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

[Annie]

West Norfolk 6 wheel 3rd made from something else.  I wanted some coaches to attach to the more important trains going further afield.  The 1870s 4 wheelers I made are fine for more local journeys, but no good for attaching to semi-fast services.

 

[Edwardian]

Brilliant, Annie

[Edwardian]

9 hours ago, Annie said:

West Norfolk 6 wheel 3rd made from something else.  I wanted some coaches to attach to the more important trains going further afield.  The 1870s 4 wheelers I made are fine for more local journeys, but no good for attaching to semi-fast services.

 

 

Excellent, and rather further on than my WNR 6-compartment 6-wheel Third .....!

 

 

 

[Annie]

Snap!  I had no idea that you were making a 6 compartment 6 wheel 3rd class coach James.  In my case it was an unsuspecting Highland Railway coach that I set upon.

 

This one was a lot more work and I'm still in two minds about it.  A 6 wheel luggage composite which is a very useful type of coach, but I don't know about the matchboarding on the lower half of the coachside.  Possibly after the hotel resort failure the West Norfolk purchased some economically constructed coaches with matchboarding, but even after all my texture work it still looks very much like a Highland Railway coach.  I could add panelling below the waist, but it would be a lot of work to do that.

 

 

[Annie]

I finally got the footbridge at Oakmarket done.  I wasn't looking forward to this job as the footbridge is made up of lots of parts that have to be micro adjusted together if the final result is to look any good.

Edit:  I do have a kitset covered footbridge, but the parts are more bulky than the lattice footbridge's parts so I don't think it would have fitted in place without having to alter the station platforms and canopies.  Something that I don't want to do.

 

 

And Oakmarket also got a turntable which I cunningly arranged to be accessible from both the goods yard and the running lines.  With more trains coming through Oakmarket now a turntable was becoming an urgent need.  It's not a very big turntable, but all my tender engines fit on it just fine.

 

Edited June 1, 2019 by Annie
more to say

[runs as required]

I can  well understand how it must be a chore to have to assemble that footbridge. 

We lived along from such an open footbridge on Grafton Street in Liverpool in the early 1960s.

It was very exciting with a fine view over the Mersey to the Welsh mountains. Our cat ran away to sea on a collier boat over it in pique after our first born arrived home.

Below was the former LNER Brunswick locomotive depot and also the tunnel portal out of which the old Liverpool Overhead Railway used to emerge from its underground terminal at the Dingle.

 

Now the LOR (or the Wuppertal overhead railway) really would be a fine VR challenge!

dh

[Edwardian]

10 hours ago, Annie said:

Snap!  I had no idea that you were making a 6 compartment 6 wheel 3rd class coach James.  In my case it was an unsuspecting Highland Railway coach that I set upon.

 

This one was a lot more work and I'm still in two minds about it.  A 6 wheel luggage composite which is a very useful type of coach, but I don't know about the matchboarding on the lower half of the coachside.  Possibly after the hotel resort failure the West Norfolk purchased some economically constructed coaches with matchboarding, but even after all my texture work it still looks very much like a Highland Railway coach.  I could add panelling below the waist, but it would be a lot of work to do that.

 

 

 

"Known" WNR 6-wheelers are:

 

- 6 Compartment Third

 

- 5 Compartment Second

 

- 4 Compartment Composite: 2nd / 1st / 1st / 2nd

 

- 3 Compartment Brake Third: 3rd / 3rd / 3rd / Guard / Luggage

 

The Norwich extension does beg the question of whether there should now also be luggage thirds and composites and lavatory thirds and composites. 

[Annie]

Thanks for the 6 wheeler list James. 

Luggage coaches do feature a bit in parts of my sprawling railway empire and they certainly are useful.  I think I'll have another look at replacing the matchboarding on the luggage composite with panelling since it's only going to annoy me otherwise.  I have a 6w luggage brake van I did as well and once again this is an adaptation of a Highland Railway 6 wheeler.  My texture library for W,N.R. coaches is gradually increasing which will help a lot with making further coaches.

