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

[sb67]

Thanks @mullie some of those books will end up on my xmas list! 🙂

[mullie]

Another part of my bookshelf, some books are between 35 and 40 years old and long out of print. As well as East Anglian tomes there are quite a few on the LTS and GE lines into London, both of which I travelled on , the GE lines especially. Another interest are lines around London as I lived in South London near my university and used the East London line a lot as well as the line from London Bridge to Brockley. Of course there are books on Dorset railways especially the Portland branch.

 

 

 

Wild Swan modelling references can be seen and more books off to the right of both photos I have posted. It is quite a useful library with which I can while away many hours. I have some back issues of railway magazines both modelling and prototype, I keep all MRJs but other magazines are not always kept or just the relevant bits. I buy a lot of books secondhand these days, often in immaculate condition.

 

Gone off at a bit of a tangent!

[mullie]

J72 shunting at Upbech St Mary.

 

 

One of the wagons.

 

[mullie]

More progress on the Cov B. The one on the left is the most recent version, still some way to go with the weathering and it needs couplings. On the right is the model that has been on the layout for a few years. This has had the paint finish tweaked and all will be a darker shade by the time I am finished.

 

More of a challenge is the van in the middle, a Bachmann LNER van, by comparison the finish looks a bit flat so out will come the paints, chalks and talcum powder. All three need the chassis highlighted.

 

[wiggoforgold]

On 04/11/2022 at 20:11, mullie said:

Another part of my bookshelf, some books are between 35 and 40 years old and long out of print. As well as East Anglian tomes there are quite a few on the LTS and GE lines into London, both of which I travelled on , the GE lines especially. Another interest are lines around London as I lived in South London near my university and used the East London line a lot as well as the line from London Bridge to Brockley. Of course there are books on Dorset railways especially the Portland branch.

 

 

 

Wild Swan modelling references can be seen and more books off to the right of both photos I have posted. It is quite a useful library with which I can while away many hours. I have some back issues of railway magazines both modelling and prototype, I keep all MRJs but other magazines are not always kept or just the relevant bits. I buy a lot of books secondhand these days, often in immaculate condition.

 

Gone off at a bit of a tangent!

Interesting. Parts of that bookshelf look rather like mine !

Alex

[mullie]

4 hours ago, wiggoforgold said:

Interesting. Parts of that bookshelf look rather like mine !

Alex

And good books don't date, some have been with me since the very early 80s and are still a source of enjoyment/inspiration.  The Great Eastern Album was one of the first in around 1978 as I did my History O level project on the Great Eastern Railway and spoke about it for my English oral exam. 

 

Martyn

[sb67]

A very good selection of books there! Have you come across the Beaten Track series and Lost Lines Lost Diesels, there's a few East Anglian pics but generally good photos of run-down backwaters around the country? 

[mullie]

1 minute ago, sb67 said:

A very good selection of books there! Have you come across the Beaten Track series and Lost Lines Lost Diesels, there's a few East Anglian pics but generally good photos of run-down backwaters around the country? 

I am now so will have a look. Although my bookcase gives my preferences away I am just generally fascinated by transport. Thanks for the tip.

[sb67]

8 minutes ago, mullie said:

I am now so will have a look. Although my bookcase gives my preferences away I am just generally fascinated by transport. Thanks for the tip.

 

I've tried to limit the books I buy now but I can't help being drawn to the Wild Swan or Strathwood titles, the Small Layout Design book is pretty good too! 

[mullie]

I think I've gone almost as far as I want to with these two. Bachmann on the left and the original Lochgorm kit on the right. The new Cov B is currently having couplings fitted, should be on the layout tomorrow.

 

 

In the end I took to applying IPA alcohol with a stiff brush to the Bachmann model to remove much of the applied weathering as the numbers had become too obscured which left what I think is a quite pleasing effect.

[mullie]

A J15 is shunting the latest wagon to be added, the second Cov B.

 

[mullie]

It has taken longer than I expected but here is part two of the history of Pott Row. This takes it from the rebuilding to dismantling in 2018. There was a lot I liked about this layout but at the end there was a clear distinction between the bits of the layout built around 2008 and the bits towards the end. I've not regretted the decision to rebuild as I feel the new layout has moved my modelling forward.

 

 

[sb67]

Nice to see how the layout and your modelling has developed. Who makes the 4 and 6 wheel coaches you've got? I'm looking for suitable Eastern region coaches for a layout idea of the same era as yours.

[mullie]

10 hours ago, sb67 said:

Nice to see how the layout and your modelling has developed. Who makes the 4 and 6 wheel coaches you've got? I'm looking for suitable Eastern region coaches for a layout idea of the same era as yours.

I am a real fraud where coaching stock is concerned. The four wheeler is quite a substantial rebuild of Ratio four wheeler to vaguely look like something that ran on the Kelvedon and Tollesbury line using Great Eastern Society plans. The six wheelers are simply Ratio again with a floating third axle and different roof vents if my memory serves me correctly. I do plan to replace them with something more appropriate some day.

