Little things - for the layout outside the railway fence

[MrWolf]

I've seen that, especially when they cover the storm drains to stop them filling up with roadstone. 

It would help lift the often modelled on modern image layouts roadworks scene to a convincing model.

It's what I like about this thread. Its not just the trains and railway infrastructure that makes a model railway.

[eastglosmog]

2 hours ago, steve1 said:

The Council are doing some resurfacing work to the main road through our village, the A163. I noticed that the drain covers and manholes had been masked prior to the work starting. This could easily be portrayed on a layout using, well, real masking tape.

 

steve

 

 

Wish our local highways dept did that.  Last time the road outside was resurfaced, they half covered  the fire hydrant, which caused the Firemen no end of trouble when the church kitchen caught fire and they had to get a pickaxe to break out the tarmac before they could use the hydrant.  Left a nice pothole, which rapidly deteriorated destabilising the cover with end result fire hydrant was damaged and water started leaking.

[figworthy]

A basic style

 

If this is how the dog gets over, how does its owner ?

 

Adrian

[corneliuslundie]

First this week a place where cattle can reach the canal to drink. Mind you, one cow evidently felt rather adventurous as she had walked into the canal, then about 20 yards to the left and onto the bank. Presumably the grass looked greener.

 

Something of an obstacle to navigation, or they would be if this stretch were navigable. I suspect though that navigation will never reach this far as there are just too many lowered bridges including one on the main road. These trees have been like this for a couple of years. At least the parts of the trunks blocking the towpath were removed quite quickly.

 

Last time, I included a photo of a milepost. In the ground below the milepost is set this plaque. It reads “Frank Jones  . . . Fund raiser extraordinary . . . 1925-1996 . . . SUCS 1997”.

 

A swing bridge at a point where the canal runs close to the main road. I am not sure though when it was last swung.

 

And finally, an occupation bridge which has been modernised with new rails. Apologies for the rakish angle of the view. I suspect I was leaning over to get a better sightline while trying to stop my bike falling into the water.

 

Not sure about next time. Possible “not very useful” things, though I still have to photograph a couple of the intended subjects.

Jonathan

Edited October 1, 2022 by corneliuslundie

[Philou]

On 01/06/2021 at 19:01, steve1 said:

The Council are doing some resurfacing work to the main road through our village, the A163. I noticed that the drain covers and manholes had been masked prior to the work starting.

 

This is done prior to redoing the surface using an emulsion with chips - usually recycled materials - known as 'slap'n'dash'. I think it may have been developed by Colas - the same as the train operator.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

PS: Thanks for the photo showing the canal-side sign-post.

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by Philou
PS

[mike morley]

Something you frequently see in real life, but as far as I am aware never modeled, is the derelict weir that once served a long-gone water mill.

This one is close to Rhyd-yr-Onen on the Talyllyn.

 

[Ray Von]

Anybody else got a "Non Slip Stone Co." paving slab near them?  I've never seen another one...

[figworthy]

10 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

Something of an obstacle to navigation, or they would be if this stretch were navigable. I suspect though that navigation will never reach this far as there are just too many lowered bridges including one on the main road.

 

 

The daft part of it is that most (if not all) of the bridges that were lowered, were lowered after restoration started (1973 IIRC).

 

Adrian

[eastglosmog]

A few structures around Cotswold springs. 

Abbottswood on the road to Stow:

 

 

Cleeve Common:

 

 

Farmington:

 

 

Seven Springs (Head of the River Churn and said by some to be the source of the River Thames):

 

 

Taston:

 

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by eastglosmog
Restore photos

[sir douglas]

if we're talking springs there are a few near me, the main ones being Heath Common, near wakefield

 

This arch was the main water supply for the community for hundreds of years, there is a river and beck nearby but they are downstream of industrial towns and collieries, its out of use now the pipe is probably blocked

 

Nearby is a spring still flowing strong which had a tower built over it sometime around the 1700's, its construction was for the nearby Hall but ive never heard anything about its exact purpose, the remains of the hall are behind the house

 

The water flows out of a cellar under the tower which has remains of a water wheel and cast iron bearing footings but again the purpose is unknown as there isnt any obvious signs that there was a hole in the ceiling for a shaft to go up stairs

 

This one was taken last year after a lot f rain and the cellar was flooded about 5ft deep, the water is up to the top of the gate and the steps on the left

 

About a mile away along a hillside next to a lake, several springs keep popping up and then going away after a year or 2, the most recent one came up in the middle of a main foot and cycle path through there, turning it into a quagmire for a few months

Edited June 7, 2021 by sir douglas

[corneliuslundie]

Agreed about some of the bridges on the Montgomery Canal but the one on the main road was dropped not long after the canal officially closed, late 1940s or early 1950s. In fact the old bridge was not lowered: the road was diverted so it now runs alongside the bridge which is very narrow and has a distinct hump. Not quite suitable for an A road. You can find it on Google Earth a little on the Welshpool side of the Nag's Head pub not far from Refail.

