Annie

I've not see a Terrier that looks like this before. No doubt LBSC experts will now be rolling around laughing at my ignorance and inability to recognise LBSC engines from quite a way way off, but if someone could shed a little light on the subject I would be grateful.

I'm using TS2009 because I like it best, but there's been some very nice scenic stuff made for it since it was released. Putting it all together in an intelligent way while thinking a bit outside the box helps too. My HUGE UK layout, - as I call it, - is more Big 4 than pre-group, but with a little shuffling around of some things and the removal of glaring out of period objects we can do pre-group too. I have got TS2012 and while I had a go with it on some of the Cornwall routes which were certainly very nice I hated what they'd done with 'improving' the editor (Surveyor) as well as what I saw as a whole lot of added complications to no real benefit so I went back to TS2009. I really need to upgrade my computer though as I tend to put in a lot of details and my present setup struggles with that sometimes. Virtual trainsets have been a god send though because I can still work on a virtual layout when I'm not well. And that has done a lot for generally keeping my spirits up and making me feel a lot better about my situation. The blue J69 belongs to the Grand Navigation Joint Railway which was originally in a joint arrangement with one of the LNER smaller constituent companies and the LNER ended up finding itself somewhat reluctantly the joint partner of my little imaginary railway. The Grand Navigation owns a fleet of woodbine funnelled tramp steamers which is something I like and my layout has quite a few ports and navigable waterways. But that's enough from me. I shall do my best with anything else I post in the way of pictures to make sure it is pre-group with no modern stuff in sight.

Very nice. All this is very tempting. It's a pity I can't stand TS's control interface. So I think I'll stick with Auran's Trainz Simulator for now because at least I can can build what I want with that. I used to own a Matchless, hence the billboard. Coaches and loco reskinning of my own devising.

Fascinating. I'd never heard of the Kitson-Still locomotive before. On the Sharpie singles with cab subject I found an Irish one with straight frames that has made me think about getting some nice cardboard out and having a play with the idea. Not so sure about the cab though and I might have to have a go at something of my own devising.

Congratulations and well done. A significant moment indeed

I slipped up, I should know better since I usually take care with word usage. And yes I do agree that 'unique' requires no other qualifier because it either is or it isn't. I shall now go and iron my hands to teach myself not to do it again.

Found them! Well the Corringham Light Railway's toastrack coaches certainly are an interesting looking pair. The one with the enclosed first class compartment is particularly interesting.

Toast rack coaches sound chilly Sir Douglas. I noticed from Wikipedia that the CLR enclosed theirs later on. I see there's a photo of one on ebay at the moment https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Corringham-Railway-Station-Photo-Corringham-Light-Railway-2-/252536185628 Thanks Marlyn. I've had this layout on my mind for a while and I'd really like to make it a reality. After having a further look at things I could see that with the width of the layout board I'm going to use the adapted Wantage track plan was going to end up too crowded. So I decided to remove the workshop from behind the station. It isn't really needed as I plan on having a main works and engine sheds further along the line. This is the new track plan.

This picture of a coach from the RN Dockyard at Devonport caught my eye today and it immediately struck me what a great light railway coach it would make. Does any forum member know anything more about this coach? I wouldn't be wanting to make a fastidious model of it but something in the 'inspired by' category.

Yes 'Clevedon' is the Sharpie single that I was very much thinking of. Its Avonside cab granted it a quite unique appearance.

You make a very important point Edwardian, - 'remember to enjoy yourself'. I shall print that out on a piece of card and hang it up on the wall just to remind me on those days when I'm not feeling so well. And you are right, - it is a fairly delightful old lot. Out of all the locomotives on view one electric one and two clockwork ones actually go, but I think that will do for a start. Quite a few of the others either need repair or else actually completing, but that will come if I'm patient and work on them over time. As to buildings and the like there will be quite a bit of timber and corrugated iron construction in the best light railway traditions. This was the station building I had in mind for a station on the Sumwheir District Railways and I think it would be just as useful for Foxwater. Making buildings would be a good way for me to keep contact with the project on days when I'm not able to do anything very vigorous.

