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Graham_Muz

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  1. Graham_Muz
    Well its only a couple of days to go until Fisherton Sarum makes an appearance at Warley (stand B32) If you are attending the show please come and say hello. I have been busy touching a few things up, fixing a broken yard lamp and generally cleaning and making everything presentable. I am looking forward to this evening as GWMark of this parish is going to try out the new turntable speed controller, this will enable an increased initial inertia to get the table bridge moving before reducing to a lower turning speed and can be set to suit each direction of the table bridge, this will hopefully replace the current temporary of H&M controller. Thanks in advance Mark! Also many thanks to the High Wycombe and District Model Railway Society for allowing me to keep the layout set up at their Society rooms for the last few weeks. Some will have seen the picture below appearing in the Warley preview article in this months Hornby Magazine So thanks to the magazine and that nice Mr Nevard for allowing me to share this with you. I have now gladly accepted an invitation for Fisherton Sarum to appear that the Manchester show next October which will be the furthest North it will have travelled to date and I am honoured to appear at such a quality show. The updated list of Fisherton on tour is now: 2010 6th March 2010 - Chesham MRC, at the Elgiva Theatre, St. Mary's Way, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1HR. 10.00-17.00 25th April 2010 - SWAG Members at Taunton 11th and 12th of September 2010 - Reading Society of Model Engineers, centenary show - ???The Blessed Hugh Faringdon??? School. Reading. 2nd and 3rd October 2010 - Manchester MRS, at Armitage Centre, Moseley Road, Fallowfield, Manchester M14 6HE. 2011 January 2011 - Astolat MRC at the Guildford Methodist Church, Woodbridge Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 4RG 09.30 - 17.00 5th March 2011 - Ab-Rail 2011 - Abingdon & District MRC
  2. Graham_Muz
    Well it's that time of the year again and Wycrail the annual exhibition for the High Wycombe and District Model Railway Society is happening tomorrow. Wednesday saw the usual frantic activity at the clubrooms to get all the stuff ready and also to dismantle Hinton Parva, the Society layout attending the show this year (as there are nine layouts within the Society we exhibit them one a year on a rotational basis). Today sees the start of the set up, collecting one of the vans, early this afternoon, the loading at the club rooms before the short drive to the John Hampden Grammar School. Anticipation is high for another great show with a number of layouts from this parish attending, including of course the newly extended Cement Quay making its first official public outing. I think that the lecture by Simon Kohler of Hornby is going to be popular and somewhat over subscribed! I look forward to meeting many friends from here and hopefully making a few new ones too. Oh and don't forget to buy a few grand draw tickets, it's not often you get the chance to win a cab ride on the Chiltern Line!
  3. Graham_Muz
    Hi John The finished model so you can see the result of my filling and painting can be found here You will like the pictures there as she has not been weathered yet! Even with the small amount of filling involved the use of the SRG castings is still quicker and easier than my old method of making the replacement cabs from scratch in brass sheet.
  4. Graham_Muz
    This weekend sees the High Wycombe and District Model Railway Societies annual Wycrail exhibition Hinton Parva will be the Societies layout at the show this year (having 9 layouts they are only exhibited at our show in rotation) This Wednesday will see the dismantling of the layout at the clubrooms in preparation for the weekend. We will have a special guest operator this weekend experiencing the whole process of exhibiting a large club layout (Hinton Parva is 32' x 10') in the form of Mike Wild from Hornby Magazine. He will be joining us on Friday afternoon to assist with the loading at the clubrooms and setting up at the venue in the evening, operating the layout on the Saturday and then the reverse process of dismantling and returning the layout back to the clubrooms. Hinton Parva will be in good company at the show as Summat Colliery and the newly extended Cement Quay from this parish will also be attending. Anyone attending the exhibition please come and say hello.
  5. Graham_Muz
    Hi Jim Yes I have been unable to find a good enough match for the Hornby factory finish (even the new Humbrol range does not match very well in my eyes) so I respray the whole loco and tender and line with prefix lining and number decals. Names plates are from Fox.
