Tony Teague

As Tony is aware, LB was an inspiration to me in deciding to relay my main fiddle yard for what was the third and final time! It comprises 20 roads, 10 Up and 10 Down, plus a single reversible road in the centre (enter from Down, exit via Up); there is also a matching reversible road in the opposite direction elsewhere; each road can take 2 trains one behind another, but road lengths vary - the longest will take 2 x loco + 10 coach trains, the smallest 2 x loco + 6 coach trains. Main Yard: I have a particular aversion to taking stock on and off the track unless it is absolutely necessary, and so having got the main fiddle yard working, I set about building two further fiddle yards - one lies down the centre of the room and is hidden under what will be a scenic area, whilst the other sits above the main fiddle yard and is served by a long entry ramp and an exit helix. Lower Yard; this holds 11 trains on through roads, plus three more on dead end sidings which require a reversal to exit: Upper Yard; this holds 13 trains: This picture shows the relative positions of the three yards and the exit helix, although at the time it was taken, track had not been laid in the top yard. Altogether there is storage for 69 complete trains of various lengths; this calls for careful marshalling as to where a particular train is stored, and this in turn is accentuated by the gradient into the top yard; certain loco / train combinations simply cannot make the gradient - especially RTR locos with kit-built metal coaches! There is more about the layout and these arrangements, including a track plan on my layout thread. Tony

Time for an update following some significant progress above Churminster loco shed! Attached to my first post in this thread was a picture in which you could see the full length of the layout, and in particular at the left hand side, the main fiddle yard was visible beyond the roof of Churminster shed and a few houses placed behind it. Once the fiddle yards were completed it became possible to erect the backscene behind this area, blocking off the view of the fiddle yards, as shown below: Since then, work has focussed on the two scenic boards in front of the backscene, and above Churminster shed, and with Mike Gascoigne having painted the backscene, this area is now nearing completion: from left to right at the rear are the public library, the police station, the vicarage and the parish church. the back gardens of the pair of semi's at the front right need detailing. a few more people needed in the street. I had intended to move away from card kits towards scratch building, but I already had a lot of these completed, plus kits in hand, and so chose to progress this area more quickly by using what I had; a number of the buildings have lights in them and these, together with the street lights now need connecting up. A few more people might also be an improvement. I will post some further pictures shortly as these do not do justice to Mike's backscene. Overall I am pleased with the effect, plus completing this area frees me up to work on the loco shed area immediately in front of it - which is the next area for attention. Tony

Amazing stash!....and I thought that I had a bit of a backlog!! Tony

On the subject of modern on-train dining, I would have to say the service and quality on Canada's Rocky Mountaineer (Gold Service) , which Lady Whizz and I sampled last year would take an awful lot of beating. Expensive mind you ... but it was our 40th Wedding Anniversary, so justifiable as a one-off. Having experienced the Rocky Mountaineer (Gold Service) myself I can totally agree with Willie Whizz that it was an exceptional dining experience with near perfect service; thoroughly recommended! Nearer home, I have to say that both the Northern Belle Pullman & the original VSOE (now Belmond) Pullman are also outstanding in terms of both service & food. Whilst a good dining service is sorely missed elsewhere on Notwork Rail, I have to say that I can't now see it ever returning - a great shame! Tony

I don't know of any diecast / RTR / RTP brewers drays but I am just building the Langley Models kit and it is pretty easy (no connection etc): http://www.langleymodels.co.uk Kit ref: G4 Tony

Tony, I think there is a picture of your CCT in David Larkin's 'BR Parcels & Passenger-Rated Stock; Part 1" pub. Kestrel - on p.65 - this shows 5 ventilators on the roof but but still no sign of dynamo detail. As I am not of the LNER persuasion, forgive me if I have picked a picture of a different diagram vehicle! (Larkin does not give the diagram number). Best wishes Tony

Rapid progress Graham; I particularly like the L-Cut building which fits in well. Tony

Impressive work Dave!

