Castle Aching

[Guy Rixon]

The joining or otherwise of the pits is academic as the join won't be seen inside the shed. Slightly more important is the depth: they look a little shallow to me, but I'm not sure what would be a typical depth. Again, the shed structure may hide the depth...but how deep were ash pits?

[Edwardian]

The joining or otherwise of the pits is academic as the join won't be seen inside the shed. Slightly more important is the depth: they look a little shallow to me, but I'm not sure what would be a typical depth. Again, the shed structure may hide the depth...but how deep were ash pits?

 

They are as deep as you can go without cutting through the baseboard!

 

Ash pits do appear from photographs to have been relatively shallow.  Someone did post about that when I first brought the subject up.

 

The inspection pits need to be deeper, and I will consider cutting through the baseboard, though I am hoping to get away with it because it may not be sufficiently obvious.  If it is, I'll cut them out.

 

The gap between the two inspection pits, BTW, is a scale 6'6".

[Regularity]

I was actually thinking of a more subtle distinction; the original structure has dressed stone quoins with carstone infill.  The newer parts follow the same style, but have yellow brick quoins (like Downham Market station).

 

That is how I plan to treat the ground floor station building extension, and my assumption was that I'd do the same for the shed.

 

Oh, that does sound good!

[Hroth]

They are as deep as you can go without cutting through the baseboard!

 

Ash pits do appear from photographs to have been relatively shallow.  Someone did post about that when I first brought the subject up.

 

The inspection pits need to be deeper, and I will consider cutting through the baseboard, though I am hoping to get away with it because it may not be sufficiently obvious.  If it is, I'll cut them out.

 

The gap between the two inspection pits, BTW, is a scale 6'6".

Paint 'em black, no one will be able to see the difference at normal viewing distances....

 

 

 

 The Pearson well tanks were things of wonder and beauty.  They were never withdrawn, - at the ending of the Broad Gauge angels took them up to heaven.

 

 

Their best design feature was the flangeless driver.  They were kept on the rails by the leading and trailing wheels!

 

There were drawings of the well tank in the December 1970 RM, the same one with the Mike Sharman layout in it (and on the cover).  Its one of the classic issues!

[Donw]

The problem with two pits is that if the loco is badly placed or is a more modern longer one the loco would stretch over two pits so if you go down the steps at one end of the first you can walk under the loco (possibly slightly stooped to avoid your head hitting something, if you then need to go in the the second one you have to go back to the far end of the first up the steps walk right along to the opposite end of the second and go down those steps. If you were fitting something that required going from end to end it would b bloody annoying. Even worse would be finding you needed to access a spot which was over the bit between the two. 

However you could postulate that the bit between them  was left because a drain or water pipe runs though there. I find it quite believable that the railway would not consider the engineers discomfort a major factor.

 

Don

 

ps how about a replica of Friar Tuck in broad gauge form

[Regularity]

ps how about a replica of Friar Tuck in broad gauge form

Did you call?

[Hroth]

...

 

ps how about a replica of Friar Tuck in broad gauge form

 

I thought Friar Tuck WAS the definition of "Broad Gauge"!

[Nearholmer]

Any good inspection pit should have an apparently random piece of ironwork spanning it, just where you won’t notice it, and whack your head on it. 3/4” bars, fitted to keep the rails from migrating onwards are good for this. And a drainage pit that creates a trip hazard at a critical point, like the foot of the steps.

Edited May 12, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Regularity]

I thought Friar Tuck WAS the definition of "Broad Gauge"!

I repeat my previous post...

[Edwardian]

The shed loop is now laid.

 

Thanks for the comments.  I am open minded about 'knocking through' into a single inspection pit.  At Alston, for example, they simply kept extending it; NE branches, like Alston and Middleton-in-Teesdale were often worked at least in part with tender engines, and, so would require a suitably long pit, and the same could be said of CA.  Certainly, if I decide to cut through the board to deepen the pits, one hole is easier to cut than two!

 

For the moment, however, I've left it as it is.

 

I have added the shed floor.

[Compound2632]

The two pits sounds a highly likely state of affairs. I doubt anyone gave much thought to the inconvenience apart from the generations of enginemen who had to put up with it.

[Mikkel]

That looks very good. Any chance you could direct me to a track plan or similar, James? I always make an effort to look up such things myself in past posts, but in this case I kept getting lost in an Edwardian Hall of Mirrors 

[lanchester]

I think Blucher the locomotive was 1814 and so pre-Waterloo; Wellington was fighting up from Spain and I think reached Toulouse or thereabouts, not having yet fought Napoleon directly. It was Blucher (the Marshall) who defeated Napoleon that time and so was Man of the Moment

Last looked in about 11pm yesterday and I haven't a clue what we're going on about now.

