Brassey

I am not too sure about this conclusion. Last night I dragged myself through the schedules of the 4 local goods trains in the 1912 Working Timetable for the line I model. Quite a few stations were listed as CR (call as required) or to pick up "foreign" wagons. If the local goods did not collect them (or deliver them) the long-distance goods trains couldn't as they were not scheduled to stop there. So the likelihood of foreign wagons in local goods trains is probably equal. In addition, the fast overnight fitted long-distance goods trains, I would have thought, were unlikely to have a lot of empty unfitted wagons in their consist. But no photos exist to prove either way. PS: for interest, a number of stations were listed as ST (for Station Truck purposes only)

A Midland Brake Compo ran between Plymouth and Bradford. It is in the GWR programme but not the LNWR marshalling diagram this is because it came off at Bristol and presumably went onto the Midland metals from there thus never going onto the joint line. At Bristol an LNWR fish van for Leeds was added; a fitting replacement. There were also a couple of GC coaches between Ilfracombe and Halifax that came off at Bristol. Again never ventured onto the joint line from Hereford to Shrewsbury.

I've managed to source a few break compos including an LNWR 45ft (from Worsley Works). Second class had been abolished in 1912 by the LNWR but I have some ex-tricompos in the stash. I recall having a virtual conversation with Phillip Millard as to how long it would have taken to relabel all the second class compartments. He also supplied me with a copy of the original drawing for the Hereford and Tamworth TPO which I had custom etched by Worsley. It's the rear 8wh vehicle in this pic with the clerestorey roof and extended lookouts: I got some of the GWR Bettabitz sides from 247 Developments before that changed hands and the licence went. I think this includes an F1 Slip though no slips ran on the S&H so this may turn into some kind of cut and shut. Neither did Midland vehicles go north of Hereford via this route. I do have the 12 wheel Caledonian coach which ran between Glasgow and Weston-s-Mare. Caley Coaches produce this and it was advertised in the LNWR Society Newsletter. That farm complex is massive compared to the image I posted as I cropped most of it off the Google Earth snapshot. It is the one major change in the immediate area over time (apart from the closure of the station). Looking at the images I posted, the landscape around B&E appears quite flat which is surprising as it is just over the border with Shropshire into Herefordshire. Compare it with this image I took in 2011 at the next station up, the closed Woofferton, which I think is still in Shropshire and 7 minutes away be steam engine .

Whilst thinking about things scenic, I superimposed an old map over a google snapshot of the site. I'm repeatedly impressed how accurate these old maps were (are). It may disappoint some to learn that Berrington & Eye was completed surrounded by fields (of varying shades of green) and not a lot has changed over the past 100 years. The little copse to the left next to what previously was an orchard, is just off scene on the layout. Better get the static grass out.

Thanks. That would make sense except, I think that it is a pre-grouping photo well before WW2. Evidence: 1) Millennium Bread (on sign) was popular at the turn of that century and IIRC the factory was blown up during a munitions explosion in the docks during WW1. 2) This photo dated 1935 shows an LMS poster on the hut and the trees have grown taller

Duncan you have pricked my conscience. I am not put out by purism; quite the opposite. As you may recall, I am a stickler for correct train formations. It has been the dilemma about the booking hall door, or lack of, plus the colour of the building that has been the cause of my procrastination. I was always attracted to the original station building at Church Stretton which was (is) more of a honey sandstone. Church Stretton early '90's I am not so keen on the red sandstone of Berrington & Eye but the decision is made - build it as is. So the builders are off furlough and I'm getting the plasticard out! Don't hold your breath as there are 4 tenders on my workbench, 2 locos in the cupboard of shame awaiting their wheels back from the paintshop and an order about to go into High Level for another gearbox and motor.

