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Hi South Tyne

 

I'm still new here and many of you use forum names. I assume the members of long standing know each others real names? It would be good to know the name behind the name.

Oh yes, my own liveries, very much so. This is a big part of the fun. I also plan to paint/letter up some wagons in Madder Valley Railway livery as well as a couple in the Aire Valley and maybe the Craig and Mertonford as well. All nods to the people who've inspired me over the years. There's bound to be a C J Freezer coal wagon, a P Denny tanker wagon, a J Ahern chemists shop... that sort of thing.

The main loco livery will be based on the M&GN yellow ochre because I just think its daringly different for a locomotive livery. I mean... isn't this just so... out there? Bold? I love it.

 

post-34294-0-84486600-1531869593.jpg

I like Stroudley's improved engine green for the same reason. Carriages (the Ratio 4-wheelers) will be varnished teak and I want some coaches in S&DJR deep blue and cream as well, although the Cambrian Railway's cream and green is a pretty livery too. The station buildings main paint theme will be either cream and blue or cream and grass green, I haven't decided yet.

 

post-34294-0-76004600-1531869635_thumb.jpg post-34294-0-95819200-1531869661_thumb.jpg post-34294-0-21981900-1531869690_thumb.jpg

I have four companies to play with - the three independent ones plus the joint company that was formed 18 months ago. I did this just so I could go to town with liveries.

Some wagons I've already been working on.

Great Shafting Railway empty cask wagon for the brewery in the town:

 

post-34294-0-07527900-1531869922_thumb.jpg

Nether Madder & Great Shafting 10 ton van and Provender Wagon:

 

post-34294-0-47062900-1531869960_thumb.jpg post-34294-0-24944600-1531870042_thumb.jpg

Wits End Light Railway iron mink and iron cattle wagon:

 

post-34294-0-40029200-1531870100_thumb.jpg post-34294-0-51324700-1531870150_thumb.jpg

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Well Martin, two whole days ago you explained certain misgivings about opening this thread.  I suspect you've absolutely no misgivings now.  Go for it, Sir; we eagerly await each next development! 

Steve.

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My misgivings are because this is not a personal build, but one I'm doing in conjunction with a company that's building for me / helping me build / I am helping them (whichever percentage of effort that turns out to be!)

 

I wasn't sure that was okay around here, being pretty new to the forums.

 

So far though, you've all been awesome and very encouraging. I feel most welcome here. Some forums are... a little tricky to join shall we say...

Anyhoo, no progress for a bit except for me putting up pics of models I'm working on, I hope that doesn't bore anyone - but say so if endless pics of weathered coal wagons isn't welcome!

 

For now, here's a garage full of crap - and the same one cleared out. Did this a few weeks ago and its amazing how much bigger 24ft x 8ft is when its not full of old junk! Sorry it's not yet pics of exciting things like baseboard designs.

post-34294-0-68437100-1531951101_thumb.jpg

 

post-34294-0-51719900-1531951109_thumb.jpg

 

post-34294-0-71616200-1531951111_thumb.jpg

 

post-34294-0-79299800-1531951121_thumb.jpg

 

post-34294-0-45299000-1531951119_thumb.jpg

Edited by Martin S-C
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Hi South Tyne

 

I'm still new here and many of you use forum names. I assume the members of long standing know each others real names? It would be good to know the name behind the name.

 

Oh yes, my own liveries, very much so. This is a big part of the fun. I also plan to paint/letter up some wagons in Madder Valley Railway livery as well as a couple in the Aire Valley and maybe the Craig and Mertonford as well. All nods to the people who've inspired me over the years. There's bound to be a C J Freezer coal wagon, a P Denny tanker wagon, a J Ahern chemists shop... that sort of thing.

 

The main loco livery will be based on the M&GN yellow ochre because I just think its daringly different for a locomotive livery. I mean... isn't this just so... out there? Bold? I love it.

 

M&GN_4-4-2_ochre_livery_example.jpg

 

I like Stroudley's improved engine green for the same reason. Carriages (the Ratio 4-wheelers) will be varnished teak and I want some coaches in S&DJR deep blue and cream as well, although the Cambrian Railway's cream and green is a pretty livery too. The station buildings main paint theme will be either cream and blue or cream and grass green, I haven't decided yet.