 

 

The W.N.R. coach livery certainly makes for a nice contrast amongst the mostly varnished teak and mahogany coaches on my layout.

[Annie]

A West Norfolk 6w Luggage Composite.  This is shorter than the other 6 wheel coaches by a compartment length and it's based on a Midland Railway Luggage Composite mesh just to have a bit of a change.  I have a GER 6 w Luggage Composite by Rob Dee that uses the same body mesh and I've found a luggage composite of this size to be a useful thing to have on my rambling railway empire.

 

 

I used my library of W.N.R. texture bits to make the textures for this coach, but struggled a bit with fitting the textures properly around the windows.  It's all a bit different to making a plain 'litho' coach texture, but I got there in the end.  Practice will make (semi) perfect I guess. 

I had a persistent texture error with a patch of white showing just under the drop windows on the coach doors and it only took staring at all the various textures about a 100 times before the penny dropped that I had the texture patch for the drop window frames too short at one end.

I've taken note of what James has said about W.N.R. coaches having black beading.  I thought about recolouring the beading from green to black, but decided that  I'm not going to do it today.  I'm too tired now and I need to sleep.

[Annie]

Now armed with the definitive livery sample for the W.N.R. I might be able to get somewhere.

But first I'll have to wait for my brain to wake up properly.

I won't be able to do a brake 3rd 6 wheeler though since the only vaguely suitable 6 wheel coach mesh available is a Midland Railway one and it doesn't have a ducket.  It's actually surprising how many Midland brake vehicles didn't have one, - or if they did it was an uncomfortable looking kind of wart thing on the side of the coach.

 

[Edwardian]

Only brake ends are red.  Other ends are green, as are solebars (but I wouldn't get too hung up about that).

 

 

[Annie]

I did red ends on the luggage brake and the ordinary coaches have green ends.  I think it shouldn't be too difficult to change the solebars to green.  I'm fussy about my own imaginary 'what-if' coaches James, so it doesn't hurt for me to be a little fussy with your ones too.

Changing the beading over to black instead of green might be a gradual work in progress though.

[Edwardian]

Thanks, Annie. It's entirely a matter for you how far you can or want to go in synchronising the virtual version with the 4mil version.  I'm not precious about it, but, as I've done more planning than modelling, I can give you an idea of what mine will be like; it's entirely up to you what you take from that.  I think it works both ways; e.g. I didn't know what the saloons looked like until you designed them! 

 

It's just really quite thrilling to see rakes of WNR coaches, and, of course, the appearance of WNR kit in other forms or parts of the 'verse simply makes it seem more real!

 

So, more power to your elbow! 

[Annie]

Imaginary 'what-if' finescale is a lot of fun.  I'm presently developing the history and personality of the Eastlingwold and Great Mulling Railway from being just a vague destination through a portal to an actual working railway.  Definitely a railway of contrasts with its ancient engines and rolling stock still at work on the branchlines while more modern (1890s) coaches are used on the important through trains to other places.

 

The W.N.R.'s presence on my layout is mostly represented by trains running into and out of Hunstanton and now attached coaches on E&GR passenger trains.  There are also several sheeted open wagons from the W.N.R. that travel about the layout from place to place.  I thought you'd enjoy seeing rakes of W.N.R. coaches at Hunstanton.  Believe it or not I do allow the GER to use their station too in between the comings and goings of W.N.R. and E&GR trains.

[Annie]

It must be luggage composite week because I've done another one.

When I woke up to face whatever day it was I had a persistent brain fog that I couldn't shift so I did what I often do when I'm like that; - I make rolling stock textures.  Because it forces my stupid sleepy brain to work and eventually the fog will lift.

So I decided that the E&GR needed a 6 wheel luggage composite, - which meant Teak.  Out came my source textures I used to make my generic 'litho' 6 wheel Teak coaches and proceeded to make them fit bit by bit around the windows on the same coach mesh that used for the W.N.R. luggage composite.

