Bulwell Hall

30 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Waterloo Station every Friday night...

A wonderful song that so evokes the very special atmosphere that Waterloo station had in the 60s. Bullied Pacific's at the buffer stops, the airbrakes and compressors of the electric sets and the lady station announcers voice echoing around the roof - a magical place!  I'm convinced that Ray Davies was a Southern fan as it was released just a few weeks before the end of steam - but I'm not sure what all this has to do with MRJ 303 though!

6 hours ago, Not Jeremy said:

 

Now look, will you just stop it - my dreams are bad enough already!

 

Here is a wholly irrelevant but distracting image to take our minds off nose-less modellers.

 

 

Gad you've got me at it now...

 

 

Very nice - but Julie will forever be Bathsheba to  me!

5 hours ago, 45568 said:

Fittingly launched where I saw so many of my 'Granges' all those years ago!!

 

 

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

Absolutely magnificent!  Fantastic achievement!

13 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

I feel I need to highlight that the Kernow bogies are fitted with heavy duty axle boxes. These axle boxes were designed heavy vehicles such as 70 ft Dreadnoughts, Concertinas rail motors, and bogie bolsters wagons etc that carried extra weight.

 

They were not commonly used on siphons and  shorter toplights, where the more common and familiar OK GWR OK axle boxes were used. Once the Collett heavy duty bogies started to appear many coaches were rebogied and the Fish belly and Americans with the heavy duty axle boxes were pooled and reused. I suggest you check photographs to see where they were redeployed. I only have only found two siphon images and a couple of toplights showing them being used.  They were clearly being used but not in great numbers.

 

Heavy duty axle box                                                                                                                          General service OK axle box

           

 

 

This is the only image I have of an early siphon with the Heavy duty axle boxes. Note the rod truss underframe. 

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

 

Also it is  not possible to alter the Kernow bogies to EM or P4 as there is insufficient space between the over thick frames.

Gerry

13 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

As  Johnster says, there were a lot of 45xx in the Paddington area. In the image below it is a a possibility that the 4575, preparing to be released could go on the end of the Mainline and city stock. In addition, the stock was known to be used on High Wycombe trains both direct and via Maidenhead. A Metro tank would have an issue climbing the bank from the branch up to Wycombe and larger engines were the norm on that route. 

 

There is a view in this link that shows a big prairie at the head of a train of M&C stock at Paddington.

https://www.mediastorehouse.co.uk/mary-evans-prints-online/paddington-station-platform-5-6-london-14126978.html

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

Another interesting feature of this photo is what appears to be an auto trailer in the platform next to the Mainline and City set.  I wasn't aware that these worked in to Paddington?

16 hours ago, 1466 said:

My 3d printed body of a curved frame Bulldog arrived today . Captain Kernow commented that they are in the first rank of 3 d manufacturers and I agree .

Ive struggled to add photos but will try again . I think that my example is well detailed and exquisite . I have no interest or connection with the manufacturer except as a contented customer .

That looks very nice indeed!  Very well proportioned and delicately detailed.  Perhaps I could mention just one thing - 2021 class 0-6-0 pannier tank?

Gerry

5 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

Related, and perhaps might help answer that question, where did strengtheners come from?

 

B sets were often/usually allocated to the specific branch but could you justify having 1 or 2 spare coaches sat there permanently but only used infrequently, or did they run them down from the nearest carriage sidings for busy days?

 

Edit: actually was use of strengtheners ad hoc, eg when a bus load of Japanese tourists arrived at Brent, or scheduled, eg an extra coach every Saturday?

The spare coaches certainly were kept at specific locations for use when required.  The Carriage Working Programmes show where spare coaches were to be kept and also specified the class of vehicle that was to be used - 3rd, Bk Compo, etc.  For example, the Bridport Branch had a two train service provided by two B sets. The CWP instructed that a spare coach was to be kept at Maiden Newton and photos sometimes show it in the 'Bridport Siding' by the signal box.  There may also have been a spare at Bridport but I'm not sure about that and my copy of the CWP is not to hand at the moment.  My CWP is for Summer 1947 and the spare coaches may only have been for the duration of the Summer timetable - I can check later if anyone really wants to know.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing this in print!

Gerry

4 hours ago, Mallard60022 said:

 

Basingstoke could have had Manors from Reading. Certainly had Halls as you well know. Just sayin'!

P

Well I certainly saw them on the SR Waterloo - Bournemouth line at Winchester City several times.  I once saw Frilford Manor - the Reading Manor still in GW livery - on a Down parcels train and I even photographed Granville Manor on Eastleigh shed one Saturday afternoon.

1 hour ago, gwrrob said:

A few shots of mine of 7714 taken on the SVR last year that might be of interest. This is the loco that featured in the launch video by @Steve Purves

 

 

 

It truly is a fact that a pannier never offends.  What a lovely engine!

Gerry

It truly is a fact that a pannier never offends!  What a lovely engine!

B....y fantastic news!  Long, long overdue and very welcome.

