Annie's Virtual Pre-Grouping, Grouping and BR Layouts & Workbench

[Annie]

Engine and signal testing on Lickey.  Once I have the scheduling for the line figured out I'll be looking at how to go about operating the bankers.

 

Fowler 2P on a transfer from Middle Vales.  My only complaint with GP Loco's engines is the fixed code lamps that can't be changed.  On Middle Vales this wasn't too much of a problem since this engine usually piloted the expresses that had been diverted through the valley, -  but on Lickey? - express local passenger anyone?

 

 

 

 

I like the Fowler 3P tank engines.  I made one from cardboard when I was a teenage and didn't make too bad a job of it either.  Possibly not the ideal engine to have on the layout, but if it only gets two and three coach trains to haul about it shouldn't  get into too much trouble.

 

 

A very grimy Fowler 'Austin 7'.  Another Middle Vales engine I'm going to transfer to Lickey.  I'm sure the Super D's on Middle Vales used laugh at it and tease it so it might be a bit happier on Lickey.

 

 

[Compound2632]

8 hours ago, Northroader said:

I like his thoughts on old LNWR engines in that book.

 

I'm going to have to re-read to find out what you mean! I'm fairly sure his only practical experience can have been with Super Ds.

[Northroader]

Thinking carefully, it may have been Jenkinson I’m on about.

[Compound2632]

10 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Thinking carefully, it may have been Jenkinson I’m on about.

 

Don't confuse Terry with his elder brother Bob. Terry was a driver on the Churnet Valley Railway at one time, where he had a 4F at his command.

[Annie]

After a lot of head scratching and studying old photos I've been able to install the missing point work near Bromsgrove South signal box.  Along the way I was able to remove a completely spurious section of track which enabled me to make the correct connections into the goods yard as well as the coal wagon ramp at the coal stage.  I think I need a lie down now.

 

[Annie]

After working on the trackwork at Bromsgrove South I crashed out and slept for ages.  A low front from Antarctica passed over NZ last night and some parts of the country got a right pasting, but while we had strong winds and heavy rain here in the part of the Waikato where i live we didn't get it as bad as some other places.  It's supposed  be a lot colder over the next three days or so, but not as bad in the South Island where they are going to be getting heavy snow falls.  I much prefer cold weather and with our Spring arriving the temperatures have been starting to rise which I don't like at all.

 

I spend this morning with doing simple tasks on Lickey such as tidying up fences and hedges as well as some of the roads.  I've ordered two Fowler 2P's from GP locos.  These are Bath area engines which means that my Carlisle area 2P can go back to Middle Vales.  Bath seemed to have a few 2P's which were all finished in unlined black.  Needless to say the two new arrivals will have 'BRITISH RAILWAYS' on their tenders.

[Annie]

A colourised photo I found of Bromsgrove from the air.  I don't know what date this was.

You can see why I chickened out with modelling the wagon works and only did the barest vague representation instead.

 

[Annie]

The latest set of commissions I've got going at the moment are L&Y wagons from the 1880-1905 period.

 

Covered van WIP.  A one plank wagon, 3 plank drop side wagon and a brake van are also on the list.  My own L&Y reskins are only representational at best and with no suitable mesh available for a covered van I decided that it was about time the L&Y got some love.

 

[DonB]

 

6 hours ago, Annie said:

A colourised photo I found of Bromsgrove from the air.  I don't know what date this was.

You can see why I chickened out with modelling the wagon works and only did the barest vague representation instead.

 

 

I had a similarly colourised print in my office of the works where I was employed ( a framed print about 15x24 inches ) I was able to date it to 1927/8 by knowing what buildings were built and when. I wonder what happened to it after I left?

These aerial pictures were, and are, supplied by Aerofilms in the UK. I believe they were hand coloured to order, certainly the colours of our picture had very little veracity compared with the reality of the site in the1970s.

[Compound2632]

7 hours ago, Annie said:

A colourised photo I found of Bromsgrove from the air.  I don't know what date this was.

You can see why I chickened out with modelling the wagon works and only did the barest vague representation instead.

 

 

Bromsgrove built new wagons in the 19th century but there seems to be no record of which lots were built there rather than at Derby apart from the odd official photo where the maker's plate can be read; there are a number of surviving builder's plates, the most recent of which I know of is dated 1901 [Midland Railway Study Centre Item No. 11482]. But repairs were its main business.

[Annie]

One thing for certain, - there are an awful lot of wagons in that photo.

[Annie]

Track testing at Blackwell.  I could say a good many things about rebuilding Blackwell, but most of it could be summed up by yelling 'Arrrrgh!' very loudly.

 

 

[Annie]

More L&Y wagons.

 

Brake van.

 

 

Covered van now textured.

 

[Hroth]

9 hours ago, Annie said:

One thing for certain, - there are an awful lot of wagons in that photo.

