stivesnick

Hi The water tank could be linked to the cattle dock - water for the animals and for cleaning the dock. Regards Nick

Hi Although I do not have specific timetables for this route at that time, I do have a first edition Bakers Rail Atlas from 1977 which shows the following terminals in that area: Stewartby Brickworks on the Bedford to Bletchley line - I believe sent brickliner trains to Kings Cross and other destinations. I don't know when this traffic ended but was then replaced by rubbish trains from Hendon using the same wagons. Goldington power station on the remains of the line to Sandy was still in operation and closed in 1983 Leagrave - stone terminal Dunstable branch - oil and cement terminals Luton - coal depot and vauxhall cars/vans There was a branch from Harpenden to a Hermelite works (building blocks) Hope this helps Nick

Will you be including part of the goods yard - it looks rather large? Also worth noting the double track line to the station. Nick

Hi In terms of the fiddle yard design, I would be worth trying to answer the following questions. 1. Will the trains you run be based on the actual timetable, loosley based on the timetable or run anything you want? 2. Based on the reponse to Q1 - how many trains will you need? The fiddle yard should ideally have some spare tracks because you always end up with more stock than you inteneded 3. Are any trains terminating at the station (passenger or freight)? If so they will also likely need to reverse in the fiddle yard so you will need crossovers and tracks that are easy to access to remarshall the stock if needed. Reversing tracks might be better at the front close to the nbaseboard edge 3. Will other trains need to reverse in the fiddle yard beacuse there is only one set of stock and the train should operate in both directions. 4. What length is the longest train? Could two smaller trains that you need fit in the same length? With regard to including other features, I would tend to keep it simple. Avoid including an engine shed, unless there was actually one close to the station and there were trains that terminated at the station or some other facility on the model that needed to run to/from the engine shed for servicing. Once you have through about these questions, the requirements for the fiddle yard should be clearer and people on this forum can offer more advice if needed Hope this helps. Nick

The car barn is nearly complete and just needs a bit of detailing. The building appears much taller than surrounding buildings, so I may need to rethink the placing of the other buildings. The photos show ample clearance between the top of the pantograph and the top of the door, so I could have made it a bit lower, but too late now. I have added some plastic strips between the tracks to create an impression of a solid floor, although it is not very visable from the outside. I have also started to fill in the gaps between the tracks with bits of 2mm card as within the depot area, the general ground level would be close to the level of the tracks. Progress photos enclosed. Regards Nick

A few more: Largs, Milngavie, Oban, Buxton and Sheerness on Sea. If you are modelling the post Beeching era, there are many former through routes that were cut back so a through station became a terminus. Nick

I enjoyed going to the show yesterday. As others have mentioned, the dispays of aircraft on their own did do much for me, as there was often no explaination to say if they were kits or scratch bit. The dioramas were much better and the radio controlled trucks looked like a lot of fun. For OO and O gauge railway modellers there were a lot of non-railway kits and 3D prints that they could use. Not so much in N Gauge although I did buy a 3D printed WW II aircrew hut for the layout to be use as a general shed type building. I didn't get the associated Spitfire and crew. So for next year, can we have some N Gauge dinosaurs and darleks please! Nick

Thanks Travis I did find this video on youtube showing a Class 66 with a single wagon from Sleaford to Doncaster so similar moves might still be possible. A great video for anyone worried about the length of modern freight trains! Nick

Hi When I moved to Sleaford at the end of last year, there were two open wagons in the sidings adjacent to the station. I assumed they were crippled wagons removed from a passing aggregates train, although they could be there to move waste materials from the work being done in the area. Over the last few days one of the wagons has been moved to the other siding. This raises two questions, why did it move and how was it moved? Has it been repaired and it was moved to confirm it was fit to operate again? Has Network Rail adopted model railway practice and a big hand has decended from the sky to move it? There have been track machines based in the sidings from time to time, so was this used to move the wagon. Any thoughts on this welcome. Photos show original and current locations. Regards Nick

Some more progress with the car barn. The walls have been put together, the side building and the roof trusses have been added. Progress photo enclosed. Regards Nick

Thanks for this. Photos inside car barns are rare so this is useful. I did think about having an internal crane, but worried how it would work with the overhead wires. I must obvisouly look again at photos to see what actually happened. Nick

Work has started on the car barn for the interurban line. Using Slaters sheet with doors, windows and roof trusses from York Modelmaking. The main doors will be scratchbuilt to allow for the non-existent overhead line to pass through. Progress so far is to crate the main walls and the base for the building to sit on around the tracks. There will be side building that contains the workshop and staff mess facilities. The base allows for a walkway around the building. Progress photos so far. Nick

Neil Forgot to mention - Freight Only Vol 2 by Micheal Rhodes and Paul Shannon has has a lot of London area freight timetable information for Jan 1988. Regards Nick

Hi Neil I have two London area timetables for Oct 87 to May 88: Section PD covers the western main line so includes Action and Southall Yards Section LD covers East Anglia and includes Stratford and Ripple Lane The map with the later timetable suggests that Section YH covers the south end of the East Coast Main line. Hope this is useful. If you are after specifc workings I can check the timetables for these. Regards Nick

Look forward to seeing this at the show later today. Nick