CKPR

Thanks to Edwardian's tip, here are some photographs of 'Mealsgate' from the 2013 Workington exhibition - the various buildings are of M&CR structures but are not from Mealsgate, except for the unfinished signal box, which is Allhallows, literally just outside of Mealsgate proper. I've added an old Macbook camera and hence poorer quality picture of 'High Blaithwaite', which was joined onto 'Mealsgate' for the Workington show as can be seen in a couple of the pictures, but it was  designed as a stand alone model. By co-incidence, the track plan of High Blaithwaite was a real-life  'inglenook' and the actual station was operated as a stub terminal until closure in the 1920s.

I've got round, post-holiday,  to  downloading my proper camera on to the Macbook and thought I'd start a thread about my on-going project to build a model of the M&CR's 'Bolton Loop', basically Mealsgate and High Blaithwaite stations. This started out as just 'High Blaithwaite' , which was an abortive entry for the Workington MRC's 'five foot challenge' in 2009 (the year of the terrible floods in Keswick, Cockermouth and Workington) but I then got on and added 'Mealsgate' and the whole combo was shown in a bare boards but working condition at the 2013 Workington show . 'High Blaithwaite' has since been re-built and sneaked into Expo EM North a couple of times as part of the Cumbrian Railways Association stand. I'll start adding the photos when I've found a way to compress them to under 1 Mb !

There was always a Battle Space element to Gresley's work:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LOCOMOTIVE-METAL-KIT-BUILT-OO-GAUGE-MODEL-RAILWAY-/252027495733?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3aae026535

I'm modelling the Maryport & Carlisle 'Bolton Loop'  c.1908 in EM with a focus on Mealsgate station (8' x 2') with an extension to High Blaithwaite (4' x 1'), the  latter being a real-life  'inglenook'. 

Really neat idea - the aircraft modellers have been doing this with waterslide transfers for really complex liveries (e.g. German WW1, modern commercial airliners, etc ) and it seems to work well.

Just back from France after delivering the hotel, this is what it looks like on the layout.

 

The view between the buildings, curving entrance to the hotel still to be added and some more wall and bridge work needed.

As a Cumbrian in exile, that is one of the most evocative pieces of modelling I have ever seen - thank you.

I assume you use the method of bending plasticard around a whisky bottle or some such and filling it with boiling water having stuck it to it with something.  The last one I tried using masking tape as advised and the tape fell off after the bottle was filled.  It has only ever worked for me in 009.  Still, we must keep trying.

 

 

I've had problems with curving plasticard for wagon roofs for years. Using bandage rather than masking tape works as does putting the bottle (heat proof hopefully) in  the oven at about 100c. I've also used the roofs from PECO wagons as these are pretty close to M&CR vans and cattle wagons and very easy to fit. 

Thanks Sierd,

I know it exists and watched a copy on eBay but I have not actively sought one as funds are going elsewhere at the moment.  However, Christmas is only just under 8 months away. 

I think I've just bought that copy off Ebay ! What an excellent and informative book.

Really impressive work on those wagons and just a small suggestion that you might like to try using an Olfa/Tamiya plastic cutter (any model shop with a HobbyCo account will be able to get you one) to do the planking, as this will make a 'V' groove without the slightly raised edges you get if you use a knife blade.

A loco falling into a hole opened by a mine shaft.

 

If we can get this to become the new 'bus on the bridge' cliche, then we might get  RTR Furness engines  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindal_Railway_Inciden ]

Battered Footex trains from the mid-1970s - a use for all those old Lima  Mk 1s ? Just knock the windows out...

I may have lost the plot here. Way too many individual letters. For Repairs, Advise, Load, Tons, and Tare are ready made, everything else is individual letters.

 

At least we can firmly plant the blame for this on Duncan. And no, I will not be doing the other side.

 

Seems a shame to weather it now...

Looks excellent and I'm glad I'm not the only one who only letters one side of my PO wagons !

The various articles about the building of  the 'Heckmonwike' P4 layout that were published in 'Model Railways' in the late 1970s make reference to Midland PW practice and were rather well referenced IIRC.

