Stubby47's 2013 Corner Module

[Sidecar Racer]

Remember the old song , The railroad runs through the middle of the factory .

[Captain Kernow]

Remember the old song , The railroad runs through the middle of the factory .

Sorry Mike, must be one of The Young Ones....  

[Stubby47]

Got a little bit more done today...

 

 

 

 

 

And this one could do with a Class 20, a few opens and a couple of guards vans...

 

[Andy Y]

Again; just like the real thing the bridge is waiting for its capping stones.  

 

It's brilliant!

[Stubby47]

I had done the coping stones on the first bridge side, but decided to use that one at the back.

 

All that's needed now is to sweep along from left to right, adding the final touches.

 

Oh, and clean the track !

[Sasquatch]

Now thats just cool!    Was sure the factory was going to be a porcelian utility manufacturers.

[Stubby47]

Took delivery of a special piece for the module yesterday. Added the outer layer last night, painted the main coat this evening.

 

This is one item not yet on the real BCB

[Sidecar Racer]

Took delivery of a special piece for the module yesterday. Added the outer layer last night, painted the main coat this evening.

 

This is one item not yet on the real BCB

 

What ??? Not original thinking Stu !!!!!

[Stubby47]

What ??? Not original thinking Stu !!!!!

Yes, but not so much lateral thnking, more vertical thnking...

[DonB]

Haaa! A crumbling Brummagem Tower Block !

[Stubby47]

Haaa! A crumbling Brummagem Tower Block !

 

Ooh, that's an idea, but maybe not possible before Sunday.....

[Geoff Cook]

Yes, but not so much lateral thnking, more vertical thnking...

 

Maybe something like a

 

 

 

Chimney or two

[Stubby47]

Spot on !!! (Even to the design !!!)

[Stubby47]

Today (& yesterday) I have been mostly adding some railings to the old industrial line bridge :

 

 

 

Obviously, it needs a little bit of paint...

[Stubby47]

It's only 4mm, but really, really close to the camera.

 

No, angles are 1.6mm x 1.6mm Plastruc section, drilled with a 0.65mm bit and threaded with a piece of fine plastic strip (Slaters' multipack).

[The Stationmaster]

As mentioned on the other thread - Mrs Stationmaster is still in snow scene mode;  which leaves me with a big problem!!

 

And as I can't attach a Word file I suppose I havd better copy it in - hope Stu doesn't mind it encroaching on his thread as it might have some relevance to events this coming weekend - -

 

 

 

The Silurian Spring And Summat Tunnel

 

The secret of their spring of life was one of the best kept secrets of the Ancient British tribe the Silures.  It was a secret they fought hard to hide from the Roman conquerors of Britain and it was one their direct descendants went to great lengths to keep hidden from the advancing conquerors who had landed in Britain with William the Duke of Normandy.

 

But the veil of history was thrown into tattered disarray by the arrival of England’s first great transport revolution – the age of the canal.  Although still little known the spring grew to prominence in the newspapers of the day when, in 1793, Josiah Brindle (inventor of the type of brick which still bears his name) announced the route of one of his early navigations and the fact that it would include a long tunnel.  Unknown to Brindle – hardly a descendant of the Silures as anyone who knew him would have instantly recognised – his planned tunnel passed within a few hundred yards of the sacred Silurian site.  But while objecting strongly to the plans for the tunnel the Guardians of The Spring, as they were by then known (but only to each other of course) could hardly break their sacred oath and reveal exactly what they were guardians of.  Thus it was no problem for Brindle’s bold idea to emerge triumphant, and somewhat poorer, from exhaustive scrutiny in Parliament (and some of the best restaurants and bawdy houses in London).

 

But by an odd quirk of fate Brindle’s magnificent work achieved another sort of fame for a very different reason when the poor script of one of his clerks resulted in the tunnel at the very top of his canal being misnamed ‘Summat Tunnel’ instead of the intended ‘Summit Tunnel’.  Although the works themselves had not gone much over budget the obtaining of Parliamentary Powers, and favours, had drawn heavily on Brindle’s purse and although his brick making royalties were gradually increasing he was too hard pressed to seek revisionary powers in order to rename the tunnel.

