coline33

Baz, coming from a port transport background, I loved the spelling mistake!!! I suppose those in Bremen who were amazed worked in Bremenhaven! Colin.

Thank you, Phil, for uploading the picture now. Yes, the following week to that exhibition was a disaster for Tramlink. That date was almost 100 years after a fatal overturn of a tram on a Croydon service.

Nice photo, Baz. Middleton Bogie hiding behind the 4 windowed Kipper Box, then left to right another with a Southampton (Bargate to some) in front, then the Horsfield (Showboat to some) and a Feltham. Reminds me of the Corn Exchange in bow collector era!

Ah, definitely Bristol fashion! Sometimes our engineers considered some of the quay crane designs around Britain to be under-engineered and others over-engineered. We carried a £1m. liability insurance last century to cover quay crane collapses which did happen as general cargo loads got heavier, stated weights were incorrect and non-container unit-load traffic developed. An area where containerisation scored but of course being a new revolution it started with much stronger structures both in cranage and quay carriage. Then there were the financial consequences out of the scope and era of this model dock!!! Keep it in era, simple, but do not turn away traffic unless it is outside your crane's stated load capacity, to fill your trains! For much lesser weights how about the old Airfix RAF kit of a mobile crane even the RAF 'Queen Mary' I have seen used in ship to shed transfer. My same ex-WD mobile is back-up to ship's gear at "East Quay" where no 'fixed' quayside cranage is provided.

If I returned to the port transport industry and was just operating a single ship berth, I would not want to be limited to 3 to 10 tons a lift. But certainly 20 tons is a good all-rounder. I loved going for the juicy one-off heavy lifts over 20 tons but without the enormous cost of floating crane working. RO/RO ships using the usually non-revenue 'return quay', that the modelled berth has, was a good earner for these at minimal outlay. No, you have a good capacity crane there for a single berth port operation especially going back in time to the shipping boxes used before the container revolution came along and changed the way the world's ports operated. So you have good reason to have flat wagons and conflats where the maximum load carried could be up to 20 tons. But on the safety front, you have in that crane a good overload factor within to prevent the crane's collapse - just look a the crane,s base support compared with that of the ordinary quay crane.

No, Andy, it was not London/Croydon centric. The organisers appealed for younger people to take over but no one from the north responded to continue the Manchester festival in the same way no one responded to do something in the south. Although I was never involved, other than supporting an exhibitor and a trader, I found it hard to believe that with the greater concentration of tramway modellers in the north that the Manchester one was not taken up and thus survive. Colin.

Thank you to all who have brought up the water tank. Putting a complete tender 'up in the air' seemed gross on my Welney project. So I have been looking at the smaller 'branch-line' versions such as those illustrated. What available parts are recommended for the tanks, please? The supports coming from balsa strip for the type i like. Colin.

Believe it or not, I am not only a tram modeller (in OO, OOn14, H0, H0m) but cover 4mm scale modelling PLA, L&BR, 009, military and china clay railways. Yes, I do have buses and trolleybuses together with a host of road vehicles to support. With my life time running out, I recently reduced my tram modelling to Black Country and London Transport (principally cars on Croydon services). On to the market went my large bus and trolleybus collection covering Leeds and those systems using the four-foot gauge. From 1949, Leeds has been my second favourite after London Transport when it comes to UK. The Festival of Model Tramways although privately operated but promoted by TLRS, was shared north and south alternatively. Manchester being seen as equal to London. Unfortunately, London is hellishly expensive for an exhibition of any type centrally. The organisers' involvement with the Kew Steam museum was reciprocated by offering their facilities. With the coming of Croydon Tramlink the opportunity was taken to use the Arnhem Gallery of Fairfield Halls but at a price! Unfortunately that price did not remain static and so the two day south show was forced to become one day and unattractive for both exhibitors and traders. With the forthcoming closure of the Fairfield Halls for reconstruction, the organisers reviewed the whole future of the Festival. Despite the stress of financial shortcomings falling on them, age for them was also increasing and without anyone coming forward to bear the burden for both north and south shows, the fatal decision was taken. (Well, the Fairfield has kind of reopened at enormous extra cost and is mentioned as one of the very many reasons why Croydon Council has declared bankruptcy. Enough said.) So we have returned to local shows run by the model railway fraternity. Alas all good things always seem to come to an end at some time. Colin.