Thanks for the headsup on the station colours. I was rather hoping I could achieve it with one colour. The purpose of the mockup was: 1) to establish the position of structures prior to finalising the platforms and ballasting of track. Luckily I have proper measurements of the station building which a fellow RMWeber kindly took for me. These foundations are now cut into the platform 2) experiment with colours. On the mock up I think I used brick, rust and flesh, all acrylics, of which I think flesh came closest for me. The problem with these sandstone structures (including the overbridge) is that the colours change in the light and also how close you are to the subject. Compare this picture to that above: Interestingly you can see from this angle that there was no entrance to the building from this road side and some walls had no windows! Even the door to the station master's house was on the platform. That is why presumably some owner put a door in the booking hall which I thought had always been there. (This pic from about the 70's shows that a brick extension had been added with a door but there was no door there before in earlier photos.) This is a close-up of the errant door and shows the variation in colours although the patching I think was to fill in a letter box that would have been there. "LB" is marked in that location on the O/S map in the OP. Mikkel, Berrington and Eye proved rather camera shy and there are few pre-grouping pictures. This pic again shows an enamel sign of the waiting hut but I have no other pictures showing signs. You can see from this image that the public accessed the platform via steps from the overbridge. Why these are pained white I do not know. There was another set (marked on the map) on the other side. You can though also see an abundant amount of floral decoration on the station which was typical of the period and which will add colour if and when I get round to it. (also note tall telegraph poles) Returning to operations, my ambition was and remains to be able to replicate the timetable. I have calculated that this would take 30 locos, about 70 carriages and 100 or so wagons. Given that everything is kit built and the locos and carriages need painting and lining, producing this is turning out to be quite a task. So in he meantime, whilst I attack the kit mountain, the station builders are on furlough. (see later post)

Yes guys, an interesting perspective. The purist in me tends to agree to leave as is. Since BR sold the building after closure it has acquired a door but not in this earlier view: But it has in this more recent view but has lost a chimney stack: The other side is more interesting as per this view from 1932 showing both the booking hall and ladies waiting room doors. Unforunately this is not the view I am looking at on the layout. This shows the original chimney stacks well and on a model I think the are quite a dominant feature which is why I thought they added to the long-standing mock-up. As can be seen from the mock-up, I am also struggling to recreate the red sandstone colour of the station building. My chimney stacks are more yellow. I'm told that the station building was built from the same sandstone as Berrington Hall, to which the the station owed its existence and name. PS: this image also proves the proximity of the siding to the station building as mentioned earlier. Only a hedge divides the platform from the goods facilities including a crane. (You can see the other side of that hedge looking somewhat overgrown in the 1963 pic in Mikkel's post above; still there 30 years after this pic and closure!). The PO wagons in the yard with the distinctive diamond look like a local Hereford merchant's oddly named South Wales Coal Company

A new wagon appeared this morning at the end of the one siding at Berrington & Eye. It is an LNWR D32 van from the Bill Bedford Mousa stable. Some had reported that their Mousa kits had warped. Bill suggested this could be due to a reaction to UV though most, including mine, were still in their boxes. He suggested painting was a remedy. Despite mine showing no signs of the dreaded warp, the first time I got the paint out, this one got the treatment. It then sat on the bench for weeks waiting for me to get the black paint out so I could do the black bits. Behind it are a couple of ballast wagons that are part of a rake that was airbrushed at the same time. These will form a ballast train that came off the Mid Wales line at Craven Arms and ran South the LNWR South Wales Division at Abergavenny. Still waiting on axleboxes etc. Behind them is an ancient Ratio Iron Mink that has had an MRD roof added, complete with all the riveting. The buffer stop is an LNWR one from the excellent Lanarkshire Models. This shot is from where the road going to the station was and is the view travellers would have had on approaching the station. Photos show that the siding really was that close to the building. The station building is still in a mocked up state though part of the roof and the chimney stacks have had some work! There were (are) few windows and openings to this side of the building. And indeed, I have had it confirmed, that there was no entrance for the public into the ticket office from this side. The door into the ticket office was on the platform that was accessed via a side gate. All of this makes the view of this side of the building quite boring so the jury is still out as to what I am going to do about that. Maybe I will put a door in which was the case at Woofferton.

