Focalplane

Yes, we saw that as well. The name wharf seems a bit strange - there is also a Wharf in nearby Ilmington. I have always associated wharfs with canals (being from Brum!) but there are no canals in the area.

I have access to both Google and Apple mapping apps so it is always worth a look to see what remains of a branch line that ceased to exist a looooong time ago! Sometimes the line is easily recognized as two rows of overgrown hedges. Sometimes the line disappears across a ploughed field. The worst case is when a housing development completely eradicates history, as in Shipston-on-Stour. It is also interesting to see the old crossing cottages, sold off 40 years ago or more. In one case the owners have built an extension across the old right of way. The northern crossing over the A429 (Fosse Way) has a cottage whose presence today is difficult to explain until you realize there was once a railway there. There are also on the ground clues. A farm gate on the Campden Road says "Tramway" but the GWR bridge is completely hidden by summer foliage. Although little remains, it is clear that a detailed photo safari is necessary in the weeks ahead.

Ian, is this the building? http://wikimapia.org/3518488/The-Roundhouse-former-City-of-Birmingham-Engineers-Depot

The fictional motive power depot had to have a name and I chose one that relates to my childhood, particularly those years when I was an avid trainspotter. Legge Lane does exist but is not close to any railway line, past or present. It is in Birmingham's Jewellry District, post code B1, not far from the city centre. But it is up on a hill so would never have been selected for a railway route. I spent a lot of my adolescence there (and in the nearby Museum of Science and Industry). The name refers to the owner of land in the area, a Mr. Legge. This dates back to the 18th Century. Subsequently the area became industrialized and a notable building was erected at the end of the lane, the Argent Centre, once a pen nib manufactury, but also where Washington Irving wrote Rip Van Winkle. Legge Lane is now largely derelict, waiting for the inevitable regeneration.

Thank you, Jim Bob (are you sure you're not from Texas?). The layout is coming together in my mind but that is as far as it will go for a couple of months as I think we are about to move house. But at least where we plan to go will have room for the layout. Rest assured the level of excitement increased tenfold with the acquisition of Steve's beautifully modeled buildings.

Thanks to rmweb.co.uk I have been able to meet a fellow member SteveNCB7754 who lived in Shipston and measured many of the old station buildings and then made beautiful models of them. They were without a home but now have one as I picked them up today. They will appear from time to time in future posts and I will always remember to give the true origin of the artisan workmanship that went into them. Thank you, Steve, for getting in touch. I have a lot to live up to now.

This is most useful! I have just acquired a Bachmann 57xx for the Shipston project and this will need some upgrading down the road. Thank you!

My return to France and the Legge Lane project has been delayed for personal reasons. More on the turntable saga and other subjects when I finally get there!

Yes, Don, the warwickshirerailways.com site is a special resource if you live here. I had not heard of a previous published layout but still intend to pursue this project because it is close to where I live and have lived for about 15 years since deciding to return to the UK to retire. I can only think that the gas plant received coal supplies from the railway.

Hi John, it's the Comet frame assembly jig LS16,

Yesterday I received the 14XX chassis kit from Comet. So now I have two Airfix 14XX locos and one chassis. The scope of the project is to make one locomotive bearing a pre-1946 GWR number in the 48XX series.Here are the two locos and the Comet kit: The recently purchased GWR 14XX is in reasonable condition but not complete: The original BR 14XX I purchased new many years ago with front buffer beam damage and many bits missing: The Comet kit includes motor, gearbox, wheels, crankpins as well as the etched fret: The rest of the photos shows a series of putting together the basic frame, using Comet's invaluable frame assembly jig. I usually spring my hornblocks but in this case I have decided not to. The first shows drilling out the brake hanger holes to 0.75mm: Next, the frames are in the jig and the spacers are being prepared: The last five show stages of soldering the frame spacers: As a test, the frames sit square on our glass dining table surface, so on to the next stage. . . .

What I hadn't realized is that the makers of etched brass number plates do not seem to know that 14xx locos were 48xx locos until 1946. So I have had to change the selection to a Worcester loco, 4808. Let's hope this number is in stock!

Oh, wow! I had wondered if someone had already tackled this project and sure enough you have. I live close enough to Shipston to use their excellent recycling centre, so this is also a local project or me. I would hate see models made wasted, so yes, perhaps I could use them. Let's go PM on the subject.

I put this together from screen captures on the Windows on Warwickshire website: What the map doesn't show is that west of the abandoned Longdon Station (Halt) the original tramway joined from the north. In the past we have noted several of the road crossings of the now abandoned line with the usual clues. Some of the crossing cottages will no doubt hold clues as to the local architecture, choice of brick, etc. employed by the owners of the line.

Yes, I think more poetic license can be justified. The scalescenes.com small engine shed I just completed will do for the time being but the photos and descriptions of the shed allow for a detailed accurate model to be made when time allows. The same will apply to the station building.

