RedGemAlchemist Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 It was only the last short stretch through the walls which was underground. I have a book on the Malta Railway which I bought when we were there a few years ago. On grandparent duties at the moment, so not able to reference it. Jim Still counts Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium corneliuslundie Posted July 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 17, 2018 That campsite near Bishop's Castle wouldn't accidentally have been at Lydham Heath would it? http://bcrailway.co.uk/modellers/ The layout will be at Ludlow Racecourse again next month and at the Welshpool show in October with Cornelius Lundie among the operators. Jonathan 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Very interesting thread alert http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/135768-nether-madder-and-great-shafting-rly/?p=3234262 I suspect that this is really Edwardian, in thin disguise, building another layout in the 'old house'. See what you think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 (edited) The Met Office weather summaries for every month since forever are findable on-line, and I've consulted the various months of summer 1905 in connection with Mr O'Doolite's travels, so getting CA's weather right is perfectly possible. IIRC, June 1905 started with a long spell of wet and windy weather in the S&E of England, so pre-WW1 summers weren't all we've been led to believe by homesick poets sheltering in shell-holes and members of the naturally-idle-classes forced by post-WW1 economic circumstances to earn a living writing nostalgic novels. Oh, and posh blokes temporarily living in Berlin. Edited July 17, 2018 by Nearholmer 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Apologies for going three in a row, but harking back to Betjeman and tennis girls for a second, this is nearly as rude as very funny cod-folksong that I know of about cricket, which includes the great line "and then she stroked me through the covers". https://allpoetry.com/The-Olympic-Girl 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted July 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 17, 2018 I must take issue with the notion of having a model railway set in wet and windy weather, it’s got to be bright and cheerful, and stuff Met Office records. I’ve quoted it before somewhere on a thread, possibly this one, the opening sentence from C.Hamilton Ellis’ “The Trains we loved”: “Surely it was always summer when we made our first railway journeys!” A sentiment I fully agree with. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted July 17, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 17, 2018 Something occurred to me with all this post grouping talk. Castle Aching had a pretty comprehensive back story now, but what of the future? Was the line taken over by one of the larger companies pre grouping or did it survive independently until then (or even later)? What did BR do to it, what ran on it? Is it still open? And what of the village itself, is the Castle owned by English Heritage, are there lots of tourist on coach tours? Do the Erstwhiles still live there, or were they forced out by inheritance tax, their house becoming a small private school before being requisitioned as an army hospital in WW2? So many questions... Somewhere on the "old" RMWeb from 10 years or so ago, I made a comment that to successfully design a layout, particularly for the 70s/80s era, you really needed to start with something from an earlier era, and then modify/remove things. This leads to all sorts of interesting things, like disused buildings, track diverting round a building that is no longer there, buildings added to or replaced completely - sometimes built to accommodate track no longer in use. In short, all kinds of believable awkwardness. I have even - privately - gone so far as to "re-work" East Lynn for a late 70s setting, based to some extent on what happened further round the Norfolk Coast at King's Lynn. Class 03 and 08 for shunting, and the latter for trip workings down the branch to get sand or stone. A class 31 and a 37. Maybe a 4 coach mixed rake of Mk1s and an early Mk2 for the first class passengers, for a very infrequent working of through coaches to/from Liverpool St. via Norwich (maybe once a day - out in the morning, back in the evening) and an periodic working of 2-car dmus during the day. Grain wagons, 16t minerals, standard vans, some hoppers for sand/stone, plus the usual collection of wagons turning up for no obvious reason, or possibly for import/export of steel products. Layout wise, the engine shed is gone, the main platform lengthened (to accommodate the longer rakes) and the crossover moved to create a run-round loop. Loco depot gone, replaced by a siding for stabling the coaches overnight - turntable well still in place, but weed festooned. Revisions to the goods yard, some buildings preserved, some modified, others demolished.... ...you get the idea. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted July 17, 2018 Author Share Posted July 17, 2018 I have even - privately - gone so far as to "re-work" East Lynn for a late 70s setting,. I trust that is, and will remain, a purely theoretical exercise! