Nellie's New Railway - A 1963 BLT

[hayfield]

I have at least one shoe box full of coaches ranging from kits, part built and built, most without either bogies or underframes. I guess they were sold at a time of austerity, when both money and space were scarce.

 

I have sold quite a few of the Jamieson/ Eames locos I had collected, though still have a few left. On my desk 

 

I have a lovely little brass Jinty without a chassis and a SR E2 again chassisless (nicely made but not as detailed). Both would be easy to finish once a chassis is decided on, The E2 will need the hole enlarging with a slitting disc

I do have some old chassis which could be adapted to fit whilst being from a similar era. This one is perhaps the worst and needs 18mm wheels (which I have). I also have an old hard brass coloured cast one along with an early cast Wills chassis, all 3 could easily be made to fit. On the other hand (like an Eames M7 I have) I could easily put an etched brass EM chassis under it for my main layout

 

Trouble is like everyone I have too many other things going on.  

[Nearholmer]

Having had a typically very busy weekend, followed by a few days of 'circumstances', I've again not had the time to do anything truly useful to the layout, but my selling/buying/swapping efforts have borne fruit, and I'm still well on the positive side financially and, really crucially, cupboard-space-wise.

 

Incomers today are two Wrenn locos, the EE350hp shunter and the EE1000hp Bo-Bo, plus a spare HD chassis for the R1, and a few wagons (naturally, the unlikely yellow ones first!).

 

 

The Wrenn locos are strictly out of period, but these two locos HD made a bit of a hash of in 2-rail form (apparently the 3-rail ones are fine), and Wrenn swiftly re-engineered the current collection to make them more reliable, and I didn't want annoyingly temperamental locos. Both were dry as bones, with only the slightest signs of being used, so I think they have lain in boxes for 40+ years, as Nellie did. Both responded well to a tiny drop of oil, but they aren't quite as good as the R1, being quieter, but slightly higher-geared. I had forgotten how high-geared even good r-t-r models were "back then" - I bought a Wrenn EE350hp in the mid-70s, and then I perceived it to be acceptably slow.

 

There are two more HD locos that will fit the theme, the 2-6-4T and the 0-6-2T, at which point I must call a firm halt, otherwise I will become an HD collector, which is not supposed to be what is happening here. 

 

There is a strong probability that I will go back to an earlier idea for the layout, and install a high-level "passenger shuttle" line on embankment/viaducts as the view-block along the back, rather than trees, and make the lower part purely goods, which will move things at least as far in as the suburbs ........ a sort of Staines locale maybe, inspired by the SR and GWR lines crossing over one another. There were two grim concrete halts on the GWR line that looked as if they were made by HD on a bad day, so one of those stuck on top of an embankment might do nicely.

 

(The sad news, for those who made pleas in mitigation, is that the Eggerbahn Koppels have gone to new homes ....... they paid for the Wrenn locos.)

Edited February 12, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Bogie]

On 08/02/2020 at 20:39, St Enodoc said:

The one on the box looks like the old clockwork shunter:

 

http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/clock040Black.htm

 

That was my first train set.  I nearly choked up when I saw that.  My great uncle played with me on the Boxing Day after Santa gave me that set.  He is long dead but he was a lovely fellow.  He was a very large man (obesity was not a term in those days) and yet he got down on the floor with me and he just sounded so knowledgeable about trains.

 

I still have the passenger coach (somewhere in the attic).

[Annie]

I owned one of those EE350hp shunters for a while in my early twenties and was very impressed by it.  As you say Kevin it seemed to be such a lovely slow runner at the time, but of course as progress has moved on with RTR I now know it wasn't really.  Being a steam girl at heart I swapped it for something else at the model railway club I belonged to back then.  Most probably for a couple of  Triang 'Jinties' for me to saw up to make yet more Midland tank engines for my fledgling Midland branchline.

[Nearholmer]

Two of the wagons that came today got omitted in the previous photo, and I must show them, because they started a massive nostalgia-rush.

 

I had one of these in the 1960s, and always rather liked it, because I thought (still do) that it was a lot better than Triang. One day, my youngest bro rigged-up some sort of high-speed loading system, with a long ramp, which shot Matchbox cars into wagons at tremendous speed, the impact pushing the train forward to the next empty wagon (Ingenious, eh? No wonder he went on to design production lines).

 

Most of the wagons were robust metal, but when it came to this wagon’s turn, the car went clean through, taking the end of the wagon with it! Large jagged hole!

 

 

 

 

[Northroader]

Noooooo....

[Nearholmer]

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the shunting yard .......

 

The Return of King Koppel!

 

(or, to put it another way, I’m keeping the one I can see, while letting-go the ones I couldn’t)

 

 

[St Enodoc]

On 08/02/2020 at 21:13, Andy Kirkham said:

 

From what I can see, the loco on the box illustration looks somewhat different from the model inside. How close is the resemblance?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Hornby-TRIANG-Tank-Steam-LOCOMOTIVE-CLOCKWORK-Mechanism-WORKING-Britain/303483452632?hash=item46a905fcd8:g:EEEAAOSwngJeQua-

[hayfield]

Going down memory lane, a cast loco of the era, forget the maker but is a cast loco from the 50's/60's 

 

 

Mine as you can see is a 3 rail version, think it has Eames wheels, would be an easy conversion to 2 rail

[Nearholmer]

Nearly Thursday already, and the first time this week I've had any time to think about the 1963 BLT (was Nellibahn).