Gary Thanks, and good luck with your build! I'd be very interested to see how in pans out. Best wishes Tony

Hi Brian Many thanks for all of your "likes" and for the feedback, plus the two intriguing questions. No, although I had looked at prototypical locations for previous layouts, I never really considered one when approaching this project - and that is simply because I realised that there was nowhere on the Southern system where you would have seen all of the loco fleet that I had been gathering. Having seen a couple of excellent prototypical layouts up close (I am a great fan of Tony Wright's Little Bytham for example) I can see the attraction and there are also other benefits - for example he can run a prototypical schedule and accurately model specific trains, whereas I have to invent these and even things such as the signalling diagram! So I can see the attraction, but aside from my underlying reason, I am also too far down the line to change now! Nevertheless I am trying to take a more clever approach on train formations and I have been collecting a series of photographs of trains of the period that I am modelling, and then I am building my model rakes based as closely as possible on how the originals were made up; I am then putting a picture of my model train alongside the original so as to give a bit more credibilty to what I have done. Bulleid's Leader is also an interesting question - I don't have one but I probably should! I think this is because it was started in 1946 but not really completed until after Nationalisation and so, outside my period. However, given that I have an L class - see previous post - it is a bit odd that I don't have a Leader. I shall have to work on this but I can think of two places where you can see pictures of other people's Leader models: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/94254-a-southern-workbench-in-the-frozen-north/?p=2496680 and on Graham Muspratt's excellent Fisherton Sarum: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/2/entry-9375-talking-stock-8-is-it-a-diesel-is-it-steamit%E2%80%99s-a-bulleid-leader/ When I solve this significant absence I will post an update on it! Best wishes Tony

Hi Gary Thanks! The two I was referring to are the J2 and the L, although technically, the latter is out of my date range as it would have been converted to an N15X loco by Maunsell in 1936 - but it is huge and I like it, so Rule #1 applies! Here are the pics: No.2328 is the ex-LB&SCR Billinton 4-6-4T L class built from a Langley Models kit by an unknown builder - it was sourced for me by a friend and I have no idea who built it, but it looks reasonable, despite the lack of lamp brackets, and it runs pretty well. No.2326 is the ex-LB&SCR Marsh 4-6-2T J2 class built for me by Chris Phillips from an Ace Products kit - again there is an absence of lamp brackets but otherwise it looks good and runs well. I have added real coal and a crew to every one of my loco fleet; most of the more recent crew sets are from Martin Hill's excellent Masterpiece Falcon Figures range (as usual, no connection excepting as a satisfied customer!). Hope these are helpful; I'd be most interested to see your Brighton tank in due course. Best wishes Tony

There has to be something in this "early exposure to trains" that sets the interest in the blood. I was born and lived until I was 4 years old in Brockley, South London, in a house that backed on to the LBSCR main line from London Bridge to Brighton and whilst most passenger trains would have been electric we could hear both these and the steam freight trains as they passed all day and night. My mother used to take my sister and I for walks in a place called Brenchley Gardens (in the direction of Honour Oak), and here, the electrified branch line to Crystal Palace ran right alongside the park; I can still recall the characteristic noises & smells of old SR electric units as we sat & watched the trains in the sunshine here. This is my earliest dateable memory, because we moved away from Brockley in 1954, when I was 4 years old, and the Crystal Palace line closed the same year. My interest in trains and model railways has never gone away since that time. Tony

Thanks to jweallans to his pictures which show a level of detail that was unfortunately pretty difficult to see, both because of the crowds, but more particularly the barrier positioning mentioned by Willie Whizz above, nevertheless, it was great to see Grantham "in the flesh" and to understand the sheer scale & quality of what has been achieved by all concerned - well done! Tony

Big SR tanks! In a separate post, Mallard60022 (Phil) had asked for pictures of either SE Finecast or PDK SR W class tanks, so having taken a couple of shots of my Finecast model, I thought that I would include them here: I love these big SR tanks, and so whilst I had the camera out, I took some shots of others; the first is a Urie H16 in olive, which is from a Millholme kit - I bought this on E-Bay. Then there is a Maunsell Z class 0-8-0 from a DMR kit: And finally a Urie G16 from a Golden Arrow resin kit on a Hornby 8F chassis - this is probably the weakest model and I have recently ordered a PDK kit to "ugrade/replace" this. These were all built by Chris Phillips excepting the H16 as mentioned above. I also have a couple of big Brighton tanks which I will save for another day, but I hope that these are of interest! Tony

