Upbech St Mary, Upbech Drove and Pott Row a journey through 00 and then into EM and 009.

[mullie]

Work on wagons has continued. As stated last week some of these wagons were among the first wagon kits I built around 16 years ago. All have undergone some sort of restoration whether it a new chassis and paint job for the five plank or completely new paint job for the mineral wagons. Last night I continued with the the weathering process using diluted Indian ink to highlight details.

 

 

 

 

[mullie]

Here are some older style photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mullie]

A couple of photos showing how open the layout looks without the factory buildings along the back and I have to say I prefer it. This is not a sleepy station and there is plenty to occupy an operator possibly two. The ridge in the back scene is really obvious and will be going as a matter of urgency.

 

The likelihood is that I will leave it largely open and run the yard as a set of exchange sidings for freight coming in from various destinations Kings Lynn/South Lynn, the fens, Dereham and further south. This means the variety of stock can be increased. Need to build something to disguise the fiddle yard entrance; likely to be a bridge based on the  large 4 span girder bridge at Sheringham, perhaps I'll even out a bus on it!

 

 

 

Also took some photos of the mpd recently. I don't usually play with photos but I was quite pleased with these.

 

 

 

Not much work on this layout at the moment as my micro is developing fast at the moment. I plan to really focus on redeveloping this layout over the summer when I usually have more time.

 

 

 

 

[john flann]

Martyn, I saw this earlier in the day and have been thinking about it, off and on, since then.. 

 

By taking those buildings away and using the simple back scene you have in effect a new East Anglian layout-and I like it. You have already started thinking about a new 'story' for it and when you have thought it through, the layout, in its new form will be complete.   Nicely done.

 

Regards,

Edited May 5, 2015 by john flann

[mullie]

John

 

I think you are right. Removing the factory has opened up the layout in a whole new way and on a baseboard just four feet by one. The platform will also be rebuilt this year in a more authentic Great Eastern style so by the end of the year things could look quite different. I already have most of what I need in stock but as detailed elsewhere I'm concentrating on the micro layout at the moment as I would like to get some exhibiting experience, though not sure the best way to promote myself as due to my work commitments I don't belong to a club. If I make sufficient progress I may approach my local club to see if they would accept it.

 

One of the things I really like about Hintock is the back storey and I have the pleasure to live and regularly travel through much of it so this is something I may develop. I have considered renaming the layout as it is slightly north of where it really needs to be. Watch this space as they say.

 

Thank you for your kind comments.

[mullie]

Just compared the first entries on this thread with the most recent, didn't realise how much the layout had changed and dare I say improved. I suppose it shows that modelling is an ever evolving journey. Work on this layout is taking a back seat at the moment due to work pressures and any time is being spent developing my urban micro layout that is coming along quite nicely. 

 

I've promised myself that from around the end of July this layout will again take priority as their is some quite serious rebuilding to be done. The layout continues to be operated at least weekly and I do have some small projects on the go mainly rolling stock as detailed in the more recent posts.

 

Having been reading and looking at photos from the very early 50s many older locos and rolling stock do seem to have been in quite a poor state externally, very dirty. Only the newer and more prestige stock seems to have been treated to a coat of paint and a lot of secondary stock seemed to survive in grouping livery. A fascinating period.

[john flann]

Martyn, in 1950 WWII had only been over for five years(1945) prior to it the railways were in financial straits and during the war little or nothing was done in painting and the like with only minimal repair and overhaul of older stock. So its run down appearance is not surprising.

 

There wasn't the money and what little available had  to be spent on more demanding matters. Secondary and branch line trains were well down the list of priorities.

Edited May 23, 2015 by john flann

[mullie]

I was talking to my mother last week about this period as my parents got married in 1949. Things were tough as my late father was a stockman responsible for a dairy herd. Because they were on a farm there were certain things they could get exta and a small amount of extra rations at harvest. I've read quite a lot on the period and I'm aware the country was basically bankrupt. It seems incredible that the lend lease payments weren't finished until 2006.

 

In railway terms it seems a fascinating period though information can be a bit hard to come by. I've picked up what books I can on East Anglian railways in this period and follow various threads on here and elsewhere. I also belong to both the Great Eastern and M&GN Railway Societies and their journals are a really interesting read.

[Clive Mortimore]

John

 

I think you are right. Removing the factory has opened up the layout in a whole new way and on a baseboard just four feet by one. The platform will also be rebuilt this year in a more authentic Great Eastern style so by the end of the year things could look quite different. I already have most of what I need in stock but as detailed elsewhere I'm concentrating on the micro layout at the moment as I would like to get some exhibiting experience, though not sure the best way to promote myself as due to my work commitments I don't belong to a club. If I make sufficient progress I may approach my local club to see if they would accept it.