 

Don't ask where the clerestory stock came from, you probably don't need to be told!

 

Martyn

[sb67]

Thanks Martyn, what did you do to the Ratio coaches? 

I was looking at the Generic coaches from Hattons but I cant find LNER teak and I'm not sure of the release date of the BR crimson version. The Hornby ones seem Southern region in origin. 

[mullie]

OK here goes!

 

Side view of the 4 wheeler, lowered onto an under frame largely scratch built, can't remember where all the bits came from, some will have been cannibalised from the original kit. Only the end doors remain as per the GERS drawing, others blanked off, steps fashioned from scrap brass. Rainstrips filed off and remade in brass wire.

 

 

Front view. Door added, step and handles so the conductor can get  through.

 

 

 

Six wheeler. Rain strips filed off and replaced, new ventilators added and close coupled. The extra axle box includes a floating axle inside an extra set of Ratio axle boxes from another 4 wheeler kit I had. I think the wheels are the original Ratio ones simply pushed out on their axles. 

 

 

The carriages feature a few passengers, sprayed with Tamiya brown, other bits painted in artists acrylics and talc. HMRS transfers. One day they will be replaced by either Eveleigh Creation kits or something suitable printed in 3D to replace what is an enormous bodge!

 

Thanks for the interest.

[wiggoforgold]

On 25/11/2022 at 22:02, sb67 said:

Thanks Martyn, what did you do to the Ratio coaches? 

I was looking at the Generic coaches from Hattons but I cant find LNER teak and I'm not sure of the release date of the BR crimson version. The Hornby ones seem Southern region in origin. 

Steve, I got a couple of LNER brown ones. My plan is to reletter them as BR.

Alex

[mullie]

A diversion from wagons, a bit more progress on a new set of outside cranks for the Hornby class 10. Here it is on the test track, with another wagon going through the weathering shop. Next step is to refit the steps.

 

 

The shunter is now fitted with Brassmaster coupling rods, last time I tried them, around 2018, I couldn't get them to work succesfully so this time I used the Poppy's chassis building jig to check the rods on the chassis. Simply sitting the chassis, minus wheels on the axle rods revealed any tight spots so hopefully no problems this time.

 

[boxbrownie]

15 hours ago, mullie said:

A diversion from wagons, a bit more progress on a new set of outside cranks for the Hornby class 10. Here it is on the test track, with another wagon going through the weathering shop. Next step is to refit the steps.

 

 

The shunter is now fitted with Brassmaster coupling rods, last time I tried them, around 2018, I couldn't get them to work succesfully so this time I used the Poppy's chassis building jig to check the rods on the chassis. Simply sitting the chassis, minus wheels on the axle rods revealed any tight spots so hopefully no problems this time.

 

What is the reason (or main reason) for swapping the rods?

[mullie]

When the cranks split the stress meant the coupling rods fell apart so it needed new rods anyway. 

[mullie]

The garage is now too cold to model in, temperature down to 4 today with a biting east wind. So at this time of year modelling moves onto the dining room table. I'm awaiting some steps  for the shunter so thought I would revisit some weathering as much of it was quite basic in order to get stock running on the layout. The mineral wagons have all been treated with inks, paints, talc and chalks to create a well used but not too battered appearance. All four are subtly different and a third shot gives an idea of the end treatment.

 

 

 

 

I do have a fifth Masokits chassis and have recently picked up another Airfix mineral wagon kit cheap. 

[MrWolf]

Very nice restrained bit of weathering there, whilst I know that the old sixteen ton rotboxes got into a terrible state and I've seen incredible renditions of that too, I suspect that it's all too easy to end up with an entire train that looks as though it's been dragged out of Cashmore's or Berry's, when a real mixture of conditions would be truer to life.

[mullie]

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Very nice restrained bit of weathering there, whilst I know that the old sixteen ton rotboxes got into a terrible state and I've seen incredible renditions of that too, I suspect that it's all too easy to end up with an entire train that looks as though it's been dragged out of Cashmore's or Berry's, when a real mixture of conditions would be truer to life.

Those used on beet trains don't seem to have been too beaten up according to photos I've seen including some taken in the final days of the Wissington trains. I assume the wagons would have been prepared in some way for the beet trains, I can't imagine they wanted coal dust mixing with the crop even though the crop was washed? I have seen a photo of vans filling up sidings in preparation for the beet campaign but not the open wagons.

 

Perhaps it was those used by heavy industry and collieries that fared worst?

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

We tend to forget that in the mid 50's a lot of 16 ton mineral wagons would be brand new !

 

manna

[MrWolf]

I would think that any wagons used for carrying crops would at least get a blast out with a fire hose, maybe even a steam lance and as you say, the cleaner wagons held back for less destructive loads plus as @manna says, they were still making new ones!