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Mortimore's Yard - '70s trip freight workings


HillsideDepot
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Hi Adrian

 

You'll do all that work and hide it behind the houses and bakers.

Umm  :scratchhead: yeah!

 

Some of it will be visible from the end, and the houses will still be removable so I can get some camera angles on the railway. But I know it's there.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Were they to PBA, or for the fuel depot at Shirehampton?

I know its late to chip in, but there was a Texaco oil depot at the back of Chittening Estate. I can't recall when it closed but I'm

fairly sure it was after I had finished working down htere, which was mid 80s

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I know its late to chip in, but there was a Texaco oil depot at the back of Chittening Estate. I can't recall when it closed but I'm

fairly sure it was after I had finished working down htere, which was mid 80s

Never too late to chip in, Tony. Any little piece of information which later gets picked up by a search engine could be just the lead someone else is looking for. 

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Hi Adrian, can I ask a question about the plan, way back on Page 1?

 

I'm trying to scale it out, but can't reconcile your description of three 3ft 6 boards with the plan. Does the scenic section only cover two boards? I really like the plan and must confess I have been thinking of "borrowing" it.

 

Cheers

 

Jon

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Hi Jon, no problem ask away!

 

The plan as shown on page one covers two 3' 6" boards, the join goes through the middle of the Scout HQ, which is a removable building to help disguise the joint. The "fiddle yard" board has 6 inches scenic at the start mainly because that means the sector-plate roads are then a simple length of Streamline. The extra scenic space helps with the overall atmosphere.

 

As you'll see with the more recent posts, I've added (and still not finished!) a 9 inch extension at the stop block end. This has lengthened the coal siding, and the headshunt for the run-round, but was added more as a background for photos taken towards the blocks. Whilst it gives the option of leaving a loco on the headshunt and still having space to run round it doesn't really add anything to the operation, but extending those two lines (even if Mortimore's have stock piled coal over much of their extra siding space!) 'works' scenically.

 

Now is probably a good time to own-up to the fact that the plan for Mortimore's isn't my own! It's a copy of the original Canada Road: flipped, slightly curved, and in a completely different setting. But I could see that Canada Road's track layout worked so well, is very railway-like, and it fitted the space I had. It seemed the obvious way to go, and has certainly given me much enjoyment over the years.

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Anyone walking down the "cinder track" alongside Mortimore's Yard could have been forgiven for thinking it was April Fool's Day. Oh, hang on, it was.

DSC_2051b.jpg.273dda687f5226115ee8aaa818b87402.jpg

I know, I know, an unlikely pairing, but well, why not?

 

Normally I am pretty strict on what I buy, it has to be appropriate for the Bristol Division of the Western Region, although I do stretch my time-span somewhat, but generally speaking I keep to roughly 1973-76. Sure there are a few unlikely items among my fleet, I tend to be fairly focused.

 

Sometimes though, I'll buy something because I like it. And that's why I have a class 800. There is a thread on here that runs to many pages as the model doesn't go round corners and over bumps; suffice to say I doubt of mine will ever run. For many, many years I wanted an HST, and eventually got one in the privatisation GWT "Merlin" livery, so when Hornby announced the class 800 I thought "why not?"

 

Oh, and King George V, well that's in 1970's preserved mode, so perfectly OK (assuming my bridge is strong enough!). 6000 has long been a special loco to me, a Lima version was part of my initial train set fleet (along with a Lima 45xx), and the real thing also has a special place in my childhood. It was inevitable that I should get a more up-to-date version. And of course 6000 KGV is a popular loco for an occasional steam special working in or out of Westonmouth Central, sometimes stabling at London Road Locomotive Sidings.

Edited by HillsideDepot
Photos re-instated after Dediserve debacle
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  • 3 months later...

Hi Adrian, has anything been happening in Westonmouth lately?

