Bath Queen Square

[Izzy]

9 hours ago, Donw said:

Pre-group gets my vote.

I do like these views of trains in open countryside few layouts have room for that

Don

 

Agree. Not so much discuss but sit back and enjoy for me. With them I did scrunch up my eyes and try and imagine it with the scenery completed. Looks wonderful….!

 

Bob

[queensquare]

48 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Agree. Not so much discuss but sit back and enjoy for me. With them I did scrunch up my eyes and try and imagine it with the scenery completed. Looks wonderful….!

 

Bob

Thanks Bob. I’m sorely tempted to crack on with the scenery but I want to wait until I’ve got the basic landscaping for Bath bank in place and then do the lot in one hit to try and ensure some consistency. 
That said, my primary target this year is to get the rest of the track down and wired so I can run trains over the entire length of the layout. So much to do …..!😊

 

Jerry

[queensquare]

12 hours ago, RobAllen said:

Looks fantastic!

All my stock is ~1935 and I'm incredibly aware that I only need to backdate a little to run SDJR rolling stock. Mind you, I have to build a layout first, before I need to learn how to build coach and wagon kits along with repainting locomotives…

I’ve always thought 1930 would make a fascinating year to model with blue SDJR locos with newly hand painted LMS markings and numbers. I don’t think the blue lasted much beyond 1930 but Casserley took a number of pictures on his visits to the line that year.

 

Jerry

[03060]

I don't suppose that you know the dia. number of the L&NWR van do you Jerry, please ? I have a few L&NWR milk vans in my 3mm scale flat pack stash but none that look the van that you've modelled. We've got a meeting coming up shortly where I may be able to get hold of one.

 

Any idea of date regarding the photo, please ?

 

Regards,

Ian.

Edited March 2 by 03060
Extra question posed.

[queensquare]

36 minutes ago, 03060 said:

I don't suppose that you know the dia. number of the L&NWR van do you Jerry, please ? I have a few L&NWR milk vans in my 3mm scale flat pack stash but none that look the van that you've modelled. We've got a meeting coming up shortly where I may be able to get hold of one.

 

Any idea of date regarding the photo, please ?

 

Regards,

Ian.

Hi Ian, pretty sure it’s D385. It a Worsley etch I picked up years ago so shouldn’t be a problem getting one in 3mm. The combination of the blue S&D set with the LNW full brake and MR through coaches takes some beating in my opinion 

 

Jerry

[Jol Wilkinson]

The LNWR built over three hundred and fifty of the D358 passenger brake vans, so probably the most common of the six wheel vans.

[Compound2632]

2 minutes ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

The LNWR built over three hundred and fifty of the D358 passenger brake vans, so probably the most common of the six wheel vans.

 

Almost certainly the most numerous single type of pre-grouping NPCS; the only more numerous types of pre-grouping passenger rated stock I can think of are 6-wheel five-compartment thirds - GWR, LNWR, MR, and NER types spring to mind - with the exception of the L&YR's 49 ft bogie thirds.

[03060]

1 hour ago, queensquare said:

Hi Ian, pretty sure it’s D385. It a Worsley etch I picked up years ago so shouldn’t be a problem getting one in 3mm. The combination of the blue S&D set with the LNW full brake and MR through coaches takes some beating in my opinion 

 

Jerry

Thanks Jerry and all for the info, one added to the shopping list ... and an etched chassis ... and some buffers ... and some axleboxes ... and some roof vents ... LoL.

 

Much appreciated.

Regards,

Ian.

 

[queensquare]

Another phone snap, the new Windsor Hill extension has really opened up the view of the colliery. Fox Walker tank is banking a freight into the down tunnel - anyone who knows the S&D will immediately spot the huge liberty I’ve taken here - quite apart from the fact that the colliery and the tunnels are meant to be several miles apart.

 

Jerry

 

Edited March 2 by queensquare

[queensquare]

Last couple of snaps from what’s been a fun day posing and running trains.

 

Jerry

 

 

[VRBroadgauge]

I'm enjoying the photos of your layout Jerry. I'm loving those big sweeping curves and how they open the space up. Too many layouts have tangent track and parallel baseboard sides.

I'm hoping to capture some of this on Cudgewa sometime soon. I won't be getting a whole lot of modelling done this year due to building a new house and living in a rented house.

Looking at your build gives me some inspiration to get stuck into mine when I'm able to.

[queensquare]

I even took some phone videos ….. hope this works! 
 

Jerry
 

 

 

[mullie]

2 minutes ago, queensquare said:

I even took some phone videos ….. hope this works! 
 