I don't think even the Danish Scud-mag purveyours would stoop that low, the Fell is an obscenity deserving of a special place in hell  

I understand there are magazines catering for more, ahem, 'specialist' tastes - "'ere mate, you got any magazines of, ermm, you know, like weird stuff ? You know what I mean, prototypes, diesels, coupled wheels, crank shafts ?"

My contribution to this topic is... Ardwick, first station out from Manchester Piccadilly . Easily the most run down and grotty station in the country with a backdrop of a  waste recycling plant on the site of the old goods yard. Now there's summat you NEVER see modelled.

Hi. I enjoy reading these posts very much. I have always liked old toys, maybe because I never had too many  as a kid (yes I know start the violins)!  A work colleague introduced me to Bowman live steam O gauge a few years ago & since then I have got all 4 locos that Bowman made, plus others, and have had a lot of fun getting them to run well and buying and making suitable rolling stock for them. They need to pull rolling stock as there is no form of speed control other than more/less wagons or reducing the number of working wicks (flames).  Lionel 3ft radius track is ideal for the largest Bowman loco and it is compatible with Hornby which is very useful. Yes new Lionel track is available in the UK at Tennents Trains but I prefer to get the older, better made track from the States on eBay. (Rusty track is not a problem for me). I also like the between-wars era American 8 wheel (bogie) rolling stock made by Lionel & American Flyer as well as Hornby.

Live steam is not often seen at exhibitions for a variety of reasons but mainly, I suspect, the "fear factor" on the part of organisers which they explain away by stating insurance or health & safety issues. I built my own demountable exhibition layout and take it to various events, mainly full-size steam shows, toy steam shows and model railway shows run by enlightened organisers. These are 60%/ 40% outside/inside. Needless to say, I am very conscious of running a responsible and safe display and I dress the layout up with tinplate buildings, bridges and tunnels for added interest. Visitors are always entranced to see live steam actually working and it is always worth doing these exhibitions just for the reactions and conversations I have. Apart from messy layouts,it annoys me as a spectator at exhibitions when the person/s running the display totally ignore you.

I will be part of the team running Bowman locos at the Exeter Garden Railway show on the 18th Oct (this month) and the day after I will be operating my layout at the Wimborne O gauge event. A busy Weekend then!  

 

Cheers, Trevor.

The Solrail show at Workington often features tinplate, coarse scale O  gauge and live steam layouts and jolly good they are too.

I wonder if an olaf cutter (or a squawker in old money) would follow the scored lines of the Amy cutter free hand to clear it out better?

 

Need to find out where to get one from to try and play with it...

 

BTW I'm in the middle of a different project at the minute which will be loaded here when a bit more complete. I haven't forgotten about the works in progress, just this project has caught my imagination at the minute, and yes it's still coach related!

 

Happy New year BTW

 

Andy G

It should do - I've sometimes used mine free-hand after scribing a line with a normal craft knife [usually a Swan-Morton 10a blade in an old KeilKraft brass handle - lovely !] and it works fine. Squires sell proper Olfa cutters and any general model shop with a HobbyCo account  should be able to get a Tamiya one if they don't have one in stock [item #74091 600 91].

Really nice work indeed. Regarding the slight problem with scoring the matchboarding, have you tried using an Olfa or Tamiya cutter ? These remove a tiny v-shaped strip of material to produce a perfect planked effect that doesn't need any sanding down.

Now, back to annoying people at an exhibition.

 

So far we have only presented the exhibitor/visitor side. What about the trader's?

How about...

1. Register as a trader
2. Put a very BIG sign out reading "ALL the 2014 models from your favourite manufacturers"
3. Have a completely empty and bare stand.....
4. Have a very small notice reading "subject to ship arriving from China"

OR

1. Register as a trader
2. Put up a sign that reads "Pre-Owned and Rare Models"
3. Fill the stand with chipped, cracked, broken and defective models, some with accompanying mildew and mould encrusted boxes (preferably mismatched with model)
4. Indulge in lottery fantasies when writing out the price tags
5. And whenever questioned about a model, always answer - no matter what the model - that "it's rare, is that, don't make them anymore, that's the price, take it or leave it"

OK, OK, I'll get me coat, (tin) hat and (flak) vest.

