figworthy

Oh dear, another long gap between posts. Happy new year to all. Not much happened during the second half of last year for various reasons. However during December and over the holiday period, I've been able to get a bit more done. Nether Blagdon has been cleared of all the junk that collects, and work has started on the landscaping and building work. The platform line and run round loop have been ballasted (I'll leave the sidings until I've finished the work at the back). The platform now has a top to it, with ramps at either end, and I've started building the station building. The platform area immediately in front of the station will be laid with paving slabs, the rest will have a stone edge, but other wise be ash infill. I've started laying down DAS for the stone work, which will be scribed in due course. The bits of styrene are to give me a height gauge when laying the DAS. They will be removed and the gaps filled in once the existing stuff has dried. The two bits of angle on the ground are for locating the station building. Adrian

I like the instructions with the middle picture. Joking aside, that looks brilliant. Adrian

Thanks. A quick rummage on Google suggests that is it (on an old LNER forum thread). I also remember the funicular railway which that thread mentions. Adrian

I have a vague recollection of a layout on the exhibition circuit back in the late 60s or early 70s which had rabbits which popped out of holes in an embankment.. Adrian

And a couple of minutes later, it passed the one featured in post 268 of this topic. Adrian

Gunnerside Gill, in the North RIding of Yorkshire. Adrian

I came across this one on the road between the Tan Hill Inn and Barras (North Yorkshire / Cumbria border) Adrian

Very nice. How did you do the burning coals being removed ? Adrian

The De Winton sounds like an interesting development. Adrian

A little bit more progress. I've started on the scenery in the area surrounding Blagdon Quay. Some of this needs to be completed before I can continue with the Blagdon station area. Mabel sitting alongside the quay, under the part completed cliffs The "spare" siding under the bridge which carries the standard gauge route into Blagdon station. This still needs a bit more work on the foliage. The quay was built by the Figworthy Quarry Co. to allow it to move stone away from its quarry. Work has now started on building the route back to the quarry, which is up a 1:50 gradient. The first stage is across a hinged section, and work is now underway on putting some landscape onto the flap. A combination of insulating board and polystyrene is being used to make up the ground. Adrian

Some footage of a very similar dredger at work, attended by bantam tugs : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4GYAxaeT4k

Hi Sarah, A good summary. For clarification, the Cawood-Hargreaves pans only supplied Ferrybridge C (you can still see the tippler on Google Earth). Other power stations that received coal by barge were supplied by conventional barges. The Tom Puddings only ran as far as Goole, I doubt that they would have survived a trip to Hull. They ran in trains of up to 19 pans at a time, this being the longest that would go through the locks without splitting the train. Adrian

The Aire and Calder is my old stamping ground, I grew up not far from it, and explored it several times by boat in the 70s and 80s. The bantam tugs and compartment barges may have operated on the Aire and Calder (which was in the West Riding, none of it is in South Yorkshire), but they would have been used for maintenance purposes.not for cargo purposes, they wouldn't have been economical. http://www.waterwaysmuseum.org.uk/item/barge-monica-and-tug-albion-of-the-leeds-co-op/284 Shows barges awaiting unloading at the Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society (not South Yorkshire Coop) wharf in Leeds (just below the city station) http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2007914_164739 Shows some of their older craft between jobs http://www.waterwaysmuseum.org.uk/item/leeds-co-operative-coal-barges-in-leeds-new-lock/312 Shows the typical kind of barge used for the coal traffic to power stations (Skelton Grange nr Leeds in this case, the caption is wrong) http://www.waterwaysmuseum.org.uk/item/cawood-hargreaves-tug-ch103-and-compartment-boats/7995 Shows a tug and compartment barge (pan) en-route to Ferrybridge C. Each pan could carry 170 tons, and (much like with a coaling tower) would be lifted up and turned through 135 degrees to discharge it. Adrian

