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

[Annie]

Latest photo purchase.  A very nice cheer up picture this chilly Winter's morning.

 

[Hroth]

On 21/06/2021 at 22:01, Hroth said:

 

Overcast, but not that dismal here. Still more or less shirtsleeve weather, and its going to warm up a bit as we progress through the week! 

 

On 22/06/2021 at 10:54, Regularity said:

Where is “here”?

I mean, I have visited Newcastle in the winter, and they were wearing vests: it wasn’t cold enough for shirts…

 

Here?  A fair bit south and a fair bit west of Newcastle*. And due to the fibs told by weather prognosticators, who seem to be using pieces of seaweed and rocks on string, I'VE had to put on something warmer today!

 

 

16 hours ago, Annie said:

Morning Broad Gauge picture.  'Tornado'  The last 'Rover' built in July 1888.

 

 

A nice chunky piece of kit! Complete with the GWR wall-building supplies in the back....

 

 

When you said we would be taking the tram....

 

* I'm assuming you're referring to "on Tyne" rather than "under Lyme", where the direction would be modified to " a bit north of".

 

Edited June 23, 2021 by Hroth
Correction of locational ambiguity. An spelin.

[Annie]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

When you said we would be taking the tram....

That is such an attractive photo, - it not only shows a scene on the Wisbech & Upwell Tramway before the world went to Hell in a handcart, but there's lovely clothing to be seen and even a vintage safety bicycle.

 

   

Edited June 23, 2021 by Annie
fumble brain

[AdamsRadial]

What lovely hand-tinted postcards. I wish there was a way to alter the rendering in Trainz or SecondLife so it all looks like that.

[Annie]

Yes I would love to have a filter like that in Trainz as well.  I know there's various kinds of rendering software to make a still photograph look like a much older photo or a hand tinted photo, but beyond that I wouldn't know where to start.

[Annie]

I decided to see what I could do with an old peaked roof PO wagon mesh from Trainz Classic 3 days.  I suppose this means that I have to build a salt works now and I haven't even finished the brickworks yet.

 

[Annie]

A favourite Broad Gauge B&E photo to start off my day.  Saddle tank No.48 at Portishead station.

 

[Annie]

Testing things on the Windweather Tramway.  No.025's smoke physics has been messed up a bit by TRS19 so that's another thing on the list to fix.  While everything basically worked after I installed my Norfolk layout into TRS19 there's been all kinds of things that needed to be adjusted and height levelled.  The trackwork around Windweather Harbour and the goods yard at Windweather station took a bit of work to fix as some of it was real flange squealer tight radius territory that had gone a bit wonky.  The goods yard at Tenpenny Wharf needed a fair bit of work doing as well and there's still a point there that needs to be relayed and I know it's going to be a tricky one to do.

 

[Annie]

One for Schooner.

 

[Hroth]

14 hours ago, Annie said:

I decided to see what I could do with an old peaked roof PO wagon mesh from Trainz Classic 3 days.  I suppose this means that I have to build a salt works now and I haven't even finished the brickworks yet.

 

 

Is it going to be a salt mine or a saline extraction works?  Saline extraction would be fun, you could have uncontrolled subsidence all over the place!

 

[Annie]

59 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Is it going to be a salt mine or a saline extraction works?  Saline extraction would be fun, you could have uncontrolled subsidence all over the place!

I've always been fascinated by photos of the preserved Lion Salt Works Mr Hroth, but it's still early days yet and I've still got a lot to do with doing repairs on the layout as it is now before I launch off into other projects.

[Hroth]

44 minutes ago, Annie said:

I've always been fascinated by photos of the preserved Lion Salt Works Mr Hroth, but it's still early days yet and I've still got a lot to do with doing repairs on the layout as it is now before I launch off into other projects.

 

The Lion Works is a fascinating place to visit too.

 

All the "salt towns" Nantwich, Middlewich and Northwich suffer from subsidence damage, as well as others in the region like Winsford and Sandbach.

 

Northwich, 1891

 

Other features in the area are large lakes, called flashes, caused by subsidence in open country filling with water from nearby rivers and streams, such as at Winsford.

 

 

The River Weaver flows through this flash.  Not all subsidence is directly caused by brine pumping, but once the subsidence begins, surface water gets into the salt layers and dissolves the salt...

