Edwardian

Yes, the Lynn and Fakenham Railway (subsequently part of the MGN) was authorised in 1880 (see post 1160 on page 47). No, I had only the vaguest notion that it must lie somewhere between Rising and Acre. I have not done so on the map, but I had considered using 'expandable geography', i.e. inserting an additional slither of Norfolk that would avoid trampling over any real places!

This is all I have had time to do. The first map shows West Norfolk as it really was. MGN in ochre, GER in blue. The second suggests where the crowded southern section of the WNR might run. Routes are approximate. Included is the GER's tramway to Bishop's Lynn. I have not filled in the blanks to the north, but at least 3 places need to be fitted in; the inland market town of Birchoverham Market, the minor port Birchoverham Staithe, and the genteel resort, Birchoverham Next the Sea. Also to be sketched in is the line to the Wash coast and the points of connection with the MGN and the GER.

Thanks, Kevin. Actually, that coat is painted with brown paint, and is supposed to look brown, but if my attempted muting of the colour has caused it to look too grey, I apologise. [Gulp]

Looking at what Don, Kevin and Andy G are suggesting, it looks as if, having left the WNR mainline in the vicinity of Flitching, the line to the west coast of Norfolk must now fork. The southern fork would be the GER tramway, through pleasant orchards, to Bishop's Lynn and its guano and whale oil plant! The northern fork would be striking for our coal wharf and failed resort beyond the villages of Ingoldstone, Snettisthorpe and Frimham. If there is going to be mineral traffic, the GER might loan a No. 552 class, otherwise confined to ballast trains. These locomotives are so ugly that they actually have an attraction. I imagine Q1s affect Southern fans in a similar way! Picture from the GERS site.

The Captain and the Tradesman 2 more of the Preiser 1/72nd set: 1. A Captain of the Achingham Troop of the King’s Own Royal Regiment Norfolk Imperial Yeomanry. Slightly mixed dress with Sam Browne, buff breeches and brown boots combined with blue patrol jacket, but these were years of transition for British military dress and I do not see it as an improbable combination. Further, I recall that, as a young Yeomanry subaltern, we regarded it as a point of honour that no two of us turned up to a Drill Night attired the same way. Had this unlikely event ever occurred, we would have experienced all the horror of two girls who turned up to a party in identical frocks! Anyway, he has the all important chainmail shoulder pieces, the preserve of the Yeomanry and regular cavalry. 2. A tradesman, who should accompany a horse-drawn delivery van. Achingham is a bustling market town, and would doubtless have baker's and other delivery vans, both 2 and 4-wheel, clopping about the town. Again, at 1/72nd, they stand a little taller than the Staddens, but, I trust, are not too tall.

People Again The Horse Holder Back in 2013, when I was set on making a start on this project, the money hadn't yet run out and I was able to pick up some accessories, like the Stadden figures. As I wanted a forge (the arrangement to be like Docking, next to the village pond, but with the forge building based upon Honing) I thought I could defend a 'cameo', so bought the Wills Village Blacksmith set. See picture below (taken from the Gaugemaster site (where it is in stock!). On considering the set for painting this week, it seemed to me that, while the shoeing blacksmith might pass muster, I doubted that the horse holder would. He is not the best sculpt, is rather short compared with the Staddens, and, appears to be wearing wellies. Wellies were relatively rare in photographs of agricultural workers in the inter-war period, so they were out for c.1905. Below is a shot of the Wills character (right) and a Stadden chap (left). It would have been the easiest thing in the world to reposition the latter's right arm, but I saw an excuse for playing about with one of the Preiser 1/72nd figures pictured on page 49. He is a little taller than the Stadden, but not too tall, I would say. Usual process of removing any front trouser crease. A scalpel was used to render his overalls as a waistcoat, with Greenstuff used to give points to the waistcoat and to turn his cap into a flat-cap. I am now having doubts about the Wills horse, however ...

Many good thoughts, photographs and maps. Very much agree with where you are all going. Many thanks. Incidentally, Wolferton is one of my half a dozen short-list want-to-do prototype layouts. I would choose the turn of the century, so the new 'Royal' station would be modelled, but I would span the change-over from the Royal T19s and the Royal Clauds. The Royal Train would be the only GE bogie coaches on the line (probably on the GE) at the time!

Birchoverham Staithe:

Coal traffic would be a great idea; it would give the WNR an excuse to own some mineral opens, perhaps including dumb-buffered wagons? There will, I hope, be a Fox Walker 0-6-0ST. However, with a turntable at CA, the intention in the fullness of time would be to run small tender engines, probably with 4-wheel tenders. Of course, Victorian 0-6-0s were often regarded as mixed traffic or intermediate classes. Yes, the new coastal outlet would be the Wash!

Will have to do map. In the meantime, I am working on 5 figures (circled in blue below) from the Preiser Pilots, Ground Crew and Passengers, 1925 set, which is 1/72nd Scale. So, they are a little tall, but the sculpting is reasonable and the heft a good match for the Stadden, Monty's and Dapol ranges. All need to be converted. For the chaps, the conversions are minimal. The lady you have already seen; she will take a few extra stages.

