Tony Teague

I'd like to join others in thanking Mick & his colleagues plus Andy for what was a great day and a rare privilege. I shall definitely be back to Pendon for further modelling inspiration, but in the meantime here are the first two of my images, selected completely at random and with minimal processing: Tony

Here are a couple more from my Flick thread: Branch line in autumn by Tony Teague, on Flickr Wadebridge at speed by Tony Teague, on Flickr Tony

Returning to Chirminster locoshed, last mentioned in post #67, I have finally finished the re-cladding of the visible side & front end; it is back in position and the IRDOT detectors underneath it are working! Adding detail to the side elevation: The building back in place: Some ballasting, scatter & water cranes added around the building: Locos return to their home: All roads show on the Panel as occupied (excuse the temporary paper top cover on the panel which will eventually be replaced): Locos on shed are as follows (it must be early in the morning or a Sunday as the shed is full!), from left to right: Outside storage roads: E4 No.2473 by OO Works & behind it S15 No.499 from a DJH kit PD&SJR No.757 'Earl of Mount Edgcumbe' from a CSP Agenoria kit & behind it T9 No.120 by Hornby Inside the shed: H15 No.522 from a DJH kit & behind it WC no 21C120 'Seaton' by Hornby B4 No.94 from an SEF kit & behind it K No.2341 from an Ace Products kit (builder unknown) & behind that D15 No.472 from a PDK kit H No.1016 by OO Works & behind it, visiting LMS locos, compound No.1189 & Patriot No.5541 'Duke of Sutherland' both by Bachman O2 No.207 by Kernow / DJ Models & behind it Radial No.3125 by Hornby, behind that R1 No.1710 from a Q Kits kit, and B4 No.82 from an SEF kit. All of the kit built locos are by Chris Phillips except No.2341 which was bought on E-Bay. Before & After: Overall, I feel that it has been worth the effort & the locoshed now fits better with the station across the yard, however, there is still more scenic work to do, plus I still have to make a roof, and since it has never had one, this might be a bit more freelance! I will also need to do something about the small side building / engineering shop which is untouched Metcalfe, and then there is the need for a goods shed... Tony

Isn't one of the key selling approaches for DCC to attract those who are frightened of DC wiring? It seems to me that in reality one swaps wiring complexity for programming complexity - so you take your choice. My personal choice to stay with DC is driven by three things: I have no interest in some of the clear 'value adds' of DCC - such as sound, changing light configurations etc, and I have 200+ locos - so the investment would be substantial I don't seem to have problems with slow running that some do, yet I rarely clean my track Each to his own! Tony

At last an update on the range of barns that I was building back in post #57. They are now in their final location right on the edge of the town of Churminster, just beyond the Parish Church, and some "bedding in" has been undertaken, although there is a bit more to do; additionally the site across the road remains undeveloped and will have to be tackled soon: Please excuse the picture quality - the backscene has been painted but was not in place when the picture was taken and the "sky" has a very woolly edge - I will post a better image once the backscene is back in position. I mentioned when building the barns that they had an underlying purpose and this is revealed through the video: I finally installed the Magnorail cyclist! Please forgive the few adjustments that remain to be done around the change in surfaces, but overall I think he is looking good (as yet he has no name). Tony

Just found and worked my way through this great thread. Here are a couple of contributions from my Flickr pages - both Ffestiniog Railway: Steam in the valley by Tony Teague, on Flickr Steam at low tide by Tony Teague, on Flickr Tony

Thanks Jack Here are some closer shots of the coaches from Set 660 (apologies as they are not my best pictures!); the ex-Birdcage trailer No. 5473: plus an old (pre-ballast!) shot of the driving trailer No. 3505: I have a couple of other P-P sets; here is the driving brake only from ex-LSWR Set No.36 with another Hornby M7 - not sure where the trailer composite was that day! This set is by Adrian Rowlands (Northstar - now sadly defunct): and lastly, driving brake 3rd No. 2643 of Ex-LSWR Set No.733, converted from former 'emigrant' stock - another superb Adrian Rowlands production: And finally, moving away from P-P stock - ex-LB&SCR B4 No.2042, built from a London Road Models kit for me by Chris Phillips: Tony

I too went to a school where we were addressed by our surnames, by the teachers AND by each other - and where, if there were two brothers in the school at once, one would be "senior" & the other "junior"; although I can still recite the alphabetical list of surnames that was called each morning when the register was called, I would struggle to recall almost any of the related Christian names. My pet dislikes include being called "buddy" & "matey" by parcel & grocery delivery drivers, as well as "can I get" as mentioned above, but may I also add "I was like..." spoken as a prelude to almost anything and potentially meaning "I said..." or "I did...". To me this is not only highly irritating but utterly meaningless, as well as desperately prevalent. Tony - I love the recent scenic additions to LB - they really seem to add depth and bring life to that end of the layout. Tony

