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

[Captain Kernow]

A disguised pill box is not such a daft idea. For years, Blue Anchor in Somerset used to have two signalboxes, only one was a disguised pill box, just a few yards from the real one!

 

[MrWolf]

That might make sense, we are looking at the back as such. The low wall is a blast deflector and there appears to be a doorway behind. It's just that the building would be set into the ground, a foot or two. The hole in the gable wall is about right for a machine gun embrasure and that oddly shaped roof breaks up the hexagonal shape from the air. 

I think you've cracked it!

[br2975]

8 hours 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 think the clue was when I said in the OP that my 'alma mater' was in the background

.

The buildings to the right were Canton High School for Girls, away to the left, Canton High School for Boys.

.

Post 1967, the schools became "co-ed" and were known as Cantonian High School.

.

The benefits.....a continual flow of traffic to and from Radyr yard and the cardiff Valleys.

[br2975]

4 hours ago, Porcy Mane said:

 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.

 

 

 

It was a girl only school too. Domestic Science?

Sorry old chap.

.

There were two secondary schools on the same site, one girls, one boys, they became "co-ed" around 1967 to be known as Canton Hiagh School

.

As I mentioned in my first post, this was my alma mater from around 1968. 

[Dunsignalling]

27 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

That might make sense, we are looking at the back as such. The low wall is a blast deflector and there appears to be a doorway behind. It's just that the building would be set into the ground, a foot or two. The hole in the gable wall is about right for a machine gun embrasure and that oddly shaped roof breaks up the hexagonal shape from the air. 

I think you've cracked it!

The one at Axminster is set into the ground by more, 3 to 4 ft so the emplacement presents a low profile. It was clearly positioned to protect the railway station and western approach to the town from paratroops landing on the flood plain.

 

We used the apron on the open side as seating when swimming, rafting and picnicking on the riverside as kids. Probably still goes on....

 

Machine gun emplacements generally have fairly wide openings along the "business side" - on the Axminster one it takes up two adjacent sides of the hexagon. The OS map shows open ground on the side opposite the blast wall of the one in the photo where I'd expect there to be a similar opening to give a wide arc of fire for the gun.

 

John

Edited January 3, 2021 by Dunsignalling

[Porcy Mane]

7 minutes ago, br2975 said:

As I mentioned in my first post, this was my alma mater from around 1968. 

 

The fact there was an all girls school there would have done me. Just the job for an adolescent daydreaming school boy to hang around outside the gate playing wiv me marbles.

 

P

[br2975]

Well chaps.

.

Pig sty, pill box, sand drier, science lab........... ?

.

I have lived 400yds up the road from this location for the last 40+ years, and in the general area for 25 years before that.....Ely (Fairwater Road) Goods, was so named by the GWR post-grouping, to differentiate from their nearby Ely (Main Line) station located about 600 yards away, on the South Wales Main Line.

.

I also attended the school seen in the one image.

.

Local opinion is that the corrugated tin structure and loading bank may have been built for milk traffic purposes, in churns.

.

There is/has been little other local industry that could warrant such a design....... at the time the yard was built by the TVR / PH&DR the land was extremely rural, with but a very small bakery, across the park opposite the main gates. 

.

All other nearby industries were served by the GWR at Ely (Main Line) eg Rhymney & Crosswell's Brewery, also Ely Brewery, Thomas Owen's Paper Mill etc.

.

The photo below was taken some 15 years ago, from the down platform at Waungron Park. The white flats, Kennilworth Court now occuy the site of the yard. The flats and the trees obscure the school buildings, which still stand, despite my six years there !

.

I hope this helps ?

.

Brian R

[br2975]

7 minutes ago, Porcy Mane said:

 

The fact there was an all girls school there would have done me. Just the job for an adolescent daydreaming school boy to hang around outside the gate playing wiv me marbles.

 

P

By the time I got there it was 'co-ed'

.

The girls were of little importance, when one could watch an endless stream of freight trains, hauled by Cl.08,14,25,31,35,37,42,43,45,46,47,52 to name but a few classes, whilst allegedly studying.

.

Albeit, my wife was two years below me at the same seat of learning !

Edited January 3, 2021 by br2975

[Mick Bonwick]

Done any modelling today, Rob?

[Winslow Boy]

Well that was as good away as any to while away a couple of hours on a Sunday.

 

Wonder what Rob has been doing?

[Mick Bonwick]

9 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

 

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

.

.

.

.

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

 

 

Your idea of a smidge and mine are a little different.

 

If you can organise yourself to plan and implement things in the way you have described, then I beg to differ on your statement about discipline. Your ability to separate all those interests and manage to represent them by building layouts does not amount to a lack of discipline, surely.

 

We all await your planning and construction of Ewedington Burtle with great anticipation. The experiences you have gained from all of its predecessors will stand you in good stead. That I do know.

 

Thank you for your erudite explanation. Maybe I'll give some more thought to my plans, such as they are . . . . . . . . .

[NHY 581]

22 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

 

Your idea of a smidge and mine are a little different.

 

If you can organise yourself to plan and implement things in the way you have described, then I beg to differ on your statement about discipline. Your ability to separate all those interests and manage to represent them by building layouts does not amount to a lack of discipline, surely.

 

We all await your planning and construction of Ewedington Burtle with great anticipation. The experiences you have gained from all of its predecessors will stand you in good stead. That I do know.

 

Thank you for your erudite explanation. Maybe I'll give some more thought to my plans, such as they are . . . . . . . . .

 

 

Evening Mick. 

 

 I gave this a bit of thought and the reply surprised me a bit. I read it back and came to the same conclusion. That said I still consider myself to lack discipline........but I'm getting better........ish. 

 

Rob. 

