The Bournemouth West Model Railway Group / Now known as The South Coast Model Railway Development Group / TSCMRDG

[Peter Kazmierczak]

5 hours ago, Roger Sunderland said:

John

 

Give Steve a ring at Model Railway Solutions 01202 798068, in the shop. He may be able to give you the contact number for our 3D guy. 

Incidentaly I was at Frank Robinsons funeral on 3rd January, he was a great help to us in building West. I know the group building Bournemouth Central had a lot of contact with him. Do you know if there are any plans/photos etc he shared with you of structures around Central station? We have the plans for the overall roof section of the station and track plans, but that’s about it.

 

I think you mean Frank Robertson, Roger. A great, down to earth sort of chap. Will miss him.

[phil_sutters]

On 14/01/2023 at 09:21, Combe Martin said:

Did you consider Templecombe (upper), I don't believe anyone's tried that ?, a nice mixture of S&D and Southern, or is it just too big to do it justice ?

Big enough to be able to charge through at speed! Someone once challenged the date saying that boys of that age wouldn't have been wearing long trousers at that date. I was, a few years earlier.

Edited February 2, 2023 by phil_sutters

[Evertonian]

A last minute reminder that B. West will be making its final appearance under

the present group's ownership at the Wimborne Model Railway exhibition

this weekend 15/16th April at the new venue for the show, the Allendale Centre

conveniently located in the town centre. The new owners will also be present

to learn, assist and remove to their clubrooms after the show concludes.

 

We look forward to seeing fans old and new over the weekend, and look

forward to showing the early developments on our new layout, whilst of course

wishing  the new owners well when exhibiting BW in the future.

 

Chris Knight on behalf of SWMDG.

[SRfanJV]

Hello Everyone,

 

As noted above, Bournemouth West is now under new ownership. 
 

The layout has been acquired by a member of the Salisbury & South Wilts Railway Society. Although remaining privately owned, Bournemouth West will be exhibited by the society. 
 

A period of maintenance and familiarisation is now taking place which will take many months. 
We are also taking the time to ensure that we have all of the appropriate stock for the layout, including the correct numbering and weathering to carry on the high quality traditions of the previous owners. 
 

I would like to take this time to thank Roger Sutherland and his team for the handover that they gave us. All of the TSCMRDG were very helpful and a great group of guys to gain knowledge from. 
 

We look forward to seeing how their new venture of Bournemouth Central progresses.
 

For now, Bournemouth West has been added to the society website, all updates will be put on there and on RM web when we can. 
 

http://sandswrs.co.uk/layouts/bournemouth-west-00-finescale/

 

 

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by SRfanJV

[SRfanJV]

Bournemouth West has been set up for the first time since it was taken over by Kevin and the Salisbury & South West Railway Society. 

 

As our current premises don't allow us to set up the layout, Salisbury Methodist Hall was hired by Kevin for 3 days to allow us to get to grips with the layout, test it and make some repairs/improvements. 

 

The first set of work has been to change the packaging system for the 9 scenic boards. The trolleys that the boards live in have been strengthened and the two large station end boards have had a brand new trolley made so that they are much easier to transport. 

 

Once the layout was set-up and tested, all was working well which was pleasing.

We then started testing all of the stock that was either purchased from the previous owning group or purchased new. Most worked without fault, but it was very noticeable on some rakes that the back to backs needed adjusting to get them running through the hand-built points correctly.

Doing this has improved the running quality massively.

 

There are now only 2-3 rakes that now need to be obtained to correctly use the same operating sequence that came with the layout. 

The stock will now be weathered and detailed where required to ensure that they all reach the required standard of detail. 

 

On Day 2, Kevin set to on upgrading the static grass on the layout which over time has become very dusty and discoloured. 

This has really brought the layout back to life with more vibrancy once again. You can see the difference halfway down the left handside cutting side. 

 

I replaced a switch in the control panel that had become stuck. This, we believe was the route cause of the failures in the previous two shows where the points failed. Post replacement everything has worked without fail which is a huge positive. Now we have proved that this is the problem, I'll change the button to black. 

 

I also soldered the safety railings of the carriage wash back together. Over the years they had become damaged. Finally, I resoldered 3 point blades that had become detached from their tiebars and also adjusted the throw of the tortoise point motors to reduce the stress on the tiebar. 

 

Other work included, Peter making a box that goes behind the scenic break bridge to reduce the light coming in from off scene. Jeff has removed the station car park wall to make a new system for securing it as the screws were quite unsightly. 

 

On the final day, a number of the group ran the layout through a couple of sequences to get used to running the layout. 

 

Measurements have been taken so that a new backscene can be made up. The old ones are  tired with damaged corners on many of the backscene boards. 

 

Now that the layout is packed away and back in storage. Our thoughts are now turning back to the stock to fill the gaps that we have. 

 

Overall, a very successful few days and some great progress made. 

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by SRfanJV

[DLT]

Pleased to hear this excellent layout is in good hands.  I look forward to seeing it when it comes out again.

[queensquare]

1 hour ago, SRfanJV said:

Bournemouth West has been set up for the first time since it was taken over by Kevin and the Salisbury & South West Railway Society. 

 

As our current premises don't allow us to set up the layout, Salisbury Methodist Hall was hired by Kevin for 3 days to allow us to get to grips with the layout, test it and make some repairs/improvements. 

 

The first set of work has been to change the packaging system for the 9 scenic boards. The trolleys that the boards live in have been strengthened and the two large station end boards have had a brand new trolley made so that they are much easier to transport. 

