southern42

in never ending

Morning all. Bore da, if you're in Wales. Still not started my raiti riaot raito ratio kit [that's the 4th time I've tried to get that right - touch typng sick]. Saturday's excuse : went shopping. Yesterday, family due round for birthday celebrations [though not till the evening it seems] and wouldn't like to loose lose anything of those bits when it comes to moving it off the dining table. Today [maybe?] Hope that's acceptable for my first post on this thread.

left over from

Lucy in the sky with diamonds : Beatles

And not once have we had to request anyone not to touch, either. Glad you like it, Doug.

was out of

All we hear is radio ga ga

Thanks for your response 81C. In Great Western Railway Sheds London Division, the engine workshop is described thus: Details of the shed forwarded to Swindon in 1901...a 75ft pit in the repair shop. This [repair shop], 'roofed in saw tooth' like the shed proper, and slated on timber principals, stood some eight feet [24mm in 00 gauge] above the main part of the building, to accommodate a travelling lifting crane.' So I guess the question is: Did the lifting crane survive until the repair shop was replaced?

Hi All, On the home front, I'm still hoping to include a station platform for the Branchline in front of a fiddleyard and was at a loss for a name and then had a brain wave in response to the above named loco. So, let me introduce you to my proposed station: South Hall (correct pronunication, according to Sis: sou' fall). Edit. And no need to change name on loco bubble car On the front line: I have the Ratio Locomotive Lifting Hoist and Rolling Underframe kits which I hope to start building this weekend (my first Ratio kit ) Edit. And there's a how-to-weather in Model Rail No. 175, pp.54-57, too. Mine wont be yellow though. Any suggestions as to what colour it was at Southall (pre-BR) in terms of today's paint tins? I do have the photo of Didcot's hoist for reference, if all else fails Will post when I have some photos. Any comments or advice before I start / as I progress most welcome. Thanks fro reading. Polly

Hi Peter, Layout is really coming on. Very nice, indeed. Kilted folk at Langley models but you may want to dispose of their pipes and drums and reposition their arms and legs. Polly

Great photos, Jamie. It's hard to imagine life underneath the scenics now that a lot of it has been done up so to speak. It's obviously winter lifting out time with the boat on the hard. Wonder if they're having a laying up party Guess they'll be in the pub at Glen Gillie. Hope we've not missed it Polly

love me do:Beatles

The Spy Who Loved Me - from James Bond film

Tonight : Bernstein, West Side Story

Make believe train song by Kate Katzberg

Starlight Express - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe

This is great stuff, Castle. Having just bought the High Level 14xx chassis and Alan Gibson wheels etc for 1466, your thread takes on a new meaning. Ray has been mulling over the diagram today and me diagrams for the Ratio loco lift kit and rolling underframe for Great West Road repair shop. The power of a day out at Didcot. Yes, I can't say enough how great that visit was. [Mmmm, and my GWS membership form went in the post this week] Re the A4 Bittern at Didcot In the summer (a few days here and there between weather systems, if I remember rightly), we saw the Mallard half hidden between two other locos at the NRM York - not ideal - so imagine our delight when we saw the North Wales Coast Express (19 August) coming into our local station through one tunnel headed by 60009 Union of south Africa and away deep into the other, the 'Egyptian tomb,' swallowed up in a cloud of smoke. To have an A4 on your home territory at Didcot was indeed something special. Keep your comments and photos coming

Eventually found said book - at the Manchester show today. Got stuck right into the chapter on Ebbw Junction Shed in Service Station over fish n chips on the way home. Magic! The book, not the fish n chips. Also, bought High Level's chassis kit and Alan Gibson wheels etc. for 14xx - a first chassis build for Ray. I also believe there is a detailing pack available from Mainly Trains. Job for me - build the Ratio loco lifting hoist and rolling underframe for the Repair Shop (my first kit since the Airfix Apollo rocket back in year blur blur blur). Need to know how big to make the repair shop before I can finalise a track plan [EDIT. Drawings and dimensions of the real thing in Hawkins and Reeve]. Comments welcome, as always. Thanks for reading.

You had me worried there for a minute, Peter. What I have said? Then I saw the word "abbey" and remembered. It seems ages ago. Too many model and prototype railway events since I last saw you. Speaking as the non-technical one in our household, I think you'll like the kadees. The only trouble I have with them is due to driver error. Though I'm wondering...is he looking for someone, who finds the B&Bs a bit fiddly, to help operate the new layout? Keep up the good work and hope to see the extension again soon. Polly

or maybe, just "iard wych" (Great Yard) as indeed it is or even "yr iard wych"

Here's progress on the baseboards to date. The first two were made from module kits from Brilliant Baseboards before the sad loss of the then proprietor Ray Regan. These were meant for another project but as additional modules became unavailable before we had enough, the project was shelved. Great West Road grew out of an idea on how to make use of them. We had a 1200mm x 600mm module and a 600mm x 600mm module giving a total 1800mm x 600mm board (6ft x 2ft in old money). Not a lot, but better than nothing. Kit of parts before assembly 1200 + 600mm boards bolted together. We then heard through the 'small suppliers' section here on RMWeb that Brilliant Baseboards was in new ownership and a further 1200 x 600mm module was ordered. This gives Great West Road a more respectable 2400 x 600mm (8 x 2 ft) scenic section plus a 600 x 600mm (2ft x2 ft) fiddle yard, traverser or sector plate making 10ft x 2ft overall.

