Stoke Courtenay

[MrWolf]

Nice job, you can't beat a bit of shednology.

The knurled nuts remind me of 1920s spark plugs.

[57xx]

The knurled knobs were a bit of an extravagance, a couple of wing nuts would have done the trick, but they look the part.

[checkrail]

I'm pleased to report that, whatever might have been going on elsewhere, a full service of trains - passenger, goods and parcels - ran through Stoke Courtenay today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John C.

[KNP]

Lovely set of pictures.

[Brinkly]

Very nice photos, John. 
 

All the best,

 

Nick.

[checkrail]

More of Aylburton Grange on an eastbound parcels.  In the first I tried to get the camera as near to the bridge as possible for a close-up, rather than resort to cropping.  Quite like the result, and the shadow from the bridge, but should perhaps have used a bit of auxiliary lighting in that dark cutting.

 

I like taking shots from below rail level.  The station approach road is very useful for this, with the camera standing on a wagon box or a bit of 2 by 1, propped up to the desired angle and inclination with a track rubber or slivers of card.  

 

The last one was cropped a little, to get rid of the view of one of the striplights top left.  I cropped as little as I could to retain that wide open spacious look I like, so you can still see a hint of golden glare in that corner.  As far as I'm concerned it's the sun trying to break through the thin mist!

 

John C.

[Brinkly]

Lovely stuff, John.

 

All the best,

 

Nick

[gwrrob]

I've just received the Irwell Press book on the Grange as a late present for Father's Day.😎

[Neal Ball]

5 hours ago, checkrail said:

More of Aylburton Grange on an eastbound parcels.  In the first I tried to get the camera as near to the bridge as possible for a close-up, rather than resort to cropping.  Quite like the result, and the shadow from the bridge, but should perhaps have used a bit of auxiliary lighting in that dark cutting.

 

I like taking shots from below rail level.  The station approach road is very useful for this, with the camera standing on a wagon box or a bit of 2 by 1, propped up to the desired angle and inclination with a track rubber or slivers of card.  

 

The last one was cropped a little, to get rid of the view of one of the striplights top left.  I cropped as little as I could to retain that wide open spacious look I like, so you can still see a hint of golden glare in that corner.  As far as I'm concerned it's the sun trying to break through the thin mist!

 

John C.

Excellent photos John thank you

[checkrail]

Some interesting discussion over on Neal's Henley-on-Thames thread @Neal Ballrecently about the Hornby 'Railroad' Hall.  I bought one when it came out but ended up sending it back.  Apart from the 'design clever' shortcuts it didn't run very well as I recall.  I later bought a Bachmann small-tender Hall, as seen below.  It was released as 'Rood Ashton Hall' as part of a 'Shakespeare Express' train pack including two coaches and a tourist bus which I sold on.  (I later saw that many retailers were splitting the sets and selling the parts separately, which would have saved me that bother.)

 

It's a nice model and adds variety but doesn't run quite as well as my earlier Bachmann Hall with 4,000 gall. tender.  And even Bachmann dipped their toe into the murky waters of 'design clever' - it's the only Bachmann loco I've got that doesn't have sprung buffers. 

 

Anyway, here's 4908 Broome Hall (as she now is) on a Plymouth stopper, comprised of an M set plus a Dean 40 foot PBV.

 

 

 

John C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Neal Ball]

I like the 3500 gallon tender Halls as they are a bit different to the other tender locos, which by and large have 4000 tenders.

 

My Hornby Hall is on the workbench today having its sound fitted. 
 

The photos above are great John. 

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by Neal Ball

[MrWolf]

Great photos John, interesting to hear your thoughts on recent loco models too. Although a Hall is far too large for my layout, I was interested in the origins of the first coach, is it one of the old K's 40ft brake vans?

[Denbridge]

On 08/06/2022 at 22:02, checkrail said:

I felt the same.  I eventually got mine via eBay but only after a very long time.  247 Developments/Bettabitz had stopped making them before I returned to the hobby and I'd seen them mentioned now and then.  Once I got them one thing I particularly liked was the door T handles, on a raised pad to represent the lock.  Useful for other coaches too.  The thing I didn't like about them was the lack of bolections - there was a recess instead, and no separate bolections on any accessory fret.

