Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.

[MrWolf]

Bus need not be nervous, it's a pre 1970 example so not considered visually offensive.

 

(The thought police have told me that I am no longer allowed to label people or things "ugly" because it's classed as naming and shaming, so I am going with "visually offensive" instead.)

 

The cleaning staff at Dewchurch bus depot need a kick up the ass though, because last time I saw your bus it was very grubby.

 

Nothing to do with Reg Varney is it?

 

[Compound2632]

17 hours ago, MrWolf said:

this picture of the goods shed at Princeton.

 

It's gone into the inspiration file. The railway entrance I am guessing was at the back?

 

 

 

 

Assuming this is Devon and not New Jersey, I think this is the building at the entrance to the goods yard - an office, perhaps with weighbridge - seen top left in this c. 1949 photo. Not shown on the 1904 OS 25" map.

[MrWolf]

You're right. I found it in a Google images search and I may have misread the title or it was referring to something else. I also lost a "W" somewhere along the way...

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by MrWolf

[Gopher]

20 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Bus need not be nervous, it's a pre 1970 example so not considered visually offensive.

 

(The thought police have told me that I am no longer allowed to label people or things "ugly" because it's classed as naming and shaming, so I am going with "visually offensive" instead.)

 

The cleaning staff at Dewchurch bus depot need a kick up the ass though, because last time I saw your bus it was very grubby.

 

Nothing to do with Reg Varney is it?

 

It is a pre 1970 example, and not very clean (which might not be a- typical for the era I model.  Keep on labelling things and sod the thought police (hang on knock at the door - they've come to take me away !)

 

Reg has not appeared on the layout - nor the mini skirted clippies he seemed to chase all the time   

  

[Stubby47]

8 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Assuming this is Devon and not New Jersey, I think this is the building at the entrance to the goods yard - an office, perhaps with weighbridge - seen top left in this c. 1949 photo. Not shown on the 1904 OS 25" map.

 

That is a very small turntable, and the whole siding looks difficult to shunt, unless the loco uses the shed to reverse.

[MrWolf]

On 27/06/2021 at 18:31, Gopher said:

It is a pre 1970 example, and not very clean (which might not be a- typical for the era I model. 

 

Naturally, the world ended circa 1965 as far as this house is concerned.

 

On 27/06/2021 at 18:31, Gopher said:

Keep on labelling things and sod the thought police (hang on knock at the door - they've come to take me away !)

 

Oh no, not - The Awareness Seminar!

 

 

On 27/06/2021 at 18:31, Gopher said:

 

Reg has not appeared on the layout - nor the mini skirted clippies he seemed to chase all the time   

  

 

We were too young to get the humour (?) as children, other than really bad Blakey impressions. Looking at it now, it seems to be an attempt to find something to laugh at in the frustrations of middle aged men in low paid jobs and their attempts to score the odd little victory.

Always some interesting vehicles in the street scenes though.

 

[Fishplate]

Would it be wrong to ask if this is

 

a) a possible entry for the Railway Modeller articles on 'A Prototype For Anything' 

 

or 

 

b)  a Stuka pilots eye view.

 

 

 

 

Asking for a friend. . . . . . 

 

 

[MrWolf]

Hmm.

 

Let's examine the facts:

 

1. Square, "Which end's the front?" styling.

2. Corporate livery plagiarised from Preparation H.

3. No conductor.

4. It's cheaper to travel by a 1968 Cadillac.

 

The answer is....  B.

 

[MrWolf]

In actual layout related news, despite spending the day hurtling around the countryside, I have managed to:

 

1. Straighten out the the wiggle in the platform road, the cause of which has never been clear.

 

2: Align and glue down the two sections of the platform and clamp it with every tin can in the kitchen cupboards.

 

Not exactly rivetting, but it will allow me to complete the landscaping on the final two scenic boards.

[Fishplate]

3 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

That is a very small turntable, and the whole siding looks difficult to shunt, unless the loco uses the shed to reverse.

 

Noted the previous edition of the map the siding finished at the turntable and there wasn't track beyond it (to the right in the photo) .

 

There is a similar turntable shown on an odd siding on the Princetown Branch on the 1905 map at Yelverton https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/252099/67272/12/100604.

 

Just a very wild guess as I know nothing about pre-Grouping GWR operations. . . .Could they have turned guards brakes on the branch?  Would seem an odd practice though?

[Tortuga]

Thanks for sharing a link to the Elwood thread @MrWolf. I’m now following yet another GWR thread and considering the purchase of Modelu point rodding rather than using the Wills product thanks to you!

Still, considering the pace of actual construction on Alsop, Modelu are likely to have released a full range of LNWR rodding by the time I need it - anyone want an unused pack of Wills point rodding?

[Stubby47]

12 minutes ago, Fishplate said:

 

Noted the previous edition of the map the siding finished at the turntable and there wasn't track beyond it (to the right in the photo) .

 

There is a similar turntable shown on an odd siding on the Princetown Branch on the 1905 map at Yelverton https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/252099/67272/12/100604.

 

Just a very wild guess as I know nothing about pre-Grouping GWR operations. . . .Could they have turned guards brakes on the branch?  Would seem an odd practice though?

 

My first instinct was it was for turning wagons with end doors.

[wiggoforgold]

4 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Assuming this is Devon and not New Jersey, I think this is the building at the entrance to the goods yard - an office, perhaps with weighbridge - seen top left in this c. 1949 photo. Not shown on the 1904 OS 25" map.