The I1x is a loco that also interests me - in OO scale. It is one of a very short list of types for which I cannot find any kit or source (see my thread), so I'd be keen to understand if you ever get to work out how to build one! Tony

Making progress on the shed, but while the paint dries (in multiple layers!), I thought it was about time to show a couple more trains in action on the layout. First up is an up pull-push service leaving one of the bay platforms at Stowe Magna, made up of ex-SECR Set 660 and headed by a Hornby M7; the coaches were made for me from Roxey Mouldings kits - and no, the loco does not have a human arm protruding from its dome, it is the arm of a signalman standing on the balcony of the signal box, who just happened to raise his arm as I took the picture!: Next is a down Victoria - Worthing service approaching Stowe Magna and headed by a re-numbered and re-named Hornby King Arthur, No.740 Merlin; the coaches making up Set No.469 are Maunsells, plus Pullman Car Medusa, all by Hornby, and led by ex-LSWR passenger brake No.328 which is a Northstar product by Adrian Rowlands. Finally, an up coal empties comprising various RTR coal wagons is headed past the Stowe Magna gas works by another Hornby King Arthur, No. 797 Sir Blamor de Ganis with 6-wheel tender; I have added a background sky to this shot, which may or may not appeal to you! Taking pictures of one's layout always shows up the imperfections and just how much remains to be done; a particular issue that I am acutely aware of is the lack of weathering to the majority of my locos and stock - I guess that one day I'll get around to this, but there will be a lot to do! Next, I hope to be able to show the completed Churminster locoshed. Tony

An update on progress is considerably overdue! The main focus at present has been upon Churminster locoshed, which I had constructed perhaps 10 years ago from 4 Metcalfe kits; it is a four road shed accommodating about 12 locos: It now sits across the shed yard from Geoff Taylor's magnificent Churminster station, and whilst I believe that I had built the kits as well as they could be made, the shed is now looking very much the poor relation! Something needed to be done... At the same time, the locoshed as built exactly fits the site available, the track plan has been built to match it, and although I had never got around to fitting the roof, I had spent some time fitting hanging LED lamps inside it - so I was reluctant to throw it away and start again. After much thought I decided, wrongly or rightly that I would go for a refurbishment of the existing model rather than building a new one - this would be helped considerably by the fact that only the front and one side of the shed is visible - so the back and opposite side would not need attention. I started by getting some laser cut window frames made up to exactly match the originals which were directly printed onto clear plastic: Whilst I waited for these to arrive, I started to build a proper floor for the shed, which had not previously had one; I got this badly wrong by using plastic sheet that was too thick - it interfered with loco wheels - and so after several attempts at rectification I ripped it out and started again! In the process I also installed 12 x IRDOT detectors so that I will be able to see on the Control Panel which roads in the shed are occupied, and which not, once the roof is in place. Once the new window frames arrived I then removed the existing windows from the side in question, along with the outer layer of card-printed brickwork that represented contoured columns etc: Once this was done, I used a spare side that I had not used when building the original Metcalfe kit as a template to cut new side overlays from Slaters plasticard: I then used the new plastic overlays to start building up a complete overlay for the exposed side of the building: Meanwhile I started to treat the front end of the shed in a similar way: This is where I had got to as of yesterday; it is hard to see at this stage whether my approach will pay off, but I feel that with some careful painting the addition of a textured surface will look better and go some way to standing up to the quality of the station building. I will post some further pictures once further progress is made. Tony

Thanks Tony, very helpful. Tony

Hi Tony - I have a question. During my several visits to LB I have noted that you have some track cleaning devices permanently mounted beneath brake vans, and I have been meaning to ask what exactly they are and how they are fitted. Although I have read every one of the posts on this thread I can't recall that this has been covered, but please correct me if it has! Otherwise, can you enlighten me? Tony

Despite small file size these have much better definition Brian.

Hi Tony, May I belatedly add my plea to those of many others for you to continue, albeit at whatever pace & frequency suits you and does not interfere with core modelling activities? To my way of thinking, Wright Writes is akin to a pub conversation that one has with mates - some of whom you agree with, some not, and there is always going to be someone who says something outrageous, ill-informed or plain stupid, but it is pretty much all said with good humour, and amongst all of the other stuff there are some real nuggets that one can take away, reflect on and learn from. In my railway modelling life, I have been through the RTR only, and the cheque-book modelling phases especially when time poor, although I have always undertaken all of my own wiring, track-laying, and scenery development etc, but like many others I have been inspired through this thread, through visiting LB, and through your personal coaching to up my standards, take on new challenges and particularly to build my first locos. The web and RMWeb especially can be addictive and time consuming, however, I don't post something every day but I always take time to read Wright Writes! Long may it continue. Tony

