ikcdab

thats very helpful. There is also the camping coach evidence. This was situated on the goods yard siding close to the crossing and I believe would have been visible (ie not hidden behind the train). The camp coach was there during the "summer" only from 1934 and was withdrawn on the outbreak of war. I don't know how summer was defined in camping coach terms, but i guess its not July or August. So maybe a warm day earlier in the season.

Agree. The land slopes up rapidly behind the goods yard and no space for such a building behind the railway. The building is in front of the railway on the land where the chalets now are. It's possible that it's still there now but altered.

Thats actually an interesting point, but the up home signal visible here stands at the toe of the yard points where the camping coach stood. So the rear coach is far too far away to to be it. in actual fact, the camping coaches were almost up as far as the crossing, lessening the distance the happy campers had to walk to use the station toilets.

The signalbox is just out of shot to the left. The garden just behind the road sign runs up to the signalbox and the rear of the station building. When i first started at Blue Anchor there was a little shop there called the Floradena stores, again just out of shot to the left.

Yes your right. I'm not sure why I put what I did, I know the area so well, perhaps too well.

Hi Jason, so you can see my conumdrum. It definatley is not our sleeping car. I have had this picture for many years, certainly before we finished restoring 9038! and there are two clerestories and several other GWR coaches which we don't own! I really can't believe its a faked picture. I've had it far too long - my ownership predates photoshop and it would be a very clever photoartist who could manipulate that manually! so it remains a conumdrum. I am pretty certain its pre-war because of the lack of the pillbox. I don't know what time of year the camping coaches were despatched from Swindon to their locations, so maybe its (say) 1935 May bank holiday and the coaches have not yet arrived for the season!

Thanks thats well spotted. I think i can see a camping coach just about in the first Frith picture which is not evident in my picture. I agree that the coastal formation is very similar, which suggests that my picture is also pre-war. The pillbox is visible here: https://www.francisfrith.com/blue-anchor/blue-anchor-the-bay-c1955_b124023 which is an entirely different shape. Obviously that was built in 1940. If so, then my pic has to be around 1934, based on the car evidence of @petethemole

no because the running line goes behind the camping coaches

I dont think so. I know this area very well indeed and it looks genuine to me.

The problem with that is the lack of the pillbox. If you google "Blue Anchor beach pillbox" you will see some images of it. whilst the outcrop on the RH side of the image i posted superficially resembles the pillbox, it isnt one, it really is just an outcrop of rock omn which the pillbox was built.

Hi all, i am looking to roughly date the attached picture. This is Blue Anchor on the Minehead branch. There is a pre-Worboys level crossing sign - i think these were standardised in 1934 but had been around before then. The prairie tank appears to have GWR on the tank sides, though it is very indistinct and i might be seeing a new BR logo. There are no camping coaches in the siding - they were withdrawn in 1939 and didn't resume here until 1952. They had been first located there in 1934, so the period 1934 to 1939 and post 1952 are ruled out. The number of cars suggests that this isn't during war-time petrol rationing. During the war, a pillbox was built on the sea front which i believe would have been visible in this picture, so that suggests pre-war. The beach huts appeared in 1927. The leading and rear coaches are clerestories. All this is conflicting. If its pre-war, then it has to be between 1927 and 1934. If its post war, then its between 1945 and 1952. I know nothing about old cars, there may be some evidence there. All detective comments welcomed! Ian

I started mine as noted and I have the superstructure complete. I don't remember now, but I didn't have any probs doing the footplate. But I have got stuck with the crossheads that just don't make any sense at all. How did you overcome it?

So white lettering always needs the "flying crates"? The transfers in the kit are white without crates. So I either need to go elsewhere to get some flying crates transfers or revert to maroon and yellow lettering?

Hi John, I guess your set BL39 is the one for BD containers in this kit PC52 (4mm). Does your set have the arrow symbol? Ian

Not according to the instructions. They clearly state that the wagon is bauxite brown, but the container is bauxite red. The odd picture I have found suggests a difference between the two, but I'm unsure if that's weathering or I am looking at maroon containers.

Hi all, I am building two parkside conflats (kit PC52). The instructions say that the BD containers were maroon with yellow lettering, later changed to bauxite red with white lettering. The transfers supplied are white, so I need to paint the containers bauxite red. Oddly, this is a colour I have not come across before. I am familiar with bauxite brown, but not red. What shade was this? Can I get away with mixing some maroon into bauxite brown to get to the correct shade? Ian

15 years until i get to my mid-70s.....

So do you need a removable or lifting section at all? My layout crosses an outward opening doorway and we just duck under. After several years it is not a problem. I would just leave it fixed and avoid all the trouble and hassle. Ian

Hi John, I'll see if I can find the missing pictures. I need to do an update anyway. Whatever I am doing with the shed is working as it's remained bone dry for the last three years despite all the rain we have had!

I think 3d printing is the way to go. For not much more than the cost of a couple of rtr locos you can have a really good resin setup. Fusion360 is free for home use and is a very capable design package. Once you have that then any models you want can be designed and printed at home. Certainly there is a learning curve, but also there is a curve when learning to build etched brass or whitemetal or scratchbuilding from brass. Sam's trains has a series when he learns to design and print stock and locos, starting from the simplest mickey-mouse stuff through to a fairly sophisticated LNWR loco. Well worth looking at. A lot of railway modelling skills have changed, and if you can develop tech skills, it opens up a whole new range of things.

May well be true, but it's the same for virtually all rtr models that are moulded in plastic. You just need to add weight. Personally I think 3d printing is the way to go.

And the guard will also indicate when the driver should stop. The guard can see the buffer stop, the driver probably can't. Ian

I agree with the above ref the hardware. You won't go far wrong using peco points of any type. BUT if you want reliability, you do need to address the power supply. Do not rely on fishplates. Wire a separate track feed to every piece of track. You also need to avoid using point blades for electrical continuity and wire to the crossing. I don't use peco points but there are ways of doing this and others will come along with the details.

I am sure that someone will come along in a moment with the exact details. I remember being told a long time ago that whilst we railway modellers fit point motors to our layouts, in the real world they use "point machines". The issue being that a point machine contains both a point motor to move the blades and a facing point lock. in mechanical operation there will be just rods and locking mechanisms, in electrically worked areas, there will be just point machines linked by electrical cables.

LIP is loco inspection point. These trains are normally sandite RHTT. It's an available path, the train only runs as required.