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium corneliuslundie Posted July 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 17, 2018 Windy weather on a layout. Now that would be a challenge. This is the British Empire on which the sun never set, and if one can rely on all those posters above one where the sun always shone (though there don't seem to be records of water rationing). I agree that rain is not a very promising approach for a layout. Apart from anything else it would play havoc with the electrics. The layout I mentioned achieved its effect by being set at night with the lights reflected off the pools of water, but that does rather limit one when it comes to passenger traffic, unless it is all returning excursions. I do not recommend winter either except for those nasty foreign layouts where snow is legitimate. But one still needs to have a season in mind, as colours, textures etc will change markedly. For example, model Lincolnshire in Spring one might have fields of tulips, but in autumn it would be piles of turnips etc. But I can't agree with C H-E. I seem to remember that on my early train journeys to summer holidays in Devon it was always raining one side of the Severn Tunnel but fine the other. Jonathan 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted July 17, 2018 Author Share Posted July 17, 2018 Found this poster earlier, definitely pre-grouping Castle Aching.jpg Brilliant. I assume that you would have no objection to it being reproduced in 4mm scale in due course? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Regularity Last year, I schemed a tiny 0 scale scene from the Wolfringham Branch, on exactly the premise you describe, set in about 1965-70. Occasional goods from the concrete works, and a remnant passenger service, both about to shut shop. Got as far as buying a book of photos of diesels in east anglia, and a 4W rail car (not the right one, really, but what is available r-t-r), and was getting all excited about the Class 05 being released, which it has been now. Currently parked in the great list of unrealised layout ideas! Kevin 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted July 17, 2018 Author Share Posted July 17, 2018 Something occurred to me with all this post grouping talk. Castle Aching had a pretty comprehensive back story now, but what of the future? Was the line taken over by one of the larger companies pre grouping or did it survive independently until then (or even later)? What did BR do to it, what ran on it? Is it still open? And what of the village itself, is the Castle owned by English Heritage, are there lots of tourist on coach tours? Do the Erstwhiles still live there, or were they forced out by inheritance tax, their house becoming a small private school before being requisitioned as an army hospital in WW2? So many questions... Interesting question. I suppose Grouping happened. That could have led to its demise, or downgrading, under the LNER. No longer surviving by playing the GER and the M&GN off against one another, the LNER would have inherited a route broadly parallel to the Lynn and Hunstanton. We assume sufficient traffic to remain upon (and we thank Nearholmer for the Wolfringham gravel pits), but perhaps less bustling than its Edwardian heyday. I suspect that the rise of 'bus services and private motor cars in the 1950s doomed it. I wonder if Toby and Henrietta's line was in fact the Bishop's Lynn tramway? A stretch was preserved, as has been noted, so I suppose one day I could run an Austerity 0-6-0 and a rake of BR Mark Is, shake out my son's old soldiers and vehicles and stage a Forties Weekend. Then again, perhaps not. The castle? English Heritage I have no problem with, beyond a general suspicion of public quangos. The NT I generally thought was a Good Thing, but latterly it seems to be possessed of some unhelpfully sentimental suburban attitudes to the countryside. So I'll let them fight it out between them! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted July 17, 2018 Author Share Posted July 17, 2018 Windy weather on a layout. Now that would be a challenge. This is the British Empire on which the sun never set, and if one can rely on all those posters above one where the sun always shone (though there don't seem to be records of water rationing). I agree that rain is not a very promising approach for a layout. Apart from anything else it would play havoc with the electrics. The layout I mentioned achieved its effect by being set at night with the lights reflected off the pools of water, but that does rather limit one when it comes to passenger traffic, unless it is all returning excursions. I do not recommend winter either except for those nasty foreign layouts where snow is legitimate. But one still needs to have a season in mind, as colours, textures etc will change markedly. For example, model Lincolnshire in Spring one might have fields of tulips, but in autumn it would be piles of turnips etc. But I can't agree with C H-E. I seem to remember that on my early train journeys to summer