Gerry

On 18/08/2023 at 14:31, Ian Smith said:

This post simply contains a couple of photos of Pen Mill signal box in its current state :

 

 

The next task is to complete the interior of the box (instrument shelf mainly).  The exterior still needs the safety bars fitting across the windows, and the down pipes from the guttering.

 

Thanks for looking.

Ian

Very nice work indeed - it must be tiny in 2mm scale!  I have always been attracted these small, early GWR boxes and they were commonly seen along the length of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth lines to both Weymouth and Salisbury.  There were two small signal boxes at Maiden Newton until the 1880s and I assume - there being no photographs that I know of - that they were of this style.  There was also a small signal box at Dorchester at the Yeovil end of the down platform, until circa 1912 and again I assume that it was of this style there being no photos showing it.  These were the first signal boxes to be provided on the W,S & W and were replaced over the years as facilities were extended and enlarged. I believe that the Frome North Signal Box - formerly Frome Mineral Branch - was the last to remain and fortunately is now preserved at Didcot Railway Centre.

Gerry

On 03/08/2023 at 13:22, Tony Wright said:

Good afternoon Gerry,

 

Years ago, I had the chance to photograph part of Ken Northwood's Torryford Station, but it was in such a sorry state that I declined. In the truest sense, it was rather sad - not just the deterioration down the years, but the fact that it was rather 'basic' in its modelling. I recall being very impressed with the layout's appearance in the MRC, but, long after the eyes of youth had ceased to be quite so seduced, I was rather disappointed.

 

If my memory serves, there was a 'King' also present. I was astonished to learn it had a Graham Farish body, and I rather expected more. 

 

You mention the Exleys. Yes, very-desirable all those years ago, but weren't they just LMS carriages painted chocolate and cream? 

 

Sometimes it's best to remember 'influential' layouts from the past through younger eyes and in reproduction which was little more than 'soot and whitewash'.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Absolutely agree Tony!  Isn't there a saying about being wary of meeting your hero's - which can apply equally to ancient model railways?  Another layout that made an enormous impression on me when it appeared in the Railway Modeller in 1962 was the Portreath branch.  This EM gauge GWR branch line terminus really captivated me at the time but when I actually saw the layout many years later I was very disappointed indeed.  But on reflection I realised that a combination of very youthful enthusiasm and naivety on my part - I was only 10 in 1962, clever photography and well written article and photo captions had created an impression that didn't match the reality.  Indeed so crude and basic were these early models - and so abysmal was the running - that I do wonder sometimes how we managed to sustain our interest in those far off days.  With the advent of modern developments such as DCC control, 3D printing transforming they way we make models and the deluge of high quality RTR models to name just a few, we truly never have had it so good!

16 hours ago, Chuffer Davies said:

Building a locomotive chassis to a specific brief is different to building one for yourself.  The 'Brief' was to build a chassis that was capable of hauling the long mineral train on Pendon's Vale Scene.  Whilst this train is normally hauled by Guy William's famous 28xx, currently Pendon has no suitable substitute loco if the 28xx needs servicing. I had tested the ROD as far as I could on both my test track at home and on the club's Clayton layout but eventually it needed to be tested on the train for which it is being built.  On Tuesday morning I set off to drive the 190 miles to Pendon Museum. Fortunately the weather was kind to me, the sun was shining, the traffic on the M1 was for once moving freely, and I was able to enjoy the four hour drive to Pendon's car park in the beautiful Oxfordshire Village of Long Wittenham. 

 

After a private tour of the museum, including a look around the back of the layouts to see those areas that the public don't normally get to see, Tony Sheffield (the Pendon locomotive CME) invited me into the fiddleyard of the Vale Scene to give the ROD its long awaited test run.  I was first given a demonstration of the 28xx hauling its famous train.  You need good sight to see the back of the train sitting in the fiddle yard.  The train is well over 20 feet long and its back stands under the scenery of Pendon Parva village.  The power was applied and after a slight slip of the driving wheels the 28xx dug in and started its train.  The 3 link couplings remain taught when the train comes to rest in the fiddleyard and so the 28xx doesn't have the luxury of picking up the train one wagon at a time, it starts the whole train at once. 

 

After this amazing performance by a locomotive that is now over 50 years old, Tony removed the 28xx from its train and invited me to place the ROD in its place.  The controller was turned and ------ the ROD polished the track.  Tony gave the train a slight helping hand and after a couple of feet the ROD dug in and away it went.  It then hauled the train all the way around the Vale back to the fiddle yard only slipping momentarily as it went up the short gradient at the entrance to the fiddle yard.  Tony explained that the fiddleyard has another slight gradient at its exit, just where the locomotive stands, and this is why the ROD couldn't get the train started.   He then went to his work bench and returned with some offcuts of lead flashing.  These were incrementally placed on the boiler of the ROD until there was sufficient additional weight to enable the ROD to start the train. 