  6. Graham_Muz
    Last Saturday we held an open day at the High Wycombe and District MRS (of which I am the Chairman) to celebrate the completion of the renovation of the extension to the Society rooms. Pictures and a video walk around of the new and refurbished facilities can be found here I am delighted to be able to say that the open day was considered by all to be a success. It was probably the first occasion, certainly in the 25 or so years that I have been a member of the Society, that we had every club layout up and running at the same time. Along with three visiting layouts (including my own Fisherton Sarum), the event was larger than some exhibitions I have attended! Although we were not keeping a formal count my guess is that between 60 and 70 members, their families and guests visited during the afternoon. As well as club members and families we also had a number of invited guests including members of the modelling media, with Railway Modeller, British Railways Modelling, Hornby Magazine and also our very own Andy York being present (I am not sure what the collective noun is for a group of model railway magazine editors, but I will not repeat the suggestion made by one of them!). We also had guests from organisations who have helped and assisted the society in some way either recently or over the last few years, either perhaps by advertising in the Societies annual Wycrail exhibition programme, providing assistance with the exhibition or more recently with help and materials for the clubroom expansion. It really was great to see everyone enjoying the layouts, the surroundings and enjoying refreshments in the new ???Bistro??? area. We received very positive comments from all the visitors, including those members and representatives from our neighbouring model railway clubs and societies that we also invited. No time to relax though as the Societies Wycrail exhibition is in only two weeks time on the 7th November!
  7. Graham_Muz
    Hi. No they are not currently on the website.Drop Chris Knowles-Thomas an email his address is on the SRG site.
  8. Graham_Muz
    21C148 / s21C148 is now finished and just awaiting light weathering. The difference in livery as 21C148 condition on one side as yet un-named and in post Feb 1948 condition on the other can be seen, along with the differing deflector lengths. To answer Ivan's comment is that the casting for the original style cabs (which were based on my original scratch brass cabsides) are available to non members from the Southern Railways Group.
  9. Graham_Muz
    Being held at: John Hampden Grammar School Marlow Hill High Wycombe Bucks HP11 1SZ Open 10am till 5pm See Exhibition website here The 36th annual model railway exhibition organised by the High Wycombe and District Model Railway Society, is being held at the John Hampden Grammar School on Saturday 7th November. This year also sees the introduction of a Grand Draw, with an exciting first prize of a cab ride on a Chiltern Railways train. Visitors to the show will also be able to benefit from a number of informative lectures about the hobby; the headline lecture is being given by Hornby Hobbies about the development of the production of one of their models from concept to hitting the shops. Layouts attending: British Outline Hinton Parva - OO Lower Peak Wharf - OO9 Aldeburgh - Z Bagborough West - 3mm Bachdale & Dibley Level - OO9 Dartley - OO Priory Hill - N Bedlem Heath - OO Wells Green TDM - OO Fursenhal - EM The Brewery - EM Cement Quay - extended - OO Dairy Lane - N Gorpeton Blymee - OO Llangenydd - OO Whitburn Corp. Trams - OO Happisburgh Goods Yard - O Two Sisters Farm - Gn Continental Outline: Barental - HO Mino-Douro - N North American Outline: Idaho Springs - On St Marks Yard - HO Mill Falls - HO Full trade support: Hornby Trains G & W Second-hand Railroad Trading Geoff Gamble Books Model Junction (N Scale) JB's Model World Sunningwell Command Controls Page Components - Tool suppliers Cheltenham Models Sist Trees H&A Models Radley Models 3 Counties Models NGauging Rail Room Electronics Brilliant Baseboards As well the lecture by Simon Kohler the Sales and Marketing Director of Hornby, one of the most influential people in our hobby today we are also proud to present lectures by Jon Jewett, of Sunningwell Command Controls and Steven Bird of SiSt Trees. John will be providing two lectures on Digital Command control (DCC). The first showing the novice the whys and wherefores of starting with DCC and his second will be on the advancements in DCC and its potentials in the furtherance of our hobby. Steven Bird will be heading the fourth lecture on "What a difference a Tree makes" about how to add one the finishing touch to a layout with the addition of effective trees. The Grand Draw, with its amazing first prize, kindly donated by Chiltern Railways, of a cab ride on the Chiltern line is a new venture this year and other prizes, including train sets, models, kits and books kindly donated by the likes of Hornby, Peco, Parkside, Blacksmith Models, the History Press and Model Rail magazine. A free vintage bus service is once again being operated from the Railway Station and Town Centre to John Hampden Grammar School. The bus service will depart from Wycombe Railway Station on the hour between 10:00 and 16:00. Return journeys will depart John Hampden Grammar School every hour between 10:30 and 15:30 with the final two journeys departing at 16:25 and 17:05 immediately after the show closes.