My inexperience means that until Tony mentioned them, I had never heard of signal-rodding components referred to as "stools" - I had always assumed when hearing this term, that they had been deposited on the track due to the absence of 'retaining tanks' on older stock....! You learn something every day. Tony

Thanks Andy I am just settling them into their final location and will post a further picture when that is done. Tony

I have a number of rakes with Kadees but I am having to remove them because as you say, they are sensitive to height; I have several, fairly slight, changes of gradient on my layout and despite efforts, I cannot achieve the level of reliability from Kadees that I would find acceptable. Additionally, they just don't look right on short wagons! Tony

Jack P yes, I take the view that some pragmatism is needed because at that time the SR was clearly not as strict with liveries - especially on these locos - as were others. I have since looked at Bradley's "Locomotives of the Southern Railway" and he says for no.863 from June 1939, "light green, green & yellow lining, black cylinders & lined smoke deflectors" - which actually would make this about right - but as for the cab front and other details - who knows? Tony

Hi Jack I think the livery is about right for June 1939 to October 1942, when according to "The Book of the Lord Nelsons 4-6-0's" No.863 went into Wartime Black, however, the detail of which bits should be green and which black are slightly open to conjecture - for example the same book suggests that the smoke deflectors should perhaps be black, nevertheless I think the lettering is right - but this area is a minefield and I stand to be corrected. Here is a view from the other end which shows the lettering more clearly: This model is from a Craftsman kit and was bought on E-Bay so I do not know the builder - but it runs well! Tony

I realised, following my last post, that most of the remaining locos that I have in malachite are RTR - spam cans, schools, M7's, N's, Arthurs & Nelsons - and so although there are quite a few in number (BB/WC, Arthurs & Schools are the best represented classes that I have); they are perhaps of less interest than the kit-built examples. Nevertheless, here is a kit-built Arthur, No.863 'Lord Rodney' in one of those experimental malachite liveries that were tried before things settled down: Tony

At the start of this thread I explained that I had chosen the period 1938 - 1948 to model since that gave me licence to run locos and trains in several liveries, including Maunsell olive & goods black, wartime black and Bulleid malachite. I have had a request to show some malachite liveried locos, so here goes - some of these were taken a little while ago and so the railway behind the locos is in varying states of immaturity. First the down Night Ferry, headed by a Hornby WC / BB and piloted by L1 No.1786; the latter is from a PDK kit built for me by Chris Phillips. Most of the stock for this train is by Marc Models: I have not previously shown pictures of any RTR locos, although I have a good number, but every one of these has had real coal added, plus a crew, whilst some have tools, or have been re-named & re-numbered. This is the Golden Arrow, headed by another Hornby BB loco, No.21C150 'Royal Observer Corps': Almost none of my locos and very little rolling stock has been weathered, however, this is very definately a major job for the future. Next up is Merchant Navy No.21C8 Orient Line on a Pullman boat train, another PDK kit built by Chris Phillips: Finally for this post, there is SR Bulleid electric loco No.CC1 from a Genesis kit and bought on E-Bay; it is hauling the unique Bulleid Cinema Coach No.1308S, together with its generator van No.1309S (which is hidden in the tunnel!), these by Marc Models. More to follow! Tony (Edited to remove duplicate picture post)

Some months back I posted an image of what was my first ever scratch built structure - a modest wooden coaling stage built from coffee stirrers. Since then I decided that I needed to up my game and in the end I went for a range of barns which will fit nicely into an undeveloped area of my layout; here is the result: There are further pictures, including some of the construction on my own thread, The barns are far from perfect but I am pleased with the result and will now move on to redevelopment of my locoshed... Tony

It is sometime since I provided an update on the layout's scenery & buildings, as opposed to rolling stock & locos. I had been focussing on getting the area around Churminster station finished, and the locoshed in particular, but I somehow got a bit distracted... For reasons that will eventually become clear I needed a range of barns or farm buildings to go at the end of town in a so far undeveloped area, and as I have been keen to develop my scratch-building skills, I felt that this was a good place to start. Like most things to do with the layout, this took rather longer than anticipated, but the range of barns is extensive, so here are some images of the stages in construction: (cyclist shown for scale) The more or less finished article: The building is not yet in its final location and I will add some further images once it is, but here are a couple of closer shots: Once this is bedded in I really must get back to the loco yard and shed! Tony

Following on from Jack P's query, I have just one SR N15X, which is No.2332 'Stroudley'. This one is from a Nu-Cast kit and was built like many of my other locos, by Chris Phillips: An update on the layout will follow Tony