OK. I had two coastal destinations planned on the north coast. Birchoverham Staithe, the silted up little coastal port, and Birchoverham Next the Sea, the burgeoning, but genteel, resort. Unfortunately, neither will be modelled because the available room will only permit parts of the WNR's Southern Section to be represented. The planned ... no, "planned" is too strong a word, and contrary to all the traditions of the WNR thus far! The anticipated stations on the layout would be Castle Aching, Flitchinham Junction and Achingham. Now, it seems, I need to strike the coast at a further point! At least this will not need modelling either, but it will need to be thought through; these offstage places must all exist as sources of traffic. I must get round to the requested map. It is becoming confusing trying to contain all the invented geography, its relationship to real geography, and the growing network of railway lines, in my head. Meanwhile, people. I like the Little People. I will not necessarily use all of those painted on CA thus far; I like a pool. I plan other projects and need not make my selections until CA is far more advanced than it is now. For instance, I might not use the Aidan Campbell at all on CA, as they clash with the superior Staddens. The latter will probably bear combining with Dapol-derived and suitable Monty's figures. Stadden do HO versions and these may well combine well with period Preiser figures. I bear in mind that I have built much of the village in perspective, so will need HO figures towards the back. Nevertheless, I hope to do justice to a good number of the little blighters. This is, after all, no MRJ Marie Celeste layout, and neither is it a Gone-to-Seed Colonel Stephens affair, charming though those subjects undoubtedly are. No, this is heyday modelling. The optimism and prosperity of mid-Victorian Britain still lingers in this corner of Norfolk. The line is busy within its modest limits, and remains relatively prosperous, as does its neighbourhood. As I envisage 3 stations, part of a bustling village and the edge of a bustling market town, I might find I need a surprising number of folk.

Not for what I have in mind ....!

A young Edwardian woman (hopefully!), converted from a 1920s Preiser aircraft passenger. The skirt is made from masking tape, a technique suggested to me by the gentleman behind Ravenscar Pier, who had to evolve ways of making Edwardian ladies in the pre-Stadden era! Hat is paper, section of sprue and a masking tape ribbon. I have attempted an Edwardian blouse with Greenstuff. I should probably add that ChrisN of this Parish is an influence here, and I may well have absorbed some of his ideas, too!

No, I complain about both. I hold up Bachmann's GW green as a better, deeper colour, but invariably add that it's a pity the orange lining is too heavy. Clearly you've not been paying attention! I vastly prefer browsing in a model railway shop, and confine my purchases to a shop wherever possible. The exception was when I got drunk and accidentally pre-ordered a Hornby Black Motor. Otherwise, I ask my local shop to reserve a forthcoming item and have the pleasure of going into the shop to collect it.

Great that you get a younger, prettier housemaid with the Bench Wringer! Stunning pictures. Both because the natural candour and the colour. Many thanks. I have been admiring some of Edward Linley Sambourne's Edwardian ladies. I'd better get mixing that Greenstuff.

The nearest June's Shildon show got to a pre-Grouping layout; the Edwardian seaside charm of Ravenscar Pier:

Indeed, Jim has kindly done so. I did mange to snatch some brief time to finish off my first round of metal figures. Aidan Campbell children and Mike Pett Supercast flower seller. Now, I have to say that these children, while no doubt beautiful in the eye of maternal love, otherwise might be best viewed from a distance. The girls in particular are, well, rather plain. I do, however, think that the boys might do; one looks like some latter day Artful Dodger and the lad with the toy yacht is a nice touch. The flower seller, is, of course, Mrs Cobbit from Trumpton (Nostalgia fix here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IaIfqq69nw). I purchased her originally to sell flowers on the station forecourt at Fenmarch in 1897, but by 1905 she had evidently moved to Norfolk, and may well set up on the station forecourt at Achingham in due course. I also took a scalpel to a plastic Dapol passenger. I thought I would see if I could make him more Edwardian. With a scalpel I took off the crease to the front of his trousers (front creases in trousers were a relatively new innovation and not, I suspect, to be seen in a workman's hand-me-downs, and, anyway, I doubt they're pressed!). I also cut-away his coat lapels so that they start higher, which I felt to be a more Victorian style. Finally, I used a smidgeon of Greenstuff to suggest a waistcoat. I include a picture of the Dapol chap between two of the Aiden Campbell workmen to show the very marked contrast in style between the two ranges.

My thought, for what it's worth (and this is probably very little because I am concerned with the mind-thirties) is this: Once upon a time there were lots of GW layouts. They had lots of GW stock. Often these included a Corel, the presence of which was highly improbable in most locations. Not that that many wagons from the Other Three featured. This was wrong. My take is that, in the case of common user wagons, I try to reflect the relative proportions in which the Big Four contributed to the pool. Non-common user wagons need a reason to be on the layout. It may be argued that the Southern wagons have less excuse to be on the SDR because they have their own line. Having said that, cattle originating in SR territory travelling to GW territory would no doubt use a SR vehicle, so yes, it seems entirely possible.