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by Hroth
minor typo

[Compound2632]

Roll over Salt Lake City!

[Hroth]

Getting back to railways, at one point Winsford had 3 railway stations...

 

One is on the West Coast main line and still exists, the other two were branches nearer the centre of the town, one operated by the Cheshire Lines Committee and the other by the LNWR.  Both branches were built to tap into the salt trade and situated on opposite banks of the Weaver.

 

 

Their sites are just out of shot in the photo of the flash in my previous post.

 

Disused Stations: Winsford and Over

 

 

[Annie]

You've certainly given me plenty to think about Mr Hroth.

 

This Midland D299 open wagon was among the first retexturing jobs I did on this 5 plank body mesh.  I didn't do too badly with the texture artwork, but the 1924 RCH underframe I used had the wrong axleboxes and it had a door banger attached.  The same maker had done a 1907 RCH underframe with a basic representation of grease axleboxes, but it was a kitset of loose bits that had to be attached to the main body mesh.  Not knowing how to deal with something like that when I was starting out I used the 1924 underframe even though I knew it wasn't ideal.

Well this evening I finally decided to brave the puzzle box 1907 underframe and it all went together very nicely.  I only needed to do some minor things with the texture artwork and then it was onto fitting the attachment point for a tarpaulin/wagon sheet.  Not being terribly expert at 3D modelling the simple texture mapping I used meant that I could only do a basic representation of a Midland tarpaulin.  From what I could see from doing an internet search the Midland changed its mind more than once or twice with its tarpaulins so in the end I took the tarpaulin from a circa 1910 'O' gauge MR tinplate wagon as my source for the letter and number style.

 

[Annie]

11 hours ago, Hroth said:

Is it going to be a salt mine or a saline extraction works?  Saline extraction would be fun, you could have uncontrolled subsidence all over the place!

I wonder if it might be safer to consider lime burning then.  Though limes never struck me as being particularly flammable.

 

 

7 hours ago, Hroth said:

Getting back to railways, at one point Winsford had 3 railway stations...

 

7 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

Disused Stations: Winsford and Over

The thought just struck me while I was drinking my morning cup of tea, - that what we need is less disused stations and more disused (and possibly derelict) politicians.

 

 

[Hroth]

Mmmmmmmmm....  I love juicy citrus fruit, and I opened a jar of Roses Lime Marmelade only this morning!

 

But Lime Kilns, not an industrial process you'd want near a population centre. Early ones were nasty smoky things, more modern ones need dust extractors to prevent the ejection of corrosive lime dust over all and sundry.  And they are all significant producers of carbon dioxide!

 

Salt extraction sounds better... 

 

Back to railways.  Liverpool Lime Street station is so called because it fronts onto a road that used to lead to a collection of lime kilns, suitably situated at a distance from the early township.

 

37 minutes ago, Annie said:

what we need is less disused stations and more disused (and possibly derelict) politicians

 

What we need is a "Beeching Report" for politicians....

 

[Annie]

I only wondered about lime burning since one of the creators for Trainz has just released a set of lime kiln models.  You are right though it was a particularly dirty and unpleasant industrial process.

 

I'm particularly fond of Roses lime marmalade too.

 

18 minutes ago, Hroth said:

What we need is a "Beeching Report" for politicians....

Yes we most certainly do!  We have a bunch of brain dead Tory ones wandering around here in NZ at the moment and causing trouble.  One can only hope they will eventually get caught up in some icky sexual scandal and get arrested like one of them managed to do last year.

[Annie]

The latest GER carriage project, - a 6 wheel TPO.  As the one who is supposed to be doing the research for this project I've come up with almost nothing that's useful.  The only decent photo seems to be the one in the Locomotive Magazine, no drawings seem to exist and who knows what the other side of the TPO was like.  And then there is the question of what colour was Post Office red back in 1901.

 

 

[Edwardian]

38 minutes ago, Annie said:

The latest GER carriage project, - a 6 wheel TPO.  As the one who is supposed to be doing the research for this project I've come up with almost nothing that's useful.  The only decent photo seems to be the one in the Locomotive Magazine, no drawings seem to exist and who knows what the other side of the TPO was like.  And then there is the question of what colour was Post Office red back in 1901.

 

 

 

Probably 32' with w/b 10' + 10' and in GER varnished teak, not red.