Its the only building left standing on the site. I think it was a stables.

Alex

[Compound2632]

Just now, wiggoforgold said:

Its the only building left standing on the site. I think it was a stables.

 

That would fit with the dilapidated half-door.

[wiggoforgold]

https://oldprincetown.weebly.com/princetown-railway.html

There's some nice pictures of Princetown station here. Ther's even a picture of a BSA motorbike which you may appreciate.

Alex

[MrWolf]

On 27/06/2021 at 22:31, wiggoforgold said:

Its the only building left standing on the site. I think it was a stables.

Alex

 

That would make sense, because the brick structure to the left looks like a typical GWR stable manure pit.

 

 

It was demolished when the building was tidied up.

 

[MrWolf]

On 27/06/2021 at 22:46, wiggoforgold said:

https://oldprincetown.weebly.com/princetown-railway.html

There's some nice pictures of Princetown station here. Ther's even a picture of a BSA motorbike which you may appreciate.

Alex

 

Fascinating pictures, the goods shed crane would only be a one tonner or so and appeal to @Limpley Stokerthe goods shed itself with the external crane - 3 ton? is very reminiscent of @chuffinghells Warren Branch.

It would make a great model, either as the basis for a fictitious location or a faithful-ish model of Princetown.

 

The station cat is just great, real feral cat tiger stripes. I bet they never had a rat problem.

 

The bike is a 650cc BSA A10 Golden Flash, a model available from 1950-57. That one has a headlamp cowl, which makes it post 1953, a chromed tank means that it's not '53, because the Korean war caused a worldwide nickel shortage. The front mudguard looks like the early type with seperate valances, rather than a one piece pressing, so I would say 1954.

 

I know that railway fans think that they win the prize for pedantry

 

But you should hear vintage vehicle fans.

 

Or worse still, the two blokes sat at the table next to us at lunchtime sawing on non stop about minor league football teams.

 

I said to the memsahib: "Has he even paused for breath yet?" She got the giggles and that was it, complete loss of control. They were too busy talking about Blackpool FC's glory days or something....

 

I'll get me anorak....

[Compound2632]

5 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Fascinating pictures, the goods shed crane would only be a one tonner or so and appeal to @Limpley Stokerthe goods shed itself with the external crane - 3 ton? is very reminiscent of @chuffinghells Warren Branch.

 

According to The RCH Handbook of Stations (1904 edition, reprinted by David & Charles), the crane at Princetown was of 2 tons capacity.

[Limpley Stoker]

Indeed excellent pics and a very useful view of the yard crane showing cross bracing and lack of gearing so I vote for 1 ton crane.

This Plan is from the book The Cameroon Branch, Maggs and Beale. Wild Swan

 

The jib is much more curved than the Limpley Stoke crane and indeed Princetown and there  intermediate gearing.

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, Limpley Stoker said:

Indeed excellent pics and a very useful view of the yard crane showing cross bracing and lack of gearing so I vote for 1 ton crane.

 

So has the original crane been exchanged for one of lower capacity at some date after 1904? Or is this a non-standard 2 ton crane? Or standard in 1883 when the line opened? The Camerton* branch opened ten years earlier, so is the crane depicted an earlier standard design? Is there a date for the drawing? Or (whisper it not in Gath) is the RHC Handbook entry wrong?

 

*I looked in vain for GWR branches in west Africa.

[Mikkel]

Looks similar to the one at Knightwick (poor photo here).  Beware of the otherwise nice Springside kit which in some listings claims to be "as at Knightwick", but has a different gear arrangement than the Knightwick one and is, as far as I have been able to assess, also larger.

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Mikkel
"Similar", but slightly different?

[MrWolf]

On 28/06/2021 at 05:21, Compound2632 said:

 

According to The RCH Handbook of Stations (1904 edition, reprinted by David & Charles), the crane at Princetown was of 2 tons capacity.

 

I presume that we are talking about the crane on the loading platform outside?

Which looks like this one?

 

On 28/06/2021 at 07:14, Limpley Stoker said:

Indeed excellent pics and a very useful view of the yard crane showing cross bracing and lack of gearing so I vote for 1 ton crane.

This Plan is from the book The Cameroon Branch, Maggs and Beale. Wild Swan

 

The jib is much more curved than the Limpley Stoke crane and indeed Princetown and there  intermediate gearing.

 

The one inside the shed doorway I thought might only be a ton or so.

 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by MrWolf

[Compound2632]

I'm only seeing one crane. At https://oldprincetown.weebly.com/princetown-railway.html, photo of shed with ex-GWR open, it's swung out over the wagon, in the next photo, of the interior of the shed, it's been swung back parallel to the shed wall, out of the way. 

 

56 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

Looks similar to the one at Knightwick (poor photo here).  Beware of the otherwise nice Springside kit which in some listings claims to be "as at Knightwick", but has a different gear arrangement than the Knightwick one and is, as far as I have been able to assess, also larger.

 

The RCH Handbook records no crane at Knightwick, so it must have been installed after 1904 - perhaps second-hand from elsewhere.

[MrWolf]

This one.

 

 

 

 

On the platform outside the goods shed. Pictures liberated from Great Western branch line termini by P. Karau. These are all pictures from the post WW2 era as the canopy over the rail side has been demolished.

[Compound2632]

Right, yes, that looks a biggie - could well be 5 tons.