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

[mullie]

7 hours ago, Nick C said:

Is that Miss Marple leaving? Who has been murdered?

East Anglia is a strange place, could keep Miss Marple going for years! 

 

All sorts of strange goings on http://www.borleyrectory.co.uk

 

[MrWolf]

I remember reading about that place when I was at school, just plain creepy. I'd always been interested in historical ghost stories, until they started putting all those celebrity ghost hunting programmes on TV

"Is there anybody there?"

Including the film crew and catering? 

About thirty seven people.

 

Charlatans....

[mullie]

22 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I can just imagine living in that house, bits of the ceiling falling in your tea every time a train goes by....

The Wisbech and Upwell ran right outside people's garden walls in places so people must have been used to it. 

[MrWolf]

I remember that, some of the roadside track just ran across the end of people's front gardens, imagine the stink they would kick up nowadays?

 

And they do. People moving into houses alongside the Great Central Railway at Rothley Leics in the last thirty or so years have moaned about the noise and the smoke from the trains.

 

Obviously never came to view before signing the dotted line, I mean, who bothers with that when they buy a house?

[TrevorP1]

7 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I remember that, some of the roadside track just ran across the end of people's front gardens, imagine the stink they would kick up nowadays?

 

And they do. People moving into houses alongside the Great Central Railway at Rothley Leics in the last thirty or so years have moaned about the noise and the smoke from the trains.

 

Obviously never came to view before signing the dotted line, I mean, who bothers with that when they buy a house?

Sadly I remember the Mid Hants having the same problem. Beyond me…. If you don’t like something why buy a house near it?

[mullie]

Thanks for all the recent comments,  an interesting discussion. 

 

In other news I have been playing with lorries.  I bought them as part of the Portland railway project back in 2018. It is my intention to create some Portland models and not just railways. This is a slow burner and here is the start, two EFE lorries are being detailed and weathered. 

 

Drilled out the rivets to dismantle them.

 

 

The planks are acrylics washed with brown ink.

 

 

The lorries would have been kept clean but stone dust gets everywhere,  as you can see on the chassis. Still more to do. 

 

 

I have ordered a fret of wing mirrors and wipers to add detail.  Numberplates and signage to finish. 

 

I would have liked to reposition the wheels but they were jammed on the axles. 

 

Eventually I may start a separate thread for this project. 

[Alex TM]

On 07/02/2023 at 07:33, TrevorP1 said:

Sadly I remember the Mid Hants having the same problem. Beyond me…. If you don’t like something why buy a house near it?

In the early (nineteen) eighties friends of the family bought a part-finished house next to a particulalry busy freight line.  After finishing the build, and moving in, they tried to get their domestic rates reduced through 'loss of amenity' due to the noise of the passing freight services.  They further argued that they had been unaware of the railway's presence during their survey, purchase, and completion of the property!  The council politely told them to "get lost" as the line had been in routine use for around 130 years.  Thirty years later they were still moaning about the trains ....

[mullie]

We live two doors down from a pub that has live music regularly in the garden during the summer, but of varying quality. We knew this when we bought the house and have played in the pub a few times though not for some years.  It can ruin our Sunday afternoon if there is out of tune singing or playing on a warm day. Fortunately this is rare.

 

However, they also mine for Portland stone, we knew this but on some days especially in the summer we are sure we can hear them working. The mine ends under the cricket pitch which is literally over the road! All Portland houses move over time. 

[MrWolf]

That takes me back to being about ten years old. Every day at twelve and four we would hear the sound of an air raid siren from a quarry a couple of miles away, followed by the sound of blasting.

Very handy if you happened to be one of the generation of children that still played outside but didn't have a watch, let alone some gadget hitched to a satellite.

[1466]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

That takes me back to being about ten years old. Every day at twelve and four we would hear the sound of an air raid siren from a quarry a couple of miles away, followed by the sound of blasting.

