Middlepeak

Steady on mate! At this rate you'll have enough wagons to fill Toton Yard, never mind Middleton Top! G

Ah, well that ties down your modelling period a bit more - in fact to 2nd August 1966, just before lunchtime, when this happened. Photo - With thanks to Tim Jeffcoat If I remember correctly, the loco (D3778) may have been allocated to Stockport at the time. This was a one-off trial, which was not repeated, although it's not clear why. Earlier attempts with an ex-LMS diesel shunter were even less productive, as the loco's hornblocks appeared to seize up going round Gotham. Still I suppose you could run it while no-one's looking. I propose to do the same on Friden! Regards, Geraint

Tom, Paid a visit to the Chalk Pits Museum at Amberley today and found this tucked away in the railway exhibition hall. Looks a little familiar! Regards, Geraint

Excellent exhibition today, with a good range of layouts and lots of smiling faces behind them. People obviously happy to be exhibiting again! Well worth the long trip from the Fens. Thanks and congratulatiins to Adrian and all the team! Geraint

Jay, If you've got some software that will square up the sign picture, you can then print it out on matt photo paper. In theory you could draw it and etch it, but I can't recall the size of it and therefore whether the text would come out OK. G

Here's a shot I have of a van at Sheep Pasture in (I think) the 1950's. Certainly brake vans would not have been seen on the inclines as (a) the isolated stretch between the inclines did not require vans to be attached to each train, and (b) brake vans were generally of too long a wheelbase to go over the summit of the inclines. This is the only picture I can find that confirms a van on an incline. I presume it was for some kind of stores delivery to one of the quarries. While I remember Jay, you were asking the other day about colour photos of the incline signs at Middleton. This shot is of the one at the bottom, but from memory the one at he top had the same wording. Regards, G

Thanks mate. I maybe need to join this group! G

The clearest clue is on the skyline to the right of the distant escarpment - the chimney of the engine house at Middleton Top. That would place you just to the west of Steeplehouse Goods, heading towards Middleton Bottom and Middlepeak Yard.

Jay, Can I recommend various products from a company called Attwood Aggregates. I have some very fine ash coloured dust from them, which is a lighter shade, good for simulating the spent ash from a firebox, but they also do a coal dust, which is much closer to cinders. Carrs also do an ash ballast, which is pretty close to the normal cinder colour. All off these are very fine in texture and can be fixed with a dilute mix of either PVA or a rubber based adhesive. The latter is probably better if you're looking to deaden vibrations through the baseboard structure. I'll be using a combination of these on Friden, whenever I get round to ballasting. Regards, G

I mentioned yesterday about finding time to put some loads in the open wagons. Well, some time came free this afternoon, so the litra PU was filled with coal for the engine shed at Ribe and one of the litra PDs gained a log load, doubtless destined for the local tømmerhandel (timber mill). A small but satisfying job, which put me in a better frame of mind for tomorrow. A good thing really, because the hardest part of the day was filling the car up with enough petrol to make the journey to Norfolk! Strange times we live in. Geraint

I usually like to produce something new for each exhibition I do. With Saturday's Scalefour Open Day in mind I decided that the lack of RGVJ wagons needed tackling. All of these are off the shelf products from a variety of manufacturers, including Hobbytrade, Roco and Sachsenmodelle. In each case the wheels have been swapped for Gibson p4 Lowmac wheels, usually on the original axles and no attempt has been made to compensate or spring them. The RGVJ's standard wagon colour is Humbrol 100 (red brown) and the van roofs are given a coat of Railmatch roof dirt. Lettering is all from the excellent waterslide transfers produced for me by Old Time Workshop last year. With Jackson couplings fitted they are ready to roll. At some stage I need to research and provide appropriate loads for the opens, but that's maybe a project for the next exhibition. We'll be running a slightly reduced service this weekend as one or two items of motive power are not available, but hopefully there will be plenty to keep operators and punters happy. Maybe we'll see some of you there! All the best, Geraint

Looking very good John and you must be relieved that all went well during today's "trial run". I've been doing the same with Obbekær in preparation for the North Norfolk event on the same day. One or two little niggles, but nothing serious! Hope the day goes well. Look forward to seeing some film of the event. Geraint

John, What have you used for your stone walling please? Geraint

An unexpected but very welcome invitation to take part in one of the mini-events that are replacing this year's cancelled Scaleforum means that Obbekaer will be emerging from its storage crates shortly for the customary round of pre-exhibition testing. The event has also provided the impetus to finish off some long standing wagon projects, using the transfers acquired last year. The event is organised by the North Norfolk Area Group of the Scalefour Society, and takes place at The Copeland Centre, Hall Road, Briston, Nr Melton Constable, NR24 2LG on Saturday 25th September from 10.00 to 16.00. Light refreshments will be available and there is no requirement to pre-book for attendance. There will be three layouts and various interesting modelling demonstrations. Very much an informal occasion, but no less enjoyable for that! We look forward to seeing some of you there. As things stand, this is Obbekaer's only confirmed exhibition appearance at the moment, and in the absence of any further bookings may be its last!