 

One of the things I really like about Hintock is the back storey and I have the pleasure to live and regularly travel through much of it so this is something I may develop. I have considered renaming the layout as it is slightly north of where it really needs to be. Watch this space as they say.

 

Thank you for your kind comments.

Hi Mullie

 

Removing the factory has made your layout look more East Anglian than East End. A major improvement.

[mullie]

Lot's of 'armchair modelling' going on lately. The layout will be revised and improved and to be honest I can't wait to get started but I am focussed on my micro layout at the moment getting it to a basic state of scenic completion. At the moment my thoughts regarding this layout are as follows:

 

Move the layout South and East of King Lynn with a possible change of name. This will enable me to tie in to the line from Dereham and possibly include sand traffic related to Middleton Towers.

 

Redo the scenery moving the layout to autumn. This doesn't seem to be very common but would mean I could include sugar beet traffic.

 

The paved track where the factory used to be will be relaid as conventional track.

 

The platform will be replaced with Wills parts, gas lit and include scratch built structures.

 

Water crane will be moved so a loco taking water doesn't block the view from the signal box as this seems not to be prototypical

 

Completey redo the backscene and surrounding fascia possibly adding a couple of inches to the back of the layout to give more of a sense of space. No additional buildings will be added apart from a few huts if needed.

 

The cottage and barn at the left hand end may disappear to be replaced by open country. They will not be scrapped but stored for future use.

 

Continue to develop rolling stock, a couple of wagon projects are underway and there are additional carraiges to bash from other prototypes

 

The layout works well and is great fun to operate, due to work pressures I firmly believe in the layout evolving. It has taken seven years to get to this point, I have no intention of starting again

[john flann]

Martyn, there's no appropriate tick I can give to that post. All I can say is I wish you well with the project and if you are like me things change along the way.

 

Whatever, I look forward to what happens next.

[mullie]

The fact that things will no doubt change.is what makes this hobby so absorbing.

 

I know the list above will change but that is all part of the pleasure of this fabulous hobby.

 

Thanks for your comments John.

[mullie]

As the layout will be moving season to autumn I thought I would re re-evaluate the goods stock as the main traffic during the 1948-55 period would appear to be coal and above all sugar beet. Now I've discovered Ten commandments make a sugar beet load for wagons there is no reason not to go ahead.

 

My wagons are a very eclectic mix and over the next few days/weeks I'll post some photos. First are the most modern, being BR built wagons. The Parkside open wagons have been seen before.

 

 

The two vans by Parkside date from the late 40s early 50s and I really should paint the buffers on the fruit van. All four wagons were built around 15 years ago and I can't even remember why the BR fruit van has replacement buffers it happened so long ago. Perhaps it was part of the collection of wagons that survived the fall to the garage floor! 

 

 

If I find I have too many wagons the vans might be donated to Rickett Street as an out of the way place like Pott Row probably wouldn't see too many BR vans during my time frame.

 

These wagons look work stained rather than beaten up suggesting their newer state.

[mullie]

Work started on revising the layout today. As is my way, everything that can be reused will be safely stored. This includes working lighting, the water crane, water tower, fencing etc.

 

 

Removed the working ground discs as well.

 

 

Pott Row undressed. There is a lot of work to do and I estimate end of year at least before it  anything like complete though I hope to have track laid, wired and working before the end of the summer.

 

 

 

The old factory track work needs relaying as I no longer require inlaid track. The holes in the baseboard are where I once planned an inspection pit when the engine shed was sited here.

 

 

This is why I don't want to rebuild completely as it took many hours to build this point complex and get it working well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[manna]

G'day Gents

 

You've got you work cut out for the next couple of months, I look forward to what comes next.

 

manna

[mullie]

I started building the layout back in 2008 and I like to think that as I tackle each new project my skills improve. Earlier this year I looked at the scenic treatment, some of which has been in place for around five years and felt it looked a bit tired and not up to what I'm now capable of. I prefer this layout to evolve, as Hintock has done for example. Some of the stock is around 15-20 years old from when I first came back into the hobby but it still works well, looks good (to my eyes at least) and fundamentally the trackwork and electrics work well so to start again fills me with dread. A revamp it is and hopefully an improvement. 

 

I have some split chassis locos that are around 15 years old that were professionally chipped (J39 and V3) around ten years ago and until they fall apart I'll keep using them despite their age. The J39 has a new etched tender chassis for instance so when both give up I'll probably try and build a new chassis to go under them developing my skills further.

 

The track plan is really good to operate and gives me a lot of pleasure.

[mullie]

Continuing my open wagon survey, these three shouldn't I suppose be on a 21st century layout but they represent in many ways how my modelling has developed. Mainline wagons bought in the late 70s, They were stored when I packed everything away in the early 80s to go off to university, unpacked occasionally when I had just a circle of set track to occasionally run a mainline 03 and a few other bits and pieces then put away again. In the mid 90s when we purchased a house with a loft they came out again and have run on every layout since. 

