Tony Teague

I was reminded of this thread by something that happened today, and that has prompted my working through it an replacing all of the images that were lost in the "great RMWeb image debacle" of a couple of years back. It is, however, disgraceful that in the last 3 years I have managed to achieve ZIPPO in terms of this project - although I do realise that it is because my efforts lay elsewhere - so I think that I must charge myself with doing better in 2024 and re-engaging with my Continental Ferry Van projects! Now to work out where I will find the time............. Tony

So here is the picture missing from yesterday's update: This clearly shows the narrow strip that remains between the track and the steep cutting face to the left; I aim to work on this very shortly but as I mentioned, I feel that this will involve a complete re-build of the two removable sections to ensure that they can be easily removable. Spurred on by this progress I started today on the wider gap between the barrow gauge track and the road above: The flat platform to the left is where a building will stand; this will be removable and sits conveniently above a significant wiring connection point and a circuit board which again might require access. Scenically I now feel that this whole area is really coming together. Last week my good friend Martin and I had what might normally be termed a "running session", but given that most of the trains in the upper and lower fiddle yards had not moved for many months, it was more like an exercise in identifying where everything was and logging faults that in most cases had arisen out of dis-use! What it did allow was for me to locate a couple of the coaching sets that had not previously be pictured on this thread, so here is Set No.447: The set hauled by Schools class No,924 'Hailebury' and is all Hornby RTR Maunsell stock; it was marketed by them in 2015 as the "1940 return from Dunkirk" set - but it looks incredibly clean for wartime conditions: 4 compartment brake 3rd no.4061 leads, followed by: trailer composite no.5149, with 4 compartment brake 3rd no.4059 bringing up the rear. Hornby Van C no.699 completes the formation. Tony

Excellent video Tony, and witness to the perfect running qualities of the locos that you have built. Sad that all kit-built locos don't perform in this way (in my limted experience!). Tony

Brief, pictureless update. I managed to complete the landform along narrow strip to the front baseboard edge today, but my camera failed to fire for some reason! A small part of the area requires a 2nd layer of plaster bandage so I shall get that done and try again with the errant camera before painting the whole lot in brown undercoat. There is also an even smaller strip between the track and the cliff face which needs attention and in 2 areas this is complicated by the pull-out sections of cliff face. I shall try to get the fixed part completed but the entire pull-out sections may have to be re-built to make their removal easier in the event that access is required. A further update will follow at some point in the coming week. Tony

Thanks Jonathan That was my concern - but it sounds like the solution is simple. Tony

I guess I was taking an insular, British Isles perspective.

Hi Jonathan As you say, the 3 Peaks L&Y D1 kit looks about as simple as one could get; I had a look at the website where one can download the instructions - and again, I suspect that it takes longer to read them than to build the model, however, I have one question: The kit does not include wheels, and there is no mention of embedding wheel bearings / axle cups into the axle boxes. Did you do this - in which case what was your experience in drilling out the axle boxes - or are you just relying on the axles sitting directly in the resin casting. Tony

Today I decided that I would get plastered 😃 Or rather that I would plaster the land form along Churminster cutting that I had shaped a week or so ago: I'm pretty pleased with the result, which makes a huge difference to the appearance of this section, as I had anticipated. This area took over 2 rolls of plaster bandage which was applied in two layers; I now need to order some more. The gap to the right of the 2nd shot (& at the rear of the 1st) is where I have pulled out the removable area of the steep cutting face so that it didn't get stuck in place! It is removable because it has rather a lot of electrics behind it to which access may be required. This transformation has made me feel that I must now get on with the remaining land formation, which is almost the last on the layout, so I plan to deal with the narrow strip to the front later this week if time permits, before moving on to the slightly more problematic strip down the middle. Tony

There have been a couple of alarmist stories in the popular press recently about the death of railway modelling as a hobby - following the news of the demise of both Hattons and the Earley Show - so I was pleased for my attention to be drawn this morning to a more balanced view: https://thecritic.co.uk/death-of-the-model-railway/ Worth a read I feel. Tony

This is a bit more of a balanced perspective on recent events, and worth a read: https://thecritic.co.uk/death-of-the-model-railway/ Tony

No, surely invading happens on beaches???

Thanks Giles Certainly made my single brain cell itch! Good job that there is so little left to do...............................😁 Tony

Wow! So now I know that I am not alone............ Can I ask the origin of the 4COR / RES / BUF / GRI kit ? At present I just have those available RTR - 2BIL (several), 2HAL (several), 5BEL Despite my trainset being 1938 - 1948 I did have a 2H, 2EPB, 2x 4CEPs and an MLV but eventually I realised hey must go as being out of era!

