West Sands - BR (SR) Electrified south coast branch terminus - MISSING PHOTOS SLOWLY BEING RESTORED

[Mike Storey]

2 hours ago, Geep7 said:

Ok, some slow progress on the substation.

 

The cooler room is now glad in brick plasticard, with a door into it, and a door added into the feed room.

 

 

I have made a start on the next set of rafts, and hopefully will be able to so some progress soon.

 

They do look glad to have their brick, it is true.......

[Geep7]

6 minutes ago, Mike Storey said:

 

That is much more how I remember them! And you have achieved a level of weathering I have yet to master.

 

A final touch would be the mix of rust and dirt that endlessly adhered to the bottom corners of every window, even after a CWM pass through, but that is asking probably a little too much!

If I'm honest, it's purely accidental it came out like that. I tried giving it a track dirt spray using a railmatch aerosol can , but it came out rather heavy-handed. Must sort out my airbrush for that sort of thing....

 

For the window corners, I might give that a try with little dry-brushing....

[Geep7]

14 minutes ago, Mike Storey said:

 

They do look glad to have their brick, it is true.......

 

Fixed now in the original post. That's what comes from using the mobile to make posts, the auto-correct seems to think it knows better than me..... 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Geep7

[Geep7]

A shot from the workbench. Here is a view of the substation from the other side. It'll be a shame that this side will be hidden most of the time, but at least I know it's fully modelled.

 

 

Today's task is to add the security fencing around the rafts and transformer. Then the base needs painting a concrete colour once I've scribed in some cable run covers, before I finally glue the fencing in place.

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Geep7

[Nearholmer]

Before you get painting, not all of every ‘raft’ was concrete. Between the areas that formed foundations and the various cable routes they were/are deep gravel over soil.

 

I know this well, having dug-out old earthing plates from a couple - Bagshot in baking-hot weather, I recall with a particular lack of fondness!

[Geep7]

13 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Before you get painting, not all of every ‘raft’ was concrete. Between the areas that formed foundations and the various cable routes they were/are deep gravel over soil.

 

I know this well, having dug-out old earthing plates from a couple - Bagshot in baking-hot weather, I recall with a particular lack of fondness!

 

Thanks for clarifying that for me. I did wonder if I needed to or not. Should make things look even more interesting.

[Geep7]

More progress from yesterday and today.

As @Nearholmer suggested, I've added concrete foundations for the building, rafts and fencing. I'll add some gravel using some very fine ballast once I've painted the concrete.

 

 

The fencing is also completed, as is the second raft. I don't seem to have a huge amount of room, so I've had to reduce to a single raft structure, but at least will give a decent representation of a substation.

 

 

Just have to add the final lengths of wire to connect the circuit breaker to each raft, which is bound to be rather fiddly.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Geep7

[Nearholmer]

This is looking very good!

 

As I said way back up the thread, if this is an end-of-line place, you can get away with one OCB (none actually, but probably not in the 1930s), so you don’t need a lot more in the raft, maybe just an auxiliary transformer to supply the substation itself and the local signalling installation.

[Geep7]

Slow progress is being made on the substation. But it's getting close being finished. I'll hopefully get some time this weekend to finish it off and fix it to the layout.

 

 

Next most likely job is to place a ground frame, point rodding and facing point lock for the loco release crossover. I'll be using the Will's point rodding kit. I'm aware it's slightly over scale, but there will only be a small amount of it, so shouldn't look too out of place.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Geep7

[Geep7]

I've been making more progress on the transformer for the substation. It's very much an approximation, with some details added based on the photos added by @Lyddrail.

 

 

 

I'll add some more little details and then paint it a suitable shade of grey.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Geep7

[Nearholmer]

Dark admiralty grey, using micaceous iron oxide paint, for the top coat.

 

It is a very good approximation, and the substation looks really good.

[Mike Storey]

I don't know how much it represents the reality of such an installation, but it looks extremely convincing to me!

[Lyddrail]

Your sub is coming along very well. Here is a couple of pics of an example of the groundwork in summer.

Cheers.

[Geep7]

10 minutes ago, Lyddrail said:

Your sub is coming along very well. Here is a couple of pics of an example of the groundwork in summer.

Cheers.

 

Wow, those pix are are great. I was wondering whether I should have some weeds growing in the substation, but I didn't think the growth would be that much.

[Nearholmer]

Nooooo!!

Weeds were kept very much at bay, by a combination of weed killer and picking them out. Any gang that had a sub with that mess in the raft would have been in deep trouble.

 

In Three Bridges area, the grass outside the sub fence used to be mown too, for about ten yards. The control room manager, Brian Wicks, insisted upon it as a fire precaution and the gangs had lawnmowers for the job. I’m not sure about Havant area, but I do remember Woking area cutting back trees to prevent the branches hanging over the fences.

 

[Lyddrail]

You are correct that weeds would have been removed. There even used to be a painting team back many years, however. with less and less staff weeds came at the bottom of tasks.

Cheers.

