railwayrod

Took a trip to Beer today with my friend Peter. He wanted to purchase a few items for his layout while I had a chat with Steve Flint Editor of Railway Modeller to hand over my article on the layout. The lead time is in excess of a year so Ramchester will not appear in print until 2020. Deep your eye on RM! Rod

Hi Chris. How the heck do you find time to develop a range of superb models for us to admire (and purchase) as well as moving forward on not one layout but two layouts plus making things for Southampton club layout? Superb work Chris. Rod

Nice work Steve. Hope to see you at Bristol. Rod

Hello Chris Unremarkable my foot! That grounded van is a brilliant piece of modelling. Rod

Great work David. Those wagons look superb. Rod

Today Howard and I have been busy re doing a little bit of the scenery. The bit where the brook drops down into the drainage ditch did not appear to satisfy Howard's artistic talent so he decided to make some fairly simple changes. This involved plaster impregnated bandages (small pieces), some paint and a bit of "pouring Water" from I think Greenscenes. More of this anon and when he has finished this I will post some photos. All for now. Rod

Yes I will Paul I was thinking of the C & L components and Howard and I had a short discussion about point rodding this afternoon. I think that it might be good for me to obtain a small quantity of bits and experiment with them. It will be a challenge for me with my eyesight but I will have a go. Watch this space. Rod

Hi Paul & Hal Nail There is still a lot to do to Ramchester before I can say that it is finished (if ever). Point rodding is just one of the tasks and of course a tablet system will have to be included as this is a single line. Not sure when I will get around to doing this but it will be done eventually I hope. As to whether her ladyship wants something that is out of gauge she will have to arrange her own transport! Perhaps I will have to form a Ram Steamship and Airline Company! Rod

The Christmas Day Special This years Christmas Day Special was indeed special. I have always had an interest in the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway and when Dapol announced their Jinty in S & D blue livery I just had to have one. Even better when Hat tons held their Sate of the Century just before Christmas in which They they advertised one fully DCC sound fitted for £280 out came my card and it duly arrived within 24 hours. So this years CDS had to have this loco at its helm. Yes I know that Ramchester is supposed to be a very long way from the S & D but what the heck. As they say "Tiz my layout etc". Anyway enough of this here are a few pictures of the loco running into Ramchester hauling a Warwell plus a BR brake van. As usual the "cargo" was a two part present for my dear wife Maggie which formed part of her Christmas gifts. Rod

Just a quick post to wish everyone who follows the story of my layout a very happy Christmas and a prosperous 2019. Rod

Hi Rod Talking about road vehicles being "out of time" have you thought about doing a "back to the future" theme!!! Rod

Last week one or two of my friends came round for an afternoons operating session on the layout. Here are some photos of the event. John Drummond Smith (formally Torbay Model Supplies) brings a local train into the station. Afternoon drinks with from left to right John Drummond Smith, John Farmer, Brian Harrap, Peter Martin, and John Day Brian and John both running trains in the station. It was a great afternoon and it was nice for me to set back and enjoy watching the layout being operated! Rod

Thanks John for doing the video and for your comments CME. The 4F (Gladiator kit) was built for me by Dave Murdock from Bristol before I finally decided to go DCC. It then travelled to the far distant regions of cold North to a chap called Jintyman who fitted it with a Zimo chip with a Paul Chetter programme. David then applied his skills to weathered it before he sent it back to Ramchester to perform duties on this busy branch! Rod

Hi CME. I have to admit that in the past I have always been a bit wary when buying Kit built furniture. However I have had several items from Lydl over the years including tools and similar items and I have always been very happy with them.The cabinet cost me 1p less than £50 and is of very good quality so I need not have feared about the purchase at all. It went together extremely well and the parts fitted perfectly into place without any cleaning up to do. You do need to be a little careful to ensure that you get the front uprights the right way round when assembling them but otherwise a straight forward job to do. One word of warning make sure you have a vehicle when you pick it up from the store as it is HEAVY. The weight of glass alone makes it so and added to the quality components the package is far to heavy to carry home!! Just in case anyone is wondering I have no connection with Lydl other than being a satisfied customer. Rod

Not sure if your locos are DCC sound fitted but your photo plank will make a first class programming track. Super work as usual Steve. Rod