So after lurking around for a while and occasionally mentioning the Foxwater Light Railway in other folk's threads I thought I'd better start my own topic thread. I hope this is the right place for my topic, - if not could a moderator shift it somewhere more appropriate (.....out the back door, down the alley and into the bins?) At the moment all I have is a mess. Years of hoarding train stuff, moving house, never quite managing to unpack everything properly and then getting ill have left me with a piled up mess in the half of my bedroom designated for layout building. From memory and because I don't want to get up and find my tape measure it's a 8ft by 14ft space that would be great for a layout if it wasn't full of junk. So far I've been sorting my 'O' gauge collection for items that would be useful for Foxwater and separating out my fairly nice large collection of Chad Valley, Brimtoy and Mettoy 'O' gauge which will more than likely get sold to help pay for building Foxwater. So anyway without further ado here is a corner of the mess which is perhaps not mess since I'll be keeping all this. It's sitting on what I hope will become the Foxwater station board and the board measures 8ft by 2ft something or another. I'm pleased with the photos. I was able to buy a second hand Samsung digital camera just recently at a serious bargain price and this is the first time I've tried it out. So there you go a fairly rough beginning point from which to start. My only fear is that with this illness I've got I'm going to make a start and then not be able to finish it which would only help to make me feel even more useless than I do now. The most important thing at the moment though is to keep on with sorting out all the hoarded stuff that's in the way of progress. Nothing meaningful can be done until that job is finished. With some things it's been close my eyes and bin it, but as tempting as that is as a means to shift all the clutter, there are some quite saleable items in amongst it all and I should sell them to raise cash for Foxwater. Even though it's a pain and will take me forever and will cut into my slender reserves of energy (le sigh). I have a trackplan for Foxwater and I haven't tried messing around with track yet to see if it's possible, but it's somewhere to start from. It was inspired by a Wantage based plan I saw on Carl Arendt's website, but it's not Wantage nor is it pretending to be; - I just liked certain elements of the trackplan. I'm just pointing this out because other folk who have seen the trackplan have blurted out, 'oh you're doing Wantage!'....... and then I have to explain which gets tedious. My intention is to use 027 type track by Marx and Lionel because I have got so much of it you wouldn't believe. I think it breeds because I'm sure I didn't have this much when I moved house. I've got some traditional high rail Hornby track as well, mostly for clockwork, but I have a very small amount of 3 rail stuff too. Because I want a light railway appearance the heavy stuff can stay in its box. Please don't suggest alternatives as I seriously don't have much money and anything available would have to come from overseas and the freight cost would be crippling even if the price of the new track hadn't crippled me first. Like the light railways the Foxwater Light Railway is inspired by things are going to have to be done on shoestring. Advice and comments will always be welcome

Wisbech coaches would be very tempting, but I'd have to save my pocket money for a while to afford them in 'O' I would imagine. Basic underframes would be fine as I'm working in coarse scale 'O' so I would want anything I build to not look too different or finer than what I already have.

Oops sorry. I use 3mm axles and the wheels measure 37mm over the flanges and are 7mm wide.

Having little sense of geography and being largely confused by maps (except for the old OS ones because they are really pretty) I tend to go for the lightish small railway end of the spectrum when it comes to imagineering a 'what-if' fictional railway company. Mine tend to be of the kind that wander haphazardly across the landscape from a coastal town with a small wharf/port to a connection with one of the mainline companies who might permit such a connection with some reluctance or if not at least permit the use of the back edge of a platform at one of their stations. Such companies have no intention of going anywhere near London. When it comes to locomotives it's such things as old Manning Wardles and ancient Sharpie singles that have acquired cabs crafted more with enthusiasm than any sense of aesthetics that take my interest. Coaches can be almost anything from the 1870's so long as they have four reasonably true running wheels and aren't falling apart. Wagons with brakes consisting of a block of hard wood operated with a long lever pretty much sums up other kinds of rolling stock. As to the Grouping,- as if anybody on my railway noticed it happening, - we can largely assume that they weren't invited to the party. For my last flight of fancy I invented the Sumwheir District Railways which was to spend much of its track mileage traversing salt marshes on wooden pilings providing a service to a handful of isolated villages and mostly carried fish, sea salt and sand along with the normal selection of general odds and ends folk might need. All this might seem completely boring to anyone who wants express trains rushing to London and a complete railway network that's been seamlessly darned into a historic railway map, but this is what I like and some of my ideas for the Sumwheir District Railways will be carried over to the Foxwater Light Railway which I'm presently working on.

