Two Bridges Up Sidings - 80's/90's exhibition layout

[Big And]

Hi,

 

After an great weekend at the Folkstone MRC exhibition I just wanted to say a few thank yous.  

 

Thank you to Folkstone MRC for inviting us to a good show.  

 

Our operators Peter, Andy and Franz from East Surrey MRC, Lawrence and Phil from Bexhill MRC as well as emergency stand in operators Alex and Andrew from Beckenham MRC and Ken from Tonbridge MRC all did great work keeping the trains flowing and bringing the exhibit to life.  Very much appreciate all of your time.  

 

And thank you also to all of the people that we met over the weekend with whom we enjoyed talking about the layout and the stock.  

 

finally, for Andy S - we do promise there will be at least one class 37 next time out!

 

Here are some photos from the weekend, and as usual I seem to have not photographed any of the passenger trains. 

Andy and Paul

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Big And
Photo re upload

[thegreenhowards]

10 hours ago, Big And said:

Hi,

 

After an great weekend at the Folkstone MRC exhibition I just wanted to say a few thank yous.  

 

Thank you to Folkstone MRC for inviting us to a good show.  

 

Our operators Peter, Andy and Franz from East Surrey MRC, Lawrence and Phil from Bexhill MRC as well as emergency stand in operators Alex and Andrew from Beckenham MRC and Ken from Tonbridge MRC all did great work keeping the trains flowing and bringing the exhibit to life.  Very much appreciate all of your time.  

 

And thank you also to all of the people that we met over the weekend with whom we enjoyed talking about the layout and the stock.  

 

finally, for Andy S - we do promise there will be at least one class 37 next time out!

 

Here are some photos from the weekend, and as usual I seem to have not photographed any of the passenger trains. 

 

Andy and Paul

Great pictures and thanks for inviting me to operate. I’ll hold you to that 37 promise!

[saxokid]

Wow thats some layout build here big and,looking forward to more from this..

[Big And]

Hi,  

 

We have had a couple of running sessions over the summer and made some films of the action.  Here is 7 mins of early EWS era stock.  

 

 

[Grampus]

Really enjoyed that - thank you. 🙂  Beautifully observed; and nothing jars or distracts from the trains.

 

Best wishes,

 

Paul

[Big And]

Hello,

 

Here is another video of the layout, here running 80's blue era stock.  

 

[thegreenhowards]

7 hours ago, Big And said:

Hello,

 

Here is another video of the layout, here running 80's blue era stock.  
 

 

Great video Andy, good to see a split box 37 make an appearance at the end. 

[DavidMcKenzie]

On 22/01/2023 at 09:25, Big And said:

Hello,

 

Here is another video of the layout, here running 80's blue era stock.  

 

Top stuff 👍. The 47 creeping along with the freightliners looked spot on. Great to see some low speed running. 

[Big And]

Hello,

 

Its been 2 years since our last exhibition but we are now in preparation for the next show.  This will be for Erith Model Railways Society at Longfield on the 27th and 28th of January 2024.  

 

[Big And]

The Erith show will have a couple of new faces on the rolling stock roster.  

 

[thegreenhowards]

7 hours ago, Big And said:

The Erith show will have a couple of new faces on the rolling stock roster.  

 

…and some 37s I hope!

[Big And]

Hi Andy,  there will be class 37s!  and, if there is time before the exhibition to have tested and weathered, a 4CEP.

[lyneux]

Hi Andy,

 

I'm loving the rakes of ARC and Tarmac PGAs running on your layout. They are really nicely observed with a fully range of build codes and variations that are almost all big variations on the Lima/Hornby ones. I hope you don't mind me re-posting a couple of your Flickr shots here showing the variation? I'm working through the PGAs myself at the moment for Whatley and have my head buried deep in them!

 

I've tried to pick photos that show all the different build codes used by ARC.... no fewer than 8 different ones here! I think the only one I'm aware of used by ARC that isn't in the rake is PG013E (but I don't think there were many of those used by ARC). Edit: oh and the salt hoppers too.

 

I think here we have PG006C, PG005B, PG013D...

 

 

Then PG004A, PG013B, PG016B

 

 

And finally... PG003A, PG006B and PG004A (again)

 

 

Superb modelling!

 

Cheers,

 

Guy

Edited December 3, 2023 by lyneux

[Big And]

Hi Guy,

 

Thank you for your comments.  The ARC are the handywork of Paul so i dont want to take the credit for that.  He has seen your post and passed me the following text.

 

There are in fact 10 different design codes modelled, namely 3A 4A 5B 6A 6B 13A 13B 13D 13E and 16B plus the Tarmac 16A design. This last one and the identical ARC 16B is the prototype for the Hornby model. The conversion of the Lima model into a longer wheelbase 7B version was I decided too much, though someone has done it. 

 

At the extreme left of the first picture is part of 13E. This is followed by 6A which differs from 6B in having no stone shield to protect the brake equipment, and on the single pipe side there is no pipe! Presumably there is but it must be out of sight somewhere below the chassis. 

 

The second picture shows 6B (stone shield) at extreme left and another 13B at the extreme right ( body end shape and BSC suspension). 13A is identical to 13B except that body sides are not raised.

 

ARC had about 260 PGAs compered to our 26 models. The proportion of design types has been kept the same where possible. The quantities range from 5 No. 13E (1 model) to 55 No. 13D (5 models). Design types quantities and much else are from Metro's 1989 PO Wagons.

 

I would add that the end ladders from the Hornby have been reused.  the ladder is cut from the walkway, and turned around to show what was the inside.  despite their normal curve they can be rebent easily.  the handwheels on the Hornby are in some cases also the originals but with the front filed back to improve them.  I have also swapped the tension locks for a fixed distance close coupling type i have made since the above photos.  

 

these are on the roster for the Erith exhibition should you or anyone else reading wish to see them in action.  

 

i have been aware of your Watley layout for some time and enjoyed seeing, either here or on DEMU forum, the various awesome wagons you have modelled for that.  

 

Thanks

Andy & Paul