 

35265760_2049255945149875_6691244522417946624_n.jpg Cambrian_Green_Cream_Livery_01.jpg 32920.jpg

 

I have four companies to play with - the three independent ones plus the joint company that was formed 18 months ago. I did this just so I could go to town with liveries.

 

Some wagons I've already been working on.

 

Great Shafting Railway empty cask wagon for the brewery in the town:

 

Dsc00648.jpg

 

Nether Madder & Great Shafting 10 ton van and Provender Wagon:

 

Dsc00603.jpg Dsc00610.jpg

 

Wits End Light Railway iron mink and iron cattle wagon:

 

Dsc00860.jpg Dsc00823.jpg

Hi again Martin.

 

It's David by the way!

 

Fantastic. I also love that M&GN colour, it is so vibrant. One of the advantages and positive points about modelling the pre-grouping era is the variety of colours and liveries - a stark contrast to say the 1940s or '50s.

 

Love your thoughts on the coaching stock and station colours too. It should all make for a great mix. You've already done a great job on the repainting and weathering of your stock. Have you just picked a variety of types of wagon/van from pre-grouping companies and then assumed that your railway (s) have bought them secondhand and applied their own livery/lettering?

 

Lovely stuff, keep the updates coming :)

 

David

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My misgivings are because this is not a personal build, but one I'm doing in conjunction with a company that's building for me / helping me build / I am helping them (whichever percentage of effort that turns out to be!)

 

I wasn't sure that was okay around here, being pretty new to the forums.

 

So far though, you've all been awesome and very encouraging. I feel most welcome here. Some forums are... a little tricky to join shall we say...

 

Anyhoo, no progress for a bit except for me putting up pics of models I'm working on, I hope that doesn't bore anyone - but say so if endless pics of weathered coal wagons isn't welcome!

 

For now, here's a garage full of crap - and the same one cleared out. Did this a few weeks ago and its amazing how much bigger 24ft x 8ft is when its not full of old junk! Sorry it's not yet pics of exciting things like baseboard designs.

 

Dsc00152.jpg

 

Dsc00154.jpg

 

Dsc00155.jpg

 

Dsc00161.jpg

 

Dsc00160.jpg

No new for misgivings at all! 99% of us get 'help' or assistance in aspects of our modelling, whether that is formally such as your example, through the aid of friends, relatives or club colleagues, Jr even in buying kits or rtr items!! Nobody can be expectedto be a master of everything and at the end of the day IT IS YOUR TRAINSET and you should make NO apologies for how you address the build of your layout. A little help in aspects freed you up to go concentrate on the areas of the hobby you enjoy the best :)

 

That looks like such a great space, many of us will be jealous! I cannot wait to see it develop.

 

Please keep posting pictures of your stock!! I got one am fascinated in how you approach the re-livery and re-lettering of former mainline stock. It is something I want to do myself but was unsure how, where and when to start so feel I can learn from those who have been there and done it like yourself :)

 

David

 

PS - the wonderful world of Castle Aching is worth a visit if you haven't already stumbled across it!! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/107713-castle-aching/page-447&do=findComment&comment=3234234

Edited by south_tyne
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Are you sure you have 8ft, not 7ft 6" clear space?   I designed a layout for 24 X 8 and it turned out to be 7ft 6"    Personally I think you have tried to cram too much in, three different levels in places, we have three levels in one place but it looks very crammed in , Only one level is visible at a time except that one end of the shed and two storage levels are hidden.

 

I am intrigued about your locos..  1919 I think the only suitable RTR locos are the Adams Radial and Terrier which were being sold off by LBSCR and LSWR in the late 1890s early 1900s.  The Dean Goods and Midland 3F are too new but I suppose the Hornby GER 0-6-0 could be back dated.   John Ahearn cheated by modelling narrow gauge locos at a larger scale to fit standard gauge tracks which looked right.   My solution will be freelance 0-6-0T,  2-4-0T and 4-4-2T locos with common features like smokebox doors and cabs,  Supposedly built by Dubs or North British loco co and based on old Triang Hornby bodies.    