I took the option of making longer axles at 34mm but, low and behold despite looking hopeful, once the rods and crankpins were on, they fouled the platforms and neither is there clearance for the dock in the goods yard. So that must have been a reason why the AGW were shorter. I have one other completed outside frame loco (Barnum) and I based the axle length for that on the Ultrascale axles (32mm). This clears the platforms so is the standard to aim for. The next option that remains is to move the outside frames and revert to shorter axles. All this has thrown up another issue though. The Barnum is 4 coupled whereas the the longer rod length of a 6 coupled may prove more of a problem with the clearance. I have some other GWR outside frame locos to build, so I will try to see if the problem persists and is a bigger clearance issue. These will be built pretty much out of the box with components almost exclusively from the Alan Gibson stable. Hopefully his wheels should work on his locos! But with P4 who knows. Until then, these 0-6-0's are on hold.

In the Summer of 1912 the 09:45 Birkenhead to Bournemouth was made up of: Van Third, Compo, Dining Car, Van Third (LSWR Corridor stock). An ex-Manchester portion (dep.10:15) was added (presumably at Crewe) made up of: Van third, Compo, Van third (GWR Corridor Stock). The overall instructions stated that: "1. Through Trains must be formed with Coaches of the best class." Source: Great Western Railway Programme of Working of Coaches in Through Trains July 13th to September 30th 1912 inclusive

The Marshalling Diagrams were published to describe the make up of each train. For example, in pre-grouping days on the North to West joint line, the train would have been made up of carriages from both the LNWR and GWR. There were also other through carriages such as a Calendonian break composite that ran from Glasgow to Weston super Mare. The Sunny South Special was an LNWR train that ran down to the South Eastern cost. Marshalling Diagrams (that's what the LNWR called them anyway) unfortunately are rarer to find than Working Timetables (Service Timetables in GWR parlance). If you can get hold of one for the line and period you are interested in, then that should provide the information. A line Society may have access to copies. As a starter, most through carriages were break composites (for obvious reasons as they would have been marshalled many times between trains). GWR break composites are hard to come by but in 4mm Worsley Works have some kits.

There is a strategy to my building 2 outside frames together. Firstly they both shared the Armstrong Standard Goods S4 boiler. The also had springs above the footplate which is a challenge I want to tackle in one go. And I intend to build 2 outside frame tenders that also share the spring issue. So the Armstrong Goods now has a cab and rear splashers: Smokebox, boiler and roundtop firebox: The Beyer Goods, being bits of old K's kits, is further on but I have now hit a problem common to trying to get old whitemetal kits to work in P4: The width across the outside frames is 29.5 mm Alan Gibson OSF axles are measuring up at 31.75mm. (Ultrascale OSF axles that I have for a Duke and a City measure 32mm) With 2.25mm to spare, this does not leave sufficient clearance to fit the AGW outside cranks which are about 1.5mm thick and then a bit more needs to allowed for sideplay. The solution could be to fit thinner, brass cranks (and I do have some in my stash). But I am not sure about the appearance and also the idea of soldering them to the axles fills me with horror. Eagle-eyed would have noticed that the above shot is the Armstrong chassis not the Beyer one. I have used the AGW axles on the Armstrong as, being brass, the frames are more slender. These wheels are actually Mike Sharman. Mike in his wisdom did not cut down his axles so I have a number of over length axles that I can cut down and use on the Beyer. My worry now is if I make them too wide, they could foul on the platform edges. At 34mm (which might be what's needed here) that's 8'6" which is near to the loading gauge. Watch this space. For some reason I seem to be choosing to build the most challenging of things at the mo. Maybe it's lockdown! I seem to have similar problems with my Metro builds (common feature the springs above footplate) . In the meantime, here's the current status of the two goods engines, the Beyer just needs handrails and then onto those springs. As this was just a few parts on eBay, it did not come with any springs or castings. The Armstrong on the other hand has springs on the etch that need o be laminated up. Next stage, the remaining 4 splashers:

A 12 wheel Caley brake composite worked from Glasgow through to Weston-super-Mare prior to WW1. Caley Coaches make the correct diagram.

A bit premature. I put some skimpy pickup wire on and, on the rolling road, one got wedged in the spokes which caused a jam. Unfortunately the motor under power forced the quartering out. The whole thing has seized. These old wheels have been on and off various things so the lesson remains, don’t move wheels once on. (Also use thicker pickup wire).

