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

[Annie]

The Longridge has gone off to the works for some minor adjustments so here in the meantime is a snap of a WIP attempt at restoring the Broad Gauge trackwork again on cloned version of my Minehead layout.  No mixed gauge track this time and no procedural trackwork either.  Procedural track is all very nice with the way it automatically generates point frogs and check rails, but in the case of Broad Gauge track using this system the cross-ties tend not to be evenly spaced and sometimes even closed up close together and it ruins the appearance of the trackwork.

So what I've done is go back to the original plain and ordinary Broad Gauge track I was using in Trainz TS2009 and TS2012.  It might not have moveable point blades and frogs and check rails, but at least it does what it says on the tin and doesn't cause any problems.  I've only done the basic trackwork change over so far with the necessary adjustments around platforms and in goods sheds & etc still to do, but that won't be any real problem to sort out.

 

 

[Annie]

I was able to get the three SER Cramptons sorted out today so that they no longer attract council bin men wearing hi-viz.  Now that they have a proper footplate crew I should be able enjoy running trains with them again.  As I mentioned I have three of these Cramptons ranging from slightly weathered through to heavily weathered, - this is the grubby one.

 

Edited February 8 by Annie
Picture problems

[Annie]

The Longridge is back from the 'works' as well, - though it only need a fairly minor adjustment before it was declared fit for duty again.

Most of my mid-19th century engines that did duty on the Eastlingwold & Great Mulling use Hawthorne Hicks tenders because I think they are the nicest of the mid-19th century tenders I have in my collection.  

 

Edited February 8 by Annie
More to say

[Annie]

Morning Broad Gauge Cheer Up Picture:  Millbay Railway Station 1880s. From the collection of Malcolm McCarthy.

 

[Annie]

This is what the 1904 OS Map shows of Minehead station.  Not a lot has changed really except that there is a new long siding that runs up behind the cattle dock.  The 1880s goods yard as shown on the OS map that I've modelled at Minehead doesn't have that much siding space so I can see why the extra siding was added.  However what I hadn't noticed before is that a cattle auction yard is now sited in what was shown as an empty field on the 1880s map.

I haven't been able to find out a thing about it, - though discovering that Minehead was a major centre for training mules for the army during WW1 was certainly interesting, apparently they were brought in by the sizeable trainload about every six weeks and then taken away again once they got their army mule practicing certificates.  

 

I suppose the cattle auction site in the field would look much the same as any other in the district should I decide to model it.  I doubt very much that it suddenly appeared in 1904 just in time to be surveyed.

 

[Tom Burnham]

James Phillips (later James Phillips and son) seem to have been holding cattle auctions in Minehead from about 1882, but they weren't advertised as "close to railway station" until 1896.  That's no proof that they didn't use that field earlier, of course.

[Annie]

24 minutes ago, Tom Burnham said:

James Phillips (later James Phillips and son) seem to have been holding cattle auctions in Minehead from about 1882, but they weren't advertised as "close to railway station" until 1896.  That's no proof that they didn't use that field earlier, of course.

Thank you very much Tom.  The 1887 OS map shows a plain field and the next map which was revised in 1902 and published in 1904 shows the field converted to a dedicated auction site, - so from your information I guess that means somewhere in the 1890s the field started being used for cattle auctions.  My standard gauge version of the Minehead branch is intended to represent the 1890s so I think that should work out very nicely.

 

I had a thought about the long siding behind the cattle dock that seems to have a loading platform on the seaward side and I wonder if that was installed once cattle auctions became a regular event in that field beside the station yard.  I think I will go with that and add in that siding.  Since I split off a clone of the layout so i can create the earlier Broad Gauge era during the 1880s should I want to there's nothing stopping me from making these later additions.

[Annie]

I spent some time this afternoon doing the rest of the tidying up and sorting out things on the Broad Gauge version of Minehead.  The track is properly aligned now at the station platforms and goods shed & etc, - and I've got the disc and crossbar signals sorted out and in their right places.  Having done that it was time to get the rolling stock out from where I'd archived it away.  I know 'Red Star' wouldn't have been a likely candidate for the Minehead branch, but I usually dig both it and 'Sagittarius' out to act as my contractor's engines while I'm working on 'Minehead' and generally testing things. 

