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

[sjrixon]

Streamlined cars definitely worked on the Henley branch Neal (I know, II rode in them ) and in fact at one period in GWR days they worked the vast majority of the branch passenger services.

 

What period were they common?

[The Stationmaster]

What period were they common?

 

Post war judging by the STT entries - the Winter 1946/48 STT shows diesel cars working around half of the internal branchline passenger services; in the Summer service of 1938 they were booked to work only one SX return trip on the branch.  In the 1950s they were probably doing much the same on certain days of the week as they had in 1947 - the train we used regularly in the mid 1950s was an early Saturday afternoon working from Henley which was diesel car and they also worked one of the late evening services down the branch so - again - were probably covering about half of the service (unless replaced by a 14XX and auto-trailer as sometimes happened on the late working).

[Neal Ball]

A little something for the weekend! Courtesy of those lovely people at Hattons, No.11 has arrived (DCC ready) so I need a 21 pin decoder from Guagemaster tomorrow. To say it's gorgeous would be an under statement. I think I need number 12 now!

 

[Neal Ball]

Post war judging by the STT entries - the Winter 1946/48 STT shows diesel cars working around half of the internal branchline passenger services; in the Summer service of 1938 they were booked to work only one SX return trip on the branch.  In the 1950s they were probably doing much the same on certain days of the week as they had in 1947 - the train we used regularly in the mid 1950s was an early Saturday afternoon working from Henley which was diesel car and they also worked one of the late evening services down the branch so - again - were probably covering about half of the service (unless replaced by a 14XX and auto-trailer as sometimes happened on the late working).

I have just seen a map in the Wild Swan book of the railcard that they were operational at Henley in 1936.

[Neal Ball]

Welcome back to Henley on Thames:

 

Popped over to Guagemaster today, the car park was busy, but that was more to do with a special event(?) at the Fireplace showroom next door. 

 

Anyway, decoders were the order of the day as Hattons had been busy sending me things during the week.... in the shape of another 48xx and the Dapol Railcar No 11.

 

Both are Gaugemaster decoders: 6 pin DCC23 and 21 pin DCC27

 

When I got home, I started looking at the YouChoos website and maybe I should have hung fire and gone for sound on both! - Particularly having seen the sound locos on Larry aka Coachman's Carrog layout - but sound would add another £150+ to the bill. Having said that, when I went into the railway room, I had the King gentle simmering in the background.

 

 

I started by adding the decoder to the Railcar. I used a couple of wooden coffee stirrers to open up the underframe to the side walls. But even that wasn't easy, eventually the two came apart to reveal the inside. Unscrewing the floor, reveals the DCC decoder blank, to which the Gaugemaster recorder was added. The cables here are very tight, so be careful.

 

Having done that, it ran very well (I had already ran it on DC first; just to check):

 

 

Seen here next to my DCC sound fitted King.

 

It's been apart again and is seen here with the 48xx

 

 

Sitting here typing this, its apart again as the seats are drying (Olive Green) and will have passengers fitted. I have already broken the arm of the driver (Bob Green) in trying to fit him in with double sided tape! Poor fella, Bob is currently at the Henley cottage hospital. Apparently its broken in several places so it will be a while before he is out LOL.

[Neal Ball]

A little something for the weekend! Courtesy of those lovely people at Hattons, No.11 has arrived (DCC ready) so I need a 21 pin decoder from Guagemaster tomorrow. To say it's gorgeous would be an under statement. I think I need number 12 now!

 

IMG_1028.JPG

 

Looking again at this photo and the images in the Wild Swan book, the two bays to the left of the door, look as if they were parallel seats rather than the standard seats at right angles to the sides...

Edited November 4, 2017 by Neal Ball

[Neal Ball]

Back to basics today. The first full weekend in the railway room for ages and its back to fixing the points.

 

I have thrown out the Bachmann accessory decoder and am now going to use the Gaugemaster PCU1 point controller - initial tests have been very positive. I am still using Seep point points and the first four are now set up. Initial wiring is a bit of a mess - its work in progress!

 

 

I have also added another coat of paint to the Railcar seats, ready to add passengers and a driver. I have also made the toilet window opaque. Its all drying at the moment, people to be added soon!

 

 

The white piece of paper is the track plan shewing the point number for the new OCU1. This area will be allotments and I have painted Geoff Hamilton's greenhouse which will sit here eventually.

 

[Neal Ball]

An unseasonal photo at Henley. You wouldn’t normally see so many Brake vans at Henley... apart from July when the yard was being emptied for the Regatta.

 

 

Bachmann;Oxford 6 wheel; Hornby (2017 model) and Ratio

[Neal Ball]

Well we have more Brake vans than we can shake a stick at now!

 

Whilst the Oxford model has its faults, it’s quite a nice model

 

 

The recent Hornby model is great. To think when we launched the GWR brake van poll, little did we realise a few years later we would have so much choice!