The branch line model is coming together, at least in my mind. As noted yesterday, warwickshirerailways.com is a really valuable resource and well deserving of financial support. While scanning through various photos I was reminded of the long gone branch line from Moreton-in-Marsh to Shipston-on-Stour. The history of this line actually goes back to the Stratford-Shipston horse tramway which still has some evidence of its existence in Stratford on Avon, the footbridge was built for the tramway to take goods from the canal basin to (eventually) Oxford and by the River Thames to London. The entire system never materialized but the horse drawn tramway was completed as far as Moreton-in-Marsh. Later the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (known to locals as the Old Worse and Worse) came through Moreton and actually severed the tramway from its terminus. When the GWR took over the OWWR the tramway line to Shipston was upgraded as a steam operated branch line. Unfortunately operations were never economically viable and passenger operations ended after WWI while goods operations lingered on for another 30 years. Shipston station is no longer there but there are good records available (including a book of the branch line which I have ordered). The Windows on Warwickshire site includes maps of the area dating back to the GWR days and I have put together a montage of the entire line which I will post later. Meantime, here is the station plan, lifted from an old Ordnance Survey map: Numerous photos are available on the warwickshirerailways.com site. The only problem I now have is that to be absolutely correct I would have to abandon more modern GWR locomotives (such as the 14XX and 57XX) and go back further in time. I don't want to do this*, so the alternative is to take some poetic license and pretend that the line survived as a passenger and goods branch line up until 1939. This way I can faithfully reproduce a theoretical layout set in 1935. *Not just because I have the wrong locomotives, but because I feel I can do justice to a later time period that would more closely approximate to the times when I was an avid trainspotter.

Thank you, Steve. I wish scalescenes would expand their range but I guess John runs a one man show. I took the photo with my iPad mini and was impressed with the result, though I think there is some distortion surrounding the front smoke hood! With every scalescene's model I tackle I seem to improve my skills. Right now, though, I have a nasty paper cut on my right thumb which is making progress difficult. A tip - don't use a straight edge, use your eye and make the first cut gentle and without too much pressure. Then keep the blade vertical. Then use the fine grade sandpaper as suggested in the instructions.

Because I prefer LMS locos! Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of affection for the GWR but somehow the entire system is just a little straight laced! The dirt of an LMS MPD is what I remember most and that is what I really want to replicate in model form. GWR branch lines were, well, clean, tidy and predictable!

As is so often the case, warwickshirerailways.com comes to the rescue. The nearest 14XX to where I grew up may well have been 1414, which was originally 4814 until 1946. Here is the photo: http://warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwr-mra468.htm

A lovely job. My Comet Royal Scot kit waits in queue, with all the extras already to go. It will be 46131, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment (I am a Warwickshire lad). I also have the chassis kit to replace the bad parts of an old Airfix Scot I recently bought. That one will be 46132, the King's Liverpool Regiment, which will represent my father's involvement in the Great War in 1917. The Scots and Baby Scots remain my favorite locomotives, I think it is all in the blinkers! I just hope my efforts are as good as the one pictured!

The engine shed has been my main project for a couple of weeks while I am away from the LMR project and is one of the reasons behind this new project, based in England. The other is the Airfix 14XX restoration. The shed is a standard build of Scalescene's small engine shed with water tank over the front doors. I have done no weathering to it as yet: The interior is up to the usual scalescene's standard and again, no weathering has been applied: The next card project will be the small station building and shelter; meantime it's full steam ahead on the 14XX project, with an order placed for the Comet chassis, wheels, motor and gearbox.

I have started a separate blog, "yet another GWR branch", so that life doesn't get too confusing.

This blog is an offshoot from my Legge Lane MPD blog, which is established and semi-operational. I grew up with memories of steam on the Western Region, so an old Airfix 14XX tank engine has reminded me that I can run both, albeit in different countries! So far I have a plan, two Airfix 14XX tanks which may produce one that will work, a new Bachmann 57XX pannier and an auto coach brake van and coal truck. The time period will be c. 1935, the prototype location a mash up of Oswestry and West Midlands, both areas I train spotted in the 1950s. The layout will consist of three 3' boards, one being the fiddle yard. It will be DCC with sound, etc. but there is a lot to do! Stay tuned.

As an aside while spending time in England I started a Scalescenes small engine shed card kit and a 14xx auto train plus a few wagons would make for a smallish diorama based on the classic GW branch line terminus. I seem to remember that K's made a Flying Banana rail car kit many years ago which would be a nice alternate to the steam equivalent. So, to answer your question, yes, there is the possibility of a small Rattler themed layout. Am I right in thinking that 1432 was a regular? BTW the rail car is supposed to be operating at Didcot this weekend. As far as I know they never spent any time on the Cambrian but on lower ground around Worcester and Gloucester. Back to the 14xx, the challenge will be to make it run smoothly with good pickup from all six wheels. And a Mashima motor would allow for the placement of crew in the cab! And while on the subject of Cambrian locos, Dinmore Manor looked good at Toddington yesterday with 3807 on a black double header.

Went to Toddington, headquarters of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway and persuaded myself to buy a second Airfix 14XX tank engine. The first suffered major damage years ago when knocked off a window ledge in Houston. This one shakes as it runs down the test track, but between the two of them and possibly a Comet chassis I may get a reasonable facsimile of the Gobowen Rattler (the shuttle service between Oswestry and Gobowen I rode many times from 1955 to 1964). Here are two photos of the new acquisition. I already have an autocoach to match. I think this is called "retail therapy".