 

That's the problem with model railways, lots of locos ( esp big ones ) and carriages, but not nearly enough wagons, and of those, too few open ones!

 

[Compound2632]

8 hours ago, Annie said:

Track testing at Blackwell.  I could say a good many things about rebuilding Blackwell, but most of it could be summed up by yelling 'Arrrrgh!' very loudly.

 

I feel your pain.

http://www.photobydjnorton.com/Stations/Blackwell.html

 

[Annie]

6 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

That's the problem with model railways, lots of locos ( esp big ones ) and carriages, but not nearly enough wagons, and of those, too few open ones!

 

At least with Lickey there's lots of those.  Good point though, - modellers are keen on having special purpose wagons on their layout and tend to forget about the humble 3, 4, 5 and 7 plank open wagons.

 

12 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I feel your pain.

http://www.photobydjnorton.com/Stations/Blackwell.html

 

Today I was finally able to get the trackwork sorted Stephen.  There had been all kinds of strange additions by the Spurious Trackwork Co not the least of which was the up line being diverted through a fan of sidings.  There were more horrors besides that as well which took a lot of time to fix.

 

Blackwell pictures.  I've since done a bit more at Blackwell so some of these might be out of date.

When I came to work on Blackwell and had a look at old photos and maps I saw at once that it was going to be awful.  I've still had to take liberties and use what was available as well as decide what i could accept if the alternative was a major tear down and rebuild of the landscape.

 

You didn't know that Blackwell was on the S&C did you.  Truth be told the station buildings the original builder used were horrible things so anything would be better.   The replacement station building still follows the same format as the real Blackwell station of two gables with a glassed in verandah in between them which is better than nothing I suppose..

 

 

 

A gubby Fowler 3P tank engine sneaks into the snap.

 

 

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

I wouldn't be too troubled about using S&C structures elsewhere on the Midland - after all, the Midland did! At least, more or less, with variations. The architect's department was kept very busy in the 60s and 70s, so a certain degree of repetition around a basic formula isn't surprising.

[Annie]

Thanks Stephen.  I still need to do some work at Bromsgrove station, but Blackwell was definitely the worst.  It was like trying to untangle a ball of string.  The more I tried to sort it out the more things I found I had to do.  I'm happy with it now and that's the main thing.

 

Thanks for the link to the Blackwell page.  I had found i earlier during my research stage of things and i was able to glean some useful details from it.

As I seem to be doing I've been using the 1927 OS map as a reference unless I have a clear indication from photographs that something was different with the trackwork arrangements.  With the original builder having 'invented' so much of the trackwork I really was left with no other choice.

[Annie]

The two Bath Fowler 2P's have arrived and now No. 40628 can go back to Middle Vales.

 

 

[Annie]

Fowler 7F snapped during schedule testing returning to the north with a train of empty coal wagons.  The usual load for the 7F is 25 wagons which seems to work well.  The Garratt is now limited to 40 wagons, but I may reduce that again since unlike the prototype the loops on the layout are much shorter than they should be.  The incline itself is just over two scale miles long (I checked the distance), but the yards at Bromsgrove and Blackwell are only about as half as long as they should be

 

 

[Annie]

 

So where the heck is everyone?  There seems to be only about six of us calling by on the pre-grouping forum these days and no-one seems to be doing anything much.

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Annie said:

 

So where the heck is everyone?  There seems to be only about six of us calling by on the pre-grouping forum these days and no-one seems to be doing anything much.

 

I see you've visited March... 

 

On topic, I don't know. Perhaps the current health situation is contributing to a hiatus.  I've not been that active because of other personal circumstances (space/time wise) so apart from amusing myself in other parts of RNweb, I've nothing (in)significant to add!

 

However, I'm enjoying your virtual adventures!

 

(RNweb?  Sounds like a Warship modellers forum!)

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by Hroth
Oops... :-)

[Annie]

21 minutes ago, Hroth said:

However, I'm enjoying your virtual adventures!

Thanks Mr Hroth.  I must admit that present global pandemic situation is enough to have anyone staring at the wall in a state of mental paralysis and not wanting to do much.  I'm struggling a lot with sleepiness, but I'm managing to keep plodding on with Lickey.  I'm making lots of mistakes, but at least with a digital format it's easy to correct them without too much bother.  Being back working on an early LMR era layout again is a nice change after being involved in too much frowning with my 19th century projects.  I love my 1880s-1890s layouts, but they are just so much hard work when it comes to research and the lack of models available for this era.

[sem34090]

My contribution was amending the thread title last night to reflect your current Lickey activities!

 

I've been too busy settling into university accommodation, though some GWR coaches are currently on my workbench.

[Annie]

2 hours ago, sem34090 said:

My contribution was amending the thread title last night to reflect your current Lickey activities!

Yes thank you very much for that.  I have to admit I stared at the thread title this morning trying to remember if it had always been like that or if I was still asleep and dreaming.