wombatofludham

Interesting idea, although given a lot of my stock has lain idle for a while I'm having to contend with a lot of stop motion from the trains...

Perry Barr had a sister who worked at Wednesford's Queens Hotel, named Minnie...

No, no traction tyres and the chassis was off an early release Hornby 121.  Odd thing is it managed to run on Kings Oak, but doesn't like curves where the increased drag slows it down.  I bought it second hand off Tatbay ages ago, a lovely bit of modelling but the exaggerated tumblehome of the Lima model has made me think twice about persevering with it especially as Kernow do a nice version of the new Bachmann 117 which just needs renumbering from B430 to T305, the roof darkening and Warwickshire bear logos on the headcode boxes. 

Must admit I've not looked at the all blue Met Cam 3-car set which is awaiting a chip.  Given I want to use that with a two car trailer set (hybrid 101, Hornby body on Bachmann dummy motor chassis and a 108 body on a trailer chassis) to create a 5 car "Cambrian" set I hope it has got traction tyres!

When it first emerged the dark blue stripe was originally painted red, but quickly got over-painted to Provincial blue.  WMPTE had at one time the yellow class 312 - another failed livery experiment - and the Midline bubble - running at the same time in early 1988.  It wasn't until 1990, and the rebranding of WMPTE to "Centro" that a coherent local livery and brand was established.  The "Centro" green version of the standard Reggie Rail livery was probably worth the wait, being attractive (although the 150 fleet did suffer at the hands of Tyseley's wash plant with the green losing the shine very quickly to become chalky) and professional.  Yellow EMU's done up in a faux Netherlands Railways tribute act would have been revolting!

One I forgot to add:  A red letter day outside the offices of the UK plant of österreichische Verdampfende Nebenlüftung Refrigeration (OVNR) when Sheik Yertel-Fethir and Crown Prince Fal-Salaam arrived to sign a multi million pound deal for refrigeration plant for the small Arab Emirate of Ushat.  The Wednesford Examiner's ace news photographer Nick Conn was able ot overcome the dreary environment and shadows of the adjacent grotty railway platform to show the dignitaries being greeted by OVNR's UK head of operations, Herr Brusch.

Nice to know our Arabian friends will soon be able to "Walk in the cold air".

An unexpected quiet spell in the weather enabled me to put the Old Town Hall Square back in place, after having cleaned the track underneath first.  I put some pedestrian guard rail in front of the station entrance to avoid any fleeing fare dodgers running under a Daimler Fleetline.

It's 1975 and WMPTE still finds itself in a piebald range of liveries.  An ex-West Bromwich Daimler CVG6 retains the ornate Corporation livery but with WMPTE logos.  Behind is a D9 of Midland Red, still with the company having worked a cross boundary rail replacement service, retaining the pre NBC dark red with small fleetnames, whilst in Stand 2 is an ex-Birmingham Daimler Fleetline recently transferred to Stourbridge to help eliminate some of the recently acquired Midland Red home built fleet when WMPTE bought the Midland Red Black Country routes.  On Stand 2, one of those ex-Midland Red home built D9 buses with WMPTE logo, as many carried for the first year or so post takeover, and another newly acquired bus, an ex-Coventry Daimler CVG6 recently transferred to Dudley from the home city after Coventry was absorbed by WMPTE in 1974. I can remember buses running round in their ex-Corporation colours, and Midland Red buses, during this period as my family didn't have a car so trips to see the relatives in Walsall involved three buses and it was a fascinating and varied period.  The backlog in deliveries from Leyland kept conductor operated half-cabs around for far longer than intended, including the highly non-standard BMMO built ex-Midland Red fleet so somewhere like "Wednesford" could have seen a huge variety of vehicle types at this time.

My grandmother used to live in Pleck, Walsall about ten minutes from Pleck Park which had a kid's playground with a refreshment kiosk in the summer (when councils had the money for such things) and in the 60s and 70s it had nice hard asphalt under everything.  It had a vertiginous slide that if you fell off would guarantee you a trip to casualty (at the very least, if not a trip to the cemetery) and yes, one of those horsey things we always rocked at such ferocity it would bang up against the stops.  It also had two roundabouts - a sit on and a stand on.  Of course we'd rotate it to the point centrifugal force had you sliding off onto the ground.  Me and my brother and my cousin would spend hours up there during the long school holidays.  The park is still there but much altered.

The whole experience would have modern Karens screaming in terror as their kids got pavement rash and suing the council whilst complaining on Faceache.

