Churminster & Stowe Magna, Southern Railway

[Mick Bonwick]

Canopies? CANOPIES? I feel a nudge coming . . . . . . .

[Tony Teague]

Good job that enodoc bloke hasn't noticed whats coming soon to the ABC Churminster....

 

 

Meanwhile I have discovered in the archives what should be showing at the Stowe Magna Empire:

 

 

Work on the frontage and hoardings is proceeding apace!

 

Tony

 

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Tony Teague

[St Enodoc]

5 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

Good job that enodoc bloke hasn't noticed whats coming soon to the ABC Churminster....

 

 

Meanwhile I have discovered in the archives what should be showing at the Stowe Magna Empire:

 

 

Work on the frontage and hoardings is proceeding apace!

 

Tony

 

 

Depends on your definition of "soon" I suppose. Or it could be a rerun of the 1925 version...

[Tony Teague]

8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Or it could be a rerun of the 1925 version...

 

That must be it!

[Tony Teague]

Well I've had a bit of a strange week in that I lost the first three days with a problem with my left eye, which is thankfully now resolved, but aside from that I had been pressing on with the essential but very tedious job of inserting the missing conductor rails to the up and down main lines through Stowe Magna Station.

 

I can't tell you how happy I was when today, I finally ran out of insulator pots! Although this means that I can't quite finish the job in hand until fresh supplies arrive, I had got all the way through both platforms so that only the very short stretch beyond the junction and into the tunnel remains to be done (well plus of course the fairly long stretch the other side of the tunnel across the estuary! - but that's not important right now!).

 

What this does mean is that I can have a change of scene and so I turned to the brass coach construction that I started at Missenden back at the beginning of March - just before the infernal 'lockdown' started.  I had managed to complete building the body, of what is my first ever brass coach kit construction, during the Missenden weekend itself:

 

 

The underframe then went quite well until I reached the point where I had to add the lower step-boards which are hung on wires from the sides of the chassis:

 

 

This was fiddly but manageable, until you realise that the white metal axlebox & spring castings need to fit inside of these vertical wire supports:

 

 

This is difficult at one end where there is a fixed axle, but well nigh impossible for the central axle and the one at the other end, both of which are supposed to 'float' so as to ensure that all six wheels are touching the track!

 

 

The only solution that I could come up with was to file out grooves in the white metal castings so as to allow movement and to prevent the step supports from pinching in on the axles!

 

 

This is not pretty but I think will be invisible when it is all painted blackand the grooves are hidden behind the suport wires. So my question is, does anyone have a better solution, or, can you tell me where I went wrong?

 

 

I'd really like to know, because I have another one of these to build, aside from always wanting to improve!

 

 

Tony

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Mick Bonwick]

10 minutes ago, Tony Teague said:

The only solution that I could come up with was to file out grooves in the white metal castings so as to allow movement and to prevent the step supports from pinching in on the axles!

 

 

This is not pretty but I think will be invisible when it is all painted black and the grooves are hidden behind the suport wires. So my question is, does anyone have a better solution, or, can you tell me where I went wrong?

 

 

I'd really like to know, because I have another one of these to build, aside from always wanting to improve!

 

 

I think that's a question for @t-b-g, he who knows everything.

 

 

[t-b-g]

41 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

 

I think that's a question for @t-b-g, he who knows everything.

 

 

 

You mean he who likes to pretend he knows everything but is really blagging his way through life on a wing and a prayer?

 

Glad to see some progress on the carriage Tony. To me, that doesn't look bad at all. Any work blown up many times life size on a screen is bound to look a bit scrappy compared to how it looks actual size but I wouldn't worry about the quality of your work on those at all.

 

I don't know whether you have gone too far to backtrack slightly but in real life those footstep supports would be on the outside of the solebar, not behind it.

 

The real ones were usually round below the solebar with the strap onto the solebar being flat, so I simulate that by soldering the wire t a bit of scrap brass and filing a nice flat on about 4mm of the end, then turn it over and do the other side f he wire, to leave a round bar with a short flat bit at the end.. That gives a nice flat to solder to the solebar and a nice flat visible on the outside.