[Mikkel]

We all struggle with discipline at times, I think. Perhaps because there's this paradox that modelling is supposed to be about pleasure and relaxation but it often also requires discipline. 

 

Anyway, for me discipline is first and foremost about finishing things, whether it's an individual model or a layout. You do that better than most of us Rob. 

[NHY 581]

1 hour ago, Mikkel said:

We all struggle with discipline at times, I think. Perhaps because there's this paradox that modelling is supposed to be about pleasure and relaxation but it often also requires discipline. 

 

Anyway, for me discipline is first and foremost about finishing things, whether it's an individual model or a layout. You do that better than most of us Rob. 

 

Thanks Mikkel. 

 

Thats why the small, 'boxed off' approach suits me. The realisation started with Sheep Lane being completed so quickly. Returning to the loft layout, it got to the point where I would not go there for weeks, perhaps months. I could see no change, no progress. The enthusiasm just went. 

 

When I start a new project, almost immediately I see progress. Generally, the day I start tracklaying is the day I run my first train. 

 

The biggest drag, like many of us, is the treatment of track and ballast. Proper struggle. Once that is done, things come together fairly promptly and without delay.

 

The big challenge for me will be something like Eweington Burtle. I want it to be a large layout.....but I will need to strike a balance. That balance is that despite being a junction station, it maintained a very simple trackplan throughout its existence. Small buildings and short trains  will add to this but still maintain sufficient operating potential to make things interesting. 

 

However, for now at least small layouts rule....though I have something in mind for Outwool as I want to create a feeling of a flat,open space. This will be aided by small locos and small low buildings. Nothing too tall........as per Standard Sheep Operating Procedure. ( S.S.O.P ) 

 

Rob. 

Edited January 5, 2021 by NHY 581

[bgman]

Well that's it then.....I'm selling my O Gauge and going back to oo !!! 

 

3-2-1 and back in the room .......

[Captain Kernow]

On 03/01/2021 at 21:16, br2975 said:

By the time I got there it was 'co-ed'

As in Betws-y-Coed?

 

[MrWolf]

5 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

 

Thanks Mikkel. 

 

Thats why the small, 'boxed off' approach suits me. The realisation started with Sheep Lane being completed so quickly. Returning to the loft layout, it got to the point where I would not go there for weeks, perhaps months. I could see no change, no progress. The enthusiasm just went. 

 

When I start a new project, almost immediately I see progress. Generally, the day I start tracklaying is the day I run my first train. 

 

The biggest drag, like many of us, is the treatment of track and ballast. Proper struggle. Once that is done, things come together fairly promptly and without delay.

 

The big challenge for me will be something like Eweington Burtle. I want it to be a large layout.....but I will need to strike a balance. That balance is that despite being a junction station, it maintained a very simple trackplan throughout its existence. Small buildings and short trains  will add to this but still maintain sufficient operating potential to make things interesting. 

 

However, for now at least small layouts rule....though I have something in mind for Outwool as I want to create a feeling of a flat,open space. This will be aided by small locos and small low buildings. Nothing too tall........as per Standard Sheep Operating Procedure. ( S.S.O.P ) 

 

Rob. 

 

I have to agree a hundred percent with you Rob. I built a layout around two walls and added full scenery when I was in my early/mid teens. The actual "fully worked" area amounted to 16' X 2', which kept me busy for a couple of years. During which I tried (and failed) to build a portable layout.

My next attempt came a dozen years later, same loft location, same end result. I would go up and run trains, I built some of the structures, I collected parts and as you know from my thread, an inordinate number of wagon kits....

There were two boards at 14' X 1' and two at 14' X 2'. 

I had over 60' of continuous run, single track because I didn't want the boards just full of track, I was going for a railway in the landscape. 

 

Which eventually turned out to be the problem. All that track to ballast? (Not counting all the sidings, loops etc) All that greenery? Remember, this was 20 years ago, pre static grass.

Plus the narrowest sections were awkward to get to and the baseboards weren't all that great...

The chance to sell up and clear off abroad was the best excuse in the world to dismantle it and not have to admit defeat!

 

I might not be building a micro layout now, but I AM treating it as three micro layouts, all of which use common materials. The idea came to me having studied layouts such as Bleat and the fact that my layouts' scenic area breaks down into three 4' X 2' sections

Working on the scenic area is suddenly less daunting. The other thing which has really helped me to progress the layout has been to put my progress on this site. I can look back and actually see how far I have got, rather than look at the layout which still needs lots doing!

 

[Captain Kernow]

I think it might be time for a nice cup of tea.

 

Edited January 6, 2021 by Captain Kernow

[2ManySpams]

On 06/01/2021 at 15:32, Captain Kernow said:

I think it might be time for a nice cup of tea.

 

 

Or 3, and a biscuit.

[chuffinghell]

4 minutes ago, 2ManySpams said:

 

Or 3, and a biscuit.

 

Hobnob?

 

No, just the way I’m sitting

[durham light infantry]

On 06/01/2021 at 15:32, Captain Kernow said:

I think it might be time for a nice cup of tea.

 

 

What about a nice sponge finger, or a fondant fancy to go with that?

 

Ooh, I've gone all Alan Bennett...

[46444]

8 minutes ago, durham light infantry said:

 

What about a nice sponge finger, or a fondant fancy to go with that?

 

Ooh, I've gone all Alan Bennett...

 

Not Alan Bennett Class...

 

 

[St Enodoc]

31 minutes ago, 2ManySpams said:

 

Or 3, and a biscuit.

I'll settle for one cuppa and three biscuits, please.

[46444]

2 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

I'll settle for one cuppa and three biscuits, please.

 

And a Tunnocks Caramel Wafer here please..

[MrWolf]

Well, that all got a bit weird. Was it something I said?