Annie

This is the little engine I need to put back together again for use on the plateway at Rostyre.  I forgot to take a saved copy of it so I'll have to reassemble it again.

Only a two minute video.

43 minutes ago, drduncan said:

Interesting! Which issue?

D

Oh dear it was an awful long time ago, but I'll see if I can find which one it was.  I fitted it into a smallish possibly Saxby & Farmer GWR signal box that I'd scratchbuilt from card and as a method of signalling it was very effective and looked reasonably realistic in operation.  As the article says the signalman was completely out of sight and invisible at the back of the signal box interior until he was moved into position.  Only a fairly narrow slot was needed to be made in both the baseboard surface and the signal box floor. EDIT:  The signal box was the ex-B&ER signal box from Hatch on the Chard Branch as featured during the three part series on the Chard Branch in RM in 1969.

RM May 1970 Pg.143

8 hours ago, Donw said:

My suggestions

signal towards the station

A home signal for both the main and the branch  these could be on a single post with a bracket and subsidiary post placed between the two lines.  a smaller subsidiary arm under the branch home to authorise entry to the loop and engine shed roads.

A ground signal to authorise a shunt into the goods yard

 

signals leaving the station

A bracket signal with a starter for both the main  and the branch with a shunt ahead underneath both.

A ground signal to authorise a shunt move onto the main from the yard.

A ground signal to authorise a shunt move from the loop or shed road onto the branch

 

Don

Looking over 19th century OS maps for small terminus stations bears this out.  Signals tended to be laid down on the 'less is more' principle with any special movements handled by the bobby's flags or handlamp.

Edit:  Reminds me of a layout I built back in my twenties where following an article in RM I installed a mechanical push button that would make a signalman figure lean out of the window of his signal box with a green flag in his hand.

Supplementary snaps:

It's a good while ago now that I put together 'Cairnrigg to Balessie' as a kind of generic pre-grouping Scottish layout in TS2012.  At first it was no more than a test track, but little by little it got added to until it eventually became a  reasonable looking layout. Made up of 12 standard Trainz layout boards it had portal tracks at each end and three stations in between.  It eventually ended up on the Trainz DLS and people seemed to like it.

When I first took up with Trainz TRS22 I rebuilt 'Cairnrigg to Balessie' as an experiment to see what this new version of Trainz was like.  The layout was lengthened by a standard Trainz board at each end and hidden return loops and sidings were added in tandem to the portal tracks.  Bridges and a tunnel were rebuilt, various parts of the landscape were smoothed out and reshaped and each of the stations and their surroundings received additional scenic detailing and improvement.  The only problem was I wasn't happy with the way N3V was developing TRS22 with every 'update' patch causing problems, - and with many of the engines I was using on the layout being older models it was plain that they were vulnerable to having their scripting and animations broken.  

So I packed the layout away and archived all its dependencies and rolling stock in the hope that I might be able to resurrect it in one of the earlier versions of Trainz.  As it happened when TRS19 reached the end of active support the final update patch it received from N3V made it a close enough match to the TRS22 build version 'Cairnrigg to Balessie' was last saved under that I could successfully load it into TRS19.

Since I was feeling quite a bit better this morning I set about installing the first of the engines and rolling stock back onto the layout.  In TRS22 I'd put together a session in 'Cairnrigg to Balessie' for some of my collection of N.E.R. engines and rolling stock.  Possibly a slight stretch for a Scottish layout, but for quite some time they haven't had a layout to call their with my old installation of Trainz TS2012 having been archived away.  Later on I will do a session for my mid 19th century collection of NBR engines and rolling stock.

Part of the goods yard at Cairnrigg with the MPD in the background.

My pair of William Bouch designed ex-SDR 4-4-0's are a slight anachronism compared to my other N.E.R. engines, but they happened to be favourites of mine.  They are Trainz TS2006 era models and despite only having basic detailing they do resemble the prototype engines in a way that pleases me well enough.  After a little fettling on my part they run very nicely.   No.161 'Lowther'  has a tender fitted with double buffers for dealing with cauldron wagons.

The other N.E.R. engines on shed.  Class 'C' left front, Class 'P' right front, Class '124' left rear and Class '59' right rear.

9 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

Off-hand I recall ‘dismals’ and ‘coal cart gauge’ but I feel sure that there are many others 😃

Oh I'm sure that there will be more if I can set my mind to it.

Spent far too much time asleep today, but I thought I'd take a snap of of the new goods shed and goods yard at Rathtyen from the other direction.

I'm not sure what is going to happen with the gasworks just yet as some of the models made for London's Beckton gasworks are a wee bit on the gigantic side for Rathtyen town.  Nearly all the industrial buildings at Rathtyen are going to get changed for something better and since Steve Flanders has given me a concrete pipe factory kit I'd like to see if I can put that somewhere.  A fair bit more terraced housing and some proper streets need to be done as well, but that's not exactly hard to do, - it's just a little on the tedious side.

