RichardW1

Searching around the Web there are a number of other sites that have prototype information, including some pictures of the site at present. http://www.railaroundbirmingham.co.uk/Stations/coleshill.php This site has some colour images of the station prior to demolition, and seems to indicate a doorway through the wall at the rear of the platform to what I assumed was the station house garden. This door does not feature in my model (I may have to make ammendments!) http://www.photobydjnorton.com/StonebridgeRailway.html Progress on the layout has been interupted by the completion of my 4F loco - (A Mike Raithby etch), but work has been continuing on the wiring and track repairs. Not much to show, so no photos for now. Richard

Searching around the Web there are a number of other sites that have prototype information, including some pictures of the site at present. http://www.railaroundbirmingham.co.uk/Stations/coleshill.php This site has some colour images of the station prior to demolition, and seems to indicate a doorway through the wall at the rear of the platform to what I assumed was the station house garden. This door does not feature in my model (I may have to make ammendments!) http://www.photobydjnorton.com/StonebridgeRailway.html Progress on the layout has been interupted by the completion of my 4F loco - (A Mike Raithby etch), but work has been continuing on the wiring and track repairs. Not much to show, so no photos for now. Richard

Not much left... The trackbed is visible, and there is a mound of rubble and footings where the building used to be. the farm bridge (seen in the distance behind the station) is still extant, and I surveyed it some 10-11 years ago. The model bridge has been built but that's another story. The track bed where the yard was is now a footpath leading to a private angling site on the river Blythe, which the railway crossed six or so times. The route south of Maxstoke intersects the M6 at the junction with the M6 toll (junc 6). it is possible to pick out a line of trees following the line of the railway there. Richard

Good luck with the foam board- whilst it may make a good surface to work on for the ground scenic work, I can't help feeling that, over time, delamination would occur which maky make keeping the trackwork in good order. I would suggest an experimental test piece first to try things out- I would been interested to see the results. Richard

Prototype notes I promised that I would give some background to the model. In doing so I must point out that the accompanying pictures and illustrations are taken from Roger Waring’s book ‘The StoneBridge Railway’ published by Brewin Books. Copyright is acknowledged. The station was also known as Coleshill, but I have chosen to retain the earlier name of Maxstoke (modeller’s licence!). The track plan, as can be seen, was very simple. For interest I have extended the siding to form a loop. This pretty picture of the station in 1906 was the key inspiration for the project. As I mentioned before there is a lot of detail to add yet. The odd levels in the platform can be clearly identified in the picture, as well as the short length. By the end of the war the line was virtually derelict. The local coal merchant’s name was Rollason. I believe the family still lives in the area. And finally my model of the wagon seen in the yard photograph.

I'll be putting some background info up of course. I did start a blog on Blogger when it all started, but I had the PC that all the data was on stolen, (and no back-up data!). I have searched in google for it but with no luck ;-( The baseboards are 1m x 400mm wide, and period will be early 1920's (Midland/LMS transition). Richard

Thanks Nick- enlarging the picture is cruel- it's still covered in about 8 years dust, and requires some attention to get to an acceptable standard. I have the original picture that inspired the project and will upload that for comparison sometime. Richard

Tony, does the layout contra- rotate with the trains? ( like a grown up version of Mark's Pizza Layout?) It would beat watching TV any night! Seriously-- it looks very good. Richard.

Maxstoke- restarted After a break of several years, I have decided to re-start work on Maxstoke, a model of the only intermediate station on the ‘Stonebridge Railway’, a single track connecting line running from Hampton in Arden ( the LNWR east of Birmingham ) roughly northwards to join the Birmingham-Derby line of the Midland Railway at Whitacre. The inspiration for the model was a picture of the simple station building in an article published in the BRJ some years ago and the station building model was constructed from the photos before any work on the layout. I visited the site to measure up the surviving road overbridge, and get an impression of the land surrounding the site. The station buildings have long been demolished, but the trackbed is just about accessible, and the site of the buildings and footings are buried in the undergrowth. The trackbeds for two baseboards were cut from ply and the track started, using PCB sleepers and etched chairplates. The station board was built and there the project stopped. And was largely forgotten about, languishing on top of a wardrobe gathering dust. The recent acquisition of Wickes own adjustable trestles, in order that I could do some work on the goods yard trackwork for Copenhagen Fields, made me realise that work could now recommence. Second baseboard under construction Maxstoke station.- Still a pile of work to do!

Of course the miner's could welcome the improved standard of travel to the coal face afforded by the diversion, although the route from the surface could be interesting !

Great to see you and Kim at York, Highbury was good too. As for interlopers, next time CF and highbury get to the same show we'll have to get the tube stock diverted!

What was the code for 'train on continuous loop' ?

The thing that puzzles me is there's no Headcode!-------(I'll bet there will be by York.... Tim?!)

I think the locos were probably Mike Raithby's and Tim's

And, to be fair, most normal people can't reach across the layout like Tim can!

The goods yard entry pointwork is now being installed- Templot is used to define the geometry. pointwork is fairly traditional, PCB sleepers with chairplates (from various sources). We will be trying Easitrack for some of the plaintrack routes to see how it stands up to our punishing exibition running.