 

If you want inspiration for a loco works look at the MSWJR. It maintained 20 plus locos in a two road workshop at Cirencester and built coaches and wagons in an adjacent single road shed

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Me back, thinking of me own comfort again. Your garage, with concrete panels and single thickness asbestos (?) (yikes) roof, is going to be damnably cold in winter. Think dew formation, track expansion / contraction, and so on, even before you go in. I’d be thinking what insulation could be done.

Don’t be diffident about making a layout with folks helping you, most folks on here are getting a lot of help from Hornby, Bachmann or whoever, and nothing would ever get done otherwise.

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That type of garage construction is one that is devilish-difficult to make truly damp and draught-proof, and well-insulated.

 

My brother in law has one exactly the same, which he wants to convert for use for his hobby, graphic arts, and I keep looking at it and thinking that it might be easier to junk it and start again. His is rather tatty, but yours is well-maintained, and doesn't look to have the reinforcing 'blowing' due to rust, which will make the decisions harder.

 

My guess would be: new roofing panels; sealing of gaps between concrete panels; new doors and windows; fit a ceiling with insulation above; line with 75mm kingspan; inner skin of plasterboard; upgrade electrical installation.

 

It might be worth you looking at Big Jim's thread, because he is doing a similar conversion on an old brick garage, and has been advised by his local building control people to do it to standards that relate to 'habitable' buildings, which looks to me to be adding costs, and which I can't quite understand from a regulatory viewpoint. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/133641-big-jim’s-garage-conversion-and-layout-thread/page-3

Edited by Nearholmer
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Having seen your pics of the existing garage above, as an ex architect (you're not allowed to call yourself one once you stop paying and maintaining registration), I have to say I agree with the above two posts: prioritise sorting the garage first while you still have your retirement resource.

 

Perhaps the most cost effective way of doing that woulld be to build a classic US 4"x2" timber balloon frame" structure inside the existing with a small (say 30mm) air gap - treating the concrete wall panels as a 'rainscreen' - the face of the frame towards the conc. panels to be lined with a membrane (cf BigJim)

This internal structure could then be tailored with as much insulation as you can spare - to give a usable internal clear width for the layout.

The face of the internal frame could most economically be plasterboard but bespoke with brackets and bearings for the levels of the layout - and storage below.

 

Roof: definitely replace the asbestos cement sheetiing - a simple job over those timber purlins while the weather holds. Then you have a space to erect the interior structure when the rain returns. You can insultate beteen the purlins Big Jim style yet still use the botton tie of the metal roof trusses for ( light) storage .

 

I suggest the key to this is to regard the internal structure, electrics and lighting  and   the layout as a single piece of integrated design thinking (not least with the capacity in a few years time to abstract part to go on tour as an exhibition...)

 

dh

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Hi South Tyne

 

I'm still new here and many of you use forum names. I assume the members of long standing know each others real names? It would be good to know the name behind the name.

 

Oh yes, my own liveries, very much so. This is a big part of the fun. I also plan to paint/letter up some wagons in Madder Valley Railway livery as well as a couple in the Aire Valley and maybe the Craig and Mertonford as well. All nods to the people who've inspired me over the years. There's bound to be a C J Freezer coal wagon, a P Denny tanker wagon, a J Ahern chemists shop... that sort of thing.

 

The main loco livery will be based on the M&GN yellow ochre because I just think its daringly different for a locomotive livery. I mean... isn't this just so... out there? Bold? I love it.

 

attachicon.gifM&GN_4-4-2_ochre_livery_example.jpg

 

I like Stroudley's improved engine green for the same reason. Carriages (the Ratio 4-wheelers) will be varnished teak and I want some coaches in S&DJR deep blue and cream as well, although the Cambrian Railway's cream and green is a pretty livery too. The station buildings main paint theme will be either cream and blue or cream and grass green, I haven't decided yet.

 

attachicon.gif35265760_2049255945149875_6691244522417946624_n.jpg attachicon.gifCambrian_Green_Cream_Livery_01.jpg attachicon.gif32920.jpg

 

I have four companies to play with - the three independent ones plus the joint company that was formed 18 months ago. I did this just so I could go to town with liveries.

 

Some wagons I've already been working on.