4 minutes ago, GWR57xx said:

Freudian slip? Or a spell checker with a sense of humour?

 

No it's me with the sense of humour  😎

Using 'error' instead of 'era' was a deliberate choice.

And back to Rathtyen on 'Tristyn in Winter'.  I woke up feeling much better today so I decided to see what I could get done at Rathtyen.  Rathtyen is the largest town on Tristyn and in many ways it was the worst mess.  It didn't even have a goods shed. 😲

Completing everything that's needing doing with rebuilding the town is going to take a while so I thought getting the railway infrastructure sorted so at least the trains can run would be a good thing to do.  Where the new goods shed is now was an area filled with mostly old scrap, rubbish and discarded sleepers.  Possibly fine for the late BR error, but not for the GWR.  Arranging a workable solution for accessing the goods shed and shunting the goods yard tested my slowed down brain a wee bit, but I think I've got something workable.  The test of course will be sending a trip working to Rathtyen and seeing how successfully I can manage to work the yard.

3 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Spoons and days. My parents' gaff needed sorting, packing up and the stuff moving out.

What a horrifying nightmare.  It must've seemed like an endless curse, - especially with that busted water pipe bringing down the ceilings and getting everything wet.

Now I'm considering my own jackdaw habits and looking around me in quiet horror in case I inflict the same on my own children.

3 hours ago, Edwardian said:

As you know, I have a fondness for old scratch-built buildings. As little buildings are a my joy, I honour those folk who went before and cherish their models. I found what I thought was a very charismatic signal box on the Bay of Fleas. I don't recall much other interest in it and it was mine for £14. The model is in very reasonable nick, with really just the top of the stovepipe and some handrails to be replaced.  

Oh what a little treasure and definitely well worth rescuing.  As you say the colours are a match for the WNR carriage livery and it really would be a crime to attempt to repaint it.  By the look of it it has a modelled interior as well which is an absolute delight.

2 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Spoons?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory

Spoon theory is something that most folk living with a chronic illness are familiar with.

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

I am more of less chronically unwell at present; both Miss T and I have had a bad few weeks in that regard.

Oh James, - I wish both you and Miss T a swift recovery.  I wish you both many many spoons as well 🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄

I definitely approve of your signal box ideas, - but then I would wouldn't I  😄

Bear in mind though that those green and pale yellow colours are the invention of the Late & Never Early Railway and aren't GER colours at all, - oh dear me no.

1 hour ago, MikeOxon said:

Sorry to hear about your second experience of Covid but it sounds as though you are on the mend. 

Definitely doing better the second time around Mike.  I just hope I'm not stuck with having not much energy for as long as it was before.

1 hour ago, MikeOxon said:

That's a splendid BG photo you've found, although it does show how 'old fashioned' the engine was looking in the last days of the BG - a final glimpse of polished brass and large single drivers before the rot set in 😀

The rot setting in is definitely the right words for it.  Just imagine if the Broad Gauge engines had been properly developed and weren't left to soldier on as old fashioned placeholders until the day of execution.

Morning Broad Gauge Cheer Up Picture: An unidentified "Rover" hauling a set of wide bodied Clerestories, headed by a 40'PLV with wide duckets.  Photo courtesy of the Broad Gauge Society.

Day 5 of having the plague for the second time and I'm starting to feel like I'm coming out of it.  The first 24 hours was rough, but after that it wasn't so bad.  I haven't been doing much as I've been spending most of my time asleep.  My energy reserves aren't the best and I get tired easily, but at least I'm beginning  to feel interested in doing things again.

24 minutes ago, Northroader said:

I know, when was the last time we had a pre- Raphaelite?

The Fisherman and the Siren  by Knut Ekvall.

B&ER Broad Gauge Cheer Up Photo:  One of Mr Pearson's amazing 9ft single driver well tanks.  I've caught COVID again so some heavy duty cheering up was needed.

3 hours ago, Northroader said:

The clocks went on and I go to bed early, and only just caught up (excuses, excuses) but happy birthday belated wishes.

Thank you kindly Mr Northroader.

6 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

Thanks for the good wishes all the same.  Let's hope we both hae mony o' them!!

 

Jim

I'll certainly raise a glass to that Jim.

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

Happy Birthday!

Thanks very much Stephen.

1 hour ago, Mikkel said:

Yes, congratulations on the round number, we are lucky to reach them.

 

And Great Western in the snow. Not a bad way to spend a birthday!

Thanks Mikkel. Yes the round numbers are special and I'm pleased to get to this one.  Have to see how I get on with reaching the next one in the series.

Always fun to play around with my GWR engines in the snow.

40 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

Happy Birthday, Annie.  If we're talking Monday past (not quite sure how the time differences work) then we share that in common.  Mine, however, was not one with a big '0'.  As my son-in-law put it, the bingo call would be 'Sunset Strip'!*

 

Jim

Thanks Jim.  I know the time difference thing is a bit strange.  For me it's Wednesday the 3rd today and my birthday was yesterday on Tuesday. 

