Woebegone-by-sea

Theres still some railways left from what I can tell but not much. Yes I think it would be off cuts from the press shop. I believe this is taken in the 1980s by the styling of the cars and the colour scheme of the loco. I haven as of yet, still working on it.

I've been sitting on this project for a while. My previous project 'Gone for a Burton' is, for now complete so I have decided to move further south from my local area. Having collected allot of Oxford diecasts i've often wanted a way to include them in large quantities on a layout. I was also inspired some time ago by the model rail article 'the cars the star' and more lately the re-run in they 'layout ideas' attachment which included car factories, having looked at a few locations and pictures, one in particular took my eye. This image for me included so much of interest, a great line up of cars and vehicles. Oh and of course railway wise the section saw a variety of stock! Moving everything from completed cars to steel coils. I found several images of the location, but struggled to see where exactly it was. The only info I could find was that it was Ford Dagenham. I looked looked through countless images of the river plant at dagenham, but could find nothing similar. After looking on Google earth I was able to pin it to the stamping/ press shop and wheel shop, which closed in 2012 and has recently been demolished. This although originally was not part of the Ford works originally it did supply bodies and wheels to ford. In the 1950s they were bought by ford and in active use during the period I'm modeling 1970-1985. The yard was used for storage and loading if vehicles and the sidings at the rear supplied the wheel works/ press shop. So far I have built up a baseboard from a Tim horn kit. Which I have to say was very sturdy, easy and quick to build. Sadly as it's got to fit in my car it is compacted to 4' x 2' but i want to catch the important parts of the scene. I hope to keep you updated with the progress, any thoughts are welcome.

Another one worth a read is railway by lines December 2003 a large article about romford brewery.

Sadly no longer in print but sometimes crop up on Ebay.

This is the book I'm referring to, theres a section of about 5 pages on romford including locos and plans.

I have an interesting book brewery railways by Ian P Peaty, I think it covers a bit of romford brewery to?

Yes, I've got a copy on myself, a lovely little book. Though I always think a bit of a misleading title. Thanks for digging it out though! The bass Museum did allot of reprints of various books and articles. Theres some fantastic extracts from Barnards volumes.

Not my Image, but here's the loco in real life.

Latest addition to the fleet is Worthington No 16, which was on display and running at Burton last weekend. Made from a slightly altered Centre Models white metal kit.

Thanks Steve, which Brewery did you work at? Cheers Joe

I'm afraid I've not shown it much, I've so far only done local shows or brewery related events. I hope to do more though I'm still getting to grips with how the exhibiting scene works. P.s. would love to see your plan!

Apologies for the delay in an update! However the layout is now coming together nicely. The scenics know are pretty much complete. Had some issues with some points that I had to replace. But now this is resolved. Anyway I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Hi Jamie, Bass' brewery is now owned by molson Coors. The Museum you spoke of is now the national brewery centre and is still open to the public. Sadly you've just missed the burton railex which is held there once a year! However it's still worth a visit. Thanks Joe

A great day was had yet again, attached some photos of the layouts that attended this year.

The directors coach, looks brilliant Pete! Can't wait to see it complete!

Thanks for the info, yes please any photos would certainly be of interest. Joe

So the Bombs used have been from different sources, the smaller are actually n gauge 3d prints from Shapeways, though I think they represent smaller bombs quite well. The largest in fact Brassin Resin Bombs these are 500lb and 1000lb bombs. The chassis is a TomyTech 0-4-0 chassis.

Having recently purchased a rushton Hornsby body as a 3D print. I decided to prime and paint it. Also in the same order came the bombs all though small they pass for the smaller bombs. So here it is complete and weathered.

I did think of doing it using Busch HOf even buying a set. What wonderfull models they are. As Fauld was 3ft gauge I have gone for oo9 instead.

Another unusual wagon seen on the system was the De-mountable tank, which was used to send beer in bulk. Also an unusual addition is this water tank. When many breweries chose to move to burton for the water. Some breweries chose a different method and brought the water to them. Magee Marshal was one such brewery. They used to draw water from wells in burton and tank it back to there brewery.

I managed to find some good Bombs on Shapeways, admittedly not all British, but looked the part, and in terms of Value where the best by far.

Having recently near enough completed my Standard gauge model " Gone for a Burton", I have been looking for a new project to tinker with. I have decided to do something in narrow guage which is a new area for me. RAF Fauld was a munitions storage Depot created from Exhausted Gypsum mine workings. It was the RAF's largest Munitions Depot at the time, the site was purchased in 1937 and exteneded further into exhausted mine workings in 1941. From 1967 to 1973 the store was used by the USAF. The site is most famously known for the Explosion which took place at 11.13 on the 27th November 1944. which was the second biggest explosion of the war after the Atom Bomb. The Site is scarrd today with a crater 250 yards wide and nearly 400 foot deep, a memorial to the 70 people died or missing from the explosion. As a child I went walking with my dad across the fauld crater, The whole site interested me but in particular, I recall seeing the remains of the rails in the roads leading up to the crater area. This then seemed like a sensible option to do as a model as I like to do things that relate to my local interests too. Fauld has been somewhat difficult to get indepth information on due to the nature of the topic. But in recent years with photos appearing taken by Urban Explorerers it has taken my interest once again. I managed to get hold of a book which has also proved a facinating read on the subject. For this layout I am planning to build the layout base boards etc out of Foamex, a material which ive used for modeling before it is strong but most importantly light weight. The important thing for me is to build something small without being un interesting and aswell as keeping it as light as possible. So just an in sight and I will update you all soon. Thanks Joe

Another unusual wagon I have chosen to model both in the bass and worthington colours are these 3 plank general use wagons, generally used by the maintenance dept for rubble or tools etc.

Two this year, Burton Model railex (November 4th), and Chasewater Brewery Weekend, both of which I did last year. I'd certainly like to do more but not totally sure how it all works. I've only done these as I knew organisers.

I have built the directors coach adapted from a narrow gauge kit. The directors coach was the only specialist passenger vehicle on the system I was used for the board of directors and even royal visits. In later years it was used for railtours as I've showed with mine. Here's the real thing and mine for comparison.