 

Plan B, which might help if you don't fancy taking them all off, is to put an outwards bend immediately under the solebar then to straighten it up, making the vertical bit align with the outside of the solebar buying you a bit more clearance. You might need to just take the bottom step off to make the bending easier.

 

Or now you have filed the springs, you could just carry on and do otherwise next time but your steps may end up a bit too narrow over the width of the vehicle if you do that.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Tony (Gee)

Edited June 5, 2020 by t-b-g

[Tony Teague]

1 hour ago, t-b-g said:

 

You mean he who likes to pretend he knows everything but is really blagging his way through life on a wing and a prayer?

 

Glad to see some progress on the carriage Tony. To me, that doesn't look bad at all. Any work blown up many times life size on a screen is bound to look a bit scrappy compared to how it looks actual size but I wouldn't worry about the quality of your work on those at all.

 

I don't know whether you have gone too far to backtrack slightly but in real life those footstep supports would be on the outside of the solebar, not behind it.

 

The real ones were usually round below the solebar with the strap onto the solebar being flat, so I simulate that by soldering the wire t a bit of scrap brass and filing a nice flat on about 4mm of the end, then turn it over and do the other side f he wire, to leave a round bar with a short flat bit at the end.. That gives a nice flat to solder to the solebar and a nice flat visible on the outside.

 

Plan B, which might help if you don't fancy taking them all off, is to put an outwards bend immediately under the solebar then to straighten it up, making the vertical bit align with the outside of the solebar buying you a bit more clearance. You might need to just take the bottom step off to make the bending easier.

 

Or now you have filed the springs, you could just carry on and do otherwise next time but your steps may end up a bit too narrow over the width of the vehicle if you do that.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Tony (Gee)

 

Tony

Thanks for responding and for your suggestions which certainly seem to be a better way forward!

In case you think that I have taken leave of my senses, here is the section of the instructions and related diagram, which clearly shows the supports inside the chassis - indeed they have to be for the wires to be located through the holes in the floor of the vehicle!

 

 

I think I will see whether I can make the coach run smoothly without making too many further alterations, but whatever the outcome I will take your approach when building the second one - they will not be running together so any differences should not matter.

Thanks again.

Tony

 

 

[t-b-g]

8 minutes ago, Tony Teague said:

 

Tony

Thanks for responding and for your suggestions which certainly seem to be a better way forward!

In case you think that I have taken leave of my senses, here is the section of the instructions and related diagram, which clearly shows the supports inside the chassis - indeed they have to be for the wires to be located through the holes in the floor of the vehicle!

 

 

I think I will see whether I can make the coach run smoothly without making too many further alterations, but whatever the outcome I will take your approach when building the second one - they will not be running together so any differences should not matter.

Thanks again.

Tony

 

 

 

The reason I know why they are wrong was because I came across exactly the same problem on a kit. The wires went inside the solebars and went right through where the springs should be.

 

In real life, the solebar is a big thick lump of wood, as you are probably aware and the springs are mounted under it. So the step support has to be on the outside, it is the only place for it to go.

 

As you say, it is probably one to remember for next time. To correct it will mean a big backwards step to make a tiny difference. Your step is probably in just about the right place anyway as you haven't got a sharp right angle bend in the wire supports, which means your step is not immediately adjacent to the support anyway due to the curve.

 

If I ever see the finished model, I won't tell anybody about the dodge!

 

I hope you show us it finished before too long.

 

Best wishes,

 

Tony

Edited June 5, 2020 by t-b-g

[Tony Teague]

 

10 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

The reason I know why they are wrong was because I came across exactly the same problem on a kit. The wires went inside the solebars and went right through where the springs should be.

 

In real life, the solebar is a big thick lump of wood, as you are probably aware and the springs are mounted under it. So the step support has to be on the outside, it is the only place for it to go.

 

As you say, it is probably one to remember for next time. To correct it will mean a big backwards step to make a tiny difference. Your step is probably in just about the right place anyway as you haven't got a sharp right angle bend in the wire supports, which means your step is not immediately adjacent to the support anyway due to the curve.

