john dew

My first guess was Serbia (where it all started) Red Blue White horizontal bars but the second photo clearly shows the top bar is the lightest of the three bars so I think it may be the simplified version of the Russian Flag just White Blue Red Horizontal bars. Regarding the use of refreshment trolleys at junctions - in the late fifties I was in the Kings Liverpool Regt. stationed in Bury St Edmunds and later Osnabruck BAOR - in consequence I made a number of rail journeys on the boat train from Liverpool Central direct to either Bury or Harwich - it was a long tedious journey and my memory is understandably hazy but I do remember leaning out of the corridor to buy tea and a "sarnie" from a platform trolley - not as ornate as in the Photo but of course it wasnt ex-GWR! I cant remember the station possibly Sheffield ?

Hi Keith I am sorry to hear that you are still having problems with your TT. I know how frustrating this must be. I also had problems with mine but they were related to the bridge rather than the DCC interface. I am not very technical, as you know, but it seems to me that if the TT works fine with the supplied manual switch then the fault must lie with the LDT. I use the Fleischmann 6915 Turncontrol unit and they are virtually plug and play. The 5 wires from the manual switch plus a direct connection to the DCC bus. They are not cheap but they work like a charm. As a last resort you might want to consider one. The problem would be finding one in stock with a UK retailer (limiting your risk to double postage cost in the event of a return). You will almost certainly find one with a German/Dutch retailer (the source of my second unit) but there would be more freight and also VAT issues. My apologies if I am wasting your time with such a left field idea but occasionally 100-1 shots work Whatever- good luck and best wishes p.s. Did you get your amended schedule to work?

Very nice Robin. That is the Dapol version I think? Mine is so much better than the Hornby version although I think I still had to fiddle with the trailing coupling to ensure reliable Kadee coupling. I envy your stock of black livery locos - essential for the look of a 1947 layout Best wishes

Hi Colin Thanks for posting the O.S. map, it makes a perfect backdrop for your tannery/mill plans. Are you going to be able to mock up a 1930 O.S. version?

Hi Neal Glad you liked the photos. It was, indeed, very civil of you not to mention temperatures! In 48 hours we had almost 3' of snow fall which is both unusual and unwelcome. Daytime temperatures have now risen to 8 o but remain below freezing overnight nett result the snow is taking forever to clear - it seems to have been a long winter. I agree the the 56xx is a strange looking loco, particularly chimney leading. I guess its a case of horses for courses, it is easy to see how at home they would be rattling down the Welsh valleys bunker leading. I will try and find something more elegant for you next time! Best wishes

Granby Junction May 1947 As I mentioned above I have little to report. My time in the train room has been focussed on developing a commutor routine with two 4 car sets of Hornby GWR Collet non-corridor stock. This involves three large prairies behaving themselves. When they do, I run a B Set and Autotrain as well - so thats 6 locos in play - quite spectacular when it works - less so when it doesnt! I think it will be a while before the oft promised video goes into production. I continue to be plagued by the failure of polarity switches installed in 2009 - how I wish I had started with Tortoises - the switches are being steadily replaced with reliable and inexpensive Gaugemaster Universal relays and happily there are now very few of the originals remaining - but they are , of course, in crucial positions and almost inaccessible. You will see one such location shortly. None of this is particularly photogenic, Trawling through the Box Brownie archives, I thought it might be more interesting if I took time out to shoot some photos of a few of Granby's freight trains. This series follows the journey of a Class H through train returning Coal empties from Brymbo Steelworks to Bersham Colliery. (usual apology: much artistic licence applied to the geography of North Wales). Here we see a 56xx 0-6-2T, out of Croes Newyd , crossing over the main running lines on to the branch line junction : The train spotters are not too interested - 6698 and its stable mate 6694 are seen on this run most days. These two Bachmann model were bought almost 25 years ago - super reliable and great haulage capability. You can see that the diagram is not entirely without revenue. The two leading wagons carry pit props and at the rear of the train is a Gunpowder Iron Mink - separated, as one would expect, from the Brake Van by two empty wagons to act as a barrier: Having crossed over the main lines 6698 passes Castlegate Goods warehouses and descends Cynwyd Bank: The 56xx class was designed especially for work in the South Wales coal fields.The 0-6-2 configuration being well suited for for loaded trains to be hauled bunker leading down from the pithead to the ports below. Here in North Wales the process is reversed because my mythical coal field is situated on the floor of the Vale of Clwyd ! Having descended the bank the empties train trundles through Cynwyd Station: The train is over 5' long and I have struggled to capture its full length in one shot. Here is 6698 crossing the Shropshire Union Canal : while the rest of the train is still passing the Cynwyd cattle dock and McPeter's Dairy : This shot unfortunately features a missing wall surface behind the goods shed! It had to be temporarily removed to access the wiring for the most recent failed polarity switch - definitely not a fun job and still in progress. Grrrr! To finish on a more positive note here is the Box Brownie version of the canal crossing again circa May 1947 - The LMS Ivatt must have been brand spanking new! Regards from Vancouver - where the snow still lingers.

