Churminster & Stowe Magna, Southern Railway

[Tony Teague]

After a photographic visit to Tyseley Loco Works this morning, I managed a little more progress on the wagons this afternoon.

 

All are now painted and the first three have been lettered and numbered and admitted to the operational fleet:

 

 

These are an L.G.W. (private owner) grain wagon from a Parkside kit, an LMS 6T fish van (d.1885), and an LMS 12T van (d.1664), both from Cambrian kits. I decided not to weather them at this stage, partly because I have yet to weather the majority of the existing wagon fleet, and besides, I just want this large batch of wagons off the workbench!

 

Hopefully a few more will be cleared over the next few days!

 

Tony

Edited November 10, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Mick Bonwick]

36 minutes ago, Tony Teague said:

 I decided not to weather them at this stage, partly because I have yet to weather the majority of the existing wagon fleet, and besides, I just want this large batch of wagons off the workbench!

 

 

They're not off the workbench until they're weathered! 

[Tony Teague]

10 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

They're not off the workbench until they're weathered! 

 

Drat! (or words to that effect).

In that case my workbench is groaning under the weight of unweathered stock!

[Tony Teague]

This may sound hard to believe but it seems that in Churminster Goods Yard, the wise words of Mick Bonwick were not heard!

 

In the early hours, it now seems that the three unweathered wagons were picked up the the Yard shunter, P class no.1555:

 

 

They were attached to the Down Pick-Up goods:

 

 

Before two wagon loads of beer from Wadley's Brewery were picked up from the Goods Shed and shunted onto the front of the train:

 

 

 

With the shunter's work done, it retired to the headshunt as daylight started to return :

 

 

which allowed the train to move up, ready for departure in the Down direction behind the train engine, No.693, a 'black motor'!

 

 

Last seen heading in the direction of Eastleigh!

 

Tony

 

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Tony Teague

[KNP]

I take it you can only move certain stock under the cover of darkness in case they are seen by a certain person????

 

Lovely pictures.

[Tony Teague]

Well exactly; happily he seems not to have noticed!

[Tony Teague]

One of my (many) obsessions lies with having as many trains as possible accessible for immediate, or almost immediate running, rather than having them stuck in a drawer, so as you can imagine, despite the existing storage roads accommodating 'quite a few' trains, I am always looking for new places to increase storage!

 

A week or so ago, I woke in the middle of the night thinking "cassettes"!!

 

And so it was that for the last two days my good friend Giles Walburn (with minimal help from me) has been installing access for a cassette system which will connect with the twin exit roads from the existing lower fidlde yard:

 

 

I am aiming for about 5 'cassettes', each of which will be 1.5m / ~5' long and so should accomodate 4 or 5 coaches or around 12 wagons, plus a loco:

 

 

The cassette tracks are formed from angled aluminium and these connect to the entrance road electrically via two large brass clips (apologies for poor pic quality):

 

 

The track feed is controlled by the setting of the entry point, and this cannot be set when no cassette is present because a microswitch is fitted underneath the cassette, which is in circuit with the point motor feed; this also powers an indicator light on the Control Panel to show whether a cassette is in place or not.

 

 

Trains will need to reverse in order to regain the cassette road, but can be driven out.

 

I am already working out how to fill the cassettes!

 

Tony

Edited November 10, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Mick Bonwick]

Where will you store the cassettes? 

[thegreenhowards]

Tony,

 

if if there was ever a layout which proves that you can never have enough storage, then yours is it. You must have over 80 trains ready for service now, including the cassettes!

 

 I’ve also been dabbling with cassettes, so far made out of wood with Peco track. They seem to work, but my carpentry is a bit messy on the storage box, so the system will need some fettling. They’re a useful addition, but a bit of a fag compared with having stuff actually on the layout.

 

Andy

[Tony Teague]

10 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

Where will you store the cassettes? 

 

Just above their installed position - on a couple of wooden 'brackets' fitted to the front supports of the top fiddle yard.

Planning for 5 cassettes, which are quite narrow at about (from memory) 50mm wide.

 

Tony

[Tony Teague]

28 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

Tony,

 

if if there was ever a layout which proves that you can never have enough storage, then yours is it. You must have over 80 trains ready for service now, including the cassettes!

 

 I’ve also been dabbling with cassettes, so far made out of wood with Peco track. They seem to work, but my carpentry is a bit messy on the storage box, so the system will need some fettling. They’re a useful addition, but a bit of a fag compared with having stuff actually on the layout.

 

Andy

 

The way I see it is that there is still too much stock in drawers!

But you are right - loading a cassette is never going to be as good as pushing a button to activate a train on an installed storage road!

 

Tony

[Tony Teague]

A further batch of those wagon kits are now completed (excepting weathering - shh!).

 

 

 

I had to use some old Modelmaster waterslide decals for the "SR" on the meat wagon below, and I found them far less satisfactory than the HMRS pressfix ones I have used everywhere else. I have ordered some more of the HMRS variety and may change these when they arrive.

 

 

 

These four wagons are already being shunted away by the resident P class loco, so just two or three of the more problematic wagons remain to be completed.

 

 

 

Then I really must get back to some of the higher priority jobs that I keep putting off!

 

Tony

Edited November 10, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Mick Bonwick]

1 hour ago, Tony Teague said:

 

Then I really must get back to some of the higher priority jobs that I keep putting off!

 

 

Like weathering.

[Tony Teague]

6 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

Like weathering.

 

I might have known it!

[Tony Teague]

A few miles south of Churminster the RAF requisitioned land some years ago, on which to build an airfield, and whilst its precise location must remain a secret, I can reveal that the perimeter fence has recently been renewed.

 

 

The white blobs around the outside are actually outcrops of chalk, since the location is somewhere up on the downs - but I must say that the chalk looks in bad need of weathering!