6 hours ago, DutyDruid said:

Yes, LEDs can be dimmed; I have a total of 3 rooms with LED downlighters, all on dimmers.  You can't achieve very low output levels because there is a "minimum" output level which you can't go below.  If you are talking about the mini florescent bulbs that fit in ordinary BC/ES/SBC/SES connectors then the answer is "not possible".

 

A traditional dimmer works by reducing the voltage supplied to an incandescent bulb.  As I understand it, the LED dimmers work by messing with the "duty cycle" of the supply voltage sent to the light unit.  This means that the light is on at full brightness but not all the time and the eye perceives this as being "dim" compared to the full brightness of an always 100% supply lit LED (if that makes sense).

 

As a starting point, if you're talking about LV LEDs then take a look at the Bachmann Just Plug system.  https://www.Bachmann.co.uk/category/scenery-landscape/woodland_scenics/just-plug-lighting-system?page=3

 

HTH

In the end I installed some outdoor rated colour changing floodlights which have a useful range of colours possible, and can be dimmed down quite nicely.  I will be moving onto street and building lighting at some point, my niece as given me firm instructions to do it, and I have been looking at the Just Plug option, although from what I can see there are some quite nice components coming in from our Chinese overlords, including a very nice hub board which allows you to use a 12v transformer yet supply 3v LED compatible supply, with solderless connections and which can daisy chain other boards off it, which I would imagine further saves the LEDs from frying.  I just need to sit down and work it all out, I've made passive provision for the lighting cabling under the scenery modules although I suspect I'll only dim the main lighting in the shed to "summer sunset" level so I can see what I'm doing!

8 hours ago, AY Mod said:

Yes, you should now be able to shout* at your lights for colour and brightness too.

 

* I find talking normally is greeted with indifference by Madame Google.

I've never enabled voice control of the telly as I do tend to get a bit sweary during the voting in the Eurovision Song Contest, which might have unwanted consequences with voice activation.  Like serving up the complete Danny Dyer and Ray Winstone filmography.

Hair spray is used by some artists to fix pastel drawings so it should work, it's just I'm not sure how flat or glossy hairspray would be, whereas pastel fixative can be bought in satin or glossy finishes.  That said, there are significantly cheaper varieties out there than Daler-Rowney, I just had half a can left over from my past membership of the village art group, so thought I'd give it a try.

Of course artist pastels (the non oil based ones) could also yield up pigment if you can get them cheaply, which you sometimes can from high street bargain bookshops.  But eyeshadow at eBay prices was a pleasant surprise.

...in dark glasses and wig in case you get seen by any mates!

With me having bought several pairs of ear-rings for use as sculptures on the layout, and now buying eyeshadow, anyone hacking my eBay account must be very confused.

I think my dislike of footy caused my late father to question my true parentage as he was an avid football fan despite being a Walsall supporter.  I'm most definitely the odd one out in the family, my brother is also a mad keen football fan and my uncle and cousins are season ticket holders for the Saddlers.  It was always amusing when, in a past job, I got to visit The Hawthorns executive box (nice food, I gather some team called West Bromwich Academicals play there) and the board room of a football team in Witton in the course of my job, much to the envy of the avid fans of said teams in my office, all of which of course had zero interest for me.  In fact I found the AVFC boardroom a ghastly design mess, glazed terracotta orange bare brickwork, a claret and blue carpet with prancing pussies woven into it and claret and blue leather boardroom chairs, with glass cabinets full of silverware the club apparently won from time to time.  It was hideous, it just lacked a Swarovsky crystal chandelier and gold plated bathroom fittings to be a complete taste disaster.  I said as much to an AVFC supporter when I got back to the office after the meeting.  They didn't talk to me for a week.

It seems footy fans are almost as obsessive and prickly as Great Western fans.

Having left the ballast to dry for 48 hours, today I added grass and flower tufts, further weathering 
and some risque figures.



Someone having a wee up against the recycling bins.



Mrs Miggins lets the Wombourne flasher have it with her umbrella.



The concrete wall behind Flasher's Alley has been weathered, and weathering wash added to the yard.  In addition grass tufts and some small weedy type flowers have been added to create an unkempt feeling of decay



The engineer's yard now has some tough grassy knots growing up between the compacted earth and residual ballast.



Daisies and other weeds try to grow in amongst the debris of the old good's yard, whilst the local graffiti merchants call for Barbara Castle to save Wombourne station from closure still lingers on the concrete wall.

Daisies and other flowery weeds taking hold around the rickety fence.  Don't tell HMRI a three car non-corridor DMU has worked into the two car long Wombourne platform otherwise he might stop the job.