  10. Graham_Muz
    I think Buckinghamshire still counts as being in SAG although I am a Southern modeller to make up for it!
  11. Graham_Muz
    Badger, I am surprised at the 15mins comment but sorry if you saw the layout when it was not operating to its usual standard.
  12. Graham_Muz
    Hinton Parva made an appearance at the Farnham and District MRS show last weekend with the new lighting rig making its debut. A few teething issues mainly with the operators on Saturday morning were soon overcome and on the whole the weekend went well. We do however have a couple of small items to fix before its next outing at Wycrail on the 7th November.
  13. Graham_Muz
    Had a good evening at the model railway society last night, for those don't know (although it is still true for those who already know) I am the chairman of the High Wycombe and District MRS (you can also see my blog on behalf of the MRS layouts Hinton Parva here ) the club is going from strength to strength at the moment and are just putting the finishing touches to the doubling of our clubroom to 4500sq ft which has required quite a lot of refurbishment. The new wiring in the new room went live a couple of weeks ago and last night we had running cold water in the new kitchen / bistro area for the first time. Following the laying of the new flooring in the workshop area at the weekend the workbenches and some of the machine tools have been positioned in their new home. Hinton Parva was having its last full practice run before it heads off on its travels to the Farnham show in a couple of week time. If you are planning a visit to the show come and say hello. Blandford St Mary the club's British O gauge layout was also having finishing touches added to it prior to it going out to the Berkhamstead exhibition on the same Saturday. All in all a good evening.
  14. Graham_Muz
    Well the last practice run was held this evening before the layout gets dismantled next week in readiness for its appearance at the Fareham MRS exhibition in Aldershot on the 10/11th October. It then has to be re-erected at our clubroom for the High Wycombe and District MRS open day on the 24th October before being dismantled again so it can appear at the clubs Wycrail exhibition on Saturday 7th November. At Wycrail Hinton Parva will have a special mystery guest operator.....more on that later....any guess welcome!
  15. Graham_Muz
    Hinton Parva is the High Wycombe and District Model Railway Society's British 00 gauge layout. The layout is large ??“ 32ft x 12ft, and maximum use is made of this size to provide a running spectacle for the viewers. The complete sequence takes some 50 minutes and involves about 90 mainline movements ??“ trains in, trains running through, trains starting or loco movements. This intensity and variety ensures no dull moments for the viewers (or the operators !!). However - please note that tail-chasing is NOT in our vocabulary. The layout represents a BUSY junction station on a Joint Midland/Eastern north-south line. The ???Branch??? purports to be a cross-country line bringing Southern and Western trains from the south-west. As well as the usual ???mainline??? movements, there is a goods yard constantly shuffling wagons for the pick up goods trains, and a motive Power Depot which has to receive, service, prepare and dispatch locos for the stopping branch express trains, all of which require a loco change. We operate a varied, late - 1950s, steam/early diesel schedule with stock ranging from ???heritage??? Hornby Dublo / Trix to modern productions with a large sprinkling of quality kit and scratch built locos and coaches. All locos are ??? super-detailed ??? with no ???off-the-shelf??? offerings. Not many layouts feature two Garratts (one an LMS and the other the sole LNER machine) hauling 60 wagon trains OR a W1 ex-LNER Pacific or 10001,10201,10800, prototype Deltic diesels(gas turbine). The loco stock for an exhibition totals 46 locos ??“ and they will ALL make a running appearance. Another unusual feature is the working semaphore signals ??“ 37 working arms at the last count. Apart from the aesthetic value of the signals, they also provide drivers with their only means of indications of what they are supposed to do ??“ truly proto-typical. The layout has been designed to provide a spectacle for the viewers, and we operate with the intention of entertaining.
