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


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It should be TS2012 compatible Linny since all Ed's recent engines are.  Everyone is wondering at the moment how much longer Auran/N3V are going to keep accepting TS2012 model uploads to the DLS.

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I had a friend, now sadly deceased, who built the most exquisite M&SWJR locomotives in 'S' Scale.  He built a beautiful model of 'Galloping Alice' too, but unfortunately it ended up being badly damaged in a careless accident through being hooked up in somebody's coat and being flung to the floor.  He never built another M&SWJR locomotive after that happened.

So in a sense this new digital 'Galloping Alice' model will be a bittersweet occasion for me since my friend died far too young.

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On another note............

 

I found an interesting layout on the DLS.   <KUID:876170:100201>

 

Quote

Description:
What if the M&GN had not been closed in 1959?  (Nice idea I like.)

Main route is Melton Constable to South Lynn, with stations and yards recreated using the original CME notes from about 1910 - but set in a non-specific era, with communities and fields set from the 1947 aerial photography.  (Sounds good so far)


Additional features (not so detailed or correct, but close enough to work): (His tracklaying wasn't quite a crime against God, Church and Man, but it was pretty terrible.  All fixable though)

M&GN - South Lynn to Long Sutton (complete, with portal for Peterborough line). No data for yards, so relies heavily on the 1947 photography.  (South Lynn and this part of the M&GN deleted due to severe BR Blue infestation)

GER King's Lynn to Hunstanton (complete)  (Inexplicably Kings Lynn was all BR Blue Dismal era and horribly horribly modern despite the M&GNR parts being circa 1930s so I deleted those boards.  It was utterly utterly awful so count this as a justifiable mercy killing)  (The rest of the GER line to Hunstanton was nice and became more nice once all the BR signboards and nasty modern additions were killed off).


King's Lynn harbour line (complete). (Deleted, see above)
King's Lynn docks (complete).  (Deleted, see above)

L&FR main line towards King's Lynn (as far as GER line). (Nice)
M&GN Norwich branch (spur to portal only) (All good)
M&GN Yarmouth main line (spur to portal only) (All good)
M&GN Cromer branch (spur for stabling DMU only)  (DMU  model instantly deleted!)
GER Dereham branch (to Middleton, with portal). (All good)
GER Main line to Magdalen Rd (with portals for Wisbech and London services) (Deleted, see above)
GER / Norfolk Orbital Railway at Fakenham - set for automatic operation. No access from other lines.  (A bit strange, but kept.)
GER Heachan - Wells, spur only. (No portal either which was odd)

 

So basically what I have is this.

 

titY4yV.jpg

 

Though it's a little odd because it's laid out on a long narrow set of boards with the M&GN line and the GER line to Hunstanton running parallel to each other.  There is quite a bit of scenic separation between them though so it's not blindingly obvious.  Overall though the M&GN section is well done.  Quite a lot of M&GN railway buildings have recently become available and these were used on this layout to good effect.  The GER side is still suffering from a slight BR Blue infestation and the Holy Inquisition is hard at work rooting out the last of it.

 

Overall though I think the layout is useable.  The builder used an awful lot of spline tree and vegetation models to create the landscape which is something I don't like since they always look wrong and fake like painted cardboard stage sets.  Splines also tend to be memory hungry.  But I can replace those with proper vegetation models though.  The layout builder also knew not a thing about blending ground textures, but again I can fix that; - it's just a bit tedious.

 

More than likely I'll end up attaching it to my present GER layout with the missing Kings Lynn bit a fiddle yard area hidden by scenery.  Gradually it will be scenically converted to match my own methods, but what is there and useable tips the balance towards it being a worthwhile option for me.

Edited by Annie
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Since I began casting my eye about for a suitable freelance livery for my locos and chanced upon the beautiful M&GN ochre yellow I have begun to investigate more of that company's history and it too was an interesting amalgamation of smaller concerns, very much up my street. I've collected several books about the company and need a nice long weekend away from the 'puter to have a read by a crackling log fire. Maybe I should find an inn in Kings Lynn or somewhere in the region and gift myself a weekend away.