[Nearholmer]

I remember the painting gangs, but what I can’t remember is whether there was one for each CR, or one ‘London’ and a couple of ‘Country’ ...... maybe it slowly whittled-down over time. The big staffing changes started in about 1980/83, sensible reductions at first, because there was definitely “over-manning”, Especially in the country areas, followed by successive cuts that almost certainly took things too far.

Pre-staff-reductions, the life of a country area substation maintenance gang was bordering on the idyllic in the summer ..... a couple of hours work each day, and plenty of ‘recuperation’.

 

The staff/TU meetings about changes in staffing used to take place at Woking Children’s Home, which had hardly any residents by then, and when things got a bit tense, there We’re cricket matches on the lawn between the two sides to ease things down.

[Geep7]

And it's almost finished. Just need to give the substation building a mortar wash and I can permanently attach it to the base.

 

Here is the, now painted, transformer.

 

Next is an overview of the whole installation.

 

And a close up of the rafts.

 

The next photos should hopefully be of it in place on the layout.

 

I was hoping to get more done this weekend, but I couldn't pass up the good weather, even if I could only enjoy it from the back garden.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Geep7

[Geep7]

And it's on the layout. I think I can finally cross this one of the list as done. OK, the main building isn't glued down as yet, but I might not, just in case I need to get at the double-slip and uncoupling magnets behind it.

 

I think I'll take this opportunity to thank everyone for their information and input that helped get this built.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Geep7

[Geep7]

And now that the substation is finished, I've decided to take a break from the layout scenics for a bit, and try to finish of some half-built rolling stock.

 

On the workbench this evening is a selection of Cambrian and Parkside engineers wagons. A Shark ballast plough van, a Dogfish ballast wagon and a Grampus.

 

 

All 3 are pretty much built, and are runners, but just need detailing finishing off. The Grampus is most complete, and just needs a repaint, whereas the Shark still needs a fair amount of detail parts adding.

The Dogfish just needs the hand-wheels for releasing the ballast and brake wheels adding on.

Then they'll all be ready for transfers. More projects I can tick off the list (hopefully!).

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Geep7

[Geep7]

Over the weekend, in between enjoying the sunshine, I did little "playing trains".

 

One train I did run, was a cement train, which I ended up shunting into the "fuel depot".

 

Which got me thinking. What would be the likelihood of cement terminal being located here, rather than a fuel depot? Or could I leave it as a generic set of fenced off private sidings, and use it for both interchangeably?

 

 

 

Just a couple of pix above to show what I mean. I have a bit of a soft spot for the Presflo hoppers, and have another 2 or 3 to make, and it would be a shame for them just to appear on a reverse working, but, as I'm sure you all know, I'd like my layout to be as plausible as possible.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Geep7

[Nearholmer]

There is another thread lurking about here somewhere, showing how those wagons could be unloaded into a road ‘tanker’ using a very simple installation consisting of an air compressor and a few pipes. It could be done in an ordinary, non-specialist siding.

 

Cement “in” where WS is would be unlikely though, because the stuff was made by the hundreds of tons within a few miles, so delivery would almost certainly be by road direct from the cement works.

 

Unless, maybe, a huge coastal defence project is underway ....... which might justify a short-term rail flow.

[Mike Storey]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

 

Cement “in” where WS is would be unlikely though, because the stuff was made by the hundreds of tons within a few miles, so delivery would almost certainly be by road direct from the cement works.

 

 

 

Ah, but Rule 1 applies, which means the nearby cement works do not exist.

 

I think it much more likely to have a cement works here than a re-fuelling depot! But then, what reason will you have to run a number of light locos on to the scene? Tricky decision....

[lezz01]

I love the sub station Chris. It really looks the part.

Regards Lez.

[Geep7]

3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

There is another thread lurking about here somewhere, showing how those wagons could be unloaded into a road ‘tanker’ using a very simple installation consisting of an air compressor and a few pipes. It could be done in an ordinary, non-specialist siding.

 

Cement “in” where WS is would be unlikely though, because the stuff was made by the hundreds of tons within a few miles, so delivery would almost certainly be by road direct from the cement works.

 

Unless, maybe, a huge coastal defence project is underway ....... which might justify a short-term rail flow.

I'm pretty sure the cement works you have in mind was the one at Shoreham, and that was a rather large one. I believe the buildings are still standing? I do recall passing them on the way in to Brighton, although this was a very long time ago. I can't believe I haven't been to Brighton for what must be at least 20 years.

 

I've been having a look, and there are concrete coastal defences at Selsey, which probably would have been built when the town was expanded, so could be up for renewal. If the railway was still in existence, would they use that, rather than clog up the single road in and out of Selsey Bill?

 

In my re-imagined history, a small harbour & pier was built to serve the IoW, in the area between where the town ends and where the current holiday park is. Could cement be transported across to the island this way? I know it would probably be more likely to have gone across from Southampton though. Actually, it does make me think. How do they get bulky materials across to the Isle of Wight these days, or even in the past? Just on the normal vehicle ferries?