 

I was beginning to lose the plot a bit with it, having acquired too many exotic HD goods wagons too quickly, so have done what is usually a good idea in that circumstance: taken things out, rather than put more in. Shortened one of the sidings.

 

Moved the dairy so that it becomes the 'exit stage left' view-block, with tall chimbley acting as punctuation. It looks a bit like a cardboard power station currently, but that is only to get a feel for necessary size.

 

First time I've tried the 'pano' function on the 'phone camera, so please understand that the layout isn't really banana-form.

 

 

The very short road will be a dock behind the platform, probably with a small lock-up goods shed, and the road with two open wagons will be for the coal traffic. That's it as far as public goods facilities; very limited traffic. The branch remains open only because of the dairy. 

 

This releases space to model the station forecourt, which is something I want to do, because the forecourts of rural stations have a special ambience, something to do with utter peace and brief flurries of activity ....... the feeling of being delivered by the train into a quieter universe.

 

The village can be beyond some back-scene trees, maybe with the church spire visually balancing the dairy chimney.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Nearholmer

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

First time I've tried the 'pano' function on the 'phone camera, so please understand that the layout isn't really banana-form.

Veronica likes taking pano shots outdoors, so I thought I'd get her to take an indoor one of the layout:

 

I wonder if I can persuade her to take one with me appearing both at the start and finish of the sweep, a bit like those old-fashioned school photos?

 

No, perhaps not...

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by St Enodoc

[rockershovel]

On 11/02/2020 at 12:40, Annie said:

From memory the proper name for them was 'Postal Orders', but here in the colonies we tended to call them postal notes.  We're very much spoilt now with only having to go on a website, pick out what we want and make a sacrifice to the goddess Visa to make a purchase.

 

Interesting to hear New Zealand referred to as “the Colonies”, a term largely defunct here. Americans are occasionally referred to as “our Colonial cousins” but Australia and NZ are “Down Under” or simply “Oz”, the (never highly developed) British understanding of geography, means that most Brits think they are pretty much the same place. 

 

“Colonies” is now so associated with the world view of scruffy types who dig up college lawns, that most people avoid the term.

 

[Annie]

Most probably because we have an awareness of our colonial history that others wouldn't even know about or care about that the words 'colonial' and 'colony' still have some meaning here.  And Australia is definitely not the same place as New Zealand.  They don't even speak the same language that we do.

[figworthy]

10 hours ago, rockershovel said:

 

Interesting to hear New Zealand referred to as “the Colonies”, a term largely defunct here. Americans are occasionally referred to as “our Colonial cousins” but Australia and NZ are “Down Under” or simply “Oz”, the (never highly developed) British understanding of geography, means that most Brits think they are pretty much the same place. 

 

 

I have friends in Canada who occasionally refer to it as a colony.

 

Adrian

[St Enodoc]

30 minutes ago, figworthy said:

 

I have friends in Canada who occasionally refer to it as a colony.

 

Adrian

Of which country?

[Compound2632]

5 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Of which country?

 

France?

 

Scotland?

Edited February 20, 2020 by Compound2632

[rockershovel]

12 hours ago, Annie said:

Most probably because we have an awareness of our colonial history that others wouldn't even know about or care about that the words 'colonial' and 'colony' still have some meaning here.  And Australia is definitely not the same place as New Zealand.  They don't even speak the same language that we do.

 

My late mother always referred to Australia, Canada and New Zealand as “The Dominions”, as opposed to “Colonies” which were (mostly unspecified) places in Africa, or SE Asia. By “The Empire” she meant India. 

 

I have found that Americans sometimes refer to us as “cousins”. 

 

Edited February 20, 2020 by rockershovel

[figworthy]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

Of which country?

 

They don't say, but the implication (from the conversation at the time) is the UK.

 

Adrian

 

[rockershovel]

21 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

 

If you truly believe that, I suggest that you should visit a few schools to see what is going on, because they do (so far as the receptivity of their pupils permits) impart actual knowledge, every day, day-in, day-out. 

 

They even impart the knowledge (previous caveat applies) that Britain was once an imperial power, and explore the implications of that.

 

... I edited that out, upon reflection, as being unlikely to lead in any useful direction.   

 

I didn’t know about the BR Nellie .. does it count, being un-named? 

Edited February 20, 2020 by rockershovel

[rockershovel]

2 minutes ago, figworthy said:

 

They don't say, but the implication (from the conversation at the time) is the UK.

 

Adrian

 

 

Bill Bryson remarked in one of his books, that many places in America are named after the first European to arrive, or the last Indian to leave... in Canada, it appears to be the first Scot to arrive.

[Nearholmer]

It has neither a name nor a number, but quite what that means for its status, I don't know. Probably we should love it all the same.

 

It seems to come in two flavours, too: early crest, and late crest.

[rockershovel]

10 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

It has neither a name nor a number, but quite what that means for its status, I don't know. Probably we should love it all the same.

 

It seems to come in two flavours, too: early crest, and late crest.

 

http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/040.htm

[Nearholmer]

I intend to fake my tired red Nellie as the second one up from the bottom.

 

Useful photo, because now I know that I don't even need to sand-off the little name-locator ridges!

[Nearholmer]

Regarding the layout, I think we're definitely coming in to land on something Hemyock-ish in spirit, if not appearance.

 

Geographical location? Inexact.

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Regarding the layout, I think we're definitely coming in to land on something Hemyock-ish in spirit, if not appearance.

 

Geographical location? Inexact.

 

I suggest the now largely forgotten, once popular destination of Thistledome