"Somewhere in east Dorset"

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A few bits of detail -

 

Some traffic on Station bridge

 

 

Delivery boy & bike at the semis, gates are Scalelink, delivery boy Shire scenes

 

 

The factory gates and pillars Scalelink, cars BH Enterprises  (polyfilla on factory yard could do with sanding down, camera picking up faults again!)

 

 

How I "plant" Metcalfe walls, fold brick card & insert a piece of thin card between then glue it together, cut a slot  and apply glue push the tongue of card into the slot (this was being done on a foamboard base)

 

 

For other longer walls I use plastic lipping in 8' lengths from DIY stores, the lip gives more surface area for adhesives and can be hidden by scatter or pavements etc; for N gauge  12x5mm  will give you aproximately an 6' high wall (for 00 25x5mm scales to about 6' ) cover with brick, stone or timber texture paper (print downloaded textures from Scalescenes or Railway Scenics onto A4 sticky label stock, saves messing with glue) For lower walls either cut down, or use plain plastic strip of suitable size, then bend a lip on it or bury some of it

 

 

 

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Some of the stock that runs on the layout, I'll go through the stock in order of CMEs, first the Adams classes;

The A12 class 0-4-2, not often Modelled in any scale, body scratch built from Brass, driving wheels from ABS/Beaver, tender slightly hacked Worsley Works with a Union Mills drive. Having a nickel silver tender body, the pulling power is not quite as much as the UM cast body, but sufficient for the duties on Purbeck. 624 was allocated to Bournemouth shed during the 1930s, often employed in the carriage sidings during the winter months for carriage preheating. On Purbeck it will mainly be employed on local passenger duties or station pilot. (I've found some better coupling rods since the pic)

 

B4 dock tanks; Peco/Wills body one on an Arnold chassis, the other on a Fleischmann, the Fleischmann motor is a bit bigger then the designed for Arnold, so some coal is carried on the tank tops (prototypical)  Pic is of the Arnold chassis one, the other is numbered 92. Shed pilot and shunting duties on Purbeck

Newest arrival, a Union Mills 0395, shown here soon after arrival, 3441 was shedded  at Salisbury 1930s, 3083 would have been a possible choice  at Dorchester shed, except it was fitted with an ex SECR boiler which also entailed a new cob front with different windows. The tender has since been made to look a little more Adams than Drummond!

 

Another Adams loco a class G6 0-6-0T is lying in a box awaiting a 57xx chassis before starting construction, an NBrass kit, also waiting for bench time is an Adams X6 4-4-0 (got some wheels and a chassis, footplate, splashers and part cab sides hacked from a Union Mills D20 on which to slap some brass).

 

 

 

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Drummond classes, 4 Dapol M7s, 3 are fitted for push pull workingwhich involved adding Westinghouse pump, a couple of reservoir cylinders and a slightly lengthened front footplate. 47 is fitted, 255 is not. Not shown are 21 & 53 are also fitted, 53 is actually a hacked white metal kit (ABS Highland Peter Drummond 0-6-4T) on a hacked 14xx chassis, as is to be expected under Sods law, almost as soon as I finished it, Dapol brought out their own M7 the white metal body does make a considerable difference to pulling power! I'm on the lookout for another ABS kit or two, the plastic bodied ones  are not so keen on pulling more than 2 x 50 footers up the gradient.

Class 700 0-6-0, Union Mills, shown as out the box condition, since added vac pipes and lamp irons, thinned down coupling rods
Renumbered, have another numbered 691, both Bournemouth shedded in the 1930s

 

Drummond T9, Union Mills but hacked, as supplied they are the wide cab version with 6 wheel tender, during the 1930s almost all the wide cab ones were drafted to Eastern and Central divisions (which could not accommodate the longer 8 wheel tender on most of their turntables) so mine had 1mm milled off each side of the cab and splashers, the tender exchanged for a Fleischmann 7161 drive and Langley S15 body kit. This meant adding pick ups to the loco and tender. I had the model supplied in primer, no point in doing a major hack on new paintwork! If anybody is interested I can post a quick "how to" on the conversion. 120 did see some service in Dorset in the '30s, plus being the preserved one I can justify running it "away from home".

 

Drummond K10 4-4-0, scratch built with UM tender drive, brass body on motorless Farish 4P chassis, tender cut down Langley S15.

Originally intended to be an L11, but I didn't have a Fleischmann tender drive at the time and the only L11s with 6 wheel tenders were loaned to the Eastern division/district so chose to make it a K10 despite having 10' spacing of the driving wheels.

If I was redoing the K10 I would use some thinner "pipework", I also need to add some to the T9. Most lining is done by hand with a Rotring drawing pen and white opaque ink, boiler bands though are Fox LNER transfers.

