well filled baps The Sheep Chronicles : These are the adventures of a Sheep, the Works Forecat and Naughty George,

[Flying Fox 34F]

Looks like a school building, Possibly a gymnasium, the red bits look like doors.  The rest of the structure that forms the rest of the background looks like an early sixties school.
It jars the eye considering how the rest of the scene looks.

 

Paul

[NHY 581]

On 01/01/2021 at 14:00, NHY 581 said:

Thoughts are now turning to this years project or in my case projects.

 

In a classic “chicken and egg” scenario, I found myself wondering about what comes first, the loco or the layout. Sheep Dip was definitely built around Hornby's Pecketts. Mutton was always a home for Hornby’s Radials. Once again it’s locos again that are making the running. 

 

Outwool will feature Model Rail J70s along with a Sentinel or two. There’s also scope for a J15 but it is very much a build along the lines of the Wisbleat and Upwool. 

 

The arrival of the Bachmann 1P once again prompted thoughts of a BLT squeezed into the usual 120cm x 40cm coffee table top. Nothing spectacular and honestly not needed as the 1P can ply its trade on Bleat Wharf. That said, I have the buildings and stock for it already so a quick build of a S&DJR outpost could be on the cards. 

 

That would give a choice of five small Cameo layouts when we are able to exhibit again........and if not.............then I still have five small layouts. 

 

I really must find a proper home for these at some point...

 

 

Rob

 

 

 

16 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

When I see models like this I regret my decision to stop collecting. The original reason was to prevent buying things that would only ever sit in the display case. It was full!

 

Purchases were then restricted to Southern (or BR(SR)) so that they would legitimately be able to run on the layout.

 

But then Hornby made Pecketts and Hattons made Barclays. I am not well enough self-disciplined to restrict my purchases to what is needed (as opposed to what is wanted) so things are in danger of getting out of hand.

 

I admire your reasoning behind obtaining stock to run on a specific layouts, Rob, but now begin to wonder about the number of layouts. Tell the truth, now, do you think of layouts to justify your purchases, or plan the layouts then have to stock them? Very much the chicken and egg story.

 

 

Morning Mick. I've quoted my original thoughts on the matter but perhaps need to expand a smidge...

 

I think the reasoning behind my approach is, well, multilayered and not easy to explain quickly or concisely for that matter.....sorry. 

 

Something I really struggle with is that, within reason, I simply have no time for a layout that mixes stock and location. It has to look right. In other words, a GWR layout has to have GWR locos. A LMS layout needs LMS locos etc etc. 

 

The rules blur a bit in BR days but the same parameters apply. Obvious exceptions occur of course such as the appearance of Ivatt 2.6.2T on ex-Southern lines.....Though these were as much a Southern loco by then as an M7 but in essence the setting must match the stock. 

 

A loco or item of rolling stock, in isolation, is just that and remains so. 

 

But.....support it with other appropriate stock and place it in an appropriate setting and it  takes on purpose. That's the crux of it. Now if in doing this sufficient justification is provided then so be it. 

 

My 'favourite line is the S&DJR. Now, on the face of it, this is a huge contradiction to the above. At a basic level, its Midland locos in a West Country setting with stations painted in Southern Railway colours with signalling influenced by and in many cases adopting L&SWR and Southern practices and equipment. As an example, Ex-LMS 2P in lined black hauling a set of Maunsell coaches in Crimson and Cream, in Somerset ,passing a station painted in Southern green and cream. Work that out. 

 

Leading on from the above, joint second is an interest in Ex-L&SWR/Southern/Railway/ Region and Midland Railway/LM&SR/Region. 

 

But the thought of say an Adams Radial traversing a S&D layout causes me all sorts of issues, as would a 2P appearing at a typical South Western station. 

 

So what I am saying is simply one layout cannot tick the box for me. 

 

Mutton is South Western. No argument there and it was built for the Radials. If we see it without any regional stock, given its concrete platform and buildings in Southern colours, there is a reasonable expectation that Southern locos and stock will appear.  Anything else screams WRONG to me. 

 

Bleat Wharf is a S&D Layout, through and through. Always goods only, it was built to reflect my interest in this railway and to utilise the Midland/S&D locos I already had. Green woodwork and a couple of discreet L&SWR signs but it is my rendition of an  S&D outpost influenced by Highbridge  and John Betjeman.

That said,  I can also run this with South Western/Southern locos such as the B4 or P class ( such a good shunting loco) which was something I had at the back of my mind from the start. 

