Much Murkle - back on the road

[Mick Bonwick]

 

 

After two exhibitions in October I can now have a rest until Calne in January.

 

That's what you think. What about all those maintenence, repair  and modification tasks? :-D

[nickwood]

That's what you think. What about all those maintenence, repair  and modification tasks? :-D

There's not that much to do Mick, a faulty electro magnet to sort out and a few stock and coupling issues but that's it really.

[nickwood]

November, December and the New Year have passed and nothing much has happened at Much Murkle in all that time. It has remained packed away since the last exhibition.

I will be unpacking Much Murkle in the next couple of days to check things over as I have a busy few weeks coming up with three exhibitions in quick succession.

Calne, Wiltshire on Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th January. Always a good show with around 15 layouts and trade support
http://www.calnemrs.org.uk

Stafford on Saturday 6th February & Sunday 7th February at Stafford County Showground. A major show with over 40 layouts and specialist traders 
http://www.staffordrailwaycircle.org.uk/exhibition/

Tonbridge, Kent on Saturday 20th February. Over 30 layouts and trade support
http://www.tonbridgemrc.com/9.html

My modelling mojo hasn't been great lately but I am starting to look forward to the first of these in just over a couple of weeks time. Say hello if you are attending any of these exhibitions and if you do, don't be afraid to give me some honest feedback

[Andrew P]

November, December and the New Year have passed and nothing much has happened at Much Murkle in all that time. It has remained packed away since the last exhibition.

 

I will be unpacking Much Murkle in the next couple of days to check things over as I have a busy few weeks coming up with three exhibitions in quick succession.

 

Calne, Wiltshire on Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th January. Always a good show with around 15 layouts and trade support

http://www.calnemrs.org.uk

 

Stafford on Saturday 6th February & Sunday 7th February at Stafford County Showground. A major show with over 40 layouts and specialist traders 

http://www.staffordrailwaycircle.org.uk/exhibition/

 

Tonbridge, Kent on Saturday 20th February. Over 30 layouts and trade support

http://www.tonbridgemrc.com/9.html

 

My modelling mojo hasn't been great lately but I am starting to look forward to the first of these in just over a couple of weeks time. Say hello if you are attending any of these exhibitions and if you do, don't be afraid to give me some honest feedback

Looking forward to seeing MM at Stafford, Oh and you as well of course.

[nickwood]

It will be my first visit to Stafford and after hearing so many good things about the show (excepting that everyone says it always snows) I'm really looking forward to it. Hope I'll get some time away from MM to have a look around.

 

Will be great to see you and have a chat again Andy.

[john flann]

Nick, I wish you well in exhibiting MM.

 

I'm sure too once in the exhibition hall, and MM is being righty admired and running nicely all your old enthusiasms will soon return.

 

My regards,

[Andrew P]

It is a cracking Show, THREE BIG Halls and loads to see, we were there last year with my old Deesdale Road and I can recommend the Bacon Cobs at 08.30 in the morning to warm you up and set you up for the Day ahead.

[nickwood]

Much Murkle is crated and ready for loading tomorrow for the trip to Calne, first of its three winter outings. Looking forward to a great weekend. If you are coming along don't forget to say hello

 

 

Photo by Andy York

Edited December 21, 2022 by nickwood

[Andy R]

Nick -the photo by Andy York shows MM to perfection. Your modelling is truly inspirational.

 

regards, Andy R

[exmoordave]

Greatly enjoyed seeing Much Murkle again on Saturday! Terrific!!!

 

exmoordave

[nickwood]

Nick -the photo by Andy York shows MM to perfection. Your modelling is truly inspirational.

 

regards, Andy R

 

Thanks Andy. Mr York's photography isn't too shabby either !!

 

Greatly enjoyed seeing Much Murkle again on Saturday! Terrific!!!

 

exmoordave

 

Again!, you must make yourself known next time. I'm happy to give groupies a tour around the back

Edited January 26, 2016 by nickwood

[nickwood]

At the last two shows I've had some trouble with one of the uncouplers not working so I spent some time this weekend checking everything. I eventually tracked it down to a dry joint in one of the 25 pin cable connectors. Hopefully it will now work ok and less magnetic wand waving will be necessary to shunt the goods yard. A other few little repairs following the Calne show and Much Murkle is now ready for the long trip to Stafford on Friday.

 

I'm sure that there will be lots of RMwebbers at Stafford so as always please make yourselves known and stop for a chat.

 

Another couple of Mr York's excellent photographs

First a shot of the loading bay at Rancoutt's Cider

 

 

and I just love this shot

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by nickwood

[Andy R]

Nick -these new photos also stunning...and (as I keep saying)...inspirational!!!

 

I like the factory scene and its very supple colouring/weathering. We can learn a lot from studying these series of photos.