"Well, it's kit-built, innit ?" is usually the reply you get when querying the £100 price being asked of a very badly assembled, tar brush painted and non-working Wills engine on a Tri-ang chassis

I read somewhere that it got to the stage where it was requiring excessive maintenance to keep it going and sadly it was dismantled.  When and where I read this I can't recall.  I too have fond memories of reading about it in my friend's October 1968 RM when it was Railway of the Month, billed as 'Midland Magnificence'.  It was about that time that I first saw Grandborough Junction in the RM for October 1964.  I'd never seen a model railway look so realistic.  My friend gave me his copy and I can recall walking back home with my head almost dizzy from what I'd seen - and any part of Buckingham still amazes me now.  Size wise at the other extreme I still enjoy looking at Ian Futer's 'Ashleigh'. One more or I'll never stop; I always thought the December 1968 ROTM 'Huntshire' was fascinating.  Still do.    

There must be a new version as I saw it running in Derby Museum about 5-6 years ago when the Derby exhibition was on.

Just finished idly scrolling through this thread - some marvellous memories!

I remember seeing Mac Pyrke's "Berrow" at a London exhibition (probably the MRC pre-IMREX Easter show) some time around the late 1960s, it was probably one of the first London exhibitions I attended.

 

Somebody on another thread mentioned Colin Boocock's "Weybourne" (RM article mid to late '70s?), I found that layout very inspirational because of the operational interest in a modest space and more importantly to me, region & era depicted (BR/SR c.1966 to end of steam) but I doubt I'd ever have had the bottle to convert class 33s out of Hornby AL1 electrics! Thankfully Lima brought their 00 model out soon after the article appeared.

 

Does anyone else remember a WCML based layout called (IIRC) "Lancaster Junction", featured in RM in the late '70s? I think the builder was a gent called Brian Taylor. The layout featured a branch to a station called Glasson, and the whole thing looked as if it was great fun to operate. Stock was very good for its time - mainly detailed/converted Hornby Dublo with a few TriangHornby locos and kitbuilds and I remember thinking that although the station itself probably bore little relation to the real Lancaster, the layout had real atmosphere. If anyone knows which mag it appeared in, I'd be grateful if they'd tell me as I'd very much like to read about it again!

 

"Castle Combe" by Ken Payne (EM, GWR) is another one I'll never forget - such a spacious, open feel - especially the Tyling branch line where the auto train appeared to traverse a considerable distance before it reached the terminus.

Lancaster Junction  was 'Railway of the month' in Railway Modeller May 1978

 

The Locoshed, 48 Bury Old Road, M45 6TL   http://www.thelocoshedmcr.co.uk/

 

 

It's definitely got that proper model shop atmosphere and lots of stock (and not just the usual stuff) 

 

hi, due to a house move i am having to scale back to smaller lay out for the time being, and what came to mind was a small industrial layout under the stairs it will be about 8' 6'' x16 inch. i have no track plans yet but i have just ordered the robert stephenson & hawthorn 0-4-0 ct i have just found out the loco is HO and not 4mm but i just like the the prototype so i'm still getting it.. i am also thinking of going EM but a made up layout and not set on any real railway.so i can run locos and rolling stock that take my fancy 

 

any ideas, suggestions or pointer i should consider would be appreciated ,

 

check out Smallbrooke Studios who do resin kits for ubiquitous the NER P1 chaldron wagon (used by the NCB up to the early 1960s) and some other industrial wagons. Their kits are very accurate and very simple to construct

I've just purchased the pre-war Andrew Barclay 14" kit and it seems to be good value for quite frankly not very much money at all. Yes, it's quite basic but I much prefer to work up a kit without having to remove lots of inaccurate detail (an analogy from cooking, it's always easier to add more salt or sugar than to try to remove too much of it...). Moreover, the separate cab sides mean that backdating it to a pre-WW1 example should be pretty easy. 

I'm really tempted by this series of locos, I've always fancied a small industrial layout, space being at a premium.

 

I can't remember ever seeing any drawings of industrial locos in the model railway press - are there any sources?

 

Also what filler do you use in your resin, or, to put it another way, would I have to invest in tungsten carbide cutting tools?

 

Regards

There was a run of industrial loco drawings in the Railway Modeller between 1973-1977 IIRC