 

Great Shafting Railway empty cask wagon for the brewery in the town:

 

attachicon.gifDsc00648.jpg

 

Nether Madder & Great Shafting 10 ton van and Provender Wagon:

 

attachicon.gifDsc00603.jpg attachicon.gifDsc00610.jpg

 

Wits End Light Railway iron mink and iron cattle wagon:

 

attachicon.gifDsc00860.jpg attachicon.gifDsc00823.jpg

 

 

When I was still at school, I wrote a series of short stories based around a fictional village of "Witts End" which features an eccentric light railway. Sadly, the manuscript went missing in one of my many house moves and I had written it in the days before we carried laptop computers around at school. As I recall, most of the stories were written whilst otherwise very bored in Mathematics classes (I always got Distinctions and High Distinctions in mathematics too!)

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Are you sure you have 8ft, not 7ft 6" clear space?   I designed a layout for 24 X 8 and it turned out to be 7ft 6"    Personally I think you have tried to cram too much in, three different levels in places, we have three levels in one place but it looks very crammed in , Only one level is visible at a time except that one end of the shed and two storage levels are hidden.

 

I am intrigued about your locos..  1919 I think the only suitable RTR locos are the Adams Radial and Terrier which were being sold off by LBSCR and LSWR in the late 1890s early 1900s.  The Dean Goods and Midland 3F are too new but I suppose the Hornby GER 0-6-0 could be back dated.   John Ahearn cheated by modelling narrow gauge locos at a larger scale to fit standard gauge tracks which looked right.   My solution will be freelance 0-6-0T,  2-4-0T and 4-4-2T locos with common features like smokebox doors and cabs,  Supposedly built by Dubs or North British loco co and based on old Triang Hornby bodies.    

 

If you want inspiration for a loco works look at the MSWJR. It maintained 20 plus locos in a two road workshop at Cirencester and built coaches and wagons in an adjacent single road shed

Hi David

 

The space is 24ft x 8ft - note however that the plan is 23ft 6ins x 7ft 6 ins ;)

 

Yes, lots of track but I am hopeful I can get enough of a sense of space in places. In some areas such as the industrial parts of the towns I want a sense of claustrophobia with tracks jammed between grimy buildings Wantage Tramway or Welshpool and Llanfair style. At the more rural locations with nothing but fields, hedges and trees and the odd lane, I hope to achieve the feeling of more room than there is.

 

I am using a number of industrial locos as well as some brass kits. I do have an Adams Radial but I suspect it will be too big for the layout. I have nothing bigger than a 4-4-0 tender engine and three 2-4-0s and 2-2-2s as kits. Several Terriers, yes. GW locos are 1363 saddle tank, Metro 2-4-0T, 517 0-4-2T class, 850 class and 633 class 0-6-0Ts. A couple of L&Y Pugs, three Hornby Pecketts, one of the new Hattons Barclays although I know this is a more modern configuration but I am considering modifying the cab to an earlier style. A Taff Vale S Class 0-4-0ST kit which I'm aware is sadly lacking in the chassis department. Dean Goods were an 1880s design and fit well, as do locos like the Wainwright C Class, NER J15, Midland 1F half-cab and so on. There are simply tons of late 1800s and very early 1900s engines available RTR. There's even types from the various loco builders such as the lovely Dubs 2-4-0 and Beyer Peacock 2-4-0 tanks as kits so I think I'll have plenty of options.

 

However, one reason I went for fiction is so that I would not be constrained by such matters. Taking John Ahern as inspiration he had models of narrow gauge and broad gauge engines rescaled to fit his standard gauge line, American cabooses and boxcars and so on. Yet it all works somehow. I am not going to be using any foreign stock nor converting things from other gauges but I do intend to take a relaxed attitude towards what engines and stock I can pretend my company has acquired.

 

Thanks for the point about the M&SWJ works. I had forgotten them. I have David Bartholomew's and Mike Barnsley's excellent 3-volume set on the M&SWJ and will dip into them again to take a closer look at the works.

 

I also imagine my railway will send bigger rebuild jobs away to another company under contract and I have no space for a forge or presses so much of what they operate will be bought new or second hand rather than built at their own works.

 

But, yeah... the short answer is I am going to hand-wave such issues aside. They don't concern me. As long as the rolling stock and locos have the appearance of being at home on the layout, that will do.

