Woolmer Green 1935-40

[gr.king]

I don't see how you'll get that lot in your suitcase, and under the weight limit, for your trip to the UK next year.

[5BarVT]

Limestone hills.

Green rock hills.

Toothpaste hills??

 

Looking good.

Paul.

[Jesse Sim]

8 hours ago, gr.king said:

I don't see how you'll get that lot in your suitcase, and under the weight limit, for your trip to the UK next year.

You’ve lost me here Graeme. 

[jwealleans]

I assume he's referring to the layout - Graeme would never be so ungallant as to suggest that Mrs. Jesse might be over the weight limit, or that you'd be so harsh as to make her travel in your luggage.

[Jesse Sim]

Right that makes more sense, was confused as Rachel is only 4ft f*** all so she probably could fit in my suitcase…. 
 

No, no leaving the garage for my layout I’m afraid. 

[Jesse Sim]

It’s been some time since I last posted and if I am honest Little has been accomplished on the layout. However, some fiddleyard work was undertaken in the middle of last year. 
 

The work involved altering the Down sidings. When I planned the layout I tried to use as much of the old layout, Brighton Junction, as I could. I also, misjudged the tightness of the Southern fiddleyard entrance. Some of the heavier trains don’t like to traverse the tight corners and some express’ have a slight drop in speed. Apart from these limitations the layout runs and works impeccably and I am happy to live with the limitations listed above as they do not affect the overall viewership of the layout as a whole. But, the fiddleyard still needed some work to help with the viewing.
 

I have attached the before shots of the fiddleyard, I’ll most likely spread the job across a few posts.

 

So, here goes. Here is the old view of the Southern end of the layout. Tight corners, with two very tight and short kick back sidings. 
 

 

Sweeping around to bring us on the straight.
 

 

Now in the centre of the layout, I added the crossover to be able to send a third line to the right, close to the control panel…. Lots of wasted space I thought! 
 

 

Here’s the edge of the board with the lift up section…well…up. Various wagons everywhere- I think I was getting ready to pack everything away. 
 

 

I didn’t take a photo of the lift up section- but that changed very little. 
 

I’ll post the next instalment later. 

[Jesse Sim]

Right, after some track removal and a new board inserted in the front section, one of the first things I did was add a curved point at the start (or end) of the Down fiddleyard. This corner is very tight but only the smaller trains traverse this section, it works. 
 

 

The next shots should show how much better the new down sidings flow. 
 

 

 

 

 

One of the advantages of this rearrangement was the addition of an Up line, which you can see just below the roll of paper towel. Even though I lost a Down train it’s much more suitable having the extra Up train. 
 

 

The gap in the middle has since been fixed. These photos are from the middle of 2023.

 

On the extreme right from top to bottom we have; Up slow, Up Main, Down Main, Down Slow and a kick backing siding. 


 

A last look at the finished project…

More tomorrow…

 

Edited March 5 by Jesse Sim

[Jesse Sim]

Some further shots of the rebuild. I think this was around about the time I was re-wiring everything. 
I made up new control panels, this time choosing a white background and black ‘lines’. Two seperate control panels, North and South, same as before. 
 

 

The work all finished with some stock in the fiddleyard. I’ve moved some trains around, some are in different spots, for example the Pullman cars are now in the Up lines as the Yorkshire Pullman. 
 

 

Looking the opposite direction towards the lift out section. 
 

 

What I might do, to regenerate interest in this thread, is go through the sequence describing each train and from what fiddleyard line they hale?(hail?)?? from. With plenty of pictures. 
 

What do we think? 

[St Enodoc]

49 minutes ago, Jesse Sim said:

What I might do, to regenerate interest in this thread, is go through the sequence describing each train and from what fiddleyard line they hale?(hail?)?? from. With plenty of pictures. 
 

What do we think?

I think a lot of people would find that interesting.

[Ollie K]

16 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I think a lot of people would find that interesting.

Seconded, I’d be fascinated to copy those formations see the roster.

[Jesse Sim]

Alright, the last of the updates before moving into describing each individual train. We are in August last year (2023). My workbench looked like this, a right mess after a recent rebuild; new bench and fascia which allowed me to add another kick back siding for the Down lines. 

