salisbury road bridge.

Modelled the buffer stop on the one currently preserved by the iron bridge / beginning of the trailway today.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

[Charlton Bridge - 4mm BR(S) - Building Bridges]

That looks great. Nice bit of track work.

[Hayfields turnout workbench]

Hi Hayfield.

 

I must admit, I gave up on the stainless steel rail, you are all correct, I won't buy any more.

 

Starting a small EM gauge soldered construction track plan at the moment, the loft is a bit cold, so this is being built in the living room.

Ready to start laying the sleepers but unsure where to start laying the track. I guess the common crossing is the best place. I plan to glue the sleepers down and then cut the breaks with a Dremmel

Any advice from anyone would be welcome.

Thanks

 

 

[Stoke Courtenay]

Have just found this thread after seeing the BRM video on YouTube.

 

Thought your interview was very good, down to earth and honest. @checkrail

 

I am building a similar loft layout at the moment, hope it turns out as nice as yours. Now I am going to read the whole thread.

 

Paul.

[SMP/Marcway copperclad turnout review]

14 minutes ago, The Evil Bus Driver said:

Thanks John that's much appreciated. I'll try and get to one of the shows if I'm not working. If not this year then next if Warley* is still off this year. Hopefully not but lets see what Covid pukes up next.

 

*I'm guessing the EMGS/Scalefour wouldn't miss that one

You can join the EMGS for £25 a year, and you get access to the online shop, not just the jigs that are a bargain.