And re springs. Up on Plynlimon there is a site complete with a sign saying that it is the source of the Severn (marked by a post). But there are several streams flowing into the bog at that point!

Jonathan

[mike morley]

I have twice walked the canal from Welshpool to Newtown and feel that at the Newtown end it doesnt so much finish as fizzle out.  I'm almost as big a fan of canals as I am of old railways and know what a former canal and basin looks like but could make no more than a very vague guess at where the canal once terminated.  If the local authorities want to encourage its use for tourism it could do with its southern extremity being somewhat better defined.  It might also help if some signs were put up to remind dog-walkers that the rules about fouling in public places also apply to canal towpaths - the problem being particularly bad around Welshpool.

[corneliuslundie]

The canal basin in Newtown is completely built on. From there at least to Pwll Penarth nature reserve a little beyond Llanlwwchaiarn the canal bed houses a main sewer. There is water in the canal from about half a mile further on but it is heavily overgrown. There is a nice stretch past Abermule (including the fallen trees!)  and beyond that it is in reasonable shape, though it has deteriorated over the past year. I can see little hope of reopening properly beyond Berriew where there is a basin beside the road with good access. Between there and Aberbechan it could be good for canoeing, and in fact I think that there is or has been a canoeing centre near the fancy overbridge I showed. They are trying to promote the river in Newtown as a leisure resource with a new centre being built and access points for canoes/kayaks along the river, but there are rapids in various places.

There is a very good recent book covering the Montgomery Canal: "The Shropshire Union Canal – From the Mersey to the Midlands and Mid-Wales" by Peter Brown, published by the RCHS - but it is £35.

Jonathan

[mike morley]

This website first alerted me to the considerable charms of the Montgomery Canal.

http://www.montgomerycanal.me.uk/monthome.html

Edited June 8, 2021 by mike morley

[Nearholmer]

15 hours ago, sir douglas said:

The water flows out of a cellar under the tower which has remains of a water wheel and cast iron bearing footings but again the purpose is unknown

That looks quite modern, as in Victorian or later, and I would hazard a guess that it drove a dynamo, to charge a bank of cells, giving pre-mains electric lighting to the hall.

 

May have been something there before, for another function, of course, but having a waterwheel close-up to a spring isn’t going to give much ‘head’, so likely a ‘small but steady’ load, which is what a Dynamo charging cells is.

[MrWolf]

That is an interesting possibility. There appears to be a bevel gear on the water wheel shaft to angle the drive. The possibility of driving a dynamo is quite likely, though they are generally direct drive or driven by an early turbine. The only thing that I have seen of a similar type drove a water pump, filling a tank in the top of the tower to supply a head of water for an ornamental fountain.

[Nearholmer]

That's another possibility, and would account for the tower. Often, though, hydraulic rams, worked by the source water pressure, were used for that sort of job. I've seen dynamos run from both turbines and waterwheels, but low-head turbines were fairly uncommon until Kaplan's version, which dates from just pre-WW1 - IIRC there is a preserved dynamo hall at Warwick Castle, down by the river, but which that had/has, I can't remember*.

 

Maybe Sir Douglas could knock at the hall, and ask.

 

*By googling, I've reminded myself: a breast-shot waterwheel. Explanation here: https://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=fcd728c4-4d8f-4291-b1f2-89f18a40c372&gid=3

Edited June 8, 2021 by Nearholmer

[MrWolf]

Now I feel the urge to go down there and bash about in the nettles with a stick until I find the answer.

That happens more often than you'd think.

The memsahib says it's like dating Indiana Jones.

Though I'm starting to think that may have been sarcasm...

 

[Nearholmer]

My elder daughter, now grown-up, swears that, when she was small, I used to “Drag us to fields in the middle of nowhere, and point at bumps and clumps - and that was a day out!”. What she means is that I’ve always been interested in history, and the faint traces it leaves in the landscape.

[Compound2632]

12 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

My elder daughter, now grown-up, swears that, when she was small, I used to “Drag us to fields in the middle of nowhere, and point at bumps and clumps - and that was a day out!”. What she means is that I’ve always been interested in history, and the faint traces it leaves in the landscape.

 

I sympathise with her. My late father was into medieval forest boundaries and my elder son has specialised in glacial moraines. I like a good railway line - even without track - myself.

Edited June 8, 2021 by Compound2632

[Nearholmer]

He’d love to live round here - we have very chaotic geology, with the odd notable ‘erratic’, because the ice sheet in the most recent (I think) ice age had its southern edge here, so the whole district is a sort of low-grade terminal moraine.

[MrWolf]

I'm told that my interest in obscure bits of ruins is an endearing quirk and gives her an excuse to do the same whilst pretending that it is my influence. 

She therefore has plausible deniability.

 

[corneliuslundie]

Is there a prescription drug cure for that?

J

[MrWolf]

4 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

Is there a prescription drug cure for that?

J

 

Not exactly.

 

[MrWolf]

A terminal moraine basically being the point where a glacier runs out of steam and dumps the material it has been carrying.