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


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On 11/12/2019 at 20:28, Annie said:

'Dodkin!'

 

'Yes Mam, - I came as quick as I could Mam.'

 

'We need an inspiring picture to post in this thread.  Something uplifting to inspire the members of the parish and take their minds off the horrors of the world.  Have a search in the archives and see what you can find.'

 

'Yes Mam.'

 

'One of those pre-Raphaelite things they like.' 

 

(Sound of much rustling of papers and moving heavy objects)

 

'Well?'

 

'We don't seem to have any Mam.'

 

'And why ever not?'

 

'I don't think it is your particular sphere of interest Mam.'

 

'Remind me why I employed you Dodkin.'

 

'I believe it was because you felt sorry for me Mam.'

 

'Hum.  Make sure to remind me to be more circumspect when next I seek to employ new staff.'

 

'Yes of course Mam.'

 

'So what do I have in the archives Dodkin?'

 

'There seems to be a large quantity of Steampunk and Victorian Science Fiction images Mam.'

 

'Hmmm.  What do you recommend Dodkin? - something uplifting mind you.'

 

'I would suggest this one Mam.'

 

'Oh very good, perhaps I shall keep you on afterall Dodkin.'

 

'Thank you kindly Mam.'

 

9ExYl8V.jpg

You in another life maybe?

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49 minutes ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

You in another life maybe?

 

It would take another dimension, one with airships and in which I was young, thin, handsome and charming, for me to have any chance of a Gal like that.

 

Any Gal, come to think of it! 

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On 11/12/2019 at 20:28, Annie said:

'Dodkin!'

 

'Yes Mam, - I came as quick as I could Mam.'

 

'We need an inspiring picture to post in this thread.  Something uplifting to inspire the members of the parish and take their minds off the horrors of the world.  Have a search in the archives and see what you can find.'

 

'Yes Mam.'

 

'One of those pre-Raphaelite things they like.' 

 

(Sound of much rustling of papers and moving heavy objects)

 

'Well?'

 

'We don't seem to have any Mam.'

 

'And why ever not?'

 

'I don't think it is your particular sphere of interest Mam.'

 

'Remind me why I employed you Dodkin.'

 

'I believe it was because you felt sorry for me Mam.'

 

'Hum.  Make sure to remind me to be more circumspect when next I seek to employ new staff.'

 

'Yes of course Mam.'

 

'So what do I have in the archives Dodkin?'

 

'There seems to be a large quantity of Steampunk and Victorian Science Fiction images Mam.'

 

'Hmmm.  What do you recommend Dodkin? - something uplifting mind you.'

 

'I would suggest this one Mam.'

 

'Oh very good, perhaps I shall keep you on afterall Dodkin.'

 

'Thank you kindly Mam.'

 

9ExYl8V.jpg

 

Nicely restrained, though still with the tendancy to wear undergarments on the outside.... 

(High approval rating!)

 

Dodkin, eh?  Any relation to Drumknott?  His rather shy and retiring brother, perhaps?

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

I also have a copy of that book. It's an excellent piece of reference material and I'm currently trying to obtain the others in the series.

 

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

 

Ah, must get that.  I have the GER volume only.

I have just ordered a second hand copy of the GER volume from World of Books (Uk) and I think they did have a copy of the M&GNR one when I placed my order.

 

 

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1 hour ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

You in another life maybe?

Having just woken up horribly time displaced from being off vividly dreaming for what seemed like days I'm more or less used to living other lives.  I can't wear a digital watch while I'm dreaming because they immediately start to run slow so proper watches with a Swiss movement from the 1940s-1950s are what I use as timepieces now.

In a recent dream I was a much younger self and a polytech student and much concerned with the classes I would be attending after the weekend (dreamworld weekend).  I wandered about town (dreamworld town) chatted to people who seemed to know me, went to a museum with some interesting exhibits and maps, went for a nice walk in the countryside........  And then I woke up and spent the next hour trying to figure out where (and who) I was.

 

27 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Dodkin, eh?  Any relation to Drumknott?  His rather shy and retiring brother, perhaps?

Could be.  Dodkin is very shy and somewhat of a ramshackle appearance, but he is a loyal little chap and he does try to do his best.