Hmm, a couple of months since the last update, 2 rounds of the lurgy haven't helped. Anyway, Hingeford Halt is almost completed, there is a gate to paint, and a name board to make and install, but otherwise, I think it is done. Some pictures for your delectation. Adrian

I don't recall seeing anything on here, but has anyone worked out what the valve gear lock up is, and how to unlock it ? I assume if you get in fast enough, you can save the motor. Adrian

I used to know Stanley Ferry well, but haven't been there since the late 70s. Would you be planing on modelling both set of basins and the canal workshops ? Adrian

B sounds very interesting. Adrian

Another month (and a bit), and a bit more progress. A couple of bridges have been made. Having seen Peter Kazer's demonstration at Warley last year, I thought I'd have a go at casting the walls (using coving adhesive) , and then scribing them. Whilst my first attempt wasn't a success, it was good enough to encourage me to continue. 4 walls were cast, and used to make two bridges, the decks were made from styrene sheet. The earthworks are made from insulating board which is relatively easy to carve, and they were then covered in a layer of papier-machae to seal it. A couple of coats of brown emulsion left them looking vaguely embankment like. The plan was that I'd then add some grass to it, and that would be pretty much it. Then on the westerham station topic, I spotted Chevening Halt, and so plan B came to pass. I've built a platform, hollowed one of the embankments, and I've a part built corrugated iron shelter to go on it. A flight of steps to allow the passenger(s) access to the platform is also part constructed. One bridge carcass and the start of the platform. The other bridge and the "earthworks" starting to take shape. Grass starting to appear, the platform in place with the passenger access at the far end. Adrian

I've been having another think about this. From the design of the barges, I'm fairly sure that it is Yorkshire, but there weren't that many large covered docks. The one in Sheffield still exists, but it isn't that one (there was no quayside under cover). I think that there was one in Leeds (Dock Street, which had been the Aire & Calder company's headquarters), but it looks as though it has now been redeveloped, and I can't find any old photos of it. With the bales of material, that would tie in with Leeds's textile industry. There is some writing on the side of the trailer, but I think you'd need the original to read it. Adrian

The first two may be Brentford,but the third looks like Gloucester docks, I'm intrigued as to the location of the last picture. The barges look very much like Humber Keels, which would be well off the GWR patch. Adrian

I've only seen a Trent Aegre once, I've seen two or three on the Ouse at Selby (just down from the railway bridge). Once at Selby there was a coaster moored up, and that jumped quite a bit when the Aegre arrived. On a quiet evening, you can hear it coming several minutes before it arrives. My Trent pilot guide (which is 40 years old) says that it isn't as strong as it used to be (due to improvements to the river), but it is inadvisable to meet it broadside on, standing up in a rowing boat !. Adrian

Only 3 weeks since the last update, this could become a habit. The scenic break backboards are now fastened into place, and I've started looking at the bridges that will go in front of them. I've made up a template for what I think the bridges will look like, and run a couple of trains through (they are camera shy, so no pictures of them), and there appears to be plenty of clearance, so the next job will be to start bridge building, although the arch is a bit more pointed in the middle than I had hope for, the curve needs smoothing out a bit more. In the mean time, a couple of pictures showing the back boards and the bridge template. Adrian

There were short narrow built during the "hey days". These were built for use on the Huddersfield Narrow canal (whose route was followed by the LNWR Standedge route). Whilst the locks were built to the usual 70ft * 7ft, once the canal got to Huddersfield, it connected with the Huddersfield Broad canal (~57ft * 14ft), so to avoid transshipment, some shorter boats were built. To what extent the reduce capacity offset the transshipment costs I don't know. I have a picture somewhere of one being used as a maintenance boat (I think on the Barnsley canal of all places). Adrian

Every time I set a set of pictures they seem to outdo the previous set, which I didn't think would be possible. (another) Adrian

A slightly strange looking beast (to my eyes anyway), Is it a trick of the camera, or is the centre axle of the loco unsprung ? Adrian