Thanks, Andy, the Manchester Pilcher does appear in B&W views 1, 3 and 6 all be it front end only. As a clue the preserved model is in the National Model Tram Museum collection currently situated north of you. I will give it a week for others to respond and then give the answers. Pleased to read that you started with the BEC kits. After the introduction of the BEC/ABS West Ham balcony kit, at a TLRS meeting at Keen House, London, a youngster proudly presented a lovely model built from it. He put it in the palm of my hand and his facial expression soon changed as we and others watched it slowly returning to its component parts. I knew I was a warm person but not that hot!!! Then he told me he had used UHU throughout!!! From then on I always asked what glue was used before handling! Colin.

Chris, an event to which, when Covid restrictions are lifted, I hope Lockdown Fen will be invited to attend. Your public and following await! I hope you do come down south.

Now I am going to draw attention to the appearance in some of my views of that Manchester liveried Pilcher! It was beautifully built by David Edgeley when he was at Manchester University in the mid-1950s. It ran well on a home-made metal chassis bent from model railway track with the basics of a motor soldered in between. When he left it with me it was accompanied by another tram he had constructed on a Hamo motored bogie chassis. The body was Manchester liveried and he had designed it to be Manchester's future tram. It was double deck and bi-directional with front entrance and centre exit with the appearance of buses not to be seen for a decade or so later. Both bodies did find new homes so I cannot say any more than express just how progressive then were David's thoughts for the future design of buses and trams. Now I will rest and look forward to your answers to my 'lockdown' questions!

Now to conclude my historical look at my boards of the 20th century. There was a common but unconnected board to maintain both 1960's layouts. It was also from this board that I took my trams to run on the conduit and overhead tramlines of the 4mm scale railway layout that ran round through the upper floor of a detached house in Wallington, the then home of the Carshalton & Sutton MRC. The conduit tramway served Manor Park station (in one room) whilst the overhead line went out into the countryside (in another room). My unconnected board was a multi-track depot in which all my then model trams were kept and run, as can be seen in these pictures. Now to the test! 1. Can you identify the manufacturers of the RTR and kit built trams? 2. Which tram is now preserved in a museum and where?

Marriage and a move from Croydon to Benfleet meant a complete change! So I found space to build a straight line layout to represent the 16/18/42 from Purley to Thornton Heath Pond. Well, I started on Purley's terminal board with track and overhead exactly as found there and built the outside walls of Brigstock Villa, Thornton Heath depot's office. However, that was short-lived as family and business matters took toll of my spare time, then returning back to Croydon so this proved to be the last tram layout I built in the 20th century!!! After this I just concentrated my time on helping develop BEC Models tram kits with Adrian Swain and just building London Transport tramcars. In the following pictures you will see the first BEC ex-Walthamstow E/1 kit built model (alas it was too wide!) and the first castings assembled from the Feltham moulds showing the car on test before BEC Kit No.14 was released. Please keep these and the other pictures in mind for the last of my layouts to follow. Yes, there is a test to be done after all this!!!

Now to somethings of mine dating back to 1960 and my return home that January from living on the continent. My eyes had been truly opened wide as I walked through tramway construction sites and sampling the multitude of tramcar types especially the different types of articulation in four countries. I brought back my newly acquired Hamo models and the foresight of using modelling as a marketing tool for displaying tramway operation. For this I built a portable layout of two boards, the larger of which was a double track return loop with the reserved track on the viewing side. The smaller terminal board was four-tracked to permit viewing of the models themselves whilst still maintaining operation. Its only public display was at a TLRS event on the High Road at Streatham Common where as a then non-member I displayed the small scale against the Society's large scale. I was amazed at the interest shown by the public. Why because I could operate the layout to create the running of trams as they could remember from the 3 minute headway of the 16/18s there. All those big trams could do was trundle along a straight line. Certain Society members saw this too and pressed for small scale recognition resulting in my joining and the creation of the Sub-Seven Section within. So herewith some surviving views of the layout. I will do a further item on the cars later.

Yes, this going off-scene is brain sapping!!! I have come to the conclusion that Welney will have a SCATS warehouse. With Welney on one 3'6" board, the other, of the same length, will have the fiddle (both boards one foot wide). I propose to run the backscene on the latter diagonally from behind the angled SCATS building which will have its sidings in front and the mainline behind disappearing through the backscene into the fiddle. Trees will be planted between the leading rear edge of SCATS, with the mainline, to blend into the backscene. Time will tell if it works!!! Bear in mind that my layout is purely for the enjoyment of W&U shunting operations (in BR days) as opposed to being of exhibition standard as Chris as beautifully done.