Being a Southern modeller I am trying hard to resist that secondary addiction, but it is to EMU's...............fortunately very few are available in any form, which helps. As to the loco addiction, well, I am beyond hope! 🥲

I'm really pleased to be able to report that during a 2 day possession earlier this week the electronic interlocking of the points, signals and route setting for the area controlled by Churminster South signal box was finally completed! A replacement bus service was provided for travellers during the possession. The results of this work are significant operationally, but difficult to illustrate; briefly, what it means to the operator is that when a route is selected by pulling a lever on the main panel, one hears a series of clicks as the required points or crossovers are fired in sequence, the corresponding panel lights are changed to show the selected route, and then once all of these are set, the appropriate semaphore signal is cleared. Returning the lever reverses the sequence commencing with the signal reverting to danger, followed by the same points regaining their mainline or straight-through positions. This is their default position whilst all signals are also set to danger. The way that the track power feeds are connected also means that when a point is set against a particular route, the approaching track will be electrically dead, making a SPAD quite difficult to achieve! The program which is bespoke, runs on an Arduino which fires a bank of relays and whilst the code allows two parallel routes, such as the up line through platform 3 plus the down line through platform 2, to be set at the same time, it also prevents the setting of any conflicting routes. Once a route is selected, pulling a lever for a conflicting route will be ignored by the system and no changes will be made. I am grateful to Giles Walburn for completing this installation. Steve Hewitt's beautiful up approach signal remains to be fitted once scenic work close to where it is to be sited is completed , however, all wiring and related programming work is already finished and this has been tested with the signal unit, pre-installation. In an effort to better illustrate all of this in operation, I am working on some video but it may be some time before I manage to produce something satisfactory! Advantage was taken during the posession, to work on the previously undeveloped land formation above the Churminster cutting and beneath the narrow gauge quarry line; this is now ready and waiting for the application of plaster bandage and scenic material. This will in turn be followed by completion of the undecorated narrow strip along the full length of the front of the baseboard, however the last remaing but very obvious gap, between the narrow gauge line and the road above may take a little longer. As can be seen from the images this sits above some cabling and so will require the formation of an access 'portal'! Only once all scenic work is completed will distant signals be installed at either end of the cutting; these are complete, having been built some time ago by Steve Hewitt but they are delicate and I am keen to avoid their being damaged during construction work. Tony

How would that manage to show track occupancy?

So will your weed killing train spray real weed-killer or just plain water?

Good progress today with Giles' help, but not things you can easily picture - "Cop my electronic interlocking" - doesn't really sound right; also slow but steady activity on scenery, but here to fill the gap is yet another coaching set. This time it's the turn of ex-LSWR gate stock Set No.374: This is one of the Kernow / DJ Models sets released back in 2018; it had many faults - not least the over-deep step boards which compensate for over-narrow bogies. The 2-coach set comprises the composite driving brake above, plus the trailer third as below These are pulled in this shot by Hornby ex-LSWR M7 no.51 All are in weathered Maunsell lined olive livery and are posed between two tunnels that open out onto the viaduct on either side of the River Charmy. Tony

I don't think it is. I feel it is just changing, as it must have repeatedly over the years. And we won't all like the changes, but we are old and set in our ways! Just think how smaller retailers must have felt when Hattons really got going on line, and how some small local exhibitions must have felt when Warley got so big and successful. No, we must embrace change because it is inevitable and younger enthusiats than ourselves will want to do it differently. Good luck to them, and now back to doing it my way.........🥱

Slow progress on scenic matters in a place where these need to be done in order to facilitate other (electrical) work, but meanwhile...........a new delivery into stock: It's the new Kernow / EFE-Rail Bulleid / Raworth Southern Railway 'booster' loco no.CC1; here it is straight out of the box and looking very lovely! I'm not sure why they have produced 2 x CC1's in different SR liveries and 2 x CC2's in BR liveries; I would have liked one each of CC1 and CC2 and I'm not sure that they are sufficiently identical that I could just re-number one of the CC1's, but I am sure someone will tell me! CC3 (which has a very different front end) is too late for my era and so of no use to me, but what is also slightly irritating is that I aready have a model of CC1 constructed (by persons unknown) from the now defunct Genesis kit. I will have to locate it and pose the two together for comparison, but suffice to say the new EFE model looks really sharp and up to modern standards, whilst the Genesis model looks rather dated. Whilst on here, I can show a further train formation which has emerged from the darkness of the fiddle yards; this is not strictly 'coaching stock' but rather NPCS - a short inter-regional LMS parcels train: As one might expect i is hauled by a black five, no.5026 which is a bog standard Hornby model: This is followed by 50' BG parcels van no.30965 which is a Mainline model: then comes CCT no.35487 which I built some time ago from a Parkside Dundas kit: finally, bringing up the rear are two 42' GUV's, both by Lima and (very) unprototypically carrying the same running number of 37762! One of these MUST get changed, although when it flashes past, who is to know?? This rake still has Kadee couplings at buffer beam height, which I dabbled with for a while, but the reason the rake is short is that other suitable LMS stock just kept uncoupling itself during running - so the vehicles concerned are now confined to the 'naughty' drawer awaiting fresh couplings which will be applied to the whole rake in due course. Tony

