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

[Graham T]

2 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

 

They are the Gaugemaster lamps. I've got different ones across the station....

 

To address the balance, just in case anyone should think this has become a diesel layout!

 

Here we have Grange class 4-6-0 in front of the water tank platform in front of an early lamp that was originally green, (They didn't have any GWR stone coloured lamps in stock that week!)

 

 

As well as the Barley twist lamps seen with the Railcar on Platform 1, I have these lamps further down Platform 2

 

 

Suddenly it got very noisy at Henley on Thames with 3 sound locos in the station. No 11 has since left with the 11:55 to Twyford.

 

 

Thanks Neal, I shall have to try and get some of those in due course.  They seem to be a bit like hen's teeth at the moment though!

[longchap]

3 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

This looks very good... I think I might need an Accurascale Manor after all. Maybe coupled to some of their new Siphon G as well.

 

Hi Neal,

 

I’m another GWR modelling expat, much enjoying your thread and share your thoughts regarding the Manor and Siphons and even created an account with them. Rats, there goes my New Year resolution to spend less wine tokens on railwaying next year!

 

Best,

 

Bill

[Neal Ball]

3 hours ago, Graham T said:

 

 

Thanks Neal, I shall have to try and get some of those in due course.  They seem to be a bit like hen's teeth at the moment though!

 

Thanks Graham, they certainly are effective. I didn't photograph the Swan neck lamps, which were on the platforms a couple of years ago... It was pointed out that they were never at Henley, so were removed and are sat ready for a street scene whenever I have the time!

 

It's a shame platform lamps are in short supply in the UK though. I am sure they will be in stock soon!

 

1 hour ago, longchap said:

Hi Neal,

 

I’m another GWR modelling expat, much enjoying your thread and share your thoughts regarding the Manor and Siphons and even created an account with them. Rats, there goes my New Year resolution to spend less wine tokens on railwaying next year!

 

Best,

 

Bill

 

Thanks Bill, Welcome to Henley on Thames.

 

Saving wine tokens to spend on railway products doesn't really help here. A bottle of very good Rioja sells for €1.69 at Mercadona, the main supermarket in Spain. So there's no point in stopping the wine, it wouldn't buy me much!

 

I'm working on the basis that I bought 2 x Hornby 61xx and fitted them with sound. I can therefore justify a sound fitted Manor - Just don't tell the other half :-)

[longchap]

I’ve been a great fan of Rioja since before we started discovering France and it would interesting to sample your 1.69€ example, although I’m well aware of the benefits of living in a wine region. We live in a wine producing village with vineyards on the other side of our garden wall and I confirm that the benefits of having vignerons as friends and neighbours are bountiful.

 

I’ll just have to keep banking brownie points for next year then, as besides the Accurascale delights, I have a reasonable rake of Genesis coaches pre-ordered, not to mention a substantial “trunk” of items to smuggle into the railway room!

 

Your temptation of sound traction doesn’t help! Mum's always the word of course with the other wonderful half.

 

Best,

 

Bill

[Neal Ball]

23 minutes ago, longchap said:

I’ve been a great fan of Rioja since before we started discovering France and it would interesting to sample your 1.69€ example, although I’m well aware of the benefits of living in a wine region. We live in a wine producing village with vineyards on the other side of our garden wall and I confirm that the benefits of having vignerons as friends and neighbours are bountiful.

 

I’ll just have to keep banking brownie points for next year then, as besides the Accurascale delights, I have a reasonable rake of Genesis coaches pre-ordered, not to mention a substantial “trunk” of items to smuggle into the railway room!

 

Your temptation of sound traction doesn’t help! Mum's always the word of course with the other wonderful half.

 

Best,

 

Bill

 

How can you resist all those vines the other side of the wall :-)

 

Interesting about those Genesis carriages.... I also have a sizeable rake on pre-order... I was thinking about cancelling....

 

Much as they are lovely I would be pushing my 1930's boundary and of course would rather have some Collett full brakes and Restaurant carriages :-)

 

[Graham T]

I wish you hadn't reminded me about the Genesis coaches.  Obviously I have (more than) enough coaches already, but...

[Neal Ball]

55 minutes ago, Graham T said:

I wish you hadn't reminded me about the Genesis coaches.  Obviously I have (more than) enough coaches already, but...

 

On pre-order?

 

Pretend I haven't said anything... lol

[Graham T]

3 minutes ago, Neal Ball said:

 

On pre-order?

 

Not yet, but certainly on the wish list

[longchap]

1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

 

How can you resist all those vines the other side of the wall :-)

 

Interesting about those Genesis carriages.... I also have a sizeable rake on pre-order... I was thinking about cancelling....