  16. Graham_Muz
    Oh go on then one from me (picture courtesy of Hornby Magazine and Chris Nevard)
  17. Graham_Muz
    My previous workbench on the 'old' RMweb can be found here. Hornby have yet to do a Bulleid Light Pacific body variation to suit the original style cab. When first introduced 21C101 to 21C163 had the original Bulleid style cab with narrow front lookout and two large side windows, the rear one of which slid forwards behind the front. Starting in July 1947 the cabs were modified, with a wedge shaped front (sometimes referred to a 'V' shaped) giving a larger front window area, it took until December 1955 to complete the modification to all. As I model the period from 1946 to 1949 many of the Light Pacifics in service during that time would still have had the original style cab. I have modified a number of the Hornby models so far by either fitting a brass cab or using the white metal castings from the Southern Railway Group replacing the existing Hornby version. Here is 21C102 "Salisbury" fitted with both the original style cab and also modified to include the short smoke deflectors that were as originally fitted to the first engines of the class when built. Compare the cab with that fitted below on 21C151 "Winston Churchill" which has the later modified wedge shaped cab and the standard length smoke deflectors So yet another Bulleid Light Pacific is on the workbench for conversion. She is to become 21C148 'Crediton', a Salisbury allocated engine so more than suitable for Fisherton Sarum. She is being fitted with an original style cab, for this I am using cast white metal sides from the SRG. These are supposed to replace the whole depth of the side of the cab but cutting the whole side off makes it a little tricky to keep the cab square on reassembly due to the weakening effect it has on the original Hornby body, I have therefore kept the bottom edge of the cab side and cut the castings to suit. The left hand side will be as per her 1946 condition with original style short smoke deflector, already cut as seen in the picture below, and will be unnamed as she was not named until March 1948. The right hand side will be in the condition she ran between March 1948 and May 1949 as s21C148, named and with British Railways in Sunshine lettering on the tender, and also standard length smoke deflectors. Since the photos were taken she has been given a coat of Halfords Plastic primer and a coat of Railmatch malachite green. I hope to manage to complete the lining today.
  18. Graham_Muz
    Have spent a very good and present few hours at Scaleforum today meeting many friends including many from the HW&DMRS and also RMweb including of course the raiding party from the South West (minus Metro due to train breakdown issues and I think I left before he finally got there) The venue, being kind is in a transition stage, due to considerable rebuilding works taking place. I am glad I was able to park in the rear car park rather than under go the hike to get from the front overflow car park to the tent tunnel entrance at the rear of the complex. A very good line up of layouts, in the quite warm, but smaller than usual main hall, including a simply stunning one from Holland called "Flint Field" lovely running (which sadly I can't say about many of the other layouts when I was watching) with loads of nice touches and excellent detail. The trade was mainly grouped in the cooler Mole Barn and business seemed very brisk for all, which is a good thing (I also parted with some beer vouchers for a few kits and a book, all Southern related of course). I wont even mention the outside catering (well in fact a burger van) that just could not cope with the amount of people meaning a long queue for those braving the produce (as I was leaving one of the centre's managers was saying over the radio that the caterer (burger van) was running out of stock and not sure what they would do for tomorrow! The London orbital car park I mean M25 was a pain on the way home but overall was worth the trip.
  19. Graham_Muz
    About to head of to deepest darkest Surrey to try and sneak into Scaleforum without them realising that my track gauge is too narrow! I am looking forward to meeting up with a number of RMweb members that I know are going, including the raiding party from the South West that will be dropping anchor today. One question tho is do I dare play the game of counting the steam locos with outside valve gear gear? Seriously though good modelling is good modelling what ever the scale or gauge and the layout line up looks great. Will report back on the day later.