holidays in Devon it was always raining one side of the Severn Tunnel but fine the other. Jonathan It's Maytime in CA. Perpetually. It is always good to have somewhere where the sun always shines. After all, it may be starting to rain outside, but in my heart it's p1ssing down ... Regularity Last year, I schemed a tiny 0 scale scene from the Wolfringham Branch, on exactly the premise you describe, set in about 1965-70. Occasional goods from the concrete works, and a remnant passenger service, both about to shut shop. Got as far as buying a book of photos of diesels in east anglia, and a 4W rail car (not the right one, really, but what is available r-t-r), and was getting all excited about the Class 05 being released, which it has been now. Currently parked in the great list of unrealised layout ideas! Kevin 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 I think it was the rather steep price of the superbly detailed and smooth-running Heljan 05 that put it on hold. For that sort of money I could buy something not-to-scale, worn-out, scratched, a bit rusty, and barely functional. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted July 17, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 17, 2018 I trust that is, and will remain, a purely theoretical exercise! As Pennine MC pointed out, building the stock for it would be interesting! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted July 17, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 17, 2018 Modelling something depressing may work well for an exhibition where the viewers can be delighted to remember just how horrible the stations etc. looked as all those sidings were lifted to become a gravelled weed strewn wasteland until they could sell it off to erect equally depressing warehouses on it. However I for one would not want it as a home layout. No give me a colourful scene with the sun shinning and of course some of those rose tinted specs so whenever I wander in to the railway room I am transported back not to the days when Bristish industry seemed to shrink daily, but to a time I may never have known but my imagination is sure existed. Of course the memories of good times past give me enough to create the image. Going by Train to Bideford alone for a summer holiday (not enough seats in the car) Catching the ferry to Starcross for a trip to Kingswear. First trips on the Welsh narrow Gauge etc. etc. Sadly I missed the M&GN by months but have ridden the Poppy line. I am struck by the fact that these days a boy of 12 to 14 may not be allowed to travel on a train alone. Don 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted July 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 17, 2018 (edited) With you all the way on your sentiments, Don, Edited July 17, 2018 by Northroader Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted July 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 17, 2018 Very interesting thread alert http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/135768-nether-madder-and-great-shafting-rly/?p=3234262 I suspect that this is really Edwardian, in thin disguise, building another layout in the 'old house'. See what you think. Good pick Kevin - I'm following that now. Thanks. A definite hint of CJF in the layout plan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
runs as required Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Modelling something depressing may work well for an exhibition where the viewers can be delighted to remember just how horrible the stations etc. looked ..... Going by Train to Bideford alone for a summer holiday (not enough seats in the car) ..... First trips on the Welsh narrow Gauge etc. etc. Sadly I missed the M&GN by months but have ridden the Poppy line. I am struck by the fact that these days a boy of 12 to 14 may not be allowed to travel on a train alone. mmmm(&GN) not sure I completely agree Even high summer could be unbearably roasting... mention of Bideford - we had a holiday in Appledore in 1949 (that coincided with the filming of the classic 'Jim lad' Treasure Island). Afterwards, for the same reason as Don, I was deposited in Barnstaple to travel back on the most excrutiatingly slow GW all stations Parliamentary to Taunton. I am certain we stood longer in stations than we spent in (slow) motion behind a bored looking Collett 0-6-0 Several times in the early 1950s I cycled along parallel to the M&GN across via Heckington to Sutton Bridge easily beating the train. I nearly got dumped by wife (then girlfriend) early on for hustling her in a pair of new white high heels, by train from Bala via Trawsfynydd to Llan Ffestiniog (pannier plus one coach), then by Crosville double decker down to Maentwrog to ride the newly extended Festiniog around to Portmadoc.My friend, waiting for us at Portmadoc, asked why on earth had we left the through Birkenhead-Portmadoc train at Bala Junction. This still rankles with wife to this day! dh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted July 18, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 18, 2018 mmmm(&GN) not sure I completely agree Even high summer could be unbearably roasting... mention