Henley-on-Thames - GWR in the 1930's

[Neal Ball]

On 21/10/2020 at 23:09, Neal Ball said:

Today was a railway day.
 

Firstly, my passengers arrived x200 seated people...

 

This one pack:

 

 

This is Big Bob is closeup 

 

 

Instead of sending OO / HO As described, they have sent giants!

 

Thanks eBay.

 

It seems though that everyone in the UK has run out of Prieser HObseated passengers. Hopefully they haven’t all got COVID-19 

 

eBay update!

 

I didn't get anywhere with the retailer in China.... other than an offer of a £3 refund.

 

But eBay offer a resolution service and no sooner had I emailed eBay with the details, than the seller gave me a full refund.

 

Plus at the same time, they have changed the description to clearly show they are 1:50 scale.

 

Anyone want 200 oversize OO people?

[Neal Ball]

1 minute ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Here, finally, are a couple of photos of original documents:-

 

 

Here is the sheet for Old Oak Common Turn 44 which alternated with Worcester Turn 10, bringing a Worcester engine to Henley on alternate evenings. Due to its small distribution this is a duplicated sheet, the sheets just pinned together!

 

 

Here is the working diagrams for the Henley coaching sets. Excuse the pencil marks, which I am guilty of!

This being a document needing a wider distribution than the above engine diagram is a properly printed book!

 

An interesting glimpse of the organisation behind 50s/60s railway operation. Mind you this had not changed since the beginning of the century, and carried on for many more years!

 

Best regards

Paul  

 

 

Wow! thanks Paul,

 

Operationally I dont know how they kept tabs on where everything was.

 

Particularly as a carriage could be detached from tran x for onward conveyance to location Y and might not end up at the start for several days. Out and back working being rare for detached carriages.

 

Thanks again, fascinating insight.

[Tallpaul69]

2 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Operationally I dont know how they kept tabs on where everything was.

 

Particularly as a carriage could be detached from tran x for onward conveyance to location Y and might not end up at the start for several days. Out and back working being rare for detached carriages.

I think it was partly due to the number of people involved!

Each train had 3 members of staff, each station, unless an unstaffed halt would have 2/3. Then there were a lot of staff in signal boxes. That's without counting the PW staff in each section and a large number of Inspectors of everything!!

 

Happy days?

Cheers

Paul

[Neal Ball]

16 hours ago, Tallpaul69 said:

I think it was partly due to the number of people involved!

Each train had 3 members of staff, each station, unless an unstaffed halt would have 2/3. Then there were a lot of staff in signal boxes. That's without counting the PW staff in each section and a large number of Inspectors of everything!!

 

Happy days?

Cheers

Paul

 

Different times indeed.

[Neal Ball]

Today has been spent doing a few odd jobs:

 

• The Pannier tank has had some weathering added; logos added (I decided against 1920's Great Western as I couldn't find the transfers); in GWR 1930's shirtbutton and all the handrails have been refitted. For the time being this loco will be numberless - as I have only just ordered the plates from Fox!
• Some of the recent Modelu figures had a bit more paint added.
• The new running in boards have been painted with dark stone.

Hopefully everything will be photographed tomorrow and added onto here.

 

I then need to crack on with the rewiring project for the Oxford Dean goods 0-6-0 as the new decoder has been sat on the side for a while.

 

[Neal Ball]

Today’s workbench:

 

Finally a few projects are coming together:

• 57xx I’ve now found the transfers (too late).
• running in boards, ready to be installed.
• New pub signs, for the Vidler arms and the Ship. Both signs are from scale model scenery.

 

 

[Neal Ball]

The various signs are now in place, although the Typeface on the name board for the Vidler might be a bit too modern. Thoughts please:

 

The ship inn is a Hornby skaledale pub. The Ship images came from an insert from model rail ages ago:

 

 

and the new end of platform running in boards:

 

 

 

[Neal Ball]

This afternoon has been taken up with re-wiring my Oxford Dean Goods 0-6-0 no 2475.

 

A couple of months ago, it shorted and the decoder blew up :-( It looked as if the loco to tender connector had been wired poorly and was the cause of the short. On closer examination, all the wiring looked a bit suspect, so I decided to replace everything.

