Moggs Eye

Another couple of pictures I found tucked in a phone... 50033 "Glorious" as a backdrop to the ongoing meeting between the Army and Network Rail. I used to travel behind the 50s a lot, back when I didn't have a car and was travelling between Skegness and Andover each weekend off from my courses at Middle Wallop. I like to think I must have travelled behind Glorious, but I never bothered to take any notice of the locos hauling my train. The sad, wasteful tale of HMS Glorious's sinking by the Scharnhorst in June 1940 captured my imagination many years ago and so 33 is my favourite 50. That former Transpennine 158 passes Moggs Eye signal box on its way to platform 1. Those colour light signals must be ready for commissioning soon. Visible in the background is a 37 in platform 2. That same unit, now in platform 2 with a Northern class 153 enjoying a layover in platform 1. Maybe the crew will be in The Unicorn on Crow Lane having a soft drink and a Cottleston Pie.

Thanks, everyone. Having had invitations to a couple of big exhibitions while we were at Weston on Saturday Cottleston's planned retirement has been put back to the end of 2018. There will be a limited refit over the next couple of months, before Dereham, which will involve the disused up platform being renewed and the hardstanding around the ground frame being replaced with something a little more convincing - probably suitably painted and weathered mounting card rather than the current plasticard. Cheers, Ben.

Another couple of pictures from Weston on Trent. The exchange sidings at a busy moment with a Freightliner 47 having a break in the loco siding while an EWS 66 has just uncoupled from its train of Warflats and Warwells. An EWS class 31, actually the EWS 31, waiting to be called onto its train.

A thoroughly good time was had by Team Cottleston at Weston on Trent today. Thanks to Andy and all the school staff for looking after us so well. Setting up in a primary school classroom was a first, though the small tables, chairs (and loos) made me feel tall for the first time in my life. There's the layout - first time out of the garage for nine months and only a couple of minor problems to tweak. I did enjoy driving it again. 37114 'City of Worcester' waiting to set back into the military exchange sidings with a train of armoured vehicles. 56059 edges a military train into platform 2 ready for its departure to Didcot. A class 150 gets the road into Cottleston station with a service from Acrewood to Nottingham. 50033 'Glorious' brings in three redundant electric locomotives into the exchange sidings for ongoing storage in the military depot. Defence Logistics Organisation Thomas Hill Steelman Royale shunter (thankfully not yet in purple livery) in one of the exchange sidings. 60078 'Noor Inayat Khan GC' waiting by the old loading bank with a train of Land Rovers (you can never have too many) to go to Ashchurch. The depot's commanding officer has booked the saloon to have a run along the military branch to the exchange sidings. I hope he isn't too cross about the weeds. The depot's maintenance staff keep the ex Longmoor Military Railway J94 for special occasions. A former Transpennine class 158, now in Central Trains service, awaiting it's departure for Nottingham. It should be modified with Central Trains branding in the next few months when the transfers arrive. The layout's next outing will be Dereham in February. Cheers, Ben.

Thanks, Andy, The team and I are looking forward to it. The bacon baps will be very welcome. Cottleston got powered up for the first time since February this evening. Happily the points switched properly, all the signals came off and a shunter trundled around the freshly polished track perfectly. With all the time I've spent on Emsworth I'd forgotten how much I enjoy driving this layout. I think that once I have finished Firsby I'll make Cottleston 2. Hopefully I'll see some of you on Saturday. Cheers, Ben.

It must have worked; the pictures have been returned!

Maybe if I watch a load of Stephen Siegel movies they'll leave me alone!

Photo bucket appears to be struggling this morning. I hope the Russian Secret Service haven't hacked my layout!

In between the Boston and Caistor exhibitions I put some effort into improving the look of the pipework in Emsworth's fuelling point. The wonky plastic pipe has been replaced by a section of coat hanger wire with fine electrical wire soldered on to represent joints. Some more detail has been added to improve the look of the stabling point. A rare appearance of a locomotive in platform 3 - usually it's just units working the Doncaster trains, but I tweaked the operating sequence to have a DRS hauled inspection saloon having a reversal there. This is a view across the main platforms towards the DRS 37 while a Northern 153 waits for it's path to York. Here's a Doncaster bound Pacer leaving Platform 3 behind the signalbox. Emsworth hasn't got an outing now until later in 2017, but I'll be busy with Cottleston over the next few months. Cheers, Ben.

