Tony Teague

Looks good Andy! Certainly better than anything I could have come up with! Best wishes Tony

I really liked this clip, notwithstanding it is not about railway modelling; thanks for posting it. For me it encapsulates the reasons behind the anti-social, device-centric behaviours that have been discussed here several times in he past. Solving the problem and reducing the younger generations addiction to these devices will not be easy! Tony

A dark wash to bring out thebolt-heads etc, wiped off with a damp flat brush. Underframe airbrushed, bodywork airbrushed a bit darker, perhaps more than once with streaking drawn down the sides with a damp flat brush. Some powders - light brownish on the footplate & toolbox cover. Looks great! Tony

And I thought I was introducing a bit of drama and tension! Tony

Hi Kevin There is a repeating theme as one reads through your thread in which people say - I have only just found this thread, but OMG (or similar) its amazing! I just wanted to say that I have only reached p.7 so far and I shall certainly read it all - but it certainly is amazing, and your eye for detail and skill in reproducing it is truly exceptional - a great layout by any standard! I look forward to thumbing through the rest of the thread. Best wishes Tony

Looks very modern and a bit sophisticated for me! (But rather better finished than mine at present!) Tony

Strange loco spotted on Churminster Shed! There have been reports of an unusual looking loco visiting Churminster Shed over the Christmas period but it seems that nobody has managed to get a good picture of it; just a blurred shot of the front here: A second shot seems to show just part the back of the tender: The local rumour mill is now running riot with suggestions as to what it might be! Obviously we will report more just as soon as we can! Tony

Well it makes perfect sense to me - but I may be alone! The large banks of red & black buttons simply control entry & exit to the (large number of) fiddle yard roads - so you just press one red button to select which train you want out, another to select where it is going when it gets back to the fiddle yard and then the related black button to despatch it. Simple really! (Courses are available for visiting operators!) Tony

Thanks - I think I have the central station block the wrong way round, but I don't intend to change it! I weathered one side of the building badly but doing it all uniformly (& better) is on the roundtuit list. Although I agree that this station is a reasonable model of the prototype, I'd have to say that Churminster (based on Honiton / Axminster) is a lot better! Best wishes Tony

So, having completed the Review of 2018, I thought that I might set out the priorities for 2019 - as much to clarify my own thinking as anything. For 2018 the main effort was around getting the Churminster area scenically 'finished' or at least, largely completed, and I think it has now reached that stage. In the last few days I have been weathering the Barkers Engineering building that stands in a rather prominent position on the hill overlooking Wadleys Brewery; until now it rather stood out as it was the only unweathered building in that area: I built it some years ago from a Walthers kit, and it now blends in a bit better with its surroundings, although I might need to attend to the boundary wall in front of it: Overall I am now pretty happy with the industrial scene around Churminster: So returning to 2019, scenic attention is going to have to switch back to Stowe Magna and the area around it: The half relief buildings at the rear were completed more than 10 years ago and honestly aren't up to the standard that I am now trying to achieve: nevertheless replacing them is not my priority, however, neither the station nor the loco shed were ever finished; in particular the station canopy needs attention: whilst the loco shed lacks a roof which was never re-attached following "bum damage" (see much earlier!): If all of that gets done then we might possibly move to the far end of the layout, where the cross-country branch from Stowe Magna crosses a deep valley on a viaduct; some work has already been completed here, but there is a lot more to be done for it to be scenically complete: Operationally, the colour light signals that cover the main running lines are all installed and work well for trains running through on the up and down main lines, however, there is some work to be done on interlocking, especially around the points at either end of Stowe Magna station: At the same time, I have completed a specification for semaphore signals to the two non-3rd rail branches that run from Churminster Junction and Stowe Magna Junctions respectively and I am hopeful that construction & installation of these might commence during 2019. Whilst on the subject of equipment & controls, the main control console has developed over the last three years with considerable help from Elite Baseboards and the intention was always for this to have an aluminium top, however the guys from Elite advised me not to go for this immediately but to use a paper template, since their experience showed that I "might change my mind". Of course I denied this, but as we are now on version 22 of the panel design, perhaps they had a point! Nevertheless, things are now stabilizing, and so I hopeful that we might get around to commissioning the new panel top in 2019! Installing it will be a big job!! There are of course loco and stock priorities for 2019, but perhaps I will cover these in a future update! Happy New year! Tony

Thanks Jeff, but I don't think I am crazy enough to take that on! I did cover some of the less 'usual' coaching stock back in 2017, and to be honest I don't really have a wants list for either coaches or wagons, but that is not to say that I won't acquire any more - if you follow me.... What I do have is a number of coach and wagon kits awaiting building and I'll certainly show these as I get to them - plus I will also be working through the stock to get trains weathered - so another good angle would be to cover each train as it goes through the weathering process. Yet another option would be to cover the operating schedule through a complete cycle - but I haven't yet finished it and it is over 150 movements..... Not sure I'm any clearer ! Tony