 

The long hot summer has made me nostalgic for the 1970s of my childhood, when a trip to my grandparents in Brizzle (not so far from Westonmouth!) would invariably mean my father finding an excuse to take me to Temple Meads, "just for a look..."

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Thank you for your interest Jon. Sadly little has happened at Mortimore's Yard recently (for pretty much a year now) as I seem to have lost my "modelling mojo". I think I now know the reasons why this happened (and nothing to do with model railways), but getting back is proving hard; I need a few "quick wins". 

 

I've just finished an 8 Freedom of the South West rail rover, which is why I've taken a week to reply, and looking at the brown fields from the train reminded me of the summer of '76. That was, of course, the final hydraulic summer, 2018 could well be the final Inter-City 125 summer, there seems to be a sort of symmetry. 

 

I really ought to get some photos of yellowing grass for reference should I ever model '76 (or '75 which was also hot); I nearly bought some yellow-ish Woodland Scenic scatter at Kernow Model Centre last Friday, but that might tie M Yd too tightly date wise (and that green/full yellow class 22 which Dapol have just done looks tempting, not to mention the EP of the D600 so I need to keep the date flexible).

 

Hopefully I'll get the back to M Yd with my camera very soon, and get into the "Day in the Life of" which I mentioned last year.

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I was hesitant about posting, as I sensed a hiatus, and didn't want to add even a semblance of pressure, so i hope you won't take it that way. The layouts and the "back story" are lovely, and we will all enjoy whatever developments happen, whenever they do.

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After too long a gap things are slowly beginning to happen again at Mortimore's Yard. 

 

Firstly, thank you for your interest and concerns expressed in the last few posts; I value them.

 

I've not completely stopped modelling as I have (almost) finished this little scene, and have a few others in various stages of construction. I'm not sure who made the original of this, but I have long had a saved picture from Fotopic on my hard drive of this little set up. The Airfix garage, Wills gents and Barn, are the main components. It is amazing how they fit together so well. The original wasn't for any particular business, but I decided a builders yard would work. 

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The VW pick-up is just a temporary vehicle as I have a RTI resin truck nearly finished which will suit the scene better.

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All in all a simple, but fun, little project, with little or no purpose so far as any layout goes.

 

Another fairly simple project has come about following the collapse of EFE and the subsequent sale of stock by Bachmann. EFE buses are not exactly detail models, but at the prices they have been offered recently they are good for a bit of redecorating. Although generally hated at the time, the National Bus Company had plain and widespread liveries, basically green or red with a white waistband. Standardisation might not appeal to the enthusiast, but it does make light work of adding vehicles to ones chosen fleet, especially when nail polish remover will take off the EFE printing!

 

First up a pair of ex Western National FLFs, based on the two used on the last day of the Chippenham Town network 40 years ago. I'm still working on the best way to do registration plates and destinations, so those are still needed. It'll probably be print my own decals, in which case I'll wait until I have a batch to do. The 1978 period adverts will be harder to replicate, maybe I'll just have to imagine those. Apart from names/destinations all that was needed was to paint EFE's black wings.wheel arches green.

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For single decks the good old Bristol RELL was the local workhorse, the round front one here has just had the NBC logo back dated to the earlier white version and the advert removed. The flat screen one has new logo and fleet name, and new destination screens - unfortunately the EFE casting is neither tall screen or low screen so the "Tilling T" box doesn't really fit. 

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The BATH Leyand National here was a simple rename job, while the later CITYBUS vehicle also needed the later, wider, white waist band adding, and silver bumpers changed to white. Still a quick and easy route to something remembered, but not produced by EFE.