Jerry
 

 

 

Very nice. 

 

Martyn 

[Re6/6]

Lovely stuff Jerry.....'lines in the landscape'

[queensquare]

Another very enjoyable 2mm get together yesterday, trains, chat a bowl of gruel and cake! I’d made very little progress since our last meeting but the rest brought along what they’d been up to.

Will brought along one of the new Revolution 59s which is a magnificent thing. I was very tempted to get one of these only lack of finances at the time prevented it. They may not fit my 1920s time frame but are very much at home in the Mendips. I remember them arriving  on the stone traffic and demonstrating their immense power on Upton Scudamore bank. I’m looking forward to it being finescaled and heading a full rake of hoppers.

 

 

Will also brought his breakfast train - what it lacks in authenticity it more than makes up for in fun - marvellous!

 

 

Andy Grand brought his Austerity and a 40 wagon rake of superbly weathered coal wagons. The loco ran beautifully and will look even better once Brother Simon has completed the painting and weathering.

 

 

The J10 also got a run out, albeit with a much lighter load.

 

 

stuff that evaded the camera included John ‘Doncaster Greens’ 4F which is now running superbly thanks to further tweaking and three GWR locos from Rich Brummit which hadn’t turned a wheel for some while but ran an awful lot better than we had been led to believe.

I’m hoping to be able to report more progress myself by the time we next get together in a couple of months.

 

Jerry
 

 

[Sithlord75]

Looks like it was a fun time - also explains why a few regular faces were missing from the ZAG!!

 

Do you think Diesels on the S&D will catch on?  I can see 10000 arriving at Stur in the near future.

[queensquare]

16 minutes ago, Sithlord75 said:

Looks like it was a fun time - also explains why a few regular faces were missing from the ZAG!!

 

Do you think Diesels on the S&D will catch on?  I can see 10000 arriving at Stur in the near future.

More than happy to host diesels - my version of the S&D didn’t close in 1966!

 

We would have had 10000 here yesterday but Tom E unfortunately didn’t make it thanks to a pothole on the motorway which took out a tyre on route - next time hopefully!

 

Jerry

Edited March 24 by queensquare

[nebnoswal]

On 24/03/2024 at 18:38, queensquare said:

More than happy to host diesels - my version of the S&D didn’t close in 1966!

 

We would have had 10000 here yesterday but Tom E unfortunately didn’t make it thanks to a pothole on the motorway which took out a tyre on route - next time hopefully!

 

Jerry

 

Done.  Please excuse a photo of a N gauge layout in the 2mm section 😉

 

 

[queensquare]

9 hours ago, nebnoswal said:

 

Done.  Please excuse a photo of a N gauge layout in the 2mm section 😉

 

 

I think they are a very handsome loco Ben. No problem at all about a bit of N gauge in this thread …… as for that front coupling though ……!!

 

Jerry

[nebnoswal]

On 29/03/2024 at 17:27, queensquare said:

I think they are a very handsome loco Ben. No problem at all about a bit of N gauge in this thread …… as for that front coupling though ……!!

 

Jerry

 Whoops.  Sorry Jerry, I only just noticed, it was still being run in

 

OK, here is the amendment, the Somerset and Diesel Railway

 

[queensquare]

Every now and then I try and get organised. It’s not something I’m good at but I try!

Monday evenings is club night and we sit at our respective benches whittling away on something and nattering. These sessions are perfect for those dull, repetitive jobs that you can almost do on autopilot which would otherwise be put off in favour of something more interesting - like building wagons. Over the last few Mondays I’ve been doing a marathon build of over a hundred DG couplings in the hope that I could fit couplings to all the stock waiting with a few to spare. 
This evening I went through the stock boxes in the workshop to see how many vehicles were actually waiting for couplings. Turns out there are 117 wagons and NPCS items in the queue. I’m not sure if I’m depressed at having only about half the couplings I need or impressed at how much I’ve built in the last couple of years!!

Going to have a bath and a whisky and think about it!

Jerry

 

[queensquare]

A couple more pictures from the photo session a few weeks ago. The top picture shows the Fox Walker banking a freight toward the summit at Maesbury. Exactly how the bankers will work on the layout, if at all, is yet to be sorted - not just practically with DCC , but prototypically. Freights between Bath Junction and the tunnels require a banker, through the Midford Valley and past the colliery they dont but on the final push through Windsor Hill they do. I cant be all right all of the time!