 

 

Almost all of the carriages and goods wagons I have are Steve Flanders creations from more than a decade ago.  Apart from some 1870s and 1880s clerestory carriages everything of Steve's  is from the early to mid-19th century era of the Broad Gauge.  I did some later period open wagons based on some meshes I was given permission to use from a creator group project, but I've never really been that happy with them.  I might dig them out later and have a frown at them.

 

[Annie]

More Broad Gauge Minehead pictures.

 

 

The signal box is 'borrowed' from Helston.  I think these more detailed disc and crossbar signals by Steve Flanders are lovely.

 

 

Coal wagons by Steve Flanders.

 

 

My B&ER wagons which I don't like much.  The meshes, - which aren't my work, - were made by joining the meshes for two standard gauge wagons together and stretching them about to something like the right size.  There's so much wrong  with them it's not funny.

 

 

 

[Adam88]

On 08/02/2024 at 18:32, Annie said:

Morning Broad Gauge Cheer Up Picture:  Millbay Railway Station 1880s. From the collection of Malcolm McCarthy.

 

 

Well that confused me.  A quick first glance and I thought it was the usual complicated dual gauge trackwork but it isn't.  There's no narrow gauge at all and I think it merely shows the ungodly spawn of a single slip and a  regular turnout.  I have to admit that I've always found this sort of thing fascinating.

 

[Annie]

14 minutes ago, Adam88 said:

Well that confused me.  A quick first glance and I thought it was the usual complicated dual gauge trackwork but it isn't.  There's no narrow gauge at all and I think it merely shows the ungodly spawn of a single slip and a  regular turnout.  I have to admit that I've always found this sort of thing fascinating.

I wonder what the special occasion for the photos was?  There's plenty of station staff lined up watching in the background and a fitter repairing point rodding being supervised by a bowler hat wearing foreman in the foreground.  Photos of Broad Gauge stations that haven't been messed about with are rare, - so I was glad to find this one.

[MikeOxon]

59 minutes ago, Annie said:

I wonder what the special occasion for the photos was?  There's plenty of station staff lined up watching in the background and a fitter repairing point rodding being supervised by a bowler hat wearing foreman in the foreground.  Photos of Broad Gauge stations that haven't been messed about with are rare, - so I was glad to find this one.

At first glance I thought the man in the foreground was painting the fence - it does look very fresh and bright.  I was also noticing the state of the road to the left, with plenty of horse droppings in evidence - essential items for the modeller.

[Annie]

19 minutes ago, MikeOxon said:

I was also noticing the state of the road to the left, with plenty of horse droppings in evidence - essential items for the modeller.

Yes the road being in the photo is a real treasure.

[magmouse]

3 hours ago, Annie said:

There's plenty of station staff lined up watching in the background and a fitter repairing point rodding being supervised by a bowler hat wearing foreman in the foreground.

 

Foreman to fitter: "For goodness sake, man, hurry up! Her Majesty is due any minute, and we can't have her shunted into the end loading dock!"

[Annie]

The B&ER Vulcan Foundry 4-4-0ST I commissioned some time ago.  And yes I know the footplate crew are standing up too high.  Despite giving the maker a large amount of research material he got the cab floor height wrong and with one thing and another I didn't immediately notice and now it's too late to get it fixed.  Unfortunately the model is built using the latest Trainzmesh system so I can't edit the crew's attachment points like I can with models that use the older form of mesh construction.  But despite that I still think it's pretty darn corker model even though they were called ugly ducklings back in the day.

These saddle tanks were maids of all work on the B&ER and were able to take on any task so it was kind of necessary that I have them if I was going to model the Minehead branch.

 

 

Edit:  Forgot to include this.  A B&ER Iron Guards Van.

 

Edited February 12 by Annie
Forgot the guards van.

[Annie]

Minehead snaps.  I haven't been doing much because the weather's too horribly hot.

 

 

[Schooner]

On 08/02/2024 at 18:32, Annie said:

Millbay Railway Station 1880s.

Yum! The map's worth a look:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18.7&lat=50.36862&lon=-4.15026&layers=117746211&b=1

as is running a short way up the line to the Engine Shed. A very handy, modelable, format.

