TrevorP1

High time for an update. Not a vast rate of progress but having decided on the 'even lower relief' buildings, things are coming together. Even though it's from Plymouth I really wanted to include the LSWR warehouse print and this is now permanently in place as is the view of Southampton's West Gate produced from a photograph. On the left hand side is the low relief warehouse from Scale Model Scenery which they brought out just at the right time. The railway building will be the shunters cabin. It's been knocked up from various items in the bits box. I think the planks are from the Wills domestic garage. The windows are a bit course so hopefully some weathering will hide that a bit. The next job is the gate which will go where the red line is. In the usual mode of quarts into pint pots I wanted to include a pub on the corner but I just couldn't 'square' where the gate would go without it fouling the track when it was open. So the pub will become a customs office and the gate will go just in front of the backscene where it will help to mask the change from real (model) structure to images. There will still be cafe inside the docks but I think a pub was going too far! Although this little layout was intended as an 'extra' I'm glad I started it because although we never imaged we would move house there have been thoughts on this recently. The 'moving to Cornwall bug' has bitten again. Cornish prices are savage compared to Wales so it's only a small chance but there seems little point in doing anything on Burngullow Lane when it might have to be dismantled. We've both agreed that we'll give it to the autumn and if things haven't come together, then barring lottery wins, that really will be IT. At least Mayflower Dock gives me something creative to do whilst we are pondering!

I like the bridge Nick. Guess that must be the Chapel tramway.

Weirdly I’m having similar thoughts about a building on my effort Nic. FWIW I think your building is fine, maybe even a bit on the small side. I’m thinking, “so there’s a building there but what’s inside and why are the wagons going into it?” All meant in a constructive way. If you don’t want it any bigger could it be a wagon repair shop? I must put up some photos of my progress. There has been some… but not much! Having thought we’d be here for the duration there’s been talk of a house move. It’s only a small possibility but it’s kind of put a ‘disturbance in the force’. Obviously the dock layout will be OK but Burngullow Lane was never built to move.

When I was planning Mayflower Dock I ‘street viewed’ around the bottom of the town and also over the bridge to Woolston where I lived for a year or two in the early ‘80s. I was totally lost at one point, thought I’d would up in a different place altogether…. Perhaps I had! I’ve always said that what the Nazis started in WW2 the local authority finished - sorry, slapped wrist, end of politics!

Thinking about it, I'm not sure where I picked up the use of the name 'the beds'. I wonder if it's a modern day enthusiast term that I've picked up from the inter web...

When we holiday in Cornwall it’s usually at our favourite place west of Burngullow. The Cornish main line is at the bottom of the garden. I often go out to see - and hear - the up ‘beds’ come up from Combe in the dark at about 10:40. Always stirs the senses. Carol, and possibly our dog who is usually with me, are totally unimpressed!

I've just walked back upstairs into my 'den' carrying the sets of doors and window for my kit having just sprayed them..... the first suitable spare can I'd put my hands on was.... dark green! Tamiya Olive drab I think it was...

Time flies when you're having fun! 😀 I remember seeing Flying Scotsman there around that time. If memory serves we stayed in the station hotel at Churston.

Sadly I remember the Mid Hants having the same problem. Beyond me…. If you don’t like something why buy a house near it?

From memory the DVR livery was a kind of pseudo Great Northern. Unfortunately i don't have any photos but maybe there is something on the BRC website.

I can guess how you feel with the eye issues John. A couple of years ago I had a wet macular problem in one eye. Luckily this was arrested very quickly by the folks at Wrexham Hospital. I am short sighted in the other eye which means I have 'floaters' in that one. Everything is quite OK for day to day things but close work is a challenge. I'm best for this without glasses but the light needs to be good and if I squint with the wrong eye straight things seem bent! But no complaints. There are others much worse off in all kinds of ways.

If it counts as industrial, Derwent Valley Railway Lord Wenlock, ex D2298 now at Buckinghamshire Railway Centre.

That’s interesting Pete - everyday is a school day! Regarding the buffet stops Nick. Hate to say it but I think really you know 🙂 , they ought to be the ‘normal’ type.

I must have watched you in action then! I used to visit the WSR a lot when I lived in Hampshire - one of my favourite preserved lines. Too far away now for a day trip but we're staying in Dunster in June so the WSR is top of the list.