 

I was a bit doubtful about the Iron Duke and Waterloo Station but the station opened in 1848 and he died in 1852 so it's possible.

 

Like many famous British so-called victories, Waterloo was a case of hanging on for dear life until help arrived - in this case Blücher and his Prussians. Interesting that it was he rather than Wellington who was commemorated by Stephenson's locomotive.

[Edwardian]

We have discussed how a station dating from the late 1850s would have gained some history and have 'evolved' by 1905.

 

In common with the stations from which CA's chiefly draws inspiration (Wateringbury SER and Alston N&CR) there have been extensions to the station buildings.

 

Likewise, the engine shed would originally have been a 3-bay structure (window/window/adjoining water tower), built to house a tender engine of the day.  In the 1870s or '80s, it was extended in much, but not exactly, the same style with the addition of a fourth bay, enabling it to accommodate two tank locomotives.  The second, right hand, inspection pit of course dates from this time.

 

The photograph below shows the bays marked in pen on the ground and our notional original occupant, showing how it was accommodated within the original 3 bays.

 

I include a diagram that shows the track arrangement for Mikkel.  It will be seen that the arrangements are simple and somewhat spartan.  The lack of a headshunt effectively precludes shunting the yard whilst there is activity on the line, but, as a solo operator, I really just need a plan that allows for a succession of trains to come - faff around - and go.

[Northroader]

That looks very good. Any chance you could direct me to a track plan or similar, James? I always make an effort to look up such things myself in past posts, but in this case I kept getting lost in an Edwardian Hall of Mirrors 

Mikkel, there’s someone out looking for you,

[Mikkel]

We have discussed how a station dating from the late 1850s would have gained some history and have 'evolved' by 1905.

 

In common with the stations from which CA's chiefly draws inspiration (Wateringbury SER and Alston N&CR) there have been extensions to the station buildings.

 

Likewise, the engine shed would originally have been a 3-bay structure (window/window/adjoining water tower), built to house a tender engine of the day.  In the 1870s or '80s, it was extended in much, but not exactly, the same style with the addition of a fourth bay, enabling it to accommodate two tank locomotives.  The second, right hand, inspection pit of course dates from this time.

 

The photograph below shows the bays marked in pen on the ground and our notional original occupant, showing how it was accommodated within the original 3 bays.

 

I include a diagram that shows the track arrangement for Mikkel.  It will be seen that the arrangements are simple and somewhat spartan.  The lack of a headshunt effectively precludes shunting the yard whilst there is activity on the line, but, as a solo operator, I really just need a plan that allows for a succession of trains to come - faff around - and go.

 

Many thanks. I do like that curve.

 

 

Mikkel, there’s someone out looking for you,91E0AF04-E00C-47EC-A84E-2862E85DCE10.jpeg

 

Many thanks. I do like that curve.

[Hroth]

Mikkel, there’s someone out looking for you,91E0AF04-E00C-47EC-A84E-2862E85DCE10.jpeg

Back to the gal with the cute embonpoint.....

 

Niiice!!!

[Caley Jim]

That looks very good. Any chance you could direct me to a track plan or similar, James? I always make an effort to look up such things myself in past posts, but in this case I kept getting lost in an Edwardian Hall of Mirrors 

Hall of Mirrors?  It's more like a labyrinth to which numerous corridors and dead ends get added by the hour!!

 

Jim (Treating the comments on dentists with the contempt they deserve) 

[St Enodoc]

Any good inspection pit should have an apparently random piece of ironwork spanning it, just where you won’t notice it, and whack your head on it. 3/4” bars, fitted to keep the rails from migrating onwards are good for this. And a drainage pit that creates a trip hazard at a critical point, like the foot of the steps.

The pits at Dundee, when it was a DMU depot, used to fill up with water at high spring tides.

[Hroth]

The pits at Dundee, when it was a DMU depot, used to fill up with water at high spring tides.

Sounds reasonable....

[RedGemAlchemist]

The pits at Dundee, when it was a DMU depot, used to fill up with water at high spring tides.

That sounds annoying as hell to deal with.

[Edwardian]

The pits at Dundee, when it was a DMU depot, used to fill up with water at high spring tides.

 

Dundee footplate crew?

[Edwardian]

It is a little known fact that North West Region No.1 was seconded to Dundee for a spell ...

[RedGemAlchemist]

It is a little known fact that North West Region No.1 was seconded to Dundee for a spell ...

Never quite realised just how weird the proportions of Thomas in that picture were.

[St Enodoc]

Never quite realised just how weird the proportions of Thomas in that picture were.

Thomas is fine. It's the 3 mm scale people that are weird.