 

If I ever see the finished model, I won't tell anybody about the dodge!

 

I hope you show us it finished before too long.

 

Best wishes,

 

Tony

 

Thanks Tony

 

I will certainly show the result in due course / and lesson learned!

 

Best wishes

 

Tony

Edited June 6, 2020 by Tony Teague

[St Enodoc]

5 hours ago, t-b-g said:

You mean he who likes to pretend he knows everything but is really blagging his way through life on a wing and a prayer?

You and me both.

[Tony Teague]

One page back, I mentioned that I would soon need to look carefully at Stowe Magna Station and consider whether, like St Giles' Church, it would need replacing or perhaps just "titivating".

 

Having done a little more research and studied numerous photographs, I have come to the conclusion that I am sure others had already reached, that the Hornby / Skaledale model that I have used is NOT a scale model of Rye Station in Sussex, but rather it is a pastiche that follows the Italianate design of that building but not it's precise dimensions.

 

 

Before someone points it out to me, I am aware that when I installed the station model, I placed the central building back to front; I just felt it looked more appropriate to it's position, and that the canopy that came fitted to the model would not easily tie in with the platfrom canopies that I was building here. In any event, here is what it looks like with the central building turned around (you will have to imagine that the Stowe Magna sign is not there!).

 

 

To continue....my guess is that I was wrong about the model being to a different scale than 1:76, although I can't be precise, but what is certain through counting bricks and layers of them, is that about 2 feet have been removed from the width at each end of the central building, plus the columns and brickwork that support either side of the three arches shown above is also around 2 feet too short. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the real station has a sloped roof reaching across the rear between the two side buildings and at the same height as their roofs; the roof of the central building is then raised about another two feet above that.

 

It must be this combination of compromises that gives the model what I originally saw as a slightly stunted, dumpy, appearance, although why, when designing the model you would not want to make it true to the prototype is beyond my comprehension! Perhaps the designer's head was full of instant mashed potato  (see p.29 above!).

 

You can see an image of the real building here (copyright Phil Beard, Flickr):

 

 

So, having established what is wrong with the model I needed to decide what to do about it! A key consideration here is that my railway is not a scale model of Rye, indeed the track layout is nothing like it at all, whilst there are tight limitations on the site and space available. Unlike St Giles' Church there is nowhere to extend the station, and so whilst I could increase its height, I could do nothing about width and depth. It is also fair to say that any change, even to height, would involve a complete replacement of the building, and against that background, I have plenty else to do!

 

So, I am choosing to live with the model at least for now, and start with a general titivation - the sharp eyed, and indeed the partially sighted, will have noted that something bad has happened to the right hand building, and this was a historic and very poor attempt at weathering - so this must be corrected and a general level of weathering applied to the whole.

 

 

A canopy, complete with lighting, and some detailing was added to platform 1 some years ago, but the matching (partial) canopy to platforms 2 and 3 was never finished, indeed it is loose and far too easily n*dged if I may use the term!

 

 

The intention is also to add a partial canopy to platforms 4 and 5, although passengers at platforms 6 and 7 may just have to get wet when it rains!

You will also see from the image above that the 3rd / conductor rail is also now in place to the Up and Down main Lines!

 

 

The intention remains to work along the layout and to re-furbish the buildings in Station Road at the rear as we go along, and in due course, we will also come to the locoshed and yard to the left of the running lines, and so all of this may take some time!

 

Tony

Edited November 19, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Mick Bonwick]

3 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

A canopy . . . . . . . . is loose and far too easily n*dged if I may use the term!

 

 

This is neither the time nor the place to be using such language. Kindly go elsewhere.

 

[Mick Bonwick]

3 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The arches in the facade of the model do not have the stone supports that the real thing has. Wouldn't the floor above them collapse? This is not a criticism of your modelling, more an observation on another aspect of Hornby's strange way of producing a model of something. Still, if it's only based on something real, it only has to have a passing resemblance, doesn't it? A bit like basing a model on Easton, Isle of Portland, rather than making an accurate model of it.

