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THE RAMCHESTER CHRONICLES


HSB
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Hello Everyone,

 

Just a quick update as to what is happening at Ramchester. I have entertained several visitors of late which has delayed things somewhat but nevertheless it has been both gratifying and pleasurable to see the happy smiles and to receive the generally favorable comments on our efforts to date. I have started to construct a cattle dock which so far has the base more or less complete leaving the railings and Howard's painting skills to complete. At last we have started to cut material for the station building having spent several months with rough cardboard mock ups which were rejected or modified until we were satisfied with the general appearance. The station building will be quite attractive (I hope) and will be different to many seen on layouts - but more of this later as work progresses (Howard has  been volunteered to build this - well press ganged!!). I am still researching LNWR cattle docks to ensure that the railings are at least approaching prototype practice.

 

More later.

RailwayRod

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi,

I haven't posted anything for a while as there has been little visible change to the layout recently. Rod is building a Scammel Scarab kit while I've spent a lot of time looking through books and magazines looking for pictures or drawings of LNWR brick station buildings. Anyway we have now settled on the final configuration and the final rough mock-up is shown below. There will be a canopy along the front.

 

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I have decided to use card for this building. The sides have all been cut out and I have now started cutting out the door and window openings. I am adapting PECO and Grandt Line doors but the windows will have to be scratchbuilt as nobody seems to do quite the right style.

post-12623-0-68042600-1365189570_thumb.jpg

Edited by HSB
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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi All,

We haven't done much work on the layout over the last couple of weeks but I have now got most of the window openings cut out on the station building. Rod ran a few trains for some visitors today so I took a quick pick of this train standing in the platform. I built the two coaches from Kirk kits a couple of years ago.

post-12623-0-58213300-1366999392_thumb.jpg

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Hi All,

We had a building session this afternoon and Rod has done a bit more work on the Scammel while I've started assembling some of the walls of the station building. I've just realised today that I haven't yet worked out where the chimneys are going! Anyway, the cardboard mock-up has now been binned and below are a couple of pictures with the front and side walls just propped up in position to give a better idea what the finished building will look like:-

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post-12623-0-12133400-1367433208_thumb.jpg

 

Also, I've finally finished upgrading my third LIMA coach.

post-12623-0-65904000-1367433284_thumb.jpg

 

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I have decided to use card for this building. The sides have all been cut out and I have now started cutting out the door and window openings. I am adapting PECO and Grandt Line doors but the windows will have to be scratchbuilt as nobody seems to do quite the right style.

 

Howard

 

I can cast these in resin for you if you can provide me with one scratchbuilt one as a pattern, PM for details me if you are interested. Any reply from me may be delayed at the moment as I am on holiday from Saturday 4th May for a week. 

 

Phil T.

Port Wynnstay Models

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Hello Everyone.

 

As you will see from Howard's phote above I now have 3 of his up-graded LIMA coaches standing on my layout. Howard has worked very hard on these and I am sure you will agree that his efforts have been worthwhile. He likes to have all of the details right which has entailed carving off some of the LIMA details and adding new "correct" ones. These coaches are now running on Easybuild bogies and are very free running. Howard has tried to minimize the under scale look and as a train they are fine - even when a SR PLV is attached to the rear. They do not mix with my Sidelines Stanier coaches as the difference in scale becomes apparent. Nevertheless they are a welcome addition to tkhe stock of Ramchester - even if they are only on loan to me!! All he needs now is a suitable loco to pull them and he will have his first 0 gauge train.

 

Work on the Scammel Scarab is progressing slowly. This is from a multi media kit and the various parts fit together very well. The instructions are a bit sparse but so far I have managed to work them out OK. I now need Howard to paint and glaze the cab when he gets tired of making the station building.

 

Railwayrod

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Howard

 

I can cast these in resin for you if you can provide me with one scratchbuilt one as a pattern, PM for details me if you are interested. Any reply from me may be delayed at the moment as I am on holiday from Saturday 4th May for a week. 

 

Phil T.

Port Wynnstay Models

Thanks for the offer, Phil, but I have already started building them from Plastruct section and the numbers of the different sizes are quite low (6, 4 and 2).

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello Everyone.