 

Sheep Dip was built to accommodate the Pecketts. No argument there. A Peckett at either of the previous layouts looked wrong to me and they just sat in their boxes. They needed an industrial layout and Sheep Dip was the result. A knock on effect is that other industrial stock looks good on it as do the Eastern Sentinels. 

 

Next project is Outwool. I do like a J70. From this, I actually discovered that I like ex-Great Eastern small locos.  Now, I could ignore the signage and use Bleat Wharf but whilst a J15 looks okay, as would a J69 or E4, I'm sure.....the J70 doesn't ( to me). The W&U is readily identifiable as I have discovered from recent research. There are certain things such as the roof profile of the generally small buildings and the flatness of the landscape that are essential if this character is to be captured. 

 

The 'Cardiff Project above probably won't happen. It interests me but perhaps not to the extent that it would persuade me to delay other projects. To be honest, railways of my home town do not really interest min full stop in the way that the railways of the West Country do, for example 

 

The idea of an S&D terminus appeals but I see it as a bit of a stop gap. A bit of fun as I have all the ingredients already. 

 

My main constraint is space. I can accommodate small layouts.......ish. 

 

Of course, one day I will build a junction station based on Edington Burtle but I simply do not have the space to do it as I want at present as I do not want to compromise, which again is contradictory as all my layouts are a compromise. 

 

For the same reason I have not built Lamb Regis. This needs space to flow.....

 

I will get around to them and perhaps these are not too far away either. However, for now the small layout approach suits my eclecticism. These small projects get started and finished, generally not taking more than a few months. Therein lies another key. I floundered for years trying to progress a large loft layout and never did finish it. A proper failure. I  would approach such a build differently now, significantly so and this is based on things learnt building my small layouts. I've gained confidence. This small layout approach is a bit  fragmented and the layouts can lack fine detail. They have very basic electrics and structure but I like the fact that each layout is different to the other. They are self contained, snapshots if you will and each have their own individual characteristics or should that be peculiarities........

 

Oh and I do lack self discipline as well.......

 

 

Rob. 

[Winslow Boy]

10 minutes ago, Flying Fox 34F said:

Looks like a school building, Possibly a gymnasium, the red bits look like doors.  The rest of the structure that forms the rest of the background looks like an early sixties school.
It jars the eye considering how the rest of the scene looks.

 

Paul

I may be wrong, not unknown, but the query was about the odd looking structure in the ' middle' of the photo. The one with the corrugated roof.

 

My initial thought was a pig sty but on reflection it looks like some sort of unloading dock as the roof line extends considerably out either side. I will be interested to learn more.

[simonmcp]

"Oh and I do lack self discipline as well....."

 

You have a lot more than I do! You have built some brilliant layouts which have inspired a lot of people. I would never describe any of your layouts as lacking fine detail, quite the opposite I think they have just the right amount of detail to be extremely realistic.

 

Keep up the good work, you are motivating a lot of us to have a go, your use and adaption of 'ready to plant' buildings is fantastic.

 

Simon

[Flying Fox 34F]

2 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

I may be wrong, not unknown, but the query was about the odd looking structure in the ' middle' of the photo. The one with the corrugated roof.

 

My initial thought was a pig sty but on reflection it looks like some sort of unloading dock as the roof line extends considerably out either side. I will be interested to learn more.

I stand corrected. It is Sunday after all!

It is a very unusual building and appears to be inside the railway fence. I cannot imagine the area inspectir sanctioning a Pig Sty on company property?

 

Paul

[Winslow Boy]

7 minutes ago, Flying Fox 34F said:

I stand corrected. It is Sunday after all!

It is a very unusual building and appears to be inside the railway fence. I cannot imagine the area inspectir sanctioning a Pig Sty on company property?

 

Paul

Neither can I hence my alternative suggestion. What troubles me though with that is the height of the roofline.

[JustinDean]

42 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

 

 

 

Morning Mick. I've quoted my original thoughts on the matter but perhaps need to expand a smidge...

 

I think the reasoning behind my approach is, well, multilayered and not easy to explain quickly or concisely for that matter.....sorry. 

 

Something I really struggle with is that, within reason, I simply have no time for a layout that mixes stock and location. It has to look right. In other words, a GWR layout has to have GWR locos. A LMS layout needs LMS locos etc etc. 

 

The rules blur a bit in BR days but the same parameters apply. Obvious exceptions occur of course such as the appearance of Ivatt 2.6.2T on ex-Southern lines.....Though these were as much a Southern loco by then as an M7 but in essence the setting must match the stock. 

