queensquare

Thanks anyway. I am still very much collecting stock and information, being far too busy with other projects at the moment but it would be helpful to get back to you at some time in the future as a former railwayman in the area. Jerry

I hope I didn't give you any trouble back then. We did get told to b......r off a few times whist bunking the shed but on the whole I don't think we were too bad. As a former Westbury man I wonder if yu could shed any light on this http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/32689-warminster-in-the-70s/page__fromsearch__1 I was at school in Warminster with Mel Gould and Chris Miles, both their dads were railwaymen at Westbury, Mr Gould in particular I remember seeing regularly driving Westerns, there were a few others but the names escape me now. Jerry

Its been over a year since I posted this appeal and I haven't had a single reply so thought I would give it a bump just in case anything came up. thanks Jerry

Yep.......still am! Jerry

Oops, that was a bit Freudian - I think I meant bare, or maybe beer!! Jerry

Westbury was our regular spotting venue from about 1973 through to about 78 when we discovered the joys of bear and girls, particularly the 'triangle' where the Salisbury and Cary lines forked with the avoiding line making up the third side. We had a large field, a lake, a stream you could build dams on and trains on all three sides - bliss. The Wessies were our firm favourites either tearing around the avoiding line or roaring up the bank toward Upton Scudamore with a stone train. I remember how dismissive we were of the Hoovers (50's) when they arrived from the west coast mainline as it spelt the end for the Westerns. Having moved back to the area a few years ago I occasionally go to the triangle with the dogs and the 66's going up the bank with Mendip stone is still thrilling but not quite the same........ Jerry

Not quite sure why you're getting your knickers in such a twist, I was merely making an observation, but ho hum, Red Death and I have obviously pressed the wrong button - not intentional but there you are. Personally I come on RMWeb to shair my own work and be inspired by top quality modelling of others, and on the whole, thats what I get. Jerry

Precisely my point, and far more succinctly put than I managed! Jerry

I agree with much of what you say and am very much looking forward to the Dapol Westerns but at the end of the day some compromise will have to be made to make the project commercialy viable. As for underscale OO track, I was certainly not using it as an excuse for mistakes on the model, merely pointing out that, in the grand scheme of things its far more noticable than any tiny little clips or wipers. I shall be buying a 4mm example and leaving it in 16.5 gauge. The 9mm gauge of N track may be dimensionally more accurate than OO but, if using Peco, is far more visualy disturbing and to my eyes is so jarring that it makes the accuracy of what sits on top almost secondary - for me the eye is always drawn to the track - but that is a debate for elsewhere. I will be buying at least two of the N gauge version when it arrives but they won't be running on Peco track. My comments are meant to be constructive and are hopefully taken that way. The main point I am trying to make is that we can get so bogged down in the tiny, often insignificant details that we loose sight of the big picture. Jerry

I do find some of these messages about the final details somewhat ammusing. Whilst I agree getting it as right as possible is important the fact that the vast majority of models sold are going to run on 4' 1.5" gauge track I would have thought is a far more significant compromise than a couple of clips or a windscreen wiper. At the end of the day, if the loco is not exactly as you want, there is always the option of doing a bit of modelling to change it. Just a thought. Jerry

No he sold it about twenty years ago to George Nutter, no idea what happened to it after that. Jerry

Just back from a very enjoyable weekend exhibiting in Macclsefield and again local members were encouraged to bring along their 2FS locos to turn a wheel on Highbury. The Blackberry Black beauty that arrived and was quickly put to work has to rank right up there the MR spinner in terms of quality, good looks, and complete innapropriateness for work on the colliery - perfect for this thread then!! Sadly I only had my phone available to record events but hopefully the resulting snaps aren't too bad. For the record, the LNWR Prince of Wales 4-6-0 belongs to Nick Dearnley and was built by John Greenwood. Jerry

Good to have you back Steve. The control system looks fantastic but you will have to talk me through it slowly next time we get together! As you know, the pointwork on Highbury has been digitaly controlled for years - left or right digits!! Jerry

Picked up the April edition of the Toddler today which contains an article on latest developments and some stunning photos. Recomended. Jerry