 

After getting back into watching Everard Junction's YouTube videos religiously I noticed he employed a workbench modular design on his own workbench and I started investigating for something similar that would keep my undiagnosed autism and OCD in check. Unfortunately I could not find something here in Australia and had to source the same design from the same manufacture as Richard from Everard Junction. The Hobby Zone workbench modules are brilliant and I was able to tailor their products to suit my needs using their designer on the website. It was so much fun. 

 

I eventually decided to bite the bullet and purchased the lot through Hattons, my last purchase from them, not that I bought all lot from them. The postage killed me...

 

 

It went together really easy, each section comes with magnets and that is how the whole thing is held together. I'll post up some photos later this arvo with how the workbench looks now. 

 

Something else I worked on in August was the patio at the front of the "Train Room". Some of you may remember my room didn't fare well in heavy rain, flooding on numerous occasions, with one really bad one that stopped progress entirely for a few months. This was due to the room being at a low point of the entire property, I was gifted this room by my Grandfather and I didn't want to whinge but something needed to be done or I would risk losing what I have spent my early adult years building. The solution was a drain that wrapped around two walls and this has worked perfectly, over the top for a garage but for a train room.... it was needed and I am forever grateful. This leads onto what was accomplished in August; some new concrete to replace the paving job I did myself, that's being a bit unfair to myself but it wasn't the best and the heavy rains had washed away the pavers in some sections, so the solution:

 

Looks a bit bland doesn't it? My Grandfather, Charlie, who worked and lived on this property, as I do now, was known for his love for gardening and took out many Local Council awards. Myself and my family have kept up his gardens and take pride in our home/workplace so it was only fitting that I made the front of the train room just as nice. 

 

The railway seat is from the Hawkesbury River railway station, how long they were in service I am not sure but I remember them as a kid when I was travelling by train to skateparks with mates. 

 

September/October my lovely partner, Rachel, and I did a little road trip South in to Victoria, along the Great Ocean Road and into South Australia. A few photos of the trip... if I may?

 

One of the first stops was Sovereign Hill at Ballarat, a place rich in early Australian History, particularly the Victorian Gold Rush when local miners revolted against the British administration of the Colony of Victoria, mostly it was down to taxes being handed down onto miners. It was known as the Eureka Stockade and occurred in the early 1850s. Sovereign Hill (pictured) is Victoria's answer to Beamish. I visited many times when I was a kid, so it was good to be back. 

 

Couldn't help myself somewhere along the road between Ballarat and Apollo Bay, came over a bridge and I saw two locos parked to my left, quick u-turn sorted that out, Rachel was thrilled as always. 

 

Another photo of the financial mistake (a 4WD) at Robe, South Australia. Down along the South coast of Australia is absolutely stunning. Lot's of shipwrecks also. 

 

Before long we were in Adelaide and I was sniffing out railway museums...

 

and Rachel was absolutely thrilled!!

 

If I am honest, the photo above was staged, she is very supportive of my hobby.

 

Right, that brings us almost to the end of 2023, I did some railway work over the Christmas break so I'll post that up a bit later. 

Edited March 14 by Jesse Sim

[Jesse Sim]

Apologies, some people would have seen me post with just photos.... I accidentally clicked "submit reply" and I hadn't typed anything out yet......

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

Sovereign Hill (pictured) is Victoria's answer to Beamish.

A good comparison. I actually prefer Sovereign Hill as it is more compact and you can see more in a given time. On the other hand, there are no trams to ride!

 

2 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

Robe, South Australia

A lovely spot. I once had an excellent steak dinner in the Caledonian Inn there. Not far from the Coonawarra wineries too.

[Jesse Sim]

On 15/03/2024 at 10:22, St Enodoc said:

A good comparison. I actually prefer Sovereign Hill as it is more compact and you can see more in a given time. On the other hand, there are no trams to ride!

 

A lovely spot. I once had an excellent steak dinner in the Caledonian Inn there. Not far from the Coonawarra wineries too.

If Sovereign Hill ever decides to add a heritage railway, boy I’d be beside myself. 

[Sharky]

The location you saw the XR & G was Gheringhap Loop. The Junction for the Broad gauge line to Ballarat & the Standard Gauge line to Arrart line across the Pyrenees Plains. 

