Nether Madder and Green Soudley Rly

[Titanius Anglesmith]

21 hours ago, Corbs said:

This os one of the most exciting projects on RMWeb for me. Great work so far.

 

+1, I quite agree

[Martin S-C]

Wolfe Low was a curious mix of light railway, quarry workings and what I took to be circa 1890s LNWR BLT. Again, 7mm scale and just delightful. I was especially taken with the timber stone loading chutes so took several pics as inspiration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly Llangerisech a GWR BLT in 2mm FS which is just incredible. There was a booklet on display showing the brass scratchbuilt locos under construction and from the photos I would have said they were 4mm.

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn't quite beat Pendon's robin, but the 2mm ginger tom comes close.

[RedGemAlchemist]

8 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

Wolfe Low was a curious mix of light railway, quarry workings and what I took to be circa 1890s LNWR BLT. Again, 7mm scale and just delightful. I was especially taken with the timber stone loading chutes so took several pics as inspiration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly Llangerisech a GWR BLT in 2mm FS which is just incredible. There was a booklet on display showing the brass scratchbuilt locos under construction and from the photos I would have said they were 4mm.

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn't quite beat Pendon's robin, but the 2mm ginger tom comes close.

Hmm. Definitely getting inspiration for Alnerwick from this... 

[Nearholmer]

Some very well-executed layouts there, and highly imaginative too in some cases.

 

Fintonagh looks to me to be Clogher Valley trains on Fintona Railway infrastructure (for the most part).

 

Epsom and Ewell know how to pick interesting exhibits, don’t they? A bit like Uckfield Club, which also picks well for its show.

 

Kevin

[Northroader]

There’s a very good thread running on the Fintona model, based on the Clogher Valley,

The same gentleman, David Holman, (61666), has previously made a fine model, Arigna Town, based on the SLNCR. To my mind these two layouts are the best examples of Irish models, 3’ and 5’3” around.

 

Edited May 6, 2019 by Northroader

[Martin S-C]

Thanks for those links I shall hot-foot it over there right now.

[Martin S-C]

Today we had track!

...and a sort of almost a stream. Thingy.

...and a big hole for a turntable to go in.

 

...and some very sexy point & signal levers.

[Annie]

It's all getting very serious now Martin.  If it has track on it they're not layout boards anymore, - they've changed into a model railway (in progress).

[Martin S-C]

A couple more pics of the DCC Concepts Cobalt lever frame which is extendable as far as you need and which we will be using to operate signals and points and interlock them electronically (but not mechanically). DCC Concepts also do a set of scale point rodding, cranks and rollers for their surface mounted motors and I am tempted to use these somewhere just to find how how they look and work.

 

https://www.dccconcepts.com/manual/working-point-rodding-newsletter/

[Northroader]

You’ll need a duster, too.

[Annie]

Now that is a lovely sight.  Very elegant.  The scale point rodding, cranks and rollers sound very interesting, - I'm sure you'll be able to find somewhere to use them Martin.

[Martin S-C]

At first I thought the branch would be the ideal place to use them but then realised the signals on that run will be very primitive to non-existent so nothing to gain there. One station we know we'll have some "space under the boards" issues is Snarling and we'd already thought of hiding a couple of motors under the platforms so this location may be a candidate for experimenting with rodding.

Thing is, if I do use it and it works well and looks good its sods law that I'll want it everywhere...

[Nearholmer]

"At first I thought the branch would be the ideal place to use them but then realised the signals on that run......."

 

Very unusual to operate signals with rodding; they are usually operated by means of wires. Oddly enough though, I think some ancient, primitive signals might have been rod-operated.

 

And, having had a look at the DCC website: you're a better man than me if you can put that lot together and make it work ........it looks soooo fiddly-looking.

 

I've always fancied building a small station with fully working mechanical point and signal operation, but even in 0 scale the mental model is of something fairly coarse (= over-scale), so the idea of doing it to scale and in 4mm/ft is mind boggling.

[uax6]

And even putting together a 1:1 scale lever frame can be fiddly... I've been putting together a 3 lever ground frame for nigh on three years now, I've almost got the locking sorted now!

