Stoke Courtenay

[St Enodoc]

9 hours ago, checkrail said:

Another Andy York shot of 5041 and its train.  I particularly liked this one, which shows the ancient Hornby ex-Airfix Siphon G to advantage.  It now rides on 247 Developments American bogies.

 

 

Before I take any more pictures myself from this angle I think I'll dab some paint on the inside of the platform canopy!   Could do with touching up the cream paint around the leading droplight too.

 

John C.

Those Siphons do look good with new bogies and new buffers, don't they? I've used a variety of old Mailcoach and even older K's bogies on mine. The K's ones are nice as they add some useful weight low down.

[checkrail]

Putting these pics on one at a time for the moment, to avoid all that tedious jpeg compression.  (Signed up to 'gold' membership a few days ago, but doesn't seem to been activated yet, though I've followed instructions.)

 

Anyway, here's a grimy 2819 with train of empty PO coal wagons returning to the Welsh coalfields.

 

 

John C.

[AY Mod]

2 minutes ago, checkrail said:

Signed up to 'gold' membership a few days ago, but doesn't seem to been activated yet, though I've followed instructions.

 

It would have helped if the subs department had told me! I've now set that up for you John.

[Worsdell forever]

16 minutes ago, checkrail said:

Putting these pics on one at a time for the moment, to avoid all that tedious jpeg compression.  (Signed up to 'gold' membership a few days ago, but doesn't seem to been activated yet, though I've followed instructions.)

 

Anyway, here's a grimy 2819 with train of empty PO coal wagons returning to the Welsh coalfields.

 

 

John C.

Is that an AY photo? Lamp out of the chimney... 

 

13 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

It would have helped if the subs department had told me! I've now set that up for you John.

Have they told you about me?

[AY Mod]

1 minute ago, Worsdell forever said:

Is that an AY photo? Lamp out of the chimney

 

You're welcome, I left a telegraph pole out of the chimney for the cover pic.

 

1 minute ago, Worsdell forever said:

Have they told you about me?

 

They tell me a lot of things about you.

[Bogie]

11 minutes ago, Worsdell forever said:

Is that an AY photo? Lamp out of the chimney... 

 

Cheeky!!

[checkrail]

A couple of weeks ago 'Coach Bogie' of this parish gently pointed out that my 5975 'Winslow Hall', being of a later date than the one Bachmann modelled, should have a fire iron tunnel, and kindly sent me a spare he had from a Nu-Cast kit.  Many thanks Mike!

 

The cast version was actually too wide to fit behind the nameplate plinth, but it made an excellent template to use in making a slimmer plastikard version.

 

 

 

Unfortunately I have a more serious problem with this loco.  Some time ago I noticed that some warping had occurred on the top part of the tender side sheet, and yesterday the cab roof began to follow suit!  At first I wondered if it was heat from the fluorescent light tubes above the fiddle yard.  But that's where all the trains live, and it hasn't happened to any other stock.  There's nothing on the other side of that part of the tender top except an empty fire iron slot - no glued coal or anything like that - and the only treatment the tender's had is a light spray of Dullcote some years ago after I'd expunged the 'Great (crest) Western' and applied the roundel. 

 

 

 

But I do have a theory about the new damage to the cab roof.  This was repainted ages ago with Lifecolor weathered black acrylic.  Yesterday, noticing a mark on it, I repainted it in Humbrol matt black enamel diluted 50-50 with enamel thinners, a mix I had left over from another job.  Some kind of chemical reaction perhaps?

 

So I reckon that in due course I need to acquire a new 'Kinlet Hall' and start again (or wait for Hornby to bring out a full-fat version of a pre-war hall).

 

And anyway I think that new fire iron tunnel went a bit out of kilter before the glue set!

 

John C. 

Edited April 26, 2019 by checkrail
update

[checkrail]

Here's an AY photo of a down parcels train headed by 6801 'Aylburton Grange'.   I like the way Andy's managed to get at least half of this fairly long train in shot.  One of my favourite trains (but Andy's made them all look like my favourite trains). 

 

 

This does date the scene to the end of the 1930s in that 6801 seems to have received its replacement copper capped chimney in lieu of the cast iron job with which it was first outshopped.

 

John C.

[Barry Ten]

8 hours ago, checkrail said:

A couple of weeks ago 'Coach Bogie' of this parish gently pointed out that my 5975 'Winslow Hall', being of a later date than the one Bachmann modelled, should have a fire iron tunnel, and kindly sent me a spare he had from a Nu-Cast kit.  Many thanks Mike!

 

The cast version was actually too wide to fit behind the nameplate plinth, but it made an excellent template to use in making a slimmer plastikard version.

 

 

 

Unfortunately I have a more serious problem with this loco.  Some time ago I noticed that some warping had occurred on the top part of the tender side sheet, and yesterday the cab roof began to follow suit!  At first I wondered if it was heat from the fluorescent light tubes above the fiddle yard.  But that's where all the trains live, and it hasn't happened to any other stock.  There's nothing on the other side of that part of the tender top except an empty fire iron slot - no glued coal or anything like that - and the only treatment the tender's had is a light spray of Dullcote some years ago after I'd expunged the 'Great (crest) Western' and applied the roundel. 

 

 

 

But I do have a theory about the new damage to the cab roof.  This was repainted ages ago with Lifecolor weathered black acrylic.  Yesterday, noticing a mark on it, I repainted it in Humbrol matt black enamel diluted 50-50 with enamel thinners, a mix I had left over from another job.  Some kind of chemical reaction perhaps?