 

regards, Andy R

[wigancg]

Hi Nick,

 

Lovely photos in your recent updates as always! The one with the cows in the foreground give the feel of a lovely warm summer's afternoon/evening. Superb!

 

Looking forward to seeing Much Murkle for real at Stafford this weekend too. Keep the super photos coming. Very inspirational!

 

Chris

[Mikkel]

Hi Nick, a couple of very nice photos there by Andy, they show angles on the layout that I haven't come across before (although I recognize the cider boxes!).  I especially like the first one which gives a real sense of depth to the yard area.

[Andrew P]

Hi Nick, Great to see you today and your Team working hard and keeping things moving all the time.

 

QUESTION FOR YOU.

Why did you change the Water Tank from the first pic in Google, (looked for Ratio GWR Water Tank).

 

To this today?

 

 

 

[nickwood]

Good to see you again Andy.

 

It's a long time ago but I think that the original photo was one of a few I took of the water tank in different positions on the layout to try and see where it would look best but still be in a logical position. I decided that wherever it went it tended to visually dominate the scene. I saw a photo somewhere of a smaller tower with a flat top. The flat top is included in the Ratio kit as an alternative so I thought that might be the solution. I took a razor saw to it and first cut the conical bit off and still thought it was too high so I cut about a third of the cylindrical tank off as well.

[wigancg]

Hi Nick,

 

First of all, may I take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to chat with me when I saw you during the Stafford show on Saturday and to congratulate you on such a splendid, bright, highly detailed and pleasurable layout.

You have a true talent here and someone to look up to for modelling inspiration! I am ever so delighted that I managed to view Much Murkle in the flesh finally. This was by far my favourite of all the layouts in the show (clearly which is why I kept returning and often walking past for a glance even though I didn't always stop to watch closely).

 

My friend and I were discussing the layout at length on the train back home up't north and were saying "Eeee, it were a belting layout to see finally" and I also wondered how did you manage to model the ivy growing up the goods shed and the poppies in the field on the embankment?

 

Best wishes and thanks again for your time,

Chris

[nickwood]

Thanks Chris, I'm really pleased that MM met your expectations and I really enjoyed our chat.

 

The ivy is made by either Heki or Noch, I can't remember which now. It is there because I had made an error when constructing the end wall of the Goods Shed and decided rather than scrap it and start again I could cover it with ivy. Perhaps not something the GWR would have allowed to take hold on one of their buildings in those days, but it looks the part.

 

The poppies were very easy to do. Once the static grass had been laid I used a stiff(ish) flat paint brush about 6mm wide dipped in neat pva with most of it then wiped off. The brush is lightly drawn over the tops of the grass fibres in small patches (the less you can apply the better). Then red scenic flock is dropped on,  left for about 2 minutes and then vacuumed off leaving just the bits that were in contact with the glue. Simple as that.

[georgeT]

Hello Nick, Never really looked at MM before in depth until Sunday at Stafford when l had a really good look and was amazed at the amount of detail you have put into MM everything looked spot on, good to see so many GWR tank engines doing their duties at MM...

[nickwood]

Thanks George, I'm pleased to hear that MM stood up to scrutiny.

 

MM is served by quite a few tank engines, there are three 57xx panniers, a 64xx Pannier, 48xx and two 45xx engines. Tender engines do appear less frequently, a Dean Goods, Dukedog, Collet Goods and the largest being a 43xx Mogul used on the Quarry service.

[nickwood]

Very little maintenance needed to be carried out following the Stafford show, just a few tweaks to the DG couplings, clean wheels etc. MM has been throughly checked and is ready for loading on Friday for the trip to Tonbridge.

 

Looking forward to another good show, our third in 5 weekends

Photo again courtesy of Andy York and BRM

 

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by nickwood

[Andrew P]

Have a good Show Nick.

[Robatron86]

Hope it is a good show

[nickwood]

Another good show. The Tonbridge club looked after the exhibitors very well, providing hot food AND cakes in the afternoon.

 

The hall we were in was very hot and we were right next to the radiators. We had a few running problems early on, mainly with derailments at the cassette interface. Expansion was probably the cause as things settled down as the day went on.

 

Over the last three shows I have been making a mental note of the questions and comments that we get

 

The most asked questions are;
how did you do the grass / poppies? cue discussion on static grass techniques.
What type of couplings do you use and where do you get them?
Are the buildings kits as I haven't seen them before?

 

Comments and obsevations usually relate to the person picking on some aspect that they know (or think they know) something about. These are often not railway related. I've had many interesting discussions about such things as cider making, Herefordshire, the size of cattle in the 1930's, would sheep be wooly in summer etc etc some of which are informative, many are amusing but only a very few are downright rude

 

I love exhibiting

The next exhibition isn't until May when MM will be at the Victory Club show in Portsmouth. I have a couple of small scenic detail changes in mind which I will share when the time comes.