I thought I was doing rubbish since I had endless trouble blending things together, but when I placed my new coach into the railway simulator at Hunstanton it looked fine.  Not sure how that happened........

 

I can't help thinking that my new coach looks a little sad in this picture.

[Edwardian]

One more thing, Annie, the WNR had not abolished Second Class in 1905.  IIRC, it abolished Second c.1912. It depends , of course, when you set your scene, but all bi-composites (and I've yet to see a WNR tri-composite, but that's worth thinking about!) would have been built as First-Second composites.   

[Annie]

Not a problem to make a small change like that one James.  I have an assortment of second class coaches of various types on the layout so the second class still persists on my own little railway empire.

I was a bit lazy with the new teak coach since I had lettering for first and third class in my teak coach texture files, but no second class lettering so what I had got used.  

 

I like tri-composites.  I made a magnificent ex-Broad Gauge GWR one a while ago and perhaps I should invent an excuse to make another one.

 

Edit:  My time period when I can manage to catch it to pin it down is supposed to be 1910 (ish).

Edited June 3, 2019 by Annie
More information

[Martin S-C]

That Oakmarket footbridge is looking very handsome now Annie. My only critcism would be the fence along the hill edge - its very white and slaps you in the face rather because of its prominence and length. Could it be weathered down?

 

All the coaches are delightful. I never had any decent choice of 4-and 6-wheelers back in MSTS days.

Edited June 4, 2019 by Martin S-C

[Annie]

Yes the fence is a bit bright and white and doesn't really fit the scene so well now.  I'll hunt around and see if I can find a substitute fence or if nothing suitable can be found I'll rework its textures to see if I can tone it down.

 

Four and six wheel coaches are very much the mainstay of the passenger services on my layout with the only bogie coaches in service being the ones on one of the scheduled trains from Kings Lynn. 

Thanks for your nice comments about my coaches.  At the moment I'm all coached out with no plans to make anymore for a while since they involve quite a bit of fiddly texture work and I can only take so much of that before my brain wants to go to sleep on me.

 

Working with coach meshes that have interiors and actual windows was certainly interesting though after all the 'litho' coaches I've made.

[Annie]

I've been a colonial girl for the past day and a half while I've been taking my NZGR rolling stock and British export tank engines out of the archives to give then a run about.  I use to travel to school in coaches just like those.

 

 

[Martin S-C]

That scenery is very green and lush. You can tell it's not Norfolk!

[Northroader]

Hi, Annie, it’s a bit quiet on here, hope you’re alright?

[Edwardian]

I hope that Annie will be back among us soon,

[Annie]

Thank you for your concern, but I am fine in my usual sleepy kind of way.  I went for my usual 12 weekly visit to my doctor yesterday and all is good with me.  My black dog skin quilt is now very large and the blighters have finally got the message and are staying away.

I just needed a break so a spot of saving a virtual world from evil demonic gods was just the thing to clear the cobwebs out of my brain.  Was nice being the Hero of Kavatch for a bit.  If you really want to know the details of the Oblivion main quest storyline due to serious gaps in your education goggle is your friend, but make sure you've had your vaccination shots first or else you might want run off and save a virtual world too.

 

I even did some texture work and normal mapping on one of my old game characters that had been languishing in a scatter of files on one of my backup hard drives.  That's where I cut my teeth on graphics work and learned the art, - making custom characters for the Elder Scrolls Oblivion game.  Not quite the same as making goods wagons and coaches though due to the very different image and mesh formats.

 

I won't show you any of my holiday snaps because this isn't the proper place for them.  I will be back soon never fear.  You won't get rid of me that easily  

Edited June 15, 2019 by Annie
fumble brain

[Northroader]

Good girl, I’ve took me vitamin pills, but I still can’t understand a word of what you’re going on about, so that’s alright. Another job waiting your creative powers is on here:

http://oakhillmodelrailway.co.uk/achipedia/index.php?title=Main_Page