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It is certainly a fine looking livery Martin.  Having got myself a largely M&GNR layout I actually don't know that much about the M&GNR at all so I guess I've got some reading to do.

Hardly anything at all is available for the M&GNR in Trainz so I did a shocking forgery.

 

3q3FcvW.jpg

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On 17/02/2019 at 04:14, Annie said:

On another note............

 

I found an interesting layout on the DLS.   <KUID:876170:100201>

 

 

So basically what I have is this.

 

titY4yV.jpg

 

Though it's a little odd because it's laid out on a long narrow set of boards with the M&GN line and the GER line to Hunstanton running parallel to each other.  There is quite a bit of scenic separation between them though so it's not blindingly obvious.  Overall though the M&GN section is well done.  Quite a lot of M&GN railway buildings have recently become available and these were used on this layout to good effect.  The GER side is still suffering from a slight BR Blue infestation and the Holy Inquisition is hard at work rooting out the last of it.

 

Overall though I think the layout is useable.  The builder used an awful lot of spline tree and vegetation models to create the landscape which is something I don't like since they always look wrong and fake like painted cardboard stage sets.  Splines also tend to be memory hungry.  But I can replace those with proper vegetation models though.  The layout builder also knew not a thing about blending ground textures, but again I can fix that; - it's just a bit tedious.

 

More than likely I'll end up attaching it to my present GER layout with the missing Kings Lynn bit a fiddle yard area hidden by scenery.  Gradually it will be scenically converted to match my own methods, but what is there and useable tips the balance towards it being a worthwhile option for me.

 

I look forward to seeing this, but, crikey, Annie, you realise that your new layout includes the intersections of both the GE and the MGN with the WNR?

 

The former is just south of Wolferton and the latter just west of Massingham.  

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Wow, - a small world this Norfolk railways business isn't it James  :D

 

Work is continuing so the layout will be in an essentially fit state to be joined on to what I have already.  It's not easy though as a lot of the double track was done with a horrible concrete sleepered track model of the kind that mounts both tracks side by side on a mesh spline.  The only way to change this is painstakingly section by section.

As a replacement I'm using the double track I put together especially for relaying the double track mainline on my own GCR-GER layout.  As you can see in the picture this is a whole lot nicer.

 

JjZ7Km0.jpg

 

Otherwise various dreadful nests of modernity besmirching the peaceful countryside have been flung into the void where they belong.  Be vigilant, - worshippers of the foul Double Arrow of the Lost are everywhere and their works must not be permitted to survive and endure lest the faithful be corrupted.

 

On a happier note I'm thinking about repainting a couple of Sharp Stewart tank engines I have into a semblance of the M&GNR golden gorse livery.  Certainly not correct, but they should at least look the part.

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Another forgery.  Like the reskinned NSR 2-4-0 this old Paulz Trainz 'Sharpie' can't be lettered so it will have to make do with a M&GNR crest.  It more or less looks the part and is better than nothing.  I have a Johnson GNoSR 4-4-0 tender engine, but being a much more recent digital model reskinning that will be a big job.

 

C7bJOyk.jpg

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It's in the morning sunlight Martin and that's the east side.   I know exactly what you're saying though about getting the colour right because I had about four goes at it before I felt like I was somewhere close.  I might darken it slightly more, but only very slightly.  It's very hard to find a clear reference as to the colour and everybody seems to have their own ideas about it.

 

The cardboard cutout vegetation is painfully evident in this screenshot.  It's strange because this layout is like one made back in 2006, but it was  actually made for TS2012 in October last year.  My 'litho' GNR coaches got dusted off for a run.  I should do a bit of an update with them as Trainz folk seem to like them despite them being a bit tinplate like.

 

 OuvzXVI.jpg

 

All the track I laid today and the signalling I set in place tested out Ok.  Still a whole lot more of that horrible concrete sleepered track to go yet though.  The layout's builder also plainly knew not a thing about signals or what even the various types were for because how he had them was completely daft and totally unworkable.

 

rPN29K0.jpg

 

The same colour was used on the 2-4-0 so the light does have a lot to do with how it looks on a locomotive.