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A batch of Eastern National route branded VRs didn't sell well, if the amount of remaindered stock is any gauge. But I remembered that Bristol had a pair of ex Southern Vectis convertible open tops which ran for a while in this livery. So out with the saw for one, while the other remains in "winter mode". They did one summer at Weston-super-Mare with Bristol names, and then got "local identity" Weston & Wells names during the winter, and a reallocation to Bath! I've not found any pictures of them open topped with Weston names, nor closed with Bath names; by the next summer they were in cream and green for the Bath tour (a full repaint job, but on my list for the future).
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The Bath open top tour proved very popular and additional buses, both VRs, were borrowed from Devon General and Southdown. But a bargain Corgi, and the assumption that the Bath open top tour started a few years earlier led to this:
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But enough of builders and buses, I hear you cry. OK, sorry for the digression. Back at Mortimore's Yard.

I had been getting on quite well with the mini-extension. The extra piece was worked on off the layout, but the time came when it had to be attached. I really ought to take the main board down and attach the extension to work on it as its in-situ position is rather high to work on, and at the back of the layout. But doing it the lazy way I fitted the new piece on and eventually tried running something. Disaster!
OK, OK, I should have known, but with all the diluted PVA I'd used to soak through the coal piles the Sundella board had sagged and the end of the headshunt was like a roller-coaster. Last night I removed the extension, made the "quick-win" of gluing down the two industrial buildings and generally surveyed the position. Yes the headshunt is a disaster, but that's only a very small part of the board the rest of which I'm more than happy with, given the stage of the work.
As I work from home, my lunch break today provided the opportunity to gently lift the roller-coaster track so that I can pack the dip. I think that it will be OK like that and I can get on with the rest of the work.
Mortimore's used a combination of old sleeper and breeze block walls for their coal stacks. the building beyond with the temporarily placed fence, is inspired by the Wiltshire Bacon Factory building which backed onto Mortimore's real coal yard. That was really of concrete block construction rather than brick, but the factory opposite uses block and sheet construction, so I opted for brick. As I said "inspired by..."

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The view from the gate

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The yard office/amenity block, with Downing, Rudman and Bents joinery factory behind

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The end of the line. The short extension of the headshunt was a war-time measure. I plan to make it rather wet, grimy, unpleasant area in desperate need of a visit from the local CCE drainage experts.

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Edited by HillsideDepot
Photos re-instated after Dediserve debacle
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Hi Adrian

 

Nice to see you are back with building your layout.

 

I like the bus models.

 

A batch of Eastern National route branded VRs didn't sell well,

 

Did it have anything to do with the scab emergency drivers during a strike? Were the models blacked? :tomato:

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Hi Adrian

 

Nice to see you are back with building your layout.

 

I like the bus models.

 

Did it have anything to do with the scab emergency drivers during a strike? Were the models blacked? :tomato:

 

Nah, the models were branded Southend - Basildon - Romford - Kings Cross, so not Chelmesford's. As for the open toppers I drove one, if not both, at Bath; I quite often was asked to "run my bus in" by an open top driver wanting to do some overtime in the evening peak. I'd then need to let the Chippenham driver know what I was doing, and make haste to the depot while the Chippenham bus was loading and following. At that time of day the fueller, cleaner and shunter were all waiting for something to happen so I could usually dump the bus on the pump, and get to the stop opposite the depot to catch my bus home. But it was always worth letting the driver know as a few times I was still on the wrong side of the road when he pulled up!

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Hi Adrian,

 

good to see you feel like doing some modelling.

Although I am no bus expert I well remember the Bristol Omnibus fleet. 

From 1971 to 1977 I sometimes used the bus to travel between the two parts of my school for various lessons,

Weston garage would turn out anything for these transfers.

 

I remembered I had actually seen Mortimore's Yard in 2008 at theTaunton show, and now realise I had taken a photo.

post-7081-0-20206200-1537359819_thumb.jpg

 

cheers   

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Thanks for sharing the Taunton show photo, Kevin; I think that was probably its second or third exhibition. 

