LNER4479

Must have missed that one first time round - it's a cracker

Visitor from the north checking in. No goods trains running during the daytime today as the engineers took a possession at the south end of the station to attend to the ailing down bracket signal. That's better. Crew knocked off for a hearty lunch pending connecting up of the actuating rods Lines now given back. Hopefully there'll be a train or two along shortly.

...complete with a red lamp at the end of its tail (geddit?)

And featured on last night's 'One Show' with Sir Rod in attendance.

As an exhibitor (demo), there was limited opportunity to spend time looking at layouts, however I did enjoy the following during my 'back in 15 minutes' time away from my stand. Sud-Harz - seen it on here but good to see it in the flesh as a huge Harz fan (been to the HSB at least ten times since 2006). I plan to relay the branch line on our GMRC Swiss layout in HOm (metre) gauge and 'Rule 1' dictates that I'll probably end up acquiring a Harz train (or two!) to run up and down it, mixing it with the Glacier Express(!) so it was nice to see some of the range of Harz models in action. Think I'm going to need to start saving up though... Spirit of Swindon - I'm a bit behind with my RM reading so have only just finished reading the series of articles about this project(!) so, again, great to see it in the flesh. Superb presentation with the changing night n day lighting effects. North Ballachulish - a stunning piece of backscene painting work (the work of Mike 'Chee Tor' Raithby, I understand) gives this layout a terrific sense of place. Solent summit - I'm often non-plussed about modular layouts but I thought this presentation worked REALLY well at Warley. Having done Amtrak coast-to-coast 10 years ago, it was great just to watch an Amtrak train steadily make its way from one end to the other, only stopping to wait for a steam-hauled excursion in the other direction. The whole thing seemed to capture the interminable vastness of the Western deserts; perhaps the modular concept works better in N gauge as each module can depict more railway and sense of place in its given size? Eight ages of steam - very imaginative presentation and the 19th century modules in particular brought the past to life with their individual vignettes. There you are - not a ruck sack, smelly person or car park rip off in sight! Thanks to all who called by at stand A82. And for those going, see you all at Peterborough in just under two weeks time with both the full GMRC Swiss layout AND a certain large OO tail chaser...

Perhaps .... ?

Yum Mrs Wealleans is the second-best creator of Malt loaf I know ... I shall be there on stand A82 'Layout Planning & Design'. However, just spotted that the on line guide appears to be a repeat of last year's entry - I shall in fact be there with one board of our GMRC Heat layout, as below, to illustrate aspects of layout design.

Corks from your hat?

I'm assuming that they're subtle and therefore not detectable from three feet away on a moving loco ... ? There is of course a significant visual difference between the original Fowler style cabs fitted to the 'Scots and 'Pats when first built with and the later Stanier cab. During rebuilding, the 'Scots retained their original cabs but the Patriots were equipped with Stanier cabs. So a rebuilt Patriot model is a closer starting point from which to create 45736. Although nominally of same 5XP (later 6P) configuration, there are no doubt lots of detail differences between a rebuilt 'Pat and the two Jubilees so modified (which were actually modified first before the Patriot rebuilding programme got underway). However, I have neither the time nor inclination at the present time to worry too much about that. I suspect that the Hornby model is the inevitable compromise between it and the 'Scot in any case - although probably better than the Mainline equivalents of the 1980s?

Well, let's let that be our little secret, at least for now ...

And now it's gorn grey (primer). Black to follow shortly ... Meanwhile ... Hornby Patriot No.45534 'E Tootal Broadhurst' has become rebuilt Jubilee No.45736 'Phoenix'. In truth, it's little more than adding the detail parts (front steps, draincocks, etc) and renumbering / renaming. Oh, and a change to late emblem. I've also - as you've probably noticed - I've given her a coat of gloss varnish to 'lift' the rather lacklustre, powdery rendition of Brunswick green of the Hornby model. You've no doubt also noticed that one of the tender wheels is not on the rails... The plan is that she will subsequently be weathered into 1964 condition, complete with cabside strip and thus be a recreation of a memorable sighting my Dad had at Shap Wells in August 1964, captured on his cine camera (hence grainy image).

... springs to mind

Another four track, three arch ECML bridge. Photos courtesy of Tony Wright. Mock up looks good, Gordon

Three weeks to go to Peterborough and there's a whole list of loco modification / detailing projects to be getting on with. Can't do them all at once but this one has been afforded due priority: Signature locos are of course the Shap bankers and the Fowler 2-6-4Ts in particular for the classic LMR steam era. The Hornby offering is a nice model but features the earlier versions with the cut out cab style. The final locos were afforded enclosed cabs and, on account of the extra weather protection afforded in the Northern Fells, these locos were favoured for Shap banking duties. In fact, the last numbered example, palindromic No.42424, was something of a minor celebrity loco at Tebay on the 1950s. A patient word in Mike Edge's ear had led to a run off of his set of etches to undertake the necessary modification and so here we are, no time to lose. First of all the hacksaw and modelling knife have to be wielded and so here is life at its lowest ebb. At least the too early (for me) BRITISH RAILWAYS moniker has disappeared. Now with tank sides affixed and bunker parts assembled. The destructions didn't quite say to do it this way but I fancies the idea of the two seams reinforced with a solder run from the inside. And this is where we're up to as of about an our ago. Looking a bit more together now. The fold up door units return the strength to the assembly. All being well this should be running at Peterborough as 42424. In fact, it needs to be as I don't have a spare banking engine! More soon.

Great fun to operate, too!