 

So I reckon that in due course I need to acquire a new 'Kinlet Hall' and start again (or wait for Hornby to bring out a full-fat version of a pre-war hall).

 

And anyway I think that new fire iron tunnel went a bit out of kilter before the glue set!

 

John C. 

 

Both instances of warping are very odd. I've not seen anything similar in my fleet but I'll be looking carefully, especially as there's a fair bit of Lifecolour black on my locos as well.

 

If you have need of a spare Hornby Hall body (one of the Hogwarts ones) do let me know as I have one going spare and I'd be very happy to pass it on.

[checkrail]

12 hours ago, Barry Ten said:

Both instances of warping are very odd. I've not seen anything similar in my fleet but I'll be looking carefully, especially as there's a fair bit of Lifecolour black on my locos as well.

 

If you have need of a spare Hornby Hall body (one of the Hogwarts ones) do let me know as I have one going spare and I'd be very happy to pass it on.

 

Many thanks for the offer, very kind of you, but having had the idea of sourcing another 'Kinlet Hall' as a starting point I found one on eBay last night at reasonable cost, so I ordered it.  Will be keeping to one type of paint only on this one!

 

Cheers,

John.

[checkrail]

At the start of Andy's photoshoot he had a good mooch round the layout, looking for angles and taking shots of various bits of the railway environment, before ever a train had left the fiddleyard.  It was only after about 25 minutes that I fired up the Prodigy, after we'd both agreed that the punters would probably want to see some trains.

 

Here are a few station shots.  (More trains to follow!)

 

 

 

 

 

The W.I. member in the brown suit is no longer rocking back on her heels with impatience but observing due decorum with her weight firmly over her centre of gravity.  I hardly look at a picture of the layout without finding something to correct, however small.

 

I do love those Timber Tracks station building kits.

 

John C.

[martin_wynne]

20 minutes ago, checkrail said:

The W.I. member in the brown suit is no longer rocking back on her heels with impatience but observing due decorum with her weight firmly over her centre of gravity.

 

The gent standing on one leg is surely leaning on a non-existent walking stick?

 

See how long you can stand like that without.

 

Martin.

[lightengine]

I like the GWR poster advertising London Pride many years before Pride marches were thought of.  

Clever forward thinking there ;-).

[checkrail]

2 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

The gent standing on one leg is surely leaning on a non-existent walking stick?

 

See how long you can stand like that without.

 

Ha ha, you're right Martin!  Most of the Monty's Models range are in fairly natural postures.  This one's an exception.  No-one stands like that except the models in upmarket menswear catalogues.  He'll have to go eventually.  Plenty of others to choose from, including Modelu of course.

 

Regards,

John.

[checkrail]

2 hours ago, lightengine said:

I like the GWR poster advertising London Pride many years before Pride marches were thought of.  

Clever forward thinking there ;-).

 

And before Fuller's brewed a nice bitter of that name.

 

[checkrail]

Two AY pics of 5975, soon to be rebuilt (I won't say 'modified'), on a Plymouth-bound stopper.

 

 

John C.

 

 

[martin_wynne]

I hesitate to tinker with an AY pic, but to me model photos always look better with the verticals corrected (bridge pilaster, telegraph pole, signal post):

 

 

You can get away with diverging verticals if the camera is very obviously tipped up or down at a steep angle, but at small angles they just say "model" and look wrong. Sometimes of course they are tricky to correct without losing half the picture.

 

p.s. looking at the jaggies on the signal post I think I need something better than my ancient photo editor. I will have another go with GIMP, or maybe try writing a little correction utility myself.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

Edited April 27, 2019 by martin_wynne
p.s. added

[Limpley Stoker]

That’s clever vertical correction software - it didn’t work on the tender side though.

[martin_wynne]

Here's the same thing done in GIMP (no jaggies on the signal post):

 

 

Is the tender side better?

 

GIMP is a free clone of Photoshop: https://www.gimp.org/

 

Martin.

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

Here's the same thing done in GIMP (no jaggies on the signal post):

 

 

Is the tender side better?

 

GIMP is a free clone of Photoshop: https://www.gimp.org/

 

Martin.

The whole thing's better Martin. On your first version the train looked all squashed up longitudinally (on my screen anyway).

[martin_wynne]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

The whole thing's better Martin. On your first version the train looked all squashed up longitudinally (on my screen anyway).

 

Yes I know. Thanks. After doing a perspective correction it's a bit subjective getting the aspect ratio just right. The first one was obviously over-height. The second one is better, but I think maybe a fraction under-height. It's noticeable when the image contains circular objects such as a smokebox door.

 

Apologies to John for wandering off-topic.

 

cheers,

 

Martin. 

[Limpley Stoker]

Not off topic- just getting things into perspective!

[checkrail]

17 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

Here's the same thing done in GIMP (no jaggies on the signal post):

 

Nice work with those images Martin.  Your second one is definitely better.  In the first there was some noticeable compression of the train.

 

In the past, as a photography novice, I've sometimes noticed that items such as telegraph poles were out of vertical, blamed it on poor modelling, and gone to the layout with a set square to correct them - only to find that they were perfectly vertical after all, and to retreat puzzled.  In my innocence I hadn't taken optical factors into consideration.  

 

John C.

[checkrail]

No freight train pics made it to the BRM article, but here are a couple of 8709 with the pick-up goods approaching Stoke C.

 

 

 

And another of it setting back into the yard.  (Andy posted a b & w version of this a while back as a 'teaser'.)

 

John C.

[Bogie]

I hit the like button  . . . but then thought that is not praise enough.  The first photo took my breath away.

 

Fantastic!!