 

A loco or item of rolling stock, in isolation, is just that and remains so. 

 

But.....support it with other appropriate stock and place it in an appropriate setting and it  takes on purpose. That's the crux of it. Now if in doing this sufficient justification is provided then so be it. 

 

My 'favourite line is the S&DJR. Now, on the face of it, this is a huge contradiction to the above. At a basic level, its Midland locos in a West Country setting with stations painted in Southern Railway colours with signalling influenced by and in many cases adopting L&SWR and Southern practices and equipment. As an example, Ex-LMS 2P in lined black hauling a set of Maunsell coaches in Crimson and Cream, in Somerset ,passing a station painted in Southern green and cream. Work that out. 

 

Leading on from the above, joint second is an interest in Ex-L&SWR/Southern/Railway/ Region and Midland Railway/LM&SR/Region. 

 

But the thought of say an Adams Radial traversing a S&D layout causes me all sorts of issues, as would a 2P appearing at a typical South Western station. 

 

So what I am saying is simply one layout cannot tick the box for me. 

 

Mutton is South Western. No argument there and it was built for the Radials. If we see it without any regional stock, given its concrete platform and buildings in Southern colours, there is a reasonable expectation that Southern locos and stock will appear.  Anything else screams WRONG to me. 

 

Bleat Wharf is a S&D Layout, through and through. Always goods only, it was built to reflect my interest in this railway and to utilise the Midland/S&D locos I already had. Green woodwork and a couple of discreet L&SWR signs but it is my rendition of an  S&D outpost influenced by Highbridge  and John Betjeman.

That said,  I can also run this with South Western/Southern locos such as the B4 or P class ( such a good shunting loco) which was something I had at the back of my mind from the start. 

 

Sheep Dip was built to accommodate the Pecketts. No argument there. A Peckett at either of the previous layouts looked wrong to me and they just sat in their boxes. They needed an industrial layout and Sheep Dip was the result. A knock on effect is that other industrial stock looks good on it as do the Eastern Sentinels. 

 

Next project is Outwool. I do like a J70. From this, I actually discovered that I like ex-Great Eastern small locos.  Now, I could ignore the signage and use Bleat Wharf but whilst a J15 looks okay, as would a J69 or E4, I'm sure.....the J70 doesn't ( to me). The W&U is readily identifiable as I have discovered from recent research. There are certain things such as the roof profile of the generally small buildings and the flatness of the landscape that are essential if this character is to be captured. 

 

The 'Cardiff Project above probably won't happen. It interests me but perhaps not to the extent that it would persuade me to delay other projects. To be honest, railways of my home town do not really interest min full stop in the way that the railways of the West Country do, for example 

 

The idea of an S&D terminus appeals but I see it as a bit of a stop gap. A bit of fun as I have all the ingredients already. 

 

My main constraint is space. I can accommodate small layouts.......ish. 

 

Of course, one day I will build a junction station based on Edington Burtle but I simply do not have the space to do it as I want at present as I do not want to compromise, which again is contradictory as all my layouts are a compromise. 

 

For the same reason I have not built Lamb Regis. This needs space to flow.....

 

I will get around to them and perhaps these are not too far away either. However, for now the small layout approach suits my eclecticism. These small projects get started and finished, generally not taking more than a few months. Therein lies another key. I floundered for years trying to progress a large loft layout and never did finish it. A proper failure. I  would approach such a build differently now, significantly so and this is based on things learnt building my small layouts. I've gained confidence. This small layout approach is a bit  fragmented and the layouts can lack fine detail. They have very basic electrics and structure but I like the fact that each layout is different to the other. They are self contained, snapshots if you will and each have their own individual characteristics or should that be peculiarities........

 

Oh and I do lack self discipline as well.......

 

 

Rob. 

This post really struck a chord with me. I’ve wondered a few times ‘why build a model railway’. As someone who doesn’t actually know a great deal about railways I’ve come to realise it’s all about that ‘snap shot’. Seeing an evocative photograph like the one posted above is the start of the process which ultimately ends in creating a three dimensional version of the snapshot that has your own interpretation and creative stamp on it. That’s why small layouts, micros etc are great because there’s always an end in sight. They’re achievable on many levels. Don’t get me wrong, I love Pendon, or following the model of York that’s on RMWeb, but I’m never going to build on that scale. The danger is having too many ideas floating around and getting distracted for me; there’s just so many great places crying out to be modelled!