 

Minehead and stock starting to look glorious :) Nice TT too!

[Annie]

6 hours ago, Schooner said:

Yum! The map's worth a look:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18.7&lat=50.36862&lon=-4.15026&layers=117746211&b=1

as is running a short way up the line to the Engine Shed. A very handy, modelable, format.

A big cheer for the large scale town OS maps.  The point lever that fitter was fixing in the photo is marked on the map just to give an idea how useful these maps are to the historic railway modeller.  And on that subject the Engine Shed layout is very modelable, - classic Broad Gauge, - thanks for pointing that out.

 

6 hours ago, Schooner said:

Minehead and stock starting to look glorious :) Nice TT too!

The turntable was modelled on the one at Minehead according to its description notes.  All of which made it the perfect choice as you would expect.  It was made for the earliest versions of Trainz so some details aren't as good as they could be, but it's certainly better than a poke in the eye.  As made it was set into a huge chunk of digital concrete so I had to retexture it to match the fine ballast I was using at Minehead.

 

I built up Minehead station and the surrounding area to match the 1880s OS map as best I could with the building models & etc that I had available to me.  I did quite a bit of work at Dunster and Blue Anchor as well.  Some of the other stations have had a tidy up, but still need more work doing to them.  It's been really nice to be able to dig out my ex-B&ER 4-4-0ST engines and Broad Gauge rolling stock I've had stored away for far too long. 

[Annie]

Book Corner:

 

 

I've just ordered this one.  It was on discount, - so I hope it's worth the candle.

 

I'm supposed to be not buying any more books until I've read the hundred or so I've already got that I haven't read yet.  I'm such a failure. 📚

[Mikkel]

I know what you mean, the pile of books by my bed just grows and grows. I blame all this internet stuff.

[Annie]

2 hours ago, Mikkel said:

I know what you mean, the pile of books by my bed just grows and grows. I blame all this internet stuff.

(sigh) By the time I've answered my emails, read Radio NZ's online news and caught up with forum posts I'm too tired to read books and I just want to go to sleep.

[Annie]

24 minutes ago, Annie said:

(sigh) By the time I've answered my emails, read Radio NZ's online news and caught up with forum posts I'm too tired to read books and I just want to go to sleep.

Actually if I make a sign saying, 'Don't bother it's all terrible', - and hang it on my monitor instead of reading the online news I could save a lot of time and use it for reading books instead.

[Annie]

A first look at Dunster for a long while.  Most of what needs to be done is some work here and there with aligning and leveling the track correctly and once that is done the split post semaphore signals need to be changed for disc and crossbar signals.  Like Minehead Dunster received a general overhaul with reference to the 1880s OS maps when I was still working in Trainz TS2019 around two years ago so I don't think I'm going to find very much that will need attending to.

 

[Annie]

I was able to do some work on Dunster late this afternoon.  It turned out that a lot more work than I thought needed doing as the station platform needed lowering, - which meant that everything attached to and on the platform needed lowering as well.  All those milk cans and platform trolleys, lamps, fences, seats, station staff and passengers look very nice and set the scene very nicely, but having to lower them all eight or so scale inches got to be a little tedious.

Sorting out the track in the yard as well as repositioning the cattle dock, goods shed and loading dock was fairly simple to do then it was just the signals left to do.  Which as it happens I've got all wrong, but I can come back to sorting those out tomorrow. 

Very little changed at Dunster station during the pre-grouping era.  The original Trainz TS2004 layout I've been reworking for the past couple of years was built on a BR era version of the West Somerset Railway which simply had its track changed for Broad Gauge track and all the people and vehicles changed out for 19th century equivalents.  As you can imagine the result was not the Broad Gauge era railway and I've had to delete a lot of things that simply shouldn't be there.  Dunster as it stands at present has a couple of cottages and houses that shouldn't be there, but I'm tempted to just leave them as they are for no better reason than they've always been there and I happen to like them.

 

 

 

[figworthy]

13 hours ago, Annie said:

 

 

Some lovely work, as usual.

 

Please don't take this as a criticism.  Is that signal too close to the track, or is it a perspective thing ?

 

Adrian