 

This area is still very much work in progress which is why I have not shown it before, but I am actually quite pleased with the security fencing which is by Ancorton Models, although the cruel camera shows up where the barbed wire needs straightening! Perhaps a light dusting with Testors might also make it less shiny - it needs not to be visible in the moonlight!

 

Tony

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Mick Bonwick]

2 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

A few miles south of Churminster the RAF requisitioned land some years ago, on which to build an airfield, and whilst its precise location must remain a secret, I can reveal that the perimeter fence has recently been renewed.

 

I'm not sure that the Land Rover should be in the same photograph as the aircraft. 

[Tony Teague]

34 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

I'm not sure that the Land Rover should be in the same photograph as the aircraft. 

 

Could be a different timezone perhaps?

 

Or timewarp?

 

Or maybe I need help!

 

Tony

[Jack P]

Tony, I thought it prudent to ask here, if only for the benefit of other thread readers, would you be able to snap a few pics of your Van and Parcel trains?

 

I appreciate that you probably have a few - the more the merrier! 

[Tony Teague]

Jack

 

I don't seem to have many 'stock' photos of vans or van trains, so I will take a few and post them later, but here is an old one to be going on with - No.903 Charterhouse on a Dover - Hither Green continental ferry vans train.

 

It pre-dates any weathering, and the loco is missing its front coupling, so I shall just sit back and wait for people to tell me the vans are not right for the period, etc!

 

 

Tony

Edited November 10, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Tony Teague]

Aside from completing numerous van builds, building security fences and disposing of 'out of period' Land Rover models , I have finally made a little progress on one of the jobs that was actually on my priority list for this year!

 

My intention was to get the ex-LB&SCR E5-X finished and to build the body for the E4-X to fit the Bachmann E4 chassis, as the Shapeways 3D prints for both of these, designed by Javier, had been in stock for quite some time. Indeed, I started the E5-X chassis build back in April, and the E4-X body arrived soon after.

 

Anyway, thinking that it would be the easier option, I started on the E4-X build today and managed a little progress; the body was designed by Javier to fit onto the Bachmann E4 chassis and I already had a donor available, however, I quickly found that there was an excess of printed material between the front driving wheels and under the boiler that prevented an easy fit; you can see this in the comparison between the printed E4-X body and a Bachmann E4 body below:

 

 

In fact, in the shot above I had already removed a couple of horizontal struts and attacked the main 'lump' of material with my Dremel - but from here on in I had to take a bit more care!

 

The issue is that the Bachmann motor fits into the front part of the boiler and so a clear slot through the bottom of the boiler body is required:

 

 

This was soon done, but I have pointed out the issue to Javier in case he wants to amend the print for the future.

 

 

Once this was completed the body fitted perfectly onto three lugs that exist on the chassis - front, back and one under the cab floor:

 

 

Javier has provided for the cab detail in a small separate print which is easily fitted into the body:

 

 

 

There are a few small printed parts still to be fitted, smokebox door, Westinghouse pump, front splashers, cab roof and brake levers for the cab - some of which will have to wait until further detailing is done.

 

Next I shall fit handrails, steam pipe, Markits sprung buffers & smoke box dart, plus I am just checking whether or not my target model should have side clack valves or not - I am certain to get it wrong!

 

In any event I am hoping that this build will be relatively speedy!

 

Tony

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Jack P]

On 05/07/2019 at 18:35, Tony Teague said:

so I shall just sit back and wait for people to tell me the vans are not right for the period, etc!

 

It's the only reason I asked!

 

13 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

I am just checking whether or not my target model should have side clack valves or not - I am certain to get it wrong!

 

 A feeling we all probably know too well. Excited to see how it progresses though, the print looks good!

[Tony Teague]

A little further progress on the E4-X today:

 

 

First I rolled a narrow strip of sheet lead and used it to fill the smokebox, before adding the smokebox door, darts, splashers, handrails and whistle:

 

(Roof is just resting in place).

 

It all now sits very nicely on the Bachmann chassis, but before I can completely finish I am a bit stuck on two questions which I have posed in a separate thread:

 

 

All responses gratefully received, but this probably means that although I can add the last few bits, steampipe, westinghouse pump, buffers etc, - and perhaps spray an undercoat / primer - I can't completely finish the job until I resolve these points.

 

Frustrating!

 

Tony

Edited November 10, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Tony Teague]

A little more progress with the E4-X:

 

 

I removed the buffers before priming:

 

 

It now looks pretty clear that the loco should have side clack valves; It will be finished as No.2466 which had them in the SR Maunsell olive period; I have drilled the holes, but will add them, along with the buffers, post next spray, coat which will be black.

 

Very soon I shall be able to cross another one off of the 'missing locos' list!

 

Tony

Edited November 10, 2022 by Tony Teague

[thegreenhowards]

3 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

A little more progress with the E4-X:

 

 

I removed the buffers before priming:

 

 

It now looks pretty clear that the loco should have side clack valves; It will be finished as No.2466 which had them in the SR Maunsell olive period; I have drilled the holes, but will add them, along with the buffers, post next spray, coat which will be black.

 

Very soon I shall be able to cross another one off of the 'missing locos' list!

 

Tony

Tony,

 

That’s looking good. The 3D printing lines seem to have largely disappeared under the primer. And touches like the brass turned buffers really raise it up a notch.

 

Andy

[Tony Teague]

Thanks Andy

 

The 3D print is semi-transparent so a lot of what you see in the unpainted model is not represented on the surface; this is Shapeways latest and highest quality material and so I have not done, nor will do any surface preparation on it.

 

Once painted black (which it already is, but was too wet to pick up and photograph!) the surface looks pretty acceptable to me and weathering will only improve it further.

 

Tony