Ripple Lane BR(E) East London 1980s/90s.

[russ p]

I went down to Weybourne this afternoon shame I missed the earlier post or could have had a look for you

Had to say something to be 1000 reply to your post!

[Guest]

1000 posts, Russ? What on earth have we all waffled on about to get this far??? I pity anyone trying to read this from the beginning. I reckon they'd give up!

 

...its Croydon Power station isn't it?

 

I already had a go at that Matthew. I freelanced Waddon Marsh and even put in the gasworks incline. It didn't get finished though (see below). West Croydon - Wimbledon as inspiration, certainly. Just a station, no industry. A 12" wide board, a short island platform with one end hidden by a station building on a road overbridge. Never done a micro before... might be a fun little project.

 

[Andrew P]

Morning Pete, I'm finding more FUN and VARIETY with multiple Micro Layouts rather than the larger projects. With West Shed, (6ft x 1ft) I could move it about the Shed and stand it on its end whilst doing other jobs, the same now applies to Porth Merryn, yesterday I just slid it to one side whilst working on Pencarne. Two or three smaller projects of differing types would be good and stop MOJO LOSS.

[TJ52]

1000 posts, Russ? What on earth have we all waffled on about to get this far??? I pity anyone trying to read this from the beginning. I reckon they'd give up!

 

 

I already had a go at that Matthew. I freelanced Waddon Marsh and even put in the gasworks incline. It didn't get finished though (see below). West Croydon - Wimbledon as inspiration, certainly. Just a station, no industry. A 12" wide board, a short island platform with one end hidden by a station building on a road overbridge. Never done a micro before... might be a fun little project.

 

waddon_005.jpg

Hi Pete. I grew up in Carshalton and I've always been fascinated by the Wimbledon-West Croydon line and the Merton loop lines. When I was young my friend and I used to cycle to Mitcham Junction where we could play on the site of WW2 anti aircraft gun emplacements. It was an ideal place to watch trains and we always liked to see the single line token being handed over. Unlike you I've kept my Middleton Press books and still have the occasional flick through them.

[Guest]

Oh no! Nostalgia time!

I grew up in Wallington and used to cycle to Wandle Park and watch the EPBs on the single line and the "bigger stuff" like 4EPBs and 4SUBS go by between West Croydon and Sutton. There is something fascinating about the West Croydon-Wimbledon line, and I wish I'd known it much earlier in its life when there was still power station traffic. Barely 10 miles from the centre of London, hard to imagine a little 2-car on an hourly service on what was just a branch line. I was a driver at Selhurst on the very last day of service and made a few trips to Wimbledon and back on the Connex-liveried 456. The other unit in service that day was NSE-liveried. I know Tramlink has helped regenerate the area and increase traffic levels/passenger numbers, but it's not the same. Bad case of "rose-tinted" disease!

If I do knock up a little micro, it will just be an island platform to allow 2 units to pass. 4ft x 1ft scenic, and as Andy says, it could be stored anywhere and tipped up easily enough to work on electrics. Limehouse to finish first, and Darren's project to get underway but it may be a nice little diversion. At the prices Hattons are asking for the plain blue 2EPB and the blue 2HAL, it would almost be a crime not to.

When I was researching for the Waddon Marsh layout, I amassed a huge number of photos which got burnt to CD. I must put them back on the PC and have a look through.

 

Edit: Last day on the West Croydon - Wimbledon line.

 

© Copyright Dr Neil Clifton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

 

© Copyright Dr Neil Clifton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

 

Edited May 9, 2016 by Pete 75C

[Phatbob]

Oh no! Nostalgia time!

I grew up in Wallington ..........hard to imagine a little 2-car on an hourly service on what was just a branch line.

 

I grew up in West Croydon;

<assume pedant mode>  half hourly service actually me old china  <end pedant mode>

Towards the end, one of the two units from the service was withdrawn and the remaining unit then ran once every 45 minutes IIRC.

[Guest]

<assume pedant mode>  half hourly service actually me old china  <end pedant mode>

 

Was it really??? Oh dear... that's my memory screwed, then!