 

I bought new connectors; ; new decoder socket and a new decoder, all from DCC Concepts. I went for a Zen Black v12 decoder. After a couple of hours with the soldering iron, it was all programmed through the Sprog3 and everything was as good as new.

 

My only quibble was that I should have been able to set up CV25 as a one stop set-up. Sadly the option to change CV25 wasn't on the Sprog commands. I have since changed the settings in CV2 etc. and set up the characteristics of a small freight loco - perfect!

 

I have also added Modelu crew. It just needs weathering and then come lamps and thats the morning goods loco.

 

 

Dean Goods loco seen arriving at Henley on Thames with a short freight.

 

 

A slightly different angle and black and white.

 

[bgman]

Pleased to see you've sorted the Dean ( one of my top 10 favourite GWR locos ) out Neil.

 

I haven't bothered to mention it before, I managed to pick up one for a very good price and advertised as New.

Out of the box it didn't want to know whatsoever and I made a claim against the seller, money returned and although I offered (naturally) to return the offending loco I was told to either keep it or bin it ! 

 

I now have a DG that needs rewiring at some point and will possibly convert / backdate  as per Mikkel did.

 

Enjoying your ongoing work very much, but then I am biased ! 

 

G

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

the Typeface on the name board for the Vidler might be a bit too modern

Definitely. I'd go for an all upper-case face, probably with serifs.

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Sadly the option to change CV25 wasn't on the Sprog commands.

Presumably you're using JMRI DecoderPro with the Sprog? You might find you need to download a newer version of JMRI to get the latest decoder definitions. I had to do that last Christmas for my Hornby TTS Castle.

[Neal Ball]

4 hours ago, bgman said:

Pleased to see you've sorted the Dean ( one of my top 10 favourite GWR locos ) out Neil.

 

I haven't bothered to mention it before, I managed to pick up one for a very good price and advertised as New.

Out of the box it didn't want to know whatsoever and I made a claim against the seller, money returned and although I offered (naturally) to return the offending loco I was told to either keep it or bin it ! 

 

I now have a DG that needs rewiring at some point and will possibly convert / backdate  as per Mikkel did.

 

Enjoying your ongoing work very much, but then I am biased ! 

 

G

 

 

Thanks Graham.
 

The Dean goods has been an issue from the start, although I agree, it’s a lovely looking loco.

 

Hopefully with a DCC concepts decoder inside it’s now going to settle down.

 

I like the idea that you’ve gained a loco for free! It was quite straightforward to re-wire. In order to get everything in, I carved a space under the coal load. The decoder is a direct plug variety and is quite meaty!

 

Thanks again for your comments.

 

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Definitely. I'd go for an all upper-case face, probably with serifs.

Any suggestions on font? 

 

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Presumably you're using JMRI DecoderPro with the Sprog? You might find you need to download a newer version of JMRI to get the latest decoder definitions. I had to do that last Christmas for my Hornby TTS Castle.

Will give that a go, thanks very much 

[Neal Ball]

Re: 1930s typeface.

This is an interesting site: https://fontsinuse.com/tags/378/1930s

 

Although I think for the pub I need to look earlier. A 1930s typeface will look too modern.

[FoxUnpopuli]

How about an Egyptian Serif - like the GREAT WESTERN on the tender?

 

 

This one was: https://www.1001fonts.com/fetteegyptienne-font.html

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

Any suggestions on font? 

I'd try Times New Roman or Clarendon for starters.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

Re: 1930s typeface.

This is an interesting site: https://fontsinuse.com/tags/378/1930s

 

Although I think for the pub I need to look earlier. A 1930s typeface will look too modern.

What a great site!

[john dew]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I'd try Times New Roman or Clarendon for starters.

I was just about to suggest Times New Roman as well.

[john dew]

Glad you got the Dean sorted electrically. I had a similar problem and eventually had to add a Supercap SA which made all the difference for guaranteed reliable performance. I now use one of mine for an automated pick up goods.

 

If you havent done so already , you may want to add some weight to the loco. I found haulage want great until I started squeezing some lead in. 