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36 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Nicely restrained, though still with the tendancy to wear undergarments on the outside.... 

(High approval rating!)

 

Years ago, my son had a brief flirtation with wargaming.  I took him to some big 'do' at Excell.  Too big, really, a bit like Warley. Anyway, he was particularly struck by some Steampunky games.  he asked a demonstrator what the difference was between "Steampunk" and "Victorian Sci-Fi".  the chap pondered this for a bit and then said "In Victorian Sci-Fi the women wear their corsets on the inside. it's the other way around with Steampunk". 

 

36 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Dodkin, eh?  Any relation to Drumknott?  His rather shy and retiring brother, perhaps?

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, Annie said:

 

Could be.  Dodkin is very shy and somewhat of a ramshackle appearance, but he is a loyal little chap and he does try to do his best.

 

Better a Drumknott than a Wonse

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3 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

Years ago, my son had a brief flirtation with wargaming.  I took him to some big 'do' at Excell.  Too big, really, a bit like Warley. Anyway, he was particularly struck by some Steampunky games.  he asked a demonstrator what the difference was between "Steampunk" and "Victorian Sci-Fi".  the chap pondered this for a bit and then said "In Victorian Sci-Fi the women wear their corsets on the inside. it's the other way around with Steampunk"

And that actually makes sense

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3 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Years ago, my son had a brief flirtation with wargaming.  I took him to some big 'do' at Excell.  Too big, really, a bit like Warley. Anyway, he was particularly struck by some Steampunky games.  he asked a demonstrator what the difference was between "Steampunk" and "Victorian Sci-Fi".  the chap pondered this for a bit and then said "In Victorian Sci-Fi the women wear their corsets on the inside. it's the other way around with Steampunk". 

Well yes, - when it comes right down to it that's about the only real difference.  When I was still doing wargaming I was more Victorian Sci-Fi than Steampunk, but the boundaries between the two are very blurry.

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'Space 1889' was very much my thing for a while.

 

f5HUlgY.jpg

 

https://watermark.ulisses-ebooks.de/pdf_previews/81908-sample.pdf

 

An 'Aphid' Imperial aerial gunboat.  The paper kits I made for the gunboat and steam powered walkers & etc are still drifting around the internet.

 

YqMiXr8.jpg

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Misnomer is actually off the edge of the layout boards in the great 'out-there-somewhere', but should I ever expand the layout in that direction it might make an appearance.  I agree though it's a great place name and does deserve something to be done with it.

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3 hours ago, Annie said:

Well yes, - when it comes right down to it that's about the only real difference.  When I was still doing wargaming I was more Victorian Sci-Fi than Steampunk, but the boundaries between the two are very blurry.

What an interesting time you've had.  Railway modelling seems rather tame after viewing that great pair of zeppelins :)

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It was my children who got me into wargaming Mike and all was wonderful until they grew up some more and lost interest.  I attended a wargaming club for a while, but it was full of chaps who were escaping their wives and girlfriends so while I wasn't exactly made unwelcome I did get the cold shoulder a lot.  In the end I just gave up going.  Then I moved out here to the rural Waikato where there wasn't a wargaming club for a hundred kilometres in any direction so I packed everything away in storage crates and went back to railway modelling.

 

One thing that miniature wargaming did teach me though was how to paint models really well.

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44 minutes ago, MikeOxon said:

Railway modelling seems rather tame after viewing that great pair of zeppelins

Phrasing!

And I myself am a proud wargamer. I've occasionally put pictures of my Warhammer 40,000 miniature creations up when talking about it in the past, and am part of a club in the village of Old Buckenham, which is about 10mins from where I used to live in Ellingham.

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1 hour ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

Phrasing!

And I myself am a proud wargamer. I've occasionally put pictures of my Warhammer 40,000 miniature creations up when talking about it in the past, and am part of a club in the village of Old Buckenham, which is about 10mins from where I used to live in Ellingham.

Its curious but I suppose there is even snobbery in wargaming, just like there is in railway modelling. I always think of "wargaming" as either proper Kriegspiel or at least based on historical events/people/places/armies/periods. All this mech/robots/elves/orcs and sc-fi stuff to me isn't wargaming at all but a kind of fantasy gaming, or RPG.