Thanks Bill- I hope you have a great trip. A mink and 4 plank are on the way. I will, of course, be weathering them but will be interesting to see how they blend in (or not) with the rest of Granby's quite elderly freight stock. They will probably replace some wagons in the branch pick up goods rake - this is seen outside the storage sidings more than most. Best wishes

Thanks for the nudge "Branchline" My current projects are not that photogenic but it is time I dusted off the camera and took some photos. I shouldnt just wait for the Siphons ans Manor! Best wishes

Happy New Year Colin! Excellent videos - you must be delighted at how smoothly the traverser operates. Congratulations on achieving your self imposed deadline of "trains running by Christmas". Talk to you soon John

Thanks Mikkel - plenty of pure white stuff outside: Dont think we have grown icicles on the house before!

MERRY CHRISTMAS I guess the photo hardly qualifies as a Santa Special but I rather like it and, if nothing else, it kind of captures the spirit of Granby! As we approach the end of another tumultuous and turbulent year I would like to wish all the members of RMWeb a very happy Christmas followed by a peaceful and equally happy New Year. I would also like to thank all those followers of Granby who, throughout the year, have read, liked etc and commented on the thread. Thank you for your patience, insight and above all humour. Without you guys, my modelling life would undoubtedly be rather dull. Best wishes from Vancouver where we are "enjoying" record low temperatures and lots of snow - Over 2 feet fell on Monday night alone . You know its cold when the days high temperature is negative : - 6o (23o F) John

Regular readers may be forgiven for concluding that I had hibernated. Quite a good idea considering the weather we have been "enjoying" for the few weeks I know this is how most people visualise Canadian winters but its not what is supposed to happen in Vancouver. Snow in December, let alone November is almost unheard of. Weather apart, other unforeseen events delayed any worthwhile post on Granby. I left you in early October describing the details of a relief loco exiting Granby Engine Sheds Earl Class 9003 in the turntable exit road awaits the arrival of a passenger train from Barmouth: The turntable exit is a short road that runs directly into Platform 6. The Platform 6 Road is used as goods relief and also by short commutor trains. As you can see it is situated directly outside the overall roof : The unforeseeable event I referred to earlier was the failure of the point immediately in front of the train at P6. Unforeseeable in every sense. The first sign I had that all was not well occurred when the two coach train departing from Platform 6 appeared from behind the roof and proceeded serenely across the turntable and attempted to enter Shed #5! Fortunately the emergency stop button was near at hand. Once I had identified the problem - which was not at all straightforward - the only way to resolve it involved removing the roof and adjacent buildings. Here are rarely seen naked images of platforms 1 - 5: The cable is to assist in identifying the relevant wiring from below. The roof is temporarily on the floor - somewhere a joke is lurking about not treading on eggshells. The less than ideal solution was to replace the surface mounted point motor along with new wiring back to the decoder. Once you start tinkering with previously stable wiring all manner of unexpected side effects can occur. Without going into tedious and embarrassing detail I managed to create a mysterious short that closed down the entire station area. Very frustrating and time consuming to identify and repair - fortunately all is well that ends well - I am now back happily testing the Granby - Barmouth passenger service. Hopefully it will not take quite as long before I post the next installment. Meantime, to finishing, somewhat off this topic but nevertheless quite topical - Bachmann Small Prairie 5565 : Looking forward to comparing it with the Rapido version! Regards from Vancouver

Well done Robin! I just hope it will be easy to paint over the branding so I can substitute a transfer more appropiate for the North West. Best wishes

Excellent Colin. You must be a very happy camper. The traverser was impressive.

You called?