 

Much as they are lovely I would be pushing my 1930's boundary and of course would rather have some Collett full brakes and Restaurant carriages :-)

 

Unfortunately, I have an unshakable desire to model the changing face of social history through the GWR between the 20s and 30s, which means carefully chosen rail and road stock. I’ve been bashing some Ratio coaches, but the high quality of the Hattons offering, despite being generic, is a compelling one, hence the pre-order, plus of course, they’ll fit very nicely on a branch platform.

 

Looking forward to seeing your full brake. No hurry, just saying

 

Best,

 

Bill

[Neal Ball]

38 minutes ago, longchap said:

..... Looking forward to seeing your full brake. No hurry, just saying

 

 

Ah! That depends on whether Mr Kohler delivers on 10th January.... failing that I have to wait for Barwell in February...

 

The K series is overdue - just saying :-)

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

A bottle of very good Rioja

I did some project work in Madrid about 20 years ago and discovered Ribera del Duero, which I soon worked out was what the Spanish kept for themselves while selling Rioja to everyone else.

[KNP]

23 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Today is the 20th December and it's my annual look back at another adventurous year at Henley on Thames.

 

We have had new arrivals; new sound decoders; new Kadee couplings; new carriage projects started; which of course means more projects half finished as the year draws to a close!

 

Plus of course, new projects announced from Accurascale: The Manor was announced on 1st Feb, with a teaser photo of the cab shown here in November; Then the new range of Siphon G were announced a few days ago. 

 

Not forgetting the Rapido announcements during the year: Gunpowder vans finally in production and now a new Toad and Loriet.

 

Then we have the anticipation(?) of the Hornby announcements in a couple of weeks time. Perhaps a new Saint; hopefully the new Restaurant carriages and some new full brakes. Maybe even Bachmann will introduce a new range of GWR carriages during the first week of February 2022.

 

Of course 2021 has had its ups and downs, sadly it seems more of the latter. Lets hope that 2022 is a heck of a lot better.

 

Thank you for following my efforts at portraying Henley on Thames in the 1930's.

 

This year:

• @40,000 views
• An increase in 24 pages
• With some 600 replies
• We have also gained 6 new subscribers!

Thank you for the support and encouragement, I am always blown away by the reaction from everyone at RMWeb.

 

Wherever you are over the festive season, I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year....

[Neal Ball]

On 20/12/2021 at 14:58, Graham T said:

 

 

Thanks Neal, I shall have to try and get some of those in due course.  They seem to be a bit like hen's teeth at the moment though!

With a spare 5 minutes before this mornings run! It’s almost as if these lights have been discontinued.

 

This was the range:

 

 

 

Taken from one of their newsletters. The only ones available are packs of wall mounted lamps.

 

I also looked at DCC Concepts and although they are shown in the lighting header, there are no platform lamps to buy.

 

Try sending Gaugemaster an email asking when they will be back in stock.

 

Good luck!

Edited April 3, 2022 by Neal Ball
photo changed

[Neal Ball]

Morning all,

Im still struggling to get my control panel imported into Spain with UPS.

 

I have several thoughts at the moment:

• Either UPS can’t cope with the volume of goods coming in at the moment.
• Or they just aren’t up to importing to Spain. I have previously only used them to export goods back to the uk.
• Its also possible that when I telephone the number on the email just received, that’s the number for the customs office. But the moment I ask to speak to someone in English, I get put through to a central customer service dept, who don’t know what customs want.
• option a) sit tight, do nothing. 
  option b) source the components in Spain and build it myself.

Further thoughts are:

• Use DHL in future, as they have previously cleared items quickly.
• Use the postal system Royal Mail then Correos in Spain.
• The Correos system works very differently, but in hindsight it’s a lot easier now I know the drill. With the tracking number, I add that onto my already set up account. The first step is to fill their import form in and follow a series of commands, uploading each document into their system, which gets a green tick when it’s correct. Eventually it gets released - it’s slow, but at least you can see they’ve got the docs.

I suppose with Christmas here, it’s the worst time to try and clear something through customs….

[Neal Ball]

On 20/12/2021 at 14:58, Graham T said:

 

 

Thanks Neal, I shall have to try and get some of those in due course.  They seem to be a bit like hen's teeth at the moment though!

I’ve just had this reply from Gaugemaster:

 

Sadly…the range of lamps is discontinued…so sorry. You may find some residual stocks held in shops… try perhaps Caistor Loco or Footplate Models in Kidderminster

 

I think that’s very strange they have been discontinued. I wonder why. Presumably the DCC concepts ones are also discontinued…. They were the same, just in different packaging.

[Harlequin]

7 minutes ago, Neal Ball said:

I’ve just had this reply from Gaugemaster:

 

Sadly…the range of lamps is discontinued…so sorry. You may find some residual stocks held in shops… try perhaps Caistor Loco or Footplate Models in Kidderminster

 

I think that’s very strange they have been discontinued. I wonder why. Presumably the DCC concepts ones are also discontinued…. They were the same, just in different packaging.