 

Andy G

Edited May 12, 2019 by uax6

[Martin S-C]

Yes, you're quite right Kevin, my mistake. Having realised I was talking utter tripe again, the branch does seem a good place to try this out. Coggles Causeway has only 3 points all in 3' of each other, Catspaw has 5 all within a space of 4' 6" and Witts End has 6 all within 3' 6". Hm.

Today I had a bit of a hack at the vertical banks of the River Aight at Witts End, chamfering them back to make the stream appear wider and look less manufactured. We'll be building up the banks a bit and hiding the hard edges with water plants and undergrowth.

 

 

Pictures of the Blackwater trestle from the North London Maldon line attached (again) for reference to the bridge that will cross the stream here. I've added a section of the plan that shows the village the stream runs through. I'm hoping this will develop into one of the prettier and more rose-tinted scenes on the layout.

 

 

 

The village of Loose in Kent as well as some Cotswold villages such as Bibury and Lower Slaughter are the inspiration for this. All places I have been fond of for many decades since my youth.

 

 

 

 

 

[Annie]

I do like that bridge Martin.  And the village pictures you've posted are certainly a great source of inspiration.

[Martin S-C]

Its the juxtaposition of small chuckling waterway right through the settlement that gives these places their charm. Certain things like water, fire, forests and snowy scenes have a certain primordial appeal to us and a village bisected by a stream touches something deep inside. Very calming.

[Northroader]

Castle Combe is another good one for that sort of scene.

Edited May 12, 2019 by Northroader

[chuffinghell]

To quote you from a comment you made on my build

 

”Ooh, track! Always a good moment”

 

It’s looking good.....now where’s the green with envy emoji 

[Titanius Anglesmith]

When it comes to real railways I'm not very well travelled, but living in Essex (and my wife being a former Maldonite) has led to the Wickham Bishops trestle bridge as being one of my favourite locations. I can't wait to see your interpretation of it! Just last weekend I was reading that drivers used to whistle on the approach to the bridge, as a warning to the termites to link arms and take the strain! 

 

The whole Maldon branch in fact is full of modelling potential. 

[Martin S-C]

My trestle will have only 3 or 4 sets of legs as its a small gap to be bridged but looking at the timberwork of the original I shall be doing my best to duplicate it.

Today the first train moved under its own power on the NM&GSR so a G&T (type: large) was consumed in celebration this afternoon in glorious sunshine on the patio outside the railway room. Neil used a couple of his own locos (diesels) for the very first test in case he fried anything but after that Wilf had a go and collected the first brake van.
 

 

[corneliuslundie]

I hope the idyllic village you model is not going to be over-run with tourists like certain Cotswold villages I have visited which have streams running through them.

Not least because the cost of the figures will outweigh the cost of the rest of the layout!

Jonathan

[Annie]

Yes a momentous occasion Martin and cause for much celebration.  I bet that G&T tasted very fine indeed.

[Martin S-C]

Ooh, yes, it was delicious. Quite the best I've tasted in a while.

Thinking now about signal boxes/control positions. The layout will have six of these and for full operation will need six people though I will be happy to potter about on my own and could be run fully with only two (very busy) people. I have searched online for images of lever frames and mimic panels but none seems to exactly mirror what I'm after.

Here's a grotty scribble showing what I would like, and a couple of photos of arrangements that come close. I am still mulling over how signal box operators will communicate with each other - I can't and won't abide shouting down the room so there needs to be a visual or audible signal. As the loco digital address will need to be passed on and I can think of only two ways to do that - by voice or by info on a screen - I am thinking headsets with mics are essential so I am still undecided whether we converse casually in regards to the next train that way or use a more railway-like representation of bell codes but using flashing lights, which I saw very well demonstrated at the Ewell show on the Minories layout.

 

The amount of space back-to-front of the whole signal box positions is critical as I don't want to eat into my 3' wide operating well more than is absolutely necessary.

[Corbs]

Do you definitely want the levers to be at the same level as the baseboard, Martin?