 

 

Of course there are also polls for a new autocoach and some toplights :-)

[Neal Ball]

I needed s’more more West London / Thames Valley wagons!

 

But please Mr Hornby, let’s get rid of the toy like underframes, there really is no excuse these days.

 

[Neal Ball]

It’s been a day of electrics.

 

Finally getting all the point motors throwing electrically and then starting to add the Gaugemaster Autofrog.

 

The points are now ok around the front of the station, apart from the pin from the point going into the carriage sidings, which has fallen out. Plus the point into the bay, which has dicided it doesn’t want to throw. So there are a few things to do!

 

All the wiring has been tidied up.

 

Once the two issues are sorted out, all the other points will gave Autofrogs added. Then I am going to fit the loco yard point motors. Those won’t be easy to get fixed into place to get them to throw properly.

 

I have also been fiddling with the CV settings for the Railcar. The light now work on F0, that is the forward and reverse lights work. But the interior lights still want to work on F2 which means they won’t stay on! Plus the cab lights now stay on and I don’t want them to :-(

 

More work needed!

[Neal Ball]

But I still had time to run a few trains, purely to test the circuits of course!

 

 

That’s my lot for a week, I’m off to Warley next Saturday, hopefully it will be a good show, it’s my first visit for about 3 years. But as ever, the one thing I need is more time! Until next time, have a good week modelling.

[81C]

I needed s’more more West London / Thames Valley wagons!

 

But please Mr Hornby, let’s get rid of the toy like underframes, there really is no excuse these days.

 

7CF0C5F9-C686-4111-AED8-5592569CE054.jpeg

Neil if you put the small Bachmann coupler's on these wagons it does take the toy like image away and close the gap  by a few mil'. just clip the ends off half way across the outer holes. 

[Neal Ball]

Neil if you put the small Bachmann coupler's on these wagons it does take the toy like image away and close the gap  by a few mil'. just clip the ends off half way across the outer holes.

 

Thanks Bob, I was going to do something similar, but hadn’t decided what!

 

It’s also the thickness of the brake gear etc. I actually contemplated throwing the chassis away and keeping only the body on a Parkside Dundas frame. They will be in the “needs more time” slot!

[Neal Ball]

Thursday this week sees an announcement by Hattons. Maybe a new Autocoach?

 

http://www.hattons.co.uk/NewsDetail.aspx?id=189&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=FacebookNovProdAnnouncementCountdown

 

I also wonder what will be announced at Warley on Saturday.

[81C]

Thanks Bob, I was going to do something similar, but hadn’t decided what!

 

It’s also the thickness of the brake gear etc. I actually contemplated throwing the chassis away and keeping only the body on a Parkside Dundas frame. They will be in the “needs more time” slot!

The Bachmann Huntley & Palmer wagon is better but they are expensive being part of a pack of 3 from the now defunct Modelzone they do pitch up on fleebay from time to time.

 

 I don't mind anything from Hattons now they have ditched Dave Jones exclusive carbuncle number plates.

Edited November 21, 2017 by 81C

[Neal Ball]

The Bachmann Huntley & Palmer wagon is better but they are expensive being part of a pack of 3 from the now defunct Modelzone they do pitch up on fleebay from time to time.

 

 I don't mind anything from Hattons now they have ditched Dave Jones exclusive carbuncle number plates.

 

 

I have two of those Modelzone packs - 1 weathered with coal loads, the other pristine. But given Huntley & Plamers were effectively at the next station on the main line, you can't have too many!

[Neal Ball]

Went to Warley yesterday - for inspiration and some shopping...

 

Managed some of the shopping; none of the inspiration and wasn't blown away by any big announcements.

 

The Journey:

Courtesy of Southern; Cross Country and Virgin Trains.

07:00 Barnham to Southampton on Southern. 

Arrived at Southampton about 8am, blimey it was busy for that time of day. Group of lads came trough the barrier on Platform 1 and headed straight to the bar! - They got off at Reading.

Cross Country Voyager 08:20 to Manchester Piccadily. Turfed a girl out of my pre-booked seat.

 

Lovely journey, with what seemed the whole train pre-booked. By the time we got to Leamington it was packed, then Rugby and Coventry it was standing room only. is this normal for a Saturday?

 

For a 5 coach train, they need al least another 2 carriages. Some refurbished full length HST's would seem like a good idea here. 

 

Arrived Birmingham International at 10:37 - headed straight to hall 5.

 

The exhibition:

It was fairly busy when I got there and got very busy very quickly. I only managed to get in front of "Hounslow sidings" and took two photos. All the other layouts were too deep to see what was going on. Couldn't even get to the front of the Bachmann bargain stand.