I like it! That's a really nice job all round, including the signal box itself. The electronics are way beyond me! Just one small constructive observation. Is is possible to make the gates moves bit slower? I only say this because in reality there would be a poor signalman winding a handwheel round.

When I was very young, 4/5 ish, we holidayed with friends of my Dad's in Portland, Dorset. The whole family - the Whites - were fishermen, mainly for crabs and lobsters. They lived in a cottage in King Street and I remember crabs and lobsters everywhere. Occasionally they caught other things and somewhere there is photograph of White senior and me with a Turbot they had caught. I was terrified - it was as big as me! Falmouth. Many happy days spent there when I was bit older and even now when I'm much older!

I wondered about the trees first Nick but then I remembered: (From geoff79818 on Flickr) This is just by the old Royal Pier and Town Quay. I think the warehouse in the background once belonged to Edwin Jones. (A big store at the end of Queensway that old g*ts like me remember) Part of it was wrecked in the blitz.

Good luck with this one Nick - and Milford. It'll be interesting to see how our ideas for 'Southamptonish' Docks layouts pan out. Mayflower Dock may turn out to be my only layout for a while. We're in the process of some serious thinking at the moment which may result in a house move to a different part of the country. Burngullow Lane certainly wasn't built to move but if we do go it'll be to much nearer the real location...

Yes, in the 'real' world but the Loriot Y was part of 'Titfield Thunderbolt Wars'...

Thumbing through my copy of ‘Andover to Redbridge - The Spratt and Winkle Line’ by Nigel Bray and the frontispiece jumped out at me. Hopefully the caption is clear.

Thank you Phil. It was well worth doing and to be honest not difficult, just a little time consuming. A good use for all those pieces of Wills sheet that were ‘too big to throw away but too small for anything’! As mentioned I found the doors to be the hardest part.

Apart from perhaps a bit of ivy here and there, the SMS barn has been finished off. As seen in the photo of it 'plonked' on the layout rafters(?) are included for those who want the 'derelict' look. A bit of extra thought was needed where my use of the Wills cladding has increased the size here and there but nothing insurmountable. I must admit to struggling a little with the doors and so on for which card components are provided. Nothing to do with the kit as such, just my ineptitude with card components. I bottled out completely with the upstairs window and used apiece of corrugated iron instead! It's amazing how much time a small structure like this can take but it's just what I wanted for the location on the layout. I think it will look the part when it's bedded in and with perhaps a couple of farm workers munching on their lunchtime pasty.

I take your point about the security of the tension lock hooks John. I'll have to have bash with your method.

Some time back (it might have been on the Mayflower Dock thread) I think I mentioned that I was going to experiment making tension locks uncouple using the Brian Kirby system. I ordered some 'hooks' from PH designs and magnets from eBay. Due to the fact that the hooks took nearly a month to arrive as well as the Post Office doing their best to lose the magnets the job was forgotten, until the other day when I came across the bits whilst having a tidy up. The first thing that struck me was that the etched hooks have a longer tail that the Bachmann equivalent. I could see no reason for the extra length so as there were plenty of spares I had a go at snipping it off and shortening it. The tails were pretty close to rail level and were very visible. The etched U shaped hole in the PH etches seemed a little big so I also created a couple of hybrids using Bachmann hooks. In the event either worked well. Steel staples are soldered into the holes provided for the purpose. With a few couplings modified I glued one of my magnets to a spare piece of track. The result was probably predictable in that it was so powerful that it attracted the steel wagon axles... Time for a rethink! For passenger stock I use Hunt couplings and have never looked back but very occasionally the magnets do come loose or the NEM tails break, resulting in my having a small supply of the magnets. They are too weak to use permanently in the 4 foot but what about a shunters pole? That would have the bonus that it could be used anywhere on the layout. I quickly glued one to the first thing that came to hand - a coffee stirrer - and the result is below. By carefully trimming the end of the stirrer the 'shunters pole' can be rested against the rail to operate the coupling without disturbing the wagon. It took a minute or two's practice but it works very time. Obviously the other wagon has to have the tension lock hook removed so it takes a little planning. I accept that this won't work for everyone but with the moves I need it for on Burngullow Lane it's ideal and it doesn't stop the vehicles being used in other trains. I'll use the method more on Mayflower Dock where there will be more uncoupling but with a little forethought and the limited number of vehicles involved it will be fine for my needs. Importantly the wagons can be used on either layout.