 

Zf3mYHb.jpg

Edited by Annie
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My joy knows no bounds.  Very soon to be uploaded to the DLS and I can't wait.  The 9F was the general maid of all work on the GCR and up until now it's only been available in the plain black livery of the later GCR era.

 

nGrg5kj.jpg

 

o8yVz4I.jpg

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17 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

Its erm... a little bright!

Plenty of variation due to differing views and of course different light conditions.

 

10941305_MGN_4-4-2_ochre_livery_example.jpg.b495c3d876fd14d22a2f2056f26e55d9.jpg

 

2139602604_MGNJR_No.42_former_LNWR_2-4-0_by_Alexander_Allan_built_Crewe_1850s.jpg.96f3922e9527e8464b4c5eb6f9b41edd.jpg

 

1605757060_MidlandandGreatNorthernRailwayClassD2F0-6-0tenderlocoNo_59.jpg.58ce0172644c08cc2040e07ec51610ea.jpg

 

ochre_livery_example_05.jpg.1c01097d3250e4bdbdf80875f9bb8f74.jpg

 

ochre_livery_example_06.jpg.89cad62d774b5bcf3b87b072deb7c4fd.jpg

 

Although I tend to use the romantic term "golden gorse", the same colour has been referred to by many names, some surprising and mutually inconsistent, and none official:

 

Hydrate of iron

 

Quaker green

 

improved willow green

 

autumn leaf

 

golden ochre

 

light yellow brown

 

yellow ochre

 

standard yellow

 

Essery prefers "light brown" as the most accurately descriptive of a shade achieved by two coats of yellow ochre over a lead grey undercoat glazed with a top coat of raw sienna and three coats of varnish.  .

 

Of the various interpretations pictured above, I find the colour of the Johnson 0-6-0 the most persuasive.

 

Here is Hamilton Ellis's take:

 

 

 

 

Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway 4–4–0 Locomotive No.5.jpg

Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway 4–4–0 Locomotive No.34.jpg

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Just as well I held off doing any more colour adjustments then.  Thanks all for input to the question of just what colour a  M&GNR locomotive is painted.  I'll give the shade of colour on the Johnston 0-6-0 a try and report back.

 

'Galloping Alice' is now available on the DLS for TS2012.  Available in red as well as wartime green livery as well as the black livery.

Posed by the gasworks on the land of the cardboard trees; - though the cardboard tree spines are all gone now because I bulk replaced them with ordinary hedges using the landscape editing tools.

  

kMCc5em.jpg

 

Edited by Annie
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"In the Land of Cardboard Trees" sounds like a song title from one of those hippy English folk-rock bands from the late 60s. Caravan maybe, or even the Beatles in their Sgt Pepper phase.

I like both locos very much and the GC coaches are great too.

Edited by Martin S-C
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34 minutes ago, Martin S-C said:

"In the Land of Cardboard Trees" sounds like a song title from one of those hippy English folk-rock bands from the late 60s. Caravan maybe, or even the Beatles in their Sgt Pepper phase.

I like both locos very much and the GC coaches are great too.

 

Would. should, such a place feature a paper moon?

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From Dreamwalker Wagon Works (me) a new M&SWJR 5 plank wagon.  Ed Heaps has made a couple of his own goods wagons to go with his new 'Galloping Alice' model and he says he's going to be doing a brake van very soon.

 

AFOEkYe.jpg

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Hamilton Ellis 'golden gorse' on test.  It certainly is a tricky colour to get right.

cuFaXdS.jpg

 

Repainted 'Hamilton Ellis' M&GNR 'Sharpie' heading off to do some track testing.  I've done two 2-4-2T 'Sharpies' in M&GNR livery and I may do a couple of 0-6-2T 'Sharpies' as well.  Along with the two 2-4-0T disguised NSR engines I think that will probably do for running the line.  With their large driving wheels these 2-4-2T 'Sharpies' have quite a brisk turn of speed.

lSjluBl.jpg

 

Station stop at Thursford.  I made these GNR coaches over a year ago and I based them on 'O' Gauge Marklin GNR tinplate coaches from the pre WW1 period (except for the 1st class coach where I got a bit more finescalish) .  I cannot believe that after all this time that my GNR coaches are still the only freeware GNR coaches available for Trainz.

gUvyIJN.jpg

 

 

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The blue 'Sharpies' from my old Grand Navigation Joint Railway are presently the subject of experiments.  The four wheeled bogie I'm using as a test item is a not particularly good model and its only virtue is that it's the right size and will be definitely replaced once I find something better.  I had to reposition the front bogie attachment point on the body mesh a bit and then script the bogie so it will pivot and to my complete surprise it worked.  Once I have all the mods and adjustments done to my satisfaction I'll clone No.5 and the new 4-4-2T 'Sharpie' will be painted in M&GNR livery. 