Unlike Wombourne v1.0, I've dialled back the undergrowth in the rough land that is used as informal parking for the station.  As I'm modelling 1967-1993 there's a balance to be struck as weed growth and scrub will have varied over time, so I've kept it down this time whilst hopefully still giving an unkempt, unloved impression.

Wrong era cars, from the 1967-1970 box, demonstrate how the rough ground doubles up as definitely at your own risk parking.

Yes, I use buses and cars as "dating props" depending on which timetable/stock sequence I'm following of 1966-7, 1970, 1974, 1986 or 1993.  I'm going to sell off the 2006 rolling stock to concentrate on BR post kettle (although 1966 will have the odd 9f and Stanier 8f alongside the sparkies).

Again gasses and weeds have been added to the former shunting loco recess siding opposite the platform.
 

The "Railway Court" in it's place.  Not sure what has happened but the carefully cut retaining walls wouldn't go back as before, but after a lot of swearing I did eventually get it back temporarily.  Now the weather has got nice I need to return to the rebuild but my first priority must be the drawbridge across the doorway, which I think I will convert to a drop out section to give better alignment for the track.  Then rebuilding the OHLE, ballasting, and giving the track a good clean after the winter hibernation.



Overview.  I need to plant a tree at the end of Ramsbottom Row to disguise the awkward junction between the half-depth houses and the backscene.



Euneda House occupies the site of the old engine shed the houses were built to serve.  In the background one of ID Backscenes of a large school or college has been combined with custom printed scanned copies of "Euneda House" printed on inkjet plasticard to try and give a multi-layered effect.

Subject to a tree hiding that uncomfortable junction between the backscene and half-depth housing, the combination of factory backscene and custom flat and prefab printout works in my view. AC Electrics gable end on the right.

Additional figures have been installed, again from PMM studio and with some cheaper Chinese sourced figures in background locations

A young family talk excitedly about their first holiday abroad which they have just booked in AirSol's travel agents. Remember, AirSol never give you a bum deal....

Wednesford Station might just dodge closure now there are people waiting.

t's the summer of love in the Civic Centre Peace Garden as Tracey and Bill from accounts have a lunchtime office romance. In the meantime Siobahn, Sandra and Kelly from the typing pool have their own take on the love birds...
"Ain't that Trace from Accounts with Bill?"
"Ar, day yow know they were gooin' out"
"Yow know 'er nickname the lads in the office gave her? Tracey the Taxi"
"Why?"
"'Ave a werd wi'yerself gel, 'cos she's always picking up men"

A young couple wait for the bus, studiously ignoring Wednesford's own Compo and Clegg arguing whether the bus to Cannock via Walsall is quicker than going through Wolvo. To be honest guys, I still wouldn't bother. Go to the Lost City, it's more upmarket.

I've seen the N Brass portals and had a nice chat with the man who makes them a couple of years back, they do convey the atmosphere of the 1960s electrification scheme portals excellently.  I did seriously consider them but now I've completed the installation on Wednesford I'm actually quite happy with the results from the Dapol masts, to be honest the only visually jarring issue is the arrangement of the register arms, the different height between the catenary and contact wires compared to the early West Coast wiring is probably less noticeable than I thought it might be.

If I win the lottery and move house, hopefully I will have progressed enough with soldering exercises to tackle a model of Rugeley TV, protal frames and all!

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Diseasel? I thought I read you would be first in the queue for the mythical RTR Precedent! I'm rather looking forward to Wednesford 1890s... a completely different architectural modelling challenge!

Actually my next project is a small terminus to fiddle yard in a spare side conservatory currently used as a junk-hole (I live alone so no need to appease any domestic authorities...) which will be a fictional North Wales seaside terminal off the Afon Wen to Caernarfon line, set primarily in the 1934-9 period LMS but if the "Improved Precedent" tease from the Widnes box-shifters ever breaks cover I'll be in for a few, I know if it is a model of "Hardwicke" it'll be the 6ft 9 inch driving wheel "Jumbo" but as the 6ft 3in "Waterloos" were virtually identical bar the scale 2mm different driving wheel, I'd want a "Sister Dora" in LNWR black.

In fact the terminus will cover any period from 1850s to the 1990s although fitted with LMS standard signals and signage, including Irish stock.  Basically it'll be my rule 1 unmodernised semaphore signalled station for when I want something other than trains with coathangers.  I'm not a paid up member of the Finescale Taliban so I'm happy to overlook the wrong kind of signals for 1845 and 1910!

Have you had a look at some of the continental masts from Sommefeldt?  Some of the Belgian and Dutch masts do have a resemblance to the LNER designed masts used on the GE and Woodhead, and although Sommerfeldt will be HO rather than OO and still involves soldering, it might offer something that could help as a scratch-build aid.