of Bideford - we had a holiday in Appledore in 1949 (that coincided with the filming of the classic 'Jim lad' Treasure Island). Afterwards, for the same reason as Don, I was deposited in Barnstaple to travel back on the most excrutiatingly slow GW all stations Parliamentary to Taunton. I am certain we stood longer in stations than we spent in (slow) motion behind a bored looking Collett 0-6-0 Several times in the early 1950s I cycled along parallel to the M&GN across via Heckington to Sutton Bridge easily beating the train. I nearly got dumped by wife (then girlfriend) early on for hustling her in a pair of new white high heels, by train from Bala via Trawsfynydd to Llan Ffestiniog (pannier plus one coach), then by Crosville double decker down to Maentwrog to ride the newly extended Festiniog around to Portmadoc.My friend, waiting for us at Portmadoc, asked why on earth had we left the through Birkenhead-Portmadoc train at Bala Junction. This still rankles with wife to this day! dh Slow trains did at least give to time to enjoy the countryside. Today in an HST you can spot something but its gone before you get a proper look. For me the journey was more important than getting there. I can imagine your wife's feelings. We were walking in the Lake district when my wife twisted her ankle between Wrynose and Hardknott passes. It then started to pour with rain. She limped up Hardknott pass and as we slowly continued down I heard a whistle and realised it was Ratty. I hurriedly dragged her along and we caught the last train of the day back down. It took a lot of explaining that my motivation was the prospect of saving her a long walk rather than the chance to ride the Ratty. Don 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 It was only the last short stretch through the walls which was underground. I have a book on the Malta Railway which I bought when we were there a few years ago. On grandparent duties at the moment, so not able to reference it. Jim The best non-underground underground railway was the Liverpool Overhead Railway.... Yay! A Non-Grouping railway too!!! The southern end crossed the Cheshire Lines Brunswick goods yard and burrowed into a sandstone cliff, terminating at Dingle station. It was intended to go further but funds didn't allow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 My good lady wasn't too impressed when, the first time we went to Ireland together, we took a detour from visiting some major historical sites to 'pop in to see some chaps for an hour' at one of the main works that build and service peat harvesting machinery, including associated locos and trains. Irish hospitality being what it is, this got a bit out of hand and turned into a full tour of large engineering works, lasting about three hours, with the finer points of gearboxes and hydraulic drives explained, plus a ride round the bogs on the loco of a peat train, total time consumed ...... er.....well ...... a whole day actually. I was fortunate to get away with a solemn promise 'never to drag me into that sort of day out again'! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 (edited) It's Maytime in CA. Perpetually. It is always good to have somewhere where the sun always shines. After all, it may be starting to rain outside, but in my heart it's p1ssing down ... You must be hiding some ruddy big Procrastinators in the towers at Castle Aching to achieve that! Thinking on NT vs EH. If the Erstwhiles were faced by rising prices and crippling death duties post WW2, they would probably have come to an agreement with the National Trust. A lot of their properties were acquired around then. Do you think they might have had what is still a common arrangement of maintaining an apartment at CA while letting the NT have the rest? As for EH, that grew out of the Ministry of Works and so naturally got the ruins. I agree about your comment re the recent trajectory of the NT... Edited July 18, 2018 by Hroth Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 My good lady wasn't too impressed when, the first time we went to Ireland together, we took a detour from visiting some major historical sites to 'pop in to see some chaps for an hour' at one of the main works that build and service peat harvesting machinery, including associated locos and trains. Irish hospitality being what it is, this got a bit out of hand and turned into a full tour of large engineering works, lasting about three hours, with the finer points of gearboxes and hydraulic drives explained, plus a ride round the bogs on the loco of a peat train, total time consumed ...... er.....well ...... a whole day actually. I was fortunate to get away with a solemn promise 'never to drag me into that sort of day out again'! What a marvellous day out! Some people never realise how lucky they were...... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Brilliant. I assume that you would have no objection to it being reproduced in 4mm scale in due course? No problem, in fact if you want an A4 version to print out, see attached pdf file Castle Aching.pdf Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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