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

[Annie]

 

With not being all that familiar with Oxfordshire I hadn't heard of the Faringdon Folly before, but I'm very glad that you pointed it out to me James.  I can well understand why Folly Hill has acquired a Tolkienite mystique though now that I've had a better look at it.

My little wooded hillock is not quite in the same class as Folly Hill as unlike the larger Western loop on my layout the North eastern loop doesn't need the same ability to store trains in a semi-hidden fashion.  In fact now that the Western loop no longer needs to have its portal tracks installed I might well create a second circular wood simply for the pleasure of doing so.

[Annie]

 

This picture of Hedington Castle station that James posted in his own Castle Aching thread sent me chasing off down a rabbit hole for a while as stations of this kind stand very high on my 'I Like This List'.   After searching about on the interwebs for several minutes I even found a model kit of the station building, but not unfortunately in 'O' gauge.  http://www.smartmodels.co.uk/rail12---castle-hedingham-station-building.html    BUT then on the other hand (sigh) I have a personal sanction against buying anymore physical railway models to limit the clean up tasks my children will have to endure when I get promoted to glory.

I really like that timber built goods shed as well as it looks like the kind of thing that could be good for my first attempt at doing a railway building in Sketchup 8.

[Northroader]

Bit of a thing, innit, build a hill and stick a tower on top?

t

[Annie]

12 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Bit of a thing, innit, build a hill and stick a tower on top?

t

A bit like having to put a bus on a railway overbridge.  

 

I have found an Irish stone monastic tower very like the one in your last picture Mr Northroader and that is very much under consideration at the moment.  I did get awfully distracted by a virtual model of a Wizards Tower for a moment there though.  It's a model I remember well from fantasy miniature wargaming as there was a card kit available at one time.

 

 

 

[Caley Jim]

@Annie, Don't bother with those piddling little towers.  Put in a proper Folly!

 

 

Jim

[Annie]

1 hour ago, Caley Jim said:

@Annie, Don't bother with those piddling little towers.  Put in a proper Folly!

 

 

Jim

GOSH! - WOW!   I don't know what to say...............

[Caley Jim]

11 minutes ago, Annie said:

GOSH! - WOW!   I don't know what to say...............

'Thanks' will do fine!

 

For those who don't recognise it, it's McCaig's Folly, overlooking Oban.

 

Jim

[MikeOxon]

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Well, before the tees grew up there was something rather Cerin Amroth about the trees at the top, and, perhaps the tower suggests the King's house that had stood there in earlier ages, or the great tree that housed Celeborn and Galadriel at Caras Galadhon?

According to an article in the Observer https://www.faringdonfolly.org.uk/uploads/1/4/0/4/14041893/tolkien_and_the_folly.pdf  the building of the Folly inspired Tolkein to devise the Tower of Orthanc.  It seems that Tolkein was influenced by real events that occurred while he was spinning his stories.

 

Sorry Annie, I'm being lured away from your railway modelling again

[Annie]

3 minutes ago, MikeOxon said:

Sorry Annie, I'm being lured away from your railway modelling again

Don't worry Mike I get lured away from my railway modelling all the time when I visit here too.  I shall have to have a sharp word with myself about it.

[Northroader]

Irish monastic tower? Glendalough or Cashel.

[Annie]

18 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Irish monastic tower? Glendalough or Cashel.

Unfortunately Steve Flanders who made the model doesn't say which tower he based his model on.  Next time I'm in contact with him I could ask if you like.

 

 

[Edwardian]

Oh, Annie, I get goose pimples just looking at your tower.  There is now a profound mystical element to your world.  And is that the sea beyond? Lending, I feel, an evocation of the Tower Hills, Emyn Beraid, to that of Lothlórien.

 

“Legolas Greenleaf long under tree in joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea! If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore, thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more.”

 

[Compound2632]

Per the graffito on the back of a public lavatory door in Oxford: "Tolkien is hobbit-forming".

Edited September 18, 2021 by Compound2632

[Annie]

30 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Oh, Annie, I get goose pimples just looking at your tower.  There is now a profound mystical element to your world.  And is that the sea beyond? Lending, I feel, an evocation of the Tower Hills, Emyn Beraid, to that of Lothlórien.

 

“Legolas Greenleaf long under tree in joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea! If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore, thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more.”

 

Um........ sorry, - no it's the Great Nothing beyond the edge of the layout board partly hidden in virtual mist.  Moxbury Bay is in the other direction so if I put another coastline on this side of the layout I would have created a totally inexplicable isthmus in part of Norfolk and let's face it a lot of my layout is only plausible as it is because I've drawn a well fudged  Dogger Bank card.

I have Southern Irish ancestry so I really like that tower being there on my layout too.  One or two of my aunts had a heightened Fae like intuitive sense and my Mum had it too; - so yes I hear what you are saying James. 

 

“Legolas Greenleaf long under tree in joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea! If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore, thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more.”

 

I've got the posh boxed set Millenium edition of 'The Lord of the Rings' on the bookshelf, perhaps it's time I took it down and read it again.