For the first time since February Cottleston's been set up in the garage. The spiders have done much more work on it than I have! We're taking it out to the Weston on Trent show on November 12th, helping raise money for the school there. I haven't lifted the dust sheets from the layout since February and without sounding too sentimental I realised how much I missed simply going out for half an hour's driving for the sheer pleasure of trundling some stock around. The only time I ever seem to get to drive anything is when the layout is set up at an exhibition. Better time management would probably help. Anyway, I'm looking forward to driving Cottleston again at Weston. Hopefully some of you will be passing, come and say hello if you get a chance. Cheers, Ben.

Emsworth will be at the Caistor show this weekend; if you're passing come and say hello. Cheers, Ben.

To add to the information, different coloured strops were used for different sized vehicles. I used microstrip on Cottleston's Scimitars and then got muddled and painted them orange when they should have been red. The vehicles are chocked as well. If you need some more information about military Land Rovers from the 1990s, try the ex military land rover association website. They have information about markings, camouflage and types of Rovers. Cheers, Ben.

Great work here, I only found the topic today and have been browsing the many pictures watching it progress. I seem to spend most of my time with smallish exhibition layouts so I forget how good a well conceived home layout can be. I grew up on the edges of the Peak District and now I wish I still lived there. The stabling/fuelling point looks really good, what I had in mind when I was pottering about with mine. Cheers, Ben.

Thanks for the comments. Peak Forest was one of the locations I was using as an inspiration when I thought of removing the shed. Some of the guys on the DEMU Forum helped me out with ideas of the kind of servicing and maintenance that went on there. I saw some pictures of the remains walls of Exeter shed some years ago, in fact I think there was a layout I saw in a copy of The Modeller that had made such a model in a modern stabling point. If I'd had the room on Emsworth I would have liked to have done something similar - maybe on the next layout, or the next but one layout. Cheers, Ben.

We've just had a pleasant weekend at with Emsworth at the Boston Exhibition meeting several Land Rover enthusiasts and one PG Wodehouse fan who was helping me think of ways we could get the name "Empress of Blandings" onto the layout. For those of you who don't know the story, the Empress is Lord Emsworth's fat pig and in his words, 'the only female about the place who makes any sense.' I think a pub named for the pig would be best, but I'm to sure where to put it. Anyway the layout behaved itself, it would have been perfect but for a niggling dead spot which turned out to be a minor wiring error to one of the frogs in the loco yard. After a couple of minutes with a screwdriver, multi-meter and the recently published Emsworth Wiring Book meant the shunters were able toggled serenely through the points without any finger poking. It has been agreed in the court of public opinion that the layout is better without the loco shed. Here are some pictures so you can make your own opinion. The Emsworth shunter, 08847 "Sophie" must be up for an exam and and is awaiting attention inside what used to be the shed while a 66 edges in for some fuel. The refuelling equipment along the wall is intended to simulate what was on the wall of the old shed. It is formed from bits of Knightwing refuelling and discharge points kits. It looks a little clunky, but will serve until I can think of a better way of doing it. There needs to be more kit along the back wall; I have some bits and pieces ready for fettling and painting depending on time. How much the view is improved across the station is evident here. A view in the other direction showing how the platforms are opened up. The EMT 153 has come in with a service from Lincoln while the Freightliner 47 is awaiting is turn on the single line towards Sheffield with cement empties to Earles Sidings. I'm not sure why there is a 58 and a 60 needing some kind of servicing, it's not usually that busy, but the fitters don't seem to be in that much of a hurry. 31466 takes its turn in the servicing bay. With the lack of undercover facilities now the team at Emsworth have been provided with a shipping container to store their equipment. The painters are in to give it a corporate coat, presumably they haven't been told that DB red is now the colour of the day. Towards the end of Sunday, when the visitors had all but gone, the operators got a little giddy and while returning to the layout after having a chat elsewhere I discovered Boadicea had slipped into the servicing bay, clearly contravening the No Smoking signs by the refuelling equipment. Presumably they were awaiting South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue to come and top up the tender's water tanks. 56059 takes a moment of peace at the end of the stabling siding with the Peach Trees tower block in the background. Next jobs on the layout include a mess room for the stabling point's staff and replacement of some of the colour light signals with semaphores - I'm not sure there's a historical precedent for that! Cheers, Ben.