Hi All, Saturday (8 Sept), we had a great day at Didcot Railway Centre and the weather couldn't have been better. It was a non-running day and we were told that we could just wander around so, in the warm sunshine, that's just what we did. The morning was spent trying to take everything in and taking photos to help with the building and running of Great West Road. Usually, you would count yourself lucky to see one 'star' attraction. Here, there were loads and they were the reason for our visit: steam railmotor, trailer and railmotor shed (to the design of the one that existed at Southall), diesel railcar No. 22, autotrailer 190 and the 14xx No. 4866 (aka 1466). That was just for starters. The coal stage was excellent. Getting to grips with the scale of these things was amazing in itself and taking a moment to imagine tipping tons of coal into a Castle (or a Hall at Southall) with the rain lashing down and the wind blasting through – is that in summer or winter? But that apart, how long was that steep ramp? Would I have enough room on my layout? Well, according to the number of strides Ray took back down to the bottom and conversion to 1:76 scale, I guesstimate, we can. Up the other end of the site was a Southern, yes, Southern turntable. Ray's subsequent modelling idea: take the locomotive platform off the Peco turntable and I would have the overhanging walkway, with safety fencing, either side of the track that sits on top of the arched brick structure at the end of the Southall ramp. I think he may have been joking but creating something similar, without wrecking an expensive piece of kit, would be preferable. In between was the engine shed: more measuring up, this time the outside inspection pits (in strides, of course), thinking how to model worn down concrete floors, photographing the smoke hoods, and getting the feel of a shed with doors open at both ends. Southall's doors remained open during busy winter nights when 'frostfires' burnt to prevent pipes (and workers) freezing. Now there’s a modelling idea: Mid December, clear night sky, Christmas lights on the fir tree at the factory gate and tinsel, left over from the trainspotters’ Christmas party, on my 1466. But I’ll have to research it. After lunch, we met up with our (rmweb) host who had invited us to Didcot. If we thought the morning was brilliant...the afternoon was even better. We were let in to see the inside of railcar No. 22, the steam railmotor and the railcar shed. The Ratio Carriage Shed (Ratio image below), with a bit of cut and shut, should make a suitable donor for Great West Road We also had a fascinating tour taking in buildings and rolling stock and parts the general public can't normally reach. This included the carriage shed, lifting shop (Southall's repair shop had a travelling lifting crane) and the locomotive works where we met other volunteers and saw work being carried out on allsorts from small parts to big locos including Projects 4079 “Pendennis Castle” and 4709 (Southall had No. 4707 which is on my wish list, [EDIT] and also 4705). http://www.didcotrai...jects.html#4079 http://www.didcotrai...ews/latest.html I, briefly, wondered if there was a RTR Castle I could renumber and rename to 4079 “Pendennis Castle” in GWR livery but more to see and consider in modelling terms: machinery, tools and equipment; wood, metal and fabric; paint in chocolate or cream; ex-catering tins labelled “Baked Beans” full of anything but; and “This is where we work so watch where you put your feet!” Yet more photography, measuring, and mental modelling but all things come to an end. Well, not quite. We were introduced to the fifth member of the Fab Four, the one who was responsible for the photos of the four “schoolboys” on Southall footbridge and on the rescued 14xx. He will duly appear on Great West Road, camera in hand. http://www.didcotrai...ation/gws.html A great day. A great place. Thanks to everyone who made the day so enjoyable. I must also thank you, the rmwebbers who have kindly expressed your thoughts on this thread and provided me with the information I need to get started on Great West Road and get the most out of our visit to Didcot Railway Centre. The last word? And guess what! There, in the museum, in the first display cabinet by the entrance door, was a photo of the wide-span Ranelagh Bridge and, while I was reading all about it, Ray had got half way round the exhibits and had come by an old annotated map of our corner of Wales on which the Festiniog Railway is described as a “toy railway”. Hmmmm. So, there we are: A grand day out at Didcot. Polly

Problem solved. I've decided that 'SOUTHHALL' on the model just has one too many 'H's. To confirm this, here is a link to a photo of a bubble car (with speed whiskers) in a siding off the mainline running past Southall Shed: 2A80 name spelt 'SOUTHALL': http://www.geograph....k/photo/2482289. Will remedy in due course. [The down train train in the photo is headed by the first Hawksworth 'Modified Hall' - No. 6959 'Peatling Hall'] News of our day out, yesterday, to follow (didn't get home til late last night) - just need to sort out the photos and PM our honourable host, first. Polly

Hi Peter, I am intrigued by how your castle interlocks and fits together. Is this a kit? Polly

There's a photo on flikr of the DEPOT end of a bublecar at Southall (marked L120): http://www.flickr.co...N07/5176316706/ and one with speed whiskers behind the Brentford branch goods train on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia....-Brooksbank.jpg