 

How about these @Graham T? They seem to have lots of choices (both oil and gas lamps in the same style as above) and lots in stock:

https://www.layouts4u.net/oo-scale-lighting/oo-scale-lampposts?a=1&page=1

 

I've never used them and don't know if whether they are capable of exporting to Europe in a sensible way so buyer beware! (It's such a shame I have to add that qualification.)

 

[Neal Ball]

3 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

 

How about these @Graham T? They seem to have lots of choices (both oil and gas lamps in the same style as above) and lots in stock:

https://www.layouts4u.net/oo-scale-lighting/oo-scale-lampposts?a=1&page=1

 

I've never used them and don't know if whether they are capable of exporting to Europe in a sensible way so buyer beware! (It's such a shame I have to add that qualification.)

 

They have some lovely lamps there and very reasonable too.

 

Re: exporting to Europe. 
I wonder if the group of ex-pat GWR modellers need to get together and purchase items as a group when in the UK… drive back into the EU and post inside Europe.

 

We are over in July, with the motorhome, I think I need to save everything until then. Hattons make part of that easier, with their trunk system.

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, Harlequin said:

 

How about these @Graham T? They seem to have lots of choices (both oil and gas lamps in the same style as above) and lots in stock:

https://www.layouts4u.net/oo-scale-lighting/oo-scale-lampposts?a=1&page=1

 

I've never used them and don't know if whether they are capable of exporting to Europe in a sensible way so buyer beware! (It's such a shame I have to add that qualification.)

 

 

Those do look good, thanks for the tip.

[john dew]

Hi Neal

 

Just popped in to wish you a Merry Christmas and success in tracking down your Turntable Switchboard. I know exactly how frustrated you must be from my TT travails in the spring, and at least in my case it was largely my own fault!

 

Grabbed from an earlier post

 

b) source the components in Spain and build it myself.

 

Its certainly an option you should consider.....I certainly would be thinking that way and I get the sense you are electronically far more competent than I. Making enquiries and perhaps making a modest purchase could well be enough to ensure that the switchboard arrives and works perfectly. Murphies Law has a high success probability

 

Whatever.....my very best wishes for the New Year

[Neal Ball]

7 hours ago, john dew said:

Hi Neal

 

Just popped in to wish you a Merry Christmas and success in tracking down your Turntable Switchboard. I know exactly how frustrated you must be from my TT travails in the spring, and at least in my case it was largely my own fault!

 

Grabbed from an earlier post

 

b) source the components in Spain and build it myself.

 

Its certainly an option you should consider.....I certainly would be thinking that way and I get the sense you are electronically far more competent than I. Making enquiries and perhaps making a modest purchase could well be enough to ensure that the switchboard arrives and works perfectly. Murphies Law has a high success probability

 

Whatever.....my very best wishes for the New Year

Thanks very much John.

 

Sunny Christmas and New Year greetings from Spain. 
 

Thanks for the comments on a self build…. I reckon on taking the panel apart, I have nothing to lose.

 

But first, today, I’m making home-made Cranberry sauce; Canapés of Brie and Cranberry parcels; roasted Almonds and mulled wine. (I shall be making cocktails tomorrow as our guests arrive).

 

Then it’s out with the soldering iron and strip the panel down.

[Graham T]

The food sounds good!

[Neal Ball]

6 hours ago, Graham T said:

The food sounds good!

 

I can confirm the samples tasted very good!

 

I don't often cook, but being Christmas it was good to get in the kitchen and cooking with alcohol... some went in with the ingredients as well :-)

[Neal Ball]

‘‘Twas the night before Christmas….

 

and all over the land, were hopeful modellers…..”

 

“has Santa remembered I need an xyz for the railway?”

 

Meanwhile over at Henley towers, we have left out Santas favourite cocktail, in the hope of currying favour for a new Comet carriage kit or something equally fabulous. 
 

Enjoy your Christmas.

[Neal Ball]

Morning all, it’s a lovely sunny day here on the Costa Blanca.

 

Santa has been very generous this year….

 

He managed to squeeze a H57 Restaurant carriage down the chimney and a few euros to go towards the new Accurascale Manor.

 

This will be a nice project to build over the course of the next few months.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Neal Ball
photo changed

[The Fatadder]

Happy Christmas from cold and wet Gloucestershire

 

In this house Santa seems to have an aversion to buying  Railway stuff, but the mother in law came though with a Comet slip coach kit yesterday at least.  Now ready for the 2 hour drive down to Devon for the day (so at least I won’t get told off for disappearing to the modelling room to start building it…)