 

This is how much additional lead is needed to allow the ROD to meet the Brief:

 

  

I now have to find a way of hiding this lead in various crevices of the chassis and/or Guy's loco body.  Once installed I will then return to Pendon to try once more.   So close but no cigar! (yet).

 

 

Many thanks to the Pendon team for their hospitality and for their kind words of encouragement.  Better luck next time, hopefully.

 

Regards,

Frank

Absolutely wonderful Frank - well done!

Gerry

7 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

Ken Northwood of Torreyford fame (Modeller Oct 62 et al) built and ran several Sayer kits. Just to show how old they are, his modified hall from Sayer Chapman parts won an award at the Model Railway Engineering Exhibition in 1953. It had a Pitman motor, in the tender, driving the loco via Graham Farish UV joints so he could fill the loco with lead to haul the less than free running stock of the time.

 

 

Mike Wiltshire

Having taken a very roundabout route the remaining locos and stock from Ken Northwoods North Devonshire Railway now reside in several boxes under my layout in my railway shed.  Amongst them is the award winning Sayer Chaplin Modified Hall but sadly it has suffered over the years and is now in a sorry state.  There is also a 14xx 0-4-2T - also built from Sayer Chaplin parts - and this is rather more presentable but both engines really are products of their time.  As a young teenager I drooled over the NDR when it appeared in Railway Modeller in the 1960s and could only dream of having models such as these.  Another of the locos in the collection is what was termed an 'Outside Frame Dean Goods' built from a Ks kit and this really was an object of desire to me at the time - John Harrisons Torpoint layout also had one and was another influential layout.  But whilst they were probably state of the art when built in the 50s and 60s these locos really are just curiosities these days and they will find no place on my own layout. The same also goes for the coaches which are mostly Exleys and whilst highly desirable at the time now don't cut the mustard.

Gerry

Whilst I am old enough to have ridden behind a Manor in BR service, living on the Southern Waterloo- Weymouth line as I did I don't recall having done so.  But I certainly recall seeing them as they regularly turned up on the SR.  Somewhere I have a snap taken on my juvenile Brownie camera of 7818 Granville Manor on shed at Eastleigh around 1964 whilst Frilsham Manor with the 'GWR' tender came though Winchester several times.  I also saw Cookham Manor arrive at Taplow on a special from Birmingham at an early GWS open day at Taplow around 1966.

2 hours ago, Not Jeremy said:

And going back to Limpley Stoke, the view from the box was (unlike Bradford Junction) also very picturesque, looking across the valley to the river Avon and Kennet and Avon canal above it.

 

 

This shot has never been seen or published before, it didn't make the book as the quality isn't brilliant, but it was taken by Mervyn and shows a "Dean Goods" which looks to be shunting the exchange sidings(?)

 

O for a time machine...

 

Simon

Nothing could be finer than a Dean Goods in the Avon Valley!  If you manage to find a time machine going back to Limpley Stoke Simon, I'll come along for the ride if that's ok?

Beautiful work Jack.  I especially like what you have done with 4026. I always thought that the Hornby Star had potential in spite of its shortcomings and you have proved the point - I'm very tempted to get on with mine now and get it converted to EM.  The King is very nice also - and has really brought out how good the  model is - but I just so much prefer a Star to a King!

Gerry

Some of the K38s were definitely painted all over brown in the pre WW2 era.  I have in the past consulted the GWR Carriage Registers which give details, dates, etc when vehicles were altered including livery changes and some of the K38s were definitely repainted in brown and in that period would have had the GWR roundel.  I cannot easily access my notes relating to this material but what I found was definitive enough for  me to do one in this livery myself - photo attached. I also have a photo taken at Weymouth in the late 1930s showing the Channel Island Boat Express leaving and the first vehicle in the train is a K38 in brown - again I would have to dig deep to find it.  As an aside to this Carriage Working Programmes show that the Channel Island Boat Express always had such a van in the train and other photographs show that this was often a K38 in full Ocean Mails livery - certainly I have photos of the boat train on the Weymouth Harbour Tramway in 1939 with such a vehicle in the formation.

Many years ago I wanted to build a model of Gara Bridge station.  It was the beautiful scenic setting that appealed to me,  along with the William Clark buildings, and I even got as far as making a couple of them - the goods shed and the signal box.  As part if my research I visited the site and at that time - very early 1980s - the station building was pretty much original - with its canopy - and was accessible.  But as I progressed I became increasingly concerned that the layout would actually be very boring to operate.  There was a 45xx and B set that would cross with a 45xx and B set and that was about it - the model didn't proceed any further!   The scenic setting is undoubtedly superb and I would love to see what somebody of the calibre of Geoff Taylor could do with it. I haven't been back there since but I understand that the station has been significantly altered and is now a house.

1 hour ago, Bazza said:

Quite a few at Didcot today too!

I'm so pleased I was able to make it to Didcot today - what a splendid spectacle it was!   I don't think I have ever seen so many people at the Railway Centre.  It really was a wonderful day out!

Gerry