Upbech St Mary, Upbech Drove and Pott Row a journey through 00 and then into EM and 009.

[mullie]

12 hours ago, manna said:

G'Day Folks

 

For a moment there I thought it was you 'New' walker.................

 

manna

You can tell it is not my walker - no cupholders!

[mullie]

The Claud successfully shunted a few wagons successfully tonight. Tender wheels need a few more spacers if I have them in that diameter and the front bogie needs some work to keep it on the track better. Lead sheet has been glued to the underside of the cab roof and into the coal space to make the loco more balanced, it tended to be a bit nose heavy on its new wheels.

 

Needs a trip to the painting and weathering shop.

[mullie]

A small modification to the front bogie to improve road holding though probably not very visible. A very small piece of biro spring has been inserted in the mechanism, testing tonight seemed promising.

 

 

The Claud does look nice.

 

[mullie]

What the layout was designed for.

 

The J15 has brought in sugar beet empties from the junction and will swap them for the full wagons. The full coal wagons will be taken down the branch by a J70 and return empty later. The local traders are fussy, they like the vans to be at the far end of the siding closer to the road to make unloading eaiser. All this gives the line a reason to exist.

 

 

The more I use the layout the more useful I find the shunting cassette, it has an S&W magnet at one end and a Kadee at the other.

 

 

[mullie]

The solitary carriage waits to run the next service back to Pott Row.

 

 

This is a Ratio 4 wheeler bashed to look something like a four wheeler that ran on the Kelvedon and Tollesbury line using a plan bought from the Great Eastern Society. End doors have been added, the body lowered, buffer beam raised, end doors and handles added, new handrails on the bodyside, rainstrips modified. It originally ran on Pott Row and currently is hauled by the J72 using the engine brake only as was the practice on the Corringham Light Railway.

 

This photo shows the end door arrangement.

 

Edited March 24, 2020 by mullie

[sb67]

Nice photo's Mullie, really like your layout. Out of interest do you propel trains on to the layout 'down the branch' or drive them on and propel them 'back up the branch'?

[mullie]

1 hour ago, sb67 said:

Nice photo's Mullie, really like your layout. Out of interest do you propel trains on to the layout 'down the branch' or drive them on and propel them 'back up the branch'?

The long term plan is that trains will pass through Upbech, there will be a module before it and one after. I plan to start building again after the SWAG event in April if that goes ahead.

 

At the moment goods trains are propelled on scene in the style of the Snape branch brake van first. When a passenger train arrives the J72 uncouples, draws forward and is then released by a J70 in the loco depot, the J72 reverses into the loco siding, the J70 shunts the carriage back into the platform and then either returns to the loco depot or picks up some empty wagons and takes them off across the fens. hope that makes sense. Maybe I will try and photograph the sequence, would probably make more sense.

[mullie]

Well I am now self isolating because of a long term complaint so once work is completed (for as long as the school stays open) I have been contemplating projects to get going on to fill the time:

 

• Finish the Claud
• Crew all locos. I have ordered some Dapol figures to cut about as a mini project and an alternative to the Monty's crews I already have. I did consider Model U which I know are excellent but a bit pricey for the amount I need.
• Detail the J70s
• Build a new and better fiddle yard.
• Start the extension using various bits of baseboard I already have, might need to order some track parts to complete this.
• Build the other Lochgorm etched van kit.

That should keep me going, with the Easter holiday I can see me being off work for at least a month, almost certainly longer. Our foreign holiday has been cancelled but at least living here there are nice places to walk without worrying about social contact.

 

There is also the piano, clarinet and saxophone, the tools of my trade and Spotify, the vinyl and CD collection.

 

Stay safe everyone.

 

 

[Stubby47]

Modelu is offering free postage at the moment.

 

Would be nice to hear some of your favourite tunes, if you could record yourself playing.

[mullie]

First day of minimising social activity and judging by the schools announcement this afternoon could have a lot of time to kill. Busy day today preparing online resources for students to access at home.

 

However, managed to take the Claud apart.

 

 

Painted the rims on the new wheels on one side only, do the other side tomorrow.

 

 

Good thing about living here is that it is possible to go out for a walk without having to come into close proximity with others.

 

 

One of the new aircraft carriers was undergoing some sort of sea trial off Portland today.

Edited March 18, 2020 by mullie

[robert17649]

Portland looks good but where is the aircraft carrier?

[Mrkirtley800]

Hope it hasn’t sunk

[robert17649]

probably deployed to tackle covid-19 a task for which a multi billion pound aircraftless aircraft carrier could be really useful,  stil think Portland looks really lovely in the spring.

[mullie]

Too far out to get a photo with my phone. Naval ships are often quite difficult to see, they blend in really well with the colour of the sea and the sky, this one must really fill a radar screen! It was on its own, I doubt we currently have the ships to have a proper task  group for both carriers.