Thanks Joseph. It was always known, and listed, as Queen Square in Bradshaws though I don't now if that was ever the official title. Locals always simply refered to it as the Midland station, even after it was renamed. Jerry

You have made a fabulous job of these. St Ruth is one of the layouts that is going to make me get out of bed at some unearthly hour for a sunday and drive up to Nottingham. Jerry

Um, no...... Jerry

Never quite understand this sort of statement. Why do you want to haul 60 coaches? Will you be disapointed if it will only pull 40? Jerry

Running trains innapropriate to the location - thats shocking, you wouldn't catch me doing a thing like that!! Seriously Julia, if the few niggly little problems you mention were all you had on first time out in its complete format then that is testament to the layouts build quality. Highclere looks stunning and is destined to become one of the real flagship layouts for 2FS. Looking forward to seeing it again soon. Jerry

Evening Justin, I'm afraid I don't have any packaging for the Kibri pantiles and, having just rumaged through my tin of embossed plastic I don't have any complete sheets left which show the reference number on the back. I got mine, along with the stone sheets, from a customer I built Midsomer Norton for years ago and I do remember they were marketed as being suitable for Z scale. I have some Volmer sheets I picked up which have the number 7353 stamped on them but, although quite nice, are not as good as the Kibri ones. I wouldn't mind getting some more myself as I only have an ever dwindling selection of offcuts left. Sorry I can't be any more help, Jerry

As promised, a few words on tucking and fulling. Both processes are linked to the wool trade, namely the cleaning of the cloth to remove the natural oils and lanolin. In medieval times the cloth was cleaned by treading it in vats of stale urine for up to eight hours, the raw material for which was gahered from local urban areas. This joyous activity was replaced in later years by, amongst other processes, rubbing the cloth with Fullers Earth, known logically as fulling. There was a tucking mill in Horsecombe vale serving the thriving local wool trade in the 18 century, hence the name of the SDJ viaduct and small hamlet and it was pure chance that the mill next to the coal canal was later used to grind the Fullers earth which was mined locally. The Fullers Earth was mined on Odd Down and piped down to settling tanks in Horsecombe Vale after which it was laid out on the floor of drying sheds before being ground to a fine powder and bagged in the mill before being taken away on the North Somerset Light, (in reality being carted to the SDJ sidings at Midford) . Fullers Earth is still extensively used today in a wide range of roles from cosmetics and the treatment of skin conditions to fine filters in protective masks for chemical warfare although it is no longer mined in the Bath area. Jerry ps. if looking up tucking on the interweb then be careful what you find. I discovered in my researches that the process that chaps who like to dress as ladies use to disguise their excess undercarriage is also known as tucking - you have been warned!

So is the LNWR bolster in the siding! Not sure why the bus is there - I had probably plonked it there on its way to the display cabinet, I have a number of these rather nice OBs. Jerry

Do you mean like this.......another shot from a few years ago - that water tower isn't there any more. Jerry

Thanks all, now it has a permanent home it will make better progress. I like doing exhibitions but with small layouts (hence Highbury and Tucking Mill) so I don't anticipate Bath going out very often, certainly no more than once or twice a year at most but I have targetted the 2mm Association's 60th anniversary expo in 2020 as its first major outing. Geoff, as one of my local shows it will certainly come to Trainwest although it might be a few years yet! Jerry

Just to complete the trilogy of threads I thought I should start one on the oldest of my layout projects, over twenty years but not touched for large parts of that, Bath Queen Square. Best known as Green Park but only carrying that name for the last fifteen years of its life, Queen Square has always, for me, been the perfect prototype. It is essentially an extremely compact and attractive two platform branch terminus with an enormous variety of stock, whichever period is chosen - in my case the decade or so after WWI, till the SDJ lost its independence in 1930. Since building a new workshop which is big enough to house the project around the walls it has gained a bit of momentum but is still only moving at a snails pace so don't expect loads of updates. The main station buildings were built about 20 years ago along with a plastic version of the overall roof but that was never finished and is now being replaced by a new one using some 'scratch aid' etches from Bill Bedford and a host of extras from brass strip and shim which is proving to be a marathon in its own right. Anyway, I will start the ball rolling with a few shots of the main station board, and a couple of the train shed roof which is currently under construction. Jerry