 

The error – if such it was because the clerk concerned had been dismissed over an alleged dalliance with Brindle’s daughter and might well have borne the great man some ill-feeling in consequence, especially when she went on to marry and become Flemetia Bond – carried on into the railway age when one of the new companies seeking a way though the range of hills pierced by Brindle’s great work sought to follow a similar route including a tunnel of its own.  Indeed as was not uncommon the railway took over Brindle’s tunnel in order to make far easier the obtaining of powers to bridge it deep underground.  Unlike other companies this railway did not seek to abuse its canal asset and in fact honoured it by using the same name for its own tunnel.  And, once again, the Guardians Of The Spring fought hard against change but eventually decided to succumb to the railway recognising that it might bring a new opportunity for them to collect, bottle, and sell the spring water using the railway to distribute it throughout the land.

 

The final part in our tale came nearly 70 years after Brindle drove his first heading when the railway discovered that the only level spot suitable for its new water troughs was actually inside the tunnel.  And even more advantageously the railway realised that the constant natural leakage of water from the surrounding rock ,which kept the canal tunnel filled, could be harnessed, by pumping, to fill its new water troughs.  Accordingly it constructed a pumping station for this purpose on the desolate hillside above the tunnel and added a branchline to feed coal to the pumping engines.  The new system recovered the spillage from the water troughs to keep the canal topped-up thus continuing the role the now collected natural leakage of water had played in servicing the canal.

 

Alas for those interested in beam engines the pumping system has long been converted to electrical operation, now entirely underground, and coal is no long worked up the branchline.

 

However fortunately for today’s enthusiasts the little line has survived to serve the bottling store which the Silurian Spring Water Company established on the hillside near the original pumping station.  This short and steeply graded line still sees regular traffic from the bottling plant - which despatches vanloads of its noted product to distribution centres on the railway network.

 

Further interest for the enthusiast comes from the variety of motive power which has been used on this line as its tight curvature and steep gradients have meant that the only locos specially suited to its nature can be used on it. With numerous different types from throughout the country being tried at various times.  Thus a visit to the line can be very rewarding for anyone able to access this very remote area and old Ted the Engoine Driver likes to keep his visiting charges very clean.

[Stubby47]

What an interesting, if possibly inventive, story !

[Captain Kernow]

A splendid narrative  - I can see that Algernon and Archie have some competition! 

[Stubby47]

^{"but it seemed that Blodwyn was no friend of the English, either…"}

^{Good man !!}

[DonB]

^{"but it seemed that Blodwyn was no friend of the English, either…"}

^{Good man !!}

OOOHHHH!!!  Why not say what you mean???

 

Colours nailed to the mast then??

 

Beautiful Friendships are in mortal danger!!

 

I will not be able to take a Cornish Pastie crimp seriously hence-forth !!

[Stubby47]

I am a Welshman, currently residing in another Celtic land, united against the foe.....

[Captain Kernow]

The Captain Kernow Plausible Denial Service can neither confirm nor deny any true or false facts regarding the Captain's ancestry, or not, as the case may (or may not) be...

[The Stationmaster]

That seals it, railway modelling IS an art form....   (So much for rivet counting then.  Still, I am up for counting the 'crimps' on a large pasty....Better get my coat!)  

But it's all real - here's the sign to prove it 

 

[Sidecar Racer]

The Captain Kernow Plausible Denial Service can neither confirm nor deny any true or false facts regarding the Captain's ancestry, or not, as the case may (or may not) be...

 

So is that a yes or no then .    

[The Stationmaster]

Thank you, much appreciated Paul .  I think the sign's the best bit (the building is RTP out of Kernow's bargain bin with a new canopy and a separate - larger - loading platform plus weathering which came out somewhat darker than I'd hoped, but it won't be redone before the weekend).  The sign was knocked up in Word on the 'puter and the resultant print is stuck to Plasticard then a layer of 'transparent' Sellotape was added to create the 'enamel' look.  A few crafty grazes with a scalpel to show where the different emalled sheets were joined and a bit of Tamiya weathering master 'rust' rubbed into the resultant cracks to produce what hopefully has the air of an old enamel sign.

Wow Mike!!  That's impressive modelling!  Love the weathering on the corrugated iron and the sign....  

 

This is how the canopy looked before the building was weathered (so its origin is even more all too plain to see) and before the fascia boards were fitted to the ends of the new canopy - which is 100% plastic from a variety of sources, the last bits were added this evening being the signs and the downpipe from the new canopy gutter (at the far end so no visible here). My 'palette' is just visible at extreme right with contents varied from the weathered down (hopefully) maroon to varying shades of muck for the corrugated roof, gutter unpainted at this stage

 

 

And here is the big secret - how it, plus extended loading platform, sits in the, hmm, 'landscape'  with daughter using a Tracksetta (how else do you get fiendishly tight curves that flow properly?) to keep some newly hot-glued scenery shape forming in place while the glue cooled.