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Much Murkle - back on the road


nickwood
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Hi Nick

 

That completed lighting has made all the difference to the view of the layout. I'm sure it will be a great success on the exhibition circuit. I will have to try and take it in if I have a short break in the south somewhere, of course you may get an invite further north.

 

Jim

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Hi Nick

 

That completed lighting has made all the difference to the view of the layout. I'm sure it will be a great success on the exhibition circuit. I will have to try and take it in if I have a short break in the south somewhere, of course you may get an invite further north.

 

Jim

 

Thanks Jim. I don't know where you are but it will be north of home territory at the Cradley Heath (West Midlands) Exhibition on 13th October 2013.

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  • 3 months later...

Smashing layout!
Don't know how I've missed this one...
I stumbled accross it, while looking at Brian T's superb "Abercynnon Fach" micro...
That's rmweb for you - there's so much quality stuff on here,
and it's always throwing up nice surprises :)

 

Great work sir
Yes, I too believe in getting some sort of lighting in place
It shows the layout much better, and you get to see all those small details, which you might otherwise miss,
in "murkier" conditions......

Your lighting is nice & even too....

No blinding highlights or deep shadows - just the trick
Love the name too - I know Much Marcle,
and I think you have captured the essence of the countryside nicely

Cheers

Marc

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Thank you all for the kind comments and my apologies to michael for not responding earlier.

 

Marc - I agree that there is so much on RMweb that you are always stumbling across gems that you miss. Threads fall off the radar very quickly.

 

Dai - That made me laugh :) Yes it was a burp and has already been mentioned earlier in the thread. I didn't notice it during editing :O :)

 

Shunting can get quite tricky and is lots of fun.

 

 

Much Murkle is in the garage and all the stock in the house. It's been too cold to spend much time in the garage over winter but I would like to do some more photos and video soon, especially as I've been working on some new stock that needs an airing. Hopefully spring will be here soon.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Now's seems an opportune moment to show some of the stock I've been working on over the winter. First up a few humble wagons

 

The first three wagons were a generous gift sent to me all the way from Utah by my friend John Flann a while back. Whilst he will have seen the photos before it is only right that I should show my appreciation again by showing the completed kits here on RMweb.

142931551_O4openwagon012small.jpg.6923c920ac992fa5f2368e48fcabcc5b.jpg

 

1517567310_O4openwagon013small.jpg.7ef357108a2ecf6684a629e984140c8c.jpg

 

379612167_Lococoalwagon011small.jpg.5ffd61d069eb6170a81893040f236443.jpg

 

1710611908_Lococoalwagon012small.jpg.3efcd82dafd8035aab87cbb75dbebb66.jpg

 

1166432510_Horsebox012small.jpg.b0dce6f4cd9784aa21fb28a71a66044a.jpg

 

482274373_Horsebox013small.jpg.e467cd3c7946208ae478f1e3828d4787.jpg

 

I have been working on a few more to increase the stock including these

1594721667_GWRvanssmall.jpg.f48f770b6f8baadc51c4b221ace585f0.jpg

 

962414260_FruitVanandCattleWagonsmall.jpg.c85767088f43464b163de017f45f5f10.jpg

 

 

Coaching stock next...

 

 

 

 

Edited by nickwood
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What an extravaganza of stock Nick! Just the right way to end Easter  :-)

 

Some very nice builds, and your work to personalise the autocoach and loco has really paid off - there's nothing Airfix about those two anymore, I think. The ex-club stock is very appealing, someone must be happy to see this stock running again and in such a setting.

 

It's good to know John will readily part with kits, can you give us any tips on how best to go about it?  :sarcastichand: 

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What an extravaganza of stock Nick! Just the right way to end Easter  :-)

 

Some very nice builds, and your work to personalise the autocoach and loco has really paid off - there's nothing Airfix about those two anymore, I think. The ex-club stock is very appealing, someone must be happy to see this stock running again and in such a setting.

 

It's good to know John will readily part with kits, can you give us any tips on how best to go about it?  :sarcastichand: 

 

Hi Mikkel

 

It's not ex club stock as such but stock acquired from outside sources to sell on and make a small profit to fund the club's activities. I'm not sure but I think most of the current list was acquired after someone enquired how to dispose of an estate.