Really enjoying your layouts and this thread Rob!

[stewartingram]

Engine shed for a "Flying Pig"?

I'll get my coat....

[MrWolf]

Don't suppose it's some kind of sand store by any chance? Wouldn't take much to heat, probably a paraffin hen house heater or similar.

[Porcy Mane]

56 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

My initial thought was a pig sty

 

Maybe not to far from reality. It was hexagonal in plan view. I'd wager it was something to do with driving livestock to the nearby auction mart. (Had a bacon factory next door).

 

Then again it might just be a pump house? Aren't OS maps wonderful.

 

P

 

[Gilbert]

4 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Eeek! A mouse LNER loco!

 

Presumably I'll be losing my SWAG epaulettes and my modelling knife will be broken in half.........

[MrWolf]

36 minutes ago, Gilbert said:

Presumably I'll be losing my SWAG epaulettes and my modelling knife will be broken in half.........

 

I'm lucky enough to be immune to such things, being a member of the Great Western Armies Of Darkness...

 

Back to that weird shed. It frankly looks too small for a pigsty. You'd probably get two in it. Also, why such a complicated roof? What purpose the hole in the side and the brickwork at the front?

[JustinDean]

Surely the section I’ve circled here is a loading dock?

[Captain Kernow]

Perhaps it's the Science Lab for the school?

 

Or a road-rail interchange.

 

[MrWolf]

Working on the principle of the bricks being 9" long and 3" high and the corrugated sheets on the nearest slope being 6'0" long and 2'6" wide with a 4" overlap - I get roughly 10'0" wide on the track side and 10'0" to the apex, 6'0" to the lowest edge of the corrugated iron. It seems a bit small for a loading bay to me based on that.

I still have nothing else to contribute as to what it actually IS though!

[Wuggie Norple]

Could it possibly be a slaughterhouse?  There was a bacon factory a few hundred yards away:

 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17&lat=51.48899&lon=-3.23168&layers=168&right=BingHyb

 

So perhaps pigs were unloaded at the cattle dock, taken to the mystery building and despatched, and then loaded onto road transport at the loading dock to be taken to the bacon factory? 

 

Nick

[Porcy Mane]

35 minutes ago, JustinDean said:

Surely the section I’ve circled here is a loading dock?

 Looking at the OS map, that'll be some gap between dock edge & Wagon that any piggies would need to fly over but it's fun to speculate. Looks like it might even be outside of the railway boundary. Covered well for the allotments. Someone will know.

 

 

31 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

Perhaps it's the Science Lab for the school?

 

It was a girl only school too. Domestic Science?

Edited January 3, 2021 by Porcy Mane

[MrWolf]

Looking at the way it's been built, the girls were more likely mixing explosives than Victoria sponge cake.

Was that school some kind of Welsh St Trinian's?

[Porcy Mane]

11 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Welsh St Trinian's?

 

St. Ninians? (Crichton-Stuart)

[MrWolf]

Is it me, or is it getting silly on here again? 

[Winslow Boy]

Looking at the enlargement that Justin? Has provided I'm thinking it might be taller than what it seems. The reason I'm suggesting this is that there appears to be a flight of steps on the gable side with several treads. There also seems to be some sort of gangway going away. Definitely intriguing.

[MrWolf]

11 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Looking at the enlargement that Justin? Has provided I'm thinking it might be taller than what it seems. The reason I'm suggesting this is that there appears to be a flight of steps on the gable side with several treads. There also seems to be some sort of gangway going away. Definitely intriguing.

 

Agreed, it's one of those things that don't actually matter in the scale of things that will actually bug you for ages.

I had looked closely at the bottom of the gable wall whilst attempting to count brick courses. It looks more to me like a large pallet or crate side leaning against the wall.

I got to around 25 courses of bricks on the gable wall which is roughly 6 feet high.

[Dunsignalling]

Bits of it look vaguely like a wartime machine gun emplacement which were often hexagonal. There's one by the river in Axminster 150 yards or so from the old branch trackbed.

 

Corrugated top added to disguise its true purpose from aerial observation?

 

John

[Winslow Boy]

Yes that had occurred to me as well. What put me off from mentioning it was the openings. They just didn't seem right for that sort of use.

[gwrrob]

46 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Bits of it look vaguely like a wartime machine gun emplacement which were often hexagonal. There's one by the river in Axminster 150 yards or so from the old branch trackbed.

 

 

There’s a photo of it in the latest Peter Gray book.