[Compound2632]

7 hours ago, Annie said:

This Midland D299 open wagon was among the first retexturing jobs I did on this 5 plank body mesh.  I didn't do too badly with the texture artwork, but the 1924 RCH underframe I used had the wrong axleboxes and it had a door banger attached.  The same maker had done a 1907 RCH underframe with a basic representation of grease axleboxes, but it was a kitset of loose bits that had to be attached to the main body mesh.  Not knowing how to deal with something like that when I was starting out I used the 1924 underframe even though I knew it wasn't ideal.

Well this evening I finally decided to brave the puzzle box 1907 underframe and it all went together very nicely.  I only needed to do some minor things with the texture artwork and then it was onto fitting the attachment point for a tarpaulin/wagon sheet.  Not being terribly expert at 3D modelling the simple texture mapping I used meant that I could only do a basic representation of a Midland tarpaulin.  From what I could see from doing an internet search the Midland changed its mind more than once or twice with its tarpaulins so in the end I took the tarpaulin from a circa 1910 'O' gauge MR tinplate wagon as my source for the letter and number style.

 

Now you know you're asking for trouble!

 

D299 was 14'11" over headstocks; I suspect your 1907 underframe is too long for that. You might be better off doing D302 (built from 1913 onwards), 15'11" over headstocks and with the extra vertical ironwork. See MRSC Item 64056.

 

As to Midland wagon sheets, I don't think there was that much variation. The initials M R are in serif, large on the sides and smaller on the ends, with the number below. The yellow border may have been discontinued after the Great War; it's difficult to be at all confident of it in photos, other than this one:

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by Compound2632

[Caley Jim]

59 minutes ago, Annie said:

 who knows what the other side of the TPO was like.  

That is clearly the nearside with the doors for loading and picking up mail  (though no pick-up net or traducter arms for dropping of bags are shown).  The other side would probably be plain panels, though it may have had a long 'ducket' on part of the side to accommodate newspaper boxes, as on t hese WCJS examples.

 

HTH,

 

Jim

[Annie]

58 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Now you know you're asking for trouble!

 

D299 was 14'11" over headstocks; I suspect your 1907 underframe is too long for that. You might be better off doing D302 (built from 1913 onwards), 15'11" over headstocks and with the extra vertical ironwork. See MRSC Item 64056.

 

As to Midland wagon sheets, I don't think there was that much variation. The initials M R are in serif, large on the sides and smaller on the ends, with the number below. The yellow border may have been discontinued after the Great War; it's difficult to be at all confident of it in photos, other than this one:

 

Thank you very much Stephen.  I should have just come to you and asked about the tarpaulins.  Unfortunately with the way I've mapped the texturing on the tarpaulin mesh I can't do lettering on the ends, but correcting the lettering on the sides should be simple enough.  I could put the yellow border on the side edges, but not at the ends unfortunately.  I guess if I keep working at it I'll get better at this 3D modelling lark.

 

I'm stuck with using this 16ft 6inch wagon body mesh unfortunately, but I do want to have a go at making my own as I have some GER wagons I want to make that aren't a match for any of the meshes I've been given permission to use.  I will give the D302 option a go though as a stopgap in the meantime.

 

 

[Annie]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

 

Probably 32' with w/b 10' + 10' and in GER varnished teak, not red.

The teak option is going to be tried out James.  I should go over to the GER Society forum and ask them if they know anymore than we do.

 

1 hour ago, Caley Jim said:

That is clearly the nearside with the doors for loading and picking up mail  (though no pick-up net or traducter arms for dropping of bags are shown).  The other side would probably be plain panels, though it may have had a long 'ducket' on part of the side to accommodate newspaper boxes, as on t hese WCJS examples.

 

HTH,

 

Jim

Thank you very much for this Jim.  It will give us a bit more to go on than what we've been able to find out so far.

[Annie]

And after a lot of frowning and hand drawing I made a much better attempt at a Midland tarpaulin.  I'm certainly a lot happier with it now.  I found I couldn't do the yellow band on the edge of the tarpaulin after all due to unintended texture mapping problems.  One day I'll get this stuff figured out.

 

 

My attempt at a Midland diagram D302.  It's outside my time period, but I'm sure other Uk Trainz folk will have a use for it.