 

Nowadays when I tell people I'm a wargamer I have to narrow that label own to a "historical wargamer", just so they don't think I play with dragons, dwarves and space marines ;)

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Oh I agree there is a definite snobbery about some varieties of wargaming Martin.  With most of the good Vic Sci-Fi games there is a definite history, - even if it is a fictional history, - which must be followed and adhered to.

When it boils down to it strategy is still strategy whatever the models on the table might be.

 

I played Warhammer Fantasy Battles 5th Edition with my children quite a lot.  Games Workshop had just changed to 6th Edition which was pretty darn plain was an outright commercial decision to obsolete a good many older model figures so gamers would have to buy new ones.  My children and I just scooped up the 5th edition figures at cut price sale prices at the Games Workshop store and kept on playing 5th Edition.  The 6th Edition magic system was less clunky so we used that.  Since we weren't playing at a club or in a tournament our 'house rules' were perfectly fine.  My finest moment was defeating my son's Dark Elves with my ragtag Halfling army which just about left him speechless in disbelief.  Sort of paid him back for previously borrowing my Goblin army and then pasting my High Elves with it.

 

I only ever played one 6th Edition game at the club and that was my custom variant Silk Road Elves against UnDead.  I lost spectacularly when my mages were silenced and I failed my dice roll and a whole regiment of spearmen/archers I'd sat up late the night before getting ready for the match lost their nerve and fled.  It didn't help any that I wasn't exactly conversant with the 6th Edition ruleset.   The army was based around the armies of ancient Assyria and was a lot of fun to put together even if I did lose spectactualy to what I freely admit was a far more experienced player than I was.

 

I did have a look at Warhammer 40,000, but sorry to say Red most of the players I struck were rude teenage bogons who should have been drowned at birth so I lost all interest in the game.

 

I did have a lot of fun with it all though and I did spend a lot of what is now called 'quality time' with my children which is always a good thing.

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2 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

Nearly as good as 'No Place'!  (Which does exist)

 

image.png.621258dc60da94700dadc4a995cc4485.png

 

Jim

Tempting.  I do have one signpost on a road that runs to the edge of the layout board that says 'World's End'.

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1 minute ago, Annie said:

Tempting.  I do have one signpost on a road that runs to the edge or the layout board that says 'World's End'.

Nah!  that's a pub on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

 

image.png.e4894b878fec69871ed4ba2ad1007075.png

 

It used to be just inside the city walls, so was at the end of the world as far as Edinburgh folk were concerned.  Infamous through the 'Worlds End murders'.  Two girls who went missing in 1977, last seen leaving the pub.   They were found murdered and it wasn't until 2014 that their killer was convicted.

 

Jim

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Well I suppose if the road did continue it might reach there since it's on the north side of the layout, but it would be a fair old walk though.  I'd only need about a thousand standard layout boards to do it and if I only strictly limited myself to modelling the road and its immediate surroundings I should have it done by Christmas 2020.

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Space 1889, now that does take me back. Brought one of the board games (cloudships and gunboats) when I was at university nearly 30 years ago(what scientist could resist a couple of pages on the scientific properties of the Luminiferous ether. Its still sitting on my bookcase in the spare room. My victorin sci-Fi needs currently are taken care of by In Her majesties Name, which is an entertaining steampunk skirmish game. However I've mosly layed Historical games (DBX series, WW2 and Modern Spearhead and currently Napoleonics).

I must admit that the warhammer games never grabed me possibly because of the game mechanics and backstory (History tends to do better backgrounds)

 

Cheers,

Rhys.

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Yes the wonderful scientific properties of the Luminiferous ether.  Who could resist such a thing.  I've still got a slightly battered card model of an 'Aphid' gunboat somewhere that I made to suit 25mm figures.  The paper kit parts that I drew up are still out there in the internet somewhere, but I wouldn't know where now.

 

I agree, the Warhammer Games' backstories seemed to change (and not for the better) each time a new Edition came out.  Most of it seemed to do with marketing and the false belief that long time gamers had short memories.  I eventually got tired of it all and gave up on Games Workshop altogether.

