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Little Muddle


KNP
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On 23/09/2021 at 06:42, KNP said:

Whilst standing on the occupation bridge with Tommy and Tony we spied the Dukedog heading our way

 

3809.jpg.3619f6a368ea9b7c4b21d0e8e657d332.jpg

 

Please note the very difficultly modelled cobweb in the trees!

And I am experimenting with an old face mask fibres for scale cobwebs in my 7/8ths workshop, and you go an do it in 4mm .... :huh:

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On 24/09/2021 at 11:24, The Stationmaster said:

Any closer and that thing might have knocked the shed door(s) off

Conversation overheard at the recent army manoeuvres 

 

"Sir"

"Yes Sergeant"

"I have to report we've blown the b***** doors off the engine shed"

"No it's O.K sergeant - not our doing. We've had an observation post at Little Muddle for the past 9 months.   Those chaps over there have been discussing how to repair the engine shed doors.  It seems a very long conversation and nothing has happened so far.   We'd better keep them under observation"

"Yes Sir"

 

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My late grandfather commanded the Home Guard in Hereford during WW2.  Whilst training in a part of town known locally as "The Quarry" they managed to "slightly graze" the corner of a house with a PIAT training round...

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9 minutes ago, Graham T said:

My late grandfather commanded the Home Guard in Hereford during WW2.  Whilst training in a part of town known locally as "The Quarry" they managed to "slightly graze" the corner of a house with a PIAT training round...

It's only a flesh wound...

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1 hour ago, Harlequin said:

West?

I always imagined that end headed East! (Because the sun always seems to be on this side of the tracks...)

:unsure:

 

So did I always thought West was to the left and East as in Bristol was right... :scratchhead:

 

Just checking on my Sat Nav and now no idea which way to turn back onto the M5 to go home to Paignton.... I is confuddled

Edited by John Besley
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Of course we're all forgetting about the famous Doddlecombe Levels to the north east of Encombe, where the river Mudd rises.

 

Brunel laid out the line with the intention of directly crossing this few square miles of marshy ground, remarking it was but a trifling inconvenience. He first laid rafts of willow to support the tracks but they quickly rotted away and the track sank without trace. He then tried inflated cow skins held in place by huge stakes driven deep into the mire on either side. Unfortunately the great flood of '67 (1867) saw the entire line levitated and carried off into the mists. His next attempt to conquer the bog was to build a massive viaduct across the area but excavation for the foundations did not go well. When the navvies were 100ft down without hitting solid rock the enterprise was abandoned.

 

In the meantime, Encombe station had been built in the full expectation that the Levels would be successfully crossed. Thus came about the famous Encombe Twist, where the mainline from Bristol circumnavigates the Levels and enters Encombe from the west. Then after leaving the east end of the station the line turns sharply north west following the course of the ill-fated Muddhead, Yeodown and Port Bindlewurdle Railway before turning again and finally heading westwards.

 

:-)

 

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4 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

Of course we're all forgetting about the famous Doddlecombe Levels to the north east of Encombe, where the river Mudd rises.

 

Brunel laid out the line with the intention of directly crossing this few square miles of marshy ground, casually remarking it was but a trifling inconvenience. He first laid rafts of willow to support the tracks but they quickly rotted away and the track sank without trace. He then tried inflated cow skins held in place by huge stakes driven deep into the mire on either side. Unfortunately the great flood of '67 (1867) saw the entire line levitated and carried off into the mists. His next attempt to conquer the bog was to build a massive viaduct across the area but excavation for the foundations did not go well. When the navvies were 100ft down without hitting solid rock the enterprise was abandoned.

 

In the meantime, Encombe station had been built in the full expectation that the Levels would be successfully crossed. Thus came about the famous Doddlecombe Twist, where the mainline from Bristol circumnavigates the Levels and enters Encombe from the west, then turns sharply north west following the line of the ill-fated Muddhead, Yeodown and Bindlewurdle Light Railway before turning again and finally heading westwards.

 

:-)

 

Mornington Crescent.

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9 hours ago, Harlequin said:

West?

I always imagined that end headed East! (Because the sun always seems to be on this side of the tracks...)

:unsure:

 

'West' was of course a relative term on the GWR and didn't necessarily describe a relationship to the points of the compass as it was usually related to the general direction taken by the route teh signal box was on.  For example Bristol Temple Meads East Signal Box was almost exactly due north of Bristol Temple Meads West Signal Box and similarly at Exeter St Davids West Signal Box was due south of St Davids East signal box.  Elsewhere Leamington Spa North signal Box was almost due west of Leamington Spa South Signal box and similarly with Hatton North & South

 

But just to be different Frome North Signal Box was actually very nearly due north of Frome South Signal Box so the normal logic of GWR naming had clearly not applied on the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth which of course basically ran from north to south(ish) and the same applied to Westbury North and Westbury South 'boxes.   

 

 

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8 hours ago, Harlequin said:

Of course we're all forgetting about the famous Doddlecombe Levels to the north east of Encombe, where the river Mudd rises.

 

Brunel laid out the line with the intention of directly crossing this few square miles of marshy ground, remarking it was but a trifling inconvenience. He first laid rafts of willow to support the tracks but they quickly rotted away and the track sank without trace. He then tried inflated cow skins held in place by huge stakes driven deep into the mire on either side. Unfortunately the great flood of '67 (1867) saw the entire line levitated and carried off into the mists. His next attempt to conquer the bog was to build a massive viaduct across the area but excavation for the foundations did not go well. When the navvies were 100ft down without hitting solid rock the enterprise was abandoned.

 

In the meantime, Encombe station had been built in the full expectation that the Levels would be successfully crossed. Thus came about the famous Encombe Twist, where the mainline from Bristol circumnavigates the Levels and enters Encombe from the west. Then after leaving the east end of the station the line turns sharply north west following the course of the ill-fated Muddhead, Yeodown and Port Bindlewurdle Railway before turning again and finally heading westwards.

 

:-)

 

Interesting to get the potted history of the area, was the ever any plans to go beyond Little Muddle? 

 

I've often wondered about the hamlets of Great Boozing and Little Snooring not to mention Great Burping 

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1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

Not to worry Kevin, one train will be going Up and the other Down!

 

While I would normally have given your observation a "Like", after Harlequin's epistle, I'm not so sure that both trains might not be Up, or Down, or perhaps a third as-yet-unnamed direction.

 

Maybe one is going Hokey and the other Cokey, which is, after all, what it's all about.

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25 minutes ago, aardvark said:

I'm not so sure that both trains might not be Up, or Down

I don’t think Encombe is another Ramsgate*.  So I’m voting for one Up and one Down but him hedging my bets as to which is which!

 

* It’s Up in both directions departing Ramsgate.  Directions change in the centre of the platforms.

 

Paul.

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17 hours ago, John Besley said:

Interesting to get the potted history of the area, was the ever any plans to go beyond Little Muddle? 

 

I've often wondered about the hamlets of Great Boozing and Little Snooring not to mention Great Burping 

Little Snoring is actually a village in Norfolk, about 2 miles East of Fakenham.

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