[mullie]

Weathering begins on the Claud, black acrylic paint and ground artists charcoal trying to give a work stained finish, the photo I have seen of this loco shows it in similar finish. Next stage is some dry brushed highlights.

 

 

 

 

Another walk today, this is the view looking more or less the opposite from yesterday. In the foreground is where a market is held in the summer, then a quarry that has been reopened, then a mine. The first buildings are the road where I live . The tower is the tiny St George's Church built by convicts and consecrated in 1766. All around in the background is the sea, not very clear today.

 

[Alex TM]

On 19/03/2020 at 07:55, mullie said:

Naval ships are often quite difficult to see, they blend in really well with the colour of the sea and the sky, this one must really fill a radar screen!

Hi folks,

 

Got a close up view of 'HMS Prince of Wales' in Liverpool the other week.  Hull colour blended well with the overcast sky and impending rain.  You could here her generators from two blocks away; wonder how long it takes the crew to acclimatize to the noise.  Although she's (he's?) huge, I think the superstructure is designed to minimise it's radar signature.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

[mullie]

Claud has now been weathered, crew will be added soon.

 

 

 

The advantage of EM is that things don't look narrow when a head on photo is taken.

 

 

As many of you know Portland has a long naval tradition. The monument to HMS Sidon records the tragic loss of her 13 sailors in an accident on 16th June 1955 when a peroxide powered torpedo exploded onboard while she was moored next to the depot ship HMS Maidstone.

 

[wiggoforgold]

I don't need a Claud... I don 't need a Claud...

Alex

 

[robert17649]

igot a Claud PM me Alex

[Oldddudders]

I have never been to Portland, but my English near-neighbour here in La Sarthe upped sticks and moved there a few years back. A very individual lady and eco-warrior, Sheena had become a real soldier on leaving skool, working for Intelligence, first in Belfast and then divided Berlin.

 

As for Kelvedon, I knew a chap who had been SM there. A lay-preacher, his God called him home a little sooner than might have been preferred. 

[mullie]

We moved here nearly 16 years ago from Essex and have never regretted it. It is a fascinating place to live.

[gobbler]

Mullie,

 

I've read all the thread today.  You've done a lot of chopping and changing.  Excellent modelling btw.  I must say it was the mention of GE areas that first piqued my interest.  This is my favoured area and my time period is the transitional time so i can run steam with diesels and 1st generation DMU's.  I've scratched built various coaches, carriages and wagons (my/our carriage scratch build thread) but have yet to lay a base board.  

 

Ive found this an interesting and great read. 

 

You haven't posted in a while, i was wondering how things were progressing?

 

Scott (gobbler)

[mullie]

21 hours ago, gobbler said:

Mullie,

 

I've read all the thread today.  You've done a lot of chopping and changing.  Excellent modelling btw.  I must say it was the mention of GE areas that first piqued my interest.  This is my favoured area and my time period is the transitional time so i can run steam with diesels and 1st generation DMU's.  I've scratched built various coaches, carriages and wagons (my/our carriage scratch build thread) but have yet to lay a base board.  

 

Ive found this an interesting and great read. 

 

You haven't posted in a while, i was wondering how things were progressing?

 

Scott (gobbler)

Just had a look at your Southminster thread, have you made any more progress? Would be good to see any updates?

 

Southminster is not a part of Essex I know particularly well. I grew up in Brentwood, lived in the area until 1993 and then in Grays until 2004 when we moved to Dorset. Looks a really interesting station. Maldon I know well and to some extent Woodham Ferrers.

 

The original version of Pott Row was a layout I got a lot of pleasure from over the ten years I worked on it. Living in a seaside garage shared with the car time took its toll on the layout so the opportunity was taken to start again in EM with a test plank that has become Upbech. I am currently in enforced quarantine and with SWAG cancelled I plan to start on extending the layout.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

Martyn

 

 

[mullie]

D16 in black and white. I have posted this on other threads but not here.

 

 

J15 worries some wagons.

 

 

A passenger train with its  single four wheel carriage.

 

 

 

 

[mullie]

Re glued the lead in the J39 as some of it had come adrift and began hatching a plan to detail the J70s so nothing really to photograph. However, at the moment I am managing to get out for a walk and have built up a stock of photographs if you don't mind seeing them.

 

The famous landmark down at the bill. I drove down there a few days ago after dropping SWMBO off at work. Best time to go is when the sea is rough, the big waves break over the cliffs making a fantastic spectacle.

 

 

The Olympic rings overlooking Chesil Beach, what a long time ago that seems. What is the legacy? The area has declined further and is now one of the poorest boroughs in the UK on a number of levels.