Edwardian

Always interesting to chart progress at Totnes. The Italianate pumping station tower is gone (it was still there in 1938), but the footbridge roof is clinging on in part.

True, but the typical set up of an 'Ashburton' is probably a single daily goods running onto the branch from a mainline yard, and while specific locos might be rostered for the service from time to time, these were not the branch engines in the way a dedicated passenger tank might be allocated to a branch sub-shed. In other words I feel a little leeway is possible with various likely candidates taking a turn and I don't see why a 5700 could not be one at the right point in time. For Ashburton, for instance, the first 4800 is, IIRC, March 1936. Before then its always 517s. Up to about 1934, again IIRC, a Newton Abbot 4400 Small Prairie could bring the goods service to and along the branch, which is, of course, a prototype announced; I did refer to both panniers and small prairies. Also up to c.1934, IIRC, there were Buffalos kicking around NA that might have served. That would be my preference if running a Pannier, but 5700s came to NA, IIRC at least by the mid-'thirties, so to my mind one could have a 4400 with the option of a new 5700 taking a turn, depending on when or where you set your scene. One has options, then, for the daily goods loco. Perfecting the choices available for them is not, I think, as crucial as the gap of the small branch passenger type, which Dapol's announcement should convincingly fill. A 517 or 4800 is the sine qua non for the inter-war Ashburton-type branch. As I say, I've waited nearly 50 years for this happy news, so I'm not at this point minded to quibble about the supporting cast. While we are celebrating the GWR branchline, the 4500s and B-Sets announced suggest a Kingsbridge-ilk branch.

Though peak Ashburtonism lies many years in the past, I have witnessed five decades of modellers turning to the inter-war GWR branchline terminus as a layout staple. In all that time, at no stage has anyone produced typical or correct motive power for the classic inter-war GWR branch. I have seen two 14XX/4800 iterations, with neither being in true pre-war condition, and anyway, for most of the inter-war years, it was the 517, not the newer 4800, that was the most common and typical engine seen. This morning, I opened my inbox to find that Dapol, which has already announced much goodness for the GW modeller, has announced (i) a 517, which looks as if it could serve both the Grouping and pre-Grouping modeller, and (ii) a 4800 sans both top-feed and bunker-side steps, suggesting a genuine inter-war version. With the Dapol auto-coach and the Kernow railmotor (albeit, the latter is rather imperfect) spanning both the pre and post Grouping years, Rapido wagons, and better panniers and small prairies on the way, there has never been a better time to return to this subject and Dapol is to be congratulated. Doomsayers have long claimed that the complex 517 class history and its extinction before Nationalisation of preservation meant it would never be tackled. The complexity is over-stated. Assuming that major variants using the long-w/b are chosen, I have always felt that a 517 should be feasible. It is the second factor that is the hardest to overcome in the minds of manufacturers. Any release of a pre-Grouping design extinct by 1948 is a significant development in this hobby and Dapol should be particularly thanked and congratulated for this. Doing both together makes sense to me in development terms, and no doubt helps with the perceived feasibility of the 517, but, even so, Dapol had to overcome the idea that the DJ Models 14XX/4800 had salted the earth for a further version of the later prototype. I assume the Hattons commission model is more or less defunct by this stage. Hornby really should have re-tooled the ex-Airfix 14XX years ago, but did not, as it did not re-tool its ex-Dapol Terrier until someone else decided to. We can only hope that Margate resists any temptation to produce a last minute 'Oxford' 14XX! So, excellent news and well done Dapol! After five decades, if I'm spared, it is a consumation for which I have devoutly wished.

So, here's an idea .... We are looking forward to a beautiful O1 in the delightful fictitious 'Wainwright bluebell blue" livery. We are also looking forward to a beautiful little Manning Wardle. Now, the Rapido MW is an L, not a K, as I believe was SE&CR 752, but what about doing the next best thing to a MW in fully-lined Wainwright green? Rapido's L in a fictitious 'Wainwright bluebell blue" livery? We could even have a poll to select a suitably floral moniker.