 

I probably spent more time on the Squires stand than anything else, which is ironic as they are only 1/2 mile from home!

 

Took a couple of photos of the 47xx on the Heljan stand.

 

After a couple of hours, I had enough of being jostled and decided to leave. 

 

Journey home:

Caught the 1pm service to Euston, which by comparison to the morning, was a quick service with plenty of space. Got back to Victoria, headed to Wetherspoons - had a nice pint of Exmas from the Exmoor brewery. Home for 5:30pm (Trespass incident at Portslade).

 

It was the first time I have been to Warley in about 4 years and I don't know I would rush back. I was away for 11hours and only spent 2 at the exhibition. Don't really think it all adds up to value for money. I know some people will disagree and I dare say some go every year. 

 

 

 

Apologies for the poor quality of the 47xx photos.

 

 

 

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

Seems you were on a quieter train then Neal   I was on the one before that, from Reading, and there were folk standing in the 'comfy' Class from Oxford northwards and I had to stand from Banbury to International due to folk joining at Banbury in their reserved seats.  A combination of the Warley show and Manchester United playing at home judging by what I could see of the passengers plus the usual Saturday morning problem of Brum shoppers joining at Banbury, Leamington, and Coventry.  Part of the problem for Cross Country over that stretch is people making short distance journeys and of course platform length (lack of) at Reading prevents the lengthening of Cross Country trains to more than 5 cars.

 

Crowd presence in the show was something of a mixed feast I found,  I lasted until the 15.14 back to Reading - where I had a bay of two seats to myself so plenty of room to stretch my aching legs.  I noticed there had been some 'fresh snow' at Hounslow since I last saw it;  Ray's layout is one of the most appealing 'short visible section + sector table' layouts and it was good to have a brief chat with him plus Richard ('Mud Magnet' on here) who had kindly reminded me of their presence tucked away in that corner when we spoke earlier in the day.

 

Warley is very much a mixture of the curate's egg and Marmite in my view although this year I saw more of the show than I think I ever have previously but for me, as so often at shows, a big part of the day is meeting and talking to people who are usually electrons and a screen name for much of the year.  One thing though and that is despite some very good (and some very very good) layouts Warley is in my experience poor value for money if you go solely to look at the layouts - there were far too many 'middling' ones in my opinion (but at least that saved tome as they only required brief glance).

[Neal Ball]

Add in the cost of the train from Bognor at £78 its not a cheap day out!

[sjrixon]

I like the Dapol rail car. Is 11 more in keeping then 8?

 

I've not been to Warley for years and years. But I'd agree if you can only manage 2hs then it's a lot of time effort and money!

[Richard Mawer]

Neal

 

Sounds like hard work. I didn't bother this year.

 

"For a 5 coach train, they need al least another 2 carriages. Some refurbished full length HST's would seem like a good idea here." My experiences of Cross Country are that they are always crowded. I have never been on one which isn't. They ought to be forced to increase the length, but now I read above that there are platform issues. In that case they need to run more often. Very poor experiences.

 

Rich

[Neal Ball]

Neal

 

Sounds like hard work. I didn't bother this year.

 

"For a 5 coach train, they need al least another 2 carriages. ............. In that case they need to run more often. Very poor experiences.

 

Rich

 

 

The service I was on started at Bournemouth, running through to Manchester Picc, at that time of day its a once an hour service.

 

The issue on that service was after Rugby / Coventry, the next service as Mike says, the issue was from Reading.

 

As ever, the national network is working beyond capacity.

 

Even the mid afternoon service 15:17 from Victoria to Southampton via Hove and Barnham, was packed. I bet that was standing room when everyone started leaving the shops an hour or so later.

Edited November 27, 2017 by Neal Ball

[Neal Ball]

Yesterday was a day of tidying up...

 

Today was a day of more mess!

 

Yesterday afternoon, for the first time in ages, Having cleared some space, it was out with the track rubber and a few wagons and locos. I even managed a bit of shunting, to form a train with one of my pannier tanks. The 64xx took two of the new Toad brake vans down to the lower level and attached the wagons to the train loco. Todays loco was my new 72xx...

 

It arrived in the week, from TMC who had given it some light weathering. The brief was as if it had done 50 miles after the start of its shift. I'm very pleased with the look. having ordered the loco on the Sunday, it arrived on the Friday. Excellent service thank you.

 

 

The GWR railcar was also out. In the week, I had fixed passengers into the railcar. These are the Bachmann seated passengers, a couple of which were a bit too bright, so will need painting in more 1930's clothes! There are 10 on board. I will add a few more people soon. The windows are very large so people certainly can be seen. Unfortunately the driver caught his arm as the body went back on, so is currently on the cab floor!

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Neal Ball
2023: missing photos added

[Neal Ball]

A final shot of the Railcar and 72xx

 

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Neal Ball
2023: missing photos added