Very handy if you happened to be one of the generation of children that still played outside but didn't have a watch, let alone some gadget hitched to a satellite.

Back in the day , I occasionally worked at Swindon where the factory hooter regulated lunch .

[MrWolf]

15 minutes ago, 1466 said:

Back in the day , I occasionally worked at Swindon where the factory hooter regulated lunch .

 

Puts me in mind of the old chap taking his grandchildren out for a walk and stopping atop a hill that looked down over a sprawling housing estate.

 

"When I was a lad, all this was factories and railway yards, as far as the eye could see..."

[mullie]

I've mainly worked in schools all my career,  a day regulated by bells. These days we only have bells at key times,  start of the day,  end of break and lunch. 

[mullie]

The last two wagons to pass through the weathering shop to have the finish updated.

 

 

 

These wagons run on their original wheels which meant quite a lot of filing around the brake gear. This means they are not the most free running which can have its advantages.

 

In other news, I found that Scale link detail frets are available online through this site: https://www.scalelinkfretcetera.co.uk/product-category/frets/

 

I bought wing mirror and windscreen wipers to detail the Portland lorries with.

 

 

They've been primed today.

[wiggoforgold]

On 08/02/2023 at 20:43, mullie said:

 

I would have liked to reposition the wheels but they were jammed on the axles. 

 

I’ve repositioned the wheels without removing them from the axles buy cutting the axle in the middle before bending the stubs and glueing the cut axles back in place.

Alex

[mullie]

23 minutes ago, wiggoforgold said:

I’ve repositioned the wheels without removing them from the axles buy cutting the axle in the middle before bending the stubs and glueing the cut axles back in place.

Alex

I gave up,  if I had forced the wheels any more I would have broken something. 

[MrWolf]

I think that all of us have experienced the sinking feeling which follows the snapping sound when trying to bend or straighten bits of models.

[marc smith]

On 29/01/2023 at 21:39, robert17649 said:

Was you holding your breath there. I often find myself doing that when I run  a session, My theory is that the length of a run is governed by the breath holding time of the operator. The puff of relief at the end means nothing stalled fell off or uncoupled save when it was meant to.......

Ah, I'm glad I am not alone on this @robert17649lol 

[marc smith]

On 29/01/2023 at 16:31, mullie said:

To give you an idea how the different parts of the layout interconnect, here is a short video tracing a shunter returning with full beet wagons and running from Upbech St Mary, across the quay and through Upbech Drove to the fiddle yard. The layout can also be run as three separate modules.

 

 

There is a curious flickering effect, no doubt caused by the LED lighting, sorry I don't know how to get rid of it, any advice gratefully received.

Thanks for posting that video @mullie
Having seen and admired that last section at the RMweb members day last year - I can now see how it fits in to the layout as a whole. I really like the fact that you could take any section of the layout to an exhibition, and it would stand alone as a layout. I've often pondered this approach myself, and applaud you for achieving this feat. It's not easy designing this into a layout concept, nor actually getting it to work effectively. Nice!

EDIT: Moreover, I really got the feeling of a train going "somewhere" - the differing scenes in the journey help underline that. If it had dropped a wagon into that siding in the middle section, it would appear to be an even more purposeful journey. Though the track plan is relatively "simple" - operating potential is excellent.

Edited February 13, 2023 by marc smith

[mullie]

9 hours ago, marc smith said:

Thanks for posting that video @mullie
Having seen and admired that last section at the RMweb members day last year - I can now see how it fits in to the layout as a whole. I really like the fact that you could take any section of the layout to an exhibition, and it would stand alone as a layout. I've often pondered this approach myself, and applaud you for achieving this feat. It's not easy designing this into a layout concept, nor actually getting it to work effectively. Nice!

EDIT: Moreover, I really got the feeling of a train going "somewhere" - the differing scenes in the journey help underline that. If it had dropped a wagon into that siding in the middle section, it would appear to be an even more purposeful journey. Though the track plan is relatively "simple" - operating potential is excellent.