I did comment, somewhere, that I really hope that Rapido do this fully-lined guise of their announced Sir Berkeley, because it's close enough to official WNR livery to pass as a variant thereof!

Last Saturday in the Beamish colliery engine shed....

Sometimes the Utoobe algae-rhythm does right by me. When I saw the thumbnail, I, too, thought it was from Annie's virtual universe. The genuine article; made in Newcastle! This one, spotted last weekend in the Beamish colliery engine shed, came from Leeds!

I'm in love....

Chris, have you considered trawling the local planning portal? You can download any architect's plans for old building conversions, which might provide you with some useful examples of vernacular structure sizes, proportions, gable angles and such like. The first one I randomly clicked on on the Gwynedd portal:

The Bouch locos add to the Stainmore feel this layout has for me! I live very close to the Stainmore Gap before the move (and am still not very far away). The bleakness of the moor and pregnant gloom of the sky seem very familiar! Now a Class 59 is not a thing often seen (or even mentioned!), so very good to see it in your line up.

Yes, Brother Compound is correct; the layout is not the WNR. The railway has a history and an extent that would never be modelled comprehensively. At it's simplest, once must remember there is a prototype! That said, the WNR model railway needs to follow the usual compromises and to find 'artistic' solutions therefore in both physical and operational terms in its depiction of the prototype. Thus Brother Schooner does make a very profound point. There are a lot of things, I refelect, that only exist in my imagination!

So long as the Bronx is still up and the Battery's down, I will happily accept that. Oh, I had assumed there would be, but....

If the Bichoverhams to the North are Up, then everything else is Down? Or the other way around!

Ah, just seen this, but you have anticpated my response! Err..... Good question. Don't know. Up to the Birchoverhams and Down to CA, Bury and Norwich, or t'other way around? Yes The only way... Thank you for your wishes and also for posting these. Very handy

Thanks. I can only attest to the reason I am biased towards LQ signals, but, yes, it is one of those details that helps set the period by being typical of it. No yella Distant arms niver! Thanks, Annie, definitely a low spoon count in recent months. Spoons and days. My parents' gaff needed sorting, packing up and the stuff moving out. In the Marie Kondo Universe, we, as a family, must represent the Antichrist. Fortunately, since none of us is a Millennial, we understand that the KonMari method is utter b0ll0cks. That said, my parents' house was full. They've been there since '76, so their entire lives since then, and much of mine unto the third generation, was evident in the house and its attic, along with much of my deceased grandparents' lives. It's cumulative hording unto the third generation. It made me think. What it made me think was, I need a model railway executor for when my number's up. This was the slow work of months, not least because I have a school-age sprog, two mentally school-aged dogs and a full-time job while my parents' gaff is 150 miles away. Latterly it became very pressured as we had an early offer and were being pressed to complete before Christmas. I narrowly missed that, did some more during the Christmas holidays, and when I returned to the house in early January with a week or so until exchange and completion, l found that a burst pipe had flooded both floors of the house at taken the ceilings down. This was not ideal. There was more packing and re-packing, a little soggier than before, then moving, then unloading here. This means that the large shed is now rammed with stuff, so nowhere for Castle Aching, and the overspill filled my reception rooms in the house. Again, not ideal. This last month has been spent clearing these rooms. Another couple of weeks and things will be to rights. I can certainly see the light at the end of this tunnel. And most of my sitting room. Anyway, I haven't really had enough spoons for the job at any given point, so certainly no spoons left for modelling. The next task will be to go through the shed to determine the fate of each and every box until there is enough room to convert it to a railway room, albeit one with a lot of under-basedboard storage! I do think that my little salvaged BLT might find room in the house, though, so I might revisit that. As you know, I have a fondness for old scratch-built buildings. As little buildings are a my joy, I honour those folk who went before and cherish their models. I found what I thought was a very charismatic signal box on the Bay of Fleas. I don't recall much other interest in it and it was mine for £14. The model is in very reasonable nick, with really just the top of the stovepipe and some handrails to be replaced. I fancied it for Castle Aching, but decided that, regardless, I would use it somewhere on the layout. I had reviewed just about every model signal box going, but the style of this one just looked right in my eyes for the WNR. It features the three-by-three window pane arrangement that the Great Eastern finally adopted for their standardised design of 1886. For me the proportions of the windows seemed fair and I liked that the windows were in pairs, one inset, one set forward, so that the inner ones may slide behind the outer. This arrangement is also found on Saxby & Farmer boxes, such as Bearsted on the LC&DR and Combe Junc. on the Liskeard & Looe Railway. Thus, I can base the standard WNR type off this scratch-built prototype, using components from the Wills kit. The frontage of that kit could be shortened from 5 windows to the 4 of my model. It rather depends on how many lever frames each box is likely to need. As to the colour, yes, it is rather Late & Never Early Railway, and the WNR station colours are buffs and stone shades and such. That said, some pre-Grouping railways had it that the S&T department would do its own thing, so signal boxes were not always painted in the same colour scheme as station buildings. Green and cream/ivory is, of course, reflective of WNR livery and I had been wondering if it might apply these colours to its signalling infrastructure. Thank you. Those are some lovely kits.

