Little Muddle

[Limpley Stoker]

I’m enjoying your cameos but you haven’t introduced the thin monkey on the back of the lorry, or am I seeing things again,

[stevejjjexcov]

Judging by the ropey monkeys colour his/her name MUST he Pale Rider or knot as the case maybe. I am now,or in the future convinced that it is or may or may not be a monkey at all. It could or could not be a cleaver ruse to confuse some or all of us some or all of the time. I hope this clear explanation of my ideas/thoughts on the matter of the monkey are now crystal clear. Or not.

Steve

[KNP]

Right, sorted the levitating wheel and workman.

 

Moved the camera position so the shrub gets in the way.....

 

 

 

Clever or what!

Edited March 21 by KNP

[KNP]

Looking across the Encombe side of the layout.

 

 

 

Viewed as if standing at the edge of the potato field.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 21 by KNP

[Andrew P]

Stunning yet again Kevin, there are some lovely angles for such a small but perfectly formed Layout.

[KNP]

Oh dear, the inclement weather has reached Little Muddle.

Ken got this picture of 5355 moving light around the station whilst sheltering under his golf umbrella.

 

 

 

A dull, misty, wet day for sure.....

 

Edited March 21 by KNP

[KNP]

Obviously out of sequence as this one as it was taken before the rain arrived at Encombe Town...?

 

Using a head torch held at arms length I have been messing about with shadows again, trying to replicate real life.

 

 

 

To get a strong shadow, I had to use a strong light which in turn bleached some of the colour, so some photo editing has been done to bring some that colour back.

Again to get a sense of proportion I have set the camera up low down at scale eye height.

Edited March 21 by KNP

[Simond]

Kevin,

 

I suspect that it’s not the strength of the light that is the issue, but the colour (or colour temperature) of it. The shadow effect is lovely, but the sun light through the branches is led-coloured!

 

I wonder if one of those tri-colour lamps with infinite variation might not work rather better, or an incandescent lamp, of course.

 

Keep up the inspirational work!

Best

Simon

[KNP]

A couple of pictures from a few weeks ago when Ken caught 5355 thundering clanking, groaning and ambling at a sedate pace through Encombe Town with a mixed goods.

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT

13/08/18

After various comments about my Mogul, I have altered the text to suit the issues raised...

Edited March 21 by KNP

[The Johnster]

Kevin,

 

I suspect that it’s not the strength of the light that is the issue, but the colour (or colour temperature) of it. The shadow effect is lovely, but the sun light through the branches is led-coloured!

 

I wonder if one of those tri-colour lamps with infinite variation might not work rather better, or an incandescent lamp, of course.

 

Keep up the inspirational work!

Best

Simon

 

I use 'tricolour' lamps, anglepoises from Maplins but I'm sure you can get similar ones elsewhere.  They were £25 each, and I have 3 of them spaced in front of the layout as I do not like backlighting or overly overhead light sources that illumintate the roofs and little else.  They are at approx 3' intervals. and provide enough of a pool of diffuse light to satisfy me, as the spread of light is over 18' radius at ground level.  They are a sort of bar about 10" long with a central row of warm leds flanked each side by cool ones.  One has a choice of 3 power levels, and 3 settings, cool, warm, or mixed, and I find this most useful and adaptive.

 

I can use them as main lighting, or as fill lighting for natural daylight, and the settings can be used to suggest overcast, dull, sunny, or evening light.  The light diffuses well; I aim to evoke the appearance of an overcast or rainy day typical of the usual climate of the South Wales valleys where the layout is purported to be; if you can see the top of the mountain, it's about to rain and if you can't, it's raining.

 

When I was planning the layout, I had these sort of lighting conditions in mind; much of the inspiration comes from a wet afternoon spent waiting for a bus in the 'Refresh' at Cwmmer Afan on the way back from a visit to the Maesteg NCB system in 1969, very atmospheric.  I came up with all sorts of ideas, including overhead strip lighting diffused by a layer of cotton wool to represent the cloud layer about 200 feet above the valley floor (!), and I might yet have a go at that some time in the distant future, but I bought one of the anglepoises as a workbench light and saw the potential, much better than the various spotlights clamped to poles I used in the layout's earlier days.  