That's very good news about your intentions regarding the scale of your models Sem If I may steal the chart from Kevin's thread these are the common wheel standards for 'O' gauge. I would be looking at the old Greenly coarse standards myself because I use tinplate track. and recycled Hornby 'O' gauge wheels.

Sem, could your G6 and chassis kit be readily enlarged to 7mm scale? I'm just curious as I'm looking at ways to get myself a G6 without injuring myself trying to build one. I'd most probably need the front splashers to be twice the width as well to allow for coarse scale wheels. No big rush or anything if it is possible as I'd need to save up my pocket money to buy it.

This might be of interest Kevin. It's entirely untested and may need adjusting, but it's an idea I'm working on for my Foxwater Light Railway. Nice Adams Radial by the way. If I suddenly win the lottery I wouldn't mind one of those at all.

Unfortunately that's all I've got Kevin. It might have been purely a sample piece rather than my good copy artwork which is what was lost, - but could it be made better by fiddling about with it in graphics software. I'll have a look at it later. I'm very sleepy and a bit second hand today so I won't try to do anything now. I will be needing some LSWR coaches myself so I do have an incentive for doing my best to make these coach sides look reasonable.

Thanks Marlyn At the time I did get an IT person to look at extracting files for me, but whatever the hard drive had done itself all the files were completely unreadable. Needless to say I was very disappointed BUT, just the other week I discovered a solitary LSWR coach side hiding in a corner in my not much used and largely ignored Photomucket account. I also found some Midland variations that were the first ones that I ever did. From the style of my LSWR litho it's plain that I was much inspired by a Carrette LSWR coach I saw in a friend's collection. From this solitary coach side file it's not so difficult to create just about any other variety of LSWR coach you care to name which is exactly what I did when I was doing my little cottage industry effort selling coach lithos. The one litho that's definitely gone for good is the one I did for the LSWR steam railmotor which is a real pity because I think that was the about best one I ever did. (le sigh). This piece of litho artwork is entirely free to use by the way. Just don't try selling it or claiming its your own work or I'll be very annoyed and be obliged to get the voodoo dollies and sewing needles out. I did used to have artwork for coach ends, but that seems to have gone for good too unfortunately. My current plan is make individual ends from card with a handcut beading overlay made from thin card. or thickish paper. I think I'd end up with a much better fit that way as artwork for the ends was always hard to get right and to fit right on old down on their luck coaches bodies that'd been knocked around a bit during the course of their long lives. I'd like to have a go with wooden bodies too which is what I did with the LSWR milk van I built. Someone I saw on ebay is offering repro Leeds wooden bodies and I wouldn't mind getting the 12 inch coach one to have a play with. I've got some artwork I did for coaches for my proposed Foxwater Light Railway, but I don't want to clutter up Kevin's thread with my own imaginative devisings.

Yes my one was in the process of falling apart when I got it so I'm going to clean everything up and reassemble it again using some decent modern glues. I'd like to strip the bad over painting job off it too and paint it properly. I've got some very old aluminium bogie castings that came in a box of odd bits so I might use those instead of the Hornby ones as they are a bit more size appropriate for the length of the coach. As a 'shortie' coach it should work well for my intended small railway and it being a tinplate and coarse scale line its doubtful prototype fidelity won't matter in the slightest.

I've got a badly repainted and down on its luck Southern one, but when it came to me someone had put it on Hornby bogies which actually looked a whole lot more sensible despite the coach's short length. They always struck me as being a figment of Exley's imagination rather than being based on a prototype.

Very nice work with the open wagon.

The collectors on that Marklin mech say it's done a lot of running As you say the price is a bit down the road for something that might not even work.

The older the better really Simon. Pre-SECR rather than actual built by the SECR coaches are definitely the time period I'd be wanting. Just a thought. The underframes as a separate part could be of interest to a lot of people too.