 

I have a feeling that I did play a couple of games of 'In Her Majesty's Name', but it would have been a good while ago now.

 

I did have a at look at 'Gunboat Diplomacy' and even made some paper gunboat models for it.  I tried another Vic Sci-Fi game that was set in the British colonies, but the name escapes me now.  EDIT:  It was the 'Sword and the Flame'.  Once I moved house to the rural Waikato I packed away all my armies and I haven't looked at any of them for more than ten years now.

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2 hours ago, Annie said:

I did have a look at Warhammer 40,000, but sorry to say Red most of the players I struck were rude teenage bogons who should have been drowned at birth so I lost all interest in the game.

No offence taken, I know the stereotypes exist for a reason. However, anyone acting like that in our club gets booted out. We do not suffer neckbeards in our Warhammer club. If you want to be a jerk you can GTFO. 

 

31 minutes ago, Annie said:

I agree, the Warhammer Games' backstories seemed to change (and not for the better) each time a new Edition came out.

Why I ignore the lore and just play for the fun of the game. The lore contradicts itself and makes no sense. I just like my Space Marines and building crazy sci-fi stuff, because sometimes I just need a change from my trains for a little while, you know? 

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And back to the trains...........

 

I was going to retire the G15's on my GER & etc layout because I thought I didn't have any work for them, but then I started to seriously do trip working on the Hopewood Tramway in between the regular passenger service schedule and found that these small tram engines were absolutely perfect for the job.  Well...... perfect so long as I remember they aren't exactly powerhouses and that their brakes aren't the best.

 

No.128 heads off with a short log train to Flinders Mill.  Flinders Mill is the name of a town out somewhere beyond the portal at the western end of the tramway.  It seems they have a sawmill there or if they don't it would be fairly daft to be taking big logs all the way there.  One day I'll model the western end of the Hopewood Tramway, but not until I finish the scenic work on the layout as it stands at the moment.

AizLklj.jpg

 

No. 125 heads off in the other direction with a load of lumber to shunt off at Bluebell Sands and where there's also some goods vans to pick up before heading through to the goods yard at Elgar Junction on the GCR-GER joint line.  Please note the MR open wagon.  All the goods yards on the layout have at least one example of the breed.

8I7Dw0d.jpg

 

Goods vans collected and it's onwards to Hopewood on Sea and then onto the line out to Elgar Wood and the junction with the big railway joint line at Elgar Junction.

EZEFC33.jpg

 

A friendly race with the grocer's van.  Not that it really was a race since the maximum speed on this section of the the tramway is only 25 mph and the driver of the van wanted to arrive at Hopewood on Sea without all his teeth having been shaken out of his head.

tDMRovQ.jpg

 

Tramway junction.  The line to the left goes to Elgar Wood and the other line follows Old Mill Lane before making an end on junction with the Windweather Tramway.

CwudEbK.jpg

 

Watched closely by three warehouses overlooking the goods yard at Elgar Junction No. 125 leaves the brake van in a handy siding.  The model I use for the Hopewood Tramway's brake vans is based on a GNR brake van of the 1850's.

6EyKUsw.jpg

 

The six goods vans on the goods shed siding are the ones that No.125 has to collect after leaving its train of wagons in the reception sidings.  No doubt the GCR yardmaster will be demanding to know what idiot put those wagons there, but Hopewood Tramway engines are only allowed to drop off and collect wagons in this yard and nothing more so if there's a handy space that's where wagons will get put unless somebody says they can't.

TuCP14G.jpg

 

Waiting in the loop before running around the train and heading back to the tramway.

ZIy5XY8.jpg

 

And this is the GCR passenger train that No.125 was waiting for.  Once it clears the section No.125 will be heading back home again.

RskM8va.jpg

 

A little later in the day and we find No.125 shunting at Hopewood on Sea.

JYx3qgv.jpg

 

And to round off the snaps here's No.128 returning from Flinders Mill.  The next job for No.128 to do is to collect a consignment of lumber from the sawmill at Elgar Wood and take it through to Great Marsh on the Windweather Loop Line.

uR9oFL4.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Annie
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