I know, but I take the view that whilst I could have made more effort to do the correct era masts for the location, as I am only just mastering the skill of soldering after 45 years of trying to learn how to solder without melting the table or giving myself third degree burns, and it really has taken that long for me to have achieved a test piece where I soldered a wire to a length of scrap track without any problem or destruction, I figured soldering up brass and copper strip to create the portal frames and probably stitched catenary for the location was way beyond my current level of competence.  The alternative would have really been masts and no wires, or nothing, neither of which I was completely happy with.

As it's a fictional location, my excuse is it was an experimental installation to test simpler OHLE systems which later became the Mk3 system. 

A few more photos.  Yet again I've made a few changes as I sit and look at what I've done and think "perhaps I should do x instead", mainly to do with paving.  



Proper pavements now laid either side of the road, which narrows it a bit but looks better.  The scraggy end of the road where the footbridge lands from the other estate is being taken over by scrub, and will probably have some dead sofas dumped there, something sadly all too prevalent as much in the 1960s and the 2000s, so no need to get any more penalty points on my modellers licence.

By the way, the orange hue is a test of how the camera takes the orange "hot summer sunset" setting on the LCD spots.  As you can see, it's surprisingly effective.

It's obviously In Cod We Trust's Orange Chip Friday judging by the cars parked outside.

The Swan Centre has now sprouted two lollipop trees, two K8 telephone boxes (odd, they were introduced in 1968, a year after the earliest timetable sequence planned for the layout...) and some railings to keep people off the tracks.

The laying of cork has now been completed, so a day off tomorrow, followed by tracklaying, OHLE installation and ballasting/weathering.  Definitely on the home straight now.  Well, home flexi-track...

Today I finished off the scenics and had a change of heart as to the location of the footbridge.



The footbridge is now at the end of the road which used to be a level crossing until the trackbed was lowered in an attempt to get clearance through the Old Town tunnel.  It meant a few minor changes to the scenery I'd already done but I think the effect is better and is the kind of thing that would have been installed where a road crossing was closed.  The footbridge is of course the Bachmann Stetchford model from eons ago.

Euneda House from the footbridge.  I need to have a think about backscenes, I'll probably end up making my own for this part of the layout.



The 1960s "lollipop" trees arrived from the Model Tree Company today so Euneda House got some more foliage in front of the block.



Moving the footbridge meant I had to remove the bus shelter I glued down last night to relocate it.  There's nothing like planning, and this was nothing like planning...



The prefabs now have gardens.  Small areas to the front off the footpath, cosily lined by neat trimmed bushes.  Wednesford likes it's tenants to keep their bushes nice and trim.  The tenant on the right has laid a nice mock Yorkstone patio which is brave given the prefabs were supposed to be replaced after ten years, which is why the tenant on the right has stuck with grass.  Wonky - sorry, wind damaged - larch lap fencing separates the garden from the hoi polloi at the bus stop.

The edge of the ply has since been clad with some redundant platform edging I 3d printed which simulates a dwarf retaining wall, and neatly hides the foundation strip of the railings.

So, tomorrow it's back to corking, then onto tack and OHLE.

Oh, and I also managed to convert a Lima HST non-powered car to have DCC sound without soldering.  Most chuffed with that.

Interesting model of an early signal.  Relatively simple but clever and effective.

Any plans for a working Railway Police flagman?

Forgot to add, the 1960s habit of plonking art in odd places became known as sticking "turds in the plaza" by urban designers in later years.  

Walsall's concrete hippo.  The stink that was kicked up when the Council decided to tart up The Bridge and it was threatened.  You'd think they had tried to replace Sister Dora with a statue of a Caldmore horizontal evening leisure consultant.  I must admit I haven't been in the town centre for over two decades so I have no idea if it was kept.

Lichfield Levetts Field shopping centre used to have ponds with goldfish in them, as a kid if we had to wait for the infrequent Green Bus back to Handsacre my parents would take us there to see them.  They seemed to be a permanent fixture of the shopping centre and then they were gone, and boring planting was in their place.  I assume they were too much trouble to keep.

As I often had to drive into Birmingham along the A38 from Lichfield in the 1990s, I probably did more than my bit to create the congestion!

Interesting info about Francis Brett Young, helps explain the "Wednesford" name in his book.  Shame the 1948 film, shown recently on Squawking Pictures, made such a pig's ear of the accents where the locals of Wednesford all spoke with RADA approved Generic North of England pronunciation.