I'm gradually working on the small extension. The track for the headshunt has been eased up from the baseboard, and it now has some cardboard packing under it, so its ready for re-ballasting  now. I've put a kerb line in front of the building, using laser cut items from Scale Model Scenery. I then wondered about the surface of the pavement, finally settling on bricks which, when painted, will, I hope, resemble the non-slip blue blocks sometimes used in such areas. I've also managed to fit spear point fencing up around the back of the building, the angle of the sections intended for platform ramps fitting the incline I'd built - I got something right! 

 

In my usual way its gradual progress. I spend easily as much time trying things, looking, changing my mind, looking some more, as I do chopping and sticking! But it is progress. 

 

:offtopic:
A few more buses have been completed too, after some NBC green Leyland Nationals hit the Hattons bargain bin. That led me down some obscure avenues of research, trying to discover which Bristol Omnibus Nationals had the white waistband around the front: just the XEU-T and YFB-V batches. Wandering further back in time I have also been trying to decide on the colour of the wheel arches of the ex Western National FLFs which retained Tilling livery. It's either black or Brunswick green, but early 1970s colour film, plus 40+ years of fading isn't the best at telling them apart. Still, it's fun looking. :senile:   

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A little more progress this week, not at the Great Model Railway Challenge sort of speed, but just my usual slow, stuttering pace. 

 

Anyway, with the GWR Spear-point fencing place I remembered some GWR Boundary Marker Posts which I'd seen not long ago which ought to be just on the fence line, as they are on the rest of the layout. Do you think I could find them? Nope! After several searches in all the likely places, nothing. Ah well, lets put in an order to Dart Castings. Of course I ordered rather more in the way of white metal than a few marker posts, but all useful stock. 

 

Tidying away all the boxes I'd been searching in, and rearranging the shelf I uncovered another box, with the missing boundary markers in! Oh well, not to worry. Dart and the Post Office delivered promptly, but they still gave me time to find a pack of Dart chimney pots which will one day grace Langley road's chimney stacks; hmm, a second pack would have been useful!

 

Never mind, things are getting there, and its looking as I imagined. Firstly the path around the end of the yard, behind Downing, Rudman & Bent's joinery works

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The searing white filler shows where I had to do some more earth work to accommodate the fence.
 

The view from the gate.
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Not quite right yet, an attempt at a puddle. I think all the surrounding ground needs a coat of matt, and probably the ground next to the "water" needs darkening to suggest dampness.
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With the weatherman talking of the possibility of frost tonight, are you too late to take advantage of Mortimore's special summer prices?
post-5204-0-46961100-1538836121_thumb.jpg

    

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  • 4 weeks later...

In the cool of an early mid-summer morning

attachicon.gif026b.jpg

Cambridge and a TK?

Oh My Yes!!!!

Does the TK have a diesel or petrol engine?

Sorry, I'm just getting utterly anal!!!

Fantastic shot!!

And yes, I drove a TK horsebox with a 6 cylinder petrol engine. Sounded dead cool and she didn't half go!! not carrying the horses though!!!

                                                                                                          Chris.

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Cambridge and a TK?

Oh My Yes!!!!

Does the TK have a diesel or petrol engine?

Sorry, I'm just getting utterly anal!!!

Fantastic shot!!

And yes, I drove a TK horsebox with a 6 cylinder petrol engine. Sounded dead cool and she didn't half go!! not carrying the horses though!!!

                                                                                                          Chris.

Pleasure to have been of service, Chris.

 

I've no idea whether the TKs were petrol or diesel, but I'm sure they would have had those distinctively Bedford polite little whistles when the hand brake was applied rather than the harsh hiss of air everything else had. Here's a real one. Repainting mine from the livery I guessed/ incorrectly remembered to the actual livery is a job on my list.

 

I only really remember their later TL, which was plain white and driven (would you believe) by Mr Coleman, father of a girl in my class at Primary School. It seems he had a short temper as we once saw him arrive home by jumping out of the lorry at low speed and vaulting the garden fence. The truck came gently to rest against the opposite kerb whilst raised voices could be heard from inside the house. We decided it best to cycle away and play elsewhere!

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