I have had a lot on which has absorbed all my time and energy and I am more of less chronically unwell at present; both Miss T and I have had a bad few weeks in that regard. No modelling. Looking ahead, I want to consider the WNR S&T department. I have long held the view that the WNR would have used one of the private contractors, like McKenzie Holland or Saxby & Farmer. There will be some old slot-in-post signals around, but the introduction on the WNR of block signally in the 1880s would have seen something of an overhaul in the S&T infrastructure. I have decided on a contractor, Saxby & Farmer, and on a style. The standard WNR boxes resemble in style the GER's standard 1886 design. Although McKenzie & Holland were the GER's main contractor, some of this style were built by Dutton & Co, and the design is very similar to boxes produced ny Saxby & Farmer. I really like the look of the design and it is nice to tie the WNR to some extent to GER practice and examples from Norfolk. In terms of resources, I have a nice scratch-built box in this style, and have the ability to kit-bash both the Wills plastic Saxby & Farmer kit and Osborn Models' laser-cut GER box, although I am not sure I would need such a large example. In terms of signal components, lower quadrant (GWR preferences showing through) Saxby & Farmer etched and cast parts are available from Wizard Models. In planning the physical building, then, the first question is, in terms of the 4 boxes I will need (Castle Aching, Achingham and Birchoverham Market North and South boxes), based on the respective track plans and likely signalling arrangements, how many levers am I likely to need in each box? That's a rather indirect way, I suppose, of saying, is it about time we evolved signally diagrams for Brother Schooner's excallent track plans.

Yorkshire Titantic Caption: "Give over, Luv. Am sure there's enough room fur us both ont door, if only thee'd leave off fidgeting"

Again, that is what rain is for!

Thanks, Gary. Look OK at a cursory glance, but I'll give tem a good look over this weekend. WNR and Isle of Wight trains in the offing then.

Now arrived at Aching Constable carriage works.... Of course, having viewed the photograph I was horrified to see the ghostly reflected image of a malignant entity from Beyond towering menancingly over my carriage prints. It was chilling to think it was in there, with me, invisible to the naked eye! Then I realised it was bird sh1t on the window pane. Panic over.

I'll think about it. No guarantee, mind. But, seriously, that is a lovely shot, very 'natural' looking splay of track.

Great project, and I look forward to developments. Still, resulted in a double-take. I thought I was looking at a giant 3D print of a locomotive boiler until I saw the stitching and realised it was a sofa.

Bowlers hats ... When I served, I attended the annual Cavalry Memorial day in Hyde Park. We were expected to wear officers' out of uniform 'uniform' for such ocasions, a dark suit, regimental tie, rolled umbrella and bowler hat. It did not go down well when, seeing brother officers converging on the Park from various directions, Yours Truly exclaimed "bloody Hell, it's an Avengers convention!!"