 

Northroader Nearholmer and runs as required - Yes, a total refurbishment of the garage is to take place in late August and September. It will be a totally different building when I'm done with it. Heaters and A/C are included in the budget as well as double glazed windows and doors, full timber and plasterboard lining with insulation behind, new false ceiling with insulation and flat LED daylight lighting panels, all new electrics, wooden raised floor, the complete works. I wouldn't countenance spending a single penny on a model railway inside that... thing as it stands now!

 

I would prefer to leave the asbestos sheeting well alone! Removing and disposing of that is going to incur all kinds of extra costs and in fact the garage as it stands is extremely dry and quite well sealed. It has stood since the late 80s. With insulation above a false ceiling and perhaps a resin coat of sealant on top I am hoping to avoid touching the asbestos.

 

I have a professional builder coming for a site visit and to give an estimate on 6th August. He may suggest things as you have and consider it more worthwhile to completely replace the concrete panel structure. We shall see!

 

Thank you for the link to Big Jim's thread, I shall go take a look.

Edited by Martin S-C
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I've taken the plunge to open a layout construction thread though I have some misgivings because this layout will not be built entirely by my own hands. I have contracted one of the professional layout construction companies, the Little Layout Co, to do the build with me. I say "with" because I insist on being involved in all stages of the layout's creation and am most definitely not a person to write a cheque, put my feet up and sit in an armchair while its all done for me.

 

I consider myself a railway modeller in every sense and have been into the hobby since I was five years old when my father bought me and my brother our first second hand Tri-ang railway. However my woodworking skills are somewhat rusty and I have never been that great with electrics and the art of soldering has eluded me all my life.

 

The space I have at my disposal is a 24 foot by 8 foot garage and the amount of railway going into it had me pretty worried in terms of how long it might take and how well I could make it so, having recently retired and enjoying a fairly cosy cash sum, I chose to spend some of it on having the garage professionally converted into a railway room, and having the skills of others on hand to help me with the construction.

 

The scale is 4mm:1 foot and the gauge is 00. I have collected mostly RTR stock but also a good number of kits from all the well-known manufacturers in plastic as well as a few in whitemetal and brass. I have a soft spot for Victorian locos and rolling stock and my choice of setting means I can run a mixture of older vehicles and locos. Control will be DCC and I plan to have sound in all engines.

 

attachicon.gifDsc00266.jpg

 

My great inspiration is the Madder Valley Railway of John Ahern, now restored at Pendon and this concept of the "small empire" layout appeals to me because it lifts a number of constraints that modelling a pure historical prototype would impose. My own railway will be based somewhere near the MVR and have an off-scene connection with it via a set of exchange sidings (aka fiddle yard but within the scenic area). I have a special fondness for the Forest of Dean and so have placed my own fictional railway in that area - or at least somewhere within the triangle bounded by Hereford, Gloucester and Chepstow with the River Severn on its eastern edge.

 

Attached is a layout plan. It is an end-to-end run with two termini and en-route two small through stations. One is a junction to a branch which has two small through stations and a terminus while the other is a junction with a line that falls to the exchange sidings and a connection to the MVR (off scene). There is a colliery at the second through station and I chose to site a single town centrally that forms a back scene to both terminus stations. For each station this is supposed to be a different town and with a height difference I intend and hope this scenic device will work at least tolerably well.

 

attachicon.gifPlan_Nine_30-05-2018.jpg

 

There are several industries served by the railway most of which are inspired by Forest industries such as coal mining, quarrying, brickworks, tinplate works and wood distilling.

 

The time chosen is 1919. I definitely wanted to go pre-grouping to provide the reason for three independent small railway companies to still exist, though by 1923 I expect these three would be absorbed into the Great Western... or possibly the LMS, given we are located towards the mid-Wales marches. As I said, there are three companies represented on the model. The Nether Madder Railway is the biggest and runs from the sizeable town of Nether Madder to the smaller town of Snarling. The Great Shafting Railway runs from the mid-sized town of Great Shafting to the small township of Borrocks which is near the Deep Shafting Colliery. Both lines were constructed in the 1880s after the broad gauge had lost its dominance. These two railways were then connected by a line, jointly built and funded that ran from Snarling to Borrocks. From Borrocks a junction line had already been laid to connect to the Madder Valley Railway, making an end-on connection at Gammon Magna on John Ahern's model (off scene). A branch railway, the Wits End Light Railway was also promoted and independently built from a junction at Snarling on the NMR, running about five miles through the hamlets of Coggles Causeway and Piddling Parva to the village of Wits End. Among the promoters of this line were the owners of two significant local industries, the limestone quarry of Sir Charles Dadford and a wood distillation works owned by Thomas and James Sylliborne that processed cordwood from Crown land. Railway traffic to these two concerns is sufficient to make the WELR a viable concern. There are also race meetings and hunts held on the estate of Sir Charles at Wits End Grange which involves horse box specials along the branch on several occasions during the season.