I have been quite busy during the last few days so not too much has been done to Ramchester. However for some time now I have wanted to put some of my DB stock on display and to make it more accessible when I feel like giving it a run. So when Maggie returned from Lydl following part of our weekly shop with their latest leaflet I noticed that they had an offer on a display cabinet. Checking the size I figured that I could fit it into Platform 2 albeit at floor level and as the price seemed quite reasonable we set off to our local store to purchase one. It took me a couple of days to sort out the parts and to assemble it but I managed it in the end. The unit comes with no less than 10 shelves and for 00 or N this is fine however for 0 gauge I had to reduce this to 7 shelves in order to give me the necessary clearance - not a problem as the shelves are fully adjustable. Today I have spent the afternoon unboxing my DB locos and some of the stock very carefully and placing them onto the shelves. This will enable me to pick out a loco from the cabinet and give it a run whenever I want to without the fear of damaging the model when taking it in and out it its box (Lenz, MBW and Brava all pack their products in fairly tight plastic or foam interiors within the box). I still have quite a lot more DB rolling stock but at present I have no more room for another cabinet until I have a rearrangement programme in place. Anyway enough of my ramblings here are a couple of photos of the unit - one with the doors open and the other with the doors shut. All for now. Rod

Well the brake van is now in service having been completed by Howard. As promised here are a couple of shots of the finished vehicle. Also another shot of Peters Pannier tank hauling my Warflat well wagon. All for now Rod

Hi Rod. It is nice to see that you are human after all!!! I would not worry about the rear face of the platform as it will never be seen in normal use. I have not looked at the rear face of the platform on Ramchester but I suspect mine is probably a lot worse than yours. Must get my camera out and take a look. Rod

Nice work, Howard. I am looking forward to seeing it in the flesh. Rod

My friend Peter Martin dropped by this afternoon to give his new loco a run. This is a Dapol 57XX Panier tank numbered 5717 in black livery with an early crest. From my observations this model looks superb and it will be a popular choice by modellers of the GWR. It ran very well although in my view the sound system is not quite as good as the Minerva Panier. This is a subjective view I know and many people will be more than happy with this loco. Here are a couple of photos of it standing in Ramchester. Peter is going to weather it and also fit late crests to the tank sides which if I know him he will do next week. My Dapol BR brake van is almost finished as Howard has more or less completed the weathering and fitted the Bachmann tension lock couplings. With a bit of luck I will post pictures next time. Rod

At Telford last September I purchased several Point Drop Stops from Parliamentary Trains. To date I had not done anything with these but when Howard dropped in this afternoon to do some more weathering/painting on my BR brake van I decided to have a go. All the points in the station area were fitted with thin strips of plastic cemented into the bottom of the frogs and this smoothed out the running quite a lot. However the fiddle yard had not been so treated hence my purchase at Telford. Using a marker pen I coloured the inserts before popping them out of their wooden frets and placing them into the frogs of the fiddle yard. Pushing a wagon through these points resulted in a much smoother ride with little of no drop as the wheels traversed the frog area. This task proved to be so easy and the results are excellent. I must add that I have no connection with the manufacturers other than being a satisfied customer. Rod

A bit more progress this afternoon. Howard has been working on my new Dapol brake van and has given it a light initial coat of rust around the under frame. He has also removed the overhead flashes from the sides of the van as these would have been a slightly later addition to the vehicle than my layout attempts to depict. Since my last post "buffer stops" have been added to the newly laid sidings in the fiddle yard (see photo) which should prevent the tension lock couplings getting damaged in the event of a heavy shunt or a runaway. Rod

Howard and I visited the Taunton exhibition last Saturday with two other friends and had a thoroughly enjoyable day. I had not intended to make huge purchases but for some time now Ramchester has been short of a brake van. The Slater's kit I had started seems to have stalled somewhat and my workmanship on it leaves a lot to be desired. Then when I heard that Dapol were to produce one I decided to add it to my stock. So it will be no surprise to you all that when I caught sight of several at the Taunton show on the C & L stand (I think), out came my credit card and a bauxite BR version found its way into my bag. Here are a couple of pictures of the van standing in the siding next to the coal yard Today Howard has been busy removing the overhead warning signs and has made a start on weathering it for me. I will post some pictures of it when he has finished his work with the paint brush. I also had a visit from Peter who brought his friend along who is German by birth but had lived in this country for about 30 Years so he speaks very good English. This turned out to be fortuitous as I discovered an electrical fault leaving the main line into Ramchester without power. Peter and his friend Frank got to work and traced the fault to a dry soldered joint which was soon put right. What a lucky chap I am to have good friends who can help me out of trouble when it rears its ugly head. Rod

Hi Andy. How are you getting on with your DCC Signa... unit. I like the look of this and it is British rather than coming from overseas. My ECoS system is fine but is a little complicated to use. Perhaps one day in the not too distant future I will have to change it but have not decided which one to go for. This will not happen for some time yet but I like to be prepared. Your comments would be most welcome. Many thanks Rod

Me Too. Rod