Annie's Virtual Pre-Grouping, Grouping and BR Layouts & Workbench

[Annie]

Book Corner:

 

 

I just picked up a copy of this book in an on-line sale.  If it's anything like his GWR book I would imagine that the drawings are  of those amazing flat two dimensional locomotives that they seem to have had during the pre-grouping era.

[Northroader]

You have to Imagine the end elevations, Annie.

[Martin S-C]

On 20/11/2020 at 23:03, Annie said:

Silly looking trains that look like giant toothpaste tubes on wheels.  I'm not even sure if they could be called 'trains' since they don't look like one.

As I once said, "Someone threw the train away and kept the brightly coloured shiny packaging it came in."

[Annie]

Down to the absolute final stages with the steam railmotor.  So many things were first time experiences with building this model and to my complete surprise it all works.  Once I've handed it over to the creator group to prod and poke at for beta testing I should have some time to catch up with other things.

 

 

I made this footboard using 3D modelling software.  I am totally amazed that I was able to do that.  My 3D modelling skills are still definitely in the 'L' plate class, but hopefully they will gradually improve.

 

 

[Regularity]

17 hours ago, Annie said:

Book Corner:

 

 

I just picked up a copy of this book in an on-line sale.  If it's anything like his GWR book I would imagine that the drawings are  of those amazing flat two dimensional locomotives that they seem to have had during the pre-grouping era.

They are simply reproductions of drawings which appeared in the railway press.

[Annie]

2 minutes ago, Regularity said:

They are simply reproductions of drawings which appeared in the railway press.

I thought they might be.  It will be good to have them all in one volume though even if they are only side elevations.

[Annie]

It's alive!  Some odd bits of minor fettling might be needed, but it looks like my Steam Railcar is a success.

 

 

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by Annie
can't spell for toffee

[Annie]

Still all kinds of testing going on.  I decided that the engine spec I was using in the video was too much of a good thing so I'm trialing one from a much smaller vertical boilered locomotive which is giving much more sensible running.

 

 

[Edwardian]

Bravo, Annie

 

(and I loved the halt with the grounded coach bodies; very GE)

[Hroth]

19 hours ago, Northroader said:

You have to Imagine the end elevations, Annie.

 

As we used to do when doing first and third angle projections in Technical Drawing at school...

 

46 minutes ago, Annie said:

Still all kinds of testing going on.  I decided that the engine spec I was using in the video was too much of a good thing so I'm trialing one from a much smaller vertical boilered locomotive which is giving much more sensible running.

 

 

 

A lovely Railmotor, well done!

 

(I still persist in thinking that the exhaust for the engine is an extractor fan for the Smoking compartment...)

 

[Annie]

8 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Bravo, Annie

 

(and I loved the halt with the grounded coach bodies; very GE)

Thanks very much James.  With the Steam Railmotor being handed over to the creator group to prod and poke at I now have a bit more free time.  I am very pleased with how it has turned out though.

 

Ah, - Nodding Keep Halt.  Like many places on my layout it has its own history and it very much developed over time.  Back when this section of the line was single track I installed a passing loop and a water tank at this site as mineral trains from the Eastlingwold & Great Mulling were holding up traffic on the line.  Not long after that a basic wooden platform and the row of farm estate cottages arrived on the scene with the halt being a request only stop for the estate workers.

Due to increasing traffic on the line once the line out west of Moxbury to Bunbury was in operation this section of the line was double tracked between Lodge and Bluebell Magna and second basic wooden platform appeared.  Naturally enough the estate workers and their families said they didn't like getting rained on while waiting for the train so could they have some shelter please.  So that's when the two old four wheel coach bodies arrived.

While thinking about the general history of the area and why visitors might want to travel on the line I decided that an old ruin was needed (no not me!) and the higher ground up behind the halt would be just the place  for it.  I can't remember what inspired the name 'Nodding Keep', but it seemed to suit so that's what it became.  If folk are visiting the ruin then a path up to it was needed as well as toilets in case they get 'taken short' (as my gran used to say).  After that I decided that visitors might like a cup of tea after climbing around up the hill and the old keep so the delightfully basic wooden tea room with its tar paper roof came next.

Visitor numbers were increasing so the basic wooden platforms were replaced by the present wider wood and cinder ones.  A station office and somewhere to handle the very occasional parcel traffic was needed so with no expense spared a pair of wooden sheds appeared, - one to each platform.  So really Nodding Keep Halt isn't a halt anymore, but nobody has done anything about changing the signs yet.