I have just realised that in thanking Adrian above in post #29, I was referring to a previous post that I had made in a different thread - so just for completeness I will repeat here what I had posted, and ask the forbearance of those who read both threads. My posting referred to what is my first ever scratch built structure, the Churminster coaling stage - true, it is pretty modest compared with some of the efforts I have seen on here, but it really is the first structure that I have ever put together without the aid of a kit - so I am proud of it! It represents a Southern Railway wooden coaling stage and is made entirely from coffee stirrers: It is not based on a particular prototype but I have several pictures of structures of this kind, and of all shapes & sizes; here it is in situ, before the surrounding area has been fully completed: Here it is in use, with SR / ex-SECR No.1124 approaching and about to be coaled: Having just completed the station forecourt and the approach road immediately behind the shed, as previously reported, the loco shed and shed yard is the area which now needs to receive attention; this will bring this whole corner of the layout up to a reasonable level - although some serious items such as signalling, will remain outstanding for now. Here is a more general view of the area involved (there is another in post #19 above, and both were taken before the work on the forecourt etc was completed): The work to be done includes a remake or upgrade of the loco shed and shed office which currently consist of unfinished Metcalf kits, completing the ballast / ash / coal covering of the ground, adding a couple of squalid-looking outbuildings and general detritus, and inside the shed, installing detectors so that the occupancy or non-occupancy of each section within it will show up on the control panel. I will report on progress with each of these in due course, but it won't be quick as I will be off to Warley on Sunday to catch up with old friends! Tony

Glad you liked it Phil - hope it brought back memories! Tony

Hi Adrian, Well coming from a master, that is praise indeed! I should say that the "coffee stirrer inspiration" came from reading your thread - so thank you! Tony

Thanks brylonscamel, very kind.

Given the superb quality of other posts, I hesitate to present my first true scratchbuilt structure! I have built numerous kits in all materials but this is my first effort and it is all made from coffee stirrers! It represents a Southern Railway wooden coaling stage: It is not based on a particular prototype but I have several pictures of structures of this kind, and of all shapes & sizes; here it is in situ, before the surrounding area has been fully completed: Here it is in use, with SR / ex-SECR No.1124 approaching and about to be coaled. I still have a lot of work to do around the shed and yard (see my layout thread) but I was pleased to have finally built something "original". Tony

It looks fantastic, but you would need to be pretty clever at controlling it amongst all those other moving vehicles - over which you don't have control!

Your soldering looks pretty good to me! Tony

Hi Jules Have just worked through all 18 pages of your thread, and although I am not a GWR man, I have to say that it totally held my interest. You had made a comment regarding the size of my train-set, but as they say "size is not important"... The beauty of a more compact layout is the level of detail that you have been able to achieve, and all in, relatively, short time. I am really impressed with Mayshill and will continue to follow developments. Best wishes Tony

A fine & powerful looking loco Tony! I am sure that I have some eminently suitable trains for her to haul... Look forward to seeing the paint job in due course. Tony

Well thank you Jules, however, I think there must be a rule that says something like "however much stock you can display, you will always have at least twice as much available"....I know I have! But then, you never can have too many locos! Your layout looks good; I will take a look. Best wishes Tony

So here now is the long promised update on progress with Churminster Station yard. I have been trying to do justice to Geoff Taylor's excellent model of the station which I pictured in post #13 when it arrived, and then in post #19 once it had been set into the platform edge, however the station forecourt and the area to the right of the station, towards the loco shed had remained incomplete.This could be seen in the 3rd picture in my last post #23. Whilst it is probably not "finished" I have since made enough progress for me to be happy to show what it now looks like; the first picture looks down the entrance road to the station forecourt, with the loco shed yard to the left: The second shot is taken in the same direction but from the loco shed roof! Finally, I climbed one of the tall loco yard lighting gantries to take an aerial shot: The three locos in the yard when these pictures were taken were all ex-LSWR locos: No.472 - a Drummond D15 4-4-0 from a PDK kit No.499 - a Urie S15 4-6-0 from a DJH kit No.522 - a Urie H15 4-6-0, also from a DJH kit All three kits were built by Chris Phillips whom I have mentioned previously. In the background, and across the tracks shunting the goods yard is No.2473, an ex-LBSCR Billinton E4, RTR by OO Works. Whilst these images show significant progress, there are some small areas to be completed, more signage added, and perhaps some street lights to the forecourt. What the pictures also show is that there is now a further significant amount to be done to get the shed and shed yard up to the same level..... Tony Edited to give credit to the loco kit builder!