[Tony Teague]

11 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

The arches in the facade of the model do not have the stone supports that the real thing has. Wouldn't the floor above them collapse? This is not a criticism of your modelling, more an observation on another aspect of Hornby's strange way of producing a model of something. Still, if it's only based on something real, it only has to have a passing resemblance, doesn't it? A bit like basing a model on Easton, Isle of Portland, rather than making an accurate model of it.

 

My arches have held up so far, but I am minded to rush out to the railway room and insert some scale acrows as a matter of urgency!

 

Actually, you are right and I hadn't even noticed that those were missing - I might perhaps do something to replicate them. What I had also noticed was the missing decorative line above the first floor windows - as you say, a very strange, and perhaps lazy, way of producing a model.

 

Tony

[Mick Bonwick]

1 minute ago, Tony Teague said:

 

 I am minded to rush out to the railway room and insert some scale acrows as a matter of urgency!

 

 

 

No you're not. Don't tell fibs.

[St Enodoc]

Tony, for what it's worth I'd keep the building and just tidy it up/titivate it a bit. That will surely be easier and quicker than starting afresh.

[Tony Teague]

10 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

No you're not. Don't tell fibs.

I was, honest guv - but then I thought.... I probably don't have the right size acrows in stock, so I had another cup of tea instead!

[Tony Teague]

8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Tony, for what it's worth I'd keep the building and just tidy it up/titivate it a bit. That will surely be easier and quicker than starting afresh.

 

That was my conclusion also, and in any event I can always go back when I have nothing else to do

[Tony Teague]

Work is proceeding on a number of fronts - connecting up lights in Lloyds Bank & the Stowe Magna Empire, lightly weathering the latter, tinkering* with me canopies, and meanwhile, I felt like running a few trains and trying out some different camera positions - some of these work, some don't, and some show up areas where the scenery is not yet finished - but it makes a change to actually show a train on this thread!

(*no nudging here!)

 

We start with Ex-LBSCR E3 no.2167 shunting a short Engineers train in Stowe Magna yard:

 

 

The train is formed of two Engineers Dept 2-planks, plus the ballast plough brake, and is ready to depart, but the E3 will not be the train engine:

 

 

(In the background the Empire Theatre seems to have gone AWOL!)

SR Q class no.543 joins it's train:

 

 

The train heads northbound on the cross-country line, and is next seen on the viaduct over the River Charmy:

 

 

A better view at this position can be obtained from just inside RAF Charmy Bottom (subject to the right security clearances):

 

 

A final shot before the train enters the tunnel under the airfield:

 

 

Tony

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Mick Bonwick]

56 minutes ago, Tony Teague said:

... tinkering* with me canopies ...

(*no nudging here!)

 

 

Quite right, too.

[Mick Bonwick]

Nice to see some different views. The viaduct really looks good, especially with a train on it.

[Scene but not Heard]

Hello Tony,

Just catching up on the progress you have been made in recent weeks. I am really impressed with how the parish church has turned out, especially when you compare it with what it replaced. It fits into the limited space extremely well, and I can't wait for when it is safe for me to return and help you with the scenery.

The Q class looks very handsome on the viaduct, although photography does cruelly pick out what is still required to get the scenery up to scratch.

Happy modelling... hopefully not too long before we can meet up.

Regards,   Mike

[Tony Teague]

8 hours ago, Scene but not Heard said:

Hello Tony,

Just catching up on the progress you have been made in recent weeks. I am really impressed with how the parish church has turned out, especially when you compare it with what it replaced. It fits into the limited space extremely well, and I can't wait for when it is safe for me to return and help you with the scenery.

The Q class looks very handsome on the viaduct, although photography does cruelly pick out what is still required to get the scenery up to scratch.

Happy modelling... hopefully not too long before we can meet up.

Regards,   Mike

 

Thanks Mike

There's always a danger in posting progress pics of unfinished areas, but I think the viadauct itself is beginning to look pretty reasonable!

Tony

[KNP]

Viaduct looks impressive, more different views please.