There's great concentration in that shot, and not just from Alan! Looks like you will be making it down to Friden - assuming the track gang keep working! Let me know when you arrive. All the best, G

D3778 was trialled on the line, pulling empty wagons from Friden to Middleton on 2nd August 1966, seen here at Hopton but was not deemed successful. Photo - Tim Jeffcoat Earlier than that, an LMS version, 12006 was trialled on 7th April 1959, seen here at Parsley Hay before the run started, but later photos show it stuck on the curve at Gotham, presumably resulting from its longer wheelbase. Photo - E R Morten Regards, Geraint

Jay, Can you provide some dimensions please? Height, length of each piece, plus some idea of cross section. Also it would be interesting to see how easy or difficult it is to disguise the joints. Is it pliable? Regards, Geraint

I spent today getting stoned in the company of a couple of good friends. Before you ask, there were no illicit substances involved, just a bottle of PVA and a pack of Woodland Scenics Medium Grey Talus. The aim was to male a trial section of dry stone wall, which involved preparing a core of balsa wood, shaped to give the appropriate batter to the wall and then sticking the stones on, one at a time. I found the process quite soporific, but at 4 hours for a 3 inch length, it's a bit time consuming, especially when you consider that Friden will need around 25 feet of the stuff! The other problems are that the stones look too rounded to me, compared with dry stone walling in the White Peak, and the Talus doesn't give you the right shape of capstone for the wall. I'll await the judgement of my Derbyshire colleagues, but I must admit that I'm quite taken with the subtle variations in colour that you get with this stuff. Back to track laying while the votes are counted!!! G

Thanks Al, that's a big help. Geraint

Another plea for assistance! I have decided that one of the possible operational moves for Friden would be for a main line loco to arrive with an engineer's inspection saloon and for the staff concerned to change vehicles to a Wickham Trolley for their trip further towards Middleton. There is photographic evidence to suggest that this maybe did take place. Looking through my photo collection, I found a shot of Longcliffe yard (part of which is cruelly enlarged below), which shows a platelayers' hut that was used as a shed for a trolley, so I thought that for the purposes of my layout I would relocate it to Friden. The problem is that the photo is insufficiently detailed to allow anything other than a cursory scale up of the side elevation for modelling. The roof looks as though it's fashioned from corrugated panels, but the construction of the walls is unclear. The question is therefore - does anyone have any other photos of this hut, or for that matter anything similar at any other point on the BR network? Of course a drawing of same would be wonderful, but one can't afford to raise hopes too much! Cheers, Geraint

Chris, The supportive messages are confirmation of just how much you mean to this hobby and the helpful way in which you have listened to and discussed matters of interest with us all, either on the phone or in person at exhibitions. Keep up the good work - we are depending on you! Geraint Hughes

Al, I agree 100%. I've always tended towards understating colours on the basis that in general you are always viewing things from a scale 70-80 yards away. On that basis there's something to say for painting a model and then placing it temporarily on the layout to check the colour balance with its surroundings before you call it "finished". Colours can always be toned down with a very fine spray of light grey or beige if necessary. On my walk round town today I found this in our excellent bookshop. More background reading! G

Thanks Al, I'll stand corrected. One of the benefits of living "on site"! G

Hi Jay, Don't want to be a spoil sport here, but I think you've hit the same problem that I'm battling with over the Friden bridge. If you think about local sources of stone to the High Peak, you've basically got limestone or millstone grit, neither of which had any significant brown colour to them. I can't think of any local sources of sandstone that would have the brown tint that you often see elsewhere. I must admit that when I built the engine house for Middlepeak I may have erred too much towards the grey and ended up with a monotone finish that I was never 100% happy with. If you look at the engine house now, or the Friden bridge for that matter, there are traces of brown in there but not enough to warrant a brown base coat on the model. I was discussing this the other day with two mates from our group, and we concluded that the only way of getting this right was possibly to visit the site and scrape away gently at the stonework, removing the muck to see what the original colour was! The coal stage is looking good though. I think your scribing is fine. Maybe worth playing around with a little more of a grey wash to modify the colour. Satisfy yourself before you start the bigger task of making the engine house! Cheers! G

A bit more stonemasonry has taken place on the bridge over the road to Youlgreave. With the parapet and capping now complete (thanks to local boy Jay for going out to take measurements for me), all that remains is to complete the voussoir stones and the remainder of the courses up to the string course. You might be able to spot that the side walls to the arch have been fashioned from Wills sheet, which is perfectly acceptable for the limited view that will result. I've yet to complete the underside of the arch, and I suspect that again no detail will be required here for the simple reason that you can't see it! Similarly the only detail that will be required on the far portal will be the parapet stonework, as the rest will face away from the viewer and the road at that point is largely hidden in trees. One thing I didn't bargain for is that because the road slopes downwards towards the bridge on both sides, it's actually very difficult to slide the completed arch in from the front. The various pieces will therefore have to be painted and weathered away from the layout and assembled on site, feeding them in from either side of the track bed. Doubtless that will require a whole weekend possession! More when it's painted .... Geraint