Kelvin Pinnock

Hi Martyn, I'm pleased you've enjoyed the pictures so far. Rob's picture of the Standard 4 was taken some time ago, and was shown on another forum. It was an early attempt at manual 'stacking', most other photos of Elmleigh Market are unstacked shots which are not really intended for scrutiny. Nevertheless, I have enclosed a couple of early photos, just to give a example of the type of activity to be seen at this station. As has been mentioned before, this side of the layout is under a degree of improvement for future submission to BRM. Please note that we have produced a short video today, that shows the Class 15 on the main line, approaching the station, and showing a little more of the backscene, while demonstrating its haulage ability.

I also received an e-mail that a 35-255Z 'that I had ordered' was awaiting payment. As I had ordered the 35-257Z (Great Eastern) version, I was confused, so a quick phone call to TMC yesterday soon got the order cancelled, with a brief explanation that the cancelled versions were hopefully substituted with something similar.

Stratford St. Mary station forecourt. The W&M railbus continues on towards Elmleigh Market.

Back to January 2016, and Robin repainting the backscene of Stratford St. Mary.

The W&M railbus continues on towards Elmleigh Market.

Stratford St. Mary station forecourt.

A couple of overall views of Stratford St. Mary.

And now, just a few snaps taken during the preparation of the article in BRM. Most of the pictures are taken by Rob. with his phone camera, as a DSLR is just too big for this kind of work. There are multiple exposures taken with the phone firmly mounted, then downloaded and 'stacked' to produce to the required depth of field.

The PW gang continue on towards Elmleigh Market. Not so railway-related, but still part of the overall scene. The garage owner is confused by a delivery he thought he had cancelled, and a heated discussion about the price of petrol ( in 1960! ). The road to Stratford St. Mary.

Heading for a race meeting at Newmarket. A pause in the morning's shunting. Harvest time, and a train of produce for the London markets. The PW gang are heading off for a track inspection.

A closer view of the viaduct, with an all-Great Eastern branch freight train. A view of the trestle from another direction. An arrival at the 'Sudbury' end of the station. The Great Eastern 'coal shed', another of Robin's creations, is based on photographs at Clare and Lavenham. Back in time to the early BR period. Eastbound local passenger train approaches the station, yet another outing for the E4.

Further to the preparation of Elmleigh Market, I have a recent photo of my brother Robin repainting the backscene behind the station, as he has done on the entire layout, using his skills as a professional artist before retirement. As you can see, this part of the layout is thoroughly disorganised while this is being done! Rob. is referring to a picture of the layout, superimposed on a suitable sky photo taken in a local park. I must mention that brother Robin ( who posts on here as 'robock' ) is responsible for a lot of the detail work you see in the pictures. The W&M railbus in this picture is an example of his scratchbuilding, built many years before Heljan's version, and still going strong! Class 21 No.D6120 calls at Stratford St. Mary with a stopping train, during its brief allocation to Ipswich (32B). The W&M railbus passes the station's home signal, in the shade of one of Robin's scratchbuilt oak trees. A little further down the line ... An Elmleigh Market - bound DMU crosses a timber trestle, based on the preserved example at Wickham Bishops. This one requires a much higher route availability to handle some of the traffic encountered on the branch, but the authorities are probably unaware. Rule 1 applies.

A review of the pictures posted so far in the 'Show Us Yours' forum. Hopefully, I can do this without the system blowing a gasket.

I have just been writing up an introduction to our new Layout Topic called Elmleigh Market Junction. This will help to keep the subject in one place, and enable us to answer any queries you may have.

Elmleigh Market Junction by Robin and Kelvin Pinnock We have been persuaded to do an in-depth study of our layout, so here goes ... Elmleigh Market Junction is a long-stablished loft layout, which has been built and re-built by my brother and I over a period of 40+ years. It is traditional OO scale, and DC powered by a Codar CT2000 bought in the early 1970s, and still going strong. The layout, which was featured in the February '23 edition of British Railway Modelling magazine, portrays an imaginary cross-country extension of the erstwhile Great Eastern 'Stour Valley' line from Cambridge to Marks Tey, diverging South of Sudbury, continuing East to the village of Stratford St. Mary, and onward to a junction with the GE main line at the fictional town of 'Elmleigh Market', imagined to be in the region of Ardleigh, south of Manningtree. The magazine article was centred on Stratford St. Mary, which is an actual village in the 'Constable country' of the Dedham Vale, on the Essex/Suffolk border, but was never served by a railway line. The station buildings are of the Great Eastern '1865' design, copied from those at Clare, Cavendish and Linton, and rearranged to suit the location. The operating period of the layout can run from the early 1950s, but definitely ends in the early '60s, before the introduction of yellow end panels. This is just by way of an introduction, so the next task will be to gather up the photos shown so far in the 'Show Us Yours' topic, and display them together here. It will be easier to keep track of them all in one place.

The road to Stratford St. Mary.

Hi NHY 581, Robin has started a channel on Youtube, where he already posts on different subjects, and is titled 'Elmleigh Market Junction'. At the moment, it just features the crossing gate mechanism shown above, but we intend to do something similar on Layout Topics under the same title. There would be an opportunity to feature some of the locomotives in detail, such as hinted at with the class 15, but so far we have only shown stock that would be expected on the branch line. Once we get to the main line, the scenery is less 'rural', and the trains will be more varied. At the moment, I am still working my way through the stock of photos produced for BRM magazine, and when the loft temperature comes down to something more bearable, we'll be back continuing the work for the future article. Kelvin

Hello John Besley, Just a few notes about this train. At the time of the photograph, it consisted of 25 vans and a brake van. We have tested it in the past, and found it capable of hauling at least 80 wagons up the 1in50 gradient from the lower hidden sidings. It should be mentioned that the Class 15 started life as a Dave Alexander cast kit, but Robin modified it by installing a Mashima 1833 motor centrally mounted in a scratchbuilt chassis driving both bogies. Adhesion is created by an addition of lead, totalling 694g. It's noisy, but it does the job!

Thanks Paul_C, but that crossing is part of my brother Robin's handiwork. I have asked him to reply to you with his methods.

Thanks for your reply Barry Ten. All based on a career in the motor trade.

Not so railway-related, but still part of the overall scene. The garage owner is confused by a delivery he thought he had cancelled, and a heated discussion about the price of petrol ( in 1960! ).

The PW gang are heading off for a track inspection.

Harvest time, and a train of produce for the London markets.

Thanks for the video Worsdell forever. That binder looks as fragile as the model, which was a Scalelink SLC104 1930 Massey-Harris binder kit.

It's been on that wagon at least 30 years, so it might be a bit reluctant to move. The stationmaster is offering some advice.