Hi Iain, A few thoughts, as requested. First of all, 16 roads in 2' 6" is do-able in 4mm but a little tight. I usually work on 2" (50mm) per road in a fiddle yard, hence 2' 6" would equate to 15 roads. I'm sure it will all run faultlessly but if you even did need to get access to a train in - say - road 7 then it can be a touchy tricky to get at with trains either side. However... Even with monster 16 coach formations heading past Camden shed, 24 feet is a helluva length to house one train. And, let's be honest, not EVERY train in and out of Euston was quite that length. In 4mm, 24 feet would quite happily house two 12 coach trains nose-to-tail. When it comes to the slow lines, the trains would be even shorter (eight suburban coaches, say?) so you could get even more trains in one road. So do you actually need 16 roads in the fiddle yard for through trains? When we were together, you were talking about having the capability to terminate / reverse some trains so as to have a purpose for locos coming on and off Camden shed? Is this still in your thoughts? In which case you could - say - have 12 through roads and 3 reversible roads down the centre, with the fan of points either end arranged to as to get to and from the reversible roads from all roads? I've built 3 reversible roads into the new fiddle yard for Shap and so far they seem to be working fine. Looking forward to a further meet up in due course where we can explore some of these thoughts a little further, perhaps?

He's chancing his arm a bit if he scrambled up the gantry controlling the goods lines, given its current precarious state. Fortunately, help is at hand because ... ... it's finished! At last ... well, you can't rush art. Sorry it's taken so long - all we need to do now is to fix up an engineering possession for it to be installed. Graham

Very much looking forward to displaying Shap with now extended timeframe of trains running (1953 to 1967). Photos below taken by Tony Wright at last month's Hartlepool show.

Hi Gordon, So glad to see trains running and progress being made (albeit sometimes of the two-minus-one variety). Dare I say that this configuration is the closest to perfection that you're going to get? Hope you can keep the OCD in check - perfection can be the enemy of the good (or, in your case, very VERY good). For the sake of all our collective sanities KEEP GOING! Ever greater rewards are massing just around the corner... Looking forward to more instalments.

We do try ... every now and then

Here are some photos wot I tooked towards the end of yesterday's work session. This should give some idea of the carpentry involved. The rails you see here is the entrance / exit road from the fiddle yard and this will be covered more or less until where the rails end. So the structure around it is designed to supported the boards above whilst leaving clearance above for this line. This is the corner where the entrance / exit line begins its climb up but on a very gradual gradient only as it rounds this curve. The board above has been cut to shape but not yet fixed down pending completion of fiddle yard works. The main board above the fiddle yard HAS been fixed into position ... but, as you can seen, is on a hinged arrangement to allow access for maintenance / repairs etc if required. The upright pieces are 12mm ply stood on end, to provide the necessary bracing for the top board (9mm ply). A bit more bracing still required, but it was encouragingly stable even at this stage. The clearance here is 105mm, or just over 4 inches if you like, ample to get a hand in to prod a recalcitrant loco or retrieve a derailed vehicle (not that Barry is planning to have too many of those...). And this gives the overall state of play. The running lines of the main circuit can be of a fairly generous radius here (approx. 4' 3"), roughly laid out as shown. The left hand board is now screwed down for keeps - the goods yard headshunt and loco depot will be to its right. The fiddle yard entry / exit road and part of the turntable will be permanently accessible beyond the running lines in the corner - no bad thing. Next session, we probably carry on in an anti-clockwise direction to get to the junction between the fiddle yard line and the main circuit (about where I'm standing to take the final photo). Then we can test and (hopefully) prove the gradients.

Fascinating sounding exhibit - look forward to seeing it.

I case of 'the right number of locomotives, but not necessarily of the right classification'. I usually do a 'loco audit' before start of play on a Sunday - after three or more goes round the schedule, the situation 'drifts' despite all loco 'ins and outs' being planned to create a balance. So part of shedmaster's duties is to look ahead to see what he has available for future workings .. then shout to 'control' to arrange an out-of-course working to redress the balance. Much like the real railway, in fact ...

Is that not the same as Comic Con then? The dresses seemed just as weird (but occasionally definitely worth a second glance)

Here is our winning layout from Heat 5 (the Swiss one with the radio telescope) back at team HQ, having some of its rough edges attended to by team members Paul and Tom. Despite the constraints of the rapid build, it was designed and built to be capable of being split down into three, including our usual sliding rail joiners at baseboard joins, so there was little work required to transport it back safely from Fawley Hill. It is the intention to develop it further as an exhibition layout in its own right as a bit of light relief from our 'hardcore' exhibition layouts Grantham and Shap. The idea is to add a fourth board on the right hand side and to re-lay the branchline as a HOm (metre gauge) line, as many of the Swiss mountain lines are. In the meantime, I shall be taking one of the boards (the left hand one, as above) along to the NEC at the end of the month as part of my layout planning / design demo at Warley (stand A82). We can also now announce that the full layout will be on display and working (as per the GMRC episode) at the Warners / BRM 'National Festival of Railway Modelling' show at Peterborough in just under five weeks time (7th/8th December). At least four members of Team Grantham will be there with the layout so, if you're coming along, be great to see you there. In other news, our semi-final layout (knights of the roundabout table) is no more (although the removable items have been kept for old time's sake) but the final 'funfair' layout has been taken in hand and is currently being rebuilt as we would have wanted it to be finished. It will make its first appearance at next year's Hartlepool show, together with the Swiss layout (Paul is Hartlepool show manager).