I originally resurrected my old Wills GWR Metro tank to see if I could get its original Ultrascale EM wheels to work on my P4 layout. The short answer is no. Having got a free running chassis it refused to stay on the 18.83mm rolling road and would shoot off as soon as power was applied. With hindsight I think this is due to the wheel profile making the wheels overgauge despite the back-to-back being correct. Thus the wheels did not bed down and fully engage. The last straw was, when I tried the chassis on the body, the crankpins fouled the valance. Again this was due to the wheels being wider than P4. I could not face the prospect of yet again filing down another whitemetal valance to get P4 wheels to clear so applied plan B. This was to replace the wheels with P4 Alan Gibson wheels that I had spare. As can be seen the crankpins clear the valance, just: And it successfully stays on the rolling road under power: Lesson learned! PS: to the right on the bench can be seen the cab for the Armstrong Standard Goods. More on this later...

In pre-grouping days there were around 5 North to West expresses in each direction daily. There were no complete fixed formats because south of Bristol, some of the through carriages went on to Penzance whilst others didn't. They came back North attached to different services. So the balancing services were different. IIRC there was one complete train of GWR stock that left Liverpool Lime St. each day. I'm sure there was also one made up of LNWR stock that went South. The dining cars would have been in a fixed sub-set with a LNWR or GWR vehicle either side probably a brake composite. I doubt this changed much in LMS days as, in pre-computer days, it must have been a challenge to organise the timetables. My interest is pre-WW1 so I don't have much info after that though the LMS carriage diagrams probably still exist.

I can't remember how it went together either as It is at least 35 years since I originally built it. I must have used a saw to dismantle some of it. I came to realise that the smokebox is in two halves as it fell apart when I was soldering it to the new boiler! I still have the instructions which include an exploded diagram if anyone is interested. I'm pretty sure the SEF body kit will be the same as the Wills. Today the chassis and wheels received a coat of dirty black so these will be finally assembled when fully dry then the brakes fitted.

I'm currently rebuilding my old Wills Metro and a new chassis. This is a recent pic though things have moved on since. More details are in my blog:

The Broad Gauge Society do (or used to) lost wax castings

Yes but not always the case. This earlier one with S2 boiler; still lined though

Thanks Mikkel, I wondered if anyone would notice. The early Metros had far fewer rivets than on the Wills kit so I filed them off (you can see it on one of the early photos) and soldered in some wire as rivets. 18 each side but whose counting. It needs a lot of cleaning up which I hope to do towards the end. Of course it might not work in which case I'll probably file it flat. I do think they are noticeable and a quite feature of this loco:

Standard thread is here: Locos workbench: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/124584-gwr-lnwr-pre-grouping-4mm-locos-workbench/

Not too sure it's worth putting much up but I've added the next stage to the blog. If I'd put a coat of Johnsons Klear on a Hornby RTR loco they'd be 100's of comments! There does not seem to be much interest in actually modelling something. (NB: Not bought any RTR since my brother and I had a layout in our bedroom and that's a long time ago)

As is my wont, I am batch building again, this time two GWR Metros (amongst other things). Another blast from the past: back in the day, M&L Leisure sold a discounted pack of 2 kits a couple of which I acquired. The 633 kit in the header photo became surplus to requirements but it has donated some of its contents to this (re)build of a Wills Metro - mainly the bunker - hence its inclusion in the header. The 850 is in the roundtoit pile These are the etches for the Rod Neep kit. The chassis has been built since this photo. They are dated 1986 But I am starting with rebuilding my Wills kit. The tank sides broke of from the front valance when I dismantled it. (can't remember when that was!) Edit: you can see that I've filed off the rivets on the right hand tank side to be replaced later. I srcatch built a new footplate based on the Neep one as a template and, having fitted the front and rear buffer beams, I then decided it needed some rivets which was a bit back to front: The Wills kit is designed around the extended later bunker so the ends needed shortening as marked on the pic Soldered to footplate with bunker plonked on to check along with the cab front in progress. Now to the boiler which needed rolling (this from Nickel Silver). Again the Neep kit providing a handy template Held in position with screws. In the meantime both the chassis completed, the guard irons being the last bit to be added. and chimney attached: Currently the chassis and wheels are in the paint shop before final assembly.