[bobster]

Was it really??? Oh dear... that's my memory screwed, then!

 

Join the club Mate

 

Cheers, Bob.

[leopardml2341]

Was it really??? Oh dear... that's my memory screwed, then!

  

Join the club Mate

 

Cheers, Bob.

Can I join too please?

[bobster]

  

Can I join too please?

 

of course you can - If only I could remember what club

 

Cheers, Bob.

[Phatbob]

I commuted from West Croydon to Wimbledon for a few months in 1984.
There were two units working the line, one train every 30 minutes.  They passed at Micham Junction.  The ex-Tyneside 2EPBs were regular performers in the route at that time, although sometimes a Bulleid style unit would appear.  Bog standard BR style 2EPB was a relative rarity!  Headcode was "2" IIRC.
Although Beddington Lane and Waddon Marsh were both "Halts" (again, IIRC), I'd never known a train not stop at them both!
Beddington Lane also had an unusual feature in that the signal box on the platform was also the ticket office.  There was a small opening window at the side, from which one could purchase tickets, so long as the signaller wasn't too busy with other tasks at the time.

[TJ52]

Was it really??? Oh dear... that's my memory screwed, then!

They ran every hour on Sundays Pete - perhaps that's when you saw them!

[icw]

I know what you mean Bob. In reality, there's little, if any, info in those books that you can't get online, but I do miss them. I am baulking a little at up to £30 for the North Woolwich one! Luckily, there's a good secondhand bookshop at Weybourne station on the NNR, so a trip there may be called for to see what they have.

I may be wrong, but I think Bob Pearman has a copy at a far more sensible price.

(No connection other than as a satisfied customer.)

Edited May 9, 2016 by icw

[Guest]

Beddington Lane also had an unusual feature in that the signal box on the platform was also the ticket office.  There was a small opening window at the side, from which one could purchase tickets, so long as the signaller wasn't too busy with other tasks at the time.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonys-trainz/5772630692

 

"Cheap day return to West Croydon please".

"Hang on a sec, love. Just need to pull a few levers".

 

True multi-tasking before the phrase "multi-tasking" had even been invented!

 

I found the CD with all the West Croydon - Wimbledon photos and spent a pleasant hour last night looking through them. I think the seed may have been sown for the next project. I do apologise for diverting the thread back to the Southern Region, but it really is (was) a fascinating little line. If you're not familiar with it, Google is your friend. The disused stations website (as always) provides the best photos and also shows the extent of decay and disrepair the line fell into during the last years.

 

Back to the East End, Limehouse definitely needs a footbridge if it is to morph into a through station. The Ratio concrete footbridge is favourite but will keep options open. Work continues on the walkway. Pictures soon.

[Guest]

No major progress this week. The building site was a layout milestone which I was very pleased with. Now, I'm just consolidating lots of little scenic jobs. The walkway is still in progress, but it occurred to me that the garden walls and fences should give way to some industry down by the station. Using Lego to form the shell of the low relief industrial unit keeps things absolutely square and it takes liquid poly well. Brick sheet and cladding has been overlaid to give the basis of a small factory. Still needs roof, gutters, fire exit etc. Tempted to make up a sign along the lines of "Thos. Ward & Son" as a homage to the scrapyard and metalworks a little further down the river at Silvertown. If we say this is 1987, probably a bit too early for aircon units and CCTV. Keep it simple, I think.

 

 

Now, I know this excavator is way too modern for 1987, but was an impulse buy when I popped over to see Dave at Buoys Toys & Models in Cromer. An absolute Aladdin's Cave of hard to find kits and bits and pieces. By Cararama in 1/87 scale, it does just about fit the building site. For £9.95, it features a wealth of impressive detail. Still miffed that I don't have room for much of the Kibri plant that I struck a deal for with Dave (RMWeb's "unravelled"). It's looking increasingly likely that most of it may have to be saved for a future project. If the Cararama Volvo continues to bug me for being too modern for 1987, it too will be packed away for the future.