  20. Graham_Muz
    Well as I am bit new to the whole blog culture I thought this new site would be a place to start. I have a couple of blogs on this new shiny site already one about my layout Fisherton Sarum and another yet to be started about my workbench, this one, I intend to be much more general than that and about my thoughts and other model railway activities. So better start somewhere and perhaps a little more about me would be a place to kick off. Those that know me are aware of my passion for all things Southern Railway and in particular the period from 1946 to 1949. I am therefore involved with the Southern Email Group (SEMG) and its website having contributed a number of pages to that site and also am part of the moderating team on the email list (which does not involve much as it generally self moderating, except of course when the list owner goes on holiday then all hell seems to break loose on occasions. I am chairman of the High Wycombe and District Model Railway Society and although have been chairman for only 3 years (it seems longer) I have been a member of the Society for over 25 years, as I joined at the tender age of 15! I can be found on the exhibition circuit either with Fisherton Sarum or any of the High Wycombe and District MRS's layouts (we have 9 to choose from, but usually Hinton Parva) and occasionally with Mike Wild's Bay Street Shed mk2 (Mike being the editor of Hornby Magazine and may of you might have followed the build in that publication.)I have also been privileged to occasionally been allowed to play with the wonderful train sets of Chris Nevard at the odd exhibition too. Although not always with a layout I can sometimes be found allowing Andy Y to head outside for "fresh air" breaks at shows when the RMweb stand is in attendance (come and find us at the manchester show next weekend). Anyway that will do for an introduction for now, this weekend I will popping along to the Scaleforum show at Leatherhead on the Saturday so if you see me say hello!
  21. Graham_Muz
    An update on Fisherton Sarum's travels: 2009 21st/22nd November 2009- Warley Model Railway Club at the NEC Hall 5 2010 6th March 2010 - Chesham MRC, at the Elgiva Theatre, St. Mary's Way, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1HR. 10.00-17.00 25th April 2010 - SWAG Members at Taunton 11th and 12th of September 2010 - Reading Society of Model Engineers, centenary show - ???The Blessed Hugh Faringdon??? School. Reading. 2011 January 2011 - Astolat MRC at the Guildford Methodist Church, Woodbridge Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 4RG 09.30 - 17.00 5th March 2011 - Ab-Rail 2011 - Abingdon & District MRC
  22. Graham_Muz
    Fisherton Sarum is a Southern Railway shed set between 1946 and 1949 those migrating over from the previous version of RM Web will no doubt be familiar with my thread on there. As this is basically a finished layout (if they are ever finished) this blog will concentrate on updates on its travels and also a few odds and ends that still need to be done to improve operation etc. Fisherton Sarum has appeared in the December issue of Railway Modeller (and in video format on their Annual CD Rom) and also the April 2009 issue of Hornby Magazine. The pictures in the gallery are courtesy of Hornby Magazine and Chris Nevard. Having a varied collection of Southern locomotives I felt a way to display these was via the construction of a motive power depot type layout. Having looked at the plans for a number of Southern sheds a compromise was needed. Salisbury is the inspiration (as it has a family connection) and the basis for the structures on the layout. The name comes from the fact I wanted to retain the link to Salisbury without actually calling it Salisbury. The current station at Salisbury was originally called Salisbury Fisherton being on Fisherton Street. Old Sarum, of course, is the famous hill fort forming the origin of Salisbury. The key elements taken from Salisbury were the Coal Stage and ramp, turntable, substantial water tower building with stores and engineman dormitories below. The LSWR style shed albeit reduced from ten roads to four has been transposed to the east and is accessed by a kick back arrangement rather than a fan of sidings to balance the space utilised. Locomotives arrive and depart to/from the station to the East, some can then be seen on trains on the running lines to the rear. Coal, ash and stores wagons come and go. There are a number of cameo scenes around the layout including representations of my Grandfather (who was a Ganger at Salisbury) and Father (albeit in short trousers) trying to bunk the shed. Feel free to ask any questions, except the one about where the GWR lines are!
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