There's a BRMA Member who lives in one of the former Departmental Residence Houses. 

Here's a picture from our meeting in January this year at his place. 

 

Trip looks fantastic though!

Haven't been to Apollo Bay in 15 years! 

[St Enodoc]

26 minutes ago, Sharky said:

Haven't been to Apollo Bay in 15 years! 

Another of our members lives there!

[Tumut]

On 07/02/2020 at 06:39, Jesse Sim said:

Morning all, apologies for the lack of updates, I have been working on some kits and also fixing some problems with the layout. 
 

Let’s start off with the bad first, as this is my first layout a lot of trial and error has taken place. I had considerable height differences in some areas of the fiddle yard, due to myself and my Dad not being chippies. This section was built near on 10 years ago and it has now been corrected, a considerable hump in the fiddle yard south entrance is now a nice smooth(ish) run. On the other side of the new section, that my so called qualified chippy mate, had helped me with was completely bowed, bucked, bent, f**ked, what ever word you want use, I’m opting for the latter, has now been fixed. Issues were I got told I would not need legs, the complete timber wouldn’t bow, well it did and on further investigation he has put a timber in twisted and not level with the other board and it’s caused one side to rise.....after many head buts and tantrums and me screaming “I’m about to burn the f*cking thing down” its fixed.....

 

 

It now has 4 new legs underneath the board and is all level and the trains now glide through. My good friend Dylan helped me dinabolt the legs in and helped, (practically done it himself cause I’m useless), build a new desk, which I need to put everything back on, I’ll post a photo later. 
 

Now onto the modelling front, I’ve finished the GNR CCT van, it’s awaiting lettering, the bogies arrived for the ECJS luggage brake, I’ve completed a Wizards LMS silk wagon and also a David Geen LMS Fish Van. The rain has just arrived, we are expected up to 400mm of rail from now, (Friday) to next Wednesday, much needed and perfect for some modelling. 

 

 

Hello All, I have used chipboard in the past, and it has not warped, but it was framed with 2"x1" timber + 3 crossbeams between the ends for 6' length, result is very heavy and difficult to move. Nowadays plywood is readily available, relatively cheap, lightweight, even if framed with the current 2x1.I have seen some baseboards that are plywood as described, with cork floor tiles overlaid, and then whatever else is required is placed on top of that. The floor tiles allow for easy track pinning, which can be altered until the desired  track flow is achieved. And yes, I am well aware of the Iain Rice promoted all ply sandwich construction, which is very flexible, but if you basically want a flat baseboard then ply and 2x1 works fine, Regards, Tumut 

[Jesse Sim]

Evening all, 

 

Last week a friend from the UK visited, we spent the morning down at Thirlmere Railway Museum before heading home to run the sequence. Ashley has a decent fan base on Instagram and is fantastic at taking videos which just an iPhone, so whilst I operated the sequence he filmed some of the trains passing by. I have since edited that footage into one, added an intro, and some voiceover work. 
 

I hope you enjoy seeing some trains run, the layout is still very much a work in progress, as is the stock. 
 

 

[franciswilliamwebb]

Fantastic video, really enjoyed watching that!

[davidw]

Thanks for showing the layout 

[LNER4479]

Nice vid. Jesse. Enjoyed watching that! 😀

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

All instantly recognisable, Rubbery Bum viaduct, and then the slightly skewed Great North Road overbridge once over the top of the 'puff, pant,' hill. (The nearby heath boasts sweet chestnut trees which - after a good summer - with some forbidden fire in a quiet location on our part, provided a welcome snack when our little gang were penniless in the autumn.) Then 'whee' downhill far too fast on our bikes when heading home.

[apbolton]

Excellent Jesse. Enjoyed that, looking forward to see the full sequence sometime. 

[2750Papyrus]

Excellent video, Jesse.  I have always been slightly surprised that a guy in his 20's, living on the other side of the world, was so interested in the 1930s LNER.  This is my own area of interest but i haven't achieved as much as you though I've been trying for longer!  The fiddle yard to support the sequence shown must be spacious.

 

I particularly liked the variety of coaching stock making up the secondary services.   Please can we have more as the layout progresses? 

[Clive Mortimore]

I enjoyed watching the video, well done.