 

 

 

 

The lower picture is facing the other way and sees No 45 storming up the bank with the southbound Diner whilst 88 cautiosly descends the bank. Those who know the S&D will spot that this is all wrong, up and down lines should be reversed, space having forced me to model the southern, not northern end of the tunnels. The Diner will look a lot better with a crew and some glazing in the coaches!

Both pictures feature some embryonic signals - all bare brass and bluetac at the moment!

 

Shameless plug. I talk a lot about compromise in the next instalment of the Bath saga in MRJ 303, which should be hitting the shops in a couple of weeks. Talking about talking a lot, I will be at SWAG in Taunton this coming Sunday, 28th April with bits of the Bath project and will be flying the 2mm flag at Expo EM in Bracknell on 11/12 May with Tucking Mill.

 

Jerry

 

[Compound2632]

37 minutes ago, queensquare said:

Exactly how the bankers will work on the layout, if at all, is yet to be sorted - not just practically with DCC , but prototypically. Freights between Bath Junction and the tunnels require a banker, through the Midford Valley and past the colliery they dont but on the final push through Windsor Hill they do. I cant be all right all of the time!

 

There was a photo recently on a Facebook group devoted to "Realistic Railway Modelling" of a 4 mm (IIRC) S&DJR layout with the banker - an LMS standard 3F 0-6-0T, Bagnall to you, Jinty to the hoi polloi - dropping off the rear of a freight (I think this was on the other side of the hill to you). I asked what prototype practice was, since my understanding is that the general rule was that the banker should be coupled to the train it was assisting - following accidents in which trains had left the banker behind and the banker had then caught up, violently; this would mean coming to a stand at the top of the bank, to uncouple, though in some instances slip couplings were used, which exposes everyone to the same risk of catching up. However, there were many exceptions to the rule, the Lickey Incline being one such. So I was wondering what the rules or exceptions were on the S&DJR in your period.

 

Needless to say, I didn't get a reply to my question from the Facebook poster!

[03060]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

There was a photo recently on a Facebook group devoted to "Realistic Railway Modelling" of a 4 mm (IIRC) S&DJR layout with the banker - an LMS standard 3F 0-6-0T, Bagnall to you, Jinty to the hoi polloi - dropping off the rear of a freight (I think this was on the other side of the hill to you). I asked what prototype practice was, since my understanding is that the general rule was that the banker should be coupled to the train it was assisting - following accidents in which trains had left the banker behind and the banker had then caught up, violently; this would mean coming to a stand at the top of the bank, to uncouple, though in some instances slip couplings were used, which exposes everyone to the same risk of catching up. However, there were many exceptions to the rule, the Lickey Incline being one such. So I was wondering what the rules or exceptions were on the S&DJR in your period.

 

Needless to say, I didn't get a reply to my question from the Facebook poster!

Hello Stephen,

There's footage of this practice being carried out on the S&D (all be it in BR days) on one of the many DVDs in my collection, I'll see if I can find it later but IIRC the banking loco (a 3F tank) was attached to the train at Radstock up to just short of Masbury summit with the brake van guard then uncoupling it on the move, using a special hook attached to the banker's smokebox door, so allowing the banker to 'drop off' and return wrong line back down the incline to Binegar.

According to p.146 in the Pictorial Atlas of the S&DJR (part 1) this practice was brought into force from Oct 10th 1927 due to an economic measure relating to a reduction of hours of Masbury signal box being in use. There's also more information about the practice on p.151.

 

We tried to include this feature on our (Leeds MRS) model of Masbury station but trying to be clever with conventional DC and two controllers it never really worked very well and as it took place almost as soon as the train banker appeared in view we decided not to bother again with it. I think that I later removed the switch and wiring as it just caused us confusion the next time that we exhibited it.

 

I do however (as I now own the layout) sometimes run the bankers into the station area as if there has been an issue with uncoupling and allow them to use the crossover by the platforms to return just for extra interest.

 

Regards,

Ian.

Edited Monday at 10:12 by 03060
More info added.

[Compound2632]

20 minutes ago, 03060 said:

There's footage of this practice being carried out on the S&D (all be it in BR days) on one of the many DVDs in my collection, I'll see if I can find it later but IIRC the banking loco (a 3F tank) was attached to the train up tojust short of Masbury summit with the brake van guard then uncoupling it on the move so allowing the banker to 'drop off' and return wrong line back down the incline to Binegar.

 

I've found the Facebook post again and there have now been several replies saying what you're saying but also pointing to known cases in the 1960s when the banker wasn't coupled up. The photo of the model could be interpreted as being shortly after the guard had uncoupled - but long enough after for him to have gone back into the cabin!

Edited Monday at 10:16 by Compound2632