I too am a supporter of Falcon Masterpiece figures; I have crew in every one of my locos and his are in the majority, but I have also used Hornby ones where provide, Dart Castings and Modelu - which are certainly very good indeed. Martin Hill at Falcon will certainly send you a list which includes both painted and unpainted versions, if you e-mail him at: masterpiecefalconfigures@yahoo.co.uk and I find his delivery is quick and totally reliable. (No connection other than as a satisfied customer). Tony

Thanks Jack No need to apologise, I enjoyed it - just trying to think of what to tackle for 2019! As above, reduced the 'missing' by 5 and also added the Hattons P and Bachmann H2 that I can think of, so a bit more modest than perhaps previously. No chance of a book from me I'm afraid - too busy modelling. Tony

Thanks John, and a great 2019 to you and yours! I personally doubt that all of the missing locos will be completed this year - perhaps by end 2020? - but who knows; I shall certainly be putting some effort behind it! Best wishes Tony

I just love the level of detail that you achieve with such ordinary ingredients! Amazing! Tony

This feels like the right time to undertake a 'Review of the Year', although I didn't do one last year - so here goes. I started the Churminster & Stowe Magna thread in October 2016 and during the last three months of that year there were just 42 posts, whilst there were 80 during the whole of 2017 and that has grown significantly to 304 during 2018 - which is gratifying because they are not all mine! The thread has also now been viewed 27,000 times which in my mind, makes it worth doing. At the start of 2018 we had just completed a photo-review of some of the more unusual coaching stock, I had built and installed the 'Brewery Tap' P.H. and Churminster Goods Shed, whilst Geoff Taylor's magnificent 'Wadleys Brewery' had recently been settled into the industrial scene around it. At that point Jack P proposed an "A-Z review of Southern Locos" - a challenge that I picked up and ran with for the several following months! When we started the "A-Z" I had thought that there were just 9 locos missing from my collection but irritatingly 11 more were added during the run through - albeit they were fairly obscure types - so I started to regret having taken on Jack P's challenge! Nevertheless, during the year, five of the 20 missing locos have been delivered - DLT's almost - scratch - build of the Ex-LSWR K10, Chris Phillip's builds of EKR No.4 and DS74, my own efforts with the Shapeways E6-X designed by Javier L, and Andy (thegreenhowards) stirling efforts with the L12 kit of parts designed by Arun Sharma - which has reduced the total missing to its current level of 15, but better still - solutions have now been identified for all of these 15 missing locos! DS1169 shunts fellow departmental loco DS74 within Churminster Shed At the same time the Z class was rebuilt and there were a couple of other additions to the fleet, including Hattons excellent model of the P class - with fairly brutal weathering by myself: Whilst all of this was going on, I had embarked on a rebuild of Churminster Shed, based around the original Metcalfe Models shell, but completely re-clad, re-glazed and significatly weathered. With more recent scenic touches to the yard, the whole area around Churminster Station now feels more complete. On the infrastructure side, with the help of Giles Walburn of Elite Baseboards, a number of roads within the top fiddle yard have been split, increasing storage in that area by 6 trains and 8 light engines. The operating schedule that I have been slowly building is already complex, so this should ensure that it becomes almost completely unmanageable! After attending two excellent weathering courses at Missenden Abbey - each superbly led by Mick Bonwick, I started, during the year, to make noticeable, if not significant, in-roads into the back-log of weathering needed to the operational fleet. A number of locos have been completed, plus the short milk train, two pull-push sets, the Kent coalfileds train and an Ocean liner set - although the last of these is awaiting coupling changes before it goes back into service: On the scenic front, my other half completed the gardens for a pair of semi's opposite Churminster Parish Church, whilst with the help of Mike Gascoigne I have all but completed the area around Churminster Quarry. So all in all, a very successful year with significant progress on many fronts! Thanks to all of those whose help I have relied upon. I will cover what is planned for 2019 in my next post, but in the meantime, a Happy & Prosperous New Year to all who follow this thread! Tony

Dave I really am most graetful - I think most people would have given up on this a long way back! Tony

I've found that my standards go up over time, along with practice and improving skills; if you go for perfection from the start, you may never have time to build a layout to run things on. Yes, there are now things that I would have done differently but I have been getting pleasure from my layout for years already - and if I live long enough I just might go back and do some early bits again! Good luck with whatever you decide! Happy Christmas Tony

Merry Christmas to you Dave!

As a final pre-Christmas update, here is where I have got to with the quarry building: seen above from the railway bridge on the Old Churminster road, and below from the headshunt to Churminster Goods Yard: I have made a clumsy attempt at blocking out some of the background intrusions that add nothing to each picture! A couple of the quarry's narrow gauge shunters (of indeterminate origin) have crept into the pictures. May I wish everyone who follows or visits this thread a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year! Tony

Well certainly the Southern Railway had a few more than that! Happy Christmas to you too! Tony

Your determination is amazing, but I am worried that what you are doing might be, as we say, "lipstick on a pig" - it is still a pig!

I think you will need that loft extension!

Hmm, I sense a bit on cynicism creeping in here! But yes, I certainly have room for more than one train in my fiddle yards (well 74 in fact) - so I suppose you are right! (However, I certainly don't have 74 spam cans - that would be quite excessive! Tony

I admire your single-mindedness & determination!! Tony