But anyway whatever day it is, - Happy Birthday and all the best from me.

41 minutes ago, magmouse said:

And happy birthday from me too! I assume it’s tomorrow for you by now, though. 
 

Nick

Thanks Nick, - much appreciated.

13 minutes ago, Tom Burnham said:

Happy birthday!

Thank you Tom.

Yesterday was my birthday, - it was one of those decade ones that can be a wee bit scary.  I almost missed it because this narcolepsy thing I live with snatched me away to the Dreamworld and wouldn't let me go.

When I got back though I made a cup of tea and decided to run trains about in the snow in 'Tristyn in Winter' to cheer me up a bit.  The 56xx's I have on Tristyn are always good reliable fun so I headed off on the scheduled trip working to Valleyfields and Branwyn.

(That's not Rathtyen you can see in the fog)

I only got as far as the big town at Rathtyen though because seeing it again annoyed me something shocking.  Apart from the random scatter of plonk down terrace houses it also had Soviet era Polish apartment blocks for heaven's sake.  The list of 'Not likely to have been seen in South Wales in the 1930's' was getting very long so I went and deleted a huge amount of it.  Levelled the ground, - and why the heck layout creators for Trainz don't do this I will never know, - and started to lay down some streets of decent looking and well modelled terrace houses that had proper back yards and everything.

As you can see Rathtyen is getting a proper goods shed at last as well since it was lacking even an improper goods shed.  I've tidied up some of the other smaller towns on Tristyn, but it always annoyed me that the biggest town on Tristyn looked a right old haphazard mess.  Steve Flanders has just released some new industrial buildings so I'll be getting rid of a few more unlikely Soviet buildings and replacing them with proper British ones.

I know I've got other pre-grouping and 19th century projects I should be doing, but for the present time Tristyn is my happy cheer up place so I think I'll keep on working on it for now.

A general view over Rathtyen before I got stuck in.

11 minutes ago, Schooner said:

Private wagons with private tarps? Too short for Company wagon sheets, no? Its nice that there's enough contrast in the pic to get a good idea of how they were roped too, useful stuff :)

The more I look at the closest wagon of the trio the more I'm convinced that the load has been put up  in sacks.

1 hour ago, Miss Prism said:

 

Livery?

 

Looks like a 6 plank wagon with an end door.  My guess is that it's some variety of PO wagon.

Any knowledgeable forum members here with better eyesight than mine?

Evening Broad Gauge Cheer Up Picture:  Torquay station in the final days of the Broad Gauge.  Possibly not such a good cheer up picture after all since preparation work is being done to clear the ballast back from the transoms in readiness for narrowing to the coal cart gauge. 

(Photo courtesy of the Broad Gauge Society)

1 hour ago, Northroader said:

Happy Easter, Annie, here’s a feel good picture, the Brixham branch train (with a fish van) coming into Churston.

Thanks very much Northroader and a happy Easter to you as well.

That's a very nice picture with all kinds of interesting details.  The signal box that was there pre-WW1 is gone, but the next available OS map was issued in 1938 so it's no help at all with helping to date the photo.  My guess would be early grouping as well going by the appearance of the '517' class.

16 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Finally for tonight, Harold (Mr Modratec) sent me this link, which I found very interesting yet poignant. See what you think:

 

https://youtu.be/tHPh82PzDMM?si=5IODZZkFIB6QFt1s

A pity about the lack of proper trains running past outside.

My mixed gauge version of the Minehead Branch had been built up in Trainz TRS22 and for a long while I thought it was stuck there due to the considerable number of changes to the landscape format that had been made between TRS19 and TRS22.  However I recently discovered that because I'd decided to stop 'upgrading' TRS22 due to the 'upgrades' breaking more than they fixed it was still possible for me to gather up the MG version of Minehead and backdate it to the earlier version of Trainz.   So that was exactly wot I did.

There was a good reason for me wanting to do this as with the aid of topographical maps I'd revised much of the landscape from Crowcombe Heathfield to Stogumber and I didn't want to have to do it all over again.  While the Trainz TS2004 layout I've been using as a basis for my project was a more or less reasonable effort at mapping out this part of Somerset, - though with some distances compressed a bit, - the section between Crowcombe Heathfield and Stogumber had large areas of the landscape at incorrect heights and levels.  It was a right old business getting it sorted and while it's more than likely still wrong in places it's one heck of a lot better than it was.

I don't know if this version will stay mixed gauge or not as the attempt at making functional mixed gauge trackwork for Trainz has problems that can't be fixed despite the efforts of Steve Flanders & Co to find ways of solving them.  I got the point blades to switch over together, but there's no way to get a signal to recognise the presence of a train on both tracks.  It can do one or the other, but not both.

Just a snap taken at Crowcombe Heathfield in TRS19 to mark the successful transfer.