 

They are good for photography as well, an aspect of the layout I have yet to develop the potential of as I've only used the phone so far.  Someone made a point about 300mm telephoto and prime lenses; agree absolutely!  Problem is my modelling isn't as good as Kevin's (my running might be a little better...) and any half tidy photographs show it up horribly...

Edited August 12, 2018 by The Johnster

[Martin S-C]

 

Ken got this picture of 5355 moving light around the station whilst sheltering under his golf umbrella.

 

I know I inserted the cat among the pigeons with the dustbins comments so I hate to say this... but did golf umbrellas exist in the 1930s?

 

In addition - love the tree shadow in post #2707 and the weathering on the loco in #2709. Great job.

Edited August 12, 2018 by Martin S-C

[Limpley Stoker]

I know I inserted the cat among the pigeons with the dustbins comments so I hate to say this... but did golf umbrellas exist in the 1930s?

In addition - love the tree shadow in post #2707 and the weathering on the loco in #2709. Great job.

The height of 1930s golf fashion....

[jcm@gwr]

A couple of pictures from a few weeks ago when Ken caught 5355 thundering through Encombe Town with a mixed goods.

 

1490.jpg

 

1491.jpg

 

Point of order, m'lud.

 

I don't think moguls ever thundered! 

Edited August 12, 2018 by jcm@gwr

[The Johnster]

Rattled, wheezed, squealed, groaned, but not thundered IIRC.  They were always, it seemed to me, badly overloaded, on their last legs, and struggling to move, so they never went fast enough to thunder anywhere...

[Martin S-C]

The height of 1930s golf fashion....

That's a splendid image. I imagine that to be the Little Muddle Railway's board of directors enjoying a pleasant Saturday afternoon's relaxation after speaking with their stockbrokers on the telephone in the morning. And of course there's nothing better for your health than a brisk exercise around 18 holes while puffing a Woodbine.

[KNP]

Point of order, m'lud.

 

I don't think moguls ever thundered! 

 

 

Rattled, wheezed, squealed, groaned, but not thundered IIRC.  They were always, it seemed to me, badly overloaded, on their last legs, and struggling to move, so they never went fast enough to thunder anywhere...

 

I have altered the text to take into account your comments.....

I promise to pay more attention to the correct descriptive wording in the future!!!!!

[Denbridge]

Rattled, wheezed, squealed, groaned, but not thundered IIRC.  They were always, it seemed to me, badly overloaded, on their last legs, and struggling to move, so they never went fast enough to thunder anywhere...

Perhaps towards the end of Western steam. But certainly in GWR days the moguls were highly regarded as maids of all work, undertaking their duties with typical Swindon efficiency.

[Simond]

Perhaps towards the end of Western steam. But certainly in GWR days the moguls were highly regarded as maids of all work, undertaking their duties with typical Swindon efficiency.

 

yes, and with typical Swindon "square blocks of exhaust" when working hard, but probably without much thunder, or indeed, lightning.

 

best

Simon

[Denbridge]

yes, and with typical Swindon "square blocks of exhaust" when working hard, but probably without much thunder, or indeed, lightning.

 

best

Simon

there a reports of the 43's taking over expresses following engine failures and meeting the scheduled timings. I imagine there would have been plenty of noise on those occasions. Swindon design at its best

[MikeOxon]

A couple of pictures from a few weeks ago when Ken caught 5355 thundering clanking, groaning and ambling at a sedate pace through Encombe Town with a mixed goods.

 

.............................

 

Take care - we might demand video evidence of all this activity

[KNP]

I have a copy of the Moguls and Prairies book by David Maidment with numerous pictures of 43's pulling express trains, even one pulling a Royal Train so they couldn't have been that bad.

So perhaps thundering wasn't that far of the mark???

[Stubby47]

"One doesn't like one's locomotive to thunder."

[St Enodoc]

"One doesn't like one's locomotive to thunder."

"I come from a land down under

Where beer does flow and men chunder

Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?

You better run, you better take cover, yeah."

 

with acknowledgements to Colin Hay and Ron Strykert of Men at Work

[KNP]

After all that thundering around here is a turned around Mogul having a rest in the bay platform....

 

Looks so peaceful!!!

 

 

 

Umbrella still not claimed I see nor the crates come to that!

Edited March 21 by KNP

[Stubby47]

There must have been some strong porters / guards to lift some of those crates off the train.