 

Work on the layout has been fairly slow during the last couple of weeks as I have been away on holiday in Cornwall. During this we  visited St Ives parking at St Erith station and travelling by train along this very picturesque branch line. It struck me that this would make a very nice model if set in the 50's or 60's when the goods yard was still in operation. The town would form a nice backdrop with the sea and sand at the front of the layout. I am sure that this must have been done before but does anyone know if it has been done in 7mm scale?

 

I am slowly getting to grips with the Scamel Scarab kit and I am now putting the trailer together. It is a nice kit which Howard tells me is no longer available - mores the pity. So far it has gone together well but the instructions are not as helpful as they could be. Otherwise Howard is working steadily on the station building and is currently building window frames from plastic strip. He has started a thread on RMWeb about his new layout which looks interesting (see Mini Ramchester sort of) which if he does build it will be his first layout in O gauge.

 

On a personal note and being rather selfish I hope we can progress Ramchester a bit further before he starts as this will nean he will not be able to spend as much time helping me! Of course I am very grateful to Howard for all his work on Ramchester and I will give him every bit of support and encouragement that I can.

 

Railwayrod

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi,

We are still plugging away but making slow progress at the moment. Rod bought a new sign for the layout at the Exeter show which he now has up:-

 

post-12623-0-22997800-1371245292_thumb.jpg

 

His Scammel Scarab is also nearing completion:-

 

post-12623-0-50795100-1371245384_thumb.jpg

 

And I am still working on the station building:-

 

post-12623-0-46518200-1371245470_thumb.jpg

 

I have nearly finished fabricating the window frames from Plastruct  while I am also building an AnD kit for an LMS 42' CCT for myself which will eventually join Rod's parcel train (at least until I build my own 0 gauge layout which is likely to be some time off!)

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi,

We are still plugging away but making slow progress at the moment. Rod bought a new sign for the layout at the Exeter show which he now has up:-

 

Ah yes the sign, I'm afraid I knocked it down today, what a pudding I am. Apart from that I had a most excellent afternoon at RAMCHESTER. It really is a most delightful little layout, everything runs so smoothly and is such fun, even if I did get told off for coupling the oil tanker next to the brake van and no barrier trucks, more pudding. The scenery (by HSB of this parish) is just superb, you can smell the grass and I was so disappointed I couldn't go for a swim in the sea at the far end.  Well done Rod and Howard and thank you for the play. Brian.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi,

I'm afraid we have been spending less time than usual on the layout over the last few weeks so progress has been rather slow! I am still working on the station building but there is still a long way to go. Below are a few pics of the layout I took today:-

 

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post-12623-0-33844300-1374699782_thumb.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

We haven't done a lot of work on the layout recently as Rod has been out a lot gallivanting in the fine weather so I have only been going round there about once a week but I have made a little more progress on the station building while Rod is trying to fabricate some fencing for the cattle dock.

 

post-12623-0-67694400-1377119972_thumb.jpg

 

For some time we have been dissatisfied with parts of the backscene so despite all the work I have done on it previously I have now taken the plunge and have started revamping it to lower the skyline behind the station.

 

post-12623-0-99742600-1377120167_thumb.jpg

 

 

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We had another session working on the layout this afternoon. I've stuck some bricks to the end wall of the station but then ran out of Roket glue so spent most of the time on reworking the backscene. I have added a few new clouds to help blend in the new paintwork.

 

post-12623-0-93089600-1377716214_thumb.jpg

 

In a previous post I mentioned I was building an LMS 42' Utility Van so I thought I'd take a picture. I'm hoping to get the parts I need to finish it at Guildex next week.

 

post-12623-0-93600400-1377716899_thumb.jpg

Edited by HSB
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Without doubt if it had not been for Howard's hard work on the layout it would not look as good as it does. He has been a brick in this respect and has goaded and encouraged me to attempt things that I thought I could never do. My eyesight is not very good and I have to use high powered magnifiers to do anything and even with a 28 dioptre lens measuring accurately is exceedingly difficult and the situation is getting worse as the years go by. Nevertheless I am very happy with what I can do on the layout and although my modelling standard is far from as high as I would like, the enjoyment that I get from building the layout cannot be over estimated. I am still working on the cattle dock and have made up a little drilling jig for the posts but have a problem with spruce which I have used for them. I think that obeche  might be easier for me to work with as it is softer which should allow me to put a hole in the bottom to enable the posts to stand over pins which I have fitted into the platform of the dock.