 

John and I have been following each others progress for some time and he was aware that I enjoyed building wagon kits. As he now prefers to use and adapt rtr and had these spare, he very kindly sent me a surprise Christmas present of those he had left over knowing I would put them to good use, and he was right !

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Nick, I've only just caught up with this and your kind remarks. I knew you would make good use of the kits and I'm very happy to see the results.

  

Excellent workmanship as always.

 

Now on a slightly different tack it would seem to me that your new coaching stock and locos might look slightly out of place on bucolic Much Mutkle, so, to justify the use of  slip coaches and 'Jackdaw' and the like is it in your mind to upgrade it to a  station with a direct main line connection?

Edited by john flann
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Thanks Neal, John and everyone who has given me more 'likes'.

 

John, you are right, they may look a little out of place although maybe not wholly unknown for a Bulldog to venture down a small branch, probably in my case to haul an emergency 'cider special' for one of the King's garden parties at Buckingham Palace. :dontknow:   I've yet to come up with a beievable scenario for the slip to venture down the branch form the junction but give me time !

 

In reality they were available at a good price, and were very well made and I couldn't resist buying them, even if I do need a bit of modellers license to run them occassionally.

Edited by nickwood
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Redundant slip coaches were used on branchlines instead of autocoaches, B sets etc. The slipping gear was removed, but everything else, including the highly distinctive vacuum cylinders , seemed to have been left. Examples of branches using slips are Faringdon and Newcastle Emlyn, both of which had the 70ft long concertina dia F13s. I believe the Henley branch also had a toplight slip, but I don't know the diagram. 

 

Quite when these coaches were relegated to branch line work, I don't know. Russell's book contains a photo of the Faringdon vehicle taken in 1947, so it was just within the GW period, but could well have been earlier. On the other hand, an F13 was still being slipped at Bicester as late as 1959!

 

From the Management's point of view, ex slips were very useful on branchlines as they had accommodation for both 1st and 3rd classes plus a small guard's/luggage/parcels compartment.

 

I'd be inclined to use your slip on ordinary services frankly and not worry too much quite when it had been cascaded down to Much Murkle! 

 

MM incidentally is a very nice layout with some beautiful modelling!

 

Regards

 

David C
 

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Nice looking Locos, I love the 48xx, I am just building another 58xx for my layout, I am interested how you created the hooks on the back for the fire iron? I have made some using flattened .45 mm brass wire, but, could not get a uniform shape as you have.

Edited by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
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Redundant slip coaches were used on branchlines instead of autocoaches, B sets etc. The slipping gear was removed, but everything else, including the highly distinctive vacuum cylinders , seemed to have been left. Examples of branches using slips are Faringdon and Newcastle Emlyn, both of which had the 70ft long concertina dia F13s. I believe the Henley branch also had a toplight slip, but I don't know the diagram. 

 

Quite when these coaches were relegated to branch line work, I don't know. Russell's book contains a photo of the Faringdon vehicle taken in 1947, so it was just within the GW period, but could well have been earlier. On the other hand, an F13 was still being slipped at Bicester as late as 1959!

 

From the Management's point of view, ex slips were very useful on branchlines as they had accommodation for both 1st and 3rd classes plus a small guard's/luggage/parcels compartment.

 

I'd be inclined to use your slip on ordinary services frankly and not worry too much quite when it had been cascaded down to Much Murkle! 

 

MM incidentally is a very nice layout with some beautiful modelling!

 

Regards

 

David C

 

 

 David, thanks for the compliment and the info on the Slip coaches. Very useful.

 

Nice looking Locos, I love the 48xx, I am just building another 58xx for my layout, I am interested how you created the hooks on the back for the fire iron? I have made some using flattened .45 mm brass wire, but, could not get a uniform shape as you have.

 

Terry, The hooks are just thin strips of brass cut from the edge of a etch with a pair of Xuron shears. They are then formed around a cocktail stick with the ends kinked with a pair of thin nosed pliers. Then just trimmed to length. Easier (and quicker) to do then describe. Hope this helps.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi everyone.

 

Please let me introduce Much Murkle to you all. Some of you who have been around a bit may remember that it did make a brief appearance on the old RMWeb up until I was at the point of building the platforms.

 

Everyone seemed keen on using the blog facility at that time and I decided that wasn't for me so didn't bring the thread over and used the time instead to get on with some modelling and concentrate on a couple of other forums that I use. I did remain a member of RMweb but more in the "lurking" category until recently, my post count will bear that out.