 

Once the layout was set-up and tested, all was working well which was pleasing.

We then started testing all of the stock that was either purchased from the previous owning group or purchased new. Most worked without fault, but it was very noticeable on some rakes that the back to backs needed adjusting to get them running through the hand-built points correctly.

Doing this has improved the running quality massively.

 

There are now only 2-3 rakes that now need to be obtained to correctly use the same operating sequence that came with the layout. 

The stock will now be weathered and detailed where required to ensure that they all reach the required standard of detail. 

 

On Day 2, Kevin set to on upgrading the static grass on the layout which over time has become very dusty and discoloured. 

This has really brought the layout back to life with more vibrancy once again. You can see the difference halfway down the left handside cutting side. 

 

I replaced a switch in the control panel that had become stuck. This, we believe was the route cause of the failures in the previous two shows where the points failed. Post replacement everything has worked without fail which is a huge positive. Now we have proved that this is the problem, I'll change the button to black. 

 

I also soldered the safety railings of the carriage wash back together. Over the years they had become damaged. Finally, I resoldered 3 point blades that had become detached from their tiebars and also adjusted the throw of the tortoise point motors to reduce the stress on the tiebar. 

 

Other work included, Peter making a box that goes behind the scenic break bridge to reduce the light coming in from off scene. Jeff has removed the station car park wall to make a new system for securing it as the screws were quite unsightly. 

 

On the final day, a number of the group ran the layout through a couple of sequences to get used to running the layout. 

 

Measurements have been taken so that a new backscene can be made up. The old ones are  tired with damaged corners on many of the backscene boards. 

 

Now that the layout is packed away and back in storage. Our thoughts are now turning back to the stock to fill the gaps that we have. 

 

Overall, a very successful few days and some great progress made. 

 

Great news, a superb model and a real favourite of mine 

 

Jerry

[Roger Sunderland]

Looking good. Glad to see it’s in good hands. Not having to lug those 2 station boards about will make a big difference.

All the best.

[Combe Martin]

Have you got 34043 Combe Martin ?, it wasn't there  when I saw Bournemouth West at Shepton Mallet.  You have to have it, judging from the Ivo Peters books it was on the Pines a lot.  And I think it was on the first diverted Pines (away from the S&D) when it failed (for good) I believe.

 

Still my favourite though, what a surprise ! 

[SRfanJV]

Happy New Year to all followers of Bournemouth West. 

 

You'll hopefully be pleased to know that in-between Christmas & New Year we had Bournemouth West set-up again to allow for further testing, familiarisation and scenic enhancements to take place. 

 

The first modification has seen Jeff rebuild the station wall at the end of the layout. This was originally held on by screws which weren't very aesthetically pleasing. 

The picture below doesn't show it in the best light. 

However, you'll have to trust me that it looks much better and is now fixed without the use of screws. Jeff has also put new capping bricks on as well as a new piece of fence on the left hand end. 

 

The other major piece of work has been the creation of a new backscene. The old one was badly damaged with dog ended corners etc.

 

Ken has done a marvelous job of making new ones out of MDF. Below shows two of the new pieces being fitted. 

 

Now that the trial fitting is complete. These are going to be handed over to one of Kevin's neighbours who conveniently is an artist. Once complete, they should give a new fresher feel to the layout.

 

All other work has focused on the stock. The previous owners were re-knowned for their attention to detail in terms of correct running numbers of loco's and rolling stock. As such we are endeavouring to follow suit.

 

Recently I have renumbered Jeff's Ivatt to 41312 which was a regular Ivatt 2 from 1964. For this, I used Fox Transfers waterside transfers. 

 

This loco is going to act as one of the station pilots meaning that it needed automatic uncoupling capabilities. Therefore, I ordered some Preci coupling motors and with kind assistance from Roger Sunderland got these fitted. 

 

As we use D&H sound chips in some locos we needed to work put how to get the automatic function working. We enlisted the help of a specialist from Germany who specialises in D&H and ESU sound decoders.

 

The result was well worth it and we ended up couplings working as shown in the video below. 

 

Just a few more to do now. 

 

More locos have been detailed and weathered for use. We are nearly there on rolling stock Only one more rake is now required to fulfill the sequence of movements. 

 

In the winter months a lot of weathering to the rolling stock will take place. This, and detailing to locomotives including crews, route discs and fire irons etc. 

 

Finally, Craig Tiley from the Railway Modeller visited us to photograph the layout for an upcoming feature piece about Bournemouth West in the Railway Modeller Magazine. It was great to have him with us for the day. 

 

We also had a little fun after familiarisation with the real sequence and appropriate stock by holding a 'what if' running session. 

Essentially if Bournemouth West remained open, what stock may have run down there.

 

It was fun while it lasted, but rest assured normal service will now resume. 

Edited January 2 by SRfanJV
More information and additional photos

[PeterBB]

Great informative up to date article.

[Grampus]

'Modern' (!) traction at BW...brilliant! If only..........🤣

[queensquare]

Brilliant, I’ve been known to do something similar at the other end of the line!

 

Jerry

 

[Grampus]

Fabulous - that looks really good; and very much at home. Just lacking a 'Pines' headboard! 

[SRfanJV]

39 minutes ago, queensquare said:

Brilliant, I’ve been known to do something similar at the other end of the line!

 

Jerry

 

Oh yes. 

 

I love that Jerry. 

 

It doesn't always have be serious!  😀

 

Thanks, 

 

Josh.