Building a Southern Region layout

[bike2steam]

That's sad to hear, I was enjoying this thread, I know how you feel, and wish you well. How soon do you need to shift it, I could mention this at the Blandford club next Wednesday if you want???

 

[DLT]

I too am very sorry to hear that.  I hope the situation is resolved to your satisfaction.

Best wishes, Dave.

[Guest Jack Benson]

5 hours ago, bike2steam said:

That's sad to hear, I was enjoying this thread, I know how you feel, and wish you well. How soon do you need to shift it, I could mention this at the Blandford club next Wednesday if you want???

 

We want to clear the workshop by Christmas this year. 

 

10 boards, one is a lifting section. It will not be easy but do-able and the layout was built to a good standard.

 

Our email is clearly shown, no PM facilities.

 

JB

[Guest Jack Benson]

3 hours ago, DLT said:

I too am very sorry to hear that.  I hope the situation is resolved to your satisfaction.

Best wishes, Dave.

Dave,

 

The episode in August left a painful legacy, no lack of support within the Beaminster Road Group but 'we' are three ex-service pensioners trying to cope with a very difficult situation. 

 

Cheers

 

JB 

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

 

Please note that there is a change of ownership:-

Following a long period of serious  illness, the previous owner and builder has relinquished ownership of the Child Okeford layout.

 

Cheers

 

JB

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2019 by Jack Benson
Clarity

[devonseasider]

 

 

So what's happened to the layout now?

Seems to have been pulled from ebay long before the week was up  -  surely you haven't done anything silly like put the chainsaw through it  .  .  .  .

 

                                .  .  .  .  you haven't, have you?

[Guest Jack Benson]

Further progress on Child Okeford can be followed on the original blog that started when the first timbers were being cut for the layout over twenty years ago. 

 

Thanks for support and past comment, however trying to cope with two layouts is bad enough, therefore  the Artitistic Director will look after the chronicling of the progress, or lack of, and he prefers to use a blog. 

 

Therefore Child Okeford will continue if you just click here.

 

 

JB

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

 

A month and another ICU episode later, things are getting better, cardio physio has started and it isn't much fun.

 

The surplus stock has gone elsewhere whilst all the old faithfulls are still running, peace has returned.

 

Finally, work on the layout has continued - this was this afternoon's effort.

 

 

That's it, we hope to have it running on Christmas Day.

 

Cheers

 

 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Jack Benson
Foolishness

[JZ]

That looks much better than what was there before.

 

[Guest Jack Benson]

JZ,

 

Not sure what to do about the all too obvious exit, maybe just sand down the old view blocker and paint it blue+fluffy clouds as there must be something however banal.

 

In keeping with Dorset, a small flock of sheep are waiting to cross the bridge, a Polish shepherd will be in charge.

 

JB

[JZ]

I have a Dorset-like backscene that may fit the bill. I'll bring it down on my next visit.

[Guest Jack Benson]

JZ,

 

The lumps of NoNails just peeled off and a coat of sky blue looks good, some fluffy clouds would not go amiss either.

 

I  should aspire to better things and a copy of Paul Bambrick's treatise is causing considerable concern though, it was a generous but equally daunting present,

 

In the meantime, it looks like this:-

 

 

Cheers

 

JB

[Guest Jack Benson]

Nice image, originally on Beaminster Road but will be recreated on Child Okeford.

 

 

The old Fordson recently re-appeared in a box of discarded bits, it had been stripped and given a coat of Dullcote on the advice of Geoff Kent.

 

JB

 

[Guest Jack Benson]

This old handbuilt wire and plaster tree once graced the corner of the Beaminster Road layout but over the years the foliage fell off until it was just a skeleton of wire.

 

 

Thankfully, modern foliage replaced the defective stuff and a similar scene can be recreated although everything else is brand new, yes, even the pillbox.

 

 

JB

[Guest Jack Benson]

This is a fictional character

 

and this is his dog

 

I need both in 4mm:12", as they are recognisable as part of the West Dorset community.

 

JP

Edited December 17, 2019 by Jack Benson

[Guest Jack Benson]

Boxing Day

I found this old Classix Royal Mail van in a box. 

Poor old thing

 

Cheers

 

JB

[Oldddudders]

I think I'd call that a Ford E83. The man who delivered our paraffin in the '50s had one. Very suitable here. 

[Guest Jack Benson]

53 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I think I'd call that a Ford E83. The man who delivered our paraffin in the '50s had one. Very suitable here. 

Ian,

I have never understood the subtle difference between Ford and Fordson, the E83W 10cwt van was designated as a Fordson but sold and serviced by Ford commercial dealers. The local M&P milkman used an example before moving to a Fordson forward control van with the motor in the cab.  

Cheers

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by Jack Benson

[JZ]

When Ford was developing tractors, a group in Minneapolis set up a company called The Ford Tractor company, the Ford was a clerk of the company, hoping the Henry Ford would buy them out. Ford sidestepped this by starting Ford & Son, or Fordson.

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

 

I do not normally display new purchases, as I can barely afford anything new but this was a late Christmas gift.

 

 

An exLSWR Warner brake van, whether it ran on the SDJR is debatable but the thread did originate as a Southern Region layout and that is my only excuse. 

 

Cheers

 

JB 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hedge fund

Dorset has a lot of hedges - the first Bronze Age farmers had to clear woodland to make fields. ... planting of new hedgerows started around Roman times, much of the hedging in rural Dorset is 700+ years old.

 

To discover the age of a hedge, simply count the number of species of tree or shrub found in a 100 ft length of hedge. This number (averaged over three or more sample stretches) multiplied by 100 gives a rough estimate of the age of the hedge.

 

The hedging on Child Okeford is made from rubberised horsehair bought from Howard Scenics and cut in half to reduce the height. There is about 5m of hedging on the layout.

 

Cheers

[woodenhead]

21 minutes ago, Jack Benson said:

Hedge fund

Dorset has a lot of hedges - the first Bronze Age farmers had to clear woodland to make fields. ... planting of new hedgerows started around Roman times, much of the hedging in rural Dorset is 700+ years old.

 

So now we know, it was those Bronze age capitalists that started global warming through deforestation and the good hearted Romans planted hedgerows in an attempt to rebalance the carbon impact.

[Oldddudders]

Hedges and modern farming methods are at odds. Big machinery reduces labour costs and prefers big fields. Big machinery also costs a fortune to maintain, and hedges do wonders for nature.  Having grubbed out loadsa hedges the farmers hereabouts are now being offered inducements to replant some. 

 

The model hedges above look good. 

[Oldddudders]

In the present generation, I believe Eurostar has been helping Mother Nature by unintentionally importing ragwort from France, where it grows prolifically, into England, where it is less common. Horse- and other livestock-owners will not be pleased, as it can be poisonous.

[Guest Jack Benson]

Btw,

 

As justification for such arcane posts, the flora and fauna of any location can be as important as the colour scheme of the local station.

 

The old saw that the viewer should be able to identify the location without any rolling stock equally applies to the crops, cattle breed, and wild flowers as much as it does to the vernacular building style and bus company.

 

Unfortunately, all the above only really applies to a time before multi-nationals but at least the red kites would have been absent as would white egrets. Another reason for holding back the reality of time and progress?

 

Cheers