 

DpFMqZK.jpg

 

The trackwork I've replaced and realigned is all pretty good so after some tests around Melton Constable yard to check the new bogie was tracking properly I sent No.5 out with a train to where the trackwork is still horrible.  And all was good.  The awful original trackwork didn't upset it one bit.

 

Fw2G985.jpg

 

And sometimes while out doing track tests it doesn't hurt to have a bit of comfort on the way courtesy of a Midland Railway 1st class compartment.

 

OGLFCMl.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I've been playing trains on the M&GNR layout.  I've got it to the stage where the signalling all works properly now and the worst of the scenic horrors have been banished.  The trackwork still has some awful rough patches in places, but we're gradually working through the 'fixit' list.

This layout is the first I've ever downloaded where the portals that represent the rest of the railway 'off stage' have been set up to generate trains which are scripted to go to a particular destination.  I only discovered this when I heard a distant whistle and a train that wasn't one of mine chuffed into view.  They didn't go very far though because with me deleting the Kings Lynn section of the layout the portal generated 'robot' trains would reach the part of their instructions where they had to go to somewhere that no longer existed and then they'd stop and sulk.

 

The other thing they would do is derail a lot.  'Robot' trains run at the speed limit for a line of railway whether this is safe or appropriate or not.  The speed limits were set too high and combine that with dodgy track the inevitable would happen.  The line has a lot of tightly sweeping curves as well and running over those at 60+ mph is also going to invite disaster as well as toss passengers from one side of a coach to the other.  I am working on the speed limits for the line and have dropped the maximum permitted speed down to 40 mph, but now it's doing all the speed restrictions for all those tightly sweeping curves.

 

Intrigued by the portal train generators I've set them up to produce pre-grouping appropriate M&GNR trains.  Some of the choices the layout builder had made were very strange, - and and .... there was even a diesel dismal...... (delete delete delete........).

I am getting the hang of setting it all up.  For a short while Norwich was enjoying a stunningly splendid train service with trains almost every 15 minutes and the people of Cromer were crying out, 'Please, no more coal!' - so it's all very much about getting the timing right.  The other thing is the Trainz AI is supposed to select randomly from the list of trains loaded into the portal, but in actual fact it mostly sends the first one at the top of the list.  This is a bit annoying, but can be managed by not giving the AI too many choices.

 

This section of the M&GNR had a lot of ungated crossings so there are whistle boards everywhere along the line.  An engine's whistle sound carries a long way so well before you hear it approaching or see a distant plume of smoke you'll hear a series of whistles gradually getting getting louder in volume.  It's getting so that I can tell where the approaching train is by the time between whistle blasts.  Since my engines have different whistles I can tell which one it is as well. (Yes I know I'm a steam engine whistle fangirl.....)

 

Even though my faux 2-4-0T M&GN engines aren't really like anything the M&GNR ever owned they are wonderfully cheerful and it always makes me smile to see them bustling along very self importantly with a passenger train.  They do the lighter and less demanding passenger trains leaving the heavy lifting to the 'Sharpies'.  I set the 2-4-2T, - and soon to be 4-4-2T, - 'Sharpies' up to use the engine spec intended for a LMS Fowler 2P which seems to suit them very well.  They aren't overpowered, but sensibly useful with seven of my GNR bogie coaches being about the most they should couple up to.

 

Brfcj7l.jpg

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I've just realised that it's Saturday evening here; - when did that happen?   I've gone and lost a day again.  &%$!@ narcolepsy.

 

Just as well I've got a nice picture to cheer me up.

 

7MGyaWf.jpg

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