Thanks, Jim, that is kind and I will happily take you up on the offer and give that a go.

This gets better and better!

Good idea. In '90s the property had PP for a restaurant!. Our neighbour would object in principle, however! I can see it working, however, and it could potentially be done in such a way as to avoid change of use; if it is still a case of people running a business from their home. We both ran our consultancy businesses from it; the broadband was fine, and has since been further upgraded. There is no problem with mobile coverage. Utilities are cheap; electricity is on a smart meter and water is on something ridiculous like a £2 a month. You can configure the place in a number of ways, with, what 3 receptions, plus office, sun room and games room downstairs. Dining room big enough for a Board Room table! Oh, and bags of off-road parking on nice crunchy gravel for their stylish retro-Fiats, or whatever trendy people drive these days! I suspect we have a modest damages claim, which might go into the mix for leveraging a deal. If it's your home and you are running an office rather than a retail premises or anywhere the public comes to, I believe not. If sections of the house were being used as dedicated office space, you might have to pay non-domestic rates to the Council; The idea of a group of young IT hipsters turning it into a 'creative space' might be more problematic, unless they buy it together and live in it! There is nothing innocent about our neighbour. However, the deed was part of the title to the adjoining farmland, so neither in his title or mine, so he may have been unaware of it. I can drive anything like up and down his precious lane, including, so the deed sayeth, a traction engine! Anyone who wants to pay us a visit in a traction engine is most warmly welcome! If only I had a full-size brace of Fowler ploughing engines!

In terms of 57' coaches in the mid-'30s, I have concentrated research on the North-West and cross-country expresses, as well as their limited use in WoE services. Looking at the formations of such trains on the South Devon mainline, I find that Brake Composites were very common. Against expectations, perhaps, they were the most common type! To run a full timetable you can use far fewer coaches than the real railway. This is because your Up and Down balancing services can use the same coaches, rather than two sets as would typically have been the case on the prototype. I calculated how many GW 57' passenger coaches I would need to run a full 24-hour timetable (this, of course, would utilise a combination of wooden panelled toplights, steel bodied toplights, Collett bow-enders and later Collett flat-enders): Van Thirds 5 Van Thirds (3 compt.) 2 Third 2 Composite 5 Brake Composite 8 Yes, 8. And only 2 All Thirds. This is the weekday winter timetable (running into July!) and Saturday formations, particularly in summer, would doubtless see more Thirds added as strengtheners. Even so, I suspect few would have expected a 4:1 ratio in favour of Brake Composites. Part of the explanation is that Brake Composites are not used to make up short trains, but are used as portions of a longer train, or part of a portion of a train. Another point is that none of the formations concerned utilise more than one GW 57' composite, so the nice idea of marshalling RH and LH compos in a train has no application in these services. Finally, Brake Vans, or 'full brakes' were also very common, but these services are more likely to have employed the 60' K40, than the 57' K38 (Ocean Mails), though I have spotted the latter on cross-country services. There were, of course, a number of 57' toplight diagrams and plenty of NC brake vans (of Dean vintage) were used. Of course, this is just one mainline, and the situation may have been completely different on, say Paddington to Birkenhead or South Wales services. EDIT: Before anyone gets too excited about 'only needing 22 coaches' on cross-country services, my list omits passenger brake vans, parcels vans, siphons, restaurant cars, the Bristol TPO and the significant number of LMS vehicles employed through to Devon on these services. Then, of course, there is the other 50% of express services, the WOE, which generally used 70 footers, or special stock for The Limited, plus siphons, mail, newspapers vans, sleepers, TPOs, restaurant cars etc, plus sets used for stopping services (though express coaches on balancing workings were also used on stoppers). I reckon that about 125 items of coaching stock would enable you to have a fair crack at the weekday winter timetabled services. Then, of course, there are specials .... But, again, who would have thought that, out of a stock of approximately 125 vehicles, only 2 would need to be 57' GW Thirds!

Is that the answer or a cruelly precise track gauge?!? I am not being lazy, just thick; I really do not understand how to go about working this out. Blame progressive educational theories of the 1970s (I do).

Thanks, David. As I am an absolute duffer in relation to almost anything involving practical application, your answer suggests to my mind that there must be an equation, whereby, if S Scale is 100%, I can derive the percentage of S Scale that is 4mm scale, but that equation eludes me! E.g. 4mm scale is 57% of 7mm scale, so, if I have a scale drawing in 7mm I can print it out at 57% of the original to achieve 4mm. Recently I learnt that American O Gauge is not to 7mm Scale, so that, in order to print out an "O gauge" US downloadable card building to 4mm scale, I would need print the kit off at, near enough, 63%: UK O gauge is 7mm/1.43.5 scale so the 57% is correct for that, USA O gauge uses 1:48 scale so for the CleverModels papers being American you need to print at 62.99 to get to 4mm/1:76.2 scale, Europe uses 1:45 scale.

Found a couple of S scale wagon drawings if you are interested. Do you happen to know at what % of the original I'd need to print 'em for 4mm scale?