Hi Keith That was precisly my problem. It took forever for me to work out that I had drawn it incorrectly Regards

Hi Keith Is the mis-alignment consistent? ie Programmed x steps clockwise is always an actual movement of x steps anti-clockwise and vice versa? Where x is any number from 1 to 47. Are you using the same TC turntable icon that you had before the mechanical problem or have you redrawn it? I had something similar where I couldnt get the TC turntable to sync with the Turncontrol unit. Best wishes John

Hi Anthony It seems churlish to nitpick such splendid modelling - but I think there is an “ r” missing from parlour? Best wishes

A video is on the to do list Neal but I fear it is some way off a "Watch this space" item 🙄

I did say the weather had changed! A week ago this was a placid creek 18" or so wide

Hi Neal Well you didnt appear to be short of fuel for the fire! 😀. Automation is not for everyone but can be a lot of fun. The Barmouth-Granby Down train is started by a single button click. In addition to starting the train it also starts the Turntable exit routine that I have just described. Thereafter I do nothing but watch with a mixture of pride........and concern in case anything thar Mr Gates describes as "unexpected " occurs! 😀🥴 If all goes well the train finishes in the Granby Up platform coupled to the Dukdog ready for the return to Barmouth/Storage and the incoming Loco (the Mogul) is in the T5 Shed road in front of the Collet! Hope you enjoy the next batch of photos - although not up to your standard I am afraid.🙄 Best Wishes

The photo recovery continues its slow progress. Its now virtually complete back to 2016 and page 20. Sadly prior to 2018 I had a rather haphazard approach to filing my Forum posts so the process is now rather tedious - nevertheless I will press on and hopefully get another 5 pages done before next week's Most of my train room time has been spent running trains and fine tuning RR&Co routines. Much of which is not very photogenic. However I thought these shots of the "Shed shuffle" might be of interest I have been working on my Cambrian routine, a 4 car train which runs between Granby and Barmouth (Storage yard). Its quite an intricate routine involving loco exchanges at both termini. Only tender locos are used so the routine involves using the turntables at both Granby Shed and the Storage yard. There is a somewhat generous allocation of 4 locos to the routine Currently there is a Mogul and Compton Manor stabled at Barmouth: And an Earl class and Collet Goods on Road 5 at Granby - the second shed road from the right: Working on the FIFO principle the scheduled loco for the next Barmouth run is Earl Class (Dukedog) 9003. The first job is to temporarily move the blocking loco, Collet Goods 2259 I suspect the Collet Goods is the least likely of the quartet to be on a Cambrian passenger service but its acting as a placeholder for another Manor - expected early in 2023! Once 2259 enters the bridge the Dukedog leaves the shed : Please ignore the derailed sand wagon - the shed staff dont seem bothered! Once the Collet is centred on the bridge it moves through 5 roads to a short release road kept solely for this purpose To improve this shot, the hand of God moved the Small Prairie previously seen in the track next to the relief road. Once clear, the bridge returns to the Cambrian Road T5 and the Dukedog moves on to it to be turned for Exit Here it can be seen turning through 180o ready to eventually head South on the Up service to Barmouth As soon as I edited this shot I winced at the excess spare lamps. I now realise that apart from Royal Trains the fireman only ever drew 2 lamps from the store. They will shortly be removed The next shot is not great shot but is needed to conclude the sequence : The Dukedog leaves the bridge on to the Shed exit road where it will await the arrival of the Down train from Barmouth. Once the bridge is clear it swings back to the Relief road so the Collet can be returned to the Cambrian road. The Collet will now be stabled inside the shed leaving the road outside clear for the incoming loco from Barmouth. I hope you enjoyed the photos and that rather breathless account of the "Shed Shuffle". Its all automated - the usual single button click does it all. Took forever to programme but is very satisfying to watch - I should really try and video it Next week I hope to take some shots showing more of the two "Barmouth" locos Regards from Vancouver where our Indian Summer ended abruptly with strong winds and heavy rain.

Thanks Mike. That was careless of me. I plan to run a combination of Express and Ordinary trains on my "Cambrian" routine. I didnt do the math - I assume that the spare would have been fine on a class 2 particularly as Granby locos have to travel to and from the shed light engine on running lines. Not that I actually change them when LE of course! 😇 Best wishes

Thank you so much for those kind comments. I must confess I was surprisingly nervous and reluctant to start - I was very concerned not too overdo it. Never have that problem with Panniers and Moguls! Best wishes

Hi John I think you are correct - in fact I think we have had this conversation before🙄 - I will remove it - a good example of less is more!😇 Best wishes