 

The Worsley Works stuff is very good.

The bettabitz range is now owned by Squires tools and will become available again at some point 

[TrevorP1]

Regarding the Bachmann Halls, I find they vary. I have 4, plus a Modified Hall chassis in my County. The County runs like a sewing machine as does one of the others. Another I'd describe as pretty good, another as  'OKish' but the last sounds and runs like cement mixer. All have had plenty of running-in but the 'cement mixer' usually stays on the shelf!

[checkrail]

3 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I was interested in the origins of the first coach, is it one of the old K's 40ft brake vans?

It is indeed, via eBay (where else?).  I chose to make mine into a gangwayed version by fettling a pair of Keen Systems clerestory ends with their sprung gangways (made to fit Hornby clerestories).  I also substituted 247 Developments 9 foot American bogies, and left off the guard's lookout (many were plated over by my period). IIRC window grilles were from Brassmasters.  This vehicle usually lives in my parcels rake along with a K22 and assorted brown vehicles.  I can't say it's an exact model of a specific van so I just say it's a 'K something'.

[checkrail]

3 hours ago, Denbridge said:

The bettabitz range is now owned by Squires tools and will become available again at some point 

That's interesting to hear.  They don't come up on eBay very often.  Now I just need a source for bolections!

[checkrail]

3 hours ago, TrevorP1 said:

Regarding the Bachmann Halls, I find they vary. I have 4, plus a Modified Hall chassis in my County. The County runs like a sewing machine as does one of the others. Another I'd describe as pretty good, another as  'OKish' but the last sounds and runs like cement mixer. All have had plenty of running-in but the 'cement mixer' usually stays on the shelf!

I know I'll not be the only one reading this and thinking, "That sounds familiar" - and it goes for so many mechanisms from both blue and red boxes. There's a lot of luck involved and there shouldn't be.

[checkrail]

More of Broome Hall slowing into Stoke Courtenay while the connecting train to Earlsbridge waits in the branch platform. 

 

The second photo with its elevated view and parallel horizontal lines put me in mind of some of the pictures in those 1950s Hornby-Dublo catalogues.  Just needs a grinning schoolboy leaning over it, and a dad with Brylcreemed hair and a pipe in his mouth.

 

And now 4908 pulls away towards Plymouth. 

 

John C.

[A Murphy]

Excellent stuff John, Broome Hall looks great. The train's not bad either! 

 

Best wishes

 

Alastair

[TrevorP1]

1 hour ago, checkrail said:

I know I'll not be the only one reading this and thinking, "That sounds familiar" - and it goes for so many mechanisms from both blue and red boxes. There's a lot of luck involved and there shouldn't be.

Agreed. I’m sure I’ve related the tale of cannibalising 3 Granges to get 2 good ones. Brings to mind Meat Loaf “Two out of Three ain’t Bad” but he wasn’t singing about model railway engines!

[checkrail]

1 hour ago, TrevorP1 said:

Agreed. I’m sure I’ve related the tale of cannibalising 3 Granges to get 2 good ones. Brings to mind Meat Loaf “Two out of Three ain’t Bad” but he wasn’t singing about model railway engines!

Yep, been there, done that, with 28x and 45xx.  Had no trouble with Granges as such, but mine is my second one - I drove the first over the edge and into the void, having forgotten I'd just taken out the lifting hatch.  Didn't do it much good at all!

Edited June 29, 2022 by checkrail

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, checkrail said:

I can't say it's an exact model of a specific van so I just say it's a 'K something'.

Ah, a K's K-something...

[MrWolf]

 

This is mine, the duckets are missing but I have some, somewhere.

At least it now has a floor and some partitions.

[Brassey]

Interesting.  On mine the door vents were separate whitemetal castings...

[MrWolf]

There seems to be a lot of variations, I think that the guard's duckets were white metal, but they were MIA when I got the model. I suspect that it depends on when it was made. 

It's different with the six wheel low Siphons, some are all plastic, some are all white metal,