 

This is my first layout that I have ever got near to completion after a number of abortive attempts.

 

Much Murkle is a GWR BLT for which I make no apologies having collected GW stock over the years. The layout is located in the area south of Ledbury, Herefordshire as I wanted to feature a cider house (rail served of course, even if unlikely). The name "Much Murkle" is fictitious but a derivative of the actual village of Much Marcle, which is well known for its cider making and serial killer (Fred West was born here). Whilst there is a Cider factory on the layout, Fred has not made an appearance as of yet.

 

Construction began in January 2009 and the layout had its first outing to the Model Rail Group Forum meet at Bristol in April this year. Since then Much Murkle has featured in the July 2012 edition of Hornby magazine

 

Whilst it performed well at the MRG meet, a lot was learnt from that first outing and I've just started the process of redesigning the fiddle yard cassettes and still have the fascia and lighting to do as well as building more stock, detailing the locos etc.

 

Here's a few recent photos to get things started.

 

attachicon.gifMRG Meet up Apr 12 004.JPG

 

attachicon.gifStation Building 053.JPG

 

attachicon.gifGoods Shed 038.jpg

 

attachicon.gifMM March 2012 004.JPG

 

attachicon.gifMM June 2012 008.JPG

 

attachicon.gifMM June 2012 016.JPG

 

attachicon.gifMM June 2012 017.JPG

 

attachicon.gifMM MRG Apr 12 019.JPG

 

attachicon.gifMM June 2012 022.JPG

 

 

Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but I've enjoyed the journey so far.

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Hi everyone.

 

Please let me introduce Much Murkle to you all. Some of you who have been around a bit may remember that it did make a brief appearance on the old RMWeb up until I was at the point of building the platforms.

 

Everyone seemed keen on using the blog facility at that time and I decided that wasn't for me so didn't bring the thread over and used the time instead to get on with some modelling and concentrate on a couple of other forums that I use. I did remain a member of RMweb but more in the "lurking" category until recently, my post count will bear that out.

 

This is my first layout that I have ever got near to completion after a number of abortive attempts.

 

Much Murkle is a GWR BLT for which I make no apologies having collected GW stock over the years. The layout is located in the area south of Ledbury, Herefordshire as I wanted to feature a cider house (rail served of course, even if unlikely). The name "Much Murkle" is fictitious but a derivative of the actual village of Much Marcle, which is well known for its cider making and serial killer (Fred West was born here). Whilst there is a Cider factory on the layout, Fred has not made an appearance as of yet.

 

Construction began in January 2009 and the layout had its first outing to the Model Rail Group Forum meet at Bristol in April this year. Since then Much Murkle has featured in the July 2012 edition of Hornby magazine

 

Whilst it performed well at the MRG meet, a lot was learnt from that first outing and I've just started the process of redesigning the fiddle yard cassettes and still have the fascia and lighting to do as well as building more stock, detailing the locos etc.

 

Here's a few recent photos to get things started.

 

attachicon.gifMRG Meet up Apr 12 004.JPG

 

attachicon.gifStation Building 053.JPG

 

attachicon.gifGoods Shed 038.jpg

 

attachicon.gifMM March 2012 004.JPG

 

attachicon.gifMM June 2012 008.JPG

 

attachicon.gifMM June 2012 016.JPG

 

attachicon.gifMM June 2012 017.JPG

 

attachicon.gifMM MRG Apr 12 019.JPG

 

attachicon.gifMM June 2012 022.JPG

 

 

Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but I've enjoyed the journey so far.

 

Hi nick,do you have plans of layout ?as i am thinking of getting back into MR in n gauge as i have retired and need something to keep me occupied, the weather is not great so i am looking for a layout when i cannot get out and about

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Great layout,is it possible to get track plans,as i am just starting back into n gauge and i would like to try this one

 

Hi Davy. I replied using the email address that you sent by PM. Hope it helps.

 

How weird I was just reading about this layout in a back issue of Hornby Magazine today. Great layout and glad to follow it on here. 

 

 

Regards 

Scott 

 

Thanks Scott, nice to know someone has read it :imsohappy:

 

Hi Nick

My first good veiwing of the thread, lovely layout, nice wagons, like the lighting it makes all difference.

81C

 

Thanks 81C. The layout has been neglected lately due to work commitments and domestic decorating duties. Hopefully I can get some more photos taken soon.

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