I know what you mean Rob, and I put a bit of work into fitting lights and detailing the inside of that shed. I should have it ready for the Boston show at the end of September so I'll see how it looks then and decide which version to go for.

I've been having a think of the servicing shed's location on the layout since Southwold, being a little concerned about the way it blocks the view of the station platforms and any trains that might be waiting there. One of the plans I discussed with the other operators was removing the shed and modelling the area as though it had been demolished and the Emsworth fitters left with an open air facility, in a Peak Forest stabling point style. Developing the idea further, I thoughts that the base of the shed's walls might have been left (to provide a barrier between the stabling point and main lines) and also as the current refuelling equipment is modelling against the shed's wall. I've made a start on the walls and here they are just before they were primed. I'm going to model the refuelling pipes and hoses along that near wall, add tool boxes, stores and some offices (not portacabins) before the next couple of shows. If I don't like it, the shed goes back on. Cheers, Ben.

It came out pretty easily. Putting it back was fiddly, but a few weeks ago I replaced the original glazing with Shawplan windows. Cheers, Ben.

Thanks. The point about the name is one that has been frequently made, particularly at exhibitions, and shows the importance of researching your layout's name before you allow an exhibition manager to book it. A quick look through the index of my road atlas would have revealed the existence of a real Emsworth and allowed me to avoid all those questions about actual and fictional locations. I had originally been going to call the layout Hope Street, after my favourite Levellers song, but a post on another forum I read some time ago remarked on the number of layouts featuring 'road', 'street', 'lane' etc in their names. I felt rather smug by picking a name from PG Wodehouse's 'Blandings' series without realising that Emsworth existed and that Wodehouse had written the series there. I should probably change the name to something more Yorkshire, but it's become a bit of a standing joke within the operating team now. Cheers, Ben.

Hi Rob, I just had a look at a picture of a Mainline liveried 31 - very smart, and quite tempting. I did wonder about having one with EWS branding over the Mainline, but maybe that's a fictional livery too far! The Inter City livery looks good on a 31 too... Cheers, Ben.

A few more pictures from Southwold... 60065 is waiting in platform 1 for 60040 to clear the single line section so it can continue eastwards. The PICOP has just come down from the signal box after having had with the signaller about some impending possession. Simultaneous departures from Emsworth. The Northern class 156 in platform 2 has got the feather on its signal so it must be heading north to York. The Class 31 is heading south towards Sheffield. Another angle of the 31 and its train of military vehicles passing the signalbox and just about to gain the single line section. It looks like there's another class 60 in the inspection shed. After noticing how the shed was blocking the view of the station for many visitors at Southwold I've decided the shed is to go. The idea is that the shed has been demolished leaving just the lower walls, including he refuelling equipment and the open inspection pit. That should open up the views across the station and the people waiting on platform 3 for some Pacer variant to take them to Doncaster. Cheers, Ben.

It was good to meet you. Hopefully next time will be over Firsby. Cheers, Ben.

Southwold has been and gone. We had a thoroughly good time and were well looked after - the food was excellent. The layout worked well, aside from set of points that refused to operate constantly throughout. Having an operator out the front operating the loco/wagon yard works well for having a chat with the visitors or even letting the children shunt the locos. While the layout hasn't been modified of late there were a few new items of stock being trialled. Here is 60065 'Spirit of Jaguar' in a similar condition to that I saw it in during a rialto to Southport a couple of years ago. It used to be 60077 in triple grey livery, but as I'd always wanted an EWS liveried class 60 I thought I'd have a go at changing its livery myself. As well as the prototypically faded decals and DB branding I've fitted Shawplan grills and windscreens. Wanted another, short train for my Police liveried 47 I decided on a fuel train for some Freightliner depot to other. Inspired by conversations with People-Who-Know about wagons I set about upgrading walkways with A1 prodicts, new suspension from S kits and cobbled together handrails . They were finished by suitable decals. All I need now are a couple more when I get time. Finally, a new Land Rover in a Bachmann OBA. I now have five similar wagons loaded with Series 1, 3, Defenders and Sankey trailers to amuse passers by. There are a surprising number of Land Rover enthusiasts attending model railway exhibitions. This 90 in the station car park, along with the 101 FC next to it attracted much attention. Cheers, Ben.

Nicely observed detail all across this layout, good work.

They make stockings, not pies in the background factory (I'm a leg man). However, The Unicorn pub on Crow Lane serves an excellent Cottleston Pie.