 

At Nether Madder is a modest locomotive works and carriage and wagon shops, with carriage sheds and stock storage roads. There is also a timber merchants in the town as well as the wagon repair works of one George Cradduck & Sons. At Snarling Junction is a dairy, Pontefract's Creamery, and a flour mill astride the Little Madder River. At Borrocks is a small brickworks and ceramics works owned and operated, appropriately, by Frederick Potter.

 

The town of Great Shafting is a hive of industry with a brewery, grease works and tinplate works all adjoining the Wye and Madderport Canal which waterway continues to carry freight to some of the more isolated industries of the region. Those who know the Madder Valley model will see that I've simply stolen the track plan of Madderport station for Great Shafting and replaced John Ahern's harbour and River Madder backdrop with the canal. I did this because... well, its just a great track plan put into an even greater scenic setting.

 

During the Great War, under the pressures of operating at an elevated level, the three railway companies merged into a joint company in early 1918, the Nether Madder and Great Shafting Railway. However war time pressures mean that the NMGSR still runs many pieces of rolling stock and locomotives bearing the liveries of their former owners. It is now 18 months later and the high summer of 1919. Peace has returned, the men have come home from the war and many industries are working at maximum output to provide raw materials and manufactured products for a reviving economy.

 

There is a turning triangle at Nether Madder and a 50 foot turntable at the MVR exchange sidings so small tender engines may be run, though Great Shafting lacks turning facilities meaning that tender engines must travel tender first to Borrocks, then make a reversal down the Exchange Line in order to be turned and retrace their route to Great Shafting. There is absolutely no reason at all to do this other than it lets me run lots of light engine workings.

 

Work on the garage conversion has yet to begin but a site survey will be made on 6th August and I hope that building work can begin asap after that. Construction of the baseboards will commence in October. In the meantime I've been collecting stock, building kits, painting stuff and doing a lot of weathering. I'll be showcasing my attempts at kit-building and weathering on here until the real work commences.

 

attachicon.gifDsc00836.jpg

 

How wonderful.  I love the idea of this line.  I like the Madder Valley tie-in, as that layout remains a great inspiration for many of us, and I like the idea of a complete system. 

 

Will you model in a way similar to Ahern?  I love his card and paper buildings; it's painting in water colour rather than oils, perhaps, but it's incredibly subtle and effective, even all these years on.

 

Planning a believable freelance railway takes as much, if not more, research than following a prototype, and you offer a fascinating glimpse into the world of your imagination.  Like Madder Valley, you seem to approach it with a healthy does of whimsy, which I very much like.

 

The 'busy' track plan with multiple stations put me in mind of my own Isle of Eldernell & Mereport Railway scheme, a small tank engine operated line that started in the late 1860s with little 2-4-0Ts (sharp Stewart, Cambrian style) and 4-Wheel Oldburys (IoW style) in their distinctive French Blue livery in a sort of "Madder Fen" setting. Later, larger tanks and longer 4-wheel coaches were used on the line's 1880s 'Mereport Extension', clearly inspired by Madderport.  I mention this, because a history, including a date at which your railway was first built and a believable evolution from then to the point of time your layout represents, is a great way to build-in verisimilitude. 

 

I like the "system" layout, which is rarely seen these days.  Rather than house King's Cross, York and Edinburgh in a shed, you revitalise the concept with a freelance light railway, and I think that is a very good use of the concept.  Despite the lack of big mainline features in a small space, the busy plan and the ratio of trackage to scenery is very much old school C J Freezer.  Operationally I expect it will be spectacular.

