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Churminster & Stowe Magna, Southern Railway


Tony Teague
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Review of 2019: 4. Infrastructure

 

In terms of infrastructure, one might imagine that this had been finished some time ago, however, significant progress has been made in this area in 2019.

 

Trackwork has been stable for some time, but just prior to commissioning the new Control Panel, I decided that we simply must have more storage! - one can never have too many storage sidings! Since all usable space was, well, used, I decided to implement a cassette system and so appropriate connections were made and five cassettes produced.

 

SJPP627000302190627.jpg.29bba98940e0ec3fbd29be810a4b633d.jpg

 

At present these have yet to be filled but I am envisaging using them to house less used trains that will only one once every few sequences, such as a breakdown train (thus the new Bachmann crane), the Royal Train, the Bulleid cinema coach and generator van, and so on; all of these trains require work to complete them.

 

SJPPC11002002171211.jpg.a9a23d43f673a79dc8cfa2b0a34c12d3.jpg

 

The second infrastructure area to have been worked on in 2019 was that of interlocking; that is to say the electronic interlocking of signals to points / routes and the Control Panel.

Again, it was important that this was planned before the replacement Control Panel was commissioned, and so far, 3 of the 5 signalling areas has been completed; unfortunately it is the two most complex areas that remain to be done!

 

SJPP516002902190516.jpg.45a9d8c974d8113a2cb98e2801854ab8.jpg

 

The two areas concerned will have semaphore signals which have yet to be installed but it is likely and feasible for the interlocking to be implemented prior to the signals (of which more later) being installed.

 

To conclude the infrastucture work for 2019, the new Control Panel was commissioned, the plans having reached version 26 and seemingly therefore fairly stable! :crazy: - but only time will tell. As followers of this thread will know, the new Panel is installed, and whilst the switchgear is all working, the indicator lights remain "work in progress" but will hopefully be completed very soon!

 

In the final post of this review of 2019 progress I will cover scenery and buildings.

 

Tony

 

Edited by Tony Teague
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1 hour ago, Tony Teague said:

 I will cover scenery and buildings.

 

With what, I wonder.

 

The few words used to describe progress does not reflect the amount of time and effort needed to achieve it, that I know. Tremendous results, Tony, and an inspiration to all of us lesser mortals  modellers. :clapping:

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6 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

With what, I wonder.

 

The few words used to describe progress does not reflect the amount of time and effort needed to achieve it, that I know. Tremendous results, Tony, and an inspiration to all of us lesser mortals  modellers. :clapping:

 

Well thank you Mick, although I hardly feel you are a 'lesser modeller'! (More :superman: )

Good news is that I now have a proper coffee maker here, ready for your next visit - so no further need to suffer that yuckie instant stuff :bad:

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10 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

Good news is that I now have a proper coffee maker here

 

I should have pointed out that I have yet to go on my "Barista Pro" course and so things may not be completely up to scratch - for example I can't yet make those nice patterns on top of a latte or cappuccino, which may cause disappointment.

 

I am looking for suitable courses - so far the one that has caught my eye is "Grind Like A Pro" at Missenden, but I suspect it will already be fully booked. :o

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A nice cup of coffee will never cause disappointment, decorated or not.

 

I think you may have misread the course description for the Missenden event. The mention of grinding doesn't actually refer to coffee beans as mentioned in the previous sentence. It refers to the choice of methods used for removing excess solder in the following paragraph. Bad grammar, like the misuse of apostrophe's, can cause all sorts of confusion.

 

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15 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

A nice cup of coffee will never cause disappointment, decorated or not.

 

I think you may have misread the course description for the Missenden event. The mention of grinding doesn't actually refer to coffee beans as mentioned in the previous sentence. It refers to the choice of methods used for removing excess solder in the following paragraph. Bad grammar, like the misuse of apostrophe's, can cause all sorts of confusion.

 

 

Drat!

I'll have to resort to Hobby Holidays' "Putting A Frothy Head on it" session!

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On 26/12/2019 at 19:15, Tony Teague said:

Review of 2019: 4. Infrastructure

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-

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The two areas concerned will have semaphore signals which have yet to be installed but it is likely and feasible for the interlocking to be implemented prior to the signals (of which more later) being installed.

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In the final post of this review of 2019 progress I will cover scenery and buildings.

 

 

Tony

 

 

 

Hi Tony,

 

Here's a little taster of what's to come in 2020.........

 

This is the Platform 3 Up Starter.

Its a tall ex-LSWR lattice post with co-acting arms, necessary because of  sighting over the footbridge.

 

CH1G-1.jpg.47c20d4237e4e2a24daf1f25b7167746.jpg

 

CH1G-2.jpg.862952b7950b17d2abc5d118ff7686ad.jpg

 

CH1G-5.jpg.7f768addd8ebdc5532a061d5e203a0f8.jpg

 

These work-in-progress shots were taken a while ago now, so I'll show some later shots when I can.

They will probably be on my "Semaphore Signals" topic elsewhere on RMweb.

 

Best wishes for 2020.

 

Steve.

 

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Plan of Attack for 2020!

 

Happy new Year!

Having run through what was achieved in 2019, it seemed like a good time to consider what the priorities might be for the coming year.

There are some obvious things, like continuing to reduce the 'missing locos' list but my feeling is that will happen at its own pace, so that it can't be seen as a priority 'goal'.

So this is the current thinking:

  1. Make significant in-roads into weathering stock: 20% of the loco fleet is completed and this is enough to completely stock both sheds and make them look pretty reasonable, however, the vast majority of the stock that is sitting in the Fiddle Yards is not weathered and so things start to look less good the minute trains start to run. So I plan to go for a complete train at a time to make a real impact on this aspect.
  2. Progress the Stowe Magna re-furbishment: St Giles' church is all but completed and must be installed before other main buildings are delat with; in particular, the station, loc-shed and gas works. Lesser buildings need titivating, and the new backscenesm which are about 50% complete, need to be finished.
  3. Install semaphore signalling in the Churminster area, and complete the electronic interlocking of the two remaining zones. Steve Hewitt is building the semaphore signals, so this will occur at whatever pace matches delivery from him, but the intention is to complete the interlocking ahead of signal delivery and installation.

Beyond that there is masses left to do, and even after the Stowe Magna re-furb is complete there will still be around 50% of the layout that is scenically incomplete - 30% is almost un-started!

Oh, and the Control Panel needs finishing rather urgently!

Could be an exciting year.

 

Tony

 

 

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Good idea to have a plan, though I find you rarely stick to them as other unexpected things come along!!!

Like my front doorbell ringing and a friendly chap standing there delivering a Hall class loco that wasn't in my original plans for 2019...…..but in the end what an enjoyable task that turned out to be!

 

Weathering would be my number one priority as that stands out the most.

Edited by KNP
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7 hours ago, KNP said:

Good idea to have a plan, though I find you rarely stick to them as other unexpected things come along!!!

...

Weathering would be my number one priority as that stands out the most.

 

Thanks Kevin

 

Couldn't agree more - on both counts!

Happy New Year

 

Tony

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A very short update to say that Steve Hewitt has now posted some initial images on his thread as he starts to build the semaphore signals for Churminster; these can be seen at:

 

 

Secondly - and just as an observation, I think this is the first year for quite a number, when I will not be placing any orders for new Hornby stock!

 

There seems to be very little of SR interest (for my era), and I am already well stocked with the items that are re-issues with changed running numbers, such as the H class or Lord Nelson - so thats save a few quid!

 

Tony

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