 

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Moving on to Urie and Maunsell locos, Urie designed 3 4-6-0s, the H15 mixed traffic with 6' driving wheels, the N15 Express Passenger with 6'7" drivers, and the heavy (ish) S15 with 5'7" drivers he also brought out 2 heavy goods tanks, classes G16 and H16;  Maunsell continued  with more of the 4-6-0 classes, the N15s becoming known as the King Arthur class, and added a few classes of his own, The  4 classes of Moguls which had started on the SECR, the Lord Nelsons and Schools, and W and Z class goods tanks, finally the Q class 0-6-0, about when he retired in 1938.

Purbeck currently has a mixture of 4-6-0s and a Q; the goods tanks would not have appeared in this neck of the woods, being at the time more or less confined to the London area, on shunting in the many extensive yards, like Feltham, and transfer freights between SR and other companies. Some did move out of the London area in later years, we await delivery of a Mogul if/when Farish release it, same for a Schools from Dapol.

Urie H15, currently one in service, from the Urie batch, one of the later ones in currently in the works. For this model I used a Langley S15 loco body but with a Minitrix 2077 chassis and tender drive, the tender drive carries a body from the BHE N15 kit, which does require a considerable amount filing from the interior of the sides, and a bit of the block surrounding the motor

 

The Minitrix loco chassis has to have a valve gear transplant as the M'trix  drives on the front drivers not centre, luckily Fleischmann 7161 gear fits just right!  The Maunsell version differs mainly in having a straight foot plate without the raised section over the cylinders, current state of new build

 

 

Minitrix 2077 tender drive, Bogie side frames Worsley Works, Axle boxes BH Enterprises - bit big, I now have some from Etched Pixels


Urie S15, is more or less Langley/Fleischmann as intended, my oldest loco coming up 39 years, spent it's early years in BR black. A couple of months ago the motor started smoking, so ordered a new one £40+, few weeks later I won a complate 7161 loco - non runner ir said - he was right, headlight bulb had lown and was shorting out, removed bulb, runs beautifully,  - I feel an Eastleigh Arthur coming on, just need a loco chassis now!

 

Maunsell S15, modified cab, level footplate and Urie pattern tender, loco body hacked Langley, tender BHE body, Minitrix tender drive.

 

Urie N15, Loco chassis from a Peco Jubilee, tender drive is Union Mills with an added pair of wheels

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Two Lord Nelsons are currently on the bench, one I've had for many years, the other still being hacked.

 

The older one started off back in the 80s, hacked from a Peco Jubilee, with a Rivarossi Nord Pacific tender drive under a brass body

 

 

That tender finally failed last year and the replacement will be minitrix 2077 tender powered with a brass body of the earlier flush sided style, the new one is being hacked from a Farish Scot, an easier hack than the Jubilee and better looking motion and wheels, that  will also be Minitrix powered..

 

Other 4-6-0s under construction are one of the later H15s, an Eastleigh and a Scotch Arthur they are using a mixture of Langley and BH Enterprises kits, The H15 uses the Langley S15 body slightly hacked with the BHE N15 tender, chassis is mainly  Minitrix 2077 with Flieschmann motion; the Arthurs are using Peco Jub chassis the Eastleigh one with a Langley/Fleischmann watercart the Scotch with a Union Mills drive; - N15 bodies -

 

 

The other Maunsell loco is a Q class 0-6-0, maybe not quite within the layout timeframe but I've had it quite a while, can't remember if it was a Hughes kit or a hacked 4F.

 

 

I also have two old Langley kits if ex LBSCR E2 and E4 tanks, the E4 is currently under repair, neither really qualify for a layout based on Dorset so they spend a lot of time on the shelf.

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The Somerset & Dorset also has a presence, being pre 1938, the black 5 is out of the picture, it is thue represented by

 

Union Mills 2P, this has recently gained a rake of 6 Farish Staniers

 

 

Hughes 4F, I also have a Farish 4F

 

 

A Farish Jinty, sorry no pic!

 

A Union Mills 3F is a recent addition that has not made it into the studio yet, needs LMS and number transfers.   A kit for an S&D 7F should find it's way into stock in a couple of weeks, there is a Farish 8F chasis awaiting it. I'm contemplating a Farish 4P I've got a runner - currently in bits though - they're not the best pullers in original condition, I'm undecided how to atack it, do I get a UM 2P tender, or just put a UM drive under the Farish tender body, alternatively I have the tender drive from the Farish Scot being hacked into a Nelson, that will fit under a Farish 4P body now I've stripped the DCC socket off, further to those thoughts the 4P was not a regular visitor AFAIK, but did work some trials, so do I hack it into another 2P?

 

An interloper from Weymouth docks tramway has found it's way here also, an ABS 1366 kit on Minitrix dock tank chassis, it's been around long enough to get painted Maunsell dark Olive and wears SOUTHERN on its tank sides, not sure what, if any number to give it, always assuming one could find room for it. Pulls very well, the ideal loco to send into a tunnel to push out derailed stock! (Note to self, must redo that lining!)