 

However, as my modelling evolved so have they. The wagons were the first to be weathered, to be fitted with Spratt and Winkle couplings and most now have new chassis based on Parkside and MJT parts. Some are compensated though not all. There is also a conflat with a compensated chassis and somewhere in a box I still have some Mainline tank wagons. Like me, they've knocked about a bit, picked up some bruises along the way and though a bit kn*&kered still working well and for sentimental reasons I'm loathe to get rid of them.

 

First photo shows a pair of opens, the livery of the Persil wagon is fictitious but largely obscured by weathering anyway. The BR open on the right is rewheeled but still on the original chassis though I do have parts to rebuild it.

 

 

An LNER loco coal wagon, this runs on a compensated chassis. Close up S&W coupling look like instruments of torture!

 

 

I've just taken delivery of some Ten commandments sugar beet loads that once painted will be allocated to wagons as part of the move towards autumn on the layout.

[mullie]

OK another shot that is not great but the story it tells is very important in the evolution of the layout. Over the last few weeks the main station board has been substantially dismantled. I wanted to get rid of a dip in the track work at the crossing vee/frog of the point at the back of the board but on closer inspection it also became apparent that the point blades needed tweaking and the alignment with the fiddle yard board could be improved so out it all came! Using a pair of tracksettas I planned and installed a  3 foot radius point, built in situ from copperclad sleepers and SMP rail.

 

The reason this shot is important? It shows the trust Bachmann 08 successfully negotiating the new point once I'd swapped the polarity feeds over (I was bound to put them in the wrong way- it couldn't work first time could it!). All seems to be working well.

 

Much of the existing DAS ballast has been reprofiled and sanded down so it can be re painted as I prefer the colour on the MPD board. A few droppers to certain sections had come adrift but all is now working.

 

[CourthsVeil]

... Close up S&W coupling look like instruments of torture!

 

mainline ne coal.jpg

 

...

 

Agreed, Mullie!

 

That's the reason why I fiddle around with some self concocted couplings like the left one shown here .

Same working principle as S&W, just the hook made of brass wire.

 

   Armin

[Boco_D1]

It's interseting to see this layout evolve, I'm sure you've mentioned the DAS ballast before, but what is you technique for using it, i'm intrigued I've never really been convinced by the oversized senic stuff. Is it just the clay and paint or do you do anything else to it?

 

Cheers

Jimmy

[mullie]

It's interseting to see this layout evolve, I'm sure you've mentioned the DAS ballast before, but what is you technique for using it, i'm intrigued I've never really been convinced by the oversized senic stuff. Is it just the clay and paint or do you do anything else to it?

 

Cheers

Jimmy

Like you I fancied trying something different for ballast on this layout and saw this method in Model Rail. Chris Nevard is the main exponent that I know of and he makes it look superb. Thanks for your interest.

[mullie]

Bit more progress this week. A rake of wagons have had Ten commandments sugar beet loads added. A real mixed bag, two kitbuilt, two Bachman, an Airfix and Mainline wagon. The Mainline wagon runs on a new chassis though the Airfix wagon runs on its original wheels as I've never got round to replacing them.

 

 

 

The backscene is part of the old one temporarily fixed in place. I want to try running the layout to check the new track is working well before ballasting  and don't want to risk any wagons falling off the back, The line will be goods only due to the lack of a passenger station,

[NXEA!]

Mullie, 

 

I always like checking in on this layout now and again, and it's great to see you embarking on a journey to change it up and revamp it, I'm sure it will be even more superb than it was. I hope you enjoy the full revamp! Inspiring stuff as always, keep it up! 

[mullie]

Das ballast has been applied and is currently drying, nothing really to photograph. The photographic back scene will also be going as on closer inspection it contains 70s houses. It will be replaced with a simple painted back scene to try and create a 'big sky' effect. I think this layout may be moving further into the fens so this will more accurately reflect the scenics where much of the land outside the railway boundary will be below rail level.

 

As has been mentioned in effect I am creating a new layout.

[mullie]

Ballasting finished and preliminary colouring applied. What was meant to be a fairly minor revamp is turning into something that will fundamentally change the character of the layout though I believe in a good way. The basic colouring is Acrylic warm grey with a dusting of talc and ground up charcoal used as appropriate and as matting agents. When the track is cleaned the layout is hoovered so no dust is around to foul up loco mechanisms.

 

I quite like the initial colour and can see me redoing the mpd board as well even though I did match in the transition between the two boards. Over the next few days washes and dry brushing will take place. Backscene boards were also cut today so are ready to apply.

 

 

 

Strange object top right is a masked up buffer stop and  the base of the signal box is also masked.