The final part of "The Toop Tramway" story to date. Club members produced several more buildings as the layout area had expanded to provide a second loop to create a depot area - our fiddle yard!!! A club member had also with the opening of Croydon Tramlink built a smaller straight line layout based on the Wellesley Road stop. He constructed a superb model of a CR4000 and it operated automatically so permitting the operator complete time for 'marketing' second generation tramways - it even went on operational display in the Houses of Parliament. So the "Toop" was complimentary to it but gave the membership the 'manual' operation and run to do their own thing. As always there comes the 'driver changeover'! John and I were spending more time on developing "West Croydon" and exhibiting it in many locations. Domestic circumstances come into play and we 'moved' away, John literately. But at least "Toop" is looked after in the club house. Here are some pictures of the layout in 2009 at the Erith MRC's exhibition at Dartford. The triple track layout of the city centre is very much akin to East Croydon's. Interestingly, the body of the blue liveried Bluebird, seen, is one of the models sold off before donation of the original layout! My thanks to Andy for introducing the historical side of tramway modelling as open forum. Colin.

Thanks, Andy. There was civic pride in Croydon as 'Croydon Tramlink' got underway in 1996. The tram shop was opened in George Street from the start of construction for information on progress and how businesses would be affected as work progressed. So our Croydon resident decided to do his bit and donate his layout. Tramlink and the Council could not be seen to be refusing so it went into a corner to help 'fill up' the shop space! Now it is 'London Tramlink' the local touch has been lost. The shop remains 'open' for sale of tickets/passes, etc. as well as for information and being a staff admin point being close to East Croydon station for changing drivers, etc. Remember that the depot is at Therapia Lane so well away from the centre of passenger activity hence from the start this stop had a reversal line in addition to the Dingwall Road crossover. When there is dislocation on the town centre tracks, Reeves Corner is the turnback for the Wimbledon service, Dingwall for Beckenham/Elmers End and centre road East Croydon for the New Addington service. Right from the start of public operation in 2000 the shop's location has been a boon so hence its survival! During construction I made weekly visits to the shop to collect my sheet of works that were being done in the following week. It also gave me the means to draw attention to things that I saw going wrong as well as pointing out certain pieces of unusual splicing of track joints (just to keep worn out track going and not a burden on the rates) from the Addiscombe tramline closed in 1927, that should be saved for LT Museum. Colin.

The tale now continues as part two. At the time of its arrival, John Clarke and I were developing "West Croydon" as an exhibition layout to promote Tramlink and interest in the first generation Croydon trams. John was a club member and roped me in to join to evaluate the donated layout. Basically, having rejected it a decade earlier, I found it in a even worse condition but not the buildings. The boards were rotten so John and I removed the buildings and developed a new more interesting layout plan. Then John took the boards home demolished them and built a completely new baseboard. What could be salvaged was now placed on the new road layout but still having the atmosphere of its original builder - Mr.Toop - whose memory carries on in its title "The Toop Tramway". The next pictures are of it on display at a Croydon exhibition to attract new members particularly with an interest in tramways. The overhead at this stage had not been erected.

Once upon a time there was a gentleman in Croydon, no not I, who had built a 4mm scale tram layout. My the mid 1990's his health had declined and he sold his tramcars. He was left with a tram-less layout. It was offered to me but I declined. But with the start of Croydon Tramlink construction and the opening of its George Street tram shop, he decided to donate it for the shop. It remained within very static until the tramway was opening and needed a ticket machine in its place. It then languished in the Therapia Lane depot conference room with no future so Tramlink offered it to the Croydon Model Railway Society. That concludes part one in the history of an exhibition layout as seen in some pictures of it in the clubhouse.

Nearing the end of the second lockdown, so would like to know if you were able to do more since the first lockdown, please? Colin.

For W&U have a look at Lockdown Fen on RMweb. It is a great looking micro.

Is CJL of MR following this? If not he ought too!!!

Just an update as I take a breather from electric trams to W&U steam tram engines whilst waiting for a run of further parts. Having produced a mock-up of the E/1 lower saloon with new platforms, I am not happy that there is enough clear space for bogie swing when running. So the mock-up has returned to the body being dismantled to await another pair of platforms to be altered. In the meantime I return to my Welney vision of what might have been!

Trams go way!!! Never! The electric ones are on the increase all round the world and now into Ultra Light. The smell of steam may have gone away but watch out for the new whiff. Biomethane. Turning 'cow packs' into 'power packs'. After all the 'tram' has had many centuries more of life than 'rail' so has been 'light' years ahead!!! Colin.

Tell us more of what you plan, please Rob. This sounds interesting maybe another blog???