My two main interestes lie in raliway modelling and photography but my experiences of clubs related to these interests varies considerably. I tried a model railway club a few years back and was warmly welcomed on my first vist; on my second a few people said hello and then ignored me, and on the third I struck up the courage to ask how I could help or get involved. Each suggestion I made was met with "well no, Fred does that" or "not really - you wouldn't understand how it has been wired" - and so on. No attempt was made to understand what skills or experience I might bring to the table and I felt that the club was so 'cliquey' that I never went again - and nobody made contact to ask why I had not returned. I concluded that I was not really a 'club person', but a few years later I decided to try a couple of camera clubs; one has since folded, but I am heavily engaged in the second and in conversation with more recent recruits who have also tried other clubs, I have asked what has made them stick with ours. Their stories are much the same - they visited one or two clubs where they were completely ignored but stayed with ours because they were made to feel welcome over a number of visits such that eventually they felt at home. It seems to me that especially where clubs (of any kind) have a core of friends who have been members for a long time, the need to pay attention and make a special effort when visitors and potential new members turn up is paramount; unless of course new members are not wanted. Tony

If he's 100, I doubt if he gives a to$$ about other pronouns 🤥 (No offence intended to users of such vehicles).

Mine was pretty reasonable, especially if I included shoes and clothes in the conversation.......🙄

Being a bit of a saddo, I have itemised computer records covering all of my income & expenditure going back about 30 years, so on seeing the sad news about Hattons I wondered how much I had spent with them in that period - and I too was shocked! 🤥 I suggest that anyone with a tender disposition should avoid undertaking this calculation! 😵

To conclude my review of 2023, here is what happened in the areas of equipment & scenery. In terms of Equipment, I mentioned in reviewing 2022 that the control panel had been largely completed but still needed work behind it on signal interlocking, and this finally got underway during 2023. The panel was designed so as to allow the entire layout to be controlled from one position by one person - me! - so it is pretty much bespoke. The DCC Concepts levers at the front are really route setting devices rather than simple point or signal levers and so the logic behind each one is reasonably complex. After much thought and considerable planning we (I along with Giles Walburn) decided to use an Arduino coupled to a bank of relays to implement the logic behind each lever and this is where we had got to at the end of 2023. The principle is that once any lever is pulled, the system checks for conflicting routes already set, and then ensures in turn that each point or crossover on that route is set correctly before pulling off the signal. The circuit boards will be mounted down behind the panel when completed but are sitting on top for ease of access whilst work is underway; these boards will control everything around Churminster, whilst a duplicate arrangement will control Stowe Magna in due course. Crossing the divide between equipment & scenery, all 25 Heathcote uncoupers had their 'ramps' replaced with 3D printed ones during the year, greatly improving their look as well as their reliability. Turning to scenery, we were finally able to re-install all but one of the backscenes that had been painted for me by Mike Gascoigne, after considerable progress was made with the landscape between Churminster & the RAF station at Charmy Bottom (backscene is to the left!); Steve Povey provided much help with this work. Aside from obscuring the fiddle yards that sit behind them, these backscene boards bring depth to the scenery and make this area of the layout start to feel more complete........... .............however, they have also rendered as essential, the CCTV that gives the operator various views of the fiddle yards beyond! The station building requisitioned by the Minister for War at RAF Charmy Bottom is now all but complete, and it is the scenic area to the rear of this which still needs attention and is preventing the re-installation of the final backscene board. Finally during 2023 the terraced housing in front of the low relief building of Stowe Manufacturing was refreshed and reinstalled, leaving the way clear for other works in front of these, including the installation of semaphore signals on the approach to Stow Magna station. Turning to the priorities for 2024, I will be brief since it would be far too easy to lay out a large plan and then fail to deliver it! So the highest ranked items are: 1. Complete the signal interlocking work at Churminster before moving on to install signals and related control systems at Charmy Bottom and Stowe Magna 2. Finish the scenic work behind Charmy Bottom station, install the starter signals and then replace the missing backscene 3. Finish painting & detailing the breakdown train and bring it into service 4. Complete the build of the E5X loco that has been sitting here for over 2 years! 5. Run some trains!! There are others, of course, too numerous to mention! Happy New Year to all! Tony