The idea for a series of scenes with operating interest came from American model railroads where a train will make its way round a (much larger) layout 'spotting' wagons at various locations, others have done it in the Uk but any names elude me at present though I know I've seen it done.

 

I loved my Pott Row layout but it took around 10 minutes to set up and same again to put away, with this layout, sited down one side of the garage I can literally plug in and play. To send a freight train out to Upbech St Mary involves running round at Drove and propelling because there is no run round, an idea borrowed from the Snape branch, it can easily take 30 minutes to work a train along the branch.

 

A passenger train to St Mary will have a van attached that needs swapping and involves the tram in the loco depot releasing the arriving tram into the loco siding, shunting the train and then departing slowly with the return service, again killling around 20 to 30 minutes. It is a pleasant little line to run, in fact I'm braving the cold of the garage shortly, taking my phone and trusty bluetooth speaker for some good music, anything is better than the One Show!

 

The line beyond Drove is goods only in the diesel era.

[mullie]

I'm hijacking my own thread again. 

 

Latest progress on the Portland lorries,  weathered to look cared for but unavoidably dusty.

 

 

 

 

I've printed number plates tonight ready for fitting, I will fit a windscreen wiper on drivers side only. It seems wing mirrors are a relatively recent addition so I won't fit any unless someone tells me different. 

[Sitham Yard]

28 minutes ago, mullie said:

I'm hijacking my own thread again. 

 

Latest progress on the Portland lorries,  weathered to look cared for but unavoidably dusty.

 

 

 

 

I've printed number plates tonight ready for fitting, I will fit a windscreen wiper on drivers side only. It seems wing mirrors are a relatively recent addition so I won't fit any unless someone tells me different. 

I believe an offside wing mirror was a requirement at least by the 1950's probably 1930's. Looking at photos a small rectangular mirror was popular. Not sure when nearside mirrors were required, possibly 1950's.

Andrew    

[MrWolf]

1954 shot of a Bedford M type from IMCDb.org (movie background vehicles)  mirrors fitted but only 5" round type.

 

 

I like the weathering on your lorries, no high pressure automated chassis and wheel wash as you drove through the quarry exit in those days. Just as well, lots of (intentional) holes in the cab floor.

[mullie]

On 15/02/2023 at 22:08, Sitham Yard said:

I believe an offside wing mirror was a requirement at least by the 1950's probably 1930's. Looking at photos a small rectangular mirror was popular. Not sure when nearside mirrors were required, possibly 1950's.

Andrew    

I've  just read a read a section of Hansard dated 28th April 1964:

 

"To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any information as to the proportion of motor accidents that occur when either one or more of the vehicles involved have no wing mirrors, and if the number is considerable will the Government consider making the use of these mirrors compulsory."

 

This would appear to suggest the enforcement of wing mirror was a lot later than I thought. Looking at Land Rover series 1s, they didn't have them. 

 

The Scale link fret doesn't have the correct style of mirror and contemporary photos are not clear enough to be conclusive, I think I will leave them off. Today number plates and a windscreen wiper have been added. Last job will be to make some decals for the front panel above the cab but not sure of the font. More research needed.

[mullie]

 All this talks of lorries,  perhaps we need to see what's happening at Upbech.  Turns out D3491 is on the daily goods at Drove station, how we miss the J15s.

 

 

 

Some of these shots show the lack of detail on PCB track, however it runs well. Now all stock is fitted with S&W couplings a service can be run pretty much hands free in both eras.

 

I couldn't get reliability with Kadees, I know others manage it but I didn't like the way wagons chased the magnets, not a problem with Spratt and winkles.

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by mullie

[mullie]

The type 2 was on the daily goods at Upbech Drove today. This really needs to go through the weathering shop.

 

 

Didn't provoke any activity in the coal yard though.