 

In my case I wanted the system to be self-contained, and to obviate any need for an off-stage connection, in my case the line was physically isolated from the national network.  Here I see an end on connection with the MVR. That introduces external traffic, which would add considerable variety, and the choice of the MVR is intriguing.  Might we see the odd through service from the MVR on your layout? Some of the locomotives and stock created by Ahern would be fun to recreate, especially the re-scaled Broad and Narrow Gauge items!

 

Where was the MVR's connection to the national network?  There was goods stock from non-MVR mainline companies on Ahern's layout, and, your layout is in the pool/common-user era, so by rights you should give and receive plenty of common user stock from real pre-Grouping companies, which will make a nice mix. I see that the PO wagons indeed come from 'elsewhere', presumably via the MVR?

 

I really like the work on the PO wagons and look forward to seeing what else you produce.

 

Great idea - stick at it.

 

EDIT: On to page two I see an Oldbury and some more beautifully built stock. 

 

Oh, and a J Ahern chemist's shop: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/107713-castle-aching/?p=2743585 !  Presumably he had a chain.

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Edited by Edwardian
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Northroader Nearholmer and runs as required -

(Where’s he been til now?)

Hi Martin, if you like names, it’s Bob, Kevin, and Dave, our main function on the web is looking after wossisname.

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Hi South Tyne

 

I'm still new here and many of you use forum names. I assume the members of long standing know each others real names? It would be good to know the name behind the name.

 

Oh yes, my own liveries, very much so. This is a big part of the fun. I also plan to paint/letter up some wagons in Madder Valley Railway livery as well as a couple in the Aire Valley and maybe the Craig and Mertonford as well. All nods to the people who've inspired me over the years. There's bound to be a C J Freezer coal wagon, a P Denny tanker wagon, a J Ahern chemists shop... that sort of thing.

This is a most interesting project which I shall be watching with interest.  Just be advised that if any Craig and Mertonford standard gauge wagons do end up on your line make sure you return it promptly or you will hear from Lord Craigi.e. he will be demanding cash!!

Yes there was at least one Craig and Mertonford standard gauge wagon, photo attached.

Malcolm 

 

29643476068_db3c947352_c.jpg

Edited by dunwurken
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I am very pleased to meet you all.

Edwardian - I am very flattered by your comments. I have been lurking on your Castle Aching thread for a while, long before I registered on the forums and your style of thinking and modelling ethics (to use a couple of pompous phrases) agree with my own completely. I feel a little embarrassed that you are here in your magnificent silk topper while I can only muster my Ecky-Thump cap.

The plan of the Eldernell and Mereport Railway is wonderful. I got quite lost trying to work out all the possible routes. I do like the idea of small turntables at platform ends, a very in-period feature.

Perhaps Mr Ahern had a brother, James, who set up his chemists shop near Nether Madder. Perhaps it was a family business. We should swap notes and make sure our line's histories do not trip the other up!

I had assumed the MVR connected to the rest of the national railway network because there were other companies stock on the line, though none was depicted on the model. The only possible place was where the track was hidden in the Madderhorn Tunnel. A junction underground is pretty unusual but given how unusual the MVR was, its possible. Alternatively perhaps the foreign wagons were brought to Madderport by train ferry, USA style?

I haven't yet spent much time on thinking of a history for my line. I did mention above the 1880s but considering the history of the Forest and how long industries there were served by horse-drawn tramroads, its quite likely the railway network grew from a pre-existing horse-drawn system. Some of these are known to date from the late 1600s. The Wye and Madderport Canal, too, would have been an older transport network endeavour, probably from the 1790s to 1810s era. I obviously need to get properly into the mood of things and think more about a real background story.

I shall model in contemporary style and materials rather than follow the original, or at least try the best I can. To try a facsimile of John Ahern's style would be extremely hard I think and the charm of his modelling is probably something we should enjoy rather than emulate.

On the whimsical issue, yes. I am really not a serious person at all and have always wanted to introduce light-hearted asides into my modelling. Its all about the escapism, isn't it? To shut ourselves off in our own miniature worlds and set aside the worries of the real world. I find that so much easier if I'm in a fictional world rather than my best attempt to reproduce a small slice of a prototype, any prototype.