 

 

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by Annie
can't spell for toffee

[Annie]

 

[Martin S-C]

On 26/11/2020 at 16:18, Annie said:

Something different.  A friend on the Trainz forum told me about this IOW layout.  Nothing fancy, made originally for TS2012, but I've got it installed in TANE.  While it isn't about hyper-realism or being fastidiously exact it's been put together very well.  The IOW Central Railway Terriers were bundled with my K&ESR ones (for some unknown reason) when I purchased them so they've been taken out of my digital trainset box and dusted off.  I didn't know what coaches were appropriate so my generic teak litho 6 wheelers were pressed into service.

I'll have some more pictures later on once I've played trains for a while.

 

I'm a huge fan of the various pre-grouping IoW companies. Might you please be able to post more images of this route?

[Annie]

On 02/04/2021 at 10:35, Martin S-C said:

I'm a huge fan of the various pre-grouping IoW companies. Might you please be able to post more images of this route?

Yes I should be able to do that Martin.  As I said it's mostly representative rather than being true to life, but it's a lot of fun despite that.

 

I've been making wagons.  

 

 

[Annie]

http://zythophile.co.uk/2010/11/08/yarmouth-ale-sweet-and-salty/

[Annie]

I was asked by a member of the creator group if it would be possible to transform my 'litho' faux GER Steam Railmotor into a GWR Railmotor.  We both knew that that a 70ft Railmotor wouldn't be possible, but it's looking very much like a representation of one of the very first 1903 Railmotors could be made to work with the bodyshell that I've got.

I found an old postcard on-line of the first 1903 Railmotor which I promptly attacked an turned into a basic texture template.  Another member of our group passed on a copy of an article in the November 1903 Railway Magazine to me this morning about the Railmotor which is also going to be very useful once i start herding pixels around.

 

 

[Regularity]

On 03/04/2021 at 12:50, Annie said:

Yes I should be able to do that Martin.  As I said it's mostly representative rather than being true to life, but it's a lot of fun despite that.

 

I've been making wagons.  

 

Are the steel solebars correct for a Worsdell van?

 

Anyway, here’s mine:

[Compound2632]

My first thought was, someone had been using those ale vans for target practice.

 

My second thought was, whoever had been shooting them up wasn't in need of practice.

 

I take it the holes were actually there so that the load could be checked upon - no casks going missing in transit.

Edited April 4, 2021 by Compound2632

[Annie]

30 minutes ago, Regularity said:

Are the steel solebars correct for a Worsdell van?

 

Anyway, here’s mine:

Arrrrgh! Rats!  I misinterpreted the drawing!  The horror, the shame!

 

I shall go and make my error good this very moment.  Thank you very much Simon.  How many eyes have looked upon my works and only you have told the truth of it.

 

23 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

My first thought was, someone had been using those ale vans for target practice.

 

My second thought was, whoever had been shooting them up wasn't in need of practice.

 

I take it the holes were actually there so that the load could be checked upon - no casks going missing in transit.

It's a way of quickly and cheaply converting an old wooden bodied van into a ventilated van Stephen.  Basically they drilled 2 inch diameter holes into the sides of the van body.

Edited April 4, 2021 by Annie
can't spell for toffee

[Compound2632]

Query: why would beer need to travel in a ventilated van? I'm aware that the LNWR had ventilated vans for beer traffic, while the Midland (and later the LMS and BR(M)) used converted cattle wagons.

[Annie]

 

 

15 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Query: why would beer need to travel in a ventilated van? I'm aware that the LNWR had ventilated vans for beer traffic, while the Midland (and later the LMS and BR(M)) used converted cattle wagons.

 

To quote the explanation on the GER Society drawing, - 'Apparently it was important for the quality of the beer that it did not get too hot while it was being transported'.

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, Annie said:

To quote the explanation on the GER Society drawing, - 'Apparently it was important for the quality of the beer that it did not get too hot while it was being transported'.

 

That makes sense. But as far as I can make out the Midland mostly got round that by using ordinary open wagons.

[Annie]

6 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

That makes sense. But as far as I can make out the Midland mostly got round that by using ordinary open wagons.

But didn't they do that for just about everything?  asks the very cheeky GER fangirl.

[Compound2632]

2 minutes ago, Annie said:

But didn't they do that for just about everything?  asks the very cheeky GER fangirl.

 

Seemed to work, mostly, at least up to c. 1902 when they started building masses of vans so they were nearly up to the proportion on the LNWR and GWR by grouping.

[Annie]

The GER only had 30,104 wagons in 1922, but they were mostly for merchandise traffic, - so very much a different situation to the Midland with it's need for a huge number of open wagons for coal and mineral traffic.  Circa 1900 was the major time for GER wagon building and after that it was only repair and replacements as needed.