 

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by Annie
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[Annie]

Further progress on the new North eastern loop section.  It's coming along reasonably well with the loops and sort yard sidings in an operational condition.  What's now left to do is finishing off making it all look pretty.  I still want to build up a village in this new section and I did consider installing a halt for the convenience of the occupants, but with Moxbury station being basically only a half a mile along the road I doubt if the bean counters would have approved the expense.

 

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Annie said:

I still want to build up a village in this new section and I did consider installing a halt for the convenience of the occupants, but with Moxbury station being basically only a half a mile along the road I doubt if the bean counters would have approved the expense.

 

The thing is, with a Halt, you can have it as basic as you like, No staff, platform a couple of coaches long made from old sleepers with infill and cinder topping, a waiting shelter made from an old bisected coach, and a sleepered crossing across the tracks to get from one platform to the other, with appropriate warning signs to watch out for trains!  Only local services that stop by request. Your ticket inspectors should be able to deal with revenue collection.

 

Shouldn't cost more than 50 quid, old money....

 

And if the locals don't use it that often, then you did your best...

 

[Annie]

3 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

The thing is, with a Halt, you can have it as basic as you like, No staff, platform a couple of coaches long made from old sleepers with infill and cinder topping, a waiting shelter made from an old bisected coach, and a sleepered crossing across the tracks to get from one platform to the other, with appropriate warning signs to watch out for trains!  Only local services that stop by request. Your ticket inspectors should be able to deal with revenue collection.

 

Shouldn't cost more than 50 quid, old money....

 

And if the locals don't use it that often, then you did your best...

 

You make a persuasive arguement sir and I must concur; - It would also give me an opportunity to make model based on this photo which is very much a favourite of mine.

 

 

[Annie]

 

Great Dunmow station; - a nice photo to be sure, but just look at that lovely GER water crane!

[Annie]

So Maglaw Bridge Halt.  Because Maglaw Bridge used to be a place where trains would disappear into a portal it was very much a background scenic area with only fairly basic work having been done to it.   Soooooo before I did anything else I had to do quite a bit of tidying up.  Doing stations properly is a lot of work and even a fairly basic halt needs quite a bit doing to it I find if it's to look any good.

Placing the new halt beside the existing signal box seemed to me to be the best site which makes it a supervised/staffed halt rather than an unmanned halt.  Slightly meandering footpath access was very possible to construct up to the roadway and the village of Maglaw (named after Maglaw Farm which is nearby) is only about a quarter of a mile along the road (or it will be once I build it).

 

I don't know about how other railway modellers go about building up stations, but while working on a station I often find myself thinking about the community and its people that will be making use of the station.  True enough I'm a freelance modeller with my imaginary railway companies somehow folded into an alternative Norfolk, but that doesn't mean that I go about plonking any old generic thing down when I'm working on my layout.  Even freelance when done properly has rules.

 

Still a little WIP with a few finishing off things yet to do.

 

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Annie
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[Annie]

Broad Gauge cheer up picture.  'Premier' erected at Swindon in 1846 as the first Broad Gauge 0-6-0'.  It's thought that the boiler for 'Premier' was brought in from Stephensons.

 

 

And 2-4-0 No. 3510 rebuilt to the narrow standard gauge in September 1892 from a Broad Gauge convertible side tank engine.

 

 

I much prefer the Broad Gauge 2-4-0T myself.

 

[Hroth]

A nice selection of Swindon Cheer-Ups!

 

'Premier', though Broad Gauge, is such a recognisable type of the Victorian 0-6-0, that if the domed firebox was lost and it got a cab, it wouldn't look out of place 60 years later!

 

As for 3510, it is clear that when rebuilt, the demand was for a locomotive with a greater range, so the tender form was an essential. Apart from being narrower, it still exudes an air of purpose. However, 3503 is such a sturdy, unpretentious machine that its hard not to like it too.

[Annie]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

As for 3510, it is clear that when rebuilt, the demand was for a locomotive with a greater range, so the tender form was an essential. Apart from being narrower, it still exudes an air of purpose. However, 3503 is such a sturdy, unpretentious machine that its hard not to like it too.

As a tender engine rebuilt for working in Cornwall I have to say that 3510 does have a no nonsense quality of purpose about it which I find very appealing.  And as you say 3503 is a good sturdy unpretentious engine which I like a lot as well,

[Annie]

Present state of play with the North eastern loop section.  I have to keep reminding myself not to get too carried away with detailing background scenery since it will be too far away to be visible from the railway.

 

[Annie]

Taking a break from scenic work on my Norfolk layout to sort out some faults with an older ex-SECR BR O1 model.  This is by the same maker as the Dean Goods I repaired so it had the same faults in need of repair.  I don't have any need for an O1, but a friend who is a Southern Railway and constituents digital modeller does so I offered to repair this model for him.

I used my Ashington branch layout as a test track with 297 tons on the drawbar as a test train and I was impressed with how sweetly the repaired O1 ran.  It ran especially well on the Steam Controls and I had a lot of fun with that as the Ashington branch has some deceptively long gradients that could catch me out if I wasn't keeping a proper eye on things.

 

 

 

[Annie]

Broad Gauge cheer up picture.  2-4-0 'Wood' at Newton Abbot 17th July 1889.  As a bonus there's some interesting signals in the background of this old photo,