 

I agree with you, the system layout is very out of fashion. I like the older name "small empire", but I have had very positive reactions to it, not just here but elsewhere among my friends. It seems there's a lot of interest in this layout format but few who want to invest in the construction - maybe the space they require is one issue. Most people with 20+ feet of room available immediately think of main line running which is understandable. The "watching trains go by" format of layout has really taken off in the last, what...? 20 years or so? Maybe also doing a fictional line is seen these day by the purists as some sort of cop-out or an admission of lack of skills or knowledge of the real thing? I am not sure of the reasons.

I confess I find main line working rather dull. Its just a sequence of trains rumbling past which to me after a while gets repetitive and even boring. I know they are popular and each to his own but they are not for me. I am a shunter at heart and am quite content with a tank engine, a half-dozen wagons, three or four sidings and a couple of glasses of wine. I'll be happy with that for a whole evening.

I did mention an end-on connection to the MVR via Gammon Magna, converting this from a terminus into a through station - very presumptuous of me but had John Ahern not passed away when he did, perhaps he would have extended the railway further. Yes, I do intend to include a lot of pre-grouping stock. I love freight wagons and pre-grouping ones are the most interesting, both in terms of liveries and how they looked.

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Regarding locos, around the time of WW1, the Wirral Railway bought 2-4-2T locos from the LNWR and one from the L&YR (a model of which is made by Bachmann).

The Wirral, though not a light railway, did share a similar early history to the Bishops Castle Railway in that half the railway was seized by creditors!

Edited by flyingsignalman
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Hello Malcolm

 

Wow, I had simply no idea that some of P D Hancock's models were still with us. That van image is very useful. I shall try to build a copy and promise that proper demurrage rates are paid while it is on the NM&GSR metals.

I had found these images online and while they are of NG wagons I was planning to make up a standard gauge version.

 

post-34294-0-82718200-1532032031.jpg post-34294-0-53819500-1532032032.jpg

I'd like to model one or two Aire Valley wagons as well.

Edited by Martin S-C
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Planning a believable freelance railway takes as much, if not more, research than following a prototype, and you offer a fascinating glimpse into the world of your imagination. Like Madder Valley, you seem to approach it with a healthy does of whimsy, which I very much like.

 

.

Completely agree with that, it takes more research and planning and often greater consideration of history (or rather alternative history!)

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Hello Malcolm

 

Wow, I had simply no idea that some of P D Hancock's models were still with us. That van image is very useful. I shall try to build a copy and promise that proper demurrage rates are paid while it is on the NM&GSR metals.

 

I had found these images online and while they are of NG wagons I was planning to make up a standard gauge version.

 

Craig and Mertonford No1.jpg Craig and Mertonford Open.jpg

 

I'd like to model one or two Aire Valley wagons as well.

Those C&M narrow gauge wagons are photographed on Ted Polet's 009 layout if I am not mistaken. Actually very apt because his system is very much a modern day classic and a great example of an evolving system-type layout.

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The C&DR is probably one of the great 'current' system layouts, double deck operation, round all sides of the room, partially exibitable, and continues to develop.

http://www.009dutch.nl/cdr/main/eframe.htm

Agreed - Ted is a great fella as well! I've met him OK a number of occasions and he is so approachable and willing to give of his time. He has brought parts of the layout across to exhibtions over to the UK and it is always a bit to see. The constantly evolving and changing system is in the full spirit of those early pioneers.

 

David

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Hi Martin

 

As others have pointed out the photographs of the CMR wagon and 'Angus' were taken on Ted Polet's layout.  The wagon was a gift to Ted from PDH however 'Angus' is now in the care of the 009 Society.   Ted's wagon is one of those converted from a 'MOKO' wagon and three others survive, one with the 009 Society and two in the Edinburgh & Lothians MRC's P D Hancock Collection.   The MOKO wagons can now and then be found on e-bay.

 

Much of what survives of Craigshire is now in the E&LMRC's PDH Collection.   I am the current custodian of the Collection which resides with me in East Lothian [the county west of Craigshire].   Further details can be found in the April 2015 Railway Modeller or feel free to contact me direct.   Some photographs are on the internet and may be found here: -

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/112904466287746079405?source=pwa  

 

If you should decide to build a shop on your layout where P D Hancock is the proprietor might I suggest a bookshop or an outside clothing and equipment store.  PD was a librarian at Edinburgh University and contrary to popular belief his his first love was not model railways but hill walking and rambling.

 

Malcolm

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