 

Howard and I are off to Telford next weekend and hopefully I can pick up a couple of items that I need to increase my rolling stock. We may also visit the Seven Valley Railway while we are up there, great!

 

I am still playing with Bachmann OO couplings as I feel that to fit a wire "loop" is easier than trying to fit other types to expensive brass locos - more anon.

 

Railwayrod

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello Everyone.

 

Well Telford has come and gone for another year and what an event it was. Howard and I went up for the weekend travelling on the Friday and having a ride on the Severn Valley Railway en route. Great railway made even better for me as we had an Ivatt 4MT 2-6-0 loco on the train back to Kidderminster. Then we drove on to Wolverhampton which was to be our billet for the weekend. On Saturday we travelled to Telford by train and met another GOG member en route. We thought the show was excellent and made several purchases both large and small. Among these were some Lionheart wagons and a MTH coach - an ex LMS full brake together with lots of bits and pieces needed for the next stage of Ramchesters development. On the Sunday we had planned to visit TINGS (the N gauge show) but as we had only seen a little over half of the Telford show we abandoned this idea and returned to the O gauge show.

 

As Howard has already mentioned his work on the backscene I will not dwell on it here but his efforts have improved the look of the layout both photographically and when operating. Thanks Howard.

 

I am continuing to fit Bachmann OO couplings to more of my stock but have not yet added a wire loop to my Black 5 loco - this will be the next loco which I will tackle.

 

Having played with various methods of providing fencing for the cattle dock I have finally settled on a system that I can cope with and work is in hand to get this finished.

 

Members of the GOG will be able to see and read more of the layout in a forthcoming issue of the GOG Gazette.

 

RailwayRod

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Rod is slowly making progress on the cattle dock fencing although it is not yet fastened in place:-

 

post-12623-0-70783100-1379531581_thumb.jpg

 

I have now painted all the walls of the station building and have just been going over the window-sills. I will soon be able to stick the windows in place. I am also gradually reworking parts of the backscene.

 

post-12623-0-71195900-1379531802_thumb.jpg

 

post-12623-0-70783100-1379531581_thumb.jpg

post-12623-0-71195900-1379531802_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi CME,

 

I'm afraid Rod doesn't look at RMWeb as often as I do. I'll try to remember to tell him he has a PM when I see him tomorrow.

 

 

Not much progress to report as we have only spent a couple of hours working on the layout this week!

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Hi CME,

 

I'm afraid Rod doesn't look at RMWeb as often as I do. I'll try to remember to tell him he has a PM when I see him tomorrow.

 

 

Not much progress to report as we have only spent a couple of hours working on the layout this week!

Hi Howard,

 

Thanks.

 

A couple of hours is two hours more than me :-)

 

ATVB

 

CME

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Hi All,

 

A little bit more progress this week. Rod is still working on the fencing for the cattle dock while I have been mainly reworking the backscene but I have also now stuck the windows in the station building and started glazing them (in retrospect I should probably have glazed them before I stuck them in but I was impatient to see them finally in place!). The paint on the doors is still being touched up (and I will glaze them before I stick them in).

 

post-12623-0-88043800-1380736811_thumb.jpg

Edited by HSB
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Hello Everyone,

 

Had a PM from CME about my use of Bachmann OO couplings so I thought that a little explanation might be of general interest. At present I am manually uncoupling by hand using a home made "spade" very similar to the one that Hornby used to produce. This was constructed with a blade of Plasticard and a handle cemented to it to form the "spade". This worked well with vehicles not fitted with hanging vac pipes. It did however foul these pipes on vehicles so fitted and some mods had to be made This was done by reducing the size of the spade so that it could be placed beneath the couplings without fouling the vac pipes. So far this appears to be working well. I do not plan to use electric uncoupling of the vehicles as I prefer to adopt the hands on approach which gives me a more intimate contact with the stock whilst shunting. I hope this is of interest to some of you and I will be glad to answer any questions which you have.

 

RailwayRod

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