 

Lovely photos, I think the Dean rather lends itself to Black and White.

 

.

[Neal Ball]

6 hours ago, FoxUnpopuli said:

How about an Egyptian Serif - like the GREAT WESTERN on the tender?

 

 

This one was: https://www.1001fonts.com/fetteegyptienne-font.html

Thanks for this, that looks a lot better.

 

5 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I'd try Times New Roman or Clarendon for starters.

It’s strange, on the printed page, it looked ok. It was only when I started to stick it onto the building that I questioned it.

 

1 hour ago, john dew said:

Glad you got the Dean sorted electrically. I had a similar problem and eventually had to add a Supercap SA which made all the difference for guaranteed reliable performance. I now use one of mine for an automated pick up goods.

 

If you havent done so already , you may want to add some weight to the loco. I found haulage want great until I started squeezing some lead in. 

 

Lovely photos, I think the Dean rather lends itself to Black and White.

 

.

Thanks very much John. I was thinking about a stay alive as well. The new Zen decoders are pre wired for stay alive on a plug and play basis. Although space in the tender is now very tight. 
 

You are right there is something about some locos being in B/W that makes a difference.

[Neal Ball]

Thanks for all the font comments. 
 

From the site: https://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/75999/old-style-bold

 

Is was looking at OS Bold and will also have a go later with that on the laptop.

 

 

I searched for fonts from the 1890’s on the basis the sign would have been old!

 

Thanks again for the comments.

[ChrisN]

10 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Re: 1930s typeface.

This is an interesting site: https://fontsinuse.com/tags/378/1930s

 

Although I think for the pub I need to look earlier. A 1930s typeface will look too modern.

 

Thank you for posting this site.  It has other eras as well, so I have bookmarked it.

[Neal Ball]

After yesterday success with the Dean Goods, sadly it was all a bit hit and miss today. No matter how much I cleaned the track; the wheels, it seemed to make no difference. 

 

Sometimes thats the way it goes!

 

 

There is certainly plenty of space to add some extra weight. I'm not sure about adding the stay alive, although thats what it needs, maybe hook it up to a Toad to increase the number of pickups.

 

I have adjusted the pickups on the loco as that seemed also to be an issue.

 

All wasn't lost, after messing about for a bit and then leaving it in Platform 3 for a couple of hours, it happily made its way up the line to Twyford.

 

 

[Neal Ball]

However, that was all a diversion. I had spent an hour trying to download some different fonts, which on a mac, is not easy.

 

I couldn't find the OS Bold typeface to download, but found a Times Old Attic, downloaded it, but couldn't get it installed - until I sat back in front of the laptop this evening to do the photos.

 

 

I ended up using Iowan old style, which os better than the sign over the door, which looks like a modern Southern sign.

 

I'm happy with how it looks and I think the size of the sign is better than the Engravers one which os the same size font as the others.

 

 

To be honest I'm pleased now with the way it looks.

 

The pub needs some outside drinkers and then lights inside.

Edited November 6, 2020 by Neal Ball

[Neal Ball]

I also had an hour or so, just playing trains - as you do. This time with locos that don't come out very often.

 

The Huntley & Palmers loco must be arriving after an overhaul, its a lot cleaner than that first wagon. In the 1930's Huntley & Palmers had a big factory in Reading.

 

 

 

It was then time for the GWR Saddle tank to take over the train.

 

 

Just a bit of fun, have a good evening.

Regards, Neal.

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

However, that was all a diversion. I had spent an hour trying to download some different fonts, which on a mac, is not easy.

 

I couldn't find the OS Bold typeface to download, but found a Times Old Attic, downloaded it, but couldn't get it installed - until I sat back in front of the laptop this evening to do the photos.

 

 

I ended up using Iowan old style, which os better than the sign over the door, which looks like a modern Southern sign.

 

I'm happy with how it looks and I think the size of the sign is better than the Engravers one which os the same size font as the others.

 

 

To be honest I'm pleased now with the way it looks.

 

The pub needs some outside drinkers and then lights inside.

I still reckon it would look better in upper case.