 

 

Hopefully next week when the walkway is fully complete, greened up and fenced off and the industrial unit is finished, I'll upload some pictures.

[DropTheTap]

No major progress this week. The building site was a layout milestone which I was very pleased with. Now, I'm just consolidating lots of little scenic jobs. The walkway is still in progress, but it occurred to me that the garden walls and fences should give way to some industry down by the station. Using Lego to form the shell of the low relief industrial unit keeps things absolutely square and it takes liquid poly well. Brick sheet and cladding has been overlaid to give the basis of a small factory. Still needs roof, gutters, fire exit etc. Tempted to make up a sign along the lines of "Thos. Ward & Son" as a homage to the scrapyard and metalworks a little further down the river at Silvertown. If we say this is 1987, probably a bit too early for aircon units and CCTV. Keep it simple, I think.

 

wp_189.jpg

 

 

Looks great! Any chance of a view of the back please? I'm very interested to see how you've used the Lego...

[unravelled]

Have you considered coning off part of the road, (would mean closing the zebra crossing,) with the  crane across the pavement, unloading something suitably big?

 

Dave

[dasatcopthorne]

Once asked Ratio about spares for their footbridge and seemed to get the answer that they were prepared to sell additional bits to make longer bridges.

 

Dave

Edited May 13, 2016 by dasatcopthorne

[Guest]

Any chance of a view of the back please? I'm very interested to see how you've used the Lego...

 

The structure is low relief, probably about 15-20mm in depth, so that works out at a Lego depth of about 2 "pips". I could have saved some bricks and left some gaps, much like you save weight in a plywood structure by drilling some holes. If you sand the bricks lightly, sticking Wills sheets to them is a doddle with liquid poly. You don't need to sand them, but they can be a bit "slippery" when trying to glue them.

 

 

I had two types of angled Lego brick, the common 45 degree angle and the less common 30 degree angle. 45 degrees was too steep a pitch, but the 30 degree angle looked about right for an industrial unit. To allow for a straight edge, some "pips" had to be trimmed off.

 

 

For a full relief structure, it's dead easy to make up some corner supports. I know a lot of folk swear by MDF, foamboard etc, but I've always used Lego! Cheap pound shop Lego "clone" bricks are available which run to just a few pounds for a large bag or bucket. Much more cost effective than wasting the real stuff.

 

[Guest]

Have you considered coning off part of the road, (would mean closing the zebra crossing,) with the  crane across the pavement, unloading something suitably big?

 

I had, but vehicle access is presumed to be further down the road. Now that the steel frame's up, there's not really anywhere to deliver to on the other side of the hoarding! I simply wish I'd devoted a bigger space to the building site. I was going to use the MAN truck and trailer with a suitable excavator load as a street cameo coming over the bridge towards the site but at 1/87, it does visibly clash with the 1/76 buses etc. I didn't really think this through, did I...?! The 1/87 scale stuff works well if kept confined to one space, but doesn't mix very well in the company of 1/76 vehicles. Valuable lesson learned.

[Andrew P]

I like that Volvo, I do fancy a Display Case with all their Range like that in, something a bit different.

[Guest]

A little more work on the walkway prior to throwing some shrubbery at it. The factory unit has had roof, trims, fire exit and sign added and is shown below prior to "bedding in". Bedding in will be essential, as the muppet who laid that path obviously didn't own a spirit level... The sign has been distressed and dirtied to look like it's been there a good while. Incidentally, the sign is totally fictional, but is a nod to Wards giant marine scrapyard at Silvertown, bulldozed to make way for penthouse apartments (naturally).

 

Edited May 14, 2016 by Pete 75C

[jonny777]

That is excellent.

[spiket4]

I do like that warehouse need a few on my layout.

 

Regards Mark

[roundhouse]

You do realise that you are going to be held responsible for